cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development, validation and application of a comprehensive stereoselective LC/MS-MS assay for bupropion and oxidative, reductive, and glucuronide metabolites in human urine

A stereoselective assay was developed for the quantification of bupropion and oxidative, reductive, and glucuronide metabolites (16 analytes total) in human urine. Initially, authentic glucuronide standards obtained from commercial sources were found to be incorrectly labeled with regard to stereochemistry; the correct stereochemistry was unequivocally reassigned. A trifurcated urine sample preparation and analysis procedure was employed for the stereoselective analysis of bupropion, hydroxybupropion, erythrohydrobupropion, and threohydrobupropion enantiomers, and hydroxybupropion, erythrohydrobupropion and threohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide diastereomers in urine. Method 1 stereoselectively analyzed bupropion (R and S), and unconjugated free hydroxybupropion (R,R and S,S), erythrohydrobupropion (1R,2S and 1S,2R), and threohydrobupropion (1R,2R and 1S,2S) using chiral chromatography with an α1-acid glycoprotein column. Because no hydroxybupropion β-d-glucuronide standards were commercially available, method 2 stereoselectively analyzed total hydroxybupropion aglycones (R,R and S,S-hydroxybupropion) after urine hydrolysis by β-glucuronidase. Hydroxybupropion β-d-glucuronide (R,R and S,S) urine concentrations were calculated as the difference between total and free hydroxybupropion (R,R and S,S) concentrations. Due to incomplete β-glucuronidase hydrolysis of erythrohydrobupropion and threohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide diastereomers, method 3 stereoselectively analyzed intact erythrohydrobupropion and threohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide diastereomers using C18 column chromatography. All analytes were quantified by positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The assay was fully validated over analyte-specific concentrations. Intra- and inter assay precision were within 15% for each analyte. The limits of quantification for bupropion (R and S), hydroxybupropion (R,R and S,S), threohydrobupropion (1S,2S and 1R,2R), erythrohydrobupropion (1R,2S and 1S,2R) were 10, 50, 100, and 100ng/mL, respectively. The limits of quantification for (1R,2R)-threohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide, (1S,2S)-threohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide, and (1R,2R)-erythrohydrobupropion β-d-glucuronide were each 50ng/mL. Due to the abundance of bupropion and metabolites in human urine, no efforts were made to optimize sensitivity. All analytes were stable following freeze thaw cycles at -80°C. This assay was applicable to clinical pharmacokinetic investigations of bupropion in patients and to in vitro metabolism of the primary bupropion metabolites to their glucuronides.
SERUM FREE AND TOTAL IODOTHYRONINE CONCENTRATIONS IN DOGS WITH HYPERADRENOCORTICISM

Serum concentrations of total and free thyroxine (T4 and FT4, respectively), 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3), 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine (reverse T3) were measured in 42 dogs with hyperadrenocorticism, and were compared with values determined in clinically normal dogs. Mean total T4 concentration in dogs with hyperadrenocorticism (14.3 nmol/L) was significantly (P less than 0.001) lower than the normal value (25.7 nmol/L), with 38% of the dogs having low serum T4 concentration. Although 16 (38%) of the 42 dogs with hyperadrenocorticism had a high FT4 fraction, indicative of diminished serum T4 binding, normal FT4 concentration was found in only 6 of the 16 dogs (38%) with low total T4 values. Mean serum T3 concentration in dogs with hyperadrenocorticism (0.79 nmol/L) was also significantly (P less than 0.001) lower than the normal value (1.16 nmol/L), with 39% of the dogs having T3 values below the normal range. Individual T3-to-T4 and T3-to-FT4 ratios, indices of T3 production and/or clearance, were above the normal range in 29 and 24% of dogs with hyperadrenocorticism, respectively. Mean reverse T3 concentration in dogs with hyperadrenocorticism (0.17 nmol/L) was also significantly (P less than 0.001) lower than the normal mean value (0.39 nmol/L), with 48% of the dogs having reverse T3 values below the normal range. Of the 21 dogs in which all iodothyronines were measured, 6 (29%) had undetectable values for all hormones.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Stretched-pulse mode-locked erbium-fiber laser amplified by KCI:TI+ color-center crystals

Femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range has recently become increasingly important in areas such as studies of the dynamics of semiconductors. Femtosecond continuum sources are useful as light sources in these experiments, because they allow one to perform pump-probe experiments with differing wavelengths. Several years ago an interesting color-center laser/color-center- amplifier system was developed for this purpose by Sucha and co-workers.1 Their system was based on an additive-pulse mode-locked (APM) femtosecond NaCl color-center laser that was amplified by using thick NaCl crystals in a multiple-pass (bow-tie) configuration. With this system impressively broad spectral continua could be generated in the NIR.
Certolizumab pegol for treating axial spondyloarthritis

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the spine and sacroiliac (SI) joints. The spectrum of axSpA includes ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA). Evidence has supported the use of TNF alpha inhibitors (TNFi) in treating these diseases, with good efficacy and tolerable safety profiles. Certolizumab pegol (CZP) is an anti-TNF alpha (TNFa) agent with data to support its use in both AS and nr-axSpA.Areas covered: The pharmacologic properties of CZP were reviewed. Data regarding the use and efficacy of CZP in axSpA were reviewed. Quality of life outcomes and safety profiles of CZP in axSpA patients were discussed as well.Expert opinion: While there are several biologics with evidence for improved outcomes in AS, there is less evidence for biologic medications that have good efficacy in nr-axSpA. CZP has good evidence of improved outcomes in terms of clinical efficacy, patient reported outcomes and imaging outcomes in both conditio...
From identity to issue: policy agenda and framing shifts within long-term coalitions

ABSTRACTRecent research calls for increased attention to the development of interest group policy agendas, the effects of agenda shifts, and the process of issue framing. Some scholars argue that identity-based groups and coalitions have a particularly difficult time surviving policy agenda shifts. Drawing upon historical archives, interview data, and media coverage of a long-term, identity-based coalition, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC), this article examines how and why the group’s policy agenda and framing of issues changed over time. The study finds that the JRLC’s policy agenda and framing strategy changed from emphasizing policies identifying a specific target population to emphasizing policies with a broad or undefined target population. These shifts suggest a strategic response by the coalition both to changes in the external environment and to organizational challenges related to coalition maintenance.
Depth Preference of Settling Red Drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus ) Larvae in Relation to Benthic Habitat Color and Water-Column Depth

A variety of sensory cues could be operating to aid fishes in finding benthic settlement habitat. Visual cues are thought to be most important over short distances when light is adequate. Preference for substrate color (black, green, and yellow) at two water-column heights (85 and 33.3 cm) was tested on red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, at pre-settlement, settlement, and post-settlement sizes. For settlement- and post-settlement-size classes, no effect of substrate color or water-column height was detected on mean distance of fish from the bottom or strength of depth preference. Pre-settlement larvae in the deep water column exhibited greater strength of depth preference than those in the shallow water column (9.6 ± 7.1 vs. 5.6 ± 4.1 cm 5 min−1, respectively). Pre-settlement larvae were closer to the bottom in the shallow water column than the deep water column (19 ± 9 vs. 44 ± 28 cm). Over green and yellow substrates, they were closer to the bottom in the shallow water column compared to the deep water column (19 ± 9 vs. 53 ± 28 cm over green and 15 ± 10 vs. 41 ± 26 cm over yellow). However, no difference was detected in mean depth over the black substrate (21 ± 8 and 39 ± 28 cm for shallow and deep, respectively). These results suggest pre-settlement-size larvae respond to benthic cues prior to settlement by avoiding light colors of estuarine substrates and not descending toward the substrate in the presence of dark colors associated with the offshore environment.
Design Issues for a Big City Immunization Registry

New York is the nation’s largest city, with a birth cohort of more than 130,000 and nearly 2 million children aged 18 years and under. Its sheer size has important implications for registry design, as do the poverty, cultural diversity, and mobility of the population, as well as large numbers of special groups, such as homeless people and recent immigrants. The size and diversity of the provider population also have consequences for immunization registry planning. The private sector is heavily represented—about 5 5 % of the immunizations are given by physicians in private practice, voluntary hospitals, and private clinics. Public and private providers practice in a variety of settings and span all levels of technologic sophistication. This article addresses the ways in which New York City’s technical registry design and implementation plan have responded to local requirements and constraints. Topics covered include decisions about roles and responsibilities of central registry reporting and retrieving information, child identifiers collected and match strategies, and policy decisions about security and confidentiality. It is instructive to examine the process and rationale for New York City’s design decisions, as well as the decisions themselves. Some of the decisions may in fact be generalizable to other large systems; some of the rejected alternatives may be appropriate under a different set of constraints. The entire decision process demonstrates how a group of planners took a general concept (an immunization registry) and modified it in the course of bringing it to the threshold of implementation, in the summer of 1996.
A review of nonimaging solar concentrators for stationary and passive tracking applications

Abstract The solar energy research community has realized the redundancy of image-forming while collecting/concentrating solar energy with the discovery of the nonimaging type radiation collection mechanism in 1965. Since then, various nonimaging concentration mechanisms have proven their superior collection efficiency over their imaging counter-parts. The feasibility of using nonimaging concentrators successfully for stationary applications has rekindled interest in them. The economic benefits are appealing owing to the elimination of tracking costs (installation, operation & maintenance and auxiliary energy). This paper is an exhaustive review of the available nonimaging concentrating mechanisms with stationary applications in mind. This paper also explores the idea of coupling nonimaging concentrators with passive solar tracking mechanism.
Cost of Joint Replacement Using Bundled Payment Models

Importance Medicare launched the mandatory Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundled payment model in 67 urban areas for approximately 800 hospitals following its experience in the voluntary Acute Care Episodes (ACE) and Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) demonstration projects. Little information from ACE and BPCI exists to guide hospitals in redesigning care for mandatory joint replacement bundles. Objective To analyze changes in quality, internal hospital costs, and postacute care (PAC) spending for lower extremity joint replacement bundled payment episodes encompassing hospitalization and 30 days of PAC. Design, Setting, and Participants This observational study followed 3942 total patients with lower extremity joint replacement at Baptist Health System (BHS), which participated in ACE and BPCI. Exposures Lower extremity joint replacement surgery under bundled payment at BHS. Main Outcomes and Measures Average Medicare payments per episode, readmissions, emergency department visits, prolonged length of stay, and hospital savings from changes in internal hospital costs and PAC spending. Results Overall, 3942 patients (mean [SD] age, 72.4 [8.4] years) from BHS were observed. Between July 2008 and June 2015, average Medicare episode expenditures declined 20.8%, from $26 785 to $21 208 ( P P = .61) for 204 episodes of joint replacement with complications. Readmissions and emergency department visits declined 1.4% ( P = .14) and 0.9% ( P = .98), respectively, while episodes with prolonged length of stay decreased 67.0% ( P Conclusions and Relevance During a period in which Medicare payments for joint replacement episodes increased by 5%, bundled payment for procedures at BHS was associated with substantial hospital savings and reduced Medicare payments. Decreases in PAC spending occurred only when it was included in the bundle.
A graphical assessment and spatial clustering of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impact on Laughing Gulls

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, oil flowed for three months and approximately five million barrels of oil spilled through by mid-July 2010. In this article, we analyze bird data to assess the impact of the oil spill on the Gulf wildlife. Particularly, we want to determine in which regions Laughing Gulls were mostly affected by the oil spill, and whether those regions spatially shifted throughout the year 2010. Though our data sets have some limitations to apply statistical analysis methods, we obtained very interesting results. Our analyses showed the general consistency of the results based on two population data sets (from the 2011 Data Expo and from the eBird community) and justified the use of both publicly available data sets. We showed that the closer the surface oil spill area approached to the Laughing Gulls habitats, the more significant clusters of bird cases were observed.
Translating sales effort into service performance: it's an emotional ride

It has been broadly assumed by both researchers and managers that the more effort salespeople exert, the better their performance outcomes are likely to be. However, organizations are placing an increasing emphasis not just on objective sales outcomes, but on subjective, customer service outcomes as well. This research tests relationships between employee effort and relational performance. We develop and test the position that employee effort reaches a point of diminishing returns, after which relational performance decreases. Further, in an effort to bound our model, we test the moderating role played by employees' emotional intelligence in this relationship. We test our study model in a lagged, multisource field study, matching survey data collected from 107 employees and 19 supervisors, relational performance metrics, and archived effort data collected for a period of 3 months pre–survey data collection. The results from our analysis indicate that the relationship between effort and relational performa...
Vickers Hot Springs: Ecotopia or Tragedy of the Commons?

Vickers Hot Springs is located near the rural Southern California town of Ojai, and local residents have long enjoyed soaking in the sulfuric pools. But as knowledge of the springs spread, the area saw increases in fights, traffic, burglaries, and drug use. In response, two residents purchased the land and committed to restore the property while allowing limited public access, subsequently generating a great deal of controversy within the community. Privatizing Vickers Hot Springs follows the archetypical lesson of Garrett Hardin9s 1968 essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Hardin stated that the problem for common-pool resources was that a finite amount of services are demanded by a potentially infinite number of users, who have little to gain by sacrificing for the common good. But Hardin9s theory does not always apply. Many communities have come together to manage resources, often without government oversight. Thus, the question is not whether or not Hardin9s theory is accurate, but rather “under what conditions it is correct and when it makes the wrong predictions.” Case studies provide nuance to the broad brushstrokes of a theory, and whether Hardin9s parable is applicable depends on the particularities of the common property resource conflict. Employing the frameworks established by Hardin, Dietz et al., and Ostrom, this paper examines the management of Vickers Hot Springs within its broader social, ecological, and political context, asking whether the particular circumstances of this resource use conflict made privatization the most predictable outcome.
Observability-Based Sensor Sampling

Systems with a rich array of sensors but limited power and/or processing resources have more potential information available than they can use and are forced to subsample the data. In this work, we build on observability analysis for general nonlinear systems to provide a basis for a framework to investigate dynamic sensor selection to optimize a measure of observability, specifically the condition number of an observability Gramian. This optimization is then applied to a sample system of natural Frenet Frames with sensing allowed to alternate between bearing and range measurements relative to a fixed beacon.
Arithmetic, set theory, reduction and explanation

Philosophers of science since Nagel have been interested in the links between intertheoretic reduction and explanation, understanding and other forms of epistemic progress. Although intertheoretic reduction is widely agreed to occur in pure mathematics as well as empirical science, the relationship between reduction and explanation in the mathematical setting has rarely been investigated in a similarly serious way. This paper examines an important and well-known case: the reduction of arithmetic to set theory. I claim that the reduction is unexplanatory. In defense of this claim, I offer some evidence from mathematical practice, and I respond to contrary suggestions due to Steinhart, Maddy, Kitcher and Quine. I then show how, even if set-theoretic reductions are generally not explanatory, set theory can nevertheless serve as a legitimate and successful foundation for mathematics. Finally, some implications of my thesis for philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science are discussed. In particular, I suggest that some reductions in mathematics are probably explanatory, and I propose that differing standards of theory acceptance might account for the apparent lack of unexplanatory reductions in the empirical sciences.
Mutated Policies: Towards Proactive Attribute-based Defenses for Access Control

Recently, both academia and industry have recognized the need for leveraging real-time information for the purposes of specifying, enforcing and maintaining rich and flexible authorization policies. In such a context, security-related properties, a.k.a., attributes, have been recognized as a convenient abstraction for providing a well-defined representation of such information, allowing for them to be created and exchanged by different independently-run organizational domains for authorization purposes. However, attackers may attempt to compromise the way attributes are generated and communicated by recurring to hacking techniques, e.g., forgery, in an effort to bypass authorization policies and their corresponding enforcement mechanisms and gain unintended access to sensitive resources as a result.In this paper, we propose a novel technique that allows for enterprises to pro-actively collect attributes from the different entities involved in the access request process, e.g., users, subjects, protected resources, and running environments. After the collection, we aim to carefully select the attributes that uniquely identify the aforementioned entities, and randomly mutate the original access policies over time by adding additional policy rules constructed from the newly-identified attributes. This way, even when attackers are able to compromise the original attributes, our mutated policies may offer an additional layer of protection to deter ongoing and future attacks. We present the rationale and experimental results supporting our proposal, which provide evidence of its suitability for being deployed in practice.
Translating a child care based intervention for online delivery: development and randomized pilot study of Go NAPSACC.

As part of childhood obesity prevention initiatives, Early Care and Education (ECE) programs are being asked to implement evidence-based strategies that promote healthier eating and physical activity habits in children. Translation of evidence-based interventions into real world ECE settings often encounter barriers, including time constraints, lack of easy-to-use tools, and inflexible intervention content. This study describes translation of an evidence-based program (NAPSACC) into an online format (Go NAPSACC) and a randomized pilot study evaluating its impact on centers’ nutrition environments. Go NAPSACC retained core elements and implementation strategies from the original program, but translated tools into an online, self-directed format using extensive input from the ECE community. For the pilot, local technical assistance (TA) agencies facilitated recruitment of 33 centers, which were randomized to immediate (intervention, n = 18) or delayed (control, n = 15) access groups. Center directors were oriented on Go NAPSACC tools by their local TA providers (after being trained by researchers), after which they implemented Go NAPSACC independently with minimal TA support. The Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation instrument (self-report), collected prior to and following the 4-month intervention period, was used to assess impact on centers’ nutrition environments. Process data were also collected from a sample of directors and all TA providers to evaluate program usability and implementation. Demographic characteristics of intervention and control centers were similar. Two centers did not complete follow-up measures, leaving 17 intervention and 14 control centers in the analytic sample. Between baseline and follow-up, intervention centers improved overall nutrition scores (Cohen’s d effect size = 0.73, p = 0.15), as well as scores for foods (effect size = 0.74, p = 0.16), beverages (effect size = 0.54, p = 0.06), and menus (effect size = 0.73, p = 0.08), but changes were not statistically significant. Core elements of NAPSACC were effectively translated into online tools and successfully implemented by center directors. Results suggest that the online program may have retained its ability to drive change in centers’ nutrition environments using a streamlined, self-directed, and flexible implementation approach. Results need to be confirmed in a larger more definitive trial. NCT02889198 (retrospectively registered).
Altered Baseline and Nicotine-Mediated Behavioral and Cholinergic Profiles in ChAT-Cre Mouse Lines

The recent development of transgenic rodent lines expressing cre recombinase in a cell-specific manner, along with advances in engineered viral vectors, has permitted in-depth investigations into circuit function. However, emerging evidence has begun to suggest that genetic modifications may introduce unexpected caveats. In the current studies, we sought to extensively characterize male and female mice from both the ChAT(BAC)-Cre mouse line, created with the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) method, and ChAT(IRES)-Cre mouse line, generated with the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) method. ChAT(BAC)-Cre transgenic and wild-type mice did not differ in general locomotor behavior, anxiety measures, drug-induced cataplexy, nicotine-mediated hypolocomotion, or operant food training. However, ChAT(BAC)-Cre transgenic mice did exhibit significant deficits in intravenous nicotine self-administration, which paralleled an increase in vesicular acetylcholine transporter and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) hippocampal expression. For the ChAT(IRES)-Cre line, transgenic mice exhibited deficits in baseline locomotor, nicotine-mediated hypolocomotion, and operant food training compared with wild-type and hemizygous littermates. No differences among ChAT(IRES)-Cre wild-type, hemizygous, and transgenic littermates were found in anxiety measures, drug-induced cataplexy, and nicotine self-administration. Given that increased cre expression was present in the ChAT(IRES)-Cre transgenic mice, as well as a decrease in ChAT expression in the hippocampus, altered neuronal function may underlie behavioral phenotypes. In contrast, ChAT(IRES)-Cre hemizygous mice were more similar to wild-type mice in both protein expression and the majority of behavioral assessments. As such, interpretation of data derived from ChAT-Cre rodents must consider potential limitations dependent on the line and/or genotype used in research investigations.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Altered baseline and/or nicotine-mediated behavioral profiles were discovered in transgenic mice from the ChAT(BAC)-Cre and ChAT(IRES)-Cre lines. Given that these cre-expressing mice have become increasingly used by the scientific community, either independently with chemicogenetic and optogenetic viral vectors or crossed with other transgenic lines, the current studies highlight important considerations for the interpretation of data from previous and future experimental investigations. Moreover, the current findings detail the behavioral effects of either increased or decreased baseline cholinergic signaling mechanisms on locomotor, anxiety, learning/memory, and intravenous nicotine self-administration behaviors.
Electrically Evoked Stapedial Reflex Threshold: A Procedure

Objective measures, such as the electrically evoked stapedial reflex threshold (ESRT), are critical components of optimal cochlear implant (CI) programming. Recent data suggest, however, that ESRT measurements are not commonly used by audiologists when programming CIs (Hemmingson & Messersmith, 2017). Potential reasons for limited use of these measures may be limited knowledge of the procedure for completing the measures and limited knowledge of how to apply results to programming. Clinically, ESRT is observed as a change in the static admittance of the ear canal in response to electrical stimulation through the CI; this deflection can be observed using the decay setting on an immitance bridge. ESRT is defined as the lowest amount of electrical stimulation that results in a 0.02 deflection from baseline (Gelfand, 2002). ESRT has been found to align closely to behaviorally measured upper comfort levels (e.g., C/M levels in the manufacturer software) and, as such, can assist in determining appropriate C/M l...
Prenatal consultation: perspectives on training, relevance, and utilization among pediatric subspecialty program directors.

To characterize the experience and training of house officers in prenatal consultation, and to assess program directors’ perceptions regarding adequacy of training, and relevance and utilization of prenatal consultation in their field. An online survey was distributed to program directors of all ACGME-accredited programs in the United States in relevant pediatric subspecialties. Ninety-five percent (142/150) of respondents agreed that prenatal consultation from their field can impact decision-making, yet 46% (69/149) believe their prenatal consult services are underutilized. The majority (56%, 86/152) reported no formal curriculum related to prenatal consultation in their program. Nine percent (14/150) rated their trainees as not adequately trained to perform competent prenatal consultation upon graduation; 35% (52/150) rated trainees as only “somewhat” competent. Our study, the first of its kind, reveals widespread lack of formal training curricula, which may explain the finding that many graduating trainees are perceived as inadequately prepared to perform competent prenatal consultation.
Morphological Changes in Nylon 6 and Effect on Mechanical Properties IV. Stress-Strain Cycles

In the present series of papers we have investigated the effects of morphological changes (produced by treating the film with different swelling agents and also by heat treatments) on the mechanical properties of nylon 6 film. Parts I, II and III (1,2,3) have discussed the types of morphological change produced, dynamic mechanical properties, and stress-strain properties, respectively. In the present paper we have examined in more detail the effects produced on the stress-strain behavior, by use of stress-strain cycling. In particular, we have examined the nature of the recoverable and total work of extension at different points of the stress-strain curve (both before and after the yield point ) and at different temperatures (both below and above what is generally regarded as the glass transition temperature of the polymer).
MDS++: supporting ontology-based dynamic classification in websphere metadata server

Metadata management systems are growing from tool-specific repositories to enterprise-wide metadata repositories. In this context, one challenge is the management of the evolving metadata whose schema or meta-model itself may evolve, e.g., dynamically-added properties, which are often hard to predict upfront at the initial meta-model design time; another challenge is to organize the metadata by semantically-rich classification schemes. In this paper, we demonstrate a practical system which provides support for users to dynamically manage semantically-rich properties and classifications in the IBM WebSphere Metadata Server (MDS) by integrating an OWL ontology repository. To enable the smooth acceptance of Semantic Web technologies, the system is designed to consist of integrated modeling paradigms, with an integrated query language and runtime repository.
Vision Based Collaborative Path Planning for Micro Aerial Vehicles

In this paper, we present a collaborative path-planning framework for a group of micro aerial vehicles that are capable of localizing through vision. Each of the micro aerial vehicles is assumed to be equipped with a forward facing monocular camera. The vehicles initially use their captured images to build 3D maps through common features; and subsequently track these features to localize through 3D-2D correspondences. The planning algorithm, while connecting start locations to provided goal locations, also aims to reduce the localization uncertainty of the vehicles in the group. To achieve this, we develop a two-step planning framework: the first step attempts to build an improved map of the environment by solving the next-best-view problem for multiple cameras. We express this as a black-box optimization problem and solve it using the Covariance Matrix Adaption evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Once an improved map is available, the second stage of the planning framework performs belief space planning for the vehicles individually using the rapidly exploring random belief tree (RRBT) algorithm. Through the RRBT approach, the planner generates paths that ensure feature visibility while attempting to optimize path cost and reduce localization uncertainty. We validate our approach using experiments conducted in a high visual-fidelity aerial vehicle simulator, Microsoft AirSim.
Machine-Vision Based Location Detection Solutions for Autonomous Horticulture Rover During Early Growth Season

In this paper, we present a complete set of solutions to detect the location of the autonomous horticulture rover used for precision agriculture purposes during the early growth stage of the crops. The horticulture rover autonomously traverses the furrow by aligning itself with the centerline using the dynamic inversion navigation algorithm. The navigation algorithm takes the cross-track error and heading error of the rover deviating from the centerline as the location input, and outputs the desired left and right track speeds to the control system to correct the rover course. The rover has been using the real time kinematic (RTK) -based global position system (GPS) as the sensor to detect the location of the rover, but satellite signals can suffer from sporadic loss, and the geographical characteristics of the environment need to be accurately mapped beforehand. These limits of RTK GPS drastically increase the work load of the operators and decrease the location detection accuracy of the rover. The proposed easy-to-implement machine-vision based location detection solution set accepts the raw pictures taken by the camera mounted on the rover as input and calculate the cross-track and heading errors of the rover as outputs. It neither requires the usage of GPS, nor acquisition of environmental geographical information beforehand. Our test results indicate that the proposed machine-vision based solution set is able to outperform the RTK GPS by providing the cross-track location and heading information of the rover with an error less than 20% of that achieved by a RTK GPS, when the rover is within the furrow during the early growth stage.
Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders

Most people experience at least one traumatic event during the course of their lifetime. Although research indicates that up to 80% of those exposed to traumatic events will be at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), only a small, yet significant, number will actually go on to develop the disorder (Birur, Moore, & Davis, 2017). Moreover, those who don’t eventually meet full diagnostic criteria for PTSD will often develop a partial, also called subsyndromal or subthreshold, presentation of PTSD symptoms (Cukor, Wyka, Jayasinghe, & Difede, 2010). Despite not meeting full criteria for PTSD, partial symptoms can significantly impair function and adversely affect quality of life (Cukor et al., 2010). In addition to PTSD, there are two other trauma and stress-related disorders for adults that are included in the Trauma and Stress-Related Disorders category of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Mental health professionals are likely to encounter people who have experienced traumatic events. Therefore, clinicians should be knowledgeable and skilled in diagnosing, assessing, and treating trauma and other stress-related disorders. This section will review the core definitions, criteria, and prevalence of each of these disorders.
The housing bubble: an application of the just price

ABSTRACTThe bursting of the U.S. housing bubble in 2006 was one of the precipitating factors in the Great Recession. It also led to renewed attention by economists to the identification of speculat...
Intent-Uncertainty-Aware Grasp Planning for Robust Robot Assistance in Telemanipulation

Promoting a robot agent’s autonomy level, which allows it to understand the human operator’s intent and provide motion assistance to achieve it, has demonstrated great advantages to the operator’s intent in teleoperation. However, the research has been limited to the target approaching process. We advance the shared control technique one step further to deal with the more challenging object manipulation task. Appropriately manipulating an object is challenging as it requires fine motion constraints for a certain manipulation task. Although these motion constraints are critical for task success, they are subtle to observe from ambiguous human motion. The disembodiment problem and physical discrepancy between the human and robot hands bring additional uncertainty, make the object manipulation task more challenging. Moreover, there is a lack of modeling and planning techniques that can effectively combine the human motion input and robot agent’s motion input while accounting for the ambiguity of the human intent. To overcome this challenge, we built a multi-task robot grasping model and developed an intent-uncertainty-aware grasp planner to generate robust grasp poses given the ambiguous human intent inference inputs. With this validated modeling and planning techniques, it is expected to extend teleoperated robots’ functionality and adoption in practical telemanipulation scenarios.
Learning the Wireless Interference Graph via Local Probes

Due to the densification and ambitious spectral efficiency targets, wireless networks are becoming increasingly interference-limited. Effectively managing the interference and accordingly allocating communication resources strongly hinge on knowing the interference signals. Acquiring such information, however, is often infeasible as networks’ scale and complexity grow. This paper considers a multiuser decentralized wireless network proposes an algorithm for learning the interference signals by aggregating the minimal data collected by individual users. Specifically, each user has a binary quantization of the interference level it experiences from other users. The proposed algorithm aggregates the local binary data to form an estimate of the interference network. Sufficient conditions for an optimal inference are delineated, and the proposed algorithm is demonstrated to enjoy certain optimality guarantees.
Why make fake breastmilk

There are efforts underway to make “breastmilk” called Biomilq through cell culture, “to produce cultured human breastmilk using patent-pending technology in order to offer families a more nutritious and more sustainable option for feeding babies.” However, Biomilq advocates have not explained their claims that the product would be better for infants’ health or for the environment. Their claim that the product would be breastmilk and not a breastmilk substitute is not convincing. They argue that until now women who cannot or choose not to breastfeed have no alternative but to feed with infant formula, but they ignore options such as mothers expressing their own milk or using wet-nurses. They do not mention the possibility of feeding with pasteurized human milk from other women, obtained through a human milk bank. The prospects for Biomilq do not look promising.
The Impact of Feeding on the Parent and Family Scales (Feeding Impact Scales): Development and Psychometric Testing.

Background and purpose Families of children with feeding disorder face significant challenges in supporting their child's feeding, growth, and development. The Feeding Impact Scales were developed to assess how child feeding impacts parent and family. Methods Items were adapted from an existing scale. Parents of children with feeding difficulty completed the online survey. Item response theory (IRT) analyses were used to evaluate and reduce items. Internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and readability were tested. Results IRT analyses (n = 317) identified 12 items for the Parent Impact and 13 items for the Family Impact. Internal reliability for the scales were acceptable. Convergent validity was supported. Conclusions The Feeding Impact Scales have evidence of reliability and validity. They can be utilized in practice and research.
Putting role resources to work: The cross-domain thriving model

Abstract Thriving at work - an employee's perception of vitality and learning while working- is linked to individual and organizational benefits. We merge thriving and work-family literatures to theorize about how thriving in work and nonwork roles creates and depletes resources across roles. We posit that both work-to-nonwork enrichment and conflict are mechanisms by which thriving at work simultaneously creates and depletes resources. When resource creation outpaces resource depletion, nonwork thriving occurs and when resource depletion exceeds resource creation, nonwork thriving is thwarted. In turn, nonwork thriving relates to greater nonwork-to-work enrichment and conflict, simultaneously creating and depleting resources at work, reinitiating the cycle. We present a theoretical framework, the Cross-Domain Thriving (CDT) model, considering individual differences and context, which posits how thriving creates and depletes resources both within and across work and nonwork domains.
Lung tumor segmentation of PET/CT using dual pyramid mask R-CNN

We propose a learning-based method to automatically segment lung tumor from positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) images. A dual pyramid mask R-CNN is introduced to enable end-to-end segmentation. To avoid the effect of useless region, mask R-CNN is used to get rid of non-tumor regions via fist locate the tumor region-of-interest (ROI) and then segment tumor within that ROI. Dual pyramid networks are used as backbone in mask R-CNN to extract comprehensive features from both CT and PET images. The binary mask of tumor of an arrival patient’s CT and PET image is generated by the welltrained network. To evaluate the proposed method, we retrospectively investigate 42 lung PET/CT datasets. On each dataset, lung tumor was delineated by physicians and was served as ground truth and training target. The proposed method was trained and evaluated by a six-fold cross validation strategy. The average centroid distance, volume difference and DSC value among all 42 datasets are 0.496±0.933mm, 0.303±0.458cc and 0.894±0.080, which indicates that the proposed method is able to generate target contour within 0.5mm error in displacement, 0.3cc error in volume size and around 90% overlapping compared with ground truth. The proposed method has great potential in improving the efficiency and mitigating the observer-dependence in tumor detection and delineation for diagnosis and therapy.
The Challenges of Intersectionality in the Lives of Older Adults Living in Rural Areas with Limited Financial Resources.

The objective of this study was to use intersectionality to better understand the challenges of having the combined statuses of being an older adult, living in a rural area and having limited finan...
Applications of deep learning to decorated ceramic typology and classification: A case study using Tusayan White Ware from Northeast Arizona

Abstract In this study, we present an alternate approach to archaeological typology, using deep learning to classify digital images of decorated pottery sherds into an existing typological framework. The study focuses on a specific kind of ancient painted pottery from the American Southwest, Tusayan White Ware, but we believe it has broader implications for a wide range of geographical settings and artifact types. Our results show that when properly trained, a deep learning model can assign types to digital images of decorated sherds with an accuracy comparable to, and sometimes higher than, four expert-level contemporary archaeologists. The technique also offers novel tools for visualizing both the importance of diagnostic design elements and overall design relationships between groups of pottery sherds. We demonstrate that this method can objectively match a specific unclassified sherd image to its most similar counterparts through a search of thousands of digital photos. This discovery has important archaeological implications for analyzing time relationships, monitoring stylistic trends, reconstructing fragmentary artifacts, identifying ancient artisans, and studying the evolution and spread of ancient technologies and styles. It also shows how deep learning models can potentially supplement or supplant traditional typologies in favor of more direct groupings and comparisons of artifacts.
A Hybrid Algorithm for Parameter Estimation (HAPE) for Dynamic Constant Power Loads

Low-inertia microgrids may easily have a single load that can make up most of the total load, thereby greatly affecting stability and power quality. Instead of a static load model, a dynamic constant power load (DCPL) model is considered here. Next, a hybrid algorithm for parameter estimation (HAPE) is introduced. In order to verify the load model and the HAPE, two experiments are conducted with different DCPLs using a power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHiL) testbed. The PHiL testbed consists of a real-time computer working with a programmable power amplifier in order to perturb the input voltage's amplitude and frequency. Each connected DCPL in two separate experiments serves as the device under test. Using the captured experimental data as a reference, the HAPE is then invoked. The resulting parameter estimates are used to define simulation models. Both resulting DCPL models are simulated to produce waveforms that closely resemble experimental waveforms. Finally, the HAPE's resulting parameter estimates are presented, and the performance of the HAPE is discussed.
Teachable Moments: When to Submit an Academic Integrity Referral

Location: Dewberry Hall Abstract: When it comes to Academic Integrity one challenge is determining what situations qualify as an Honor Code Violation. All suspected, documentable cases of integrity violations should be reported to our office. That said, not all suspected cases may be cases worth reporting. We do not exist solely to catch students violating the honor code, but to enforce the educational mission. Some situations may not require a formal intervention but may indeed be a teachable moment that can take place between the professor and the student. This presentation is designed share examples of the types of cases that could be considered a teachable moment, rather than integrity violation. More information on the Honor Code and Academic Integrity at Mason can be found at our website oai.gmu.edu.
Group Dynamical Systems on \(C^{*}\)-Algebras Generated by Countable Infinitely Many Semicircular Elements

In this paper, starting from a \(C^{*}\)-probability space \(\mathfrak {X}_{\varphi } \) generated by mutually free, countable-infinitely many semicircular elements \(\{s_{n}\}_{n=1}^{\infty }\), the free distributional data on \(\mathfrak { X}_{\varphi }\) are characterized by joint free moments of \(\{s_{n}\}_{n=1}^{\infty }\); and then, a certain group \(\lambda \) acting on \( \mathfrak {X}_{\varphi }\) is constructed-and-studied under a group dynamical system \(\Gamma \) of \(\lambda \). From the dynamics, the crossed product \( C^{*}\)-algebra \(\mathbb {X}\Gamma \) is constructed, and the free probability on \(\mathbb {X}\Gamma \) is considered in terms of that on \(\mathfrak {X}_{\varphi }\). In particular, the free-distributional data of generating operators of \(\mathbb {X} \Gamma \) are studied, and they illustrate how semicircularity works under our group-action.