cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A modified transparent angiography catheter: preliminary in vivo and in vitro evaluations.

Most of the serious neurologic complications related to angiography are embolic in nature. Meticulous catheter flush­ ing techniques have been suggested to reduce embolic com­ plications [1] . An experimental catheter with a 20-cm-long transparent proximal section has been evaluated to determine its usefulness in monitoring catheter flushing procedures and inadvertent injections of emboli. Catheters that are transpar­ ent throughout their entire length may not have enough radiopacity or torque control to enable adequate manipulation. Replacing the proximal portion of the catheter with a trans­ parent tubing preserves maneuverability of the original cath­ eter while allowing direct visualization of the extravascular portion of the catheter lumen. We report our initial experience with this modified transparent catheter.
Work Incapacity and Treatment Costs After Severe Accidents: Standard Versus Intensive Case Management in a 6-Year Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose Case management is widely accepted as an effective method to support medical rehabilitation and vocational reintegration of accident victims with musculoskeletal injuries. This study investigates whether more intensive case management improves outcomes such as work incapacity and treatment costs for severely injured patients. Methods 8,050 patients were randomly allocated either to standard case management (SCM, administered by claims specialists) or intensive case management (ICM, administered by case managers). These study groups differ mainly by caseload, which was approximately 100 cases in SCM and 35 in ICM. The setting is equivalent to a prospective randomized controlled trial. A 6-year follow-up period was chosen in order to encompass both short-term insurance benefits and permanent disability costs. All data were extracted from administrative insurance databases. Results Average work incapacity over the 6-year follow-up, including contributions from daily allowances and permanent losses from disability, was slightly but insignificantly higher under ICM than under SCM (21.6 vs. 21.3 % of pre-accident work capacity). Remaining work incapacity after 6 years of follow-up showed no difference between ICM and SCM (8.9 vs. 8.8 % of pre-accident work incapacity). Treatment costs were 43,500 Swiss Francs (CHF) in ICM compared to 39,800 in SCM (+9.4 %, p = 0.01). The number of care providers involved in ICM was 10.5 compared to 10.0 in ICM (+5.0 %, p < 0.001). Conclusions Contrary to expectations, ICM did not reduce work incapacity as compared to SCM, but did increase healthcare consumption and treatment costs. It is concluded that the intensity of case management alone is not sufficient to improve rehabilitation and vocational reintegration of accident victims.
The Measurement of Ethylene from Plant Tissues and Its Relation to Auxin Effect

Treatment of plant tissues with certain concentrations of IAA leads to the formation of measurable amounts of ethylene in closed systems. This observation has been the basis for the idea that the effects of IAA are due to the ethylene which is formed (Burg and Burg, 1966). Since this idea is incompatible with the evidence from structure-activity relationships for a direct effect of IAA through a 2-point reaction with a plant substrate (Muir and Hansch, 1953, 1967), and since the evidence upon which the idea is based is less than adequate (Andreae et al., 1968), the question of the relationship of IAA and ethylene in the control of plant growth has been re-examined.
Analysis of Viral Hepatitis Typing in Haian County of Jiangsu Province during 2007—2008

[Objective]To investigate the actual level of the hepatitis morbidity in Haian County and provide evidence for hepatitis prevention and treatment.[Methods]Blood samples were collected from the suspected hepatitis cases in two towns of the county since March 1st of 2007 to February 29th of 2008 and were detected for ALT;the ALT positive samples were sent to Haian CDCP within 15 to 20 days and were detected with ELISA for the anti-HAVIgM,HBsAg,anti-HBslgM,anti-HCV and Anti-HEVIgM;meanwhile typing diagnosis was conducted on the reported acute hepatitis patients.[Results]During the monitoring period,338 cases of acute hepatitis were reported in the two towns,the morbidity was 26.073/lakh;the morbidities of hepatitis A,hepatitis B,hepatitis C,hepatitis E were 8.06%,37.10%,16.13% and 38.71% respectively.[Conclusion]Hepatitis prevention and treatment work is still one of the emphases of disease prevention and control in this county,among which hepatitis B and E are the priorities.
Determination of Health Protection Zone Standard for Nonmetallic Mineral Production

[Objective] To quantify the unorganized emission of nonmetallic mineral production and to propose the health protection zone standard for it.[Methods] The detected enterprises which represented the national advanced technology level of nonmetallic mineral production were selected through industry data.The analogic enterprises of similar production process and location with same raw materials were selected.The quantity concentration of fugitive emission(Qc) was detected by field monitoring.The health protection zone for cement and lime industry was calculated by ground concentration inverse method,that for asbestos industry by flux method,and that for graphite industry by material balance method,to analyze the health protection zone for similar enterprises of different scales.Residential health epidemiology survey and rank sum test were adopted to give reasonable health protection zone standard.[Results] The health protection zone standard for nonmetallic mineral production in line with the average wind speed of recent 5 years were as follows: 300 m,200 m and 200 m for cement industry;400 m,300 m and 300 m for lime industry with production scale≤20×104 t/a,and 500 m,400 m and 300 m for that with production scale 20×104 t/a;400 m,300 m and 200 m for asbestos industry;800 m,700 m and 600 m for graphite industry with ultra high power graphite electrode 3×104 t/a,and 1 200 m,1 200 m and 900 m for that with ultra high power graphite electrode≥3×104 t/a.A total of 347 questionnaires were available and showed significant differences of symptoms distributed in different health protection zones(P 0.05).[Conclusion] Wind speed and production scale are the factors considered in setting health protection zone standard.It is feasible to make the standard according to industry classification.
Housing Laws, Zoning, and Building Codes

THIS CHAPTER DESCRIBES THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSING LAWS, Zoning, and building codes in the beginning decades of the twentieth century. First, it surveys the range of solutions that were tried at the beginning of the century, focusing on the trend toward shifting responsibility for housing safety from tenants to property owners. Then it explores the efforts to create the right of government to regulate housing. Next, it outlines the movement to establish zoning, the main way in which localities shape the built environment. This is followed by a discussion of building codes, another fundamental tool by which government enforces health and safety. The chapter concludes with a description of how public health and urban planning grew apart during the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Rapid-response tools and datasets for post-fire remediation: linking remote sensing and process-based hydrological models

Post-wildfire flooding and erosion can threaten lives, property and natural resources. Increased peak flows and sediment delivery due to the loss of surface vegetation cover and fire-induced changes in soil properties are of great concern to public safety. Burn severity maps derived from remote sensing data reflect fire-induced changes in vegetative cover and soil properties. Slope, soils, land cover and climate are also important factors that require consideration. Many modelling tools and datasets have been developed to assist remediation teams, but process-based and spatially explicit models are currently underutilised compared with simpler, lumped models because they are difficult to set up and require properly formatted spatial inputs. To facilitate the use of models in conjunction with remote sensing observations, we developed an online spatial database that rapidly generates properly formatted modelling datasets modified by user-supplied soil burn severity maps. Although assembling spatial model inputs can be both challenging and time-consuming, the methods we developed to rapidly update these inputs in response to a natural disaster are both simple and repeatable. Automating the creation of model inputs facilitates the wider use of more accurate, process-based models for spatially explicit predictions of post-fire erosion and runoff.
The New University: What It Portends for the Academic Profession and Their ‘Managers’

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the ongoing transformation of the university and the emergence of perhaps a new – or at least newish – university model or paradigm rather than to attempt to depict the traits of middle managers and what exactly may be different about their tasks in this more aggressively management-oriented climate. To portray this context entails some observations about the transformation of the university itself, as well as a description of the profound changes in the composition, work and careers of the faculty. Understanding better this context should facilitate some insights into the implications for the complex role of academe’s middle managers.
Indecorous responses to 9/11 in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Ken Kalfus’s a disorder peculiar to the country, and Jess Walter’s the zero

This chapter considers indecorous responses to atrocity as they are portrayed in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Ken Kalfus’s A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, and Jess Walter’s The Zero. Naydan argues that Hamid, Kalfus, and Walter, respectively, portray 9/11 as an event to be smiled at, celebrated, and capitalized upon in order to explore a space between utter grief and terrorist celebration of 9/11’s success at toppling symbols of American capitalism. Their representations of indecorous responses function to critique American capitalism, and they, too, help to establish 9/11 as a quintessentially late-late capitalist aesthetic moment characterized by paradox and uncertainty. Although a clear need for social justice and socially just ways of thinking and being emerges in 9/11’s wake, no clear path for twenty-first century citizens to attain it exists—at least not beyond that which reading fiction as rhetoric might provide.
Carbon dioxide induced plasticity of branchial acid-base pathways in an estuarine teleost.

Anthropogenic CO2 is expected to drive ocean pCO2 above 1,000 μatm by 2100 – inducing respiratory acidosis in fish that must be corrected through branchial ion transport. This study examined the time course and plasticity of branchial metabolic compensation in response to varying levels of CO2 in an estuarine fish, the red drum, which regularly encounters elevated CO2 and may therefore have intrinsic resilience. Under control conditions fish exhibited net base excretion; however, CO2 exposure resulted in a dose dependent increase in acid excretion during the initial 2 h. This returned to baseline levels during the second 2 h interval for exposures up to 5,000 μatm, but remained elevated for exposures above 15,000 μatm. Plasticity was assessed via gene expression in three CO2 treatments: environmentally realistic 1,000 and 6,000 μatm exposures, and a proof-of-principle 30,000 μatm exposure. Few differences were observed at 1,000 or 6,000 μatm; however, 30,000 μatm stimulated widespread up-regulation. Translocation of V-type ATPase after 1 h of exposure to 30,000 μatm was also assessed; however, no evidence of translocation was found. These results indicate that red drum can quickly compensate to environmentally relevant acid-base disturbances using baseline cellular machinery, yet are capable of plasticity in response to extreme acid-base challenges.
Disruption of Hydrogen-Bonding Network Eliminates Water Anomalies Normally Observed on Cooling to Its Calorimetric Glass Transition.

The calorimetric glass-transition temperature of water is 136 K, but extrapolation of thermodynamic and relaxation properties of water from ambient temperature to below its homogeneous nucleation temperature TH = 235 K predicts divergence at TS = 228 K. The “no-man’s land” between the TH and glassy water crystallization temperature of 150 K, which is encountered on warming up from the vitrified state, precludes a straightforward reconciliation of the two incompatible temperature dependences of water properties, above 235 K and below 150 K. The addition of lithium chloride to water allows bypassing both TH and TS on cooling, resulting in the dynamics with no features except the calorimetric glass transition, still at 136 K. We show that lithium chloride prevents hydrogen-bonding network completion in water on cooling, as manifested, in particular, in changing microscopic diffusion mechanism of the water molecules. Thus thermodynamic and relaxation peculiarities exhibited by pure water on cooling to its gla...
Monitoring Effective Container Capacity: A Method for Reducing Over-Irrigation in Container Production Systems

Abstract A gravimetric substrate moisture monitoring system was used to control irrigation frequency and volume within a narrow range of substrate moisture contents to study the effects of reduced irrigation volume on growth and water use of baldcypress (Taxodium distichium L.). The four irrigation treatments were: control (daily scheduled irrigation at 16: 30 hours for 15 minutes or 6.75 liters (1.74 gal)/day) and 100, 80 and 60% of effective container capacity (ECC). Effective container capacity was defined as the maximum mass of a container, substrate and plant unit after gravitational water loss. Maintaining substrate moisture content at 80 and 60% ECC reduced baldcypress height, caliper, dry weight, and total plant N, P, and K content, but did not effect N, P or K concentrations compared to scheduled irrigation and 100% ECC treatments. Water use efficiencies (WUE, the volume of irrigation lost to evapo-transpiration divided by the total volume of irrigation applied) were determined for three dates. P...
Modeling the potential natural vegetation of Minnesota, USA

Abstract Assessing the effects of human land use and management decisions requires an understanding of how temporal changes in biodiversity influence the rate of ecosystem functions and subsequent delivery of ecosystem services. In highly modified anthromes, the spatial distribution of natural vegetation types is often unknown or coarsely represented challenging comparative analyses seeking to assess changes in biodiversity and potential downstream effects on ecosystem processes and functions. In this context, the objectives of this study were to construct a multi-resolution representation of potential natural vegetation at four hierarchical classification levels of increasing floristic and physiognomic detail for the state of Minnesota, USA. Using a collection of natural/near-natural vegetation releves, a series of Random Forest classification models were used to project the potential distribution of natural vegetation types based on their association with a variety of environmental variables. Model performance varied within and between classification levels with overall accuracy ranging between 64–99% (kappa 0.44–0.99). Model performance tended to decrease and become more variable with increasing floristic complexity at finer classification levels. Classwise performance metrics including precision and sensitivity were also reported. A method for exploring potential class confusion resulting from niche overlap using Random Forest proximities and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling is demonstrated. Collectively, the results presented here provide an analytically supported baseline representation of potential natural vegetation for the state of Minnesota, USA. These data can provide a backdrop to further analyses surrounding the influence of human activity on ecosystem processes and services as well as inform future conservation and restoration efforts.
The Epidemic of Despair Among White Americans: Trends in the Leading Causes of Premature Death, 1999-2015.

Objectives. To evaluate trends in premature death rates by cause of death, age, race, and urbanization level in the United States.Methods. We calculated cause-specific death rates using the Compressed Mortality File, National Center for Health Statistics data for adults aged 25 to 64 years in 2 time periods: 1999 to 2001 and 2013 to 2015. We defined 48 subpopulations by 10-year age groups, race/ethnicity, and county urbanization level (large urban, suburban, small or medium metropolitan, and rural).Results. The age-adjusted premature death rates for all adults declined by 8% between 1999 to 2001 and 2013 to 2015, with decreases in 39 of the 48 subpopulations. Most decreases in death rates were attributable to HIV, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. All 9 subpopulations with increased death rates were non-Hispanic Whites, largely outside large urban areas. Most increases in death rates were attributable to suicide, poisoning, and liver disease.Conclusions. The unfavorable recent trends in premature death ...
SeekWhence a retrospective analysis tool for general game design

This paper describes the design of SeekWhence, a retrospective analysis tool for gameplay session. SeekWhence is a new addition to the Cicero AI-assisted game design tool, which is built on top of the Video Game Description Language (VGDL) and the General Video Game Framework (GVG-AI). With SeekWhence, designers can prototype their games and record gameplay sessions simulated by agents or human players. They can go back and forth on every frame of the recorded session, analyzing it step by step and import it into their current project to edit it. This paper explains the technical details of SeekWhence and gives examples of its usage.
An upper bound on the electrical conductivity of hydrated oceanic mantle at the onset of dehydration melting

Abstract Electrical conductivity soundings provide important constraints on the thermal and hydration state of the mantle. Recent seafloor magnetotelluric surveys have imaged the electrical conductivity structure of the oceanic upper mantle over a variety of plate ages. All regions show high conductivity (0.02 to 0.2 S/m) at 50 to 150 km depths that cannot be explained with a sub-solidus dry mantle regime without unrealistic temperature gradients. Instead, the conductivity observations require either a small amount of water stored in nominally anhydrous minerals or the presence of interconnected partial melts. This ambiguity leads to dramatically different interpretations on the origin of the asthenosphere. Here, I apply the damp peridotite solidus together with plate cooling models to determine the amount of H2O needed to induce dehydration melting as a function of depth and plate age. Then, I use the temperature and water content estimates to calculate the electrical conductivity of the oceanic mantle with a two-phase mixture of olivine and pyroxene from several competing empirical conductivity models. This represents the maximum potential conductivity of sub-solidus oceanic mantle at the limit of hydration. The results show that partial melt is required to explain the subset of the high conductivity observations beneath young seafloor, irrespective of which empirical model is applied. In contrast, the end-member empirical models predict either nearly dry (
CVS Pharmacy: An instructional case of internal controls for regulatory compliance and IT risks

Abstract The objective of the CVS Pharmacy case study is to teach students how to assess and integrate internal controls from regulatory compliance and information technology (IT) perspectives. The case focuses on the failure of CVS Pharmacy, Inc. to implement necessary controls to comply with regulations that limit the sales of pseudoephedrine. The case gives you the opportunity to systematically apply the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) Internal Control – Integrated Framework (May 2013) and the COBIT 5 Framework issued by ISACA to investigate real business and IT issues. More specifically, you can use the frameworks to identify internal control deficiencies, compliance risks, and IT risks. Based on this assessment, you can recommend relevant control measures. The case is appropriate for undergraduate accounting information systems courses, as well as courses such as audit and IT audit by utilizing only one of the frameworks.
CStorage: An efficient classification-based image storage system in cloud datacenters

Image storage systems are designed to support images sharing and retrieving applications, especially for smartphone and other mobile devices. Existing image storage systems store images in random data servers without considering their similarities. When a front-end server sends out an image query, it receives similar images from a large number of data servers, causing possible network incast congestion and long query latency. To solve this problem, we propose CStorage, an efficient classification-based image storage system. In CStorage, similar images are stored in the same data server. Thus, a front-end server receives query results from a single data server, which reduces the occurrence of incast congestion as well as the image retrieval latency. CStorage also leverages the deep learning technique to cluster images and provides a high precision and recall rates. Experimental results show the effectiveness of CStorage in reducing image retrieval latency and improving precision and recall rates of searching results.
No Cookie Cutter Approach: Supervision in Community College Student Affairs

ABSTRACTSupervision is considered an integral function of managing student affairs personnel, yet there is a dearth of literature on this issue. Winston and Creamer (1997) stated that the role of supervision in management is to not only support the institution but also support the staff by encouraging improvements in both their personal and professional lives. Data for this study were collected through 19 interviews with individuals with at least 3 years of supervisory experience, who supervise at least one full-time professional staff member and work at a community college. Several themes emerged in the interviews. Supervision styles varied based on the individual employee, with more participants describing supportive styles over authoritative styles. Meanwhile, participants utilized one-on-one and team meetings as their preferred method of communication.
Home is where the head is: a distributed cognition account of personal health information management in the home among those with chronic illness.

AbstractManaging chronic illness requires personal health information management (PHIM) to be performed by lay individuals. Paramount to understanding the PHIM process is understanding the sociotechnical system in which it frequently occurs: the home environment. We combined distributed cognition theory and the patient work system model to investigate how characteristics of the home interact with the cognitive work of PHIM. We used a 3D virtual reality CAVE that enabled participants who had been diagnosed with diabetes (N = 20) to describe how they would perform PHIM in the home context. We found that PHIM is distinctly cognitive work, and rarely performed ‘in the head’. Rather, features of the physical environment, tasks, people, and tools and technologies present, continuously shape and are shaped by the PHIM process. We suggest that approaches in which the individual (sans context) is considered the relevant unit of analysis overlook the pivotal role of the environment in shaping PHIM.Practitioner Summ...
Review of Comparison Studies Investigating Bilingualism and Bilingual Instruction for Students with Disabilities

The purpose of this article is to provide a narrative review of comparison studies regarding the impacts of bilingualism and interventions including the home and second language for students with disabilities. Although research is limited, preliminary findings from existing studies illustrate that bilingualism does not negatively impact language or academic abilities for students with disabilities. Additionally, researchers suggest that instruction in and through the home and second language does not negatively impact language and academic abilities of students with disabilities assessed within these studies. We conclude with a discussion of steps forward, given that acceptance and promotion of bilingualism cannot only be effective for students with disabilities but also is a component of culturally and linguistically appropriate services for bilingual students with disabilities.
Do anticoagulation medications increase the risk of haematoma in ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of thyroid lesions?

BACKGROUND A feared complication of thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA) is bleeding diathesis and haematoma at the biopsy site. Patients are often advised to discontinue antithrombotic/anticoagulant (AT/AC) medications prior to the procedure. The aim of this study was to examine the risk of bleeding in patients on AT/AC medications undergoing cervical ultrasound (US)-guided FNA. METHODS A retrospective chart review of 803 patients who underwent US-guided FNA of thyroid nodules over 8 years by a single endocrine surgeon was undertaken. Clinical variables, patient demographics and use of AT/AC medications were collected and analysed. The principle outcome measures included the incidence of procedure-related haematoma formation. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the possible independent association between post-FNA haematoma and anticoagulation, adjusting for age, African American race, body mass index, vascularity and lesion size. RESULTS A total of 1568 lesions were included in 803 patients. The mean age for the patients on AT/AC was 63.0 ± 10.4 years and those not on AT/AC was 50.1 ± 14.2 years (P < 0.001). Of those, 148 patients had 336 lesions (21%) biopsied while taking one or more daily AT/AC agent (81 patients: aspirin; 11 patients: Plavix; 17 patients: aspirin and warfarin; 30 patients: aspirin and Plavix; seven patients: rivaroxaban and aspirin; and two patients: ticagrelor and aspirin). Three patients (0.89%) in the AT/AC group compared to six patients (0.49%) not receiving AT/AC medications developed a haematoma (P = 0.41). All complications were treated conservatively and none required intervention. CONCLUSIONS US-guided FNA of thyroid lesions can be safely performed on patients taking AT/AC including newer agents, without an increase in adverse outcomes or decreased diagnostic rate. Further larger prospective multi-institutional studies are warranted to further investigate this important finding.
Multivariate measure of niche overlap using canonical correspondence analysis

A measure of multidimensional niche overlap based on species scores from canonical correspondence analysis is presented. This measure, N, is the amount of overlap using species scores as approximat...
The Experimental Classifications of the Linear Models of the Lathe Cutting Mechanisms

Abstract A preparatory stage to achieve “smart machining” is addressed, namely a forecasting model for the oscillation at the tool/workpiece interface is reported in this text. The nonlinear dynamics of the mentioned interface is suggested to be put into a very similar discretized linear format: Autoregressive Moving Average Model (ARMA). This linearization operation is normally carried on as an off-line procedure. The following questions are addressed for the ARMA models: a) What are the ARMA forms to achieve the best representation? This question leads to a library of plausible coefficients which are envisioned to have a powerful place in “knowledge based expert system representations”. A comparative study is included in the text for a broader understanding of the overall nature of the cutting tool dynamic modeling. b) The ARMA procedure is performed over a set of data. How dependent are coefficients of the model on the length of available data points? And can the data collection period be shortened without jeopardizing the health of the respresentation? And going a step further: can the ARMA modeling be made into an on-line procedure so that true meaning of predictive and adaptive control concepts hold? Additional to the temporal concerns of ARMA coefficients a spatial dependency of the model is scrutinized. Results are tabulated considering the flexural properties of the workpiece with respect to the cutting tool dynamics.
2433 Community forums as a channel for communicating with the public and to influence perceptions of cancer clinical trials

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Cancer clinical trials (CCTs) are vital tools in the advancement of cancer prevention and treatment. Yet, only 3%–5% of eligible patients enroll in CCTs. Low participation can be attributed, in part, to poor communication as well as a lack of awareness and understanding about CCTs. In order to increase participation in trials, interventions should foster meaningful communication about cancer prevention and CCTs, especially between medical professionals and members of the community. Community forums provide a channel to communicate about cancer with members public and to educate prospective participants about CCTs. Thus, our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of hosting community forums about cancer in order to educate the public and influence perceptions of CCT participation. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: During the Spring of 2016, participants (n=51) who attended a community forum about CCTs completed a pretest and post-test survey assessing their understanding and perceptions of CCTs. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Results from the pretest to post-test survey revealed a significant positive increase (p=0.01) in participants’ attitudes toward cancer clinical research as well as marginally significant increases in participants’ perceived subjective norms (p=0.06) about participating in CCTs and the perceived personal relevance (p=0.06) of clinical research participation pretest and post-test. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Findings suggest that community forums about cancer and CCTs could lead to an increased awareness and understanding of CCTs among members of the population and could be useful channels for cancer interventions.
The Age of Monopoly Capital: The Selected Correspondence of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, 1949–1964

Starting with Adam Smith and David Ricardo two central questions have dominated the history of economic thought: Does capitalism, as a social economic system, provide social harmony? And, is capita...
Overreaction in Trading

Using intraday trading data during the 2008 financial crisis, from the Standard and Poor’s Depository Receipt (SPDR) market, we test for evidence of the informational advantage of traders. In addition, we examine the effect of pricing error on trade price. If traders are rational, and have accurate information, they will only purchase an asset at a premium (discount) if they have reason to believe that the fundamental value of that asset will increase (decrease). Our results show that the trading price of the SPDR does not significantly predict the movement of underlying asset values. This finding is consistent with traders overreacting to disparities between price and underlying value during the financial crisis.
Consumer drones and communication on the fly

In this article, I discuss camera drones as mobile media that help access, collect, and shape physical, digital, and social spaces. As such, consumer drones afford “communication on the fly” in the...
Role of Endoscopic Resection Versus Surgical Resection in Management of Malignant Colon Polyps: a National Cancer Database Analysis

Endoscopic resection (polypectomy) or surgery, are the main approaches in management of malignant colon polyps. There are very few large population-based studies comparing outcomes between the two. Using the National Cancer Database, we identified patients ≥ 18 years with the first diagnosis of T1N0M0 malignant polyp from 2004 to 2015. Patients with a positive resection margin were excluded. Outcomes were compared between those who had surgery versus those who had polypectomy. Overall survival was compared using Kaplan-Meier curves. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis was performed to generate hazard ratios, adjusted for patient, demographic, and tumor factors. A total of 31,062 patients met the inclusion criteria, out of which 2593 (8.3%) underwent polypectomy alone and 28,469 (91.7%) had surgery. Overall survival was significantly better in the surgical group compared with the polypectomy group. One-year and 5-year survival for surgery were 95.8% and 86.1% respectively compared with 94.2% and 80.6% for polypectomy (p < .0001). Hazard ratio for surgery after adjusting for various clinical-, demographic-, and tumor-level factors was 0.53 (p < .0001). Our study is the largest population-based analysis of patients with T1N0M0 malignant colon polyps. Overall survival was higher in patients who underwent surgery compared with polypectomy. This remained consistent even after adjusting for multiple patient and tumor factors between the two groups.
CaBot: Designing and Evaluating an Autonomous Navigation Robot for Blind People

Navigation robots have the potential to overcome some of the limitations of traditional navigation aids for blind people, specially in unfamiliar environments. In this paper, we present the design of CaBot (Carry-on roBot), an autonomous suitcase-shaped navigation robot that is able to guide blind users to a destination while avoiding obstacles on their path. We conducted a user study where ten blind users evaluated specific functionalities of CaBot, such as a vibro-tactile handle to convey directional feedback; experimented to find their comfortable walking speed; and performed navigation tasks to provide feedback about their overall experience. We found that CaBot's performance highly exceeded users' expectations, who often compared it to navigating with a guide dog or sighted guide. Users' high confidence, sense of safety, and trust on CaBot poses autonomous navigation robots as a promising solution to increase the mobility and independence of blind people, in particular in unfamiliar environments.
The Paradoxes of Confirmation

There are those who think philosophers have already spilled more ink on the paradoxes of confirmation than they are worth, others who think them among the deepest conceptual knots in the foundations of knowledge. like the problem of free will, the Goodman paradox owes much of its fascination to the way in which it combines urgent and topical philosophical concerns, above all, interest in the inductive roots of language and the linguistic roots of our theoretical construction of the world. My own view is that the paradoxes have at least one lesson, fraught with significance, to convey: that general laws are not necessarily confirmed by their positive cases. I. J. Good1 was, I believe, the first to both point this out and make a convincing case. One of his examples is rather artificial. He invites us to imagine that the live possibilities have been narrowed to just two: either the world contains a single white raven and a vast number of black ravens, or else it contains no white ravens and a modest number of black ravens. (In either case, of course, it may contain other things as well.) Since a random sample of the general population is more likely to contain a black raven in the first case than in the second, the first possibility is confirmed (i.e., made more probable). Hence, by confirming the first possibility (many black ravens and a single white raven), observation of a black raven disconfirms the hypothesis that all ravens are black.
Graded prognostic assessment index for melanoma with brain metastases (MBM).

9086 Background: The Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA) is a commonly used prognostic index in patients with brain metastases (BM). GPA for melanoma consists of Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) an...
Large time-dependent nonlinear phase shift of transparent conducting oxides at epsilon-near-zero (Conference Presentation)

Materials with vanishing real part of permittivity, also known as epsilon-near-zero, have emerged as a new paradigm to obtain large optical nonlinearities. In this region, light-matter interaction enhances significantly, which gives rise to an unprecedentedly large nonlinear phase shift. The phase sensitivity enhancement is due to the strong dispersion in this spectral region. We present nonlinear optical measurements via the Beam Deflection technique, to directly measure the spectral dependence of the ultrafast nonlinear phase shift of an Indium Tin Oxide thin film. We present simultaneously cross-phase modulation induced frequency changes that depend on how fast the nonlinear phase changes.
Elucidation of tumor-stromal heterogeneity and the ligand-receptor interactome by single cell transcriptomics in real-world pancreatic cancer biopsies

Abstract Precision medicine approaches in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are imperative for improving disease outcomes. However, the long-term fidelity of recently deployed ex vivo preclinical platforms, such as patient-derived organoids (PDOs) remains unknown. Through single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we identify substantial transcriptomic evolution of PDOs propagated from the parental tumor, which may alter predicted drug sensitivity. In contrast, scRNA-seq is readily applicable to limited biopsies from human primary and metastatic PDAC and identifies most cancers as being an admixture of previously described epithelial transcriptomic subtypes. Integrative analyses of our data provide an in-depth characterization of the heterogeneity within the tumor microenvironment, including cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) subclasses, and predicts for a multitude of ligand-receptor interactions, revealing potential targets for immunotherapy approaches. While PDOs continue to enable prospective therapeutic prediction, our analysis also demonstrates the complementarity of using orthogonal de novo biopsies from PDAC patients paired with scRNA-seq to inform clinical decision-making. Statement of Significance The application of single-cell RNA sequencing to diagnostic pancreatic cancer biopsies provides in-depth transcriptomic characterization of the tumor epithelium and microenvironment, while minimizing potential artifacts introduced by an intervening ex vivo passaging step. Thus, this approach can complement the use of patient-derived organoids in implementing precision oncology.
Showcasing the Strengths of Gerontological Social Work.

The articles in this issue of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work showcase the depth and diversity of social work research and practice with older adults and families. In this field, the rang...
Social Media Use, Political Participation, and Civic Engagement in Election 2016

Immediately after Election 2016, an online survey of 3,810 US college students in a "swing state" shows that the general use of Facebook has a small, negative effect on U.S. college students’ online/offline political participation and civic engagement over and above six control variables and four demographic variables. The participants’ political use of Facebook is a much more important and positive predictor than their general use of Facebook for online/offline political participation and civic engagement even after controlling for six relevant variables and four demographic variables. Their online and offline political participation, and civic engagement were closely related. Their online social capital led to political use of Facebook but did not predict online/offline political participation and civic engagement. Additional interesting findings are also presented, theoretical and practical implications discussed.
Roots and Branches: The Origins and Potential of Mystagogy in Religious Education Today.

Mystagogy has long been known as a catechesis to help the newly initiated deepen their understanding of sacramental experiences. In the ancient world, mystagogy was the way in which elders, that is mystagogues, helped candidates to identify and reflect on the hidden mysteries within their experience and the practices of their community. Mystagogical praxis was an essential interpretive frame of reference for discerning Christian mystery. I suggest that mystagogy is an ideal contribution from the pedagogy of the early church for our time, enabling religious educators to navigate the challenges of the postmodern context—one that is becoming increasingly secular, abstract, rational, and flat. This paper argues that mystagogy is a life-long process that enables Christians to “sniff out grace” and be all the more likely to discern the sacred and sacramental that inheres to daily life. Moreover, mystagogy allows for both a deeper engagement with the Christian tradition, and an invitation to those of other faiths (or none at all) to discern the Transcendent Horizon of our existence. This study will explore the roots of mystagogy within our tradition—where does it come from and how has it developed? That exploration of origins will consider the model of recollect, recognize, and relate that emerges as a constitutive pattern of mystagogy and practical application of this pattern in contemporary educating for faith.
SPIDERS+: A light-weight, wireless, and low-cost glasses-based wearable platform for emotion sensing and bio-signal acquisition

Abstract We present a S ystem for P rocessing I n-situ Bio-signal D ata for E motion R ecog-nition and S ensing (SPIDERS + ) – a low-cost, wireless, glasses-based platform for continuous in-situ monitoring of user’s facial expressions (apparent emotions) and real emotions. We present algorithms to provide four core functions to detect eye shape and eyebrow movements, pupillometry, zygomaticus muscle movements, and head movements, using the bio-signals acquired from three non-contact sensors (IR camera, proximity sensor, and IMU). SPIDERS + distinguishes between different classes of apparent and real emotion states based on the aforementioned four bio-signals. We prototype advanced functionalities including facial expression detection and real emotion classification with a facial expression detector based on landmarks and optical flow that leverages changes in a user’s eyebrows and eye shapes to achieve the average true positive rate up to 83.87%, as well as a pupillometry-based real emotion classifier with higher accuracy than existing low-cost wearable platforms that use sensors requiring skin contact. In addition, SPIDERS + also includes optional contact-based sensors such as photoplethysmography (PPG) and multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) to monitor other bio-signals. SPIDERS + costs less than $20 to assemble and can continuously run for up to 9 h before recharging. We design, implement and evaluate accompanying desktop and smartphone applications to demonstrate that SPIDERS + is a truly wireless and portable platform that can impact a wide range of applications, where the knowledge of the user’s emotional state is critical.
Poets as Judges: Judicial Rhetoric and the Literary Imagination

I read something that moved me a lot not very long ago. I was reading something by Chesterton, and he was talking about one of the Brontes, . . . or Jane Eyre that she wrote. He said if you want to know what that is like, you go and you look out at the city-I think he was looking at London-and he said, you know, you see all those houses now, even at the end of the 19th century, and they look all as if they're the same. And you think all of those people are out there, going to work, and they're all the same. But, he says, what Bronte tells you is they are not the same. Each one of those persons and each one of those houses and each one of those families is different, and they each have a story to tell. Each of those stories involves something about human passion. Each of those stories involves a man, a woman, children, families, work, lives. And you get that sense out of the book. So sometimes I have found literature very helpful as a way out of the tower.'
Structure and Catalytic Mechanism of Secretory Phospholipases A2

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the aspects of phospholipases A 2 (sPLA 2 ) structure that are of particular relevance to catalysis. A formal reaction pathway based largely on high-resolution structure analysis of crystalline complexes of secretory phospholipids (sPLA 2 s) with a transition-state analog is proposed. This mechanism that is consistent with the available biochemical and genetic data, implies a highly specific interaction between the calcium cofactor, the glycerophospholipid substrate, and the active site residues. Conserved water molecules, associated with either the catalytic histidine or the primary calcium ion, are essential participants in the proposed chemistry. Catalysis by sPLA 2 s is conceptually divided into three phases: (1) general base-mediated attack on productively bound substrate, (2) formation and collapse of the tetrahedral intermediate, and (3) product release. Although the catalytic activity of sPLA 2 s is generally unaffected by small perturbations in phospholipid structure, activity on substrate aggregates is characteristically orders of magnitude higher than that displayed toward dispersed lipids. Secretory PLA 2 s can be divided into three classes based on sequence criteria. The highly homologous class I, class II, and class III enzymes. The chapter concludes with a discussion of catalysis at an interface, “hopping” or “scooting,” and the interfacial absorption surface. This insightful contribution provides a paradigm for the mechanism of phospholipase activity.
Trends and racial differences in birth weight and related survival.

Objective: In the past two decades, infant mortality rates in the United States declined in African-American and White populations. Despite this, racial disparities in infant mortality rates have increased and rates of low birth weight deliveries have shown little change. In this study, we examine temporal changes in birth weight distributions, birth weight specific neonatal mortality, and the birth weight threshold for an adverse risk of survival within both racial groups in order to explore the mechanisms for the disparities in infant mortality rates. Method: Single live births born to South Carolina resident mothers between 1975 and 1994 and considered White or African-American based on the mother's report of maternal race on the birth certificate were selected for investigation. We define the birth weight threshold for adverse survival odds as the birth weight at which 50% or more of infants in the population died within the first month of life. Results: Despite significant increases in very low birth weight percentages, neonatal mortality rates markedly declined. Birth weight specific neonatal mortality decreased for both races, although greater reductions accrued to White low birth weight infants. By the end of the study period, the birth weight at which over 50% of newborns died within the first month of life was 696 g for Whites and 673 g for African-Americans. Discussion: The ongoing decline in neonatal mortality is mainly due to reductions in birth weight specific neonatal mortality, probably related to high-risk obstetric and neonatal care. Technological developments in these areas may have differentially benefited Whites, resulting in an increasing racial disparity in mortality rates. Moreover, the relatively greater and increasing mortality risk from postmaturity and macrosomia in infants of African-America mothers may further exacerbate the racial gap in infant mortality.