cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Immune Dysregulation Leading to Chronic Autoimmunity

A number of Mendelian disorders of chronic autoimmunity have been identified. These diseases result from defects in pathways regulating central and peripheral T cell tolerance. Central tolerance refers to mechanisms that prevent the development of autoreactive lymphocytes in generative lymphoid organs, such as the thymus for T cells and bone marrow for B cells. The best example of a defect in central tolerance occurs with mutations affecting the autoimmune regulator gene (AIRE). AIRE is a transcription factor that drives expression of self-antigens in the thymus so that autoreactive T cells can be deleted through negative selection. Defects in AIRE give rise to autoimmune polyendocrinopathy–candidiasis–ectodermal dystrophy (APECED) syndrome. Although central tolerance is essential for immune regulation, this is not the only mechanism of immune regulation. Peripheral tolerance refers to mechanisms to prevent activation of self-reactive T and B cells that escape central tolerance. The best-characterized defect in peripheral tolerance occurs due to mutations affecting the transcription factor FOXP3. Loss of this transcription factor results in failure in the development and function of T regulatory (Treg) cells that are critical to peripheral tolerance. Defects in FOXP3 result in the disease immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX). A number of other gene defects that affect Treg cell function also give rise to an IPEX-like phenotype, including loss-of-function mutations in CD25, STAT5b, and ITCH, and gain-of-function mutations in STAT1.
Clinical Commentary on “My Life With Fibromuscular Dysplasia: A Sword of Damocles”

Reading the perspective written by Dr Young about her experiences with fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) filled my mind with the faces of literally dozens of patients like her whom I have had the privilege to meet as they came to grips with their diagnosis of FMD and with what it would mean for them and their families. Dr Young’s experiences and observations, although clearly informed by her being an experienced physician, are nonetheless quite like most people who find themselves not only threatened by the seriousness of this diagnosis but isolated in a real way by the rarity of FMD, and the confusion the diagnosis can cause. There are 4 special challenges for us as we help our patients face rare, serious diseases. Dr Young describes them eloquently. One is the time that passed from the initial onset of her symptoms to a diagnosis. Second, she also shared the fright that comes from realizing that many of her physicians were …
A workstation I/O system on a chip

Describes the I/O sub-system for the new low-end of HP's Series 700 family of workstations. The paper focuses on the single piece of custom VLSI that serves as the heart of the I/O sub-system. This chip was optimized to minimize the manufacturing cost of the system while maintaining functional compatibility and comparable performance with existing members of the Series 700 family. A wide range of functionalities from a variety of sources (including outside vendors) was combined on a single piece of silicon to obtain an optimal balance between manufacturing cost, performance, and software compatibility. >
Survey of Factors for the Prediction of Human Comfort with a Non-anthropomorphic Robot in Public Spaces

This article presents the results of a literature review and empirical analysis of factors that may influence human perceptions and attitudes toward non-anthropomorphic robots in public spaces. Using data from self-report surveys of 170 adults in a U.S. southeastern state, we examined demographic, attitudinal, and contextual differences in perceptions of mechanical-appearing robots in public settings. Within the limitations of the sample under study, the findings suggest that although important gender, race, age, and contextual differences were uncovered, adults were largely accepting of mechanical-appearing robots in public environments and this acceptance varied little across demographic factors. Additionally, adults were also curious about the potential that robots have to assist humans in those environments. Implications for future research are also presented.
Does Mutual Gains Bargaining Affect Negotiator's Power?: Practitioners' Perceptions of the Affect of Mutual Gains Bargaining on Their Power in Labor/Management Negotiations

Power is a concept that is frequently used in discussing the negotiations process. Scholars have characterized power as many things: a unit of economic value, a personal skill, a vestige of rank, and a range of more subtle forces. It is equally important to consider how practicing negotiators view power. This study investigates practitioners' views of power in the context of mutual gains bargaining to determine if an integrative negotiations process affects power in the labor/management negotiations process. Trust is a central issue in mutual gains labor negotiations. Practitioners surveyed in this study report on their experiences with trust or lack or trust in bargaining.
Molecular Recognition in Mitochondrial Cytochromes P450 That Catalyze the Terminal Steps of Corticosteroid Biosynthesis.

The mitochondrial cytochromes P450 11B1 and P450 11B2 are responsible for the final stages of cortisol and aldosterone synthesis, respectively. Dysregulation of both enzymes has been implicated in secondary forms of hypertension. Molecular recognition of the cytochromes P450 with their corresponding redox partner is a key step in the catalytic cycle, yet the precise nature of the interaction of P450 11B1 or P450 11B2 with their proximal partner, adrenodoxin (Adx), is still unknown. Here, we obtained P450 11B1·Adx2 and P450 11B2·Adx2 complexes using the zero-length cross-linker ethyl-3-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]carbodiimide, which formed best under low-ionic strength conditions. R-to-K mutations were introduced into the P450s at residues predicted to form salt bridges with Adx and allow cross-linking with the carbodiimide reagent. Mass spectrometric analysis of the chymotrypsin-digested ternary complexes identified seven cross-linked peptide pairs. Consistent with the electrostatic interaction of K370 in P4...
The Use of Metabolomics to Identify Biological Signatures of Manganese Exposure.

Objectives Manganese (Mn) is a known neurotoxicant, and given its health effects and ubiquitous nature in metal-working settings, identification of a valid and reproducible biomarker of Mn exposure is of interest. Here, global metabolomics is utilized to determine metabolites that differ between groups defined by Mn exposure status, with the goal being to help inform a potential metabolite biomarker of Mn exposure. Methods Mn exposed subjects were recruited from a Mn steel foundry and Mn unexposed subjects were recruited from crane operators at a metal recycling facility. Over the course of a work day, each subject wore a personal inhalable dust sampler (IOM), and provided an end of shift urine sample that underwent global metabolomics profiling. Both exposed and unexposed subjects were divided into a training set and demographically similar validation set. Using a two-sided adjusted t-test, relative abundances of all metabolites found were compared between Mn exposed and unexposed training sets, and those with a false discovery rates (FDR) <0.1 were further tested in the validation sets. Results Fifteen ions were found to be significantly different (FDR < 0.1) between the exposed and unexposed training sets, and nine of these ions remained significantly different between the exposed and unexposed validation set as well. When further dividing exposure status into 'lower exposure' and 'higher exposure', several of these nine ions exhibited an apparent exposure-response relationship. Conclusions This is the first time that metabolomics has been used to distinguish between Mn exposure status in an occupational cohort, though additional work should be done to replicate these findings with a larger cohort. With metabolite identification by name, empirical formula, or pathway, a better understanding of the relationship between Mn exposure and neurotoxic effects could be elucidated, and a potential metabolite biomarker of Mn exposure could be determined.
The Concept of the Concept

Publisher Summary This chapter explains how investigations of conceptual behavior have been shaped by the preconceptions of such behavior. It reviews some of the more popular preconceptions. These models tend to focus attention and obtain information in different problem areas. The analysis of popular perceptions is terminated by attempting to systematize the problems of conceptual behavior in terms of three psychological functions of concepts resulting from a stimulus-response analysis, and pointing out that the location of conceptual behavior against a background of all psychology ultimately depends on the theory of behavior that is accepted. It is easy to get depressed about the current status of the society's knowledge of conceptual behavior. To understand conceptual behaviour, different empirical techniques have been developed, knowledge is being gathered, and some integrating ideas, even if they are limited in scope, are being offered. No doubt individual psychologists viewing the effort that is being expended by behavior scientists in this field could recommend a more economical and strategic approach.
Stochastic Linear Optimization Under Bandit Feedback

In the classical stochastic k-armed bandit problem, in each of a sequence of T rounds, a decision maker chooses one of k arms and incurs a cost chosen from an unknown distribution associated with that arm. The goal is to minimize regret, defined as the difference between the cost incurred by the algorithm and the optimal cost. In the linear optimization version of this problem (first considered by Auer [2002]), we view the arms as vectors in R, and require that the costs be linear functions of the chosen vector. As before, it is assumed that the cost functions are sampled independently from an unknown distribution. In this setting, the goal is to find algorithms whose running time and regret behave well as functions of the number of rounds T and the dimensionality n (rather than the number of arms, k, which may be exponential in n or even infinite). We give a nearly complete characterization of this problem in terms of both upper and lower bounds for the regret. In certain special cases (such as when the decision region is a polytope), the regret is polylog(T ). In general though, the optimal regret is Θ∗( √ T ) — our lower bounds rule out the possibility of obtaining polylog(T ) rates in general. We present two variants of an algorithm based on the idea of “upper confidence bounds.” The first, due to Auer [2002], but not fully analyzed, obtains regret whose dependence on n and T are both essentially optimal, but which may be computationally intractable when the decision set is a polytope. The second version can be efficiently implemented when the decision set is a polytope (given as an intersection of half-spaces), but gives up a factor of √ n in the regret bound. Our results also extend to the setting where the set of allowed decisions may change over time. ∗Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago, varsha@cs.uchicago.edu †Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, {hayest,sham}@tti-c.org
Abstract 17155: The Development of De Novo Donor Specific Antibodies is Associated With Higher Rejection Risk After Heart Transplantation

Introduction: There is controversy regarding monitoring patients after heart transplantation (HTX) for development of de novo donor specific anti-human leucocyte antibodies (dnDSA) measured by solid phase arrays due to limited data on its impact on clinical outcomes. Hypothesis: The objective of this study was to examine the association between dnDSA that were detected on routine surveillance testing and clinical outcomes after HTX. Methods: Adult patients undergoing HTX from January 2009 to December 2013 had anti-HLA measured at regular intervals post HTX by LABScreen® Single Antigen Beads and read on a Luminex platform. DSA levels with mean fluorescence intensity ≥ 2000 were considered positive. Subjects were sub-classified based on the development of class I or II dnDSA. All endomyocardial biopsy results were retrieved and rejection-free survivals from transplant to first episode of rejection were analyzed with Log-rank test as well as Cox-proportional hazard model in multivariate analyses. Standard definition for antibody mediated rejection (AMR) was used and acute cellular rejection (ACR) grade 2R or more was considered severe. Results: Amongst 86 HTX recipients, 29 (33.7%) developed dnDSA. Patients with class I dnDSA as compared to patients without class I dnDSA had significantly worse rejection-free survival for AMR (28.6% vs 85.7% at 5 years, p ). Patients with class II dnDSA as compared to those without class II dnDSA had worse severe ACR-free survival (52% vs 75.8% at 5 years, p=0.015 ). Multivariate analysis revealed class I dnDSA to be independently associated with an increased risk for AMR (HR=5.520, p=0.008 ) while class II dnDSA was independently associated with increased risk of severe ACR (HR=3.140, p=0.013 ). Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of measuring anti-HLA after HTX. The development of class I and class II dnDSAs were independently associated with AMR and severe ACR respectively. Strategies to treat HTx recipients with dnDSA need to be developed to improve clinical outcomes.
Colorectal cancer genomics and designing rational trials

The widespread use of next generation sequencing (NGS) has led to a refined understanding of the genomics of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, progress in the use of molecular biomarkers in standard practice has been slow, and there is no approved targeted therapy for CRC based on a positive predictive marker yet. In this review, we will first summarize biomarkers with clinical utility in standard practice or targeted therapy trials and then consider how to rationally design clinical trials to more effectively target CRC. Specifically, we will discuss current clinical applications of genomic information consisting of the use of the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathway genes KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF as prognostic and predictive biomarkers for standard treatment, risk stratification by primary tumor site and consideration of tumor laterality in patient selection for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody treatment, and the evaluation for genomic biomarkers, including BRAF V600E, HER2 amplification, and gene rearrangements, for targeted therapies in clinical trials. Applying lessons from targeted therapy trials in CRC, we now appreciate that both tumor genomics and tissue of origin affect targeted therapy response and that the development of resistance to targeted therapies is dynamic and often subclonal. Based on these understandings, we propose the design of adaptive clinical trials that evaluate real-time pharmacodynamic markers and monitor tumor subpopulations during the course of treatment to overcome challenges targeting genetic drivers in CRC.
ExViz: A Virtual Exhibition Design Environment

A prototype of a virtual exhibition design environment has been developed in a co-operation with the Kunstmuseum Bonn. The tool allows curators to interactively design art exhibitions in a virtual real-size model of the museum space. Scanned artworks are mounted virtually on the museum walls and the curators gain an authentic spatial impression of the exhibition in a surround-view projection-based stereoscopic display system. Virtual exhibition design has proven to greatly simplify the exhibition production process. Curators can experience how artworks interact with each other long before they have been packed, insured, shipped, and physically mounted in the museum. Exhibitions can be previewed, and different designs and museum spaces can be compared easily without physically moving expensive and fragile artwork. As first real-world application, a retrospective of the American painter Philip Guston has been produced by the Kunstmuseum Bonn in a high-quality model of the museum’s temporary exhibition space.
The Role and Mission of the United States Food and Drug Administration: Regulator, Watchdog, Facilitator, or 'All of the Above'

What would transpire if the United States Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not exist? The charge of this inquiry is to analyze whether or not pharmaceutical companies by way of illustration would comply with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act if this administrative agency did not exist. The mission of the FDA is the promotion of public health through prompt and efficient review of clinical research and the taking of appropriate action on the marketing of regulated products in a timely manner. Is the FDA a regulating agency? Is the FDA a watchdog agency? Is the FDA a facilitating agency? The simplest and most obvious answer is that the FDA functions as all three. The relationship between the multi-functional role of the FDA and the question of whether or not drug companies would comply if the agency did not exist provides the basis for this article.
WLCSP Typical Reliability and Test

WLCSP is one of the fastest growing segments in semiconductor packaging industry due to the rapid advances in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication, small form factor, and low cost. This technology results in a lower cost per die (vs. traditional wirebond) when the die count per wafer is high. As the number of I/O per die increases (and thus the die size and the distance to neutral point increases), the WLCSP may not achieve prescribed solder joint reliability requirements; the metal stack (UBM and the Al pad), passivation, or polyimide may also appear to fail, especially when the WLCSP is mounted on the PCB. The board level reliability is a big concern for both analog and power WLCSP packaging. This chapter will discuss the WLCSP typical reliability test.
In Situ Hybridization: Principles and Applications

In situ hybridization (ISH) has become an extremely useful tool for the clinical pathology laboratory to aid oncologists, geneticists, and infectious disease specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients. ISH utilizes nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) probes to assess intact cells for various types of genetic alterations. Common applications of in situ hybridization include its use to detect cancer cells in cytological specimens, chromosomal alterations in resected tumor specimens that predict prognosis, and response to therapy of certain cancer types and microorganisms in various specimen types. ISH is typically performed either with fluorescently labeled probes or with probes that are subsequently visualized with a chromogen such as diaminobenzidine. If performed with fluorescently labeled probes, the technique is referred to as Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization, or FISH. Alternatively, if the technique is performed with a probe that requires subsequent visualization with a chemical reaction that produces a colored chemical at the site of the probe (a chromogen), the technique is referred to as Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization, or CISH.
Environmental migration: essence, problems and possible solutions

Climate change, desertifi cation, high risks of water supplies and increasing droughts in irrigation networks of rivers and canals (Karakalpakia, Aral); ethnic and linguistic barriers between titular nation and small nations (Kazakhs, Karakalpaks) in Uzbekistan, which hampers their internal migration and threatens assimilation within the country – all these reasons are not a survival strategy, but contribute to escape in search of asylum to other territories (Russia, Kazakhstan). There is a need to address the problem of environmental migration, therefore, the concept of an “environmental migrant”, an “environmental refugee” should be introduced into practice. Why is environmental migration as a problem requiring detailed study? This is a complex process, which has the same characteristics with a general migration of the population, but which has its own characteristics. An analysis of this process shows that, despite the obvious relevance and signifi cance, the problems associated with it remain unresolved. Theoretical development of migration policy is interdisciplinary, therefore, political scientists, sociologists, lawyers, demographers, historians, psychologists are engaged in migration issues. The interdisciplinary approach will reveal the economic, political, ecological, psychological aspects of environmental migration will give an objective assessment of its condition, will identify the main areas of improvement in the fi eld of right regulation, socio-psychological adaptation in migrant resettlement areas.
The stereochemistry of bicyclo[3.2.1]octane—XVIII

Abstract Monochlorocarbene undergoes addition to bicyclo[2.2.2]octene-2 to give anti- and syn-3-chlorotricyclo[3.2.2.02,4]nonane in a ratio of 5:1. On warming the mixture, only the syn isomer rearranges to 2-chlorobicyclo[3.2.2]nonene-3. The addition of monochlorocarbene to 1-methylnorbomene-2 affords 1-methyl-anti-3-chloro-exo-tricyclo[3.2.1.02,4]octane. 1-methyl-exo-4-chlorobicyclo[3.2.1]octene-2 and 1-methyl-exo-2-chlorobicyclo[3.2.1]octene-3 in a ratio of 3:1:1. Similar addition to 2-methylnorbomene-2 gives 2-methyl-anti-3-chloro-exo-tricyclo[3.2.1.02,4]octane and 2-methylenebicyclo[3.2.1]octene-3 in a ratio of 10:1. The exo-anti tricyclic structures are stable to heat and aqueous silver ion. In contrast, the exo-syn adducts are remarkably labile and are assumed to be the precursors of the rearranged products. The factors which govern the stereochemistry of the addition and rearrangement processes are discussed.
A Tandem Isomerization/Prins Strategy: Iridium(III)/Broensted Acid Cooperative Catalysis.

Different types of indoles containing aliphatic allyl ether side chains are investigated as substrates in a tandem isomerization/Prins-cyclization sequence to give pyran fused indoles in good yields.
Assessment of vascular stiffness in the internal carotid artery proximal to the carotid canal in Alzheimer's disease using pulse wave velocity from low rank reconstructed 4D flow MRI.

Clinical evidence shows vascular factors may co-occur and complicate the expression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); yet, the pathologic mechanisms and involvement of different compartments of the vasc...
What is new in the 2019 world health organization (WHO) classification of tumors of the digestive system: Review of selected updates on neuroendocrine neoplasms, appendiceal tumors, and molecular testing

Context.— The 5th edition of the World Health Organization classification of digestive system tumors discusses several advancements and developments in understanding the etiology, pathogenesis, and...
P2 Benefits of Farmers' Markets for Food Access: Results from a Needs Assessment in a Rural Southern County

Background For a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obesity prevention grant, a needs assessment was conducted in a rural Southern county with 40% adult obesity. The purpose of the grant was to reduce adult obesity rates through community interventions designed to improve access to healthy foods. Objective The objective was to identify barriers and facilitators for access to healthy foods. Study Design, Setting, Participants Adult county residents were recruited to complete surveys and participate in focus groups. Professionals were recruited for key informant interviews. Measurable Outcome/Analysis The survey included questions about access to healthy foods such as local availability and gardening. Descriptive statistics were used to examine survey data. Focus group and interview questions included perceived availability of healthy foods. Focus groups and interviews were transcribed verbatim. Two researchers coded the transcripts and developed themes using inductive content analysis. Results In summary, 1,085 surveys, 9 focus groups with 61 adults, and 25 interviews were completed. Focus group participants identified the county's 2 Farmers’ Markets as community assets for healthy food, especially for residents who lived in the communities where the markets were located. A major theme was the importance of supporting local businesses such as Farmers’ Markets and farmers. Over half of survey respondents (55%) reported buying fruits and vegetables at these markets. There were differences in reasons why survey respondents and focus group participants did not shop at the Farmers’ Markets. For survey respondents, the biggest barrier was that the markets were not open during the times they grocery shop (26.7%). For qualitative interviews, participants identified lack of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) acceptance, distance, and lack of variety as major barriers for not shopping at the Farmers’ Markets. Conclusions These results indicate that Farmers’ Markets can provide access to fruits and vegetables for small communities; however, economic and environmental barriers can limit market usage by limited-resource consumers.
Abstract 2605: Cytokeratin 5 promotes endocytosis to remodel cell adhesions in breast cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is clinically classified according to expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor (ER+ BC), HER2 (HER2+), or absence of these markers (triple negative BC). While TNBC has the inferior prognosis in the short term, ER+ breast cancer has an extended risk of recurrence that lasts up to 20 years and accounts for the most deaths overall. Cytokeratin 5 (CK5) is an intermediate filament protein that is expressed in the majority of TNBC cases and 10-50% of ER+ BC. In CK5+/ER+ BC, there is widespread heterogeneity in the amount of CK5+ tumor cells (~1-50%). The mere presence of CK5+ cells is an indicator of poor prognosis across both subtypes of BC; the reasons for this are poorly understood. We have shown that CK5+ cells within ER+ and TNBC cell lines, and heterogeneous PDX tumor models lose membrane localization of adherens junction proteins β-catenin and E-cadherin. Loss of membrane β-catenin and E-cadherin is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer and is a precursor to cell invasion. CK5+ cells have been reported to have increased invasive potential by us and others. Thus, identifying the mechanism of CK5-dependent loss of adherens proteins at the membrane could lead to development of therapies targeting this process. β-catenin and E-cadherin localization have been reported to be regulated through endocytosis which is mediated through the small GTPase family of Rab proteins. We performed a screen to identify potential CK5 interacting proteins in breast cancer cells and identified several Rab proteins. Thus, we hypothesizethat CK5 acts as a scaffold for Rabs to promote endocytosis of β-catenin and E-cadherin to increase invasive potential.To investigate this, we treated CK5 overexpressing ER+ and TNBC cells with the endocytosis inhibitor Dyngo4a and found membrane β-catenin and E-cadherin localization were restored, suggesting that CK5 may be mediating endocytosis of β-catenin and E-cadherin. Rab5 is responsible for trafficking vesicles from the plasma membrane to the early endosomes. CK5 was confirmed to interact with Rab5 by co-IP in TNBC and CK5 overexpressing ER+ cell lines. In ongoing studies, we are testing whether Rab5 knockdown prevents loss of membrane β-catenin and E-cadherin and decreases cell invasiveness. These experiments will collectively determine whether CK5 regulated endocytosis is a targetable feature in breast cancer cells. Citation Format: Olivia Frances McGinn, Ashley V. Ward, Jessica Finlay-Schultz, Kiran Vinod Paul, Peter Kabos, Carol Sartorius. Cytokeratin 5 promotes endocytosis to remodel cell adhesions in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2605.
Consequences of Asking Sensitive Questions in Surveys

I review selected articles from the survey methodology literature on the consequences of asking sensitive questions in censuses and surveys, using a total survey error (TSE) framework. I start with...
Energy dissipation during two-state switching for quantum-dot cellular automata

We examine the energy dissipated by a two-state quantum system during a switching operation when interacting with a thermal environment. For an isolated system, the excess energy decreases exponentially with switching time. For classically damped systems, the energy dissipation decreases linearly with switching time. We model the quantum system coupled to a thermal environment using a Lindblad equation for the density matrix. For rapid switching, the exponential quantum adiabaticity holds. For slow enough switching, the damping from the bath yields linear dissipation, as in the classical limit. Between these two limits, when the switching time is comparable to the characteristic energy transfer time to the thermal bath, there is an inverted region when dissipation increases with longer switching times. Consequences for the design of molecular quantum-dot cellular automata are discussed.
Differentially private approximate aggregation based on feature selection

Privacy-preserving data aggregation is an important problem that has attracted extensive study. The state-of-the-art techniques for solving this problem is differential privacy, which offers a strong privacy guarantee without making strong assumptions about the attacker. However, existing solutions cannot effectively query data aggregation from high-dimensional datasets under differential privacy guarantee. Particularly, when the input dataset contains large number of dimensions, existing solutions must inject large scale of noise into returned aggregates. To address the above issue, this paper proposes an algorithm for querying differentially private approximate aggregates from high-dimensional datasets. Given a dataset D, our algorithm first develops a $$\varepsilon '$$ -differentially private feature selection method that is based on a data sampling process over a kd-tree, which allows us to obtain a differentially private low-dimensional dataset with representative instances. After that, our algorithm samples independent samples from the kd-tree aiming at obtaining $$(\alpha ', \delta ')$$ -approximate aggregates. Finally, a model is proposed to determine the relevance between privacy and utility budgets such that the final aggregate still satisfies the accuracy requirements specified by data consumers. Intuitively, the proposed algorithm circumvents the dilemma of both dimensionality and the height threshold of kd-tree, as it samples a low-dimensional dataset S and queries aggregates from S, instead of the kd-tree. Satisfying user-specified privacy and utility budgets after multiple-stages approximation is significantly challenging, and we presents a novel model to determine the parameters’ relevance.
Can the Federal Government Use the Generic Wire Fraud Statute to Prosecute Public Officials for Corrupt Activities that are Conducted for Political Rather than Private Gain? (18-1059)

Petitioner and the United States agree that lies may be decisive in this case. How, why, and even which lies, however, are in dispute. Petitioner presents the Court with a broad question about the acceptability of the government’s parsing of motives to obtain a conviction. The government, on the other hand, sets out a workman-like question about whether it met the elements of the offense. Even though petitioner appeals all counts of her conviction, the argument centers largely on the wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
Florida Sleeve Operative Technique

The Florida sleeve is a useful aortic root remodeling technique for cardiothoracic surgeons to have in their armamentarium that entails encompassing the sinuses while narrowing the aortic annulus and sinotubular junction to preserve the aortic valve. This technique is a valuable alternative to root replacement in appropriately chosen patients. The Florida sleeve is particularly advantageous for aortic valve salvage in cases of offset coronary arteries and bicuspid aortic valve. It has even become a useful option in carefully selected aortic dissection patients. Specific attention must be paid to inspection of the coronary artery relationship to commissures, circumferential dissection below the coronaries to allow passage of the sleeve graft and subcommissural suture placement to secure the graft in place.
The study of the arid climate effect on the performance of photovoltaic system

The Adrar site is among sites of the highest solar radiation potential in the world. This region is characterized by high ambient temperature in the summer, which in some days is exceed 45 °C, where the high ambient temperature is affects the solar cells.The aim of this paper is to assessments the PV cells types mono crystalline, poly crystalline, micro crystalline amorphous and tripple junction for meteorological variables of Adrar environment.These models were tested by using input data from meteorological station of (URERMS-Adrar),and these inputs are used in software for PV system (PVsyst) to identify the characteristics of these types of PV module. The comparison between PV cells type mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline of same maximum power (250 W) it show that the cells type poly crystalline it more affected by the temperature of than mono crystalline. Finally, have reached that the assessments the performance of PV module is linked to weather (clear sky, overcast sky, shading, cold and hot).
The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Consumers’ Brand Preferences: A Multimethod Investigation

Abstract Five lab studies and a field study explore how power distance belief (PDB) influences consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands, the underlying mechanisms, and boundary conditions. We find that high (vs. low) PDB consumers are more likely to prefer mass-market over niche brands because they tend to be risk averse, which in turn increases preference for widely used brands. Consequently, the relationship between PDB and brand preferences is mediated by risk aversion. Further, when product usage contexts are risky, low (but not high) PDB consumers' preference for mass-market brands increases, whereas offering an extended money-back guarantee increases high (but not low) PDB consumers' preference for niche brands.In addition, we find that when choosing service providers (versus choosing physical goods), low (but not high) PDB consumers are significantly more likely to prefer mass-market brands over niche brands. We conclude with the implications of these findingsfor marketers, such as for their segmentation and targeting endeavors. We also provide specific tools that marketers could use, both inside and outside the store, to influence consumers' preference for mass-market versus niche brands.
The Struggle Over the EU Non-Financial Disclosure Directive

A new EU Directive represents an important step towards greater corporate accountability: it will require large companies to report on their social, environmental and human rights impacts and the risks their activities pose for third parties. While the circumstances leading to the Directive were favorable, the final text was weakened significantly as a result of opposition from business, German business in particular. This contribution examines the political struggles over the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive and seeks to explain the positions of different countries and interest groups in the negotiations. It identifies domestic regulations as a sufficient but not a necessary condition for support of the Directive. It also suggests that Germany’s particularly fierce resistance is attributable at least in part to the size and influence of Germany’s Mittelstand or medium-size enterprise sector.
Evidence-Based Prevention of Internalizing Disorders

There is substantial agreement among both researchers and practitioners to classify behaviors into internalizing and externalizing categories (Cosgrove et al., 2011; Guttmannova, Szanyi, & Cali, 2007). Externalizing behaviors are identified as “undercontroled” behaviors. Children whose behavior is undercontroled have difficulty with peers, break rules, tend to be irritable, and are typically belligerent. Physical fighting, bullying, using weapons, making verbal threats, and impulsive aggression are externalizing behaviors (Rappaport & Thomas, 2004). Antisocial behavior predicts failure at school, rejection by normative classmates, making increasing connections with deviant peers, and getting involved in negative acts (Berkout, Young, & Gross, 2011). This may be the easiest way for some students to get rewards from their environments.
Simulation of micropopulations in epidemiology: Tutorial 1. Simulation: an introduction: A series of tutorials illustrated by coronary heart disease models

This is the first in a series of tutorials concerning the simulation of micropopulation models for use in epidemiological research. The series emphasizes the techniques that are in use at the National Micropopulation Simulation Resource at the University of Minnesota. This initial series of tutorials uses chronic disease models, specifically coronary heart disease models, to illustrate the principles and methodologies employed. The series is intended for persons having some familiarity with electronic, digital computation and desiring to know more about a specific class of simulations, namely those that apply Monte Carlo techniques in the simulation of micropopulation models as a part of biomedical research. It is the author's hope that these tutorials will be particularly useful for students in medical informatics; they could also be of interest to professionals in both the computational and the biomedical sciences.
Chromatographically Fractionated Complementary Strands of Bacillus subtilis Deoxyribonucleic Acid: Transformation of Hybrids

Abstract The annealing properties as measured by the restoration of transforming activity and hypochromicity of methylated albumin-kieselguhr (MAK)-fractionated complementary strands of Bacillus subtilis deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are presented. Temperature-absorbance measurements performed on annealed mixtures of various L and H strand fractions indicated the existence of a complementarity gradient between the two MAK peaks. The markers purA16, leu-8, metB5, thr-5, and the linked marker hisB2-try-2 exhibited different bimodal distributions on MAK columns. The transforming efficiency of heteroduplex mixtures, prepared by cross-annealing resolved complementary strands of wild-type and recipient DNA, was compared. The transforming efficiency of the wild-type L and H strands was equal in one preparation and unequal in a second preparation. It was found that in the second strand preparation the heteroduplex DNA containing the H strand from wild type was more efficient for all of the markers tested. The variations in transforming efficiencies of the complementary strands in heteroduplex molecules reported here and by others are due in part to strands of unequal length and probably to the self-annealing property of the H strands. At present, no conclusion could be made regarding the existence of strand selection bias during integration of donor DNA in competent B. subtilis cells.
Matters of Preference: Tracing the Line between Citizens, Democratic States, and International Law

In this Article, we assess the role the aggregation of citizen preferences into the foreign policy choices of a democratic country might play in the legitimization of international law. After addressing some of the theoretical and empirical issues associated with such an approach, we use an anticipated reaction model developed by Michael Bailey to show that even in large democracies there are mechanisms through which citizen preferences can be and are reflected in the policy choices of their representatives. Incumbents and candidates for office take policy positions in hopes of maximizing their future election chances. Although policymakers each have their own personal policy preferences, those preferences must be balanced against those of the electorate to optimize the prospects for future election. Rational well-informed policymakers anticipate future electoral consequences of public opinion and adjust their present policy positions accordingly. We then discuss the implications of such an approach for the principle of subsidiarity and the participation of states in multilateral institutions, in particular the International Monetary Fund. We argue that there is reason to believe that citizen preferences remain relevant in decisions whether to centralize or decentralize, and in decisions whether a state will support or undermine the mission of international institutions, which must be taken into account as those institutions make their own substantive and procedural choices.
Multiresolution Techniques for Interactive Texture-based Rendering of Arbitrarily Oriented Cutting Planes

We present a multiresolution technique for interactive texture based rendering of arbitrarily oriented cutting planes for very large data sets. This method uses an adaptive scheme that renders the data along a cutting plane at different resolutions: higher resolution near the point-of-interest and lower resolution away from the point-of-interest. The algorithm is based on the segmentation of texture space into an octree, where the leaves of the tree define the original data and the internal nodes define lower-resolution versions. Rendering is done adaptively by selecting high-resolution cells close to a center of attention and low-resolution cells away from it. We limit the artifacts introduced by this method by blending between different levels of resolution to produce a smooth image. This technique can be used to produce viewpoint-dependent renderings.
R We Fooling Ourselves: Does the Occlusion Technique Shortchange R Estimates?

The occlusion technique was originally used to evaluate the cognitive demands of the roadway. Recently, the occlusion technique has been used as a cost-effective tool for assessing the visual demand of in-vehicle devices. Occlusions simulate glances from an in-vehicle device to the roadway by interrupting visual sampling. However, occluding the in-vehicle device does not impose any additional cognitive demand on the participant like true glances back to the roadway. The purpose of this study was to compare standard no-task occlusions with occlusions requiring participants to perform a visual-motor tracking task. Results suggest that overestimates of resumability may result by not including a task during occlusions. Furthermore, estimations of visual demand based on individual post-occlusion resumption times may provide a more precise measure of transition costs and resumability than measures based on Total Shutter Open Time.
Spatiotemporal near-field spin microscopy in digital magnetic heterostructures

A femtosecond-resolved low-temperature near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) is used to monitor the spatiotemporal evolution of excitonic spins in magnetic semiconductor quantum structures which are laterally patterned with a focused beam of Ga/sup +/ ions. Polarization-resolved photoluminescence (PL) images reveal a spin-dependent energy landscape in which the Zeeman splitting is diminished in implanted regions, and carrier and spin behavior directly distinguished by sharp differences in intensity and polarization profiles. Time-resolved measurements suggest that exciton diffusion acquires a spin-dependent component in the presence of a magnetic field. The data demonstrates fundamental limitations on the measurement of polarized PL from semiconductors in the near-field regime, and exhibits distinct differences between near-field detection and near-field excitation of emitted PL. The heterostructures consist of single 120 /spl Aring/ ZnSe/ZnCdSe MBE-grown semiconductor quantum wells (QW) containing a systematic distribution of magnetic ions (Mn/sup 2+/). In magnetic fields, traditional magneto-optical data show narrow PL linewidths and large Zeeman splittings, making them ideal systems in which to study local spin-dependent interactions.
Unidentifiable Relationships in Conceptual Marketing Models

For fifty years methods have existed to diagnose whether a conceptual model is unidentifiable, but it appears marketing scholars do not regularly check identification before estimation. To confirm this, all conceptual models published in the Journal of Marketing from 1995 to 1999 are analyzed using the traditional diagnostic methods for identification. Two-thirds of the published conceptual models contain relationships that are unidentifiable. These relationships have been empirically estimated, although it is impossible to measure their parameters validly. The published empirical estimates are spurious and cannot be trusted to represent the behavior they claim to measure until the identification problem has been corrected. The theory, not the statistics, must change to validate the measurements, so the paper concludes with suggestions that can help avoid unidentifiable conceptual theories.
Thermal decomposition of titanium deuteride thin films

Abstract The thermal desorption spectra of deuterium from essentially clean titanium deuteride thin films were measured by ramp heating the films in vacuum; the film thicknesses ranged from 20 to 220 nm and the ramp rates varied from 0.5 to about 3 °C s −1 . Each desorption spectrum consisted of a low nearly constant rate at low temperatures followed by a highly peaked rate at higher temperatures. The cleanliness and thinness of the films permitted a description of desorption rates in terms of a simple phenomenological model based on detailed balancing in which the low temperature pressure-composition characteristics of the two-phase (α-(α + γ)-γ) region of the TiD system were used as input data. At temperatures below 340 °C the model predictions were in excellent agreement with the experimentally measured desorption spectra. Interpretations of the spectra in terms of “decomposition trajectories” are possible using this model, and this approach is also used to explain deviations of the spectra from the model at temperatures of 340 °C and above.
Studies of the nuclear single-particle response function in a simple model

Abstract An expansion for the single-particle response function for a collection of non-interacting fermions in a localized potential well is developed with particular emphasis on applications to nuclei (including Δ-hole excitations), computational techniques, and comparisons to an infinite Fermi gas. Ground states and excited systems can both be treated with this formalism, although the latter involves a significantly more difficult analysis. Also, a useful dispersion relation is obtained for the response function. Then, an accurate method is presented for evaluating bound state and continuum single-particle wave functions in momentum space, the representation in which one most naturally derives the appropriate single-particle normalization factors. However, it is argued that for calculating folding integrals of two singleparticle wave functions coordinate space may be superior to momentum space. Our main results show that for any reasonable description of light nuclei excited by pions, the continuum states must be included. Also, in these systems the overall response of the continuum states is dramatically dependent on the real part of the Δ-particle optical potential.