cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Confronting Social Disparities in Child Health: A Critical Appraisal of Life-Course Science and Research

The utility of the life-course framework to address disparities in child health is based on its ability to integrate the science of child development with the requirements of effective and just public policy. I argue that the life-course framework is best assessed in a historical context and through 4 essential observations. First, early genetic and environmental interactions are complex and influence outcomes in different settings in very different ways. Second, these early-life interactions are themselves subject to considerable later influences and, therefore, may not be highly predictive of later outcomes. Third, the etiologic nature or timing of early-life interactions does not, per se, determine if their life-course effects are amenable to later interventions. Fourth, a highly deterministic view of early-life interactions is not supported by the science and can generate counterproductive approaches to research and policy development. Finally, an alternative approach is proposed on the basis of a "human-capacity" model of the life course that connects the search for underlying basic mechanisms with a policy-based examination of the comparative effectiveness of influences at different developmental stages. This approach suggests an expanded research and policy agenda that might be more capable of generating urgently needed strategies for reducing disparities in child health. Such an approach could ultimately define more comprehensively the power and limits of life-course effects in shaping the social distribution of health outcomes in the real world.
Use of Capsular Polysaccharide—Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine for Type II Group B Streptococcus in Healthy Women

An estimated 15% of invasive group B streptococcal (GBS) disease is caused by type II capsular polysaccharide (II CPS). In developing a pentavalent vaccine for the prevention of GBS infections, individual GBS CPSs have been coupled to tetanus toxoid (TT) to prepare vaccines with enhanced immunogenicity. Type II GBS (GBS II) vaccine was created by direct, covalent coupling of II CPS to TT by reductive amination. In 2 clinical trials, 75 healthy nonpregnant women 18-45 years old were randomized to receive II CPS-TT (II-TT) conjugate (dose range, 3.6-57 microg of CPS component) or uncoupled II CPS vaccine. Both vaccines were well tolerated. II CPS-specific IgG serum concentrations (as well as IgM and IgA) peaked 2 weeks after immunization, being significantly higher in recipients of conjugated vaccine than in recipients of uncoupled CPS. Immunological responses to conjugate were dose dependent and correlated with opsonophagocytosis in vitro. These results support inclusion of II-TT conjugate when preparing a multivalent GBS vaccine.
Performance evaluation for widely linear demodulation of PAM/QAM signals in the presence of rayleigh fading and co-channel interference

In this paper, widely linear filtering (WLF) techniques are applied to the demodulation of both pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) systems with multiple receiver antennas and multiple cochannel interferers. In the proposed implementation, the existing correlations between the real (I) and imaginary (Q) parts of the complex-valued baseband received signal are exploited using a widely linear (WL) maximum likelihood (ML) receiver. Several bounds and approximations are developed to analyze the average symbol error rate (SER) performance, and to analyze the tradeoff between the diversity advantage and interference cancellation (IC) gain in a flat Rayleigh fading channel. Two new results are shown. First, we show that the IC ability of WL receivers is independent of the modulation type used by the desired signal but the gain depends mainly on the modulation type employed by the individual interferers and the total number of antennas. Secondly, assuming that the system uses a mixture of PAM and QAM signals, we show that a WL receiver with N antennas can reject any combination of M1 PAM, M2 QAM interferers satisfying the constraint: M1 + 2M2 < 2N with an asymptotic diversity order N - M1/2 - M2. In contrast, a conventional receiver whose performance is independent of the modulation characteristics of the individual interferers can reject only up to M1 + M2 interferers, where M1 + M2 < N with an asymptotic diversity order N - M1 - M2. When the system contains either PAM, or a mixture of PAM and QAM type CCI, it is shown that WL processing offers a significant performance advantage with a moderate increase in the receiver complexity.
Daily interpersonal coping strategies Implications for self-reported well-being and cortisol

An important pathway by which relationships influence health may involve how people cope with interpersonal tensions. This study examined whether same day and prior day avoidance and engagement in arguments are differentially associated with self-reported well-being (emotional, physical) and diurnal cortisol patterns. Participants from Wave 2 of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE; N =1512; ages 33-84, 57% women), completed daily phone interviews for eight consecutive days and provided useable saliva samples that were assayed for cortisol for four of those days at specific times: waking, 30 minutes after waking, before lunch, and bedtime. Multilevel models revealed same day arguments were associated with lower well-being (higher negative affect, lower positive affect) than same day avoidance or no tension. In contrast, previous day avoidance was associated with lower next day well-being (higher negative affect, more physical symptoms) and higher next day cortisol than having no interpersonal tension the previous day. Arguments have greater same day consequences for well-being, whereas avoided arguments have greater next day consequences, which may indicate delayed effects of avoidance.
Socio-Economic Background, Aggression and Catecholamine Excretion

3 24-hr. urine samples were obtained from 27 volunteer army enlisted men on 3 consecutive days. The urine samples were analyzed for norepinephrine and epinephrine content and the results were related to selected socioeconomic background variables obtained from questionnaire responses of Ss. Individuals with low socio-economic backgrounds excreted significantly higher proportions of norepinephrine in relation to epinephrine than did individuals with middle-class backgrounds. Class differences in socialization of the child with respect to aggressiveness are hypothesized as leading to characteristic outwardly or inwardly aggressive behavior which has been shown previously to relate differentially to catecholamine excretion.
Standardized platform for coregistration of nonconcurrent diffuse optical and magnetic resonance breast images obtained in different geometries

We present a novel methodology for combining breast image data obtained at different times, in different geometries, and by different techniques. We combine data based on diffuse optical tomography (DOT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The software platform integrates advanced multimodal registration and segmentation algorithms, requires minimal user experience, and employs computationally efficient techniques. The resulting superposed 3-D tomographs facilitate tissue analyses based on structural and functional data derived from both modalities, and readily permit enhancement of DOT data reconstruction using MRI-derived a-priori structural information. We demonstrate the multimodal registration method using a simulated phantom, and we present initial patient studies that confirm that tumorous regions in a patient breast found by both imaging modalities exhibit significantly higher total hemoglobin concentration (THC) than surrounding normal tissues. The average THC in the tumorous regions is one to three standard deviations larger than the overall breast average THC for all patients.
Porous silicon pn junction light emitting diodes

This paper presents the results of a systematic study of porous silicon light emitting diodes (LEDs). Porous silicon pn junction LEDs, both patterned and unpatterned, were fabricated using the standard anodization method as well as a novel technique developed for the anodization of heavily doped pn junction structures. The current-voltage, photoluminescence and electroluminescence properties of the various porous silicon pn junction LEDs were investigated. The devices fabricated by the standard method show electroluminescence only under reverse bias conditions. The pn junctions fabricated by the novel anodization technique show electroluminescence under forward bias conditions. The light emission mechanism in these devices is believed to be due to electron-hole injection in the silicon nanostructures forming the porous silicon material.
Pharmacoepidemiologic and in vitro evaluation of potential drug-drug interactions of sulfonylureas with fibrates and statins.

Aims To examine whether initiation of fibrates or statins in sulfonylurea users is associated with hypoglycaemia, and examine in vitro inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes by statins, fenofibrate and glipizide. Methods We used healthcare data to conduct nested case-control studies of serious hypoglycaemia (i.e. resulting in hospital admission or emergency department treatment) in persons taking glipizide or glyburide, and calculated adjusted overall and time-stratified odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We also characterized the in vitro inhibition of CYP enzymes by statins, fenofibrate and glipizide using fluorometric CYP450 inhibition assays, and estimated area under the concentration–time curve ratios (AUCRs) for the drug pairs. Results We found elevated adjusted overall ORs for glyburide-fenofibrate (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.37, 2.47) and glyburide-gemfibrozil (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.25, 1.96). The apparent risk did decline over time as might be expected from a pharmacokinetic mechanism. Fenofibrate was a potent in vitro inhibitor of CYP2C19 (IC50 = 0.2 μm) and CYP2B6 (IC50 = 0.7 μm) and a moderate inhibitor of CYP2C9 (IC50 = 9.7 μm). The predicted CYP-based AUCRs for fenofibrate-glyburide and gemfibrozil-glyburide interactions were only 1.09 and 1.04, suggesting that CYP inhibition is unlikely to explain such an interaction. Conclusions Use of fenofibrate or gemfibrozil together with glyburide was associated with elevated overall risks of serious hypoglycaemia. CYP inhibition seems unlikely to explain this observation. We speculate that a pharmacodynamic effect of fibrates (e.g. activate peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor alpha) may contribute to these apparent interactions.
Ethnicity and sex similarities and differences in drug resistance

Abstract Drug resistance skills form the core of most drug prevention programs. Recent work has begun to describe drug resistance processes among high school and college students. The current study attempts to extend this work by examining a younger population and describing ethnic and sex similarities and differences. The primary goal was to establish the descriptive basis for future research by identifying how drugs are offered and resisted, examining the social context of drug offers, and reporting on the roles of ethnicity and sex. Results of interviews with 158 middle school adolescents indicate that most offers they receive are simple and explicit, with slightly more than a quarter of these offers followed by repeated pressure. Offers are resisted by enacting a relatively restricted range of strategies, the primary resistance strategy being a simple no. Drugs tend to be offered in public or in homes. When European American, African American, and Latino/a students are compared, Latinos/as are signifi...
IP multicasting for wireless mobile hosts

We consider the problem of efficient multicast support for mobile wireless hosts in TCP/IP networks. We summarize techniques supporting multicasting and mobility, along with their constraints and interactions, and explore architectural alternatives for solutions to the combined problem that remain compatible with the existing architecture. We propose a new mechanism for group management, optimized for point-to-point links. We also discuss three proposed multicast delivery mechanisms and compare them with respect to efficiency on wireless networks and impact on host software.
A pessimistic approach to frequency domain model (in)validation

Model (In) validation has been extensively studied during the past decade, leading to efficient algorithms to establish whether some a priori information, typically a given model, uncertainty and noise description, is consistent with some observed experimental data. These algorithms are optimistic in the sense that a given description is considered to be not invalidated by the experimental data when there exists at least one pair (noise, uncertainty) that together with the nominal model can reproduce the observed data. Thus, they can substantially underestimate the size of the model uncertainty, leading to poor performance or even instability when this information is used to design a robust controller. To solve this difficulty, in this paper we take a pessimistic approach, where we seek the smallest ball such that the resulting model is invalidated by the experimental data for all uncertainties outside this ball. Thus, a robust controller designed using this information is guaranteed to stabilize the unknown plant. The main result of the paper provides an LMI-based optimization procedure for computing an upper bound on the radius of this ball for the case of structured uncertainty entering the plant in an LFT form. Moreover, in the case of up to two uncertainty blocks this upper bound is indeed exact.
Stimulus intensity expectation and visual evoked brain potentials.

In a sample of 32 adult subjects, we examined the relationship between amplitude measures of the visual evoked potential (VEP) and a subject's expectation that a stimulus would be either brighter or dimmer than the others in a series. It was found that when subjects expected a bright light flash, the VEP waveform changed in the direction associated with a stimulus intensity increase even though no actual intensity change occurred. Conversely, when subjects expected a dim light flash, the VEP waveform changed in the direction associated with a stimulus intensity decrease even though no actual intensity change occurred. The amplitude changes to the expected stimulus intensities occurred in specific VEP peaks and were related to the position of the stimulus in the sequence.
Evaluating the temporal correlation of MIMO channel capacities

In this paper, we evaluate the correlation coefficient between two multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel capacities when these channels have temporal correlations. We find the exact value of the correlation coefficient for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and its upper/lower bounds and approximation for high SNR. The obtained results have important applications such as calculating the level crossing rate
Interactive non-fiction: towards a new approach for storytelling in digital journalism

The development of digital journalism, an important area of storytelling, has focused primarily on incorporating interactive multimedia components to traditional linear news stories. In this paper, we propose a new approach that places central focus on text, the core of journalism, based on insights from fictional interactive digital storytelling. Drawing upon the convention of interactive fiction, we present our preliminary work on interactive non-fiction.
Documenting Art, Writing Biography Construction of the Silvestre Family History, 1660–1868

This article concerns six generations of the Silvestre family: a succession of artists, royal drawing masters, and art collectors whose social ascent began in the late seventeenth century in parallel with the Bourbon Monarchy and continued after its fall. In this article, we show how the Silvestres legitimized a path of social mobility from seventeenth-century artisans to nineteenth-century aristocrats by narrating and documenting the family’s history in three texts—two catalogues raisonnes that recorded the Silvestre art collections and a family biography that traced the dynasty through the French Revolution. By establishing and advancing the family’s reputation or credit, the Silvestres built a narrative bridge that carried them across the revolutionary divide.
Managing insomnia in the primary care setting: raising the issues.

The optimal management of insomnia in the primary care setting should be viewed as a public health problem that will require specific attention. Important recent strides in the understanding of insomnia, its consequences, and its treatment do not always provide a basis for management strategies in a setting with distinct practical limitations. A somewhat different research focus will be needed if the scientific advances are to be translated into practical improvements in therapy. In primary care today, multiple agendas compete for the physician's time. Therefore, it is necessary to view diagnosis and management in terms of both what is efficient and what is optimally effective. Much can be learned from experience with medical risk factors of broad prevalence, such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Large outcome trials demonstrating the benefits of drug therapy were required before pharmacologic management became standard care in the primary care setting. For insomnia, specific issues that must be addressed include the components of diagnosis that will guide therapy and affect prognosis. How can the 10% of adults with insomnia in the primary care practice be subdivided to identify those most in need of therapy? Stated another way, what are the features of insomnia that predict risk? Is duration important? Severity? Frequency? Which treatments are most effective? Which are most efficient in terms of the time required of patient and practitioner? Do treatments for insomnia produce patient satisfaction? Do they prevent adverse outcomes, such as depression and automobile accidents? Studies are now addressing many of these questions. In selecting research priorities, however, the practical application of this information in the clinical setting is important if the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of patients suffering from insomnia and its consequences. Language: en
A High-Resolution Tile-Based Approach for Classifying Biological Regions in Whole-Slide Histopathological Images.

Computational analysis of histopathological whole slide images (WSIs) has emerged as a potential means for improving cancer diagnosis and prognosis. However, an open issue relating to the automated processing of WSIs is the identification of biological regions such as tumor, stroma, and necrotic tissue on the slide. We develop a method for classifying WSI portions (512×512-pixel tiles) into biological regions by (1) extracting a set of 461 image features from each WSI tile, (2) optimizing tile-level prediction models using nested cross-validation on a small (600 tile) manually annotated tilelevel training set, and (3) validating the models against a much larger (1.7×106 tile) data set for which ground truth was available on the whole-slide level. We calculated the predicted prevalence of each tissue region and compared this prevalence to the ground truth prevalence for each image in an independent validation set. Results show significant correlation between the predicted (using automated system) and reported biological region prevalences with p<0.001 for eight of nine cases considered.
Studies of a Contact Zone among Three Chromosomal Races of Geomys bursarius in East Texas

A zone of contact among three chromosomal races of Geomys bursarius , designated E (2N = 74, FN = 72), F (2N = 70, FN = 74), and G (2N = 70, FN = 72), was located in Burleson Co., Texas. Interactions between race E and races F and G were assessed. Differences in diploid and fundamental numbers between these two groups were sufficient to detect many potential backcross and F2 hybrid individuals. Of 42 gophers collected in the contact zone, 31% had an apparent F1 karyotype (some of these may be unrecognized backcross and F2 individuals). No karyotypically detectable backcross or F2 individuals were found except in the fetal state. Race E and races F and G could not be separated morphologically, although two general groups were evident. The F1 hybrids were not morphologically intermediate between race E and races F or G, but were more similar to the latter pair of races than to the former race. No ecological differences with regard to soil preferences were found among the three races and hybrids. The limited size of the contact zone and the apparent lack of backcrossing suggest that race E and races F and G interact as biological species where they contact. The absence of any detectable premating isolating mechanisms may be correlated with the recency of the contact zone. It is suggested that races F and G have invaded the existing range of race E, possibly as a consequence of the effects of man-made disturbances such as agriculture and the building of road rights-of-way.
An unstable anthocyanin mutation recovered from tissue culture of alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

A white-flowered mutant (“WFM”) was regenerated from tissue culture of a purple-flowered plant of tetraploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). When WFM was recultured, many regenerated plants (>20%) were purple-flowered. Genetic analysis established that a functional allele, C2, of a locus required for anthocyanin pigmentation was in the simplex condition (C2c2c2c2) in the donor genotype when it mutated to an unstable recessive (“mutable”) allele, c2-m4, which is carried by WFM. Tissue culture experiments demonstrated that c2-m4 reverts to function at a high frequency in vitro. Results indicate that reversion occurs early in culture and may be the result of a genome shock associated with callus formation. Reversion also occurs in planta, but at a much lower frequency than in vitro. The c2-m4 allele is transmitted to progeny which revert in tissue culture. Revertant alleles, like the progenitor allele, are stable and are sexually transmitted. The action of a transposable element which is especially active in vitro is suggested.
Determinants of the justifiability of performance in ill-structured audit tasks

This paper examines determinants of justifiability of performance in an ill-structured audit task. Justifiability is the extent to which task performance can be defended and an ill-structured audit task is a nonroutine task that lacks definitive applicable authoritative guidance, has multiple alternative courses of action, and requires the auditor to exercise significant judgment (Abdolmohammadi and Wright [1987]). Performance evaluation for these tasks generally rests upon the perceived justifiability of either the decision process or actual choice (Davis and Solomon [1989] and Waller and Felix [1984]), so that understanding expert performance on these audit tasks requires understanding the determinants of justifiability (Solomon and Shields [1995]).
Paving the Pathway: Exploring Student Perceptions of Professional Development Preparation in Doctoral Education.

The breadth of doctoral education has expanded to include professional development activities in order to prepare students for academic and nonacademic careers. This mixed methods study focused on students’ perceptions of professional development opportunities at a Research One university. The findings suggest that most students feel prepared in scholarly-related activities; but they identify gaps in areas such as preparation for grant writing, teaching, and leading research teams. Statistically significant differences in perceived preparation were noted among disciplines. We offer suggestions for future research in doctoral professional development and recognize the need to expand and diversify centralized, institution-based resources so as to pave the pathway to successful careers for graduate students.
Data-Driven Targeting of Customers for Demand Response

Selecting customers for demand response (DR) programs is challenging, and existing methodologies are hard to scale and poor in performance. The existing methods are limited by lack of temporal consumption information at the individual customer level. We propose a scalable methodology for DR program targeting utilizing novel data available from individual-level smart meters. The approach relies on formulating the problem as a stochastic knapsack problem involving predicted customer responses. A novel and efficient approximation algorithm is developed so it can scale to problems involving millions of customers. The methodology is tested experimentally using real smart meter data in more than 58k residential households.
Productivity Dispersion in Medicine and Manufacturing

Abstract The conventional wisdom in health economics is that large differences in average productivity across US hospitals are the result of idiosyncratic features of the healthcare sector which dull the role of market forces. Strikingly, however, we find that productivity dispersion in heart attack treatment across hospitals is, if anything, smaller than in narrowly defined manufacturing industries such as ready-mixed concrete. While this fact admits multiple interpretations, it suggests that healthcare may have more in common with “traditional” sectors than is often assumed, and relatedly, that insights from research on productivity and allocation in other sectors may enrich analysis of healthcare.
Situation of HIV/syphilis infection and influencing factors among MSM in 2012 in Mianyang city

Objective To find out the current situation of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)/ syphilis infection and influencing factors among men who have sex with men(MSM) in 2012 in Mianyang. Methods Snowball sampling method was used through which MSM from six counties, one county-level city and 2 districts of Minayang were recruited in fixed places for performing self-administration questionnaire survey and blood test. Results Of the 833 surveyed subjects, 3.5%28/801 of them were positive for HIV in the first round of test and 3.0%24/801 of them were ascertained. The infection rates of syphilis,hepatitis C were 4.9%26/534 and 0.7%2/267 The infection rates of HIV and syphilis in different areas revealed significant difference(χ12.144, 16.535, P 0.05).The independent influencing factors of HIV infection were having sexually transmitted infections within a recent year, receiving preventive services within a recent year and male anal sex in recent six months. The independent influencing factors for syphilis infection were age, having sexually transmitted infection within a recent years and drug use. Conclusion The infection rates of HIV/syphilis of MSM in Mianyang were relatively high characterized by regional disparity and diverse influencing factors. Therefore,influencing factor-oriented behavior intervention be carried out to reduce the infection rates of the diseases.
Adaptive control architectures for mitigating sensor attacks in cyber-physical systems

The accuracy of sensor measurements is critical to the design of high performance control systems since sensor uncertainties can significantly deteriorate achievable closed-loop dynamical system performance. Sensor uncertainty can arise due to low sensor quality, sensor failure, or detrimental environmental conditions. For example, relatively cheap sensor suites are used for low-cost, small-scale unmanned vehicle applications that can result in inaccurate sensor measurements. Alternatively, sensor measurements can also be corrupted by malicious attacks if dynamical systems are controlled through large-scale, multilayered communication networks as is the case in cyber-physical systems. This paper presents several adaptive control architectures for stabilization of linear dynamical systems in the presence of sensor uncertainty and sensor attacks. Specifically, we propose new and novel adaptive controllers for state-independent and state-dependent sensor uncertainties. In particular, we show that the proposed controllers guarantee asymptotic stability of the closed-loop dynamical system when the sensor uncertainties are time-invariant and uniform ultimate boundedness when the uncertainties are time-varying. We further discuss the practicality of the proposed approaches and provide a numerical example to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed adaptive control architectures.
Nanofibers from water-extractable melt-blown immiscible polymer blends

Abstract Nanofibers were prepared from water-extractable melt-blown immiscible polymer blends containing a commercial sulfopolyester (SP) as the sacrificial phase. Application of the water-dispersible SP eliminates issues associated with organic solvents, providing a facile, economic, and environment-friendly approach to high throughput fabrication of melt-blown nanofibers with an average diameter as small as 66 nm. Moreover, this approach offers a new route to prepare multilayer melt-blown nano-/micro-fiber composites. We demonstrate the fabrication of porous double-layer melt-blown PBT nano-/micro-fiber composites by tuning the collection time of the melt-blown SP/PBT blend fibers. Such materials are potentially useful for filtration media.
Zebrafish models of human eye and inner ear diseases.

Abstract Eye and inner ear diseases are the most common sensory impairments that greatly impact quality of life. Zebrafish have been intensively employed to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying eye and inner ear development. The zebrafish visual and vestibulo-acoustic systems are very similar to these in humans, and although not yet mature, they are functional by 5 days post-fertilization (dpf). In this chapter, we show how the zebrafish has significantly contributed to the field of biomedical research and how researchers, by establishing disease models and meticulously characterizing their phenotypes, have taken the first steps toward therapies. We review here models for (1) eye diseases, (2) ear diseases, and (3) syndromes affecting eye and/or ear. The use of new genome editing technologies and high-throughput screening systems should increase considerably the speed at which knowledge from zebrafish disease models is acquired, opening avenues for better diagnostics, treatments, and therapies.
Plate Fixation versus Percutaneous Pinning for Unstable Metacarpal Fractures: A Meta-analysis

Background: Whether percutaneous pinning or plate fixation is more appropriate for metacarpal fractures is still open to debate. Our study purpose was to review the current literature in an attempt to determine the optimal treatment modality for metacarpal fractures on the basis of functional outcomes, radiographic outcome and rates of complications. Methods: We selected Pubmed, Cochrane library, EMBASE and the relevant English orthopedic journals and pooled data from eligible trials including four comparative studies and one retrospective review. Overall, the studies contained 222 patients with 231 fractures, 143 treated with pinning and 88 treated with plates and screws. Mean follow up was 7.5 months (4-12 months). Data were analyzed and the fixed effects are assumed for meta-analysis. Results: Patients undergoing pinning for metacarpal fractures have higher motion scores when compared to open reduction and internal fixation with plate and screws. Functional scores, grip strength, radiographic parameters, time to union and complications were found not to be significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: There is evidence to support the use of pins over ORIF with plates and screws in the treatment of metacarpal fractures. This may have practical advantages, including minimal dissection, easier insertion and availability of the pins. The limitations of this study include the small number of eligible studies, lack of reporting of standard deviation value, and the lack of DASH score assessments at follow up. Further randomized controlled trials that include a larger patient numbers with longer follow up are needed to substantiate the superiority of one fixation method over another.
Demonstration of two types of fatigue in subjects with chronic liver disease using factor analysis

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to determine if it was possible to separate fatigue self-reports into two distinct types of fatigue symptom clusters in research subjects with chronic liver disease (CLD). It was hypothesized that when items from the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form (SF-36v2) are combined with items from the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), these distinct factors will emerge.
Temporally dependent pollinator competition and facilitation with mass flowering crops affects yield in co-blooming crops

One of the greatest challenges in sustainable agricultural production is managing ecosystem services, such as pollination, in ways that maximize crop yields. Most efforts to increase services by wild pollinators focus on management of natural habitats surrounding farms or non-crop habitats within farms. However, mass flowering crops create resource pulses that may be important determinants of pollinator dynamics. Mass bloom attracts pollinators and it is unclear how this affects the pollination and yields of other co-blooming crops. We investigated the effects of mass flowering apple on the pollinator community and yield of co-blooming strawberry on farms spanning a gradient in cover of apple orchards in the landscape. The effect of mass flowering apple on strawberry was dependent on the stage of apple bloom. During early and peak apple bloom, pollinator abundance and yield were reduced in landscapes with high cover of apple orchards. Following peak apple bloom, pollinator abundance was greater on farms with high apple cover and corresponded with increased yields on these farms. Spatial and temporal overlap between mass flowering and co-blooming crops alters the strength and direction of these dynamics and suggests that yields can be optimized by designing agricultural systems that avoid competition while maximizing facilitation.
Evaluation of Endangered Lakesucker Rearing in Tributaries to Upper Klamath Lake by Use of X-Ray Imaging

Abstract. Two species of endangered, primarily lake-dwelling sucker are endemic to the Upper Klamath Basin in southern Oregon: shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris) and Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus). A third unlisted species, Klamath largescale sucker (Catostomus snyderi), also occurs in the basin. Apart from a small group of adult Lost River suckers documented in a tributary to Upper Klamath Lake in the late 1990s, it is generally believed that though the listed sucker species spawn in tributaries, the larvae out-migrate within days of swim-up, and therefore, there is no juvenile residence in the tributaries. We used X-ray imaging and vertebral counts to identify 347 juvenile suckers collected from tributaries to Upper Klamath Lake between 2006 and 2008. We positively identified 13 individuals as Lost River sucker. Our finding of juvenile endangered suckers rearing in tributaries to Upper Klamath Lake challenges the previous finding that larval and juvenile suckers only spend a small portion...
Toward Detection of Deception in Fraudulent Annual Reports

This study describes an investigation of deception in financial reporting in real-life organizational contexts. We reviewed Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases provided by the U.S. Securit...
Quadratic Multipoint Exponential Approximation: Surrogate Model for Large-Scale Optimization

Sequential Linear Programming (SLP) is a well-known first-order optimization method. Sequential quadratic programming (SQP) is generally preferred for smooth problems, because it is second-order accurate; however, it suffers from the curse of dimensionality for large numbers of design variables. For large-scale problems, SLP may be a good alternative, although its performance depends on the move-limit strategy, the efficiency of the LP solver, and obviously the nonlinearity of the functions. A robust implementation of SLP with a trust region strategy is implemented here in conjunction with a large-scale LP solver. The number of SLP outer-loop iterations to converge is demonstrated to be reduced by an intermediate variable transformation during the linearization. The well-known two-point exponential approximation (TPEA) is extended to take advantage of more than two previous points in determining intervening variables, which can be beneficial particularly for temporarily inactive variables. A single set of intermediate variables are selected for use with all constraint and objective functions, based on Lagrangian sensitivity, to maintain a linear sub-problem for SLP. Quadratic terms constructed in a reduced sub-space are explored for efficient large-scale SQP.
Deep learning-based features of breast MRI for prediction of occult invasive disease following a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ: preliminary data

Approximately 25% of patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnosed from core needle biopsy are subsequently upstaged to invasive cancer at surgical excision. Identifying patients with occult invasive disease is important as it changes treatment and precludes enrollment in active surveillance for DCIS. In this study, we investigated upstaging of DCIS to invasive disease using deep features. While deep neural networks require large amounts of training data, the available data to predict DCIS upstaging is sparse and thus directly training a neural network is unlikely to be successful. In this work, a pre-trained neural network is used as a feature extractor and a support vector machine (SVM) is trained on the extracted features. We used the dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRIs of patients at our institution from January 1, 2000, through March 23, 2014 who underwent MRI following a diagnosis of DCIS. Among the 131 DCIS patients, there were 35 patients who were upstaged to invasive cancer. Area under the ROC curve within the 10-fold cross-validation scheme was used for validation of our predictive model. The use of deep features was able to achieve an AUC of 0.68 (95% CI: 0.56-0.78) to predict occult invasive disease. This preliminary work demonstrates the promise of deep features to predict surgical upstaging following a diagnosis of DCIS.
Evidence for human-mediated range expansion and gene flow in an invasive grass.

Cities and adjacent regions represent foci of intense human activity and provide unique opportunities for studying human-mediated dispersal and gene flow. We examined the effect of landscape featur...
Abstract 15940: Prognostic Value of Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain in the Elderly: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) is a measure of LV systolic function that can detect subclinical abnormalities in cardiac function, even if LV ejection fraction (LVEF) is in the normal range. GLS is associated with cardiovascular events in selected populations at high cardiovascular risk, however whether GLS carries prognostic information in a general elderly population is unknown. Methods: Stroke-free participants were enrolled in the Cardiovascular Abnormalities and Brain Lesions (CABL) study as a sub-study of the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), a population-based prospective cohort study. Study participants underwent two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography, with assessment of LVEF by biplane Simpson’s rule and of GLS by speckle-tracking. Annual follow-up was performed for incident cardiovascular events (ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and vascular death). Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for outcome prediction. Results: Mean age of the study sample (n=708) was 71±9 years, 61% were women, LVEF was 63±7%, GLS was -17±3%. Hypertension was present in 77%, diabetes in 27%, history of coronary artery disease in 5%, atrial fibrillation in 2% of participants. During a mean follow-up of 4.7±1.5 years, 55 events were recorded. In univariate analyses, both LVEF (HR/unit increase=0.95, 95% CI=0.93-0.98, p=0.0007) and GLS (HR/unit decrease=1.22, 95% CI=1.12-1.32, p Conclusion: In our community-based elderly cohort, GLS was an independent predictor of a combined cardiovascular outcome, while LVEF was not. LV function assessment by GLS may improve cardiovascular risk stratification in the elderly.
The Federal Marriage Amendment: Unnecessary, Anti-Federalist, and Anti-Democratic (PA 570)

Supporters of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment claim that an amendment is needed immediately to prevent same-sex marriages from being forced on the nation. This paper offers four arguments against the proposed amendment: federal and state laws, along with constitutional doctrines, make court-ordered nationwide same-sex marriage unlikely for the foreseeable future; a constitutional amendment defining marriage would be a radical intrusion on federalism; a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage would be an unprecedented form of amendment; and the amendment as proposed reaches well beyond the stated concerns of its proponents.
Solution rheological parameters modulate calcium phosphate mineralization in a microfluidic device.

Abstract Mineralization of calcium phosphate and other materials in vivo and in natural water sources occurs in solutions that are not stagnant, but are flowing. Flow conditions could influence solution mixing and, therefore, mineralization kinetics or mechanism. This work describes the design and characterization of a multi-stream parallel flow microfluidic device that allows for controlled solution mixing and indirect control of laminar flow by altering the microfluidic device width, shape, length, flow rate, and flow velocity. Measurement of solution mixing was accomplished using the protonation of quinine to produce a fluorescent molecule and the rate of calcium phosphate mineralization was monitored by optical microscopy and analysis with Image J software. Experiments were designed to hold the flow rate constant, allowing the solution velocity to vary and to hold the velocity constant, allowing the flow rate to vary. It was found that small changes in laminar flow conditions do not correlate to mineral growth, but solution velocity and flow rate have a substantial effect on calcium phosphate mineralization. AFM and SEM characterization of the mineral produced shows an amorphous material and varying degrees of mineralization possibly due to variation in supersaturation conditions across the solution mixing area. This microfluidic device and analysis procedure allows for improved study of mineralization and the effect of flow conditions relevant to those seen in biological settings.
Delivery of the research participant perception survey through the patient portal.

Introduction The patient portal may be an effective method for administering surveys regarding participant research experiences but has not been systematically studied. Methods We evaluated 4 methods of delivering a research participant perception survey: mailing, phone, email, and patient portal. Participants of research studies were identified (n=4013) and 800 were randomly selected to receive a survey, 200 for each method. Outcomes included response rate, survey completeness, and cost. Results Among those aged 0.07). Among these methods, the patient portal was the lowest-cost option. Response rates were significantly lower using email (10%, p<0.01), the lowest-cost option. In contrast, among those aged 65+ years, mail was superior to the electronic methods (p<0.02). Conclusions The patient portal was among the most effective ways to reach research participants, and was less expensive than surveys administered by mail or telephone.
The cost-effectiveness of ertapenem for the treatment of chorioamnionitis after cesarean delivery.

Background: Chorioamnionitis affects 1–4% of pregnancies, and patients who undergo cesarean delivery in the setting of chorioamnionitis have an increased risk of endometritis and surgical site infe...
High-Throughput Screening and Surface Interrogation Studies of Au-Modified Hematite Photoanodes by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy for Solar Water Splitting.

Au-modified hematite photoanode was screened for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation by the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique with a scanning probe of the optical fiber fo...
Using Computer Programs for Language Sample Analysis

Purpose Although language sample analysis is widely recommended for assessing children's expressive language, few school-based speech-language pathologists routinely use it, citing a lack of time, ...
Effect of undulators on magnet lattice and emittance

NSLS-II is now one of the brightest synchrotron light sources worldwide, in user operations since 2014. Currently, 20 light-generating insertion devices (IDs) are installed: 3 damping wigglers and 17 undulators of various types. These devices introduce significant distortions into the magnet lattice of the storage ring. For each ID, the distortions have been locally corrected using quadrupole magnets located nearby the ID. The insertion devices have also a significant impact on the electron beam emittance. Precise measurements of the emittance were carried out at the Coherent Hard X-ray beamline for three different lattices: without IDs, with 3 pairs of damping wigglers only, and with all IDs. A minimum horizontal emittance of 0.76 nm was achieved. The radiation energy loss and relative energy spread were also measured using a streak-camera. The measured data show good agreement with analytical formulas and numerical simulations.
The Influence of Luxury Brands' Firm Engagement on Customer Engagement on Social Media: Structured Abstract

Unlike non-luxury brands, luxury brands thrive on the principles of rarity associated with a high-quality product, premium pricing, controlled distribution, and personalized communication. Despite such unique characteristics of luxury branding, luxury brand managers lack guidance on how to utilize their social media to engage and influence consumers through the targeted use of social media. Although previous researchers have documented the effect of luxury brands’ social media marketing efforts on customer engagement, most research relies on case studies or self-reported survey data that measure behavioral intentions instead of capturing actual behaviors of the customer. Furthermore, research to date has focused only on a limited number of luxury brands and utilized cross-sectional data collection. Today, big data are available from both firm and consumer activities, making it possible to investigate firm–consumer interactions in social media. Luxury brand managers may benefit from utilizing big data to obtain a more accurate understanding of customer engagement on social media and consequently formulate more effective customer engagement strategies. The purpose of this research is to utilize big data in investigating the impact of a luxury brand’s social media marketing activities on customer engagement. In particular, applying the dual perspective of customer engagement, this research examines the influence of focusing on the entertainment, interaction, trendiness, and customization dimensions of a luxury brand’s social media activities on customer engagement with brand-related social media content. Using big data retrieved from a 60-month period on Twitter (July 2012 to June 2017), this paper analyzes 3.78 million tweets from the top 15 luxury brands with the highest number of Twitter followers. Our results suggest that a luxury firm’s social media engagement to enhance entertainment, interaction, and trendiness pays off in terms of increasing customer engagement with brand-related social media content. An unexpected finding of our analysis is that customization efforts as part of luxury brands’ social media activities did not increase customer engagement with the brands’ social media content. The findings have important implications for the design, delivery, and management of social media marketing for luxury brands to engage customers with social media content.