cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Persistent elevation of liver function enzymes within the reference range is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in young adults: the Bogalusa Heart Study

Elevations in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), markers of liver dysfunction and nonalcoholic fatty liver, are considered as part of the metabolic syndrome and related diseases. However, information is limited regarding the persistence (tracking) in levels of these enzymes over time and their influence on cardiovascular (CV) risk in young adults. The study sample consisted of white and black subjects (N = 489, 40% male, 73% white; baseline age, 18-32 years) followed over a period of 12 years as part of the Bogalusa Heart Study, with repeat measurements of CV risk factor variables and liver enzymes. Both at baseline and follow-up, males vs females had higher ALT (P < .01 to .0001) and GGT (P < .0001); blacks vs whites had higher GGT (P < .0001). With respect to persistence in enzyme levels over time, of those individuals who had ALT and GGT at the top quintile specific for age, race, and sex at baseline, about 50% of them continued to remain so with high values after 12 years. Individuals with levels persistently in the highest quintile vs those in the lowest quintile showed higher (P < .0001) body mass index, waist circumference, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, insulin, insulin resistance index, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures; lower (P < .0001) high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; and higher (P < .05 to .001) prevalence of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome as defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III, positive parental history of type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. In addition, based on a multivariate analysis using 2 separate models for ALT and GGT, baseline levels of both enzymes were independent predictors of follow-up; insulin resistance index and baseline GGT were also predictive of follow-up systolic blood pressure. Elevations in liver enzymes ALT and GGT, within "reference" range, persist over time and relate to clinically relevant adverse CV risk profile in young adults.
Fortifying web-based applications automatically

Browser designers create security mechanisms to help web developers protect web applications, but web developers are usually slow to use these features in web-based applications (web apps). In this paper we introduce Zan, a browser-based system for applying new browser security mechanisms to legacy web apps automatically. Our key insight is that web apps often contain enough information, via web developer source-code patterns or key properties of web-app objects, to allow the browser to infer opportunities for applying new security mechanisms to existing web apps. We apply this new concept to protect authentication cookies, prevent web apps from being framed unwittingly, and perform JavaScript object deserialization safely. We evaluate Zan on up to the 1000 most popular websites for each of the three cases. We find that Zan can provide complimentary protection for the majority of potentially applicable websites automatically without requiring additional code from the web developers and with negligible incompatibility impact.
Enhanced systemic tissue distribution after dermal versus intravenous 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl exposure: limited utility of radiolabel blood area under the curve and excretion data in dermal absorption calculations and tissue exposure assessment.

Abstract As a dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB) is receiving increasing research and regulatory interest due to its high toxicity and persistence in the environment. 14 C-TCB was administered at an identical dose of 300 μg via the intravenous (iv) or dermal route to swine to examine the exposure route dependency of the relationship between tissue exposure and blood area under the curve (AUC) and the relationship between dermal absorption and excretion of radiolabel. After iv and dermal exposure, blood, urine, and feces samples were collected during the 11-day in vivo studies. At the end of the experiments, full mass balance studies were conducted to characterize tissue distribution of label. On average, over 70% of the applied dermal and iv doses were recovered. As expected, more than a 10-fold increase in blood AUC (0.49 vs 0.031, h · % dose/ml), plasma AUC (0.40 vs 0.038, h · % dose/ml), urine excretion (29 vs 2.3% of the applied dose), and fecal (30 vs 3.0% of the applied dose) excretion was determined after iv exposure compared to dermal exposure. However, we unexpectedly found that the tissue residue following iv exposure (8.0% of the applied dose) was only half that following dermal exposure (16% of the applied dose). Significantly larger (20- to 30-fold) ratios of blood AUC:tissue residue and excretion:tissue residue were observed after iv exposure compared to dermal exposure. This may indicate a route-related concentration–dependent blood-to-tissue partition process of pooled label, unique skin metabolism, or saturable hepatic metabolism of TCB. Thus, a long-term, low-input exposure pattern similar to this dermal exposure could be more harmful to systemic tissues than a short-term, high-dose exposure similar to this iv exposure. One should be aware that greater absorption, higher blood concentrations, greater blood and plasma AUCs, and greater excretion of label do not necessarily result in a greater overall tissue exposure and that some conventional approaches using label determination in blood and excreta without full mass balance studies may underestimate dermal absorption of chemicals similar to TCB.
Diminished epidermal growth factor binding by neurofibromatosis fibroblasts

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by growth abnormalities of epithelial, mesothelial, and endothelial elements. We recently reported abnormal growth and morphology of NF fibroblasts in tissue culture. Because epidermal growth factor (EGF) is known to stimulate the growth of fibroblasts in tissue culture, we studied the binding of commercial iodine 125-labeled EGF to age- and passage-matched confluent NF (N = 6) and normal (N = 4) fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were maintained at 37 degrees C for 2, 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes in a medium in which the cells grow slowly (Dulbecco's Eagle medium) and one in which they grow normally (Ham's F-12 medium). Binding assays were done in both serum-free media according to accepted procedures. The EGF binding did not differ in the two media, and pooled data are presented. These data demonstrate no significant differences in the early binding of EGF to normal and NF fibroblasts (4,682 +/- 1,092 versus 3,441 +/- 826 cpm/10(6) cells; 20,000 cpm/ng; p > 0.15 at 30 minutes). At one hour, however, differences suggestive of abnormal EGF binding become apparent (12,495 +/- 1,989 versus 3,172 +/- 853 cpm/10(6) cells; 20,000 cpm/ng; p < 0.0025). We conclude that there may be a membrane defect in NF which is reflected by diminished EGF binding.
Effect of Deep-Level Defects on Surface Recombination Velocity at the Interface Between Silicon and Dielectric Films

The surface recombination velocity (SRV) characteristic of deep-level defects at Si interfaces with dielectric thin films was obtained from conductance measurements on metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitor (MISCAP) devices. The dielectrics in contact with Si were thermal SiO2 (Tox), chemical SiO2, and atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3, which were annealed and exposed to a low flux of X-rays. A modified conductance technique was developed in which a large ac signal was superimposed on a dc bias and the surface potential was swept across the band gap of a MISCAP from near accumulation to deep depletion. The frequency-dependent energy loss due to all defects across the band gap and their correlations were measured using the effective equivalent conductance. A model containing one resistor and one capacitor was sufficient to describe the frequency-dependent energy losses due to defects with similar activities. The total SRV was 112 ± 19 cm/s for Si/Tox, 1045 ± 150 cm/s for Si/chemical SiO2/Al2O3, and 578 ± 96 cm/s for Si/Al2O3 interfaces. After forming gas annealing at 400°C, the SRV decreased to ~ 1 cm/s for both Si/Tox and Si/chemical SiO2/Al2O3 and 47 ± 6 cm/s for Si/Al2O3. Vacuum annealing improved the Si/chemical SiO2/Al2O3 interface but had an adverse effect on Si/Al2O3. Soft X-ray exposure increased the SRV of both Si/chemical SiO2/Al2 O3 and Si/Al2O3.
Fusarium verticillioides (Saccardo) Nirenberg associated with hardlock of cotton.

Boll rots of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) are common in the humid areas of the Southeastern US. One type of boll damage that may be differentiated from others is hardlock, with symptoms that include compression of the fibers within individual locules of mature, open cotton bolls without further obvious disintegration of the lint or damage to the carpel wall. The principal economic effect is that the boll’s lint is unharvestable by mechanical cotton pickers. This disease is endemic to the Southeast and can cause severe yield losses up to 70% in some fields. Scanning electron microscopy images of fibers from hardlocked bolls showed flattened and twisted tissue compared to fibers from healthy bolls. Fusarium verticillioides (Saccardo) Nirenberg was the fungus most commonly isolated from seeds of developing cotton bolls. Flowers inoculated with F. verticillioides on the day of bloom by spraying a spore suspension onto the flowers developed significantly (P < 0.05) more hardlock symptoms compared to untreated controls. The infection process was analyzed using a F. verticillioides isolate tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). When it was applied to cotton flowers on the day of bloom, the GFP-tagged F. verticillioides strain was detected in the stigma and style by 2 days after bloom (DAB) and in developing seeds at 4, 6, 8, 10, 16, 20, 40, and 60 (open bolls) DAB. By 8 DAB, the GFP F. verticillioides was isolated from over 80% of developing seeds.
New Metrics for Scheduling Jobs on Cluster of Virtual Machines

As the virtualization of resources becomes popular, the scheduling problem of batch jobs on virtual machines requires new approaches. The dynamic and sharing aspects of virtual machines introduce unique challenges and complexity for the scheduling problems of batch jobs. In this paper, we propose a new set of metrics, called potential capacity (PC) and equilibrium capacity (EC), of resources that incorporate these dynamic, elastic, and sharing aspects of co-located virtual machines. We then show that we mesh this set of metrics smoothly into traditional scheduling algorithms. We evaluate the performance in using the metrics in a widely used greedy scheduling algorithm and show that the new scheduler improves job speedup for various configurations when compared to a similar algorithm using traditional physical machine metrics such as available CPU capacity.
Multiplexing of 2-D signals in the frequency domain using QMF structures

A transmultiplexer performs a direct translation from time division multiplexed systems to frequency division multiplexed systems. The concept of transmultiplexing is extended to the two-dimensional signals to meet the demands of possible applications, such as digital video through the cable. The proposed system uses quadrature mirror filters (QMF) to eliminate crossview from adjacent channels. Signals can be recovered with no visible distortion while the available bandwidth is fully utilized. >
Chronology and sources of lunar impact bombardment

Abstract The Moon has suffered intense impact bombardment ending at 3.9 Gyr ago, and this bombardment probably affected all of the inner Solar System. Basin magnetization signatures and lunar crater size-distributions indicate that the last episode of bombardment at about 3.85 Gyr ago was less extensive than previously thought. We explore the contribution of the primordial Mars-crosser population to early lunar bombardment. We find that Mars-crosser population initially decays with a 80-Myr half-life, with the long tail of survivors clustering on temporarily non-Mars-crossing orbits between 1.8 and 2 AU. These survivors decay with half-life of about 600 Myr and are progenitors of the extant Hungaria asteroid group in the same region. We estimate the primordial Mars-crosser population contained about 0.01–0.02 Earth masses. Such initial population is consistent with no lunar basins forming after 3.8 Gya and the amount of mass in the Hungaria group. As they survive longer and in greater numbers than other primordial populations, Mars-crossers are the best candidate for forming the majority of lunar craters and basins, including most of the Nectarian system. However, this remnant population cannot produce Imbrium and Orientale basins, which formed too late and are too large to be part of a smooth bombardment. We propose that the Imbrian basins and craters formed in a discrete event, consistent with the basin magnetization signatures and crater size-distributions. This late “impactor shower” would be triggered by a collisional disruption of a Vesta-sized body from this primordial Mars-crossing population (Wetherill, G.W. [1975]. Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 6, 1539–1561) that was still comparable to the present-day asteroid belt a 3.9 Gya. This tidal disruption lead to a short-lived spike in bombardment by non-chondritic impactors with a non-asteroidal size–frequency distribution, in agreement with available evidence. This body (“Wetherill’s object”) also uniquely matches the constraints for the parent body of mesosiderite meteorites. We propose that the present-day sources of mesosiderites are multi-km-sized asteroids residing in the Hungaria group, that have been implanted there soon after the original disruption of their parent 3.9 Gyr ago.
The turnover of adult rabbit articular cartilage.

The metabolic activity of the articular cartilage of the distal end of the femur of adult rabbits was studied by means of isotopic disappearance rates and autoradiography using 35SO4– and glycine-3H. From the data obtained, it is possible to state: 1. The isotopes are probably incorporated into the protein polysaccharide, and their disappearance rates define a metabolically homogeneous fast fraction, having a half-life of about eight days and accounting for over one fourth of the polysaccharide present in the tissue. 2. The rapid degradation is uniformly distributed throughout the articular cartilage, and there is no evidence of focal or polarized loss on autoradiographs. This would tend to invalidate the shedding theory. 3. The rapidity of turnover confirms the presence of the previously described enzymatic internal remodeling system which operates at a rate far in excess of that necessary for compensation of attrition. 4. Cartilage (or at least a large component of the cartilage) is not inert but demonstrates an extremely active anabolic and catabolic system.
Development of an optofluidic SERS-based biomedical sensor

Rapid assessment of radiation exposure to sensitive organs like the gut is extremely important for large populations exposed to ionized radiation, for instance during warfare. Recent results have shown that plasma citrulline levels appear to track gut function after irradiation levels in mice and humans. The current ways to monitor blood citrulline levels are bulky, laborious, time-consuming and expensive methods. Therefore, an optofludic point-of-care (POC) system using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to measure plasma citrulline as a marker for radiation exposure that overcomes the above issues is being developed. As a first step toward development of this system four colloidal nanoparticles, spherical gold, silver cubes, silica-gold nanoshells, and silver-gold nanocages have been analyzed for use in the POC system. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images have been taken of each nanoparticle to visualize the morphology of the nanoparticles, which is vital for SERS. Ultraviolet-visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy was also collected to verify the extinction spectra for each nanoparticle was in resonance with the excitation wavelength. The nanoparticles were functionalized with mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA), a Raman reporter molecule, and SERS spectra were collected to determine which has better utility in a novel micro-to-nanochannel. The data showed that the silver nanocubes have a larger enhancement factor than the gold nanospheres, nanoshells, or nanocages. Currently, these nanocubes are being functionalized with the citulline for assessing the concentration sensitivity and dynamic range for ultimate use as a marker for radiation.
Vector Competence of Ixodes pacificus and Dermacentor occidentalis (Acari: Ixodidae) for Various Isolates of Lyme Disease Spirochetes

The vector competence of the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls, and the Pacific Coast tick, Dermacentor occidentalis Marx, for the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner) was compared. Rabbits, hamsters, and the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner), were injected with cultured spirochetes or infected tick-suspensions, or were fed upon by spirochete-infected ticks. Five of seven isolates used as inocula were reisolated from vertebrates with the ear-punch biopsy technique. Three isolates (CA4, 5, 7) that were infectious for both vertebrates and ticks possessed prominent low-molecular-weight protein bands that had relative mobilities of approximately 24-26 kd. The ability of ticks to acquire and maintain various inocula of B. burgdorferi was evaluated by feeding uninfected larvae xenodiagnostically on all three hosts 0-63 d postinjection. Low percentages (0-10.6%) of the I. pacificus and none of the D. occidentalis became infected. By contrast, 33% of I. pacificus and 40% of Ixodes scapularis Say (= I. dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin) that fed on hamsters infected by tick-bite acquired and transstadially passed spirochetes; 10% of D. occidentalis fed on infected hamsters similarly acquired but did not maintain spirochetes. Ixodes pacificus nymphs efficiently transmitted B. burgdorferi to deer mice and a hamster. Feeding by one spirochete-infected nymph was sufficient to produce patent infections in each of five mice.
Taking on power: Women leaders in evangelical mission organizations:

Women leaders are scarce in evangelical mission organizations. Part of the reason may be gender-role stereotypes, which function very strongly in much of evangelicalism. This article presents the s...
Veterans in the College Classroom: Guidelines for Instructional Practices

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain central topics in institutions’ efforts to address student veteran needs. From the authors’ experiences with student veterans, they present the five principles of effective instructional practice identified by the National Research Council (NRC) within the context of college teaching. The purpose of this article is to inform faculty of the benefits of implementing these principles, thereby increasing the likelihood of academic success for all students, especially student veterans.
Is the Karlsruhe premium a fair value premium

Among the several parameter-free premium principles, for which the loading factor has been eliminated, the Karlsruhe premium principle plays an important and prominent role. Numerous different approaches leading or closely related to this premium principle are recalled. Then a new fair value interpretation is proposed. It is based on the preliminary determination of the maximum coefficient of variation of a bounded risk. An application to the pricing of partial risks and stop-loss reinsurance layers by unknown mean and variance is also given.
Oral History and Jewish Life

Teaching a class titled "Oral History and Jewish Life" at the University of California at Davis in 1998 became a challenge and a singularly exhilarating experience. By the end of the quarter, students were to know major themes in twentieth-century Jewish history, to learn the ethical standards of oral history practitioners, to be able to evaluate oral history testimony, and to develop a sense of when and when not to use oral history methodologies in their research. They would gain many of these skills through planning, researching, conducting, transcribing, editing, and cataloging oral history interviews. Because I had presumed that many students taking a course on "Jewish life" would be Jewish or have a strong interest in Jewish culture, the original assignment was to interview a family member or an older Jewish adult whose experience would be interpreted in the context of the history studied in the class. Although the class was offered as part of the Jewish studies program, it was also listed as a humanities class. Therefore, some of the students registered for the class to fulfill a general education requirement and were not sure of its content. The students were primarily immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries as far-flung as Vietnam and Latvia, including the Philippines, Korea, Israel, India, and Afghanistan. This class makeup was unusual for Davis, but advantageous for the course. Due to the unexpected religious and ethnic variety of the students, I modified the assignment of interviewing someone Jewish, instead asking the students to interview members of their own families, regardless of their ethnicity. As preparation for their projects, I required my students to develop bibliographies useful for understanding the individuals they would interview. Thus there was no need to change the reading assignments. But the scope of the class discussions changed. While centering on American Jewish life, discussions included comparisons with the experiences of people of other nationalities and with the immigrant experience in general. Instead of a research paper, I required each student to complete two one-hour interviews. For those interviews, students wrote proposals, bibliographies, and outlines. They conducted interviews, transcribed portions of them, and prepared fifteenminute oral presentations that were videotaped. Each week students submitted twopage typed journal entries, including answers to study questions based on readings and paragraphs describing their progress on their oral history projects. Students also
The Present and Future of Genomics in Adult Reconstructive Orthopaedic Surgery.

As of 2015, members of the “baby boomer generation” comprise 75 million people in the growing United States population. Many of these individuals will be facing the need for total hip or knee replacement. Currently, the age of onset of osteoarthritis continues to decrease and the need for total join
Survey and Analysis of Electronic Resources Utilization in Xinjiang Agricultural Research System

The authors,by using questionnaires,did a users survey about utilization and demand on electronic resource in Xinjiang agricultural research system,based on analysis towards the present defects,this paper put forward suggestions for electronic resource building and development.
Evolution of critical pressure with increasing Fe substitution in the heavy-fermion system URu2-xFexSi2

Measurements of electrical resistivity, $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$, were performed under quasihydrostatic pressure up to $P\ensuremath{\sim}2.2$ GPa to determine the pressure dependence of the so-called hidden order (HO) and large-moment antiferromagnetic (LMAFM) phases for the ${\mathrm{URu}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{x}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$ system with $x$ = 0.025, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20. As the Fe concentration ($x$) is increased, we observed that a smaller amount of external pressure, ${P}_{c}$, is required to induce the HO $\ensuremath{\rightarrow}$ LMAFM phase transition. A critical pressure of ${P}_{c}\ensuremath{\sim}1.2$ GPa at $x=0.025$ reduces to ${P}_{c}\ensuremath{\sim}0$ at $x=0.15$, suggesting the ${\mathrm{URu}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{x}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$ system is fully expressed in the LMAFM phase for $x\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\ge}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{x}_{c}^{*}=0.15$, where ${x}_{c}^{*}$ denotes the ambient pressure critical concentration of Fe. Using a bulk modulus calculation to convert $x$ to chemical pressure, ${P}_{\mathrm{ch}}(x)$, we consistently found that the induced HO $\ensuremath{\rightarrow}$ LMAFM phase transition occurred at various combinations of ${x}_{c}$ and ${P}_{c}$ such that ${P}_{\mathrm{ch}}({x}_{c})+{P}_{c}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\approx}1.5$ GPa, where ${x}_{c}$ denotes those critical concentrations of Fe that induce the HO $\ensuremath{\rightarrow}$ LMAFM phase transition for the ${\mathrm{URu}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{x}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$ compounds under pressure. We performed exponential fits of $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$ in the HO and LMAFM phases in order to determine the pressure dependence of the energy gap, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$, that opens over part of the Fermi surface in the transition from the paramagnetic (PM) phase to the HO/LMAFM phase at the transition temperature, ${T}_{0}$. The change in the pressure variation of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}(P)$ at the HO $\ensuremath{\rightarrow}$ LMAFM phase transition is consistent with the values of ${P}_{c}$ determined from the ${T}_{0}(P)$ phase lines at the PM $\ensuremath{\rightarrow}$ HO/LMAFM transition.
Neural Tube Defects

In an overview of neural tube defects (NTD’s), Dr RJ Lemire of the Dept Pediatrics, Univ of Washington and Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, divides them into two major groups: (1) neurulation and (2) postneurulation defects.
A New Monoclonal Band in a Patient with Refractory Multiple Myeloma

A 65-year-old woman with κ light chain myeloma in partial remission experienced clinically significant toxicity related to her chemotherapy. When chemotherapy was discontinued her serum free κ light chain concentration increased, resulting in a free κ/free λ ratio greater than 27.75 (reference interval 0.58–2.24). A new treatment was initiated, and subsequent testing documented a reduction in her free κ/free λ ratio. A …
Influence of Chemical Compositions on Lower Ferrite-Austenite Transformation Temperatures in 9Cr Steels

Computational thermodynamics approach was used to predict the ranges of the lower ferrite-austenite transformation temperatures, A1 ’s, in three 9% Cr steels. The predicted A1 ranges were: 766–856°C for SA387 Grade 91, 775–863°C for SA213 Grade T92, and 676–862°C for the weld metal SFA-5.23 B9 (2004). For Grade 91 and Grade T92 using the highest tempering temperature permitted by ASME Code, 800°C, would permit certain alloys conforming to the chemical composition specification to be tempered above their A1 , thereby risking the formation of untempered martensite. Similar circumstances exist for weld metal conforming to the SFA-5.23 B9 specification. Linear regression analyses were performed to develop simplified expressions capable of representing the thermodynamically predicted relationships between chemical compositions and A1 ’s. These are, Grade 91/SFA-5.23 B9 (2004): 805°C + 2.5(%Cr) + 18.1(%Mo) + 19.1(%Si) + 37.1(%V) + 19.2(%Nb) − 63.7(%C) − 130.6(%N) − 60.5(%Mn) − 72.3(%Ni); Grade T92: 778°C + 4.9(%Cr) + 22.6(%Mo) + 10.8(%W) + 22.9(%Si) + 43.6(%V) + 20.2(%Nb) − 80.6(%C) − 150.7(%N) − 55.1(%Mn) − 68.0(%Ni).© 2010 ASME
Techu: Open and Privacy-Preserving Crowdsourced GPS for the Masses

The proliferation of mobile devices, equipped with numerous sensors and Internet connectivity, has laid the foundation for the emergence of a diverse set of crowdsourcing services. By leveraging the multitude, geographical dispersion, and technical abilities of smartphones, these services tackle challenging tasks by harnessing the power of the crowd. One such service, Crowd GPS, has gained traction in the industry and research community alike, materializing as a class of systems that track lost objects or individuals (e.g., children or elders). While these systems can have significant impact, they suffer from major privacy threats. In this paper, we highlight the inherent risks to users from the centralized designs adopted by such services and demonstrate how adversaries can trivially misuse one of the most popular crowd GPS services to track their users. As an alternative, we present Techu, a privacy-preserving crowd GPS service for tracking Bluetooth tags. Our architecture follows a hybrid decentralized approach, where an untrusted server acts as a bulletin board that collects reports of tags observed by the crowd, while observers store the location information locally and only disclose it upon proof of ownership of the tag. Techu does not require user authentication, allowing users to remain anonymous. As no user authentication is required and cloud messaging queues are leveraged for communication between users, users remain anonymous. Our security analysis highlights the privacy offered by Techu, and details how our design prevents adversaries from tracking or identifying users. Finally, our experimental evaluation demonstrates that Techu has negligible impact on power consumption, and achieves superior effectiveness to previously proposed systems while offering stronger privacy guarantees.
Hysterectomy for the Transgendered Male: Review of Perioperative Considerations and Surgical Techniques With Description of a Novel 2-Port Laparoscopic Approach

Transgendered individuals can suffer a significant amount of psychological distress that can be alleviated through hormonal treatments and/or gender-affirming surgery. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health considers a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy medically necessary gender-affirming procedures for the interested transgendered male. Several surgical approaches have been described in the literature, most of which endorse a laparoscopic approach. This review summarizes the available literature on surgical techniques in addition to reporting our institutional outcomes using a novel 2-port laparoscopic approach. Additional preoperative and perioperative considerations are needed when caring for this patient population and are reviewed.
Signal variability and data compression considerations for petroleum forensics in two-dimensional gas chromatography

Disentangling the source-specific signature of petroleum biomarkers against the often stronger regional fingerprint has posed a fundamental challenge to oil-spill forensics in a petroleum-rich locale (e.g. Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, April 2010). Two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) captures the joint peak distribution of hundreds of hydrocarbon biomarkers in crude petroleum through high-resolution images, which harbor a wealth of untapped information that can be exploited to achieve robust source differentiation. We harness this richness of two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) to solve this long-standing challenge using robust peak-mapping techniques. Specifically, we build upon recently proposed mapping techniques to investigate robustness of forensic pattern recognition amidst data uncertainties introduced by unknown ground truths and experimental variability.
Democratizing Government: What We Know About E-Government and Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is an ideal that is sought after as the fundamental basis of democratic societies. Civic engagement is, however, difficult to attain both from the perspective of citizens’ willingness and ability to participate and government’s ability to generate such engagement. E-government can play a role in enhancing civic engagement by allowing more and better opportunities for the same. In this chapter, I explore the theoretical and empirical literature on civic engagement, e-government, and their interaction. In the process, I identify key debates surrounding civic engagement through e-government, reveal some of the nuances associated with it, and through an operationalization of civic engagement through e-government, highlight the tools and techniques that are used to achieve it.
How Message Fatigue toward Health Messages Leads to Ineffective Persuasive Outcomes: Examining the Mediating Roles of Reactance and Inattention.

Message fatigue refers to a state of being exhausted and tired of prolonged exposure to similarly-themed messages (e.g., anti-obesity messages; So, Kim, & Cohen, 2017). This study tests a mediation...
Coronary Artery Calcium: If Measuring Once Is Good, Is Twice Better?

Article, see p 665 > You’re always you, and that don’t change , > > and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it . > > —Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book Atherosclerosis is a dynamic process that is constantly changing and morphing. Unchecked, this constant change can lead to advancement and disruption, culminating in ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction. However, this dynamic nature also offers opportunities to intervene with preventive therapies to halt or reverse course before these adverse outcomes occur. These properties also offer the allure of quantifying change in atherosclerosis to better pinpoint and personalize atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk estimates. Several novel screening tests have been evaluated to improve ASCVD risk assessment; of these tests, coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning has emerged as the top contender. High CAC scores are associated with a markedly increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) (4- to 10-fold higher) independent of other risk factors, and CAC has been shown to improve clinical reclassification of CHD and ASCVD risk.1–3 In addition, those with no CAC have a relatively good prognosis and may consider deferring preventive therapies such as statins.4 There has been growing interest in exploring whether repeat CAC scanning, thereby evaluating change in the CAC score, could enhance cardiovascular risk prediction. An early study from 2004 suggested that change in CAC may be a meaningful and additive contribution to predicting an individual’s risk.5 However, only in the last several years have population-based studies become available with paired scans and adequate numbers of ASCVD events.6,7 Using MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis), Budoff et al6 examined the relationship of CAC progression to CHD outcomes in …
The feasibility of improving discourse in people with aphasia through AAC: Clinical and functional MRI correlates.

ABSTRACTBackground:The theory of intersystemic reorganization, along with the ability of people with chronic aphasia to recover language function, suggests that a high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device could be employed as a dual-purpose tool that simultaneously facilitates language recovery and compensates for deficits. To date, treatments based on intersystemic reorganization have focused on writing, drawing, and gesturing. Further, despite a movement to identify neural mechanisms that support intervention-related recovery, the neurobiological markers of AAC-induced changes have not been established.Aims: The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to examine the feasibility of providing a high-tech AAC treatment to people with chronic aphasia, with the goal of evoking changes in spoken language; and (2) to identify evidence of AAC-induced changes in brain activation.Method and Procedures: We employed a pre- and post-treatment design with a control (usual care) group to observe ...
Abstract 19460: Obesity Associates With Heart Failure in Young Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Introduction: Adults with Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) are a growing segment of the population, at elevated cardiovascular risk. This risk increases with age, and is primarily attributable to congestive heart failure (CHF). Obesity is an emerging cardiovascular risk factor, associated with CHF in the healthy adult population. To date, however, the relationship between obesity and CHF in ACHD is poorly described. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that obesity would independently associate with CHF in young ACHD. Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on all ACHD (identified via ICD-9 coding), ages 19 - 45 years old, seen at a Pediatric Heart Network-affiliated center in 2013. ACHD were classified as having simple or complex congenital heart disease per the Bethesda Conference Criteria. Obesity was defined as body-mass index ≥ 30 kg/m 2 . Statistical analysis included multivariate regression and likelihood ratio testing. Results: 493 ACHD met inclusion criteria, with 24 identified cases of CHF. CHF patients had a higher prevalence of obesity (p=0.003), diabetes (p 2 4.49, p=0.03), a finding not seen in hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes mellitus. Conclusions: Obesity was independently associated with CHF in this cohort of 493 young ACHD. In the midst of the modern obesity epidemic, these results may indicate a need for improved lifestyle counseling in congenital heart disease patients of all ages. Larger, prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
HSM calibration factor, calibration function, or jurisdiction-specific safety model - a comparative analysis

There are various ways in which a transportation agency can approach safety prediction. One could calibrate the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) using adjustment factors by ranges of exposure variable, ...
Amplifier Noise and Its Effect on Detector Performance

Until now we have calculated signal-to-noise ratios assuming that the detector is followed by a noiseless amplifier. In actual use, however, we must take into account amplifier noise which is characterized by the noise figure of the particular amplifier chosen.
The Daytime Urinary Frequency Syndrome of Childhood

AbstractWe reviewed retrospectively 43 completely toilet trained children who suddenly developed isolated daytime urinary frequency. Patient age ranged from 2 to 12 years. The condition lasted 2 days to 16 months and resolved spontaneously in all patients. The recurrence rate was 3 per cent unless nocturnal symptoms of nocturia or enuresis coexisted, whereupon it increased to 40 per cent. Anticholinergic medication characteristically produced no improvement in symptoms. Noninvasive investigation included a history and physical examination, urinalysis and renal ultrasonography, and appeared to be sufficient for diagnosis. The etiology is unknown but it may be predominantly behavioral. The daytime urinary frequency syndrome of childhood appears to be a benign selflimited condition that does not require extensive urological evaluation.
A systematic review of strategies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among 0-year to 5-year olds

Objective The objective of this study is to summarize evidence for strategies designed to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption among children aged 0 to 5 years. Data sources PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC, Cab Abstracts and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials are the electronic databases searched in this systematic review. Study selection Each included study evaluated an intervention to reduce SSB consumption in children aged 0 to 5 years, was conducted in a high-income country and was published between 1 January 2000 and 15 December 2017. Data synthesis Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. The primary intervention settings were healthcare (n = 11), preschool/daycare (n = 4), home (n = 3), community venues (n = 3) and other settings (n = 6). Overarching strategies which successfully reduced SSB consumption included (i) in-person individual education, (ii) in-person group education, (iii) passive education (e.g. pamphlets), (iv) use of technology, (v) training for childcare/healthcare providers and (vi) changes to the physical access of beverages. Studies were of moderate methodological quality (average score of 20.7/29.0 for randomized studies; 3.1/9.0 for non-randomized studies). Conclusions Evidence suggests that interventions successful at reducing SSB consumption among 0-year to 5-year olds often focused on vulnerable populations, were conducted in preschool/daycare settings, specifically targeted only SSBs or only oral hygiene, included multiple intervention strategies and had higher intervention intensity/contact time.
Improving Classification of Twitter Behavior During Hurricane Events

A large amount of social media data is generated during natural disasters, and identifying the relevant portions of this data is critical for researchers attempting to understand human behavior, the effects of information sources, and preparatory actions undertaken during these events. In order to classify human behavior during hazard events, we employ machine learning for two tasks: identifying hurricane related tweets and classifying user evacuation behavior during hurricanes. We show that feature-based and deep learning methods provide different benefits for tweet classification, and ensemble-based methods using linguistic, temporal, and geospatial features can effectively classify user behavior.
Abstract 307: Angiotensin II Infusion Does Not Influence the Distribution of Cardiac Neural Crest Derived Smooth Muscle Cells in the Ascending Aorta

Objective: Angiotensin II (Ang II) causes vascular pathology including hypertrophy and aneurysms. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) exert a pivotal role in vascular remodeling. The localization of these vascular pathologies may be associated with distinct embryonic origins of SMCs. While there is evidence that most SMCs derive from the cardiac neural crest in the ascending aorta, other data has inferred a greater complexity of origins for this cell type. The aim of this study was to determine whether heterogeneity of the embryonic origin of SMCs in the ascending aorta is influenced by AngII. Methods and Results: ROSA26 lacZ mice were bred to mice expressing Cre under control of the Wnt1 promoter to track SMCs of cardiac neural crest origin. Gross examination of beta-galactosidase stained aortas from adult mice demonstrated cells of cardiac neural crest present from the sinotubular ascending aorta to just distal to the subclavian branch. For further examination of cell type distribution, both sagittal and cross s...
Angular, temperature, and impurity effects on secondary electron emission from Ni(110)

The secondary electron emission from a temperature-controlled Ni(110) sample was examined for 50–1500 eV electrons impacting at 0°–35°, 50°, and 78°. Measurements showed a non-cosine dependence on an electron incidence angle: the yield has a maximum at 0°, minima at ±12°, and increases at larger angles up to 35°. This trend in angular dependence is characteristic of single crystal materials and is due to increased secondary electron generation when primary electrons are directed along a close-packed direction. For example, compared to polycrystalline nickel, the yield for Ni(110) from primary electrons at 0° (i.e., along the [110] direction) is up to 36% larger. Additionally, secondary electron yields are highly sensitive to incident electron energy (most notably between 0 and 500 eV) and to the presence of adsorbed carbon monoxide [with an up to 25% decrease compared to clean Ni(110)]. However, yields are independent of sample temperature between 300 and 600 K and of exposure to deuterium ions leading to formation of subsurface hydrogen. These results reaffirm the unique secondary electron emission properties of single crystals materials and highlight the importance of crystal orientation. Results are important for plasma-enhanced chemistry applications that utilize Ni(110) catalysts, since larger secondary electron emission may facilitate reactions of adsorbed species.
Open Set Learning with Counterfactual Images.

In open set recognition, a classifier must label instances of known classes while detecting instances of unknown classes not encountered during training. To detect unknown classes while still generalizing to new instances of existing classes, we introduce a dataset augmentation technique that we call counterfactual image generation. Our approach, based on generative adversarial networks, generates examples that are close to training set examples yet do not belong to any training category. By augmenting training with examples generated by this optimization, we can reformulate open set recognition as classification with one additional class, which includes the set of novel and unknown examples. Our approach outperforms existing open set recognition algorithms on a selection of image classification tasks.
Role of glia in prefrontal white matter abnormalities in first episode psychosis or mania detected by diffusion tensor spectroscopy.

Abstract Background White matter (WM) abnormalities are amongst the most commonly described neuroimaging findings in patients with psychotic disorders including schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), and may be central to pathophysiology. Few studies have directly compared WM abnormalities in patients with SZ and BD in the first episode of illness, and no studies to date have attempted to separate abnormalities of axon and myelin using complementary MRI techniques. Methods We examined WM abnormalities in young adults with SZ (n = 19) or BD (n = 16) within the first year of illness onset, and healthy controls (n = 22) using a combination of diffusion tensor spectroscopy to measure NAA, creatine (Cr), and choline (Cho), and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). MTR reflects myelin content, NAA diffusion is neuron specific, and Cr and Cho diffusion reflect both neuron and glial signal. Results We found no differences in MTR or NAA ADC in either patient group compared to controls, but significant elevations of both Cr and Cho diffusion in patients with SZ, and elevations of Cho diffusion in patients with BD. Elevations in Cr and Cho diffusion in the absence of NAA diffusion abnormalities indicate that the aberrant signal arises in glia. Conclusions Glial abnormalities were present and detectable by the first episode of psychosis, whereas major abnormalities in axon and myelin were not. Examination of these neurobiological markers early in the course of illness may clarify the neuroprogressive nature of these distinct aspects of WM, and their associations with early clinical phenotypes.
Water wettability of graphene and graphite, optimization of solid-liquid interaction force fields, and insights from mean-field modeling

A simple mean-field model of carbon-water interactions was developed to predict the binding energy in classical simulations for graphene and graphite surfaces. Using this model, analytical expressions were derived to link microscopic parameters (such as the binding energy) with macroscopic wetting behavior (work of adhesion). Adding these expressions to an optimized mean-field model of wettability, the empirical relationship between the binding energy and the work of adhesion in classical simulations was formally explained. An orientation dependent mean-field model and the insight gained from mean field modeling of the binding energy were used to develop a method to optimize comprehensive carbon-water interaction potentials, where molecular orientation is taken into account using data from state-of-the-art high-resolution multibody electronic structure methods. This method eliminates the ambiguity of finding a set of four parameters by informing on the bounds for the parameter-search process using physics-informed constraints.
Prehistorical attempts of accounting in the Magura Cave, present day Bulgaria

The history of accounting can be traced back to thousands of years B.C. In this paper we argue that recently found drawings in an ancient cave called Magura near the city of Vidin in Bulgaria, could also be included as part of the prehistorical uses of accounting. In the past, this cave has been subject to many explorations and some of the ancient drawings found there have been dated back to almost 40 thousand years B.C. Based on our analysis, we believe with a certain level of confidence that some of the drawings found in the cave Magura are depiction economic events and subsequently a stock owned by people at a certain time. As a result of these findings, we assert that prehistorical attempts of accounting existed at the time of the drawings were made and therefore these findings should have significant inclusion into the history of accounting.