cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diffusivity and Nuclear Spin Relaxation Measurements at High Pressure in Methanol

Diffusivity D and nuclear spin relaxation times T 1 and T 2 have been measured by NMR to 4.0 GPa in methanol, using a diamond anvil cell probe. In pure MeOH, D −1 and T 2 show essentially identical activation volumes. However, these are ∼18% larger than the activation volume of viscosity. By relating these observations to an average molecular correlation time a pressure-dependent infinite-frequency shear modulus G∞ can be inferred, using two independent approaches. The relation between diffusivity and viscosity shows increasing departure from Stokes-Einstein behavior with increasing pressure, if a constant hydrodynamic radius is assumed. This departure is attributed to the pressure dependence of G∞, and can be described empirically by a simple modification of the Stokes-Einstein relation.
Rh-Catalyzed decarbonylative coupling with alkynes via C-C activation of isatins.

Herein we report a [5 + 2 – 1] transformation though catalytic decarbonylative coupling between isatins and alkynes, which provides a unique way to synthesize 2-quinolinone derivatives. A broad range of alkynes can be coupled efficiently with high regioselectivity. This reaction is proposed to go through C–C activation of isatins, followed by decarbonylation and alkyne insertion. Directing group (DG) plays a critical role in this transformation. Assisted by the DG, the C–C cleavage of isatins occurs at room temperature.
Probing the lower limit of lattice thermal conductivity in an ordered extended solid: Gd117Co56Sn112, a phonon glass-electron crystal system.

The discovery of novel materials with low thermal conductivity is paramount to improving the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. As lattice thermal conductivity is inversely linked to unit cell complexity, we set out to synthesize a highly complex crystalline material with glasslike thermal conductivity. Here we present the structure, transport properties, heat capacity, and magnetization of single-crystal Gd117Co56Sn112, a complex material with a primitive unit cell volume of ∼6858 A3 and ∼285 atoms per primitive unit cell (1140 atoms per face-centered cubic unit cell). The room temperature lattice thermal conductivity of this material is κL = 0.28 W/(m·K) and represents one of the lowest ever reported for a nonglassy or nonionically conducting bulk solid. Furthermore, this material exhibits low resistivity at room temperature, and thus represents a true physical system that approaches the ideal phonon glass–electron crystal.
LifeJacket: verifying precise floating-point optimizations in LLVM

Users depend on correct compiler optimizations but floating-point arithmetic is difficult to optimize transparently. Manually reasoning about all of floating-point arithmetic’s esoteric properties is error-prone and increases the cost of adding new optimizations. We present an approach to automate reasoning about precise floating-point optimizations using satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers. We implement the approach in LifeJacket, a system for automatically verifying precise floating-point optimizations for the LLVM assembly language. We have used LifeJacket to verify 43 LLVM optimizations and to discover eight incorrect ones, including three previously unreported problems. LifeJacket is an open source extension of the Alive system for optimization verification.
The Effect of Information Systems on Honesty in Managerial Reporting: A Behavioral Perspective*

This study examines the behavioral impact of an information system, and how that impact varies with the information system's precision, in an internal reporting environment. We propose that a manager's reporting decisions are affected by his or her trade-off of the benefits of appearing honest against the benefits of misrepresentation. The information system affects the manager's trade-off by improving the owner's ability to make an inference regarding the manager's level of honesty. Thus, to the extent that the manager perceives benefits to appearing honest, the presence of an information system can increase managerial honesty. As the information system becomes more precise, however, the manager must forgo greater benefits of misrepresentation in order to achieve the same appearance of honesty. For managers under a precise system, this will shift the trade-off decision toward the benefits of misrepresentation and away from the benefits of appearing honest. Notably, in our experiment, the only benefit of appearing honest is an intrinsically motivated desire for social approval. We find that, although the existence of an information system increases managerial honesty, honesty is lower under a precise than under a coarse information system. We also compare profit earned by the owners in our experiment, which relies on a behavioral role of an information system, with the maximum profit theoretically possible given a contractual use of the information system. This comparison suggests that, unless the available information system is sufficiently precise, the owner will obtain greater profits by not contracting on its output, even if that output is fully contractible.
Subjects and Their Objects: Localizing Interactees for a Person-Centric View of Importance

Understanding images with people often entails understanding their interactions with other objects or people. As such, given a novel image, a vision system ought to infer which other objects/people play an important role in a given person's activity. However, existing methods are limited to learning action-specific interactions (e.g., how the pose of a tennis player relates to the position of his racquet when serving the ball) for improved recognition, making them unequipped to reason about novel interactions with actions or objects unobserved in the training data. We propose to predict the "interactee" in novel images--that is, to localize the object of a person's action. Given an arbitrary image with a detected person, the goal is to produce a saliency map indicating the most likely positions and scales where that person's interactee would be found. To that end, we explore ways to learn the generic, action-independent connections between (a) representations of a person's pose, gaze, and scene cues and (b) the interactee object's position and scale. We provide results on a newly collected UT Interactee dataset spanning more than 10,000 images from SUN, PASCAL, and COCO. We show that the proposed interaction-informed saliency metric has practical utility for four tasks: contextual object detection, image retargeting, predicting object importance, and data-driven natural language scene description. All four scenarios reveal the value in linking the subject to its object in order to understand the story of an image.
Overcoming the obstacles of visualization in robotically assisted abdominal cerclage using indocyanine green

Abdominal cerclage is found to have success rates of 85–95 % with lower incidence of preterm delivery and preterm premature rupture of membranes when compared to the vaginal approach. However, since it is more invasive, its use has been limited to selected cases. Robot-assisted abdominal cerclage is a relatively new minimally invasive technique that gives the opportunity for less invasive procedures when compared to the open technique and, when compared to conventional laparoscopy, has the advantages of 3D visualization and endowristed instrumentation. The distinctive feature of our case is the use of near infrared camera system, which is a relatively new modality in robotics and, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature that indocyanine green dye was used to help to visualize vascular anatomy during a robotic cerclage procedure in a pregnant patient.
Typhoon Aid and Development: The Effects of Typhoon-Resistant Schools and Instructional Resources on Educational Attainment in the Philippines

This paper examines the effects on educational attainment of assistance programs that provided typhoon-resistant secondary schools and instructional resources in the Philippines. Using the variation in the availability of assistance programs and differences in exposure across age cohorts induced by the timing of the allocation of program packages, I find positive and statistically significant impacts on education outcomes for both boys and girls. For boys, the presence of typhoon-resistant schools equipped with instructional resources led to an average increase of 0.26–0.31 years of education, while the presence of instructional resources alone led to an average increase of 0.23–0.26 years of education. For girls, the availability of both components led to an average increase of 0.23–0.32 years of education, while the availability of either component alone did not seem to have an effect.
Quantification of Focal Outflow Enhancement Using Differential Canalograms.

Purpose To quantify regional changes of conventional outflow caused by ab interno trabeculectomy (AIT). Methods Gonioscopic, plasma-mediated AIT was established in enucleated pig eyes. We developed a program to automatically quantify outflow changes (R, package eye-canalogram, github.com) using a fluorescent tracer reperfusion technique. Trabecular meshwork (TM) ablation was demonstrated with fluorescent spheres in six eyes before formal outflow quantification with two-dye reperfusion canalograms in six additional eyes. Eyes were perfused with a central, intracameral needle at 15 mm Hg. Canalograms and histology were correlated for each eye. Results The pig eye provided a model with high similarity to AIT in human patients. Histology indicated ablation of TM and unroofing of most Schlemm's canal segments. Spheres highlighted additional circumferential and radial outflow beyond the immediate area of ablation. Differential canalograms showed that AIT caused an increase of outflow of 17 ± 5-fold inferonasally, 14 ± 3-fold superonasally, and also an increase in the opposite quadrants with a 2 ± 1-fold increase superotemporally, and 3 ± 3 inferotemporally. Perilimbal specific flow image analysis showed an accelerated nasal filling with an additional perilimbal flow direction into adjacent quadrants. Conclusions A quantitative, differential canalography technique was developed that allows us to quantify supraphysiological outflow enhancement by AIT.
Chemical Profiles of Disease

Chemical profiles have been used successfully in teaching the interpretation of laboratory test values. The profiles have a visual impact that assists in making associative and correlative observations about disease processes. Profiles are most useful in attempts to integrate multiple test abnormalities in a given disease process. Representative profiles are illustrated and discussed as examples of the effectiveness of this mode of analysis of clinical laboratory data in laboratory medicine.
Cationic Chiral Fluorinated Oxazaborolidines. More Potent, Second-Generation Catalysts for Highly Enantioselective Cycloaddition Reactions.

The coordination of chiral ligands to Lewis acid metal derivatives, a useful strategy for enantioselective, electrophilic catalysis, generally leads to a lower level of catalytic activity than that of the original uncomplexed compound. Activation by further attachment of a proton or strong Lewis acid to the complex provides a way to overcome the deactivating effect of a chiral ligand. The research described herein has demonstrated that further enhancement of catalytic activity is possible by the judicious placement of fluorine substituents in the chiral ligand. This approach has led to a new, second-generation family of chiral oxazaborolidinium cationic species which can be used to effect many Diels–Alder reactions in >95% yield and >95% ee using catalyst loadings at the 1–2 mol % level. The easy recovery of the chiral ligand makes the application of these new catalysts especially attractive for large-scale synthesis.
The Prehistory of Fair Use

The fair use doctrine is a central part of modern copyright law: academics, critics, journalists, teachers, film makers, fan-fiction writers, and technology companies all rely on the fair use doctrine to give them a certain amount of freedom in dealing with other people’s copyrights. The fair use doctrine recognizes that very few works are created without some recognizable borrowing from antecedent works. Fair use allows copyrighted material to be used without permission; in so doing, it sets limits on the otherwise expansive rights of copyright owners to control the reproduction and performance of their works. As part of copyright law’s overall balance between authorial incentives and public freedom, the fair use doctrine “permits and requires courts to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute, when, on occasion, it would stifle the very creativity that law is designed to foster.” For all its acknowledged importance, however, the fair use doctrine is difficult—some say impossible—to define. This article proposes that a full understanding of fair use cannot be achieved without appreciating both its origins in English copyright law and its development as a legal transplant in the United States. Two recent cases illustrate the salience and difficulty of fair use. In 2005, Google, Inc. began its massive unauthorized digitization of library books to create an unashamedly
The Pass-Through of Sovereign Risk

This paper examines the macroeconomic implications of sovereign risk in a model in which banks hold domestic government debt. News of a future sovereign default hampers financial intermediation. First, it tightens the funding constraints of banks, reducing their resources to finance firms (liquidity channel). Second, it generates a precautionary motive to deleverage (risk channel). I estimate the model using Italian data, finding that sovereign risk was recessionary and that the risk channel was sizable. I also use the model to measure the effects of subsidized long-term loans to banks. Precautionary motives at the height of the crisis imply that bank lending to firms responds little to these interventions.
World shocks, world prices, and business cycles: An empirical investigation*

Abstract SVAR models that include a single world price (such as the terms-of-trade) predict that world shocks explain a small fraction of movements in domestic output (typically less than 10%). This paper presents an empirical framework in which multiple commodity prices transmit world disturbances. Estimates on a panel of 138 countries over the period 1960–2015 indicate that world shocks explain on average 33% of output fluctuations in individual economies. This figure doubles when the model is estimated on post 2000 data. The findings reported here suggest that one-world-price specifications significantly underestimate the importance of world shocks for domestic business cycles.
FUNTIONAL RESTORATION VERSUS STAND-ALONE L5/S1 FUSION: A PROSPECTIVE LONG TERM FOLLOW UP COMPARISON IN PATIENTS WITH LOW BACK PAIN

Statement of Purposes Functional Restoration (FR) and spinal fusion are both used as treatment for patients with chronic low back pain however opinions are divided over their long term efficacy. This study examines the 18 month to 8 year outcomes of stand-alone lumbar fusion (STALIF) at L5/S1 and FR in similar groups of patients. Methods A prospective audit was undertaken using data routinely collected from the practice of the senior author. Pain (VAS), disability (ODI) and patients9 subjective appraisals were used as comparable outcome measures. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Results STALIF patients had sustained significant improvements in their VAS and ODI scores at study end, compared to the pre-operative assessments. FR patients demonstrated significant improvements in their VAS scores and measurable functionality on discharge from the programme, but these deteriorated by the one-month follow-up. At study end there was a significant deterioration in the outcomes compared to discharge. Patient perceived success was 85% in the STALIF patients and 58% in the FR. 24% of FR patients subsequently required surgery. Conclusions Both groups demonstrated statistically significant improvements in pain and disability/functionality scores during the period of the study however improvements in the FR groups occurred only during the active phase and significantly reduced by study end. The low patient satisfaction rating for the FR group and the need for 25% to subsequently undergo surgery indicates that further robust investigation to clarify “real” sustainability and rule out short-term benefits that arise from psychological cushioning or simply a training effect is required. Conflicts of Interest None Source of Funding None This abstract has not been previously published in whole or substantial part nor has it been presented at a national meeting.
THE DIRECT ANTERIOR APPROACH: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW – AFFIRMS

The excitement and enthusiasm that accompanies the introduction of many new technologies and techniques can be self-sustaining, meaning that the appeal of doing something new or different (not necessarily doing something better) becomes the prime driver. Such is likely the case today with the direct anterior approach to total hip arthroplasty. Can THA be done successfully through a direct anterior approach? Certainly the answer is yes; and with experience it can be done in relatively broad groups of patients with an acceptable risk of complications. Is it a better way to do THA than other approaches? Well probably not in 2012. Contemporary THA done with a variety of approaches and coupled with advanced anesthetic, pain management and rapid rehabilitation protocols has been shown to be safe and effective with both short hospital stays (48 hours) and even outpatient surgery in selected patients. No substantial clinical advantage has been shown to date with a direct anterior approach. The sometimes extraordinary claims associated with the direct anterior approach are accompanied by relatively ordinary data. The purported benefits of direct anterior related to more rapid recovery, better function, or a lower dislocation risk just have not proved to be demonstrable in broad groups of patients. In regard to recovery there are now several studies suggesting no difference at 2 hours; 2 days; 2 weeks or 2 years after surgery; and likely no difference at 2 months either. In regard to function there are now multiple gait analysis studies with no demonstrable benefit at 2 weeks or 6 weeks. In regard to lower risk of dislocation if we pool the data from big published studies Sariali (1.5%) Matta (0.6%) Jewett (1%) and Woolson (0%) the mean is 0.88%. Interestingly, contemporary posterior approach THA with formal capsular repair also has The direct anterior does come at a cost including: longer operative times; additional equipment and/or personnel; unique complications; and in some techniques the need for intra-operative fluoroscopy with attendant exposure to radiation for the surgeon and staff. It is clear in 2012 that the direct anterior approach is just another technique for performing a very successful procedure, namely total hip arthroplasty. With advanced anesthetic, pain management, and rapid rehabilitation protocols it will be extremely difficult to prove any marginal benefit associated with THA surgical technique. To summarize the available data on direct anterior THA it is not unreasonable to conclude that “the extraordinary claims are accompanied by very ordinary data.”
Elastic membranes in confinement

An elastic membrane stretched between two walls takes a shape defined by its length and the volume of fluid it encloses. Many biological structures, such as cells, mitochondria and coiled DNA, have fine internal structure in which a membrane (or elastic member) is geometrically ‘confined’ by another object. Here, the two-dimensional shape of an elastic membrane in a ‘confining’ box is studied by introducing a repulsive confinement pressure that prevents the membrane from intersecting the wall. The stage is set by contrasting confined and unconfined solutions. Continuation methods are then used to compute response diagrams, from which we identify the particular membrane mechanics that generate mitochondria-like shapes. Large confinement pressures yield complex response diagrams with secondary bifurcations and multiple turning points where modal identities may change. Regions in parameter space where such behaviour occurs are then mapped.
The A-polynomial 2-tuple of twisted Whitehead links

We compute the A-polynomial 2-tuple of twisted Whitehead links. As applications, we determine the canonical component of twisted Whitehead links and give a formula for the volume of twisted Whitehead link cone-manifolds.
Do superfund sites affect local property values? Evidence from a spatial hedonic approach

Abstract Seven different Superfund sites located within or just outside the county border of Jefferson County, Kentucky are investigated. Our finding shows that the use of a traditional hedonic pricing model will result in inefficient estimates compared to a spatial error hedonic model. Considering two different phases of the cleanup process, we find that the median housing value is lower for houses near deleted Superfund sites but is not significantly affected by sites classified as final. Another consideration is the implications of multiple Superfund sites, and findings indicate that multiple Superfund sites do not significantly impact housing values.
The fail-safe mechanism of post-transcriptional silencing of unspliced HAC1 mRNA

HAC1 encodes a transcription factor that is the central effector of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in budding yeast. When the UPR is inactive, HAC1 mRNA is stored as an unspliced isoform in the cytoplasm and no Hac1 protein is detectable. Intron removal is both necessary and sufficient to relieve the post-transcriptional silencing of HAC1 mRNA, yet the precise mechanism by which the intron prevents Hac1 protein accumulation has remained elusive. Here, we show that a combination of inhibited translation initiation and accelerated protein degradation-both dependent on the intron-prevents the accumulation of Hac1 protein when the UPR is inactive. Functionally, both components of this fail-safe silencing mechanism are required to prevent ectopic production of Hac1 protein and concomitant activation of the UPR. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of HAC1 regulation and reveal a novel strategy for complete post-transcriptional silencing of a cytoplasmic mRNA.
ADVANCES IN WOUND CLOSURE: A BARBED APPROACH

Several disadvantages can be attributed to suture knots in wound closure: they are tedious to tie, may be a nidus for infection and can strangulate tissue. They may extrude through skin weeks after surgery. Additional needle manipulations during knot-tying may predispose to glove perforation. A self-anchoring barbed suture has been developed that requires no knots (or slack suture management) for wound closure. The elimination of knot tying has demonstrated some advantages over conventional wound closure methods. It has demonstrated comparable efficacy for the long term closure of C section wounds. The lack of bulk afforded by the knotless suture proves useful in mid face lift applications where knots are a drawback to traditional suture use and cosmesis is of primary importance. This type of suture has demonstrated improved “water tightness” in knee arthrotomy closure compared to a standard interrupted suture technique in a cadaver model, has demonstrated reduced time for total surgery by 10% and time for closure by 33%. Use of this suture has been shown to be safe and effective in many other surgical specialties, while proving easier and faster than traditional suturing technique. Its use is highly recommended.
The effect of procedure room temperature and humidity on LASIK outcomes

Objective To determine whether procedure room temperature or humidity during LASIK affect refractive outcomes in a large patient sample. Design Retrospective cohort study. Participants A total of 202 394 eyes of 105 712 patients aged 18 to 75 years who underwent LASIK at an Optical Express, Inc., location in their United Kingdom and Ireland centers from January 1, 2008, to June 30, 2011, who met inclusion criteria. Methods Patient age, gender, flap creation technique, pre- and 1-month post-LASIK manifest refraction, and ambient temperature and humidity during LASIK were recorded. Effect size determination and univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to characterize the relationships between LASIK procedure room temperature and humidity and postoperative refractive outcome. Main Outcome Measures One month post-LASIK manifest refraction. Results No clinically significant effect of procedure room temperature or humidity was found on LASIK refractive outcomes. When considering all eyes in our population, an increase of 1°C during LASIK was associated with a 0.003 diopter (D) more hyperopic refraction 1 month postoperatively, and an increase in 1% humidity was associated with a 0.0004 more myopic refraction. These effect sizes were the same or similar when considering only myopic eyes, only hyperopic eyes, and subgroups of eyes stratified by age and preoperative refractive error. Conclusions Neither procedure room temperature nor humidity during LASIK were found to have a clinically significant relationship with postoperative manifest refraction in our population. Financial Disclosure(s) Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.
Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions for Alternate Food to Address Agricultural Catastrophes Globally

The literature suggests there is about a 1 % risk per year of a 10 % global agricultural shortfall due to catastrophes such as a large volcanic eruption, a medium asteroid or comet impact, regional nuclear war, abrupt climate change, and extreme weather causing multiple breadbasket failures. This shortfall has an expected mortality of about 500 million people. To prevent such mass starvation, alternate foods can be deployed that utilize stored biomass. This study developed a model with literature values for variables and, where no values existed, used large error bounds to recognize uncertainty. Then Monte Carlo analysis was performed on three interventions: planning, research, and development. The results show that even the upper bound of USD 400 per life saved by these interventions is far lower than what is typically paid to save a life in a less-developed country. Furthermore, every day of delay on the implementation of these interventions costs 100–40,000 expected lives (number of lives saved multiplied by the probability that alternate foods would be required). These interventions plus training would save 1–300 million expected lives. In general, these solutions would reduce the possibility of civilization collapse, could assist in providing food outside of catastrophic situations, and would result in billions of dollars per year of return.
Intercalibration and age of the Alder Creek sanidine 40Ar/39Ar standard

Abstract The accuracy of 40Ar/39Ar geochronology relies in large part on precise and accurate calibration of the ages and K-Ar isotopic compositions of standards. A widely used standard for Quaternary samples, the ∼1.2 Ma Alder Creek sanidine (ACs), has published ages spanning a range of ∼2%. New measurements of ACs co-irradiated with the Fish Canyon sanidine (FCs) standard and sanidines from astronomically dated Miocene tuffs in Crete and Morocco yield results that enable both (i) a direct calibration of ACs relative to FCs, and (ii) stepwise calibrations between these two standards employing the Miocene intermediaries. Results are summarized by the parameter R F C s A C s , defined as the ratio of (40Ar*/39ArK) of ACs to FCs, which embodies the fundamental age relationship between these standards that is independent of systematic variables such as decay constants or absolute ages of standards. Our new measurements, executed using three mass spectrometers and various irradiation and analytical protocols, yield a weighted mean R F C s A C s = 0.041702 ± 0.000014 (σ). This result can be combined with previously published determinations of R values for ACs relative to the Miocene tuffs and to FCs to yield a recommended interlaboratory value of R F C s A C s = 0.041707 ± 0.000011. The weighted-mean age of ACs using this interlaboratory value, based on astronomically-calibrated ages of FCs and the Miocene intermediary sanidines, is tACs = 1.1848 ± 0.0006 Ma (±0.05%). Applying this result to the most precise published 40Ar/39Ar data for the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic polarity reversal yields tMBB = 780.1 ± 0.8 ka. In addition, these new data for ACs support previous conclusions that U-Pb zircon ages from the Alder Creek rhyolite incorporate ∼13 ka of pre-eruptive residence time.
Institutional Ownership and CEO Equity Incentives

ABSTRACT: This study provides new evidence on the relation between institutional ownership and the equity incentives provided to CEOs by their portfolio holdings of stock and stock options. We show...
Automated Segmentation of Knee MRI Using Hierarchical Classifiers and Just Enough Interaction Based Learning: Data from Osteoarthritis Initiative.

We present a fully automated learning-based approach for segmenting knee cartilage in presence of osteoarthritis (OA). The algorithm employs a hierarchical set of two random forest classifiers. The first is a neighborhood approximation forest, the output probability map of which is utilized as a feature set for the second random forest (RF) classifier. The output probabilities of the hierarchical approach are used as cost functions in a Layered Optimal Graph Segmentation of Multiple Objects and Surfaces (LOGISMOS). In this work, we highlight a novel post-processing interaction called just-enough interaction (JEI) which enables quick and accurate generation of a large set of training examples. Disjoint sets of 15 and 13 subjects were used for training and tested on another disjoint set of 53 knee datasets. All images were acquired using double echo steady state (DESS) MRI sequence and are from the osteoarthritis initiative (OAI) database. Segmentation performance using the learning-based cost function showed significant reduction in segmentation errors (\(p< 0.05\)) in comparison with conventional gradient-based cost functions.
Programmer-guided reliability for extreme-scale applications

We present “programmer-guided reliability” (PGR) as a systematic conceptual approach to address the expected rise in soft errors in coming extreme-scale systems at the application level. The approach involves instrumentation of the application with code to detect data corruption errors. The location and nature of these error detectors are at the discretion of the programmer, who uses their knowledge and experience with the problem domain, the application, the solution algorithms, etc., to determine the most vulnerable areas of the code and the most appropriate ways to detect data corruption. To illustrate the approach, we provide examples of error detectors from four different benchmark-scale applications. We also describe a simple control framework that allows for runtime configuration of the error detectors without recompilation of the application, as well as dynamic reconfiguration during the execution of the application. Finally, we discuss a number of future directions building on the basic PGR appro...
MANAGING LARGE BONE DEFECTS WITH CUSTOM SPACERS IN PATIENTS WITH MUSCULOSKELETAL INFECTIONS

In patients requiring two-stage procedures, stabilization of large skeletal defects after radical debridement must be attained in order to successfully treat the infection. With the use of standard rod plus antibiotic impregnated PMMA spacers limb salvage may be attempted with satisfactory results. Between 1992 and 2014, 23 patients were treated for hip, knee, or shoulder musculoskeletal infections resulting in an average skeletal defect of 22 cm. There were 13 males and 10 females. Twelve patients had infected tumor prostheses, seven patients had an infected total joint arthroplasty, and four patients had a primary infection involving a large skeletal defect. The mean time from the index procedure until infection was 22 months. Following debridement, the defect was stabilized with Tobramycin and Vancomycin impregnated PMMA and intramedullary nails. Patients were treated with IV and oral antibiotics for six weeks each. In 18 patients who had resection about the knee stabilization was achieved with a single femoral or tibial nail in nine patients and with two nails joined by a screw or cerclage wire in the other nine. In four patients a cephalomedullary femoral nail was used for stabilization after resection of the proximal or total femur. One patient had a custom total humeral prostalac using threaded Steinmann pins and 16-gauge wire. The organisms cultured were gram positive in 19 cases, mixed gram positive and fungal in one, mixed gram negative and mycobacterium in one, and two patients had no growth on cultures but histologic evidence of acute infection. Of the 23 patients, 16 were successfully reimplanted following the initial procedure (70%) and seven had recurrent infections. Three patients with recurrent infections were successfully reimplanted after an additional one-stage procedure and four patients were not reimplanted. Two of these four had amputations and the other two had a second two-stage procedure and have retained their spacers. There were seven complications including a broken spacer, three periprosthetic fractures, two contractures, and one case of aseptic loosening. Successful limb salvage with infection control was 19/23 (83%). One patient required an amputation for local recurrence of their tumor. The overall limb salvage rate was 18/23 (78%). Stable temporary antibiotic laden cement spacers, made in conjunction with standard intramedullary nails, can provide the necessary limb stability to treat musculoskeletal infections and allow for reimplanation of tumor prostheses for limb salvage.
SPITZER OBSERVATIONS CONFIRM AND RESCUE THE HABITABLE-ZONE SUPER-EARTH K2-18b FOR FUTURE CHARACTERIZATION

NASA from the STScI [HST-GO-13665]; NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program grant; K2 Guest Observer Program; Sloan Foundation
Ordered kinematic endpoints for 5-body cascade decays

We present expressions for the kinematic endpoints of 5-body cascade decay chains proceeding through all possible combinations of 2-body and 3-body decays, with one stable invisible particle in the final decay stage. When an invariant mass can be formed in multiple ways by choosing different final state particles from a common vertex, we introduce techniques for finding the sub-leading endpoints for all indistinguishable versions of the invariant mass. In contrast to short decay chains, where sub-leading endpoints are linearly related to the leading endpoints, we find that in 5-body decays, they provide additional independent constraints on the mass spectrum.
DIAGNOSING INFECTION: NEW TESTS AND TECHNOLOGY

Peri-prosthetic joint infection (PJI) can be both a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in shoulder arthroplasty, due to the indolent nature of the common infecting organisms. Proprionobacterium acnes (P. acnes) is the most common pathogen cultured in revision shoulder arthroplasty. It is a slow growing, anaerobic organism – requires longer incubation period (7–21 days). Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species (CNSS) is also a common organism responsible for PJI. Established diagnostic tests for hip and knee PJI are often negative in the shoulder despite post-operative growth of intra-operative cultures. Pre-operative synovial aspiration often low volume due to indolent pathogens and successful aspiration is often reported to be 50% or less with Dilisio et al, JBJS 2014: reporting 16.7% sensitivity, 100% specificity. Variable culture length for P. acnes culture protocols are reported from 7–28 days with most groups recommending 14 days. From our research, we demonstrated time to culture growth was significantly shorter in probable true positive culture group (median, 5 vs. 9 days, p=0.002). Frozen section analysis may help intra-operative decision-making (one- vs. two-stage reimplantation) yet the reported sensitivity and specificity in shoulder arthroplasty is far less than in hip and knee arthroplasty. Synovial fluid biomarkers have been identified as part of the innate response to pathogens include pro-inflammatory cytokines and antimicrobial peptides. In a series of prospective studies of revision shoulder arthroplasty, synovial fluid analysis reported by Frangiamore et al, JBJS 2015: IL-6, Frangiamore et al, JSES 2015: α-defensin (Synovasure TM ), Frangiamore et al, AAOS 2015: Broader cytokine analysis it was demonstrated that these markers are much more predictive of infection than synovial fluid cultures, frozen section or serum markers.
Trading Dynamics with Private Buyer Signals in the Market for Lemons

We present a dynamic model of trading under adverse selection in which a seller sequentially meets buyers, each of whom receives a noisy signal about the quality of the seller’s asset and offers a price. We fully characterize the equilibrium trading dynamics and show that buyers’ beliefs about the quality of the asset can either increase or decrease over time, depending on the initial level. This result demonstrates how the introduction of private buyer signals enriches the set of trading patterns that can be accommodated within the framework of dynamic adverse selection, thereby broadening its applicability. We also examine the economic effects of search frictions and the informativeness of buyers’ signals in our model and discuss the robustness of our main insights in multiple directions.
Reference-free comparison of microbial communities via de Bruijn graphs

Microbial communities inhabiting the human body exhibit significant variability across different individuals and tissues, and are suggested to play an important role in health and disease. High-throughput sequencing offers unprecedented possibilities to profile microbial community composition, but limitations of existing taxonomic classification methods (including incompleteness of existing microbial reference databases) limits the ability to accurately compare microbial communities across different samples. In this paper, we present a method able to overcome these limitations by circumventing the classification step and directly using the sequencing data to compare microbial communities. The proposed method provides a powerful reference-free way to assess differences in microbial abundances across samples. This method, called EMDeBruijn, condenses the sequencing data into a de Bruijn graph. The Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) is then used to measure similarities and differences of the microbial communities associated with the individual graphs. We apply this method to RNA-Seq data sets from a coronary artery calcification (CAC) study and shown that EMDeBruijn is able to differentiate between case and control CAC samples while utilizing all the candidate microbial reads. We compare these results to current reference-based methods, which are shown to have a limited capacity to discriminate between case and control samples. We conclude that this reference-free approach is a viable choice in comparative metatranscriptomic studies.
IMPROVING OUTCOMES FOR COMPLEX ELBOW FRACTURE-DISLOCATIONS: A REVIEW OF 29 CASES FOLLOWED UP TO A MAXIMUM OF NINE YEARS

29 cases of complex elbow injuries were reviewed at a mean period of 15 months. Outcome measures included MEPS and DASH score. Patients who had defined early surgery were significantly better than those in whom surgery was delayed. We concluded that Management of complex elbow injuries can be improved by early definitive surgery. The magnitude and type of soft tissue injuries should be identified. MRI scans should be liberally used for this purpose. We believe that early, adequate and appropriate management of soft tissue injuries including use of articulated external fixator for early mobilisation improves the outcome of complex elbow injuries.
The P2Y2 nucleotide receptor is an inhibitor of vascular calcification.

Abstract Background and aims Mutations in the 5'-nucleotidase ecto (NT5E) gene that encodes CD73, a nucleotidase that converts AMP to adenosine, are linked to arterial calcification. However, the role of purinergic receptor signaling in the pathology of intimal calcification is not well understood. In this study, we examined whether extracellular nucleotides acting via P2Y 2 receptor (P2Y 2 R) modulate arterial intimal calcification, a condition highly correlated with cardiovascular morbidity. Methods Apolipoprotein E, P2Y 2 R double knockout mice ( ApoE −/− P2Y 2 R −/− ) were used to determine the effect of P2Y 2 R deficiency on vascular calcification in vivo . Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) isolated from P2Y 2 R −/− mice grown in high phosphate medium were used to assess the role of P2Y 2 R in the conversion of VSMC into osteoblasts. Luciferase-reporter assays were used to assess the effect of P2Y 2 R on the transcriptional activity of Runx2. Results P2Y 2 R deficiency in ApoE −/− mice caused extensive intimal calcification despite a significant reduction in atherosclerosis and macrophage plaque content. The ectoenzyme apyrase that degrades nucleoside di- and triphosphates accelerated high phosphate-induced calcium deposition in cultured VSMC. Expression of P2Y 2 R inhibits calcification in vitro inhibited the osteoblastic trans -differentiation of VSMC. Mechanistically, expression of P2Y 2 R inhibited Runx2 transcriptional activation of an osteocalcin promoter driven luciferase reporter gene. Conclusions This study reveals a role for vascular P2Y 2 R as an inhibitor of arterial intimal calcification and provides a new mechanistic insight into the regulation of the osteoblastic trans -differentiation of SMC through P2Y 2 R-mediated Runx2 antagonism. Given that calcification of atherosclerotic lesions is a significant clinical problem, activating P2Y 2 R may be an effective therapeutic approach for treatment or prevention of vascular calcification.
Evaluation of interprofessional relational coordination and patients' perception of care in outpatient oncology teams

This pilot study was designed to measure teamwork and the relationship of teamwork to patient perceptions of care among 63 members of 12 oncology teams at a Cancer Centre in the Midwest. Lack of teamwork in cancer care can result in serious clinical errors, fragmentation of care, and poor quality of care. Many oncology team members, highly skilled in clinical care, are not trained to work effectively as members of a care team. The research team administered the Relational Coordination survey to core oncology team members-medical oncologists, nurse coordinators, and clinical secretaries-to measure seven dimensions of team skills (four relating to communication [frequency, timeliness, accuracy, and problem solving] and three relating to relationship [shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect]) averaged to create a Relational Coordination Index. The results indicated that among the team member roles, nurse coordinator relational coordination indices were the strongest and most positively correlated with patient perception of care. Statistically significant correlations were intra-nurse coordinator relational coordination indices and two patient perception of care factors (information and education and patient's preferences). All other nurse coordinator intra-role as well as inter-role correlations were also positively correlated, although not statistically significant.
A user's view of the new MIL-STD-883 procedure 5012

The MIL-STD-883 Procedure 5012, Fault Coverage Measurement for Digital Microcircuits, is reviewed. Procedure 5012 specifies a standard fault set and fault coverage calculation techniques. The motivation and benefits of the standard are detailed. The effect of the standard fault set is studied by analysis and presentation of test case data. An actual example illustrates the costs of generating a compliant fault coverage report. US Department of Defense contractors, fault simulation developers, and semiconductor vendors are encouraged to create the necessary supporting infrastructure for the new standard. >
Duration-differentiated energy services with a continuum of loads

The problem of balancing supply and demand in the power grid becomes more challenging with the integration of uncertain and intermittent renewable supply. The usual scheme of supply following load may not be appropriate for large penetration levels of renewable supply. The reason is the increased level of reserves required to maintain a reliable grid, which affects both operational costs (reserves are expensive) and the environmental benefits of renewables (on-line reserves might increase CO 2 emissions). An alternative paradigm is to use demand side flexibility for power balance. In this paper, we focus on one particular way of exploiting the demand side flexibility. We consider a group of loads with each load requiring a constant power level for a specified duration within an operational period. The loads are differentiated in terms of the duration of service they require. The flexibility of a load resides in the fact that the power delivery may occur at any subset of the total operational period. We consider the problems of scheduling, control and market implementation for a continuum of these loads. If the loads and the available power are known in advance, we find conditions under which the available power can service all the loads, and we describe an algorithm that constructs an appropriate allocation. In the event the available supply is inadequate, we characterize the minimum amount of power that must be purchased to service the loads. In addition, we investigate the implementation of a forward market in which consumers can purchase duration differentiated services. We first characterize the social welfare maximization problem and then show the existence of an efficient competitive equilibrium in this forward market.
Current and future miniature refrigeration cooling technologies for high power microelectronics

Utilizing refrigeration may provide the only means by which future high-performance electronic chips can be maintained below predicted maximum temperature limits. Widespread application of refrigeration in electronic packaging will remain limited, until the refrigerators can be made sufficiently small so that they can be easily incorporated within the packaging. A review of existing microscale and mesoscale refrigeration systems revealed that only thermoelectric coolers (TECs) are now commercially available in small sizes. However, existing TECs are limited by their maximum cooling power and low efficiencies. A simple model was constructed to analyze the performance of both existing and predicted future TECs, in an electronic packaging environment. Comparison with the cooling provided by an existing high-performance fan shows that they are most effective for heat loads less than approximately 100 W, but that for higher heat loads, fan air cooling actually yields a lower junction temperature. Thermal resistance between the refrigerator and the chip is not as critical as the thermal resistance between the refrigerator and the ambient air.
Study of the effects of fast neutrons on silicon controlled rectifiers

The controlled rectifier, while it has come into use only recently, has properties which make its use in a nuclear environment probable. Because of this, an investigation was conducted to determine the effects of fast neutrons on silicon controlled rectifiers. Ten General Electric 4JC35 silicon controlled rectifiers were subjected to a maximum integrated fast neutron flux of 4 \times 10^{13} nvt/cm2in the M. I. T. Nuclear Reactor. An increase in the emitter current required to obtain a given value of alpha was observed after irradiation. This increase is attributed to an increase in the bulk recombination in the base region. The variation of alpha with emitter current in the controlled rectifier is attributed to recombination in the space charge layer.