cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prescription Contraceptive Coverage: A Prospective Business Opportunity for Employers in the Aftermath of Erickson v. Bartell

On June 12, 2001, a federal district court in Washington issued Erickson v. Bartell which held an employer's prescription drug plan to be in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, for excluding coverage of prescription contraceptives for its female employees. Erickson v. Bartell Drug Co., 141 F. Supp. 2d 1266 (W.D. Wash. 2001). Being the first federal challenge regarding the coverage of birth control (and one that is not universally controlling), the Erickson decision's impact remains uncertain as to whether it will result in increased coverage of prescription contraceptive coverage by employers nationwide. However, this decision emerged at a key time as various tribunals, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state and federal legislatures, are taking action to promote prescription contraceptive coverage in employee health benefit plans. While many legal considerations exist as to whether an employer should provide coverage for its employee's prescription contraceptives, employers should take into account the economic benefits that exist from providing coverage. From the perspective of employers, covering prescription contraceptives appears to be a straightforward solution to reducing its costs. Expenses that may be reduced include those costs for unintended pregnancies, other covered medical conditions such as ovarian cancer and costs to the business on account of employee's absence due to unintended pregnancies. Thus, a simple cost/benefit analysis likely reveals a positive result for employers that choose to cover prescription contraceptives for their employees. Further, an employer has the opportunity to influence society at large by providing its employees with a chance to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions, and health care costs. Positive impacts due to employer coverage of prescription contraceptives may also be observed via increased equality in the workplace and an increased number in the workforce. Thus, employers not only take advantage of their ability to profit but to positively influence society as well. At a time such as this, in which the legalities of prescription contraceptive coverage is unclear, employers have a rare opportunity to positively impact its employees and society all the while increasing the business' equity.
The Use of the Method of Characteristics for Examination of Two-Phase Flow Behavior

The effect of unequal vapor and liquid velocities has been introduced into the conservation equations in a manner that is consistent with the use of the method of characteristics. It is shown that ...
The Chemical Basis of the Host Selection in the Mexican Bean Beetle, Epilachna varivestis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae)

Fractions containing phaseolunatin and/or related cyanogenetic glycosides were isolated from leaves of bush and lima beans, and were shown to elicit strong biting response from the Mexican bean beetle, when present at low concentrations in combination with glucose. After acid hydrolysis these fractions elicit a negligible response. At higher concentrations they act as inhibitors. It has been suggested that phaseolunatin in high concentrations is responsible for the resistance of certain varieties of bush beans and lima beans to the Mexican bean beetle.
Microclimatic Humidity Influence on Conidial Discharge in Erynia sp. (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae), an Entomopathogenic Fungus of the Alfalfa Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The association between conidial discharge (showering) and relative humidity in Erynia sp. infecting larval alfalfa weevils was studied under field conditions during an 11-day epizootic. The fungus was observed to shower when relative humidities in the alfalfa canopy exceeded 91% for ca. 3 h. The showering period had a mean duration of 5 to 10 min. A general trend toward shorter periods of showering early in the showering period (1 to 30 a.m.) was observed, whereas longer periods of showering occurred between 3 and 6 a.m. Low temperatures above freezing had no observed direct effect on either time or duration of showering. Collected data provide empirical support for a relationship between accumulated relative humidity (humidity hours) and conidial dicharge in a fungal entomopathogen.
Design and Manufacture of High Pressure Bag Filter in Polypropylene Plant

In order to decrease the local stresses,reduce the shell thick,and get the good manufacture technology,the high pressure bag filter,which is used in 45×104 t/apolypropylene plant,is designed according to its structural characteristics.With method of finite element,the stresses in the structure are calculated,and with the method of design by analysis,the strengthen analysis and assessment of the structure is made.Lastly,based on the manufacture level of pressure vessel in China,the manufacture technology of the high pressure bag filter is discussed and analyzed.The results show that the high pressure bag filter but not meet the need of operation technology,and also has good strengthen and good manufacture technology.
Characteristics of airway responsiveness and clinical values of different respiratory diseases in children

Objective To investigate the characteristics of airway responsiveness and clinical values of asthma,cough variant asthma,bronchitis and other respiratory diseases in children.Methods Astograph was applied to measure airway responsiveness for 42 children with asthma,38 children with cough variant asthma,36 children with bronchitis and 30 healthy children.Indexes such as Dmin,SGrs and PD35 reflecting airway sensitivity and airway responsiveness were analyzed and assessed statistically.Results Dmin,SGrs,PD35 and other indicators of children in asthma group,CVA group and bronchitis group were lower than those in control group,the differences were statistically significant(P 0.05).And asthma group and CVA group also had statistically significant differences compared with bronchitis group(P 0.05),but the difference between asthma group and CVA group was not statistically significant(P 0.05).Conclusions Airway responsiveness and airway sensitivity of children with different respiratory diseases such as asthma,CVA and bronchitis are higher than those of healthy children,but airway reactivity and airway sensitivity of different respiratory diseases in children are not identical,which may provide a basis for differential diagnosis.
Mitochondrion: A Promising Target for Nanoparticle-Based Vaccine Delivery Systems

Vaccination is one of the most popular technologies in disease prevention and eradication. It is promising to improve immunization efficiency by using vectors and/or adjuvant delivery systems. Nanoparticle (NP)-based delivery systems have attracted increasing interest due to enhancement of antigen uptake via prevention of vaccine degradation in the biological environment and the intrinsic immune-stimulatory properties of the materials. Mitochondria play paramount roles in cell life and death and are promising targets for vaccine delivery systems to effectively induce immune responses. In this review, we focus on NPs-based delivery systems with surfaces that can be manipulated by using mitochondria targeting moieties for intervention in health and disease.
1-jettiness DIS event shape: NNLL + NLO results

We present results for the complete $\mathrm{NNLL}+\mathrm{NLO}$ ($\ensuremath{\sim}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$) 1-jettiness (${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1}$) event shape distribution for single jet ($J$) production in electron-nucleus (${N}_{A}$) collisions ${e}^{\ensuremath{-}}+{N}_{A}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}+J+X$, in the deep inelastic scattering (DIS) region where the hard scale is set by the jet transverse momentum ${P}_{{J}_{T}}$. These results cover the entire ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1}$ spectrum including the resummation (${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1}\ensuremath{\ll}{P}_{{J}_{T}}$) and fixed-order (${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1}\ensuremath{\sim}{P}_{{J}_{T}}$) perturbative QCD regions. They incorporate nonperturbative soft radiation effects, the anti-${k}_{T}$ jet algorithm in the fixed-order calculation, and a smooth matching between the resummation and fixed-order perturbative QCD regions. The matching smoothly connects the spectrum in the resummation region, which can be computed without reference to an external jet algorithm, and the fixed-order region where an explicit jet algorithm must be specified. Our code, used for generating the numerical results, is flexible enough to incorporate different jet algorithms for the fixed-order calculation. We also perform a jet-shape analysis, defined within the 1-jettiness framework, which allows one to control the amount of radiation included in the definition of the final state jet. This formalism can allow for detailed studies of jet energy-loss mechanisms and nuclear medium effects. The analysis presented here can be used for precision studies of QCD and as a probe of nuclear dynamics using data collected at HERA and in proposed future electron-ion colliders such as the EIC and the LHeC.
Assays for Monitoring Macroautophagy Activity in T cells

Autophagy is an essential catabolic process that regulates a diverse array of functions by targeting cellular components for degradation by lysosomes. Studies in mammalian cells have shown that the regulation of autophagy is highly complex and optimization of experimental approaches to analyze this process needs to be developed for each model studied. This chapter provides an overview of two of the most commonly used ways to monitor autophagy activity in T cell. It involves description of common techniques, namely Western blot and cell immunostaining, giving specific recommendations for working with T cells and monitoring macroautophagy. We also discuss the analysis required for correct interpretation of the results and quantification of macroautophagy activity.
Motor Control Training Enhances Reactive Driving in Stroke—A Pilot Study

Impairments in motor control but not strength affect reactive driving performance in older adults [1]. Stroke significantly impairs motor control that could contribute to deficits in driving ability. The goal of this study was to compare whether strength training or motor control training could improve reactive driving following stroke. Participants were randomly assigned to either strength or motor control training. Both groups received a total of 12 h of training over 2 weeks in 4 sessions with increasing intensity. We tested reactive driving performance before and after the training. The motor control group showed significant decrease in premotor, and motor times (p < 0.05), and significant decrease in brake pedal error (p < 0.05), as compared with the strength training group. This finding suggests that post-stroke driving rehabilitation will benefit from motor control training.
Influence of High pH and Cholesterol on Single Arginine-Containing Transmembrane Peptide Helices

An essential component of mammalian cells, cholesterol exerts significant influence on the physical properties of the cell membrane and in turn its constituents, including membrane proteins. Although sparse, polar amino acid residues are highly conserved in membrane proteins and play pivotal roles in determining specific structural and functional properties. To improve our understanding of particular polar residues in the membrane environment, we have examined two specific “guest” Arg residues within a well-defined and deuterium-labeled “host” framework provided by the transmembrane helical peptide GWALP23 (acetyl-GGALWLALALALALALALWLAGA-amide). Solid-state 2H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra from aligned bilayer membrane samples effectively report changes in the host helix properties because of the incorporation of the guest residues. The focus of this work is two-pronged. First, GWALP23-R14 was examined over a pH range of 2–13 in 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) ester- or ether-li...
The Heterogeneity of Obesity: Fitting Treatments To Individuals - Republished Article.

Body weight is regulated by a complex interaction of biological, behavioral, and cultural factors. The population as a whole is at risk for obesity because of increased intake of dietary fat, the consumption of calories in fewer meals per day, striking accessibility to palatable foods, and decreased physical activity. This risk may become a reality in individuals with certain biological predispositions (genetic tendency, low metabolic rate, increased fat cell number), specific eating patterns, and susceptibility to the extreme cultural pressure to be lean. These factors must be considered in establishing goals for treatment, which fall into medical and psychosocial categories. This includes defining a “reasonable” as opposed to “ideal” weight. A three-stage process is proposed for identifying the best treatment for an individual. This involves a classification decision, a stepped care decision, and then a matching decision. Criteria are provided for a comprehensive assessment of the overweight individual, and treatment options are reviewed for programs of varying intensity, cost, and risk.
Gadd45a Behaves as a Tumor Suppressor and Gadd45b Behaves as an Oncogene in myc-Mediated Block in Myeloid Differentiation.

We have observed that deregulated c-Myc expression in M1 myeloid leukemic cells blocks IL-6-induced differentiation at an intermediate stage, the cells fail to exit the cell cycle, proliferating indefinitely, with a portion of the cells always undergoing apoptotic cell death by prematurely recruiting the CD95/Fas apoptotic pathway. Similar results were also observed in normal myeloid cells from bone marrow (Amanullah et al. Oncogene 19:2967–77, 2000; Amanullah et al. Oncogene 21:1600–1610, 2002). Although there is evidence that c-myc represses the gadd45a promoter, this laboratory has observed elevated gadd45a expression in M1myc cells that are blocked during differentiation. In addition, microarray analysis indicated that gadd45b is a c-myc target gene. Because of these observations and the availability of gadd45a null and gadd45b null mice, the effect of deregulated myc expression in Hoxb8 immortalized macrophage progenitors was ascertained. It was observed that deregulated c-myc expression in gadd45a null cells blocked differentiation at the blast stage, compared to a block at the intermediate stage for wild type progenitors. In contrast, deregulated c-myc expression in gadd45b null progenitors resulted in rapid cell death. These observations suggest that in the context of myc mediated myeloid leukemias Gadd45a behaves as a tumor suppressor and Gadd45b behaves as an oncogene.
The digital radiography of archaeological pottery: Program and protocols for the analysis of production

Abstract Archaeologists collaborating with material scientists at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) as part of the Making of Ancient Eurasia (MAE) Project have developed formal methodological standards for the assemblage-based digital radiographic (DR) analysis of archaeological pottery. While analog radiography of pottery (X-radiography, Xeroradiography, etc.) has functioned as a common disciplinary tool for some time, inaccessibility, obsolescence, and significantly enhanced functionality have made DR instrumentation increasingly attractive and vital. This article presents the theoretical underpinnings, technique development, and resultant protocols that allow digital radiography to analyze very large assemblages and provide quantitative data sets that act as true counterparts to geochemical and mineralogical ones. As a technique of structural pottery evaluation, DR is particularly suited to the analysis of ceramic paste preparation and vessel formation, providing lines of evidence that can flesh out neglected portions of the chaine operatoire, augment existing geochemical or typological classifications, and help more deeply characterize various potting traditions. Such datasets are most useful to scholars interested in harnessing the ability of the pottery “life cycle” to shed light on economic life, learning frameworks, and human social differences and group identities. The technical capacities and analytical potential of DR are demonstrated through several test analyses of ancient Chinese pottery, to be followed by more extensive case studies in draft. Prospects for closely related, three-dimensional X-ray computed tomographic approaches are also discussed.
Introduction: September 11, 2001, Cultural Trauma, and Popular Culture

The commercial airliner hijackings and crashes on September 11, 2001, confounded the traditionally dominant US narrative of the American Dream, which has persistently and pervasively featured optimism and belief in a just world that affirms and rewards self-determination. This shattering of a worldview fundamental to mainstream US experience and cultural understanding has manifested as a cultural trauma throughout popular culture in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Popular press oral histories, literary fiction, television, and film are among the multiple, ubiquitous sites evidencing preoccupations with existential crisis, vulnerability, and moral ambivalence, with fate, no-win scenarios, and anti-heroes now pervading commonly told and readily accessible stories.
Voltage Response of Primary Resonance of Coaxial Vibrations of Electrostatically Actuated DWCNT

This work investigates the voltage response of electrostatically actuated of Double-Wall-Carbon-Nano-Tube (DWCNT) parallel to a ground plate (electrode). The voltage between the DWCNT and the ground plate is an Alternating Current (AC) voltage whose frequency is near half of the fundamental natural frequency of the DWCNT. Since the application of this research is mass sensing, and the low power consumption is desired, the Direct Current (DC) voltage is not included in this work. DWCNT coaxial vibrations are investigated. Numerical solutions of this problem are reported.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Evaluating NeuroSky’s Single-Channel EEG Sensor for Drowsiness Detection

NeuroSky’s single-channel EEG sensor has drawn researchers’ interest because the sensor offers higher usability at a significantly lower cost. The sensor is minimally obtrusive, measuring the brainwaves from a single location on the head. This is an excellent feature from a usability standpoint. Yet, the sensor needs to be evaluated for specific applications. This paper presents preliminary assessment of the sensor in detecting drowsiness. A simulated driving task was used as a testbed. A total of 14 participants participated in the study. The results reveal no statistically significant difference in brain activities between the drowsy and the attentive states, indicating that the brainwaves used in the analysis are unable to distinguish the two driving states.
Minimizing Glycemic Fluctuations in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Approaches and Importance

Glycemic fluctuations, characterized by short-term oscillations in plasma glucose, are important when managing type 2 diabetes (T2D) and may be considered a target of glucose-lowering therapies. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been used to evaluate the effects of different treatments on glycemic fluctuations. This review examines approaches to and the importance of minimizing glycemic fluctuations among patients with T2D. Measures of HbA1c, fructosamine, and glycated albumin reflect a long-term average of plasma glucose, and are therefore unable to provide an accurate measure of short-term glycemic oscillations. CGM provides accurate monitoring of real-time glucose fluctuations and has been used to investigate the effects of lifestyle and treatment on daily glycemic control. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists have demonstrated significant improvements in measures such as the mean amplitude of glucose excursions and standard deviation of CGM. Case studies of two patients with T2D utilizing CGM are also included in this review, which demonstrated that CGM was a useful tool for diagnosing unrecognized hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia in situations in which it was impractical to check fingerstick concentrations. Altogether, the evidence suggests that glycemic fluctuations are a potential target to consider when managing T2D. CGM allows for the real-time evaluation of glycemic fluctuations and may assist in the development of an individualized treatment plan to adequately control short-term oscillations in blood glucose levels.
Self-Excited Vibrations for Damped and Delayed 1-Dimensional Wave Equations

It is shown that time delay induces self-excited vibrations in one dimensional damped wave equations, via Hopf bifurcation. In order to obtain classical solutions and $$C^{\infty }$$ smoothness with respect to the amplitude parameter, we avoid the use of any abstract Hopf bifurcation theorem, and instead work directly in Sobolev spaces on the 2-torus. As a result, a “derivative loss” problem arises, which is overcome using the regularizing effects of the time delay and damping. Only the classical implicit function theorem is used. The direction of bifurcation is also obtained.
Confinement Effect on Strain Localizations in Glassy Polymer Films

The physical properties of glassy polymer films change as they become confined. These changes are often attributed to increased average molecular mobility and reduction in entanglement density. Both are known to alter mechanical behavior, including the formation of strain localizations, e.g., crazing and shear deformation zones. Here, we determine how the entanglement density and surface mobility change the mechanical behavior of a glassy polymer film when it becomes confined. We utilize a custom-built uniaxial tensile tester for ultrathin films and dark-field optical microscopy to characterize the complete stress–strain response and the associated strain localizations for ultrathin polystyrene films of varying thickness (hF = 20–360 nm). These experiments provide direct measurement of the stress in a craze as well as the stresses involved through the transition from crazing to shear deformation zones. Most significantly, we observe a transition in strain localization from crazing to shear deformation zon...
The Consumer’s View of Psychiatric Education

The authors surveyed third-year psychiatric residents in Southern California and found them generally satisfied with their education, in spite of some deficiencies. Program and age related to plans for additional supervision after graduation. Feeling competent correlated negatively with plans to join a psychoanalytic institute. Most residents thought psychiatric training was less stressful than their previous medical training. As might be expected, stress and satisfaction with their education correlated. Satisfaction with student status correlated with plans to continue formal education.
Students' Use of Second Life in Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language

The affordances of Second Life provide a life-like environment for language learning. This study explores how college students learn Spanish as a foreign language in the Second Life environment. We investigated their perceptions of and experiences with Second Life in their foreign language learning, from a sociocultural perspective. Employing qualitative research methods, we collected chat logs, observations, reflective journals, and interviews. Findings include a) the advantages of authentic communication with native Spanish speakers, b) learners’ motivation and anxiety, c) opportunities to practice the target language, d) the nature of their language production, and e) the participatory culture. Our discussion highlights the various ways in which Second Life can provide a good environment for language learning. We describe benefits such as opportunities for authentic conversation, and to explore the target culture, as well as increased motivation for foreign language learning in Second Life. Students did encounter a few challenges, but in general Second Life provides an excellent platform to practice language skills.
Computer science unplugged: pre-conference workshop

Computer Science Unplugged is a series of learning activities that reveals a little-known secret: computer science isn't really about computers at all! Unplugged teaches principles of computer science such as binary numbers, algorithms and data compression through games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. Unplugged is suitable for people of all ages, from elementary school to university, and from many countries and backgrounds. Unplugged has been used around the world for over fifteen years, in classrooms, science centers, homes, and even for holiday events in a park! (Abstract quoted from http://csunplugged.org)
Extending multicriteria decision making by mixing t-norms and OWA operators: Research Articles

We consider the problem of multicriteria decision making. We indicate how the evaluation of an alternative involves a determination of the degree to which subsets of criteria are satisfied by the alternative. This calculation is based upon an anding of the satisfactions of the individual criteria in the subsets. We consider the possibility of using t-norms other than the Min for the and operation. Using this generalization we develop an extension of the OWA operators, called the TOWA, which involves a mixing of the t-norm with the OWA operator. We extend this generalization to other aggregation techniques, the Choquet and Sugeno integrals. We introduce the concept of the Power of a t-norm to provide an ordering over the t-norm operators. We look at Power of a number of families of t-norm. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 20: 453–474, 2005.
Realizing Closed-Loop, Online Tuning and Control for Configurable-Cache Embedded Systems: Progress and Challenges

The cache subsystem is a major contributor to energy consumption in commercial microprocessors used in embedded systems. To reduce energy, designers can perform design space exploration (DSE) to determine a suitable cache configuration that matches system constraints and goals while minimizing energy consumption. Traditionally, this cache tuning step has been a static process where heuristics or analytical models are used to determine an optimal or near-optimal cache configuration prior to runtime given a known application, application set, or application domain. Even though the configuration may change during runtime for different phases of execution, the specific configuration for each phase remains fixed. This static nature is too restrictive for modern, complex embedded systems that are expected to operate under diverse, unknown operating environments, run unknown applications, and with vastly different user quality of experience (QoE) expectations (e.g., smart phones). Therefore, cache tuning must change from a static optimization process to a dynamic optimization process that adapts online during runtime transparently to the user/system needs. The key challenge is determining the configuration that adheres to QoE expectations while minimizing energy consumption without degrading the user experience during DSE. Despite the wealth of progress that has been made, the realization of a closed-loop, fully adaptive, online-tunable cache subsystem still faces many challenges. In this paper, we review the progress made in the area of static and dynamic cache tuning, discuss the challenges that still exist in this area, and propose a predictionassisted control-theoretic framework to address these challenges.
Valency-Augmented Dependency Parsing

We present a complete, automated, and efficient approach for utilizing valency analysis in making dependency parsing decisions. It includes extraction of valency patterns, a probabilistic model for tagging these patterns, and a joint decoding process that explicitly considers the number and types of each token’s syntactic dependents. On 53 treebanks representing 41 languages in the Universal Dependencies data, we find that incorporating valency information yields higher precision and F1 scores on the core arguments (subjects and complements) and functional relations (e.g., auxiliaries) that we employ for valency analysis. Precision on core arguments improves from 80.87 to 85.43. We further show that our approach can be applied to an ostensibly different formalism and dataset, Tree Adjoining Grammar as extracted from the Penn Treebank; there, we outperform the previous state-of-the-art labeled attachment score by 0.7. Finally, we explore the potential of extending valency patterns beyond their traditional domain by confirming their helpfulness in improving PP attachment decisions.
Thermal Life of Carbon Structures: From the Earth to after the Titan

With the increasing of consumption of sources and the population of mankind on Earth, scientists are looking for an alternative planet in the solar system that can establish the second home for mankind. Previously, Mars has been the center of attention by scientists due to the closer distance to Earth and being similar to that in many aspects. Recently, scientists discovered that there may be a better alternative. Titan, despite its great distance from the Earth, seems like a better planet for the mankind colonization due to its atmosphere that create a shield against the radiation in comparison to Mars’ atmosphere that is thin and is not capable to create an adequate shield against radiation. In the previous work, the thermal life of carbon structures on Mars was approximately estimated. The aim of this research is to provide a method to estimate the thermal life of carbon structures on Titan. Carbon structures are currently used in space structures due to their lightweight and strength.
A Decidable Logic for Tree Data-Structures with Measurements

We present \({\textsc {Dryad}}_\textit{dec}\), a decidable logic that allows reasoning about tree data-structures with measurements. This logic supports user-defined recursive measure functions based on Max or Sum, and recursive predicates based on these measure functions, such as AVL trees or red-black trees. We prove that the logic’s satisfiability is decidable. The crux of the decidability proof is a small model property which allows us to reduce the satisfiability of \({\textsc {Dryad}}_\textit{dec}\) to quantifier-free linear arithmetic theory which can be solved efficiently using SMT solvers. We also show that \({\textsc {Dryad}}_\textit{dec}\) can encode a variety of verification and synthesis problems, including natural proof verification conditions for functional correctness of recursive tree-manipulating programs, legality conditions for fusing tree traversals, synthesis conditions for conditional linear-integer arithmetic functions. We developed the decision procedure and successfully solved 220+ \({\textsc {Dryad}}_\textit{dec}\) formulae raised from these application scenarios, including verifying functional correctness of programs manipulating AVL trees, red-black trees and treaps, checking the fusibility of height-based mutually recursive tree traversals, and counterexample-guided synthesis from linear integer arithmetic specifications. To our knowledge, \({\textsc {Dryad}}_\textit{dec}\) is the first decidable logic that can solve such a wide variety of problems requiring flexible combination of measure-related, data-related and shape-related properties for trees.
Erta Ale and the Danakil Rift Zone

Ethiopia may not be the first country to come to mind when considering where to find active volcanoes to visit. Located on the horn of Africa, at the southeastern margin of the Sahara Desert, Ethiopia is better known for its archeological and historical tourism, as well as its struggles with famine and concerns with neighbors South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. However, one of the rare treasures of active volcanoes, a roiling and churning lake of lava (Fig. 23.1), resides within Ethiopia’s borders and draws volcanologists and adventurers from around the world to its edge. Aside from the volcano, the Dallol geothermal region is one of the most wonderfully colorful and photogenic volcanic landscapes in the world, still largely unknown, though at risk of having its fragile environment damaged by unprotected tourism.
Utilization of prescription opioid analgesia after oculoplastic surgery.

Over the last two decades, the institution of rigorous pain assessment and management standards has correlated with a rapid increase in opioid prescription.1 Recent studies have demonstrated a stro...
Reconfigurable Network for Efficient Inferencing in Autonomous Vehicles

We propose a reconfigurable network for efficient inference dedicated to autonomous platforms equipped with multiple perception sensors. The size of the network for steering autonomous platforms grows proportionally to the number of installed sensors eventually preventing the usage of multiple sensors in real-time applications due to an inefficient inference. Our approach hinges on the observation that multiple sensors provide a large stream of data, where only a fraction of the data is relevant for the performed task at any given moment in time. The architecture of the reconfigurable network that we propose contains separate feature extractors, called experts, for each sensor. The decisive block of our model is the gating network, which online decides which sensor provides the data that is most relevant for driving. It then reconfigures the network by activating only the relevant expert corresponding to that sensor and deactivating the remaining ones. As a consequence, the model never extracts features from data that are irrelevant for driving. The gating network takes the data from all inputs and thus to avoid explosion of computation time and memory space it has to be realized as a small and shallow network. We verify our model on the unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) comprising of the 1/6 scale remote control truck equipped with three cameras. We demonstrate that the reconfigurable network correctly chooses experts in real-time allowing the reduction of computations cost for the whole model without deteriorating its performance.
Kidney transplantation after sleeve gastrectomy in the morbidly obese candidate: results of a 2-year experience.

Abstract Background Morbid obesity serves as a barrier to kidney transplantation (KT) due to potential suboptimal posttransplant outcomes. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has previously been shown to improve transplant eligibility through weight loss. Objectives We aimed to examine the role LSG plays in improving patient outcomes postrenal transplantation, including possible impact on new-onset diabetes after transplant (NODAT). Setting University Hospital. Methods A single-center analysis was performed identifying all patients who underwent KT after LSG from 2011 to 2017 (n = 41). Exclusion criteria included type I diabetes and previous pancreas transplantation. NODAT was defined as a new insulin requirement after KT. Delayed graft function was defined as need for dialysis within the first week after KT. Mean posttransplant follow-up period was 22 months. Results Forty-one patients underwent KT after LSG after median time of 16 months. Median age of postLSG patients undergoing KT was 56.0 years at time of KT. Average body mass index decreased by 9 from the time of LSG to KT, and no patients regained weight at 1-year follow-up. After LSG, the number of patients with hypertension (85.4% versus 48.5%) and the number of antihypertensive medications used decreased significantly (1.6 versus .6) at time of KT (P Conclusion This is the largest reported series of KT after planned LSG in morbidly obese patients. Our results confirm excellent posttransplant outcomes among patients who otherwise would have been denied KT eligibility.
Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation mediates early phase histone eviction at DNA lesions

Nucleosomal histones are barriers to the DNA repair process particularly at DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, the molecular mechanism by which these histone barriers are removed from the sites of DNA damage remains elusive. Here, we have generated a single specific inducible DSB in the cells and systematically examined the histone removal process at the DNA lesion. We found that histone removal occurred immediately following DNA damage and could extend up to a range of few kilobases from the lesion. To examine the molecular mechanism underlying DNA damage-induced histone removal, we screened histone modifications and found that histone ADP-ribosylation was associated with histone removal at DNA lesions. PARP inhibitor treatment suppressed the immediate histone eviction at DNA lesions. Moreover, we examined histone chaperones and found that the FACT complex recognized ADP-ribosylated histones and mediated the removal of histones in response to DNA damage. Taken together, our results reveal a pathway that regulates early histone barrier removal at DNA lesions. It may also explain the mechanism by which PARP inhibitor regulates early DNA damage repair.
Dynamic Optimization of Battery Health in IoT Networks

The reliability and maintainability of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices become highly important as the number of "things" grows rapidly. The majority of the IoT devices have batteries which age, degrade, and eventually require maintenance. Existing work focuses on ensuring that batteries have sufficient amount of stored charge to operate until they can recharge, but does not consider battery degradation. This leads to high replacement and maintenance costs in large IoT networks. In this paper, we formulate the problem of minimizing battery degradation to improve the lifetime of IoT networks and solve it with Model Predictive Control (MPC) leveraging models for battery dynamics and State of Health (SoH). The battery SoH is modeled using a realistic non-linear model while taking ambient temperature into account. We demonstrate that our solution can improve network lifetime up to 68.5% compared to conventional energy consumption focused algorithms, which use simple linear battery models. The proposed approach achieves near-optimal performance in terms of preserving battery health, staying within 8.7% SoH with respect to an ideal oracle solution on average.
7 – Copper bioavailability

Publisher Summary The first conclusive evidence of biological essentiality for copper was provided by Hart and colleagues when it was demonstrated that the element was required for recovery from anemia in rats. Fischer and colleagues prepared everted duodenal sacs from immature rats to investigate the effect of zinc on copper absorption. Aoyagi evaluated solubility of several copper salts in various solvents. Since the early studies of Schultze and colleagues, the soluble salts—primarily cupric sulfate or chloride—have been used as reference standards for comparative evaluation of the absorption and bioavailability of copper. Whole-body retention of 67Cu has been used to evaluate copper absorption by rats. A less direct evaluation of copper absorption is the use of high dietary concentrations of copper and measurement of copper accumulation in tissues. A gall- bladder uptake bioassay was used to evaluate copper bioavailability in several feedstuffs. Tissue concentrations of copper: Suttle applied the principle of depletion‑repletion to determine copper bioavailability in sheep. Metalloprotein biosynthesis and enzymatic activity: Copper has a direct effect on iron metabolism and, thus, indirectly affects hemoglobin biosynthesis. Other criteria: Conventional balance techniques are generally inadequate for measurement of copper bioavailability, particularly in ruminants. Supplemental copper for ruminants grazing copper-deficient areas has frequently been provided as a copper salt mixed with other mineral compounds and offered to grazing animals on a free-choice basis. Most of the bioavailability data for copper supplements presented, however, were obtained by feeding dietary copper levels well beyond the requirement.
MMGB/SA Consensus Estimate of the Binding Free Energy Between the Novel Coronavirus Spike Protein to the Human ACE2 Receptor.

The ability to estimate protein-protein binding free energy in a computationally efficient via a physics-based approach is beneficial to research focused on the mechanism of viruses binding to their target proteins. Implicit solvation methodology may be particularly useful in the early stages of such research, as it can offer valuable insights into the binding process, quickly. Here we evaluate the potential of the related molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MMGB/SA) approach to estimate the binding free energy {Delta}Gbind between the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain and the human ACE2 receptor. The calculations are based on a recent flavor of the generalized Born model, GBNSR6. Two estimates of {Delta}Gbind are performed: one based on standard bondi radii, and the other based on a newly developed set of atomic radii (OPT1), optimized specifically for protein-ligand binding. We take the average of the resulting two {Delta}Gbind values as the consensus estimate. For the well-studied Ras-Raf protein-protein complex, which has similar binding free energy to that of the SARS-CoV-2/ACE2 complex, the consensus {Delta}Gbind = -11.8 {+/-} 1 kcal/mol, vs. experimental -9.7 {+/-} 0.2 kcal/mol. The consensus estimates for the SARS-CoV-2/ACE2 complex is {Delta}Gbind = -9.4 {+/-} 1.5 kcal/mol, which is in near quantitative agreement with experiment (-10.6 kcal/mol). The availability of a conceptually simple MMGB/SA-based protocol for analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 /ACE2 binding may be beneficial in light of the need to move forward fast.
What Matters for On-Policy Deep Actor-Critic Methods? A Large-Scale Study

In recent years, reinforcement learning (RL) has been successfully applied to many different continuous control tasks. While RL algorithms are often conceptually simple, their state-of-the-art implementations take numerous low- and high-level design decisions that strongly affect the performance of the resulting agents. Those choices are usually not extensively discussed in the literature, leading to discrepancy between published descriptions of algorithms and their implementations. This makes it hard to attribute progress in RL and slows down overall progress [Engstrom'20]. As a step towards filling that gap, we implement >50 such ``"choices" in a unified on-policy deep actor-critic framework, allowing us to investigate their impact in a large-scale empirical study. We train over 250'000 agents in five continuous control environments of different complexity and provide insights and practical recommendations for the training of on-policy deep actor-critic RL agents.
Analytic Test Functions for Generalizable Evaluation of Convex Optimization Techniques

Convex optimization algorithms such as gradient descent, quasi-Newton methods, and their variants are designed to find the global minimum of strongly convex functions. When these algorithms are applied to the minimization of non-convex functions they offer no robust theoretical guarantees. Despite the lack of guarantees, many methods still find good solutions in practice and are widely used in academia and industry to solve non-convex problems. In this paper, a set of analytic test functions and transformations are presented that can be used to quantify the expected performance of optimization algorithms on difficult (non-convex) optimization problems. The test functions and transformations in this set are used to compare and evaluate the convergence rates of stochastic gradient descent, L-BFGS, AdaGrad, and Adam.
Vectors and matrices

The MAA is pleased to re-issue the early Carus Mathematical Monographs in ebook and print-on-demand formats. Readers with an interest in the history of the undergraduate curriculum or the history of a particular field will be rewarded by study of these very clear and approachable little volumes. In 1943 a course in linear algebra did not yet exist as a standard part of the undergraduate curriculum. It would be another twenty years before that would become common. It is, however, easy to identify the defining features of that course in this volume. Start with the idea of solving linear systems; change the point of view to that of transformations on vector spaces; recognize similarity as an essential classifying principle; and catalogue the canonical forms (Jordan normal form) of the transformations. All of this is here but with a decided, old-fashioned, algebraic accent - there is only one figure in the entire text.
Analyzing Nested Experimental Designs - A User-Friendly Resampling Method to Determine Experimental Significance

While hierarchical experimental designs are near-ubiquitous in neuroscience and biomedical research, researchers often do not take the structure of their datasets into account while performing statistical hypothesis tests. Resampling-based methods are a flexible strategy for performing these analyses but are difficult due to the lack of open-source software to automate test construction and execution. To address this, we report Hierarch, a Python package to perform hypothesis tests and compute confidence intervals on hierarchical experimental designs. Using a combination of permutation resampling and bootstrap aggregation, Hierarch can be used to perform hypothesis tests that maintain nominal Type I error rates and generate confidence intervals that maintain the nominal coverage probability without making distributional assumptions about the dataset of interest. Hierarch makes use of the Numba JIT compiler to reduce p-value computation times to under one second for typical datasets in biomedical research. Hierarch also enables researchers to construct user-defined resampling plans that take advantage of Hierarch9s Numba-accelerated functions. Hierarch is freely available as a Python package at https://github.com/rishi-kulkarni/hierarch.
An assessment of executive function in two different rat models of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Spontaneously hypertensive versus Lphn3 knockout rats.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a common neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood and often comorbid with other externalizing disorders (EDs). There is evidence that externalizing behaviors share a common genetic etiology. Recently, a genome-wide, multigenerational sample linked variants in the Lphn3 gene to ADHD and other externalizing behaviors. Likewise, limited research in animal models has provided converging evidence that Lphn3 plays a role in EDs. This study examined the impact of Lphn3 deletion (i.e., Lphn3-/- ) in rats on measures of behavioral control associated with externalizing behavior. Impulsivity was assessed for 30 days via a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) task and working memory evaluated for 25 days using a delayed spatial alternation (DSA) task. Data from both tasks were averaged into 5-day testing blocks. We analyzed overall performance, as well as response patterns in just the first and last blocks to assess acquisition and steady-state performance, respectively. "Positive control" measures on the same tasks were measured in an accepted animal model of ADHD-the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). Compared with wildtype controls, Lphn3-/- rats exhibited deficits on both the DRL and DSA tasks, indicative of deficits in impulsive action and working memory, respectively. These deficits were less severe than those in the SHRs, who were profoundly impaired on both tasks compared with their control strain, Wistar-Kyoto rats. The results provide evidence supporting a role for Lphn3 in modulating inhibitory control and working memory, and suggest additional research evaluating the role of Lphn3 in the manifestation of EDs more broadly is warranted.