cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cushing's storm secondary to a rare case of ectopic ACTH secreting metastatic breast cancer

Ectopic ACTH secretion from breast cancer is extremely rare. We report a case of a 30-year-old woman with a history of breast cancer, who presented with psychosis and paranoid behaviour. CT of the head showed white matter disease consistent with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). Despite using mifepristone with multiple antihypertensives including lisinopril, spironolactone and metoprolol, she was hypertensive. Transaminitis did not allow mifepristone dose escalation and ketoconazole utilization. Etomidate infusion at a non-sedating dose in the intensive care unit controlled her hypertension and cortisol levels. She was transitioned to metyrapone and spironolactone. She was discharged from the hospital on metyrapone with spironolactone and underwent chemotherapy. She died 9 months later after she rapidly redeveloped Cushing's syndrome and had progressive metastatic breast cancer involving multiple bones, liver and lungs causing respiratory failure. Learning points Cushing's syndrome from ectopic ACTH secreting breast cancer is extremely rare. Cushing's syndrome causing psychosis could be multifactorial including hypercortisolism and PRES. Etomidate at non-sedating doses in intensive care setting can be effective to reduce cortisol production followed by transition to oral metyrapone.
What Does It Take for Social Work to Evolve to Science Status? Discussing Definition, Structure, and Contextual Challenges and Opportunities:

The emerging discourse on science in social work (SW) has generated much-needed analysis of the profession’s status as a scientific enterprise. Brekke raised critical issues that must be addressed for SW to become a science. This response examines the contextual factors that led to the call for SW science. It also relies on a comparative analysis of attempts by other professions and disciplines to become scientific to discuss critical challenges and opportunities for SW to evolve to science status in the highly contentious scientific environment of the 21st century.
CONVERGING ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOBIOGRAPHY: CULTIVATED PLANTS, HEINZ BRÜCHER, AND NAZI IDEOLOGY

ABSTRACT The career of Dr. Heinz Brucher (1915–1991), a German-Argentine botanist of my personal acquaintance, demonstrates that while science may be impartial, scientists are not. Deconstructing Brucher's ethnobotanical writings has required also reconstructing a Nazi past to put his life and work in their appropriate historical context. Brucher's role in the theft of Vavilov's plant collections in the Ukraine in 1943 and his research on cultivated plants at an SS center in Austria have relevance for understanding his post-war presence and activities in South America. Analysis of his publications in ethnobotany and economic botany, especially as they relate to the potato and to Vavilov's ideas, are placed in the context of his ethnobiography. This retrospective on a life with plants raises issues about political and social ideology in science and about claims to objective knowledge. It also points to the value of broadening ethnobiology to include more reflexive perspectives.
The Pinpoint System

The Pinpoint system, an endoscopic real-time fluorescence imaging system, incorporates both a high definition (HD) white light and near infra-red (NIR) fluorescence excitation and acquisition systems into a single camera head. The standard white light view and NIR are thus retained throughout the procedure enabling the surgeon to operate with real-time fluorescence guidance. Our group has concentrated on the use of Pinpoint in the assessment of colorectal perfusion and intraoperative cholangiography. In addition, we describe our early experience using Pinpoint for sentinel lymph node dissection in colorectal and gastric malignancies and discuss future applications of this technology.
Experimental Challenges of the European Strategy for Particle Physics

In planning for the Phase II upgrades of CMS and ATLAS major considerations are: 1)being able to deal with degradation of tracking and calorimetry up to the radiation doses to be expected with an integrated luminosity of 3000 $fb^{-1}$ and 2)maintaining physics performance at a pileup level of ~140. Here I report on work started within the context of the CMS Forward Calorimetry Task Force and continuing in an expanded CERN RD52 R$&$D program integrating timing (i.e. measuring the time-of-arrival of physics objects) as a potential tool for pileup mitigation and ideas for Forward Calorimetry. For the past 4 years our group has focused on precision timing at the level of 10-20 picoseconds in an environment with rates of $~10^6-10^7$ Hz/$cm^2 $ as is appropriate for the future running of the LHC (HL-LHC era). A time resolution of 10-20 picoseconds is one of the few clear criteria for pileup mitigation at the LHC, since the interaction time of a bunch crossing has an rms of 170 picosec. While work on charged particle timing in other contexts (i.e. ALICE R$&$D) is starting to approach this precision, there have been essentially no technologies that can sustain performance at these rates. I will present results on a tracker we developed within the DOE Advanced Detector R$&$D program which is now meeting these requirements. I will also review some results from Calorimeter Projects developed within our group (PHENIX EMCAL and ATLAS ZDC) which achieved calorimeter timing precision< 100 picoseconds.
Thermal Radiation of Lamellar Metal-Dielectric Metamaterials and Metallic Surfaces

We studied angular distributions and spectra of thermal radiation of lamellar metal/dielectric metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion and compared them with the corresponding characteristics of simple metallic films and pairs of metallic and dielectric layers. The spectra of thermal radiation, in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum, were nearly flat and featureless, in a good agreement with the model predictions. The angular distributions of thermal emission deviated from the predictions of the Kirchoff’s law and closely followed the Lambert’s law, ∝cosθ. The thermal radiation properties of hyperbolic metamaterials were not much different from those of simpler metallic structures.
Postmarketing surveillance of adverse drug reactions: patient self-monitoring.

Background: This report summarizes our experience with a new approach to postmarketing drug surveillance using a pharmacy-based patient self-monitoring strategy, developed in collaboration with Eckerd Drug Company, the American Association of Retired Persons Pharmacy Service, and other pharmacies nationwide. Methods: Patients presenting prescriptions to collaborating pharmacies for a targeted drug or a standard drug used as a control received an entry form asking them to register and then call a toll-free telephone number to report possible drug reactions. When contacted by patients, study staff conducted a standardized, computer-driven interview. Two brief mail questionnaires were also employed. Results: Original validation data gathered from 1984 through 1986 indicated that the most commonly expected adverse drug reactions caused by antibiotic and tricyclic antidepressants reported by 162 self-monitoring patients closely matched those elicited from a comparable control sample of 1109 patients who were independently interviewed by our staff. Results from subsequent studies are also described. Conclusions: We believe this method has great promise for providing not only a cost-effective, complementary, early alerting mechanism for detecting adverse drug reactions, but also the additional possibility for discovering unsuspected therapeutic benefits of newly marketed drugs.
Leuprolide acetate affects intestinal motility in female rats before and after ovariectomy

Leuprolide acetate, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogue, is currently being proposed to control debilitating symptoms in women with functional bowel disease. Whether leuprolide alters gastrointestinal motility as part of its actions is unknown. This study was designed to assess, using myoelectric techniques in an animal model, the effects of leuprolide on potential mechanisms of neuromuscular function of small intestine. Female rats with (n = 6) or without (n = 8) bilateral ovariectomy were used to study jejunal motility before and after leuprolide therapy. Throughout the study, daily leuprolide dosages of 0.02, 0.2, or 0.4 micrograms/kg were injected into intact rats and 0.02, 0.2, 0.4, 1.0, or 2.5 micrograms/kg into ovariectomized rats. Recordings were made while the rats were fasted and postprandial and before and after leuprolide administration. Under control conditions, migrating myoelectric complexes (MMCs) were found in intact female rats, whether fasted or postprandial. After ovariectomy, postprandial controls and those treated with low-dose leuprolide (0.02, 0.2, and 0.4 micrograms) had typical fed-state patterns and no MMCs, but at 1.0 and 2.5 micrograms the fed state was inhibited and cycling MMCs occurred at a frequency similar to that of fasted controls. Reproductive hormones thus have a significant effect on gastrointestinal motility.
School Climate and Student Absenteeism and Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems

This study examined whether school climate variables were directly and inversely related to absenteeism severity and key symptoms of psychopathology among youths specifically referred for problematic attendance (N = 398). Adolescents in our sample completed the School Climate Survey Revised Edition, which measured sharing of resources, order and discipline, parent involvement, student interpersonal relations, and student-teacher relations. Parents completed the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale and Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Long to measure child anxiety, depression, and oppositional behavior. Measures were completed within the context of a family courts and services center or a truancy diversion program. Structural equation models revealed an inverse relationship between school climate variables and absenteeism severity as well as anxiety, depression, and oppositional behavior. Models were especially pertinent to older youths and to male youths. As predicted, alternative models for separation anxiety, perfectionism, and cognitive problems and inattention did not meet goodness-of-fit criteria. FINDINGS generally support previous work that focused on broader samples of middle and high school youths. The results may have implications for preventive strategies for youths with problematic absenteeism. Language: en
Measurement Transformer Detection Capability Validation & Contrast Result Analysis

In order to improve energy value transfer,quantity traceability,quality of energy measurement verification,10 energy metering centers under Shaanxi Electric Power Corporation are organized to conduct capability validation contrast analysis.The two tiansformer parameters of current voltage are compared,and the result is analyzed.The above 10 labs is evaluated with the value of En.The En of above 10 labs is between 95%～99%,has exceeded the lowest requirement of 80%,the contrast result is satisfactory..
Pyrolytic boron nitride as a microstrip substrate material

The use of pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN) as a substrate material for microstrip integrated electrical structures operating at microwave frequencies is investigated in this paper. It has been found that PBN has potential as an alternative substrate material. The electrical aspects of PBN will first be detailed, followed by a discussion of PBN's material properties affecting the construction and performance of single and coupled transmission line structures on PBN.
Investigation of Plasma Lipid Value in Children Aged 2-6 Years Old in Beijing

Objective To establish the normal value of plasma lipid in 2-6 years old children in Beijing via the investigation.Methods One hundred and forty healthy children aged 2 to 6 years old were chosen randomly,from Haidian district,Beijing.Total plasma cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),high density lipoprotein-cholesterol(HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C)were detected by HITACHI 7600 automatic biochemical analyzer.The 75th and 90th percentiles of TC and LDL-C levels were adopted as the borderline and high of hypercholesterolemia.The 90th percentile of TG was served as the cut-off of hypertriglyceridemia.And the 5th of HDL-C was acted as the lower limit to establish the new criteria of dyslipidemia in Beijing children.Results The mean values of TC,TG,HDL-C and LDL-C in plasma were(3.56±0.78),(0.58±0.25),(1.30±0.31) and(2.04±0.57)mmol/L,respectively.There was no statistical difference between two genders(P0.05).Conclusions New criteria of plasma lipid values in 2 to 6 years old children in Beijing are established by our investigation.Criterion of borderline and high of TC and LDL-C levels are settled.Cut-off of hypertriglyceridemia and hypo-high density lipoprotein cholesterolemia are also established.
Interdomain traffic engineering for multi-homed networks

Interdomain traffic engineering (TE) controls the flow of traffic between autonomous systems (ASes) to achieve performance goals under various resource constraints. Interdomain TE can be categorized into ingress TE and egress TE, which aim to control the ingress and egress traffic flow in a network, respectively. Most interdomain TE techniques are based on BGP, which was not designed to support performance based routing. Hence even though some basic interdomain TE techniques are widely deployed, their overall effectiveness and impact on interdomain traffic are not well understood. Furthermore, systematic practices for deploying these techniques have yet to be developed. In this thesis, we explore these open issues for both ingress and egress TE. We first focus on the AS-Path prepending technique in interdomain ingress TE. We design a polynomial algorithm that takes network settings as input and produces the optimal prepending at each ingress link. We also develop methods to measure the inputs of the optimal algorithm by leveraging widely available looking glass severs and evaluate the errors of such measurement. We further propose an algorithm, based on this optimal algorithm, that is robust to input errors. We then focus on Intelligent Routing Control (IRC) systems often used at multihomed networks for egress interdomain TE. To address the possible traffic oscillation problem caused by multiple IRC systems, we design a class of randomized IRC algorithms. Through simulations, we show that the proposed algorithms can effectively mitigate oscillations. We also show that IRC systems using randomized path switching algorithms perform better than those switching path deterministically, when both types of IRC systems co-exist. To further understand the performance impact of IRC systems, we next focus on the performance of applications, such as TCP connections. We study the synergistic and antagonistic interactions between IRC and TCP connections, through a simple dual-feedback model. We first examine the impact of sudden RTT and available bandwidth changes in TCP connection. We then examine the effect of IRC measurement delays on closed loop traffic. We also show the conditions under which IRC is beneficial under various path impairment models.
Oil Flotation Extraction of Light Filth from Ground Capsicums Excluding Paprika: Collaborative Study

A collaborative study has been completed on an improved method for the isolation of light filth from ground capsicums other than paprika. The proposed method involves isopropanol pretreatment, wet-sieving, and extraction from cooled 60% ethanol with a mineral oil-heptane mixture. The collaborative tests by the proposed method showed an approximate 2-fold increase in recoveries of insect fragments and rodent hairs with acceptable coefficients of variation and clean filter papers. The proposed method has been adopted as official first action to replace 44.123.
Solution of the Noh problem using the universal symmetry of the gas dynamics equations

Noh’s constant-velocity shock problem is considered as a two-region solution of the one-dimensional (1D) Euler compressible flow equations, where the equation of state (EOS) closure model is included in the energy equation via an adiabatic bulk modulus. Regardless of the EOS model employed, the resulting system of equations is invariant under a universal group of scaling transformations. When combined with the required velocity field, the resulting equivalent system of ordinary differential equations coupled with the Rankine–Hugoniot shock jump conditions produces at least semi-analytic algebraic Noh solutions in 1D planar symmetry for any EOS. It is also shown for 1D curvilinear symmetries that the existence of a Noh solution is guaranteed only under more restrictive EOS conditions. In the context of this work, example Noh solutions—in some cases featuring arbitrary strength shocks—are derived for various closure models, including ideal gas, a two-parameter Clausius-like EOS, stiff gas, and a Mie–Gruneisen form. A code verification study is provided in the latter case, as an example of the application of the broader theoretical concepts.
Butterfield’s Critique of Namier

Lewis B. Namier was a powerful force in English historiography for much of Butterfield’s most productive years. He came to England in 1907 and established himself as an authority on eastern European affairs. After 1919 he turned to the analysis of mid-eighteenth-century British politicians. He crowned his achievement in this field with major works on The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (1929) and England in the Age of the American Revolution (1930).1 Namier and Romney Sedgwick, his long-term associate, established a formidable reputation for detailed research on a vast scale, with their meticulous work on the correspondence of George III, especially in relation to the Newcastle papers in the British Museum.2 Namier’s purpose was to reconstruct the politics of the reign of George III by a systematic prosopographic analysis of the mechanics of late eighteenth-century administrations, and the economic and social connections of the men concerned with the business of government. His rising reputation attracted some and repelled others. Nevertheless, his vast researches and rejection of the whig interpretation appeared to make him a model technical historian. Butterfield acknowledged this, at least in his references to the ‘massiveness’ of the ‘detailed researches’ of Namier and Sedgwick, as the ‘type of achievement hardly paralleled in the historiography of our time’.3
A History of Plant Improvement by the USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Laboratory for Rehabilitation of Degraded Western U.S. Rangelands

On the Ground Climate change models for the western United States predict warmer winters in the Great Basin and hotter, drier summers in the Mojave Desert, increasing the already high rate of rangeland and pasture degradation, which in turnwill increase annual grass invasion, escalate wildfire frequency, and reduce forage production. These changes in western U.S. rangelands will continue to result in the emergence of novel ecosystems that will require different and/or improved plant materials for successful revegetation. Traditional plant improvement of native and non-native rangeland plant species by the USDA, ARS Forage and Range Research Laboratory (FRRL, Logan, Utah) has been accomplished through rigorous evaluation of seed collections followed by recurrent selection and hybridization of unique plant types within selected populations to identify plants with superior establishment and performance characteristics. After such plant types have been selected, they are further evaluated in multiple ecologic...
A Community Health Assessment Curriculum to Develop Population Health Competencies.

Introduction The Institute of Medicine, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend population health training for medical students. Medical schools struggle to teach and evaluate population health curricula. We developed, implemented, and evaluated a community health assessment exercise (CHA) within a required clinical rotation to address this need. Methods Descriptive statistics and t-test comparison of means were used to analyze student scores on curricular assignments and responses to pretest and posttest items assessing student-rated skill and likelihood of conducting a CHA in practice, and in finding evidence to support public health programs and policies. Results Student-rated skill in conducting a CHA increased from 3.3 ± 1.2 on the pretest to 4.8 ± 0.9 on the posttest (P < 0.01). Student-rated skill in finding evidence that supports public health programs and policies increased from 4.0 ± 1.1 to 5.1 ± 0.9 (P < 0.01). There was no difference between pretest and posttest in the likelihood of participating in a CHA organized by others (4.7 ± 1.3 vs 4.9 ± 1.3, p = 0.4), or in initiating a CHA as a practicing physician (4.2 ± 1.4 vs 4.3 ± 1.4, P = 0.8). Asked if the CHA improved their educational experience, 56% of students agreed and 25% disagreed. Asked if the CHA improved their ability to provide patient care, 40% of students agreed and 37% disagreed. Conclusions The addition of a CHA to a clinical rotation is feasible and develops key medical student public health competencies.
Enhancing Switchgrass Drying Rate

Rapid drying to baling moisture reduces weather-related risks when harvesting perennial grasses to be used as biomass feedstocks. Drying switchgrass can be challenging due to large, dense swaths and unfavorable autumn drying conditions, so new methods to improve drying are needed. Two techniques to enhance switchgrass drying rate were investigated, which are intensive conditioning and wide-swath drying. Intensive conditioning involved rolls that crushed the stem along its length accompanied by differential roll speed to disrupt the waxy epidermis of the stem. Wide-swath drying involved a post-conditioning tedding operation that distributed the crop across most of the cut width. A mower-tractor-intensive conditioner-tedder combination was configured so that intensive conditioning, wide-swath drying, or both could be achieved in a single pass. Although not consistent across all trials, intensive conditioning and wide-swath drying were about equally effective at improving switchgrass drying rate compared to conventional conditioning alone. However, the combination of intensive conditioning followed by wide-swath drying consistently resulted in the most rapid drying rate. In eight separate trials, this combination produced switchgrass moisture contents well below 20% (w.b.) on the second or third day after cutting. An empirical model of switchgrass drying rate was developed, which can be used to predict switchgrass drying time based on weather conditions, conditioning level, and swath density.
Cerebral creatine deficiency syndromes

Creatine and creatine phosphate play important roles in regulating cellular adenosine triphosphate reservation. The function is impaired in cerebral creatine deficiency syndromes. This group of disorders includes a defect of the X-linked creatine transporter (XCrT) as well as deficiencies of two enzymes involved in de novo creatine synthesis, arginine-glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT) and guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT). Major clinical features include seizures, intellectual disability, autism, and speech delay. While there is a significant amount of phenotypic overlap, these disorders are distinct in their presentation and pathogenesis. Laboratory diagnosis of these disorders relies on the determination of creatine and guanidinoacetate in both plasma and urine. Whereas determination of plasma creatine and guanidinoacetate levels are used for detecting AGAT and GAMT deficiencies, measurement of urinary creatine to creatinine ratio is a sensitive screening for XCrT deficiency. Management of cerebral creatine deficiency syndromes generally includes creatine supplementation and attempts to reduce offending intermediates such as guanidinoacetate.
Prognostic Value of TERT Alterations, Mutational and Copy Number Alterations Burden in Urothelial Carcinoma.

Abstract Point mutations in the TERT gene promoter occur at high frequency in multiple cancers, including urothelial carcinoma (UC). However, the relationship between TERT promoter mutations and UC patient outcomes is unclear due to conflicting reports in the literature. In this study, we examined the association of TERT alterations, tumor mutational burden per megabase (Mb), and copy number alteration (CNA) burden with clinical parameters and their prognostic value in a cohort of 398 urothelial tumors. The majority of TERT mutations were located at two promoter region hotspots (chromosome 5, 1 295 228 C>T and 1 295 250 C>T). TERT alterations were more frequently present in bladder tumors than in upper tract tumors (73% vs 53%; p =0.001). ARID1A , PIK3CA , RB1 , ERCC2 , ERBB2 , TSC1 , CDKN1A , CDKN2A , CDKN2B , and PTPRD alterations showed significant co-occurrence with TERT alterations (all p 0.0025). TERT alterations and the mutational burden/Mb were independently associated with overall survival (hazard ratio[HR] 2.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.46–3.65; p 0.001; and HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.99; p =0.002), disease-specific survival (HR 2.23, 95% CI 1.41–3.53; p 0.001; and HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.99; p =0.002), and metastasis-free survival (HR 1.63, 95% CI 1.05–2.53; p =0.029; and HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96–1.00; p =0.063) in multivariate models. Patient summary The majority of TERT gene mutations that we detected in urothelial carcinoma are located at two promoter hotspots. Urothelial tumors with TERT alterations had worse prognosis compared to tumors without TERT alterations, whereas tumors with a higher mutational burden had more favorable outcome compared to tumors with low mutational burden.
The Effects of Postoperative Intralesional Corticosteroids in the Prevention of Recurrent Earlobe Keloids: A Multispecialty Retrospective Review.

BACKGROUND Effective treatment of keloids is challenging because the recurrence rate after surgical excision is high. Data on the best treatment practices are lacking. OBJECTIVE To investigate the recurrence rate after surgical excision of earlobe keloids based on a postoperative intralesional corticosteroid injection protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective chart review was performed from January 1, 2005, to March 31, 2016, of patients who had excision of ear keloids within the departments of dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, and plastic surgery. The number of postoperative injections was recorded, recurrence was reported by the patient, and the efficacy of an injection protocol was evaluated. RESULTS There were 277 charts reviewed. Appropriate data were available for 184 patients. A statistically significant difference was found with recurrence associated with a lower number of injections (p < .001). Keloids were more likely to recur if they were not treated with a planned serial injection protocol (p < .001) or if they were treated outside the department of dermatology (p < .001). CONCLUSION Intralesional corticosteroid injection after surgical excision of earlobe keloids statistically minimizes the risk of recurrence.
Psychosocial and Chemical Stressors

Psychosocial stress has been consistently linked with alterations in immune, endocrine, and metabolic function, and growing evidence indicates that psychosocial stressors—including noise, poverty, and exposure to violence—may alter human susceptibility to environmental chemical exposures. As a result, there is a growing need for methods to disentangle patterns in chemical and non-chemical exposures and to quantify their independent and interacting effects on health.
Case Study of Model Evolution in Electricity: Learning from Both Observations and Analogies

This chapter focuses on data from a tutoring case study in high school level instruction on electric circuits. A model evolution approach to instruction is described that works within a cycle of model generation, evaluation, and revision. Case studies of transcripts from the lessons allow one to develop diagrammatic representations of the learning and teaching processes involved. The data base for this study is a set of tutoring interviews with a student, who we shall call Susan, who was 16 years old and who had completed her junior year in high school. Her teachers characterized her as having above average but not highest level ability in science. Susan had taken a course in chemistry but had not yet taken a course in physics. The instructional techniques included the use of both analogies and observations of real circuits constructed by the student and the teacher. The diagrams map the interplay between these instructional modes, and their effects on the student’s evolving model. They also illustrate important differences between source analogies and target models. Diagrams of learning processes at this scale are rarely mapped out carefully on the basis of learning theory. If such general mapping tools can be developed it should help us develop more detailed models of conceptual change. Additionally, having visual and verbal languages for these planning domains
A Microcomputer Beliefs Inventory for Middle School Students: Scale Development and Validation

AbstractThe Microcomputer Beliefs Inventory (MBI) was developed and validated to measure the self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs of middle school students toward computers. Item analysis, scale reliability assessment, and factor analysis of scale integrity were conducted upon a sample of 269 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. Both scales performed with good reliability (Self-efficacy alpha = 0.90 and Outcome expectancy alpha = 0.85), and factor analysis clearly demonstrated the distinctiveness of the constructs measured. Preliminary evidence of the construct validity of both scales was clearly demonstrated by their predictable covariance with variables such as attitude toward computer, attitude toward science, interest in computer learning, interest in science learning, and expectations for computer learning. A strong relationship between the scales and computer access within the home was revealed by the t-tests. The MBI appears ready to be utilized in future research efforts.
Simulated Individualized Education Program Meetings: Valuable Pedagogy Within a Preservice Special Educator Program:

Research about Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting outcomes indicates special educators are unprepared and uncertain about practices designed to encourage meaningful IEP team participati...
IEEE ICCA 2018 Keynote Speech 3 : Network Stability and Control: A Small-Gain Paradigm

In this talk, I will provide a historical survey of the small-gain theory for stability and control of interconnected systems. Recent developments in cyclic-small-gain theorems will be reviewed and applied to answer the first fundamental question: When is a dynamical network comprised of more than two sub- systems stable? Constructive methods for the generation of Lyapunov functions for dynamical networks will be discussed. Tools such as gain assignment technique will be presented to address the second fundamental question: When can a dynamical network be made stable by feedback? In the end, the talk will end up with applications of small-gain techniques to various classical problems in robust nonlinear control design and to modern control design issues arising from quantized and event-based control of nonlinear systems. Finally, if time permits, I will present our recent work in integrating small-gain theory and adaptive dynamic programming for data-driven adaptive optimal control design.
A coupled heat transfer and tritium mass transport model for a double-wall heat exchanger design for FHRs

Abstract Tritium production rate in Fluoride salt-cooled High-temperature Reactors (FHRs) was estimated to be several orders of magnitude higher than that in Light Water Reactors (LWRs). Due to the high permeability of tritium at elevated temperatures, a double-wall heat exchanger design consisting of inner and outer tubes was proposed to significantly reduce the tritium permeation through the heat transfer surfaces to, ultimately, the environment. A coupled heat transfer and tritium mass transport model was developed for performance analysis of a double-wall Natural Draft Heat Exchanger (NDHX) design. Since there was no published experimental data available in the literature involving both heat transfer and mass transport simultaneously, these two sub-models, i.e., heat transfer sub-model and mass transport sub-model, were benchmarked against available experimental data separately. For the heat transfer sub-model, the discrepancies for the predicted temperatures and heat transfer coefficients compared with their individual experimental data are within 16% and 24%, respectively. For the mass transport sub-model, the relative discrepancies between the model predictions and the experimental data are 23–44% at temperatures from 700 to 1000 °C (23–35% at the salt temperatures from 700 to 800 °C, between which the maximum salt temperature is expected in FHRs). This coupled heat transfer and mass transport model was then used to analyze a double-wall NDHX design for the Advanced High-Temperature Reactor (AHTR), a pre-conceptual FHR design developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, from the following four tube configurations: 1) inner plain tube with outer plain tube (IPOP); 2) inner plain tube with outer fluted tube (IPOF); 3) inner fluted tube with outer plain tube (IFOP); and 4) inner fluted tube with outer fluted tube (IFOF). The results show that for the heat transfer performance, the IFOF design is slightly superior to the IPOF design and that both are significantly superior to the IFOP and IPOP designs. For the mass transport performance, the IFOP design is slightly superior to the IFOF design, and both significantly over perform the IPOP and IPOF designs. In addition, Non-dominated Sorting in Generic Algorithms (NSGA) was applied for the design optimization of a potential NDHX with the IFOF configuration for AHTR.
Artificial Intelligence for Medical Image Analysis: A Guide for Authors and Reviewers.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article is to highlight best practices for writing and reviewing articles on artificial intelligence for medical image analysis. CONCLUSION. Artificial intelligence i...
Maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent health risk problems: the role of school engagement

Maternal depressive symptoms disrupt positive youth development, though the pervasiveness of this disruption is understudied. Additionally, it remains unknown whether prosocial factors such as adolescent school engagement may buffer against this risk factor. Using multigenerational, longitudinal data spanning ten years from an ethnically diverse sample of mother-child dyads (66% Black, 17% Hispanic, and 17% White), this study examines the effect of maternal depressive symptoms in late childhood (ages 8–13) on the development and progression of offspring depressive symptoms, substance use, and delinquent behavior during adolescence (ages 14–17). Further, the study examines whether school engagement moderates the ill effects of maternal depressive symptoms. Mother-son (n = 212) and mother-daughter (n = 215) dyads are compared to assess for similarities and differences between male and female offspring. The results indicate that offspring of mothers with greater maternal depressive symptoms are more likely to display higher levels of depressive symptoms, substance use, and delinquency throughout adolescence, although important nuances emerge across outcome and child sex. Additionally, while school engagement itself is associated with reduced depressive symptoms, substance use and delinquency among adolescents, it is not profound enough to offset the risk posed by maternal depressive symptoms. The findings of this study reinforce the pervasive, negative, intergenerational impact of maternal depressive symptoms and has implications for prevention and intervention efforts for adolescent health risk problems.
Quantifying Degrees of Controllability in Temporal Networks with Uncertainty

Controllability for Simple Temporal Networks with Uncertainty (STNUs) has thus far been limited to three levels: strong, dynamic, and weak. Because of this, there is currently no systematic way for an agent to assess just how far from being controllable an uncontrollable STNU is. We use a new geometric interpretation of STNUs to introduce the degrees of strong and dynamic controllability – continuous metrics that measure how far a network is from being controllable. We utilize these metrics to approximate the probabilities that an STNU can be dispatched successfully offline and online respectively. We introduce new methods for predicting the degrees of strong and dynamic controllability for uncontrollable networks. In addition, we show empirically that both metrics are good predictors of the actual dispatch success rate.
Applied Deep Learning in Plastic Surgery: Classifying Rhinoplasty With a Mobile App

Background Advances in deep learning (DL) have been transformative in computer vision and natural language processing, as well as in healthcare. The authors present a novel application of DL to plastic surgery. Here, the authors describe and demonstrate the mobile deployment of a deep neural network that predicts rhinoplasty status, assess model accuracy compared to surgeons, and describe future directions for such applications in plastic surgery. Methods A deep convolutional neural network ("RhinoNet") was developed to classify rhinoplasty images using only pixels and rhinoplasty status labels ("before"/"after") as inputs. RhinoNet was trained using a dataset of 22,686 before and after photos which were collected from publicly available sites. Network classification was compared to that of plastic surgery attendings and residents on 2269 previously-unseen test-set images. Results RhinoNet correctly predicted rhinoplasty status in 85% of the test-set images. Sensitivity and specificity of model predictions were 0.840 (0.79-0.89) and 0.826 (0.77-0.88), respectively; the corresponding values for expert consensus predictions were 0.814 (0.76-0.87) and 0.867 (0.82-0.91). RhinoNet and humans performed with effectively equivalent accuracy in this classification task. Conclusion The authors describe the development of DL applications to identify the presence of superficial surgical procedures solely from images and labels. DL is especially well suited for unstructured, high-fidelity visual and auditory data that does not lend itself to classical statistical analysis, and may be deployed as mobile applications for potentially unbridled use, so the authors expect DL to play a key role in many areas of plastic surgery.
Theory and evidence on the dynamic interactions between sovereign credit default swaps and currency options

Using sovereign CDS spreads and currency option data for Mexico and Brazil, we document that CDS spreads covary with both the currency option implied volatility and the slope of the implied volatility curve in moneyness. We propose a joint valuation framework, in which currency return variance and sovereign default intensity follow a bivariate diffusion with contemporaneous correlation. Estimation shows that default intensity is much more persistent than currency return variance. The market price estimates on the two risk factors also explain the well-documented evidence that historical average default probabilities are lower than those implied from credit spreads.
Staff Attitudes toward Buprenorphine before and after Implementation of an Office-Based Opioid Treatment Program in an Urban Teaching Clinic.

Improving access to buprenorphine treatment is necessary to address the national opioid use disorder (OUD) crisis. This study investigates attitudes about buprenorphine prescribing among staff at a...
Abstract MP21: Circadian Cycle Exaggerates Sympathoexcitatory Responses To Activation Of Chemosensitive Renal Sensory Nerves

Renal sensory nerves contribute to hypertension and renal dysfunction in chronic kidney disease. Selective chemokines (e.g., bradykinin or capsaicin) activate renal sensory nerves and produce refle...
FedCon: A Contrastive Framework for Federated Semi-Supervised Learning.

Federated Semi-Supervised Learning (FedSSL) has gained rising attention from both academic and industrial researchers, due to its unique characteristics of co-training machine learning models with isolated yet unlabeled data. Most existing FedSSL methods focus on the classical scenario, i.e, the labeled and unlabeled data are stored at the client side. However, in real world applications, client users may not provide labels without any incentive. Thus, the scenario of labels at the server side is more practical. Since unlabeled data and labeled data are decoupled, most existing FedSSL approaches may fail to deal with such a scenario. To overcome this problem, in this paper, we propose FedCon, which introduces a new learning paradigm, i.e., contractive learning, to FedSSL. Experimental results on three datasets show that FedCon achieves the best performance with the contractive framework compared with state-of-the-art baselines under both IID and Non-IID settings. Besides, ablation studies demonstrate the characteristics of the proposed FedCon framework.
Residual Volume Responsiveness Testing May Improve the Detection of Reversible Airway Obstruction in Asthma.

Background Residual volume responsiveness to bronchodilator administration has been observed in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the prevalence of residual volume (RV) responsiveness has not been formally studied in asthma. Objective To identify the prevalence and magnitude of RV responsiveness in asthma. Methods Physician-diagnosed adult subjects with asthma on treatment for >12 months were prospectively recruited to perform spirometry and measurement of lung volumes using body plethysmography before and after administration of 360 μg of albuterol. Results Among 120 subjects, 76% were women. The ethnic composition was 64% Caucasian, 32% Hispanic, and 13% African American. The mean age was 52 ± 15 years. The mean duration of asthma was 16 ± 15 years. The mean RV% responsiveness was −7.74 ± 14. Whereas patients with the lowest baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) value showed the highest mean responsiveness (P = .001), the baseline RV value had minimal influence on RV responsiveness. Using −7.74% to define significant RV responsiveness, and ≥12% and ≥200 mL to define significant FEV1 responsiveness, more subjects showed isolated RV responsiveness (37%) compared with 6% with isolated FEV1 responsiveness and 14% with both FEV1 and RV responsiveness (P = .04). There was a minimal correlation between FEV1 responsiveness and RV responsiveness (r = 0.17, P = .06). The RV responsiveness was significantly associated with the wheeze score (P = .006) and dyspnea score (P = .029). Conclusion The addition of RV responsiveness testing to spirometry based responsiveness testing can improve the identification of reversible airway obstruction in asthma. RV responsiveness may be useful in monitoring symptoms associated with air trapping in asthma.
DYNAMICS REDESIGN OF MARINE STRUCTURES

The dynamic response of a marine structure depends upon the exciting forces and the modal characteristics of the structure. Excessive vibratory response requires reduction of the exciting loads or redesign of the structure or both. In this paper the general redesign problem is formulated. It applies to large-scale structures and allows for large structural changes. Solution of the redesign problem is achieved through perturbation methods which are an attractive alternative to traditional trial-and-error methods. Perturbation solution methods are based on dynamic equilibrium equations or energy equations or both. A new method based on the energy equations which enforces the mode orthogonality conditions is developed and evaluated against all existing methods. Two test cases, a 191-degree-of-freedom two-dimensional ship model and a 810-degree-of-freedom offshore light tower model are used to compare the methods numerically. It is shown that the method developed in this paper can produce with a single finite element analysis of the baseline system, a structure which satisfies within acceptable limits all non-conflicting design objectives.
Abstract 15845: Intracoronary Delivery of Exosomes Secreted by Cardiosphere-Derived Cells Confers Cardioprotection wWth Delayed Administration After Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Introduction: Cardiosphere-Derived Cells (CDCs) exert both regenerative and cardioprotective effects following ischemic insult to the myocardium despite limited cell engraftment. Here we demonstrate that exosomes (30-150nm lipid bilayer vesicles) secreted from human CDCs (hCDCs) confer a dose-dependent reduction in infarct size and preservation of cardiac function when infused into the coronary circulation in rats following ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury. Methods & Results: To examine the safety and efficacy of CDC-exosomes (EXOCDC), we performed a dose-finding study in Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY; aged 8-12 weeks). Briefly, conditioned media was collected from hCDCs grown in serum-free media for 4 days then EXOCDCs were precipitated using ExoQuick-TC (SBI). As a starting dose, EXOCDCs were isolated from an equivalent, and previously-validated, CDC dose for intracoronary delivery following IR (3mL/3x105 CDCs). EXOCDC protein quantity was determined (~700ug/10mL) and doses were titrated. For in vivo analyses, WKY rats underwent 45 minutes of ischemia followed by 20 minutes of reperfusion. Animals were then randomly allocated to receive either PBS or a titrated dose of EXOCDC (derived from 10mL, 3mL, or 1mL CDC-conditioned media). Two days following injury, all EXOCDC doses (10mL, 3mL, and 1mL) conferred a significant reduction in percent infarct mass relative to PBS control (PBS: 13.56% vs. 10mL: 6.38%; 3mL: 6.94%; 1mL: 8.03% p<0.05). Similarly, ejection fraction was preserved in the lower doses (PBS: 43.07% vs. 10mL: 57.40%; 3mL: 58.17%; 1mL: 55.49%; p<0.05). Interestingly, these EXOCDC express a unique surface protein signature comprising some generic markers from exosomes (CD63, HSP70, but not CD9 or CD81) as well as CDC-specific markers (CD105). Conclusions: Cell-free EXOCDC, delivered via the intracoronary route 20 min post-IR, are cardioprotective. The evaluation of efficacy at 48 hours rules out regenerative effects, which become manifest over weeks. The ability to delay administration after IR renders the protocol clinically-realistic. Thus, EXOCDC may be useful cardioprotective therapeutic candidates adjunctive to routine therapy for myocardial infarction.
Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for Patent Ductus Arteriosus

Therapeutic options for the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) continue to evolve. Gross and Hubbard reported the first surgical interruption in 1939.1 Transcatheter occlusion was achieved by Portsmann et al in 1971,2 and indomethacin therapy for premature newborns was described in 1976.3 Although preliminary results have been reported for several transcatheter PDA devices, none currently have Food and Drug Administration approval. Transcatheter coils are being placed in many institutions,4 and some patients are awaiting the availability of transcatheter devices. In an effort to reduce surgical trauma, advanced endoscopic imaging technology has been adapted for use in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, enabling an interruption of the PDA with a minimally invasive transthoracic technique.5