cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
High-frequency ultrasound imaging of size-isolated microbubbles in mice

Microbubbles were isolated by size using differential centrifugation, and the effect of microbubble size on the acoustics and kinetics of contrast ultrasound imaging was measured in the mouse kidney. Microbubbles in the 1–2 µm diameter size range comprise over 90% of the microbubbles in freshly generated and commercially available lipid-coated microbubbles. These smaller microbubbles attenuated strongly without producing much backscatter, thus behaving like a negative contrast agent. The high degree of ultrasound absorption may be due to strong damping by the shell. On the other hand, microbubbles in the 4–5 and 6–8 µm diameter size ranges were highly echogenic. Also, larger microbubbles exhibited longer contrast persistence, indicating that dissolution is the main mechanism of elimination. For example, 6–8 µm diameter microbubbles circulated for greater than 15 minutes at a dose of 5×10^8 microbubbles/mL in a 0.1-mL bolus. These results demonstrate that the magnitude and duration of contrast enhancement is strongly dependent on the microbubble size distribution.
Simulation of timing jitter in ring oscillators

Timing jitter is a concern in high-speed digital circuits, the presence of timing jitter will degrade system performance in many high speed applications. In this paper, we have simulated the timing jitter due to device noise in a nine stage CMOS differential ring oscillator and silicon BJT/or SiGe HBT ECL ring oscillator, and a methodology to efficiently simulate timing jitter has been developed. Simulation results are consistent with accepted theory and two important parameters cycle jitter and cycle to cycle jitter can be obtained from simulation. Simulation results are also compared with measurement and good agreement was observed between them. We also show BJT/or SiGe HBT oscillators have lower jitter compared to their CMOS counterparts. As such silicon BJT and/or SiGe HBT ring oscillators are a potential choice for low jitter applications. The methodology described in this paper is also applicable to other types of clock generator and oscillators such as LC oscillators, as well as other kinds of noise source as power supply and substrate noise.
Get with the (re)program: cardiovascular potential of skin-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

The reprogramming of adult cells to a pluripotent state resembling embryonic stem (ES) cells is one of the most exciting advances in stem cell biology in the last decade. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells offer the potential for autologous regenerative therapies, new models to understand disease, and systems for drug discovery. Little is known, however, about the ability of iPS cells to generate cell types of relevance to the cardiovascular system. Two articles1,2 in this issue of Circulation indicate that cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and multiple types of endothelium can be derived from mouse iPS cells, encouraging efforts toward developing patient-matched cells for cardiovascular disorders. Articles pp 498 and 507 The cloning of Dolly the sheep3 involved reprogramming of an udder cell to a totipotent state by fusion with an enucleated sheep oocyte. Although this breakthrough demonstrated that all mammalian tissues could arise from a single differentiated nucleus, the factors required remained enigmatic. The mechanistic breakthrough came when Takahashi and Yamanaka4 overexpressed a battery of candidate genes in mouse dermal fibroblasts and then grew the cells under conditions favoring expansion of ES cells. They found that ES-like cells emerged, and they systematically winnowed the required list down to 4 transcription factors: Oct4, Sox2, c-myc, and Klf4 (Figure 1). Oct4 and Sox2 are part of the core transcriptional network required for pluripotency. c-myc is a protooncogene required for cell cycle progression. Klf4 is a cell cycle regulator that may control self-renewal of ES cells and block apoptotic pathways induced by c-myc. Recently, reprogramming of human dermal fibroblasts was achieved with the same 4 factors5,6 or with a slightly different cocktail of Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, and Lin28.7 Fortuitously, retrovirally expressed genes typically are silenced in pluripotent cells, meaning that, once established, pluripotency is maintained by endogenous …
Skin Care Intervention for Patients Having Cardiac Surgery

• BACKGROUND Pressure ulcers are a major problem after cardiovascular surgery, occurring in 9.2% to 38% of patients. • OBJECTIVES To determine the effectiveness of a skin care intervention program in preventing development of ulcers or progression from one stage to another and to determine the extent to which selected risk factors were associated with development and progression of pressure ulcers. • METHODS A simple interrupted time series design was used. The protocol involved interrelated assessment, staging, and type of intervention provided. The Braden Scale was used to determine risk for skin breakdown. • RESULTS Of the 351 patients in the study, 327 (93%) maintained skin integrity and 24 (7%) had skin breakdown. Breakdown by stages was as follows: stage 1, 62% (n = 15); stage 2, 29% (n = 7); stage 3, 4% (n = 1); and stage 4, 4% (n = 1). Age, sex (female), and heart failure were statistically significant risk factors for breakdown (P = <.001, .02, and .02, respectively). The mean scores on the Braden Scale of the breakdown group differed significantly from those of the skin integrity group from days 2 through 5 after surgery (P = .01). Seventeen (71%) of the breakdowns occurred during the first 4 days after surgery.
Determinants of gender essentialism in college students.

Psychological essentialism suggests that categories are stable, fixed at birth, and based on biological factors. The present paper examined some factors that encourage gender essentialism among US college students. In two studies (Study 1: 53 female, 22 male; Study 2: 55 female, 48 male), participants completed questionnaires assessing essentialist beliefs regarding a range of gendered concepts. They also completed several questionnaire measures of gender stereotyping and gender beliefs. Results revealed: (1) greater essentialism among men than women; (2) greater essentialism of masculine (vs. feminine) concepts, and; (3) for men, greater essentialism among those who report greater conformity to masculine norms. These data suggest that masculinity is more narrowly defined than femininity, not only in stereotyped beliefs but also in essentializing.
Load sharing based on task resource prediction

Predicted task resource usage provides a basis for developing two centralized load-sharing policies: MinQ and MinResp. Trace-driven simulations are used to compare MinQ and MinResp against Centex, an efficient centralized scheme. Experimental results show that the use of prediction makes MinQ and MinResp significantly less sensitive to the status update rate than Centex. Consequently, the proposed algorithms perform better than Centex at slower update rates and are capable of handling larger workloads. The prediction-based policies are also highly effective for load-sharing in environments with widely varying CPU requirements. Using a real trace file,with an equal number of large and small tasks, MinResp consistently produced mean response times that were 9% to 35% lower than those of Centex. >
Measures of Risk and Glucose Variability in Adults Versus Youths

The article by Patton et al.1 published in this issue of Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics reports an array of correlations between various metrics of glucose variability (GV), derived from 1 month of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) data, with the frequency of hypo- and hyperglycemic events in a subsequent month of SMBG records. The data were derived from the clinical patient records of 3,453 individuals, 436 of whom met the study inclusion criteria (e.g., ages between 0 and 18 years old and a minimum of 14 days of SMBG in each month with three or more SMBG values per day). The purpose of the study was to assess whether the Average Daily Risk Range (ADRR), introduced in 2006 as a risk-based metric of GV, is a valid predictor of hypo- and hyperglycemia in youths with type 1 diabetes. The other GV metrics used for this prediction included SD and coefficient of variation of blood glucose (BG), Low Blood Glucose Index (LBGI), High Blood Glucose Index (HBGI), the percentage of glucose values >70 and 180 mg/dL and >400 mg/dL, and the percentage of low glucose values <70 mg/dL and <40 mg/dL in Month 1. Patton et al.1 concluded that “In a large pediatric sample, the ADRR was not the strongest predictor of future glycemic excursion. The percentages of current hyper- and hypoglycemic episodes appear to be stronger predictors.”
THE DENIAL OF ALTERITY AND ITS REFLECTION IN IDEOLOGIES OF GENOCIDE: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM RWANDA AND YUGOSLAVIA

The journey undertaken towards the realization of human rights in the last century is closely related to a great number of treaties and conventions that protect human rights, but also to the ad hoc International Tribunals of Rwanda and Yugoslavia. With the aim to promote and guarantee those rights, the genocidal politics of those countries must be analysed in the context of the mass atrocities and the political construction of ideologies. Furthermore, the necessity of the societies to engage with extreme democratization is not only an achievement of this century, but a work in progress that must be daily fomented. Only in a strong democracy and in a rule of law victims can be recognized and alterity respected in order to emancipate citizens and promote standards of coexistence and respect, and this is why taking into account social and legal exclusion is crucial to understand social and political changes in transitional societies and create possibilities of emancipation and recognition of citizens integrally.
Hopf) Algebra Automorphisms of the Hopf Algebra

In this article, we completely determine the group of algebra automorphisms for the two-parameter Hopf algebra . As a result, the group of Hopf algebra automorphisms is determined for as well. We further characterize all the derivations of the subalgebra and calculate its first degree Hochschild cohomology group.
Nonlinear Guided Waves for Monitoring Microstructural Changes in Metal Structures

The capability of third harmonic generation to indicate material degradation at the microstructural level is demonstrated for strain ratcheting in Alloy 617. Specifically, mechanical experiments on Alloy 617 having constant axial stress and shear strain controlled cycling were conducted to failure and damage fractions of 0.58 and 0.71 based on the total axial strain. The tubular specimens were then nondestructively tested using magnetostrictive transducers to send and receive finite amplitude torsional guided waves. These primary waves generated third harmonics that are sensitive to the microstructural state. These results demonstrate the potential of nonlinear ultrasonics for early detection of degradation, which is needed for life cycle management based on condition-based maintenance.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Task matching and scheduling for multiple workers in spatial crowdsourcing

A new platform, termed spatial crowdsourcing, is emerging which enables a requester to commission workers to physically travel to some specified locations to perform a set of spatial tasks (i.e., tasks related to a geographical location and time). The current approach is to formulate spatial crowdsourcing as a matching problem between tasks and workers; hence the primary objective of the existing solutions is to maximize the number of matched tasks. Our goal is to solve the spatial crowdsourcing problem in the presence of multiple workers where we optimize for both travel cost and the number of completed tasks, while taking the tasks' expiration times into consideration. The challenge is that the solution should be a mixture of task-matching and task-scheduling, which are fundamentally different. In this paper, we show that a baseline approach that performs a task-matching first, and subsequently schedules the tasks assigned per worker in a following phase, does not perform well. Hence, we add a third phase in which we iterate back to the matching phase to improve the assignment per the output of the scheduling phase, and thus further improves the quality of matching and scheduling. Even though this 3-phase approach generates high quality results, it is very slow and does not scale. Hence, to scale our algorithm to large number of workers and tasks, we propose a Bisection-based framework which recursively divides all the workers and tasks into different partitions such that assignment and scheduling can be performed locally in a much smaller and promising space. Our experiments show that this approach is three orders of magnitude faster than the 3-phase approach while it only sacrifices 4% of the results' quality.
Meso-scale framework for modeling granular material using computed tomography

Abstract Numerical modeling of unconsolidated granular materials is comprised of multiple nonlinear phenomena. Accurately capturing these phenomena, including intergranular forces and grain deformation, depends on resolving contact regions several orders of magnitude smaller than the grain size. Here, we investigate a method for capturing the morphology of the individual particles using computed X-ray tomography, which allows for accurate characterization of the interaction between grains. Additionally, the ability of these numerical approaches to determine stress concentrations at grain contacts is important in order to capture catastrophic splitting of individual grains, which has been shown to play a key role in the plastic behavior of the granular material on the continuum level. Samples of Ottawa sand are numerically modeled under one-dimensional compression loadings in order to determine the effect of discretization approaches, such as mesh refinement, on the resulting stress concentrations at contact points between grains. The effects of grain coordination number and finite element type selection on these stress concentrations are also investigated.
Feasibility of streamlining an interactive Bayesian-based diagnostic support tool designed for clinical practice

In radiology, diagnostic errors occur either through the failure of detection or incorrect interpretation. Errors are estimated to occur in 30-35% of all exams and contribute to 40-54% of medical malpractice litigations. In this work, we focus on reducing incorrect interpretation of known imaging features. Existing literature categorizes cognitive bias leading a radiologist to an incorrect diagnosis despite having correctly recognized the abnormal imaging features: anchoring bias, framing effect, availability bias, and premature closure. Computational methods make a unique contribution, as they do not exhibit the same cognitive biases as a human. Bayesian networks formalize the diagnostic process. They modify pre-test diagnostic probabilities using clinical and imaging features, arriving at a post-test probability for each possible diagnosis. To translate Bayesian networks to clinical practice, we implemented an entirely web-based open-source software tool. In this tool, the radiologist first selects a network of choice (e.g. basal ganglia). Then, large, clearly labeled buttons displaying salient imaging features are displayed on the screen serving both as a checklist and for input. As the radiologist inputs the value of an extracted imaging feature, the conditional probabilities of each possible diagnosis are updated. The software presents its level of diagnostic discrimination using a Pareto distribution chart, updated with each additional imaging feature. Active collaboration with the clinical radiologist is a feasible approach to software design and leads to design decisions closely coupling the complex mathematics of conditional probability in Bayesian networks with practice.
Statistical methods in rehabilitation research

Of 128 articles in Volume 63 (1982) of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 48 (37.5%) utilized some form of statistical methodology. The most commonly encountered methods were: mean (with or without standard deviation or standard error); analysis of variance (ANOVA); t-tests; simple correlation/linear regression; and chi-square analysis. A critical review of the analytic statistics used in 40 of these articles revealed that only 23 (57.5%) were considered satisfactory in descriptive and methodologic terms. The most frequently encountered deficiencies were: inadequate description of methods; misuse of t-tests; absence of appropriately complex statistical analysis. A greater understanding of and familiarity with biostatistics is essential for all readers of the Archives to allow critical evaluation of the rehabilitation literature.
Optimized Choice for the Connection Mode of the Water Side of the Low Pressure Economizer of a 600 MW Boiler

According to the test data of a 600 MW power generator unit in a power plant,a cost-effectiveness analysis was performed of the five connection modes of a low pressure economizer in a steam turbine recuperator system by making use of the equivalent enthalpy drop theory. The calculation results show that the parallel connection mode of the low pressure economizer and No. 7 low pressure heater can achieve the best cost-effectiveness,lowering the standard coal consumption rate by 1. 79 g/(kW.h) . The practical modification effectiveness when analyzed and calculated by using the actual operation data of the low pressure economizer in a power plant after reconstruction was in agreement with the theoretical calculation result. The optimized and calculated results can offer certain guidance for designing and choosing the connection mode of the low pressure economizer of a 600 MW boiler.
“It’s All Possible”: Urban Educators’ Perspectives on Creating a Culturally Relevant, Schoolwide, College-Going Culture for Black and Latino Male Students

This article examines how 18 teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff from seven New York City public high schools collaborated during the Black and Latino Male Professional Developm...
An Exploratory Study of Retailers’ Perceptions of Issues Related to the Viability of the Offer of Cash Discounts

The purpose of this paper was to explore the retailers’ view regarding selected issues related to the cash discount subject. From a directory of retailers located in a medium-sized city, 825 retail establishments were chosen through a stratified random sample by industry group. Responses to issues focusing on the surcharge/cash discount proposition were analyzed using analysis of variance and chi square tech-ques. Type of retail institution and number of years in existence of the retail institution were explored as dimensions which potentially relate to retailers’ perception of problems related to the operationalization of cash discount in a retail marketing environment.
Deficiti tekućeg bilansa u bogatim zemljama

Tokom poslednjih 20 godina, neravnoteže tekuceg bilansa bogatih zemalja su se neprestano povecavale. Iako deficit tekuceg bilansa SAD dominira brojevima i vestima, i druge zemlje, posebno u okviru evrozone, takođe beleže veliki deficit. Deficiti ovih zemalja se razlikuju od deficita latinoamerickih zemalja sa pocetka osamdesetih godina ili meksickog deficita sa pocetka devedesetih godina. Deficiti koje beleže bogate zemlje uglavnom odražavaju odluke o privatnoj stednji i investicijama, a fiskalni deficiti cesto imaju marginalnu ulogu; deficiti se uglavnom finansiraju putem akcija, stranih direktnih investicija i obveznica u sopstvenoj valuti, pre nego putem bankarskih pozajmica. Ipak, cini se da ove zemlje u velikoj meri dele zabrinutost u vezi sa velicinom deficita i eventualnom neophodnoscu državne intervencije. Svrha mog predavanja jeste da se ispita logika tog argumenta. Postavljam sledece pitanje: pretpostavimo da deficit odražava odluke o privatnoj stednji i investicijama. Takođe, pretpostavimo da pojedinci i firme imaju racionalna ocekivanja. Da li vlada treba da intervenise, i ako treba kako to da uradi? Da bih odgovorio na pitanje, utvrdio sam jednostavnu polaznu tacku. U toj polaznoj tacki, prvi ishod je i najbolji i nema potrebe niti opravdanja za intervenciju vlade. Potom uvodim jednostavne poremecaje na tržistima robe, rada ili finansijskim tržistima, i u svakom slucaju karakterisem ravnotežu. Izvodim optimalnu politiku i implikacije po tekuci bilans. Pokazujem da optimalna politika može ali i ne mora dovesti do manjih deficita tekuceg bilansa. Ovaj model i njegova prosirenja posmatram kao prvi krug istraživanja. Jasniji zakljucci zahtevaju bolje razumevanje tacne prirode i stepena poremecaja, a to nam nedostaje. Međutim, radi unapređenja kvaliteta tekuce debate, potrebno je da bolje shvatimo ove aspekte.
Transgenic Crops and Food Security

This chapter provides an overview of the potential role of transgenic crops or genetically modified (GM) crops in enhancing food security. This chapter argues that although GM crops are still in their early states of adoption, emerging trends show their potential to contribute to food security. The crops have the potential to increase agricultural productivity on existing arable land; address issues of loss related to pests, disease, and drought; increase access to food through income gains; raise nutrition levels; and promote sustainable agriculture. But realizing the potential needs to be assessed in a non-deterministic, system-wide economic context. A key message is to view the role of GM technology as one of the many factors that influence food security whose contribution should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
Abstract 3738: IL-24 modulates the high mobility group (HMG) A1/miR222 /AKT signaling in lung cancer cells

Background: High mobility group A1 (HMGA1), a member of the non-histone chromosomal proteins and commonly referred to as architectural transcription factor, regulates transcription of various genes involved in cell growth and survival. Overexpression of HMGA1 has been shown to be associated with tumor progression and metastasis in several cancers, including human lung cancer. A recent study demonstrated that HMGA1 activates AKT function by reducing the activity of the protein phosphatase, phosphatase 2A subunitB (PPPR2A) via the oncogenic micro (mi) RNA-222. We demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-24, a novel tumor suppressor/cytokine, inhibited AKT in lung cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanism of AKT inhibition by IL-24 remains elusive. Aim: To determine the molecular mechanism of IL-24-mediated AKT inhibition involved the HMGA1/miR-222 axis. Methods: Human H1299 lung tumor cell line was stably transfected with a tetracycline-inducible plasmid vector carrying the IL-24. After the induced expression of IL-24 protein, expression levels of HMGA1 and its downstream molecular mechanisms were analyzed at the RNA and protein levels in lung cancer cell lines. The inhibitory effect of IL-24 on HMG A1/miR222 /AKT axis in the lung cancer cells is determined by RT-qPCR, western blot, reporter assay, and immunocytochemistry. Mechanistic approaches on overexpression and knockdown of HMGA1 and or miR-222 were utilized and the consequences of its inhibition/overexpression were analyzed on HMGA1/miR222 /AKT signaling axis and in vitro migration and invasion. Results: Upon induction of IL-24 expression in the H1299 lung tumor cells, we observed a marked reduction in HMGA1protein and mRNA levels. Using a mechanistic approach, we found that IL-24 reduced miR-222-3p and -5p levels, as determined by qRT-PCR. Associated with HMGA1 and miR-222 inhibition was a marked increase in PPP2R2A, with a concomitant decrease in phosphorylated AKTT308/S473 expression. SiRNA-mediated knockdown of HMGA1in combination with IL-24 significantly reduced AKT T308/S473 protein expression and greatly reduced cell migration and invasion compared with individual treatments. Further combination of IL-24 and a miR-222-3p inhibitor significantly increased PPP2R2A expression. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate for the first time that IL-24 inhibits AKT via regulating the HMGA1/miR-222 signaling node in human lung cancer cells and acts as an effective tumor suppressor. HMGA1 should present a novel target for the effective treatment of lung cancer. Citation Format: Janani Panneerselvam, Akhil Srivastava, Ranganayaki Muralidharan, Qi Wang, Wei Zheng, Lichao Zhao, Allshine Chen, Yan Zhao, Anupama Munshi, Rajagopal Ramesh. IL-24 modulates the high mobility group (HMG) A1/miR222 /AKT signaling in lung cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3738.
Conclusion: Towards a Hobbesian Theory of Rights

If Hobbes’s theory of rights is not a natural rights theory dependent on natural law premises and if it cannot be adequately analysed using the Hohfeldian definitional scheme, then how are we to define it? If we look to modern rights theory could it be defined as a will or an interest theory of rights? Will theories may look promising at first glance because of their insistence that rights are under the control of the right-holder who may exercise choice over the right and its correlative duties. Given Hobbes’s initial description of rights held under the right of nature and the process by which individuals come to transfer invasive rights to each other and take on duties, one could see this as an indication that the rights are under the control of the right-holder. Hobbes certainly says that this is a voluntary process. A will theory will quickly run into trouble however, when we consider the right to self-preservation and its status as an inalienable right. It cannot be given up by the right-holder and so this right cannot be defined as a power of the right-holder to waive the enforcement of the duty correlative to it, in the way that a will theorist would want to define it (Simmonds, 2002, p. 310). In fact as there is, for Hobbes, no duty that is directly correlated to the right to self-preservation anyway, it is even more doubtful that we can apply the will theory.
5 – Polymer Blends

In the search for new polymer materials people have polymerized new monomers, or made new random, block or graft copolymers from existing monomers. A third alternative has been to blend existing polymers to produce materials with new properties. An obvious advantage of this approach is that it usually requires little or no capital expenditure relative to the production of new polymers. It is also possible to produce a range of materials with properties completely different from those of the blend constituents. These materials may be one phase or two phase. It is convenient to define miscibility as the ability to be mixed at a molecular level to produce one homogeneous phase. The term compatibility is often used interchangeably but is also used practically to mean ‘able to be mixed to produce useful materials’ and as such is often used to describe immiscible materials.
Can VoiceScapes Assist in Menu Navigation

Providing better information access to blind users is an important goal in the context of accessible interface design. Similarly, designers of user interfaces benefit from alternative interface tec...
Liraglutide’s use in treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver: an evaluation of the non-alcoholic steatohepatitis study

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of liver related morbidity and mortality and also is the second most common cause of liver transplantation in the United States (1).
SIGCHI Social Impact Award Talk -- Ability-Based Design: Elevating Ability over Disability in Accessible Computing

The term "disability" connotes an absence of ability, but is like saying "dis-money" or "dis-height." All living people have some abilities [2]. Unfortunately, history is filled with examples of a focus on dis-ability, on what is missing, and on ensuing attempts to replace lost function to make people match a rigid world. Although often well intended, such a focus assumes humans must be adapted, and that interfaces, devices, and environments get to remain as they are. At the same time, our built things embody numerous "ability assumptions" imparted by their designers, and yet our built things remain unaware of their users' abilities. They also remain unaware of the situations their users are in, or how those situations affect their users' abilities [2,3]. An important shift in perspective comes by allowing people to "remain as they are," asking instead how interfaces, devices, and environments can bear the burden of becoming more suitable to their users' situated abilities. I call this perspective and the principles that accompany it "Ability-Based Design" [4,5], where the human abilities required to use a technology in a given context are questioned, and systems are made operable by or adaptable to alternative abilities. From this perspective, all people have varying degrees of ability, and different situations lead to different ability limitations, some long-term and some momentary. Some ability limitations come mostly from within the self, others from mostly outside the self. Ability-Based Design considers this whole "landscape of ability," respecting the human at its center and asking more of our technologies. In this talk, I will cover a decade's worth of projects related to Ability-Based Design, some directed at "people with disabilities" and others directed at "people in disabling situations." Rather than dive into any one project, I will convey a space of explored possibilities. I will also put forth a grand challenge: that anyone, anywhere, at any time can interact with technologies ideally suited to their specific situated abilities, and that our technologies do the work to achieve this fit.
Request aggregation: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Request aggregation is a fundamental feature of named data networking (NDN). This feature aims to improve consumers' quality of experience and reduce network traffic by reducing content retrieval latency and eliminating redundant communication, respectively. However, the negative aspects of request aggregation have not been studied. In this paper, we inspect different facets of request aggregation and introduce one of its harmful behavior, which can create an implicit Denial of Service (iDoS) vulnerability.
Thiol Starvation Induces Redox-Mediated Dysregulation of Escherichia coli Biofilm Components.

ABSTRACT A hallmark of bacterial biofilms is the production of an extracellular matrix (ECM) that encases and protects the community from environmental stressors. Biofilm formation is an integral portion of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) life cycle. Approximately 2% of UPEC isolates are cysteine auxotrophs. Here, we investigated how cysteine homeostasis impacted UPEC UTI89 strain biofilm formation and, specifically, the production of the ECM components curli and cellulose. Cysteine auxotrophs produced less cellulose and slightly more curli compared to wild-type (WT) strains, and cysteine auxotrophs formed smooth, nonrugose colonies. Cellulose production was restored in cysteine auxotrophs when YfiR was inactivated. YfiR is a redox-sensitive regulator of the diguanylate cyclase, YfiN. The production of curli, a temperature-regulated appendage, was independent of temperature in UTI89 cysteine auxotrophs. In a screen of UPEC isolates, we found that ∼60% of UPEC cysteine auxotrophs produced curli at 37°C, but only ∼2% of cysteine prototrophic UPEC isolates produced curli at 37°C. Interestingly, sublethal concentrations of amdinocillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole inhibited curli production, whereas strains auxotrophic for cysteine continued to produce curli even in the presence of amdinocillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The dysregulation of ECM components and resistance to amdinocillin in cysteine auxotrophs may be linked to hyperoxidation, since the addition of exogenous cysteine or glutathione restored WT biofilm phenotypes to mutants unable to produce cysteine and glutathione. IMPORTANCE Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) bacteria are the predominant causative agent of urinary tract infections (UTIs). UTIs account for billions of dollars of financial burden annually to the health care industry in the United States. Biofilms are an important aspect of the UPEC pathogenesis cascade and for the establishment of chronic infections. Approximately 2% of UPEC isolates from UTIs are cysteine auxotrophs, yet there is relatively little known about the biofilm formation of UPEC cysteine auxotrophs. Here we show that cysteine auxotrophs have dysregulated biofilm components due to a change in the redox state of the periplasm. Additionally, we show the relationship between cysteine auxotrophs, biofilms, and antibiotics frequently used to treat UTIs.
Parallel computing for Markov chains with islands and ports

We develop an algorithm to calculate invariant distributions of large Markov chains whose state spaces are partitioned into “islands” and “ports”. An island is a group of states (cluster) with potentially many connections inside of the island but a relatively small number of connections between islands. The states connecting different islands are called ports. Our algorithm is developed in the framework of the “state reduction approach”, but the special structure of the state space allows calculation of the invariant distribution to be done in parallel. Additional problems such as computation of fundamental matrices and optimal stopping problems are also analyzed for such Markov chains.
What price is right

Pricing is an effective strategy for increasing hospital revenue. Usually between 10 and 25 percent of a hospital's business is charge-related. Hospital executives should consider price-driven payment, such as that affected by carve-out arrangements. Critical pricing issues must be thoroughly understood to perform an effective pricing study.
Metal Halide Sources

The words “metal halide source” are used to describe a family of discharge light sources composed of mercury vapor at a partial pressure of several atmospheres and one or more metal halide compounds at partial pressures generally between 0.1 torr and 10 torr. The main difference between metal halide sources and other discharge sources is that metal halide sources generally have better color-rendering properties. The reason for having better color is that the spectrum of emitted radiation is more balanced, as opposed to the unbalanced spectrum of the high pressure mercury discharge which has no red components. The balanced spectrum is produced by line and band radiation from the metal halides, which may be dissociated in the hot core of the discharge.
Animal Learning, Ethology, and Biological Constraints

The subject matter of learning theory and ethology derives from the comparative psychology of the late nineteenth century. Since that time, both disciplines have been transformed decisively. The study of the mental life in animals, which was supposed to provide insight into the evolution of human intelligence, gave way to the study of conditioned behavior. The original approach to the study of instinctive behavior, which amounted to little more than an exercise in taxonomy of instincts, has been replaced by analytic developmental studies which seek to reveal how a species’ genotype and particular experiences interact to produce various instances of species-specific behavior. During most of the twentieth century, conditioned behavior was explained by appeal to one or another variety of general learning theory which sought to explain all learned behavior, in all species, by appeal to a simple set of principles. During the past two decades, the goals of learning theory have become less comprehensive. Interest has focused primarily on associations between a cue and a biologically important event (S-S* associations) and between a response and a biologically important event (R-S* associations). Students of animal learning have also investigated various “biological constraints” that violate assumptions about the arbitrariness of the abstract stimuli and responses referred to by learning theory.
The Art of Connectivity Mapping

Motivation: The powerful idea of the Connectivity Mapping proposes the creation of a library of drug induced gene expression signatures. Such a resource can facilitate finding small molecules to mimic or reverse disease signatures, identifying drug targets, discovering the mechanisms of action for novel small molecules, elucidating off-target effect mechanisms, and directing cellular differentiation and reprogramming. A related concept is Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. Problem statement: In my presentation I will discuss how these two transformative ideas can be expanded in various creative ways to unify knowledge representation in system biology. Approach: I will demonstrate how expanded Connectivity Mapping and Gene Set Enrichment Analyses combined with Machine Learning can enable imputing and illuminating new biological and pharmacological knowledge.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy-Toddler (PCIT-T): Case Overview for a Child on the Autism Spectrum with a Comorbid Developmental Disability

This case study describes the use of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Toddlers (PCIT-T) with a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum who also has an intellectual disability. The child presented with limited receptive and expressive communication skills, a history of aggression, tantrums, and noncompliance. Children with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities frequently present with co-occurring disruptive behaviors (e.g., noncompliance, defiance, aggressions) that impair their participation in important educational, home, and community activities. PCIT-T, an adaptation of standard PCIT, focuses on a developmental model for working with toddlers 12–24 months of age (Girard et al., 2018). This includes an emphasis of coaching floor play, proper toy selection, coaching verbal animation during interactions between the caregiver and child, as well as coaching animated facial expressions from the caregiver to the child. Results indicate that the coaching interventions were associated with acquisition of parenting skills and reduced problem behaviors, suggesting modifications to standard PCIT may hold benefit for children with developmental disabilities.
Simulation of Gas Production from Multilayered Hydrate-Bearing Media with Fully Coupled Flow, Thermal, Chemical and Geomechanical Processes Using TOUGH+Millstone. Part 2: Geomechanical Formulation and Numerical Coupling

The TOUGH+Millstone simulator has been developed for the analysis of coupled flow, thermal and geomechanical processes associated with the formation and/or dissociation of $$\hbox {CH}_{4}$$ hydrates in geological media. It is composed of two constituent codes: (a) a significantly enhanced version of the TOUGH+HYDRATE simulator, v2.0, that accounts for all known flow, physical, thermodynamic and chemical processes associated with the behavior of hydrate-bearing systems undergoing changes and includes the most recent advances in the description of the system properties, coupled seamlessly with (b) Millstone v1.0, a new code that addresses the conceptual, computational and mathematical shortcomings of earlier codes used to describe the geomechanical response of these systems. The capabilities of the TOUGH+Millstone code are demonstrated in the simulation and analysis of the system flow, thermal and geomechanical behavior during gas production from a realistic complex offshore hydrate deposit. In the second part of this series, we describe the Millstone geomechanical simulator. The hydrate-dependent, rate-based poromechanical formulation is presented and solved using a finite element discretization. A novel multimesh coupling scheme is introduced, wherein interpolators are automatically built to transfer data between the finite difference discretization of TOUGH+ and the finite element discretization of Millstone. We provide verification examples against analytic solutions for poroelasticity and a simplified demonstration problem for mechanically induced phase change in a hydrate sediment.
Analysis of Trigger Conditions and Hidden Behaviors

Malware often contains hidden behavior which is only activated when properly triggered. Well known examples include: the MyDoom worm which DDoS’s on particular dates, keyloggers which only log keystrokes for particular sites, and DDoS zombies which are only activated when given the proper command. We call such behavior trigger-based behavior. Currently, trigger-based behavior analysis is often performed in a tedious, manual fashion. Providing even a small amount of assistance would greatly assist and speedup the analysis. In this chapter, we propose that automatic analysis of trigger-based behavior in malware is possible. In particular, we design an approach for automatic trigger-based behavior detection and analysis using dynamic binary instrumentation and mixed concrete and symbolic execution. Our approach shows that in many cases we can: (1) detect the existence of trigger-based behavior, (2) find the conditions that trigger such hidden behavior, and (3) find inputs that satisfy those conditions, allowing us to observe the triggered malicious behavior in a controlled environment. We have implemented MineSweeper, a system utilizing this approach. In our experiments, MineSweeper has successfully identified trigger-based behavior in real-world malware. Although there are many challenges presented by automatic trigger-based behavior detection, MineSweeper shows us that such automatic analysis is possible and encourages future work in this area.
One version of direct response priming requires automatization of the relevant associations but not awareness of the prime.

Abstract Priming is the influence of one event on performance during a second event. One type of priming is known as semantic priming because it biases interpretation of the subsequent stimulus. Another type, direct response priming, biases responding directly without semantic mediation. Research reviewed in this article indicates that two versions of the second type, direct response priming, can be distinguished. One version, explicit priming, requires awareness of the prime. The other version, associative response priming, occurs even if the prime is masked and not phenomenally visible. This version, which is attributed to associations relating specific sensory events to movements of particular muscles, is enabled only if the association has previously been automatized by brief practice in which the to-be-primed response is made to the stimulus that subsequently appears as the prime. Associative response priming can be explained by a simple stimulus–response interpretation; other varieties of priming are more theoretically challenging.
The Ligand Cap Affects the Coordination Number but Not Necessarily the Affinity for Anions of Tris-Bidentate Europium Complexes

To evaluate the effect of ligand geometry on the coordination number, number of inner-sphere water molecules, and affinity for anions of the corresponding lanthanide complex, six tris-bidentate 1,2...
Classifying Device-Related Complications Associated With Intrathecal Baclofen Pumps: A MAUDE Study.

Background Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) is an effective treatment for spasticity, and therapeutic levels may be optimized using surgically implanted pumps. Though these devices are effective, complications can pose significant challenges to patients, decreasing the therapeutic effect and potentially requiring reoperation. As such, it is critical that complications associated with ITB be effectively characterized. Methods We queried the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database for cases reported during the past 3 years documenting adverse events specifically related to ITB pumps. We identified 1935 adverse events that were individually analyzed and categorized by type of complication. Results Out of the 1935 unique adverse events identified from the MAUDE database, 25.7% were device-related complications (n = 497). Of those, 50.3% were catheter-specific (n = 250), 21.3% (n = 106) were pump-specific, and 28.3% (n = 141) were included, more generally, in catheter or device erosion. Conclusions The MAUDE database may be a useful resource for evaluating ITB pump complications across a larger data set. By characterizing the complications and providing values for their total occurrences, patients and physicians may have more realistic expectations for the outcomes and morbidity of this device.
The interplay between physical activity and aging in locomotor fractal behavior

Abstract The complex organization of gait variability, or fractal dynamics, theoretically represents the adaptive capacity of the locomotor system. Prior studies suggest that fractal dynamics are sensitive to various individual constraints (e.g., age, neurological disease) and task constraints (e.g., walking speed or novel gait tasks). The purpose of this study was to determine if physical activity levels represent an additional individual constraint during walking. Fifteen young and 15 older adults walked on a treadmill at their preferred walking speed and at half of their preferred speed. Detrended fluctuation analysis was used to estimate the statistical persistence of stride time variability. Volume of physical activity was determined using a wearable monitor for 3-7 days. Habitual physical activity levels did not appear to have an effect on the fractal nature of stride-to-stride fluctuations in young adults. However, the least active older adults displayed higher scaling exponents compared to the more active older adults during slow walking. That is, less active older adults responded to the slow walking task by increasing fractal scaling, suggesting this task is more challenging and complex. These findings suggest that lower levels of habitual physical activity may represent an additional individual constraint in older but not young adults. When age and physical activity constraints are combined with a challenging slow walking task, the locomotor system of older adults may be more highly taxed, ultimately manifesting as stronger statistical persistence.
Ethnic Restaurant Nutrition Environments and Cardiovascular Health: Examining Hispanic Caribbean Restaurants in New York City.

Objective: To adapt and apply the Nutri­tion Environment Measures Survey for Res­taurants (NEMS-R) to Hispanic Caribbean (HC) restaurants and examine associations between restaurant characteristics and nutrition environment measures. Methods: We adapted the NEMS-R for HC cuisines (Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican) and cardiovascular health-promoting fac­tors, and applied the instrument (NEMS-HCR) to a random sample of HC restau­rants in New York City (NYC) (N=89). Multivariable linear regression was used to assess independent associations between NEMS-HCR score and restaurant charac­teristics (cuisine, size, type [counter-style vs sit-down] and price). Results: None of the menus in the res­taurants studied listed any main dishes as “healthy” or “light.” More than half (52%) offered mostly (>75%) nonfried main dishes, and 76% offered at least one vegetarian option. The most common facilitator to healthy eating was offering reduced portion sizes (21%) and the most common barrier was having salt shak­ers on tables (40%). NEMS-HCR scores (100-point scale) ranged from 24.1-55.2 (mean=39.7). In multivariable analyses, scores were significantly related to cuisine (with Puerto Rican cuisine scoring lower than Cuban and Dominican cuisines), and size (with small [<22 seats] restaurants scoring lower than larger restaurants). We found a significant quadratic association with midpoint price, suggesting that scores increased with increasing price in the low­est price range, did not vary in the middle range, and decreased with increasing price in the highest range. Conclusions: Our application of the NEMS-R to HC restaurants in NYC revealed areas for potential future interventions to improve food offerings and environmental cues to encourage healthful choices. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(4):583-592; doi:10.18865/ed.30.4.592