cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On-line optical flow feedback for mobile robot localization/ navigation

Open-loop estimation methods are commonly used in mobile robot applications. Their strength lies in the speed and simplicity of an estimate. However, these methods can sometimes lead to inaccurate or unreliable positional estimates. Using one or more optical flow sensors, a method has been developed which can accurately track position in both ideal kinematic conditions and otherwise. Using optical flow techniques and available sensors, reliable positional estimates are made. Location of the sensors has also been investigated in order to minimize errors caused by inaccurate sensor readings. Finally, the method is implemented and tested using a potential filed based navigation scheme. Estimates of position were found to be as accurate as dead-reckoning in ideal conditions and much more accurate in cases where kinematic violations (such as wheel slip) occurred.
Pima Indian Males Have Lower β-Adrenergic Sensitivity Than Caucasian Males

The sympathetic nervous system controls cardiovascular homeostasis and regulates energy metabolism. Pima Indians, a population with a low prevalence of hypertension and a high prevalence of obesity, have low sympathetic nervous activity, compared with Caucasians. Preliminary findings suggest that they may also have a low β-adrenergic sensitivity. We studied β-adrenergic sensitivity in 87 nondiabetic normotensive individuals [52 Pima Indians (35 males/17 females) and 35 Caucasians (24 males/11 females)], matched for age and body weight. Chronotropic sensitivity to β-adrenergic stimulation was assessed by the dose of isoproterenol necessary to increase heart rate by 25 beats per minute [chronotropic dose-25 (CD25)]. Despite a similar basal heart rate and arterial blood pressure, Pimas tended to have lowerβ -adrenergic sensitivity than Caucasians (CD25 = 2.37 ± 2.27 vs. 1.57 ± 1.38 μg, P = 0.07; mean ± sd). This difference was significant in males (CD25 = 3.03 ± 2.39 vs. 1.85 ± 1.56μ g, P = 0.02) but not in ...
Converting Cultural Capital Among Teen Refugees and Their Families From Bosnia-Herzegovina

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to identify the processes by which teen refugees adapt and apply cultural capital in conditions of refuge in order to develop preventive interventions for refugee youths. METHODS: The study was a multisite ethnographic study in Chicago that involved observation of Bosnian participants in schools, community sites, service organizations, and households as well as in-depth interviews with a subsample of 30 Bosnian adolescents and their families. Field notes and interview data were subjected to thematic analysis. RESULTS: The concept of converting cultural capital emerged as a useful construct for representing the cultural resources that Bosnian teen refugees and their families bring to the refugee trauma experience. Conversion of cultural capital refers to processes of adapting and applying the meanings, knowledge, customs, achievements, and outlooks that teen refugees and their families bring to new environments in order to enhance teens' cultural vitality and soc...
A matrix theory proof of the discrete convolution theorem

In this paper we prove the discrete convolution theorem by means of matrix theory. The proof makes use of the diagonalization of a circulant matrix to show that a circular convolution is diagonalized by the discrete Fourier transform. The diagonalization of the circular convolution shows that the eigenvalues of a circular convolution operator are identical with the discrete Fourier frequency spectrum.
Lunar Dust Levitation

Observations of a lunar "horizon glow" by several Surveyor spacecraft on the lunar surface in the 1960s and detections of dust particle impacts by the Apollo 17 Lunar Ejecta and Meteoroid Experiment have been explained as the result of micron-sized charged particles lifting off the surface. The surface of the Moon is exposed to the solar wind and solar UV radiation causing photoemission, so it develops a surface charge and an electric field near the surface. Dust particles injected into this plasma from the lunar regolith, whether from human and mechanical activity or from meteoroid impacts or electrostatic forces, may be stably levitated above the surface and may undergo preferential deposition onto areas of the lunar surface or equipment with different electrical properties. This can lead to a net transport as well as contamination of sensitive equipment. This paper reports on new experimental measurements and numerical simu- lations of the plasma environment above the lunar surface and the related behavior of charged dust.
The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: evidence from intrasentential code switching

In this article, the author addresses the question of how the mind represents two languages in simultaneous bilingualism. Some linguistic theories of intrasentential code switching are reviewed, with a focus on the Minimalist approach of MacSwan (1999b); the author concludes that evidence from code switching suggests that bilinguals have discrete and separate Lexicons for the languages they speak, each with its own internal principles of word formation, as well as separate phonological systems. However, the author argues that computational resources common to the two languages generate monolingual and bilingual syntactic derivations alike. Advantages of the Minimalist Program for the analysis of code switching data are discussed at some length.
Ligand interaction of substituted pyridines with cytochrome P-450

A series of pyridyl ketones and alkyl pyridines was evaluated as type II ligands for cytochrome P-450. Activity as type II ligands was evaluated in terms of the lipid solubility and the pKa values of the compounds.
Using a spike-in experiment to evaluate analysis of LC-MS data

Recent advances in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology have led to newer approaches for measuring changes in peptide/protein abundances. Label-free LC-MS methods have been used for extraction of quantitative information and for detection of differentially abundant peptides/proteins. However, difference detection by analysis of data derived from label-free LC-MS methods requires various preprocessing steps including filtering, baseline correction, peak detection, alignment, and normalization, and transformation. Although several specialized tools have been developed to analyze LC-MS data, determining the most appropriate computational pipeline remains challenging partly due to lack of established gold standards. In this paper, we use a spike-in experiment to evaluate the performance of three software tools in accurately detecting changes in peptide abundances from LC-MS data obtained by a label-free LC-MS method. We observe that tools that incorporate peptide isotope cluster and multiple charge information lead to more accurate difference detection with fewer false positives.
Growing Unculturable Bacteria

The bacteria that can be grown in the laboratory are only a small fraction of the total diversity that exists in nature. At all levels of bacterial phylogeny, uncultured clades that do not grow on standard media are playing critical roles in cycling carbon, nitrogen, and other elements, synthesizing novel natural products, and impacting the surrounding organisms and environment. While molecular techniques, such as metagenomic sequencing, can provide some information independent of our ability to culture these organisms, it is essentially impossible to learn new gene and pathway functions from pure sequence data. A true understanding of the physiology of these bacteria and their roles in ecology, host health, and natural product production requires their cultivation in the laboratory. Recent advances in growing these species include coculture with other bacteria, recreating the environment in the laboratory, and combining these approaches with microcultivation technology to increase throughput and access rare species. These studies are unraveling the molecular mechanisms of unculturability and are identifying growth factors that promote the growth of previously unculturable organisms. This minireview summarizes the recent discoveries in this area and discusses the potential future of the field.
Evolution of the Chaperone/Usher Assembly Pathway : Fimbrial Classification Goes Greek

Summary: Many Proteobacteria use the chaperone/usher pathway to assemble proteinaceous filaments on the bacterial surface. These filaments can curl into fimbrial or nonfimbrial surface structures (e.g., a capsule or spore coat). This article reviews the phylogeny of operons belonging to the chaperone/usher assembly class to explore the utility of establishing a scheme for subdividing them into clades of phylogenetically related gene clusters. Based on usher amino acid sequence comparisons, our analysis shows that the chaperone/usher assembly class is subdivided into six major phylogenetic clades, which we have termed α-, β-, γ-, κ-, π-, and σ-fimbriae. Members of each clade share related operon structures and encode fimbrial subunits with similar protein domains. The proposed classification system offers a simple and convenient method for assigning newly discovered chaperone/usher systems to one of the six major phylogenetic groups.
The Role of Socioeconomic Status in SAT-Grade Relationships and in College Admissions Decisions

This article examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationships among college admissions-test scores, secondary school grades, and subsequent academic performance. Scores on the SAT (a test widely used in the admissions process in the United States), secondary school grades, college grades, and SES measures from 143,606 students at 110 colleges and universities were examined, and results of these analyses were compared with results obtained using a 41-school data set including scores from the prior version of the SAT and using University of California data from prior research on the role of SES. In all the data sets, the SAT showed incremental validity over secondary school grades in predicting subsequent academic performance, and this incremental relationship was not substantially affected by controlling for SES. The SES of enrolled students was very similar to that of specific schools’ applicant pools, which suggests that the barrier to college for low-SES students in the United States...
Goldenhar complex in discordant monozygotic twins : a case report and review of the literature

In 1952, Goldenhar described a pair of monozygotic twins who were discordant for epibulbar dermoids, auricular appendages, malformations of the auricle, and hemifacial microsomia. Eighteen twin pairs have subsequently been described in which at least one member exhibited these manifestations. We report on an additional pair of discordant dichorionic monozygotic male twins. All of the 5 monozygotic twin pairs for which placental information is available have been discordant and 2 of these had dichorionic membranes. The failure of discordant monozygotic twins to be limited to monochorionic pairs argues against the hypothesis that developmental abnormalities arising from the placental vascular anastomoses that are commonly found in monozygotic twins is the probable explanation for the discordant expression of these traits in twins.
Stress tensors and their trace anomalies in conformally flat space-time

Stress-energy tensors of massless fields propagating in curved space-times which are conformally flat are determined entirely from their trace anomalies. This calculation utilizes the integrability condition obeyed by stress tensors for arbitrary variations of the metric and sheds some light on the nature of the dimensionally continued renormalization method.
Guest Introduction to the 40th Anniversary Issue: Manifestos, Web Pages, and Continuities in Criticality

A decade ago, JCI marked its 30th anniversary with a tracing of mastheads (McLuskie, 2004) once manifesto-like in character, but less so as the journal moved through its first three decades. Now, at its 40th year, the word “Inquiry” in the journal’s title still announces an orientation that aims beyond method. Whether discussing the field and its problems or offering alternative modes of inquiry, JCI has a reputation as a space for fresh academic air (more on the history, importance, and perennial vulnerability of that reputation in a moment). But the significance held by mastheads in 2004 is different in the online world of 2014, as JCI publisher Sage adapts with the rest of the publishing industry to garner and speed circulation. The proclamation of identity that came from mastheads is now more loudly proclaimed outside the Journal’s printed pages. Scholarly production and consumption by the 2010s is seen through the world’s increasingly webbed libraries, also offering shorthands—“shortcuts,” these days—and gatekeeping—“portals,” these days—to guide the searching scholar whose work gets done, in the best of circumstances, on the run to the rare spaces of reflection. Multiple titles of articles await, the journal title itself a subject matter hash tag used to point out landings. Web pages for the journals themselves recommend articles, organized for the searcher into an academic journal’s alleged best hits. If those hits do not register the journal’s identity, they do register intrajournal popularity in terms of recency. They also help— likely the opposite of “help”—shape what counts in an academic world. Journal of Communication Inquiry 2014, Vol. 38(2) 90–94 ! The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0196859914525092 jci.sagepub.com
Superalgebra and Superspace of Vector Spinor Generators

The super Poincare algebra of generators belonging to the (1, 1/2) + (1/2, 1) representation of the Lorentz group is constructed. The closure of the algebra is demonstrated. The supertranslations and the chiral superfield in the new superspace with vector-spinor coordinates are also given.
Clinical Profile, Acute Care, and Middle-Term Outcomes of Cocaine-Associated ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction in an Inner-City Community

Although cocaine is a well-recognized risk factor for coronary disease, detailed information is lacking regarding related behavioral and clinical features of cocaine-associated ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged urban settings. Nor are systematic or extended follow-up data available on outcomes for cocaine-associated STEMI in the contemporary era of percutaneous coronary intervention. We leveraged a prospective STEMI registry from a large health system serving an inner-city community to characterize the clinical features, acute management, and middle-term outcomes of cocaine-related versus cocaine-unrelated STEMI. Of the 1,003 patients included, 60% were black or Hispanic. Compared with cocaine-unrelated STEMI, cocaine-related STEMI (n = 58) was associated with younger age, male gender, lower socioeconomic score, current smoking, high alcohol consumption, and human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity but less commonly with diabetes or hypertension. Cocaine users less often received drug-eluting stents or β blockers at discharge. During median follow-up of 2.7 years, rates of death, death or any rehospitalization, and death or cardiovascular rehospitalization did not differ significantly between cocaine users and nonusers but were especially high for death or any hospitalization in the 2 groups (31.4 vs 32.4 per 100 person-years, p = 0.887). Adjusted hazard ratios for outcomes were likewise not significantly different. In conclusion, in this low-income community, cocaine use occurred in a substantial fraction of STEMI cases, who were younger than their nonuser counterparts but had more prevalent high-risk habits and exhibited similarly high rates of adverse outcomes. These data suggest that programs targeting cocaine abuse and related behaviors could contribute importantly to disease prevention in disadvantaged communities.
Abstract 2115: REV1, DNA polymerase ≤ and the fanconi anemia proteins FANCD2 and FANCI function together during repair

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Fanconi anemia (FA) is a chromosomal instability disorder characterized by bone marrow failure, congenital abnormalities and increased incidence of malignancies. Cells derived from FA patients exhibit cellular hypersensitivity to interstrand crosslink (ICL)-inducing agents, including mitomycin C (MMC) and cisplatin. ICLs are sensed and repaired by a complex process which involves multiple DNA repair proteins including the FA factors as well as proteins that function in nucleotide excision repair, translesion DNA synthesis and homologous recombination (HR). REV1 (a Y family translesion DNA polymerase) and DNA Polymerase ≤ (Polα, comprised of the catalytic REV3 protein and REV7 accessory subunit) play important roles in performing DNA replication across blocking lesions. Previous studies have demonstrated an epistatic relationship between Polα and genes encoding proteins comprising the Fanconi anemia core complex with regards to resistance to ICLs. Additionally, REV1, Polα, and the FANCD2/FANCI heterodimer have each been shown individually to be involved in promoting HR repair, although the reasons for their involvement remain unclear. Here, we show that human REV1 and REV3 exhibit an epistatic relationship with FANCD2 and FANCI in homology-directed repair of a defined DNA double-stranded break and cellular resistance to ICLs created by MMC. We also demonstrate that MMC-induced chromosomal anomalies are increased in REV1 or REV3-depleted cells and FANCD2 depletion does not further exacerbate this phenotype. Additionally, we demonstrate for the first time that full length human REV1 and REV3 interact with FANCD2 and FANCI in vivo as detected by co-immunoprecipitation studies. We therefore propose a model where replication fork stalling during HR repair DNA synthesis is resolved through Polα-dependent translesion DNA synthesis which is regulated by the Fanconi anemia pathway. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2115. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2115
Analysis of 101 Reports of Adverse Drng Reactions Caused by Injection

Objective To analyze the adverse drug reaction(ADR) caused by the intravenous injection,so as to ensure the safe and reasonable drug usage in the clinic.Methods The case reports of the 101 ADR cases caused by intravenous injection of the Sun Yat-sen memorial hospital 2010-06~2011-06 were statistically analyzed.Results All the 101 intravenous injection ADRs were mainly caused by antibiotics and Chinese herbal medicine.Conclusion ADR caused by intravenous injection should be monitored,so as to avoid ADR.
STUDY ON THE QUADRATIC MODEL OF INDUSTRIAL “THREE WASTES”IN WUHAN CITY——BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL KUZENTS CURVE(EKC)

In the light of the statistical data of economic (per capita GDP) increasement and the amount of discharged industrial“three wastes”during 1986~2003 in Wuhan city, the interrelations between per capi- ta GDP and the amount of discharged pollutants were analyzed and the quadratic model were also estab- lished by dint of the SPSS and EXCEL software. The result shows that the amount of discharged pollu- tants (such as industrial waste water, Cr+6in industrial waste water, SO2in industrial exhaust gas, indus- trial dust, industrial solid waste and so on) in Wuhan city, except the generation and discharge amount of industrial solid waste are still in a dilemma region, have got through or are getting through the EKC curve turning point, which indicates that the environment condition is becaming better in Wuhan city. According to the result, the feasibility ironing out the tend of EKC curve of the discharge amount of industrial“three wastes”pollutant were analyzed before the environment has not been destroyed and the resource has not been exhausted completely.
Controversies of Perinatal Torsion of the Spermatic Cord: A Review, Survey and Recommendations

Review of the literature yielded details of 98 testes in 83 patients with so-called neonatal torsion of the testes. For the purpose of scientific analysis only evaluable cases with definite surgical confirmation of this diagnosis were included in this review. The opinions of a representative sample of pediatric urologists were sought through a questionnaire. A total of 46 respondents provided information regarding their experience, observations and philosophy in the management of neonatal torsion of the testes
Loss of Serotonin Transporter Function Alters ADP-mediated Glycoprotein αIIbβ3 Activation through Dysregulation of the 5-HT2A Receptor *

Reduced platelet aggregation and a mild bleeding phenotype have been observed in patients chronically taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). However, it remains unclear how SSRIs, which inhibit the plasma membrane serotonin transporter (SERT), modulate hemostasis. Here, we examine how sustained inhibition of SERT activity alters serotonergic signaling and influences platelet activation and hemostasis. Pharmaceutical blockade (citalopram dosing) or genetic ablation (SERT−/−) of SERT function in vivo led to reduced serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)) blood levels that paralleled a mild bleeding phenotype in mice. Transfusion of wild-type platelets to SERT−/− mice normalized bleeding times to wild-type levels, suggesting that loss of SERTs causes a deficiency in platelet activation. Although SERT−/− platelets displayed no difference in P-selectin or αIIbβ3 activation upon stimulation with thrombin, ADP-mediated αIIbβ3 activation is reduced in SERT−/− platelets. Additionally, synergistic potentiation of αIIbβ3 activation by ADP and 5-HT is lost in SERT−/− platelets. Acute treatment of wild-type platelets with 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR) antagonists or SSRIs revealed that functional 5-HT2ARs, not SERTs, are necessary for the synergistic activation of αIIbβ3 by dual 5-HT/ADP stimulation. Pharmacological studies using radiolabeled guanosine 5′-3-O-([35S]thio)triphosphate and [3H]ketanserin revealed that platelets isolated from SERT−/− or citalopram-treated mice have reduced activation of G-proteins coupled to 5-HT2ARs and receptor surface expression. Taken together, these data demonstrate that sustained SERT loss of function reduces 5-HT2AR surface expression that is critical for the synergistic activation of αIIbβ3 by 5-HT and ADP. These results highlight an antiplatelet strategy centered on blocking or desensitizing 5-HT2AR to attenuate ADP-mediated αIIbβ3 activation.
Structure Theorems of Specker Groups (I)

Specker groups are subgroups of group of all finite values sequences of integers. Fuchs ([5]) developed many theorems about Specker groups. Here I want to use lattice-ordered group approach to develop the lateral completion of Specker groups and Specker spaces. The main goals of this research paper are to prove theorem 2.9 and corollary 2.10.
STeP: Scalable Tenant Placement for Managing Database-as-a-Service Deployments

Public cloud providers with Database-as-a-Service offerings must efficiently allocate computing resources to each of their customers. An effective assignment of tenants both reduces the number of physical servers in use and meets customer expectations at a price point that is competitive in the cloud market. For public cloud vendors like Microsoft and Amazon, this means packing millions of users' databases onto hundreds or thousands of servers. This paper studies tenant placement by examining a publicly released dataset of anonymized customer resource usage statistics from Microsoft's Azure SQL Database production system over a three-month period. We implemented the STeP framework to ingest and analyze this large dataset. STeP allowed us to use this production dataset to evaluate several new algorithms for packing database tenants onto servers. These techniques produce highly efficient packings by collocating tenants with compatible resource usage patterns. The evaluation shows that under a production-sourced customer workload, these techniques are robust to variations in the number of nodes, keeping performance objective violations to a minimum even for high-density tenant packings. In comparison to the algorithm used in production at the time of data collection, our algorithms produce up to 90% fewer performance objective violations and save up to 32% of total operational costs for the cloud provider.
Machine Learning and Grounded Theory Method: Convergence, Divergence, and Combination

Grounded Theory Method (GTM) and Machine Learning (ML) are often considered to be quite different. In this note, we explore unexpected convergences between these methods. We propose new research directions that can further clarify the relationships between these methods, and that can use those relationships to strengthen our ability to describe our phenomena and develop stronger hybrid theories.
Implications of piscine predator control on the federally listed fountain darter

One strategy for protecting the federally listed fountain darter, Etheostoma fonticola (Jordan & Gilbert), during low flow conditions is the removal of piscine carnivores [in this case, largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede)]. However, headwater spring communities of the Comal and San Marcos rivers include another potential predator [red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii (Girard)]. Removal of piscine carnivores could produce cascading effects by increasing crayfish consumption of benthic fish. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if piscine carnivore removal will lessen predatory pressure or induce a trophic cascade with crayfish increasing and causing declines in fountain darter. The numbers of fountain darter consumed were quantified among three predator treatments (red swamp crayfish only, largemouth bass only and red swamp crayfish and largemouth bass combined) and vegetation treatments (vegetated and non-vegetated) at three temperature regimes (18, 22, 27°C). Vegetation had no effect on fountain darter predation. Among temperature trials, largemouth bass only and red swamp crayfish and largemouth bass combined consumed similar numbers of fountain darter, and red swamp crayfish only consumed the least numbers of fountain darter, except at 22°C. Largemouth bass did not consume more red swamp crayfish than fountain darter. Therefore, largemouth bass removal appears to be a viable option for reducing fountain darter predation during periods of low flow.
Religion and Science

In the days of Thomas Aquinas, the problem of the relationship between science and religion emerged acutely because of the influx of the full Aristotelian corpus of writings into the West. The central intellectual problem of the day was to determine whether this powerful, systematic, and pagan worldview (comprising what we would now call both philosophy and science) was compatible with the central theological claims of the Roman Catholic Church. Prima facie, it did not seem that Aristotelian philosophy was compatible because on at least two key points it held views at odds with the Church: (1) the world had no beginning and (2) individual human beings do not each have intellectual and immortal souls.1 Thus the most developed science of the time seemed to contradict two central doctrines related to creation and rooted in the book of Genesis: (1) the creation ex nihilo of a world with a definite temporal beginning and (2) the special creation of man in the image of God as a rational and spiritual creature. It was one of Aquinas’s major intellectual achievements to show that there was no real conflict between Aristotelian science and Christian doctrine. He was motivated by the basic conviction that there could be no genuine contradiction between the proven truths of science and the revealed truths of the faith because both truths ultimately were rooted in God.
Reproducibility, sharing and progress in nanomaterial databases

Publicly accessible databases are core resources for data-rich research, consolidating field-specific knowledge and highlighting best practices and challenges. Further effective growth of nanomaterial databases requires the concerted efforts of database stewards, researchers, funding agencies and publishers.
Cumulative Adversity as a Correlate of Posttraumatic Growth: The Effects of Multiple Traumas, Discrimination, and Sexual Harassment

While trauma is, by definition, a necessary precursor of posttraumatic growth, other aspects of individuals’ life experiences affect their ability to cope with trauma, foster resilience, and grow f...
Cryptanalysis and Security Enhancement of Two Advanced Authentication Protocols

In this work we consider two protocols for performing cryptanalysis and security enhancement. The first one by Jiang et al., is a password-based authentication scheme. which does not use smart cards. We note that this scheme is an improvement over Chen et al.’s scheme shown vulnerable to the off-line dictionary attack by Jiang et al. We perform a cryptanalysis on Jiang at al.’s improved protocol and observe that it is prone to the clogging attack, a kind of denial of service (DoS) attack. We then suggest an improvement on the protocol to prevent the clogging attack.
A Note on the Derivation of Higher-Order Two-Dimensional Theories of Transverse Bending of Elastic Plates

We consider an elastic layer of thickness 2c with constitutive equations which are, in terms of a semi-complementary energy function V (ei, γ12, τiz, σz), of the form $$ {\sigma _i} = \partial V/\partial {\varepsilon _i}, {\tau _{12}} = \partial V/\partial {\gamma _{12}}, $$ (1) $$ {\gamma _{iz}} = - \partial V/\partial {\tau _{iz}}, {\varepsilon _z} = - \partial V/\partial {\sigma _z}. $$ (2)
Did the Electronic Logging Device Mandate Reduce Accidents

On December 18th, 2017, the U.S. Department of Transportation implemented a controversial mandate requiring the vast majority of truck drivers to record their working hours using electronic logging devices (ELDs). ELDs are harder to manipulate than traditional handwritten paper logbooks, and thus make it more difficult for drivers to violate restrictions on their working hours without getting caught by government inspectors. Because the work-hour restrictions (known as “hours-of-service” (HOS) regulations) are designed to reduce driver fatigue, the ultimate goal of the mandate was to reduce accidents on roads and highways. We combine detailed data from millions of driver inspections and all federally-recordable crashes from January 1st, 2017 through September 1st, 2018 to assess the effectiveness of the mandate. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we show the mandate clearly achieved its first-order effect: drivers increased their compliance with HOS regulations, with drivers for small carriers most affected because many large carriers had already adopted ELDs and violated HOS regulations infrequently prior to the mandate. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the number of accidents decreased. Our results show that accident counts for small carriers did not fall relative to large carriers, and may have increased. Further, drivers for small carriers appear to have increased their frequency of unsafe driving (e.g., speeding) in response to the productivity losses caused by the mandate, which could explain why accidents did not decrease. We discuss implications for policymakers.
E-Cigarettes to Assist with Smoking Cessation

The prevalence of tobacco smoking in the United States has declined to 14.0% but still exceeds 25% among high-risk subgroups.1,2 Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are not approved by the Food an...
Deep learning discrimination of quartz and resin in optical microscopy images of minerals

Abstract Mineral processing is the process of separating commercially valuable minerals from their ores. The final quality of the iron ore is tied to the efficiency of its beneficiation process, which can be optimized when the composition of the iron ore is known. Reflected Light Optical Microscopy (RLOM) has been traditionally used to analyze the composition of iron ore samples. However, due to a similar reflectance, the commercially available mounting resins tend to get mixed with the quartz phase. Therefore, it is a well-known problem that, while the major mineralogical phases (mainly hematite goethite and magnetite) can be segmented, it is not possible to segment and analyze the quartz phase by RLOM. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are a branch of machine learning that have been experiencing a considerable development and thus efficient application in the field of image analysis and classification. As CNNs have been matching and sometimes even outperforming humans, it is reasonable to apply them to this problem, for a human operator can easily distinguish between quartz and resin. After building a databank constituting of 1747 images of resin and 1745 images of quartz for the training set and 442 images of each class for the testing set, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) achieved, once trained, success rates above 95%. This success rate is a clear indicator that CNNs can indeed be a solution to this classic problem.
New legal options to prepare adolescents for independent living.

New legal alternatives are needed to assist older adolescents living apart from their families to make the gradual transition to self-sufficiency. At present, there are only two legal alternatives for such adolescents in most states: agency legal custody (foster family or group care) and emancipation. Two new alternatives are needed to allow mature young persons to practice limited independence and to receive some continued aid and supervision from child welfare agencies: independent-living arrangements and special programs for young adults formerly in agency custody. Language: en
Evidence of Modeling Impact in Development of Policies for Controlling the Opioid Epidemic and Improving Public Health: A Scoping Review.

Background:Opioid addiction and overdose rates are reaching unprecedented levels in the U.S., with around 47,736 overdose deaths in 2017. Many stakeholders affect the opioid epidemic, including gov...
The impact of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) mediated purine salvage on pemetrexed activity

549 Pemetrexed (PMX) antitumor activity is a consequence of primary inhibition of thymidylate synthase (TS) with much weaker inhibition of glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase (GARFT) required for de novo purine synthesis. Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) salvages purines by releasing adenine from methylthioadenosine, a byproduct of the polyamine synthetic pathway, and therefore has the potential for antagonizing the antipurine effect of PMX. It has been suggested that the deletion of the MTAP gene from the majority of mesothelioma tumors enhances the activity of PMX. To investigate the role of MTAP in PMX activity, the impact of a highly potent transition-state inhibitor of this enzyme (MT-DADMe-Immucillin A (ImmA) - Ki = 86 pM) was assessed in two human mesothelioma cell lines: NCI-H28 which is MTAP+ and NCI-H2052 which is MTAP-. The relative inhibition of TS and GARFT was determined by the use of nucleoside protection. TS was found to be the primary target in both cell-lines (IC50s for H28 and H2052 were ∼100 nM and ∼40 nM respectively; there was no protection with addition of hypoxanthine alone). In the presence of thymidine, the IC50s for H28 and H2052 increased to ∼3 μM and ∼0.9 μM respectively. Full protection from PMX cytotoxicity at and beyond these concentrations required both thymidine and hypoxanthine. Hence, the antipurine effect mediated by GARFT inhibition occurred at 20-30 fold higher PMX concentrations than suppression of TS. ImmA did not alter the IC50 for PMX in the absence of thymidine. However, in the presence of thymidine, ImmA decreased the PMX IC50 by 3-4 fold in MTAP+ H28 cells without an effect in MTAP- H2052 cells. In a separate experiment in MTAP+ Hela cells, Imm A resulted in a 2-fold decrease in PMX IC50 in the presence of thymidine, but there was no effect in the absence of thymidine. Transfection of MTAP into H2052 MTAP- cells increased the PMX IC50 in the presence of thymidine with at least partial reversal with ImmA. However, there was essentially no difference noted in the absence of thymidine. These data suggest that purine salvage mediated by MTAP has no effect on PMX activity in the absence of thymidine, consistent with the primary role of TS in the action of PMX. Even under conditions in which purine inhibition is the primary site of action, suppression of MTAP has only a small effect on PMX activity. Hence, MTAP deletion in mesothelioma is unlikely to play an important role in the clinical activity of PMX in this disease.
Impact of aging on the immune response to traumatic brain injury (AIm:TBI) study protocol.

Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults leads to considerable morbidity and mortality. Outcomes among older adults with TBI are disparately worse than in younger adults. Differences in immunological response to injury may account for at least some of this disparity. Understanding how ageing differentially affects the immune response to TBI and how older age and these immunological changes affect the natural history of recovery following TBI are the goals of this study. Design/methods A prospective multiple cohort design is being used to assess the effects of ageing and TBI on immune makers and to test predictors of impairment and disability in older adults following mild TBI. Older adults (>55 years) with mild TBI are enrolled with three comparison groups: younger adults (21–54 years) with mild TBI, non-injured older adults (>55 years) and non-injured young adults (21–54 years). For the primary analysis, we will assess the association between immune markers and Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended at 6 months, using logistic regression. Predictors of interest will be inflammatory biomarkers. Multivariate linear regression will be used to evaluate associations between biomarkers and other outcomes (symptoms, function and quality of life) at 3 and 6 months. Exploratory analyses will investigate the utility of biomarkers to predict outcome using receiver-operating characteristic curves. Discussion A better understanding of the recovery trajectory and biological rationale for disparate outcomes following TBI in older adults could allow for development of specific interventions aimed at reducing or eliminating symptoms. Such interventions could reduce impairment and healthcare costs.
Early Intervention Providers’ Perspectives About Working with Families of Toddlers with Suspected ASD: A Qualitative Study

Part C early intervention (EI) providers are at the front line of service provision for children under 3 years old with developmental delays or disabilities. As such, they can play a key role in both the early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the provision of ASD-specialized treatment. Focus groups were conducted with 25 EI providers from three agencies in a Northwestern U.S. county to understand their role in the identification of ASD and communication about ASD concerns to families. Results revealed the tension that providers experience between maintaining a positive and supportive relationship with families and raising the issue of possible ASD. Cultural influences affecting ASD care and suggestions for desired resources were also discussed.
Bone Health Screening and Treatment in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HCT) Patients

Bone density loss is a well-recognized and common complication in allogeneic HCT recipients. Guidelines recommend screening with dual photon densitometry at 1 year post-HCT, and counseling of patients on preventative strategies along with consideration of treatment for patients at high risk for bone loss. However, osteoporosis and fragility fractures remains a major cause of morbidity, and significantly impacts the quality of life of allogeneic HCT survivors. Given the high morbidity of bone density loss in our patients, we sought to create specific guidelines, taking a more proactive approach to bone health within our program. In collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Rheumatology department, pharmacists, and the Blood and Marrow Transplant Survivorship Program, we created specific guidelines for screening, prevention and treatment of bone loss post HCT. Given the high prevalence of older adults, pre-disposing co-morbidities and steroid use, we have initiated pre-transplant screening including Vitamin D levels and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans on all patients during their evaluation. Patients with a history of prolonged systemic steroid use defined as ≥ 7.5 mg daily for ≥3 months are treated pre-HCT regardless of their DEXA or applied fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) score. The DEXA and applied FRAX scores are used to determine prevention and treatment strategies for all other patients. We recommend repeat DEXA 1-year post-HCT, and recommend treatment in patients who have graft-versus-host disease requiring systemic corticosteroids (>7.5 mg prednisone equivalent for >3 months), have osteopenia or osteoporosis with a DEXA T-score of ≤ -1.0 or FRAX score (hip >3%, MOP >20%). Treatment recommendations consists of bisphosphonate therapy, yearly dosing of zolendronic acid for at least 3 years, and continuation of therapy for high risk patients (older women, vertebral fractures, low hip T-score or high FRAX score, previous major fracture, or who fracture on therapy, and continuous use of steroids). Oral bisphosphonates are considered for patients with good compliance and oral absorption. Denosumab is considered for patients with poor renal function. We provide an example of a systematic multidisciplinary approach to assess, prevent and manage bone loss in allogeneic HCT recipients. Study of patient tolerance and prevention of bone density loss in this high risk patient population with this algorithm compared to past practices is ongoing.
Social Class and Habitus at the End of College: Cultural Similarity and Difference among Graduating Seniors

Existing research offers a range of perspectives on the impact of the college experience on culture. While some scholars claim that higher education leads to cultural convergence or homogenization ...
The real purpose of the program: a case study in James M. Buchanan’s efforts at academic entrepreneurship to “save the books” in economics

Using archival material from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Political Economy and first-person recollections from relevant figures, we reconstruct James M. Buchanan’s mission (in partnership with G. Warren Nutter) to “save the books” in the related but distinct disciplines of economics and political economy. From his graduate days at the University of Chicago in the late 1940s, Buchanan was worried about dominant trends in mainstream economics which would carry the field away from its core. In particular, Buchanan was worried that political economy was becoming unmoored from the types of philosophic and institutional analysis which were previously central to the field. In its flight from reality, Buchanan feared economics was in danger of abandoning social-philosophic issues for exclusively technical questions. More than this, Buchanan feared that economists were asserting their authority as benevolent social planners. In response to these fears, Buchanan sought to (re)create an economics which would balance the science of economics and the art of political economy—an economics which began with an explicit commitment to democracy and would integrate philosophy, institutional thinking, and technical, price-theoretic economics, into a coherent working paradigm for research and graduate education.
Partnering with Palliative Care: A Case Report of Severe Pain in Critical Limb Ischemia Treated Successfully with a Continuous Popliteal Nerve Catheter.

Background Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is limb pain occurring at rest or impending limb loss as a result of lack of blood flow to the affected extremity. CLI pain is challenging to control despite multimodal pharmacologic analgesia and surgical intervention. We described the successful use of a continuous local anesthetic infusion via a popliteal nerve catheter to control severe refractory ischemic lower limb pain in a patient who failed surgical intervention and performed a brief narrative literature review on regional anesthesia for ischemic pain. Case Presentation. A 74-year-old female with acute myelogenous leukemia presented with CLI after experiencing left popliteal artery occlusion. Palliative medicine service was consulted for pain management in the setting of escalating narcotic dose requirements. She experienced a complicated hospital course with several failed attempts at surgical revascularization due to arterial rethrombosis. In accordance with the patient's goals of care, a continuous popliteal nerve catheter was placed, despite the high risk nature of an intervention in an immunocompromised patient with thrombocytopenia (platelet count of 30,000 platelets/microliter) and ongoing therapeutic anticoagulation. The patient experienced immediate relief while transitioning to comfort care. Conclusion This is the first report of successful analgesia for CLI via a continuous popliteal catheter in a patient with rethrombosis and failed surgical revascularization. Based on our collaborative experience, we recommend the development of partnerships between the acute pain service and palliative care service to facilitate the early evaluation and decision to utilize regional anesthesia for treatment of CLI.
Adverse Impact of Corticosteroids on Rotator Cuff Tendon Health and Repair: A Systematic Review of Basic Science Studies

Purpose To evaluate the in vitro effects of corticosteroid injections (CSIs) on rotator cuff tendon (RCT). Methods A systematic review of the MEDLINE database was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for all studies reporting on adverse biochemical and biomechanical effects of CSIs on RCT. Results Sixteen studies were identified that had been published in the last 15 years on the effects of corticosteroids on RCTs. Eight of these studies were on human RCTs, 6 were on rat tendons, 1 considered both human and rat tendons, and 1 was on dog tendon. Five studies analyzed the effects of corticosteroids on the biomechanical properties of RCT or rotator cuff repair, whereas the remaining observed the cellular and molecular effects of CSIs on RCT. Corticosteroids suppress an inflammatory response, induce apoptosis, and have negative effects on collagen and tendon cell viability in RCTs. The mechanical properties, including load to failure of RCTs and rotator cuff repair anchor pull-out strength, also are decreased by CSIs. These in vitro effects appear to be transient as well as frequency and dose dependent. Conclusions On a molecular level, CSIs decrease cellular proliferation, alter collagen and extracellular matrix composition, impede inflammatory pathways, decrease cellular viability, increase adipocyte differentiation, and increase apoptosis. These changes can be seen as early as 24 hours after corticosteroid exposure, last as long as 2 to 3 weeks, and are exacerbated by increased doses and decreased latency between doses. Biomechanical studies demonstrate that these changes result in decreased maximal load to failure, tendon stiffness, and suture anchor pull-out strength in rat shoulders up to 2 weeks but not at 3 and 4 weeks, post-CSI. Clinical Relevance Shoulder subacromial steroid injection is common, and practitioners should be aware of results both positive and deleterious.