cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regularity of solutions and homotopic equivalence for hybrid systems

We study the trajectories of hybrid systems evolving according to constant, convex inclusions and Lipschitz nonlinear inclusions. Two questions are addressed. First, we investigate the existence of continuous selections of trajectories with respect to the initial conditions. Second, previous work on timed automata and hybrid automata has examined equivalence relations on runs of the automaton that visit the same locations and regions of the state space. Here we examine an equivalence relation defined directly on the trajectories. With suitable conditions on the enabling regions and using a suitable metric, we construct a homotopy on the set of solutions and use the homotopy to form an equivalence relation on the trajectories. We show the relationship between region equivalence introduced in Alur and Dill (1990) and homotopic equivalence. The tools needed for studying homotopic equivalence are the same as for obtaining continuity with respect to initial conditions.
FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE RATHUS ASSERTIVENESS SCHEDULE AND THE PERSONAL REPORT OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION-24: REPLICATION AND EXTENSION

Prior work indicates items for the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension share one common factor, apprehension about interpersonal encounters. Employin...
Modeling business processes with simulation tools

Provides an overview of business process modeling tools for business process re-engineering (BPR), demonstrates the suitability of simulation for BPR and highlights the modeling considerations. A simulation exercise is presented to illustrate how ServiceModel, a popular modeling tool, may be used to simulate the financial, human resources and production elements of a business. The model is aimed at returning the simulated business to profitability by smoothing out the work backlog, maximizing resource utilization and reducing expenses.
How an Intersectional Approach Can Help to Transform the University

Advocates have been striving for decades to improve the representation of women and people of color in the academy. The results in political science have been fairly limited. From 1980 to 2010, the proportion of women among white political science faculty grew from 9.6% to 24.8% (APSA 2011, 44). Even with this sizable increase, women constituted fewer than a quarter of white political scientists. Within their respective ethnoracial groups, women of color made up a greater proportion of political science faculty but remain woefully underrepresented in the profession, with only 79 Latino, 161 African American, and 117 Asian American female political science faculty nationally in 2010 (APSA 2011, 44–46). Overall, the proportion of scholars of color within political science during this period, male and female, has remained largely flat; in 2010, 88.9% of political science faculty were white. In this essay, I argue that an intersectional approach to thinking about this issue—one that acknowledges the marginalization and privilege that cut across faculty within departments and universities—raises the possibility of changing the conversation about inclusion, potentially opening up new possibilities for making substantive change within political science departments and universities.
A Modified Maxwell and a Nonexponential Model for Characterization of the Stress Relaxation of Agar and Alginate Gels

Compressive stress relaxation curves of agar and alginate gels of different gum concentration (1–3% and 0.5–2%, respectively) were fitted by a two parameter nonexponential empirical model and a three term modified Maxwell model with two fixed relaxation times (10 and 100s). The asymptotic portion of the residual (unrelaxed) stress calculated by the two models for each gel had a similar magnitude, and therefore could serve as an objective measure of the gels degree of solidity. The coefficients of the modified Maxwell model provided a simple but meaningful means to compare, in quantitative terms, the differences in the relaxation time spectra that were associated with the gels' stiffness and strength.
Isolation and characterization of PC-3 human prostatic tumor sublines which preferentially metastasize to select organs in S.C.I.D. mice.

Abstract We have developed and partially characterized a mouse model system for studying human prostate tumor cell metastases in vivo. To develop this model we have selected highly invasive (3 × 1.) and non-invasive (3 × N.I.) PC-3 human prostatic tumor sublines based on enhanced and diminished capacities to migrate across a reconstituted basement membrane barrier (Matrigel) in Boyden chamber chemotactic assays. When the 3 × 1 cells were injected intravenously (i.v.) in the tail vein of severe combined immune deficient (scid) mice, the cells initially metastasized to a wide variety of tissues as demonstrated by using [ 125 I] IUdR labeled cells and histology. Four distinct sublines were eventually isolated which preferentially metastasized at ∼ 80% efficiency to the lumbar vertebrae (PC-3 ML), the mandibular region of the right cheek (PC-3 MC), the rib cartilage (PC-3 MR), and the right front knee bone (PC-3 MK), respectively. Implantation experiments at different sites indicated that organ metastases may somehow be conferred on the tumor subclones by the host tissue.
Fast, recursive-least-squares transversal filters for adaptive filtering

Fast transversal filter (FTF) implementations of recursive-least-squares (RLS) adaptive-filtering algorithms are presented in this paper. Substantial improvements in transient behavior in comparison to stochastic-gradient or LMS adaptive algorithms are efficiently achieved by the presented algorithms. The true, not approximate, solution of the RLS problem is always obtained by the FTF algorithms even during the critical initialization period (first N iterations) of the adaptive filter. This true solution is recursively calculated at a relatively modest increase in computational requirements in comparison to stochastic-gradient algorithms (factor of 1.6 to 3.5, depending upon application). Additionally, the fast transversal filter algorithms are shown to offer substantial reductions in computational requirements relative to existing, fast-RLS algorithms, such as the fast Kalman algorithms of Morf, Ljung, and Falconer (1976) and the fast ladder (lattice) algorithms of Morf and Lee (1977-1981). They are further shown to attain (steady-state unnormalized), or improve upon (first N initialization steps), the very low computational requirements of the efficient RLS solutions of Carayannis, Manolakis, and Kalouptsidis (1983). Finally, several efficient procedures are presented by which to ensure the numerical Stability of the transversal-filter algorithms, including the incorporation of soft-constraints into the performance criteria, internal bounding and rescuing procedures, and dynamic-range-increasing, square-root (normalized) variations of the transversal filters.
Transient bilirubin encephalopathy and apnea of prematurity in 28 to 32 weeks gestational age infants.

Apnea of prematurity (AoP) is, in part, a reflection of brainstem-mediated respiratory control system maturation. We previously demonstrated changes in brainstem function in relation to hyperbilirubinemia (bilirubin encephalopathy, (BE)) as evaluated by auditory brainstem evoked responses (ABR) in infants 28 to 32 weeks gestational age (GA). We hypothesized that in this population, as bilirubin increases and causes auditory brainstem dysfunction, respiratory control system may also be adversely affected leading to increased frequency of AoP. We studied 100, 28 to 32 weeks GA infants and identified 66 with normal and 34 with abnormal ABR progression in temporal relation to hyperbilirubinemia (BE). The abnormal ABR progression was associated with elevated bilirubin, specifically elevated unbound bilirubin levels. A blinded, retrospective chart review quantified the amount of weekly apnea and bradycardia events during the hospital stay, total duration of methylxanthine treatment, total duration of mechanical ventilation, CPAP, and/or nasal cannula, and risk factors for apnea (sepsis, IVH grade >II, asphyxia). Since mechanical ventilation confounds the identification of apnea, infants requiring mechanical ventilation were excluded from further review (n=60; 21 with BE and 39 with normal ABR progression). Data from the remaining 40 infants were analyzed. Student's t-test was used to analyze continuous variables if the distribution was normal otherwise Wilcoxon-ranked-sum test was used. χ2 was used to analyze nominal variables. A p≤0.05 was considered significant. There was no difference in risk factors between infants with and without BE. BE was identified on day 3 (median; range 1 to 6 days). Patients with BE had significantly more apneic events (15 vs 2, p=0.0009), bradycardic events (14 vs 1, p=0.02), and required more prolonged treatment with CPAP (2.2 vs 0.5 days, p=0.007), nasal cannula (6.6 vs 2.2 days, p=0.02), and methylxanthines (9.5 vs. 1.9 days, p=0.002) than those with normal ABR progression. The difference in the incidence of apnea and bradycardia between infants with and without BE was most pronounced during the first week. Premature infants with transient bilirubin encephalopathy as defined by abnormal ABR progression in relation to hyperbilirubinemia have more concurrent apneic events and require more prolonged respiratory support and medications.
Counterpoint--the end point: less is more.

Improving the scientific and regulatory evaluation of therapies for metabolic disorders is a necessary ongoing process dependent on accruing knowledge and improving technology. The use of a composite primary efficacy outcome consisting of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and hypoglycemia rates is alluring for evaluating glucose-lowering therapies. This composite, however, provides little advantage, if not some disadvantage, over HbA1c as the primary end point. Composite end points have traditionally been used as regulatory end points when a more straightforward approach is not available or feasible. The most well-known example is the composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), which has long been used for cardiac drug approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and has become a primary safety outcome for oral diabetes drugs. The MACE composite is widely accepted even though the cardiac death component would provide the most persuasive and near definitive reflection of benefit. Less definitive but more frequently occurring end points—myocardial infarction and stroke—are added to the composite only to enable outcome trials that can be completed in a reasonable time and with reasonable costs. Composite end points have inherent drawbacks and challenges, which may include undue dependence on assumptions, difficulty of validation, less sensitivity to detecting clinically important effects, and oversimplifying evidence for the prescribing physician and other therapeutic decision makers. The proposed efficacy end point composed of glycemic control and hypoglycemia carries all these drawbacks for diabetes drugs. Even insulin products, for which hypoglycemia is the chief safety concern, will more feasibly continue to be developed and evaluated under a treat to glycemic target design, with glycemic control as the sole primary efficacy outcome and rates of hypoglycemia as the prime adverse measure.
Further Reflections on the Geometric Mean Combining Rule for Interfacial Tension

Wettability is a widely used method to estimate the surface (free) energies of solids. The measured contact angles are usually processed within the framework of Fowkes and Good that uses a geometric mean combining rule of interfacial interactions. Recently, this method of calculating the interfacial tension has been questioned as it appears to yield somewhat unphysical results of interfacial energetics in certain situations. We would like to demonstrate that these unphysical results are consequences of the neglect of the preferential enrichment or depletion of the most surface-active functionalities of a molecule composed of various chemical groups at the liquid–air, liquid–liquid, and liquid–solid interfaces that the quintessential Fowkes–Good analysis does not account for. When the base state of the surface energy is estimated using Lifshitz theory and the preferential segregation of the functional groups at the interface is taken into account, the difficulty associated with the Fowkes–Good approach see...
Effect of 6-dimethy alminopurine-3-amino-d-ribose on adenosine triphosphate formation in yeast.

SummaryProduction of acid-labile phosphate by crude brewer's yeast system, in the presence of adenosine and inorganic phosphate, has been demonstrated. This acid-labile phosphate has been identified as adenosine triphosphate. The nucleoside, 6-dimethyl-aminopurine-3-amino-d-riboside inhibits adenosine triphosphate formation in this system. The possible relationship of this inhibitory action to ability of the nucleoside to produce nephrosis in rats is discussed.
I Am > Trauma: Experimentally Reducing Event Centrality and PTSD Symptoms in a Clinical Trial

ABSTRACTEvent centrality has been one of the strongest predictors of PTSD symptoms. We attempted to experimentally reduce event centrality using a modified version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in a sample of traumatized participants from a community outreach center. Relative to a control group, participants who received ACT evidenced significant decreases in PTSD symptoms, depression, and event centrality. A mediation analysis revealed that the effect of condition on PTSD symptoms was mediated by decreases in event centrality. Only the effect of condition on depression was still significant at six weeks posttreatment. This study is the first to manipulate event centrality and suggests that components of ACT may be effective at reducing event centrality.
Synthesis and Computational Analysis of Densely Functionalized Triazoles Using o-Nitrophenylalkynes

Dipolar cylcoadditions with azides using a series of o-nitrophenylethynes and disubstituted alkynes were studied experimentally and computationally. Density functional theory computations reveal the steric and electronic parameters that control the regioselectivity of these cycloadditions. Several new substrates were predicted that would either give enhanced regiocontrol or invert the regiochemical preference. Experimentally, the alkynes were screened in the [3 + 2] cycloaddition with benzyl azide. Of the 11 alkynes screened experimentally, the acetylenes containing halogen substitution directly on the alkyne provided the highest levels of regioselectivity. These haloalkynes were also shown to tolerate variation of the azide moiety with continued good levels of regioselectivity in most cases. Diverse functional groups can be incorporated through the cycloaddition process and their subsequent orthogonal modification was demonstrated.
Response of the Renal Vitamin D Endocrine System to Oxidized Parathyroid Hormone (1-34)

AbstractTwo preparations of bovine parathyroid hormone (bPTH), the natural bPTH(1-84) and the synthetic bPTH(1-34) fragment, have been treated with hydrogen peroxide and assayed for the effect of such treatment on the renal vitamin D endocrine system in Japanese quail. The oxidized and untreated preparations were injected intramuscularly into 4-week-old male Japanese quail, 12 hr after which the kidneys were removed and homogenized. The kidney homogenates were incubated with tritiated 25-hydroxyvitamin D3[25-(OH)D3] and the production rates of 1,25-(OH)2D3 and of 24,25-(OH)2D3 were determined as indices of 25-(OH)D3-l-hydroxylase and 25-(OH)D3-24-hydroxylase activities, respectively. Both untreated bPTH(1-34) and untreated bPTH(1-84) stimulated 1-hydroxylase and suppressed 24-hydroxylase activities. Oxidation of either bPTH(1-34) or bPTH(1-84) did not eliminate these responses, whereas the effects of oxidation on other responses to bPTH(1-34), namely inactivation of the hypotensive and renal adenylate cyc...
Clinical utility of the LANSE-A in adolescents with traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical utility of a brief cognitive screening instrument, the Lebby-Asbell Neurocognitive Screening Examination for Adolescents (LANSE-A) in 12-17 year-old adolescents with traumatic brain injury in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. METHOD Retrospective study of 56 referred patients, evaluated at a median of 32 days postinjury. Regression analysis was used to determine the contribution of the LANSE-A to prediction of discharge status, as assessed with the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM). RESULTS After controlling for premorbid complicating factors, parental education, duration to follow commands, and WeeFIM Cognition score obtained upon admission, the LANSE-A Visual Memory and Verbal Association subtests accounted for a statistically significant amount of unique variance in the WeeFIM Cognition score obtained at discharge. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS The LANSE-A improves prediction of acute rehabilitation outcomes of adolescents with traumatic brain injury.
Parameterizing developmental changes in epistemic trust

Children rely on others for much of what they learn, and therefore must track who to trust for information. Researchers have debated whether to interpret children's behavior as inferences about informants' knowledgeability only or as inferences about both knowledgeability and intent. We introduce a novel framework for integrating results across heterogeneous ages and methods. The framework allows application of a recent computational model to a set of results that span ages 8 months to adulthood and a variety of methods. The results show strong fits to specific findings in the literature trust, and correctly fails to fit one representative result from an adjacent literature. In the aggregate, the results show a clear development in children's reasoning about informants' intent and no appreciable changes in reasoning about informants' knowledgeability, confirming previous results. The results extend previous findings by modeling development over a much wider age range and identifying and explaining differences across methods.
Auto-Reallocating Singly Linked Package

Compared to the System_Allocated_Singly_Linked low-level data abstraction, this package provides more efficient allocation and deallocation of list nodes by allocating an array of records as a storage pool. It is also more flexible than the User_Allocated_Singly_Linked data abstraction, since it automatically reallocates a larger array whenever necessary. A disadvantage is that it may be necessary to tune the parameters controlling the reallocation based on characteristics of a particular application.
Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay of Versicolorin A and Related Aflatoxin Biosynthetic Precursors.

An immunochemical approach is described for the detection of versicolorin (VA) and other aflatoxin precursors in Aspergillus parasiticus cultures. VA was purified from A. parasiticus ATCC 36537 cultures by semipreparative high performance liquid chromatography and confirmed by mass spectrometry and ultraviolet (UV) absorption. To be rendered immunogenic, VA was converted to a hemiacetal and conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA) by reductive alkylation. Rabbit polyclonal antiserum prepared against the VA hemiacetal-BSA conjugate was employed in a competitive ELISA using VA hemiacetal-horseradish peroxidase conjugate as the marker ligand. Based on the amount of VA analogue required to inhibit binding by 50% in competitive ELISA, cross-reactivity relative to VA for VA hemiacetal, averufanin, averantin, norsolorinic acid, averufin, sterigmatocystin, and aflatoxin B1 were 106, 85, 7, 6, 2, <1, and <1%, respectively. The ELISA was used to monitor enhanced production of VA equivalents by A. parasiticus ATCC 36537 in a modified culture procedure. The VA antibody should be extremely useful in the biochemical and genetic investigation of aflatoxin biosynthesis.
Large Scale Educational Data System Implementation

AbstractExperience gained with the implementation of a large scale data system in a major school district is reviewed. In particular, the following aspects are discussed: estimation of resource time requirements at user sites; parallel with an existing system and criteria for changeover; specialization of user skills; and system linkage to other data management systems.
How climate model biases skew the distribution of iceberg meltwater

The discharge of icebergs into the polar oceans is expected to increase over the coming century, which raises the importance of accurate representations of icebergs in global climate models (GCMs) used for future projections. Here, we analyze the prospects for interactive icebergs in GCMs by forcing an iceberg drift and decay model with circulation and temperature fields from (i) state-of-the-art GCM output and (ii) an observational state estimate. The spread of meltwater is found to be smaller for the GCM than for the observational state estimate, despite a substantial high wind bias in the GCM – a bias that is similar to most current GCMs. We argue that this large-scale reduction in the spread of meltwater occurs primarily due to localized differences in ocean currents, which may be related to the coarseness of the horizontal resolution in the GCM. The high wind bias in the GCM is shown to have relatively little impact on the meltwater distribution, despite iceberg drift being typically dominated by the wind forcing. We find that this is due to compensating effects between faster drift under stronger winds and faster wind-driven wave erosion. These results may have implications for future changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation simulated with iceberg-enabled GCMs.
Accounting for Marijuana Use in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

This chapter documents the increased prevalence of both marijuana and cocaine use among different local and national samples of adolescent and young adults since the 1970s. Given this increase, some experience with marijuana having become statistically normative by the early 1980s in these samples, the study examines the degree of invariance between the psychosocial correlates of marijuana use that obtained in the 1970s and the correlates that obtain a decade later in the 1980s. The overriding conclusion from the research is in support of invariance despite a later historical time and a substantial increase in prevalence. As was the case at the earlier time, the findings for the later time show the same association of marijuana use with other problem behaviors—the problem behavior syndrome—and the same pattern of psychosocial correlates, a pattern of psychosocial conventionality.
Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis for Flow Data: Exploring The Error Term of Spatial Interaction Models

In a number of problem domains there is an increasing interest in exploring flow data, which is defined as data that captures movement between places on a given network, including most branch of engineering, transportation, telecommunication, social system, and economic geography;.. However, the current state of the art in exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA,); which is largely dominated by geo-statistical and lattice data analysis, lack techniques and methodologies for the exploration of flow data. Although the general underlying concepts are largely the same, flow data requires a different set of specific methods for data exploration. In this paper I extend the methods of spatial stat is tic for identifying spatial clusters and outliers to work with flow data, and demonstrate the methods to detect spatial error dependence and heteroskedasticity in the error term of spatial interaction models.
Stigma Communication Surrounding PrEP: The Experiences of A Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men

HIV is a serious problem in the USA, particularly for men who have sex with men (MSM). A new means of HIV prevention, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been shown to be highly effective. However, in spite of earning FDA approval, adoption of PrEP by MSM has been limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of a sample of 38 MSM who have adopted PrEP, focusing on communication with healthcare providers and social networks. In-depth interviews were used to collect data. Findings revealed that stigmatization by healthcare providers as well as stigmatization by other MSM was a relatively common experience for participants. Additionally, participants described that a high level of health literacy, health advocacy, and communication skill were necessary to adopt PrEP. Given these findings, strategies are suggested for improving MSM's healthcare and increasing rates of PrEP adoption.
Rumination and eating disorder psychopathology: A meta-analysis.

Abstract Rumination is a cognitive process involving repetitive thoughts about negative experiences and emotions and is associated with psychopathology. Rumination has been implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, and there is a growing body of research on rumination in relation to eating disorder (ED) psychopathology. The current meta-analytic review focused on the literature addressing rumination and ED psychopathology. A comprehensive search process identified 38 studies, which primarily used cross-sectional designs with non-clinical samples. Results demonstrated that rumination was concurrently (r = 0.33) and prospectively (r = 0.22–0.23) associated with ED psychopathology, and that groups with ED psychopathology evidenced higher levels of rumination compared to non-ED control groups (g = 0.95), though no significant differences in rumination were observed when comparing anorexia nervosa to bulimia nervosa groups (g = 0.09). In addition, a narrative review of five experimental studies suggested that rumination in response to ED-related stimuli was related to increased negative affect and negative body-related cognitions across clinical and non-clinical samples. The type of rumination and sample population emerged as moderators of effect sizes, such that larger effects were observed among samples using ED-specific measures of rumination and heterogeneous samples compared to only non-clinical samples. Taken together, this literature demonstrates that rumination is a salient process in ED psychopathology, though the literature is characterized by methodological limitations and the need for more fully elaborated theories on the role of rumination in EDs. Findings are discussed in the context of existing models of rumination and ED psychopathology, with suggestions for future research in this area.
Patrons, Protectors, and Creative Defenders

Santa Eulalia and La Moreneta; La Laia and La Merce. Everyday Catalanism: excursionisme, Renovacio de la Flama de la Lengua. Sant Jordi: books, roses, and the drac. Looking back as a creative act and mode of political action. Architects and artists: Antoni Gaudi, Salvador Dali, and Antoni Tapies. Musicians: Pau Casals, Salvador Brotons, and Raimon.
Herpes Simplex Virus and Immunity

The interactions between herpes simplex virus (HSV) and the host immune system have been extensively investigated both in man and experimental animals. HSV may serve in these interactions as, (1) an antigen to stimulate specific immune responses to the virus, (2) an immune suppressive agent, initiating both specific and non-specific depression of immune reactivity, and (3) a non-specific stimulant of host defense responses. Each role for HSV will be examined and the mechanism(s) responsible for each will be discussed.
Chapter III – Diseases of the Genito-urinary System correlated to the Oral Tissues

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses diseases of the genito-urinary system correlated to the oral tissues. Uremia implies retention of the nitrogenous products normally excreted by the kidney. Acidosis, high level of blood-urea nitrogen, and high level of uric acid and acid creatinine in the blood, retention of phosphorus and phosphate, and a low level of blood calcium and phosphorus are associated with uraemia. Hypoplasia of the parathyroid gland and bone changes may occur during uraemia. Acute fibrinous pericarditis, that is, Uremic Pericarditis, occurs during uremia. Hemorrhage occurs in the stomach and diffuse ulcerative lesions are present in the gastro-intestinal tract, and focal areas of necrosis occur in the spleen. Glomerulonephritis is a disease of the glomeruli and is generally regarded as occurring in three stages. The three stages represent acute, subacute, and chronic glomerulonephritis. The acute form of the disease may be subclinical in nature. The subacute form of the disease may not become apparent, thus the disease may pass directly into the chronic phase. Wilms' Tumour or adenosargoma is a mixed neoplasm of childhood. The primary clinical finding in Wilms' tumour is a large swelling of the abdomen. The neoplasm is always unilateral, involves the entire kidney, and may grow to an enormous size.
Level widths and level densities in Si 28 , Ti 46 , Cr 52 , and Ni 60 from Ericson fluctuations

Ericson fluctuations in the differential cross sections were investigated for the compound reactions $^{27}\mathrm{Al}(p,{n}_{0})^{27}\mathrm{Si}$, $^{45}\mathrm{Sc}(p,{n}_{4})^{45}\mathrm{Ti}$, $^{45}\mathrm{Sc}(p,{n}_{5})^{45}\mathrm{Ti}$, $^{51}\mathrm{V}(p,{n}_{0})^{51}\mathrm{Cr}$, and $^{59}\mathrm{Co}(p,{n}_{0})^{59}\mathrm{Ni}$. Level widths in the compound nuclei $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$, $^{46}\mathrm{Ti}$, $^{52}\mathrm{Cr}$, and $^{60}\mathrm{Ni}$ were extracted from the analysis of the differential cross sections by the Fourier method and a nonlinear fit to the $\mathrm{ln}⟨{A}_{k}^{2}+{B}_{k}^{2}⟩$ distribution. The neutron spectra for each reaction were measured at least at three backward angles but the coherence width $⟨\ensuremath{\Gamma}⟩$ did not show a strong angular dependence. Nuclear level densities for the above nuclei were extracted by relating the average level spacing ${D}^{J\ensuremath{\pi}}$ to the average level width ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{J\ensuremath{\pi}}$ using the fluctuation theory. Reasonable agreements were found with other level densities and level density compilations based in the Fermi gas formalism of Al-Quraishi and Huang for $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$, $^{46}\mathrm{Ti}$, and $^{52}\mathrm{Cr}$ but the comparison diverges for $^{60}\mathrm{Ni}$ for which additional measurements are required in order to clarify the observed discrepancies. The level density parameters that best describe the data are $a=3.5$ and $\ensuremath{\delta}=4.0$, $Ul25\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$, for $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$, $a=4.8$ and $\ensuremath{\delta}=\ensuremath{-}0.3$, $Ul20\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$, for $^{46}\mathrm{Ti}$, and $a=4.8$ and $\ensuremath{\delta}=0.3$, $Ul20\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$, for $^{52}\mathrm{Cr}$.
Isometric resistance training increases strength and alters histopathology of dystrophin-deficient mouse skeletal muscle.

We focused on adaptive responses of dystrophin-deficient mouse skeletal muscle to isometric contraction training and report that in the absence of dystrophin (or in the presence of a mutated dystro...
Families of Differential Equations in the Unit Disk

We study the interaction between coefficient and solution conditions for complex linear differential equations in the unit disk within the context of normal families and corresponding families of differential equations. In addition, we consider this interaction within the context of normal functions in terms of Noshiro. Consideration of families of differential equations introduces a new perspective for studying normality. Consequently, sharper results are found than in previous studies involving normal functions within the context of one differential equation.
Decomposition analysis of the effects of vehicle safety technologies on the motor vehicle collision-related mortality rate from 1994 to 2015.

Objective: Though the mortality rate for motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) has been decreasing since the 1960s with the advent of the first federal seat belt laws in 1968, MVC remains a leading cause...
Characterizing the dynamic rheology in the pericellular region by human mesenchymal stem cell re-engineering in PEG-peptide hydrogel scaffolds

During wound healing, human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) migrate to injuries to regulate inflammation and coordinate tissue regeneration. To enable migration, hMSCs re-engineer the extracellular matrix rheology. Our work determines the correlation between cell-engineered rheology and motility. We encapsulate hMSCs in a cell-degradable peptide-polymeric hydrogel and characterize the change in rheological properties in the pericellular region using multiple particle tracking microrheology. Previous studies determined that pericellular rheology is correlated with motility. Additionally, hMSCs re-engineer their microenvironment by regulating cell-secreted enzyme, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), activity by also secreting their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). We independently inhibit TIMPs and measure two different degradation profiles, reaction-diffusion and reverse reaction-diffusion. These profiles are correlated with cell spreading, speed and motility type. We model scaffold degradation using Michaelis-Menten kinetics, finding a decrease in kinetics between joint and independent TIMP inhibition. hMSCs ability to regulate microenvironmental remodeling and motility could be exploited in design of new materials that deliver hMSCs to wounds to enhance healing.
A Survey of Cyber Security Practices in Small Businesses.

Small businesses are a unique class of organization with challenging cyber security problems that are frequently overlooked. These firms are being increasingly targeted for cyber-attack. These firms are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attack due to the often-valuable information they handle coupled with overworked and undertrained IT support. The University of Alabama in Huntsville is conducting an on-going survey of the cyber security practices of small businesses seeking to implement the NIST SP 800-171 cyber security standard. The data gathered indicates that small businesses in this field are likely to engage in poor security practices arising from common cyber security misconceptions.
Viscoelastic Response Ultrasound Detects Changes in Degree of Mechanical Anisotropy with Renal Fibrosis in Pig Model

Chronic kidney disease is associated with progressive inflammation and fibrosis, which is conventionally assessed by invasive biopsy. A noninvasive alternative to biopsy may be interrogating elastic and viscous anisotropy. This work evaluates the feasibility of using in vivo Viscoelastic Response (VisR) ultrasound for detecting changes in the elastic and viscous degree of anisotropy (DoA) associated with fibrosis after chronic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in pig kidney. Histology was used to validate VisR DoA measurements, which were compared to those derived using Shear Wave Elasticity Imaging (SWEI) and Shearwave Dispersion Ultrasound Vibrometry (SDUV). In the injured and contralateral (control) kidneys of 8 pigs, VisR, SWEI, and SDUV-derived elastic DoA, evaluated as the ratio of longitudinal over transverse shear elasticity, was significantly (p<0.1, Wilcox Ranksum) decreased in the fibrotic medulla and increased in fibrotic cortex relative to control. Sirius red stain confirmed a significant (p<0.1, Wilcox Ranksum) increase in collagen content in the fibrotic medulla and cortex relative to control. These results suggest that VisR noninvasively detects changes in elastic DoA associated with fibrosis induced by chronic IRI in a pig model. VisR may be diagnostically relevant to delineating fibrosis in human kidney.
Predictors and Outcomes of Ischemic Stroke After Cardiac Surgery.

Background Stroke is a major complication after cardiac surgery causing increased morbidity and mortality. There are limited data on outcomes of patients with large vessel occlusion after cardiac surgery. Methods Patients who underwent index cardiac surgeries as defined by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) from 2010 to 2017 were reviewed from a prospectively maintained database. All patients with neurologic deficits were identified, and only patients with ischemic strokes were included. Results A total of 10,250 patients underwent cardiac surgical procedures. Postoperative stroke with neurologic deficits occurred in 221 patients (2.16%). Of these, 53 patients (24%) had large vessel occlusion. Patients who had a postoperative stroke were older and more likely to be female. These patients had higher STS predicted mortality and longer bypass time, cross-clamp time, total intensive care unit stay, and total hospital stay. Operative mortality was significantly higher for patients who had postoperative stroke (14.93% vs 2.15%, P Conclusions Stroke is a devastating complication after cardiac surgery that increases operative morbidity and mortality. Stroke with large vessel occlusion was associated with worse survival. However, early intervention did not impart a survival benefit.
Hypnotic-like Aspects of the Tibetan Tradition of Dzogchen Meditation

Dzogchen meditation has been practiced by Bonpo and Buddhist yogis for at least 1,200 years. Dzogchen utilizes methods of meditation and yogic exercises that are said to help one fully awaken from ...
Boundary-Forest Clustering: Large-Scale Consensus Clustering of Biological Sequences

Bacterial species with large sequence diversity enable studies focused on comparative genomics, population genetics and pan-genome evolution. In such analyses it is key to determine whether sequences (e.g. genes) from different strains, are the same or different. This is often achieved by clustering orthologous genes based on sequence similarity. Importantly, one limitation of existing pan-genome clustering methods is that they do not assign a confidence score to the identified clusters. Given that clustering ground truth is unavailable when working with pan-genomes, the absence of confidence scores makes performance evaluation on real data an open challenge. Moreover, most pan-genome clustering solutions do not accommodate cluster augmentation, which is the addition of new sequences to an already clustered set of sequences. Finally, the pan-genome size of many organisms prevents direct application of powerful clustering techniques that do not scale to large datasets. Here, we present Boundary-Forest Clustering (BFClust), a method that addresses these challenges in three main steps: 1) The approximate-nearest-neighbor retrieval method Boundary-Forest is used as a representative selection step; 2) Downstream clustering of the representatives is performed using Markov Clustering (MCL); 3) Consensus clustering is applied across the Boundary-Forest, improving clustering accuracy and enabling confidence score calculation. First, MCL is favorably benchmarked against 6 powerful clustering methods. To explore the strengths of the entire BFClust approach, it is applied to 4 different datasets of the bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae , and compared against 4 other pan-genome clustering tools. Unlike existing approaches, BFClust is fast, accurate, robust to noise and allows augmentation. Moreover, BFClust uniquely identifies low-confidence clusters in each dataset, which can negatively impact downstream analyses and interpretation of pan-genomes. Being the first tool that outputs confidence scores both when clustering de novo , and during cluster augmentation, BFClust offers a way of automatically evaluating and eliminating ambiguity in pan-genomes.
S11.3 The vaginal microenvironment prior to incident STI

We sought to evaluate microenvironmental factors in the vagina that drive protection against STIs. We conducted a nested case control study in the Longitudinal Study of Vaginal Flora to assess the vaginal microenvironment of 397 cases at the visit before an incident genital STI (Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhea, or Trichomonas vaginalis) and 1,794 STI-negative controls. Controls were matched to cases on age, race and follow-up time. Vaginal lavages and surveys were collected every three months for one year. Vaginal microbiota, metagenomes, metabolites, and lactic acid isomers were assessed as factors associated with incident STI. Bacterial community state types (CSTs) were assigned by hierarchical clustering of vaginal microbiota. Metagenomes of 708 participants were characterized using VIRGO. We used conditional logistic regression with covariate adjustment (partner concurrency, number of sex partners, condom use). Women with a CST-IV-A profile, low-Lactobacillus with high relative abundance of BVAB-1, had the highest odds of incident STI. CST-I (L. crispatus-dominated), CST-II (L. gasseri-dominated), CST-III-A, and CST-III-C (both L iners-dominated; the latter has other Lactobacillus spp.) had >50% lower odds of STI than women in CST IV-A (all p Disclosure No significant relationships.
Breaking Down Segregation: Shifting Geographies of Male Same-Sex Households Within Desegregating Cities

From 2000 to 2010, the segregation of male same-sex couples from different-sex couples declined in almost all of the nation’s largest cities. This trend toward a more even distribution of male same-sex couples across city neighborhoods calls into question the demographic future of gay neighborhoods. However, it is unclear how exactly male same-sex couples are spatially reorganizing within desegregating cities. Multiple processes could be driving declining segregation, including declining shares of same-sex households within gay neighborhoods, the emergence of gay neighborhoods in new parts of the city, and/or a general dispersal of same-sex couples to almost all neighborhoods. Moreover, it is unclear what characteristics—like urbanicity, housing values, or racial/ethnic composition—define neighborhoods that have gained (or lost) same-sex partners. This chapter uses data from the 2000 and 2010 Decennial Censuses to investigate neighborhood-level changes within desegregating cities. The small number of increasingly segregated cities are also explored. Results indicate that increasing representation of male same-sex households across most neighborhoods and an expanding number of gay neighborhoods are important contributors to the trend of declining segregation. In contrast, the loss of gay neighborhoods from a city was fairly uncommon—most neighborhoods that obtained large concentrations of same-sex partners tended to keep those concentrations over time. Finally, the same residential expansion of same-sex households that occurred within desegregating cities did not occur in cities that experienced increasing segregation. These results have important implications for the spatial organization of same-sex households into the future. The chapter concludes with a discussion and critique of census data for the continued study of the geography and segregation of same-sex partners.
Time dependent hazard ratio estimation using instrumental variables without conditioning on an omitted covariate

Estimation that employs instrumental variables (IV) can reduce or eliminate bias due to confounding. In observational studies, instruments result from natural experiments such as the effect of clinician preference or geographic distance on treatment selection. In randomized studies the randomization indicator is typically a valid instrument, especially if the study is blinded, e.g. no placebo effect. Estimation via instruments is a highly developed field for linear models but the use of instruments in time-to-event analysis is far from established. Various IV-based estimators of the hazard ratio (HR) from Cox’s regression models have been proposed. We extend IV based estimation of Cox’s model beyond proportionality of hazards, and address estimation of a log-linear time dependent hazard ratio and a piecewise constant HR. We estimate the marginal time-dependent hazard ratio unlike other approaches that estimate the hazard ratio conditional on the omitted covariates. We use estimating equations motivated by Martingale representations that resemble the partial likelihood score statistic. We conducted simulations that include the use of copulas to generate potential times-to-event that have a given marginal structural time dependent hazard ratio but are dependent on omitted covariates. We compare our approach to the partial likelihood estimator, and two other IV based approaches. We apply it to estimation of the time dependent hazard ratio for two vascular interventions. The method performs well in simulations of a stepwise time-dependent hazard ratio, but illustrates some bias that increases as the hazard ratio moves away from unity (the value that typically underlies the null hypothesis). It compares well to other approaches when the hazard ratio is stepwise constant. It also performs well for estimation of a log-linear hazard ratio where no other instrumental variable approaches exist. The estimating equations we propose for estimating a time-dependent hazard ratio using an IV perform well in simulations. We encourage the use of our procedure for time-dependent hazard ratio estimation when unmeasured confounding is a concern and a suitable instrumental variable exists.
Leveraging Different Types of Predictors for Online Optimization (Invited Paper)

Predictions have a long and rich history in online optimization research, with applications ranging from video streaming to electrical vehicle charging. Traditionally, different algorithms are evaluated on their performance given access to the same type of predictions. However, motivated by the problem of bandwidth cost minimization in large distributed systems, we consider the benefits of using different types of predictions. We show that the two different types of predictors we consider have complimentary strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, we show that one type of predictor has strong average-case performance but weak worst-case performance, while the other has weak average-case performance but strong worst-case performance. By using a learning-augmented meta-algorithm, we demonstrate that it is possible to exploit both types of predictors for strong performance in all scenarios.
Exposure to anesthesia is not associated with development of α-synucleinopathies: A nested case-control study.

Abstract Introduction Preclinical studies suggest that inhalational anesthetics may induce neuropathology changes in the nigrostriatal system, leading to development of α-synucleinopathies. We explored the role of general anesthesia in the development of Parkinson disease (PD) and other α-synucleinopathies. Methods All α-synucleinopathy cases in Olmsted County, Minnesota, from January 1991, to December 2010, were identified from diagnostic codes, and then reviewed for type and index date of diagnosis. Cases were matched by sex and age (±1 year) to a referent control, a resident living in Olmsted County, and free of α-synucleinopathies before the index date (year of onset of the α-synucleinopathy). Medical records of both cases and controls were reviewed for lifetime exposure to anesthesia prior to the index date. Results A total of 431 cases with clinically defined α-synucleinopathies were identified. Of these, 321 (74%) underwent 1,069 procedures under anesthesia before the diagnosis date, and in the control group, 341 (79%) underwent 986 procedures. When assessed as a dichotomous variable, anesthetic exposure was not significantly associated with α-synucleinopathies (odds ratio [OR], 0.75; 95% CI, 0.54-1.05; P=.094). No association was observed when anesthetic exposure was quantified by the number of exposures (OR, 0.64, 0.89, and 0.74, for 1, 2–3, and ≥4 exposures, respectively, compared to no exposure as the reference; P=.137) or quantified by the cumulative duration of exposure assessed as a continuous variable (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.97-1.02 per 1-h increase of anesthetic exposure; P=.776). Conclusions We did not observe a significant association between exposure to general anesthesia and risk for the development of α-synucleinopathies.
Collaborative referencing using hand gestures in Wernicke’s aphasia: Discourse analysis of a case study

Background: Collaborative referencing tasks have evolved from historically being used as experiments to study human interactions in various disciplines, to being adapted as a clinical intervention ...