cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Species-level deconvolution of metagenome assemblies with Hi-C-based contact probability maps

Microbial communities consist of mixed populations of organisms, including unknown species in unknown abundances. These communities are often studied through metagenomic shotgun sequencing, but standard library construction methods remove long-range contiguity information; thus, shotgun sequencing and de novo assembly of a metagenome typically yield a collection of contigs that cannot readily be grouped by species. Methods for generating chromatin-level contact probability maps, e.g., as generated by the Hi-C method, provide a signal of contiguity that is completely intracellular and contains both intrachromosomal and interchromosomal information. Here, we demonstrate how this signal can be exploited to reconstruct the individual genomes of microbial species present within a mixed sample. We apply this approach to two synthetic metagenome samples, successfully clustering the genome content of fungal, bacterial, and archaeal species with more than 99% agreement with published reference genomes. We also show that the Hi-C signal can secondarily be used to create scaffolded genome assemblies of individual eukaryotic species present within the microbial community, with higher levels of contiguity than some of the species’ published reference genomes.
Fuzzy clustering of multiple instance data

We introduce a new algorithm to identify multiple target concepts when data are represented by multiple instances. A multiple instance data sample is characterized by a bag that contains multiple feature vectors, or instances. Each bag is labeled as either positive or negative. However, the labels of the instances within each bag are unknown. A bag is labeled as positive if and only if at least one of its instances is positive and negative if and only if all of its instances are negative. First, we define a fuzzy Multi-target concept Diverse Density (MDD) metric. The MDD is maximized when the target concepts correspond to dense regions in the feature space with maximal correlation to instances from positive samples, and minimal correlation to instances from negative samples. Then, we develop an iterative algorithm to optimize the MDD and identify K target concepts simultaneously. The proposed algorithm, called Fuzzy Clustering of Multiple Instance data (FCMI), is tested and validated by using it to analyze data of buried landmines collected using a ground penetrating radar sensor. We show that the FCMI algorithm can identify distinct target concepts that correspond to mines of different types buried at different depths. We also show that FCMI can be used to label individual instances within each bag.
Mutations in Non-MMR Genes Modifying or Mimicking Lynch Syndrome Phenotype

Lynch syndrome is an inherited cancer predisposition syndrome associated with an increased risk of colorectal, endometrial and many other cancers, typically with an earlier age of cancer onset. The underlying cause of Lynch syndrome is a defect in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) due to mutations in one of the DNA MMR genes: MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 or PMS2. It has been observed that cancer risk and cancer age of onset vary significantly among MMR gene mutation carriers suggesting that other non-MMR genes may modify the Lynch syndrome phenotype. Studies examining the association of genetic variation in non-MMR genes and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in MMR mutation carriers have found an increased risk or an earlier age of cancer onset for polymorphisms in genes in pathways such as cell cycle, DNA repair and methylation, carcinogen metabolism, and others. Some common genetic variants associated with sporadic CRC risk in genome wide association studies have also been implicated in modifying CRC risk in Lynch syndrome suggesting a global role of these variants in influencing CRC risk. The Lynch syndrome cancer phenotype is also manifested indirectly through epimutations outside the MMR genes that influence expression of these genes. For example, deletions in the EPCAM gene upstream of the MSH2 promoter region lead to hypermethylation of the MSH2 promoter, resulting in loss of MSH2 expression and predisposing people with EPCAM deletions to a cancer spectrum that mimics Lynch syndrome. The chapter provides a review of mutations in non-MMR genes that modify or mimic the Lynch syndrome phenotype.
The Baker Gordon Educational Symposium at 50: A Tribute to the Legacy of Drs Thomas J. Baker and Howard L. Gordon.

The Baker Gordon Symposium was begun in 1967, and was the first meeting held in the United States focused entirely on aesthetic surgery. In the early 1960s, faced with more patients seeking aesthetic surgery, Drs Thomas Baker and Howard Gordon struggled with the conundrum of increasing demand by patients seeking procedures for which they had little training. During that era, there were limited resources to learn cosmetic surgery, with essentially no training in this area during residency, few articles in the plastic surgery literature, and no textbooks focusing on aesthetic surgery techniques. The few plastic surgeons in the United States during that period who performed a large volume of aesthetic procedures were reluctant to teach their techniques to avoid training their competitors. Faced with basically a hostile environment in terms of learning aesthetic techniques, Drs Baker and Gordon initiated the first symposium in 1967 at Cedars Medical Center, inviting pioneers in aesthetic surgery who were willing to educate their peers. The invited guests for the first Baker Gordon Symposium included Salvador Castanares, a pioneer in techniques in modern blepharoplasty, and Thomas Rees, an innovator in many aspects of aesthetic surgery and the first plastic surgeon to edit a comprehensive textbook on aesthetic surgery procedures. Bleachers were built in the operating room of Cedars Hospital, and approximately 25 physicians attended the first meeting to watch live demonstrations of how to perform aesthetic surgery from the masters. Because of the success and increasing thirst for knowledge in aesthetic surgery training, Drs Baker and Gordon elected to hold the second Baker Gordon Symposium in 1968. They invited Thomas Cronin, the developer of the modern breast implant, John Lewis, a founding member of the Aesthetic Society, and Ivo Pitanguy, the father of modern plastic surgery in Brazil, to demonstrate their personal techniques. Immediately following …
Rapid and early deglaciation in the central Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska

Alpine-style glaciation was rare in the Arctic during the last glaciation because ice sheets occupied most of the glaciated high latitudes. Due to the tight coupling of alpine-glacier fluctuations with climate, the geomorphic evidence of such fluctuations in the Brooks Range, Alaska (USA), presents a unique opportunity to study past climate changes in this portion of the Arctic. We use cosmogenic 10 Be exposure dating to directly date Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) terminal moraines and deglaciation in the central Brooks Range. 10 Be ages from moraine boulders indicate that the LGM culminated at ca. 21 ka and was followed by substantial retreat upvalley prior to a second moraine-building episode culminating at ca. 17 ka. Subsequent rapid deglaciation occurred between ca. 16 ka and 15 ka, when glaciers receded to within their Neoglacial limits. Initial deglaciation after the LGM was likely caused by ice sheet–induced atmospheric circulation changes and increasing insolation. Brooks Range glaciers largely disappeared during Heinrich Stadial 1, prior to significant warming in the North Atlantic region during the Bolling-Allerod, but coincident with global CO 2 rise. Glacier fluctuations during the late-glacial period, if any, were restricted to within their Neoglacial extents. This new chronology suggests that ice sheet–modulated atmospheric circulation and global CO 2 dominate glacial climate forcings in Arctic Alaska.
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE? AN ACCOUNTABILITY THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON THE EFFECTS OF BOARD DECISION MONITORING ON CEO EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.

This article presents a study, which examines an accountability theory on the effects of business executive board decisions on the experiential learning of chief executive officers. The study prese...
Report of the Upstate New York Maa Contest Section–British Mathematical Olympiad Competition

(1969). Report of the Upstate New York Maa Contest Section–British Mathematical Olympiad Competition. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 77-81.
Hypertension in obese patients.

PreviewObesity and hypertension often go hand in hand, and the first step in controlling blood pressure is to help the patient lose weight. However, use of crash diets or appetite suppressants is not the way to go. Dr Kochar describes a sensible program for losing weight and explains why some antihypertensive drugs are more helpful than others in obese patients.
The physician at the movies

I hard to believe that the original Wall Street was released twenty-three years ago. Like The Godfather, it has achieved iconic status with its memorable Oscar-winning performance by Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko and its signature line “Greed is good.” Gekko accumulates billions by wedding his belief that “information is the most valuable commodity” with a philosophy based on the writings of the sixth-century-BC Chinese warlord Sun Tzu. As Gekko tells his protege Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), “I don’t just throw darts at a board. Read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.” To Gekko, the game is “not about the money; it’s about the game between people.” In short, it’s about winning, or in the words of a popular phrase of the time, “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” Not surprisingly, the sales of The Art of War, which is still used in war colleges, skyrocketed after the film as Gekko wannabes tried to absorb some of its lessons. In the original movie, Gekko is brought down by Fox who, after he is caught doing insider trading, saves his hide by wearing a wire to incriminate Gekko. Before being sent to prison, Gekko sequesters $100 million in a Swiss account in his children’s names. The sequel begins in October 2001 at Sing Sing, where Gekko is released after having served his eight-year sentence for insider trading and securities fraud. He reclaims his possessions, including an out-of-date cell phone and, when no one is there to meet him, he takes a cab back to “the city.” The scene shifts to 2008 with two Gen Xers in bed as the morning news comes on the television. The woman is Gekko’s estranged daughter Winnie, who angrily shuts off the TV upon hearing that Gekko is back in the limelight promoting his book Is Greed Good? Winnie used to visit her father regularly in prison until her brother died of a drug overdose that she blamed on her father. As seeming recompense for Gordon’s sins, she has become a blogger for an anti-corporate website, Frozen Truth. Her live-in boyfriend, Jake Moore (Shia La Beouf), insists that she ought to hear about him, but she wants none of it. Jake, it turns out, is an up-and-coming Wall Street trader whose “saving grace” is his championing of alternative energy technology to save the planet. He is employed by the firm Keller/Zabel (KZI), headed by a one-time powerful figure Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), to whom Jake is devoted. Zabel The physician at the movies
Teaching an old dog new tricks: Firm learning from environmental regulation

Abstract We examine a new mechanism by which environmental regulation can increase efficiency: intra-firm knowledge spillovers due to environmental regulation. County-level non-attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards creates spatial variation in the degree of regulatory stringency, as states impose stronger environmental regulation in non-attainment counties. We use this spatial variation to examine how the efficiency of electricity generators responds to increases in regulation. We show that, in response to increased regulatory stringency, electricity generators find technical efficiency enhancements and then transfer these enhancements to other units within their fleet. We find that a change in regulatory stringency translates to within-firm spillovers of 3–4%, and that these gains occur at least 3 years after the increase in regulatory stringency.
Scalable Multi-Failure Fast Failover via Forwarding Table Compression

In datacenter networks, link and switch failures are a common occurrence. Although most of these failures do not disconnect the underlying topology, they do cause routing failures, disrupting communications between some hosts. Unfortunately, current 1:1 redundancy groups are only partly effective at reducing the impact of these routing failures. In principle, local fast failover schemes, such as OpenFlow fast failover groups, could reduce the impact by preinstalling backup routes that protect against multiple simultaneous failures. However, providing a sufficient number of backup routes within the available space provided by the forwarding tables of datacenter switches is challenging. To solve this problem, we contribute a new forwarding table compression algorithm. Further, we introduce the concept of compression-aware routing to improve the achieved compression ratio. Lastly, we have created Plinko, a new forwarding model that is designed to have more easily compressible forwarding tables. All optimizations combined, we often saw compression ratios ranging from 2.10x to 19.29x.
A two-component nonphotochemical fluorescence quenching in eustigmatophyte algae

Eustigmatophyte algae represent an interesting model system for the study of the regulation of the excitation energy flow due to their use of violaxanthin both as a major light-harvesting pigment and as the basis of xanthophyll cycle. Fluorescence induction kinetics was studied in an oleaginous marine alga Nannochloropsis oceanica. Nonphotochemical fluorescence quenching was analyzed in detail with respect to the state of the cellular xanthophyll pool. Two components of nonphotochemical fluorescence quenching (NPQ), both dependent on the presence of zeaxanthin, were clearly resolved, denoted as slow and fast NPQ based on kinetics of their formation. The slow component was shown to be in direct proportion to the amount of zeaxanthin, while the fast NPQ component was transiently induced in the presence of membrane potential on subsecond timescales. The applicability of these observations to other eustigmatophyte species is demonstrated by measurements of other representatives of this algal group, both marine and freshwater.
Development of the Comic Sublime

Arms and the Man (along with You Never Can Tell) is the most fluent of the early comedies, and was the first to be something of a commercial success. (The hard-working, 38-year-old author opened a bank account for the first time in his life.) Like Pygmalion it has proved to be very adaptable to popularisation, partly because it cleverly exploits so many well tried comic conventions. Indeed, as Maurice Valency (1973) observed, the whole plot of a soldier returning to claim the lady and defeating the local rival is an old story (p. 107). Later, Shaw himself turned upon the play, calling it ‘a bag of the oldest stage tricks’ (ST 132).
Long-term outcomes of minimally invasive surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation: A single-center experience.

Background Minimally invasive surgical atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation (MISAA) delivers radiofrequency energy via a thoracoscopic approach to perform pulmonary vein isolation and left atrial ganglionic plexi ablation. Data on long-term outcomes of MISAA are lacking. Objective We report 5-year follow-up data from a prospective cohort of patients who underwent MISAA at a single center. Methods One hundred nine consecutive patients (60 paroxysmal, 49 persistent; mean age 62.7 ± 9.3 years) underwent MISAA with left atrial appendage exclusion by a single surgeon between 2006 and 2012. Patients were followed with transtelephonic monitoring at 1, 6, and 12 months and annually thereafter for up to 5 years. Recurrence was defined as any atrial tachyarrhythmia lasting ≥30 seconds from 90 days after surgery onward. Results Mean follow-up duration was 1738.5 ± 661.5 days. Single-procedure success rate was 38% (37 of 98 patients). Atrial arrhythmias occurred in 22%, 42%, 55%, 59%, and 62% of patients by 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years. Seventy-eight (79.6%) patients remained AF free with or without additional interventions including catheter ablation, antiarrhythmic drugs, or cardioversion. There was no significant difference in AF-free survival between paroxysmal and persistent AF groups ( P = .725). Multivariate analyses showed hypertension to be a significant predictor of AF recurrence (odds ratio 6.6, confidence interval 1.41–30.80; P = .016). Five (5.1%) patients had a stroke or transient ischemic attack during follow-up. Conclusion AF-free survival was 38% at 5 years after MISAA. A total of 79.6% of patients remained AF free with or without additional intervention. Patients may have an ongoing risk of stroke even in the absence of AF recurrences.
Micro-Opto-Mechanical sensors for tactile width measurements of surface opening cracks in concrete

The fabrication and laboratory testing of Micro-Opto-Mechanical sensors for the measurements of width of surface opening cracks in concrete structures are presented. The sensors are designed to be operated on a fan-out connector containing 12 multimode optical fibers, using a microstructure that can be mounted on the connector with a self aligned procedure. Thanks to the optical alignment automatically provided by such mounting method, each fiber in the connector can be used to interrogate an individual pressure sensor within an array composed by 12 elements in total. Using a soft polymer layer between the microsensor and the crack opening, the width of the crack can be derived by means of a tactile measurement performed by interrogating the 12 elements of the array alternatively, with a space resolution of 0.25 mm. The device is designed to be operated on board of a Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle equipped with a vision system that will be able to locate surface cracks of the external surface of reinforced concrete bridges and perform contact measurements on cracks using a robotic arm operated from the vehicle.
Using the Fossil Record to Establish a Baseline and Recommendations for Oyster Mitigation in the Mid-Atlantic U.S.

Eastern oyster populations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA have been in decline for centuries due to overharvesting, disease, increased sediment pollution, and habitat destruction. By studying Pleistocene fossil oyster assemblages, it is possible to reconstruct baseline conditions and develop recommendations for oyster mitigation. Fossil assemblages were studied from five Pleistocene sites located in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Reconstructions of paleosalinity and temperature were used to identify modern and colonial sites with similar environmental parameters for comparison. Shell height and life span in Chesapeake Bay oysters declined significantly from the Pleistocene to today, at the same time that ontogenetic growth rates have increased. This pattern is driven by age truncation, in which both harvesting and disease preferentially remove the larger, reproductively more active and primarily female members of the population. By contrast, Pleistocene oysters from North Carolina did not differ significantly, in shell height, life span, or growth rates, from modern oysters.
Apnea in Preterm and Term Infants After Deep Sedation and General Anesthesia.

OBJECTIVES: Determine the incidence of apnea in preterm and term infants after deep sedation (DS) compared with general anesthesia (GA). METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on infants who underwent elective DS or GA from January 2008 to December 2013, were RESULTS: There were 61 DS encounters (24 preterm and 37 term) and 175 GA encounters (120 preterm and 55 term) that met inclusion criteria. No recorded apneic events in either preterm or term infants were recorded after DS. After GA, 1.7% of infants had apneic events (2.5% preterm and 0 term; P = .57 versus DS). All events occurred within 2 hours of monitoring in recovery. CONCLUSIONS: None of the infants had apnea after DS. Rates from the literature would suggest that 2 to 6 of the preterm DS subjects should have experienced postsedation apnea. Sampled GA subjects had a rate of 2.5% in preterm infants exhibiting apnea after GA. Although the post-DS apnea rate is lower than what has been previously published, the small sample size and limitations of a retrospective design prevent us from directing a change in postsedation monitoring recommendations. However, we do support the need for prospective studies with strict monitoring criteria to reveal the true risk of post-DS apnea.
Multicenter Review of Current Practices Associated With Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Pediatric Patients After Trauma.

Objectives Frequency of venous thromboembolism in pediatric trauma patients admitted to PICUs is not insignificant, ranging up to 6%. Risk factors have been identified in this population. However, there is little consensus of actual venous thromboembolism prophylaxis practice. We examined factors associated with venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in PICUs. Design A retrospective study evaluating associations with mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, or dual therapy (DUAL) prophylaxis compared with no venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. Multivariable logistic regression explored the relationship between prophylaxis type and selected covariates with stepwise selection method to identify the independent predictors of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis utilization. Setting Five level I/II pediatric trauma centers in the United States. Patients Children less than 18 years from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2013, admitted to the PICU after a trauma, identified through combined trauma registry and Virtual Pediatric Systems database. Interventions None. Measurements and main results Six hundred ninety-two patients were included in the database, with 55 excluded for missing data. Of the remaining 637 patients, 538 (84.5%) had no venous thromboembolism prophylaxis by 48 hours, 77 (12.1%) had only mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, 11 (1.7%) had DUAL, and 11 (1.7%) had pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis alone. Multivariable analysis showed increased age, and orthopedic procedure was associated with all forms of prophylaxis. Orthopedic procedures were associated with higher utilization of dual prophylaxis use (odds ratio, 5.2; 95% CI, 1.2-21.8), pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (odds ratio, 8.5; 95% CI, 2.3-31.7), and mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.1-4.2) alone. Brain/spinal cord procedures (odds ratio, 3.7; 95% CI, 1.9-7.3) and abdominal procedures (odds ratio, 6.6; 95% CI, 2.5-17.1) were associated with mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. Head injury was associated with a decreased use of any prophylaxis (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9). Patient comorbidities were associated with decreased use of mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-1.0). Conclusions Pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis is not common in critically ill children after trauma. Patient age, orthopedic and vascular procedures, and higher injury severity are associated with pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis.
Experimental Based Substructuring Using a Craig-Bampton Transmission Simulator Model

Recently, a new experimental based substructure formulation was introduced which reduces ill-conditioning due to experimental measurement noise by imposing the connection constraints on substructure modal coordinates instead of the physical interface coordinates. The experimental substructure is tested in a free-free configuration, and the interface is exercised by attaching a flexible transmission simulator. An analytical representation of the fixture is then used to subtract its effects from the experimental substructure. The resulting experimental component is entirely modal based, and can be attached in an indirect manner to other substructures by constraining the modal degrees of freedom of the transmission simulator to those substructures. This work explores a different alternative in which the transmission simulator is modeled with a Craig-Bampton model, a model that may be more appropriate when the interfaces are connected rigidly. The new method is compared to the authors’ previous approaches to evaluate the errors due to modal truncation using finite element models of several beam systems including one in which the transmission simulator is connected to the component of interest at two points, potentially producing an ill-conditioned inverse problem.
Quantifying aboveground components of Picea sitchensis for allometric comparisons among tall conifers in North American rainforests

Abstract Tree biomass is one of the most important variables for studying and managing forest ecosystems. With emphasis shifting from young forests grown for timber production to forests with old-growth characteristics, the need to quantify various components of individual trees in natural settings is increasing. Destructive methods are inherently limited by what is feasible to cut down, dissect, and measure. In contrast, crown mapping is a minimally invasive technique for quantifying aboveground tree components such as wood, cambium, bark, and leaves. Despite being applied mostly to large trees, it is generalizable to any woody plant and can be adapted to answer diverse questions about biology, ecology, and ecosystem functions. We present a generalized approach for non-destructively quantifying the three-dimensional structure and aboveground components of whole trees along with a new programmatic tool for error-checking, visualizing, and interacting with tree-level data. Crown-mapping data from 60 lowland rainforest Picea sitchensis trees are presented to demonstrate the utility of this method for deriving allometric equations of tree components based on ground measurements. The 60 trees range from 14 to 495 cm trunk diameter at breast height, 10 to 94 m tall, and include simple to structurally complex individuals in dominant to suppressed positions within forests varying widely in density. Final allometric equations explain > 90% of the variability in volumes and masses of bark, wood, and leaves; are applicable to P. sitchensis throughout much of its geographic range; and are conservative relative to equations based on smaller dissected trees. Dendrochronology and allometric equations demonstrate that Picea sitchensis radically out-paces both Pseudotsuga menziesii and Sequoia sempervirens in accumulation of aboveground biomass and leaves, becoming heavier (155 ± 9 Mg) than any living P. menziesii and almost half as heavy as any living S. sempervirens in
Atypical activation of the G protein Gαq by the oncogenic mutation Q209P.

The causative role of G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) pathway mutations in uveal melanoma (UM) has been well-established. Nearly all UMs bear an activating mutation in a GPCR pathway mediated by G proteins of the Gq/11 family, driving tumor initiation and possibly metastatic progression. Thus, targeting this pathway holds therapeutic promise for managing UM. However, direct targeting of oncogenic Gαq/11 mutants, present in ∼90% of UMs, is complicated by the belief that these mutants structurally resemble active Gαq/11 WT. This notion is solidly founded on previous studies characterizing Gα mutants in which a conserved catalytic glutamine (Gln-209 in Gαq) is replaced by leucine, which leads to GTPase function deficiency and constitutive activation. Whereas Q209L accounts for approximately half of GNAQ mutations in UM, Q209P is as frequent as Q209L and also promotes oncogenesis, but has not been characterized at the molecular level. Here, we characterized the biochemical and signaling properties of Gαq Q209P and found that it is also GTPase-deficient and activates downstream signaling as efficiently as Gαq Q209L. However, Gαq Q209P had distinct molecular and functional features, including in the switch II region of Gαq Q209P, which adopted a conformation different from that of Gαq Q209L or active WT Gαq, resulting in altered binding to effectors, Gβγ, and regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins. Our findings reveal that the molecular properties of Gαq Q209P are fundamentally different from those in other active Gαq proteins and could be leveraged as a specific vulnerability for the ∼20% of UMs bearing this mutation.
Kerr Combs for Single-Span Long-Haul Analog Optical Links

We utilize a single soliton generated in a SiN microring resonator for stimulated Brillouin scattering mitigation in a 50 km link. A 9.1 dB increase in threshold power relative to the CW case is obtained. Potential improvements of the results using dark pulses are discussed.
Powering Forces and History

Interwoven in turnaround are issues of democracy, constituent influence and control over organizational decisions, ownership of public institutions, trust, and organizational accountability. Proponents believe that turnarounds increase knowledge, about, access to, and participation in governance; make organizations easier to change; and prevent undue consolidation of power at geographically distant locations and hierarchically remote organizational levels. Lurking slightly in the background is the belief that increased responsiveness and accountability will result in more effective and efficient internal operations and the development of a better product or the delivery of a better service.
Neural Network Predicting Remote Vehicle Movement with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Data

This paper presents a neural network developed for predicting the path of a remote vehicle using post facto created vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) data and uses that prediction to determine whether it is safe to change lanes. The data was collected in a 2013 experiment involving various drivers traveling on public roads in Ann Arbor, MI. The trips were on suburban roads, city roads and divided highways over a two day period. The vehicular satellite global positioning system (GPS) data from movement over this period was gathered and post-processed to find vehicle paths within 10 meters of one another. The path traces of the two vehicles were combined to simulate what a V2V network would have provided to properly equipped vehicles if such a network and vehicles existed on real road networks demonstrating natural driving behavior.This research harnesses this data to determine the increased effectiveness of a neural network predicting the future path of surrounding vehicles and lane change safety when a V2V network is available. The most studied maneuver is overtaking. To a lesser extent, this paper also provides a view into how a neural network predicts remote vehicle behaviors using a host vehicle equipped with only perceptive hardware and no given information from the remote vehicle.
On Sybil-proof Optimal Auction Design for Crowdsensing

The concept of crowdsensing enables a sensing task to be performed by outsourcing the task to crowd participants who are carrying devices with built-in sensors, such as sensors embedded in smartphones. This paper presents the design of a Sybil-proof optimal auction mechanism for incentive based crowdsensing that can not only ensure truthful revelation of crowd participants' participation costs (which are sent as bids), but also disincentivize them from adopting Sybil behavior where participants may opt to participate in the auction mechanism using multiple fake identities. Simulation results are also provided to gain insights into the developed auction-based crowdsensing mechanism.
Teaching Surgical Model Development in Research by Using Situated Learning and Instructional Scaffolding

Resources detailing the scope, details, and duration for teaching and learning surgical model development in research are poorly described. Situated learning and instructional scaffolding are useful skill-building tools. Herein, we discuss educational theory in the context of a training paradigm for surgical researchers, using our experience with a nonunion femoral fracture model as an example. Stages of learning include cognitive, associative, and autonomous stages. In surgical training, the cognitive stage involves the acquisition of basic knowledge, including anatomy, surgical approach, instrumentation, and suturing, which can be taught by using books, videos, skeletons, and cadavers. To these basic skills, the associative stage adds advanced techniques-including anesthesia, asepsis, hemostasis, and the full surgical procedure-through mentored nonsurvival surgical experiences. After a mentor has assured competence, trainees perform supervised and then independent survival surgeries to complete the autonomous stage. Through these stages, instructional scaffolding is applied in the context of a situated learning environment in which trainees learn in a layered approach through their own experiences. Thus, the proposed training paradigm is structured to teach trainees how to think and act as surgeons so they can adapt and grow, rather than only to ensure technical competency in a specific model. Development and mastery of complex surgical models may require as long as 6 mo to achieve optimal outcomes, depending on the preexisting skill of the research surgeons, technical difficulty, and the stage of model evolution.
Preventing epigenetic traces of caregiver maltreatment: A role for HDAC inhibition.

Abstract Reorganization of the brain’s epigenetic landscape occurs alongside early adversity in both human and non-human animals. Whether this reorganization is simply incidental to or is a causal mechanism of the behavioral abnormalities that result from early adversity is important to understand. Using the scarcity-adversity model of low nesting resources in Long Evans rats, our lab has previously reported specific epigenetic and behavioral trajectories occurring in response to early disruption of the caregiving environment. To further probe that relationship, the current work investigates the ability of the epigenome-modifying drug sodium butyrate to prevent maltreatment-induced methylation changes when administered alongside maltreatment. Following exposure to the scarcity-adversity model, during which drug was administered prior to each caregiving session, methylation of Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (Bdnf) IX DNA was examined in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) of male and female pups at postnatal day (PN) 8. As our previous work reports, increased methylation at this exon of Bdnf in the PFC is a stable epigenetic change across the lifespan that occurs in response to early maltreatment, thus giving us a suitable starting point to investigate pharmacological prevention of maltreatment-induced epigenetic marks. Here we also examined off-target effects of sodium butyrate by assessing methylation in another region of Bdnf (exon IV) not affected in the infant brain as well as global levels of methylation in the brain region of interest. Results indicate that a 400 mg/kg (but not 300 mg/kg) dose of sodium butyrate is effective in preventing the maltreatment-induced rise in methylation at Bdnf exon IX in the PFC of male (but not female) infant pups. Administration of sodium butyrate did not affect the methylation status of Bdnf IV or overall levels of global methylation in the PFC, suggesting potential specificity of this drug. These data provide us an avenue forward for investigating whether the relationship between adversity-induced epigenetic outcomes in our model can be manipulated to improve behavioral outcomes.
Voluntary Debt Remission and the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1–13)

The parable of the unjust steward is widely considered the most puzzling of Jesus' teachings. Although a seemingly endless string of interpretations continues to appear in print, no single reading has convinced the current scholarly majority.1 To be sure, a number of studies in recent decades have offered new and important interpretive insights into the parable, and as a result the number of issues remain ing in dispute appears to be on the decline.2 But, despite these general agreements,
Brave. Bold. Gold: Athletic Activism and the Realities of Childhood Cancer.

Turn It Gold is both the name of a Houston-based nonprofit and a mandate to rally support for childhood cancer with gold, the color officially chosen to represent childhood cancer awareness. Athlet...
Sensorless Control Techniques of LIMs

This chapter deals with sensorless (encoderless) control of linear induction motors (LIM). Starting the analysis of the huge state of the art related to sensorless control of rotating induction motors (RIM), the very few contributions to sensorless control of LIM drives are analysed. The chapter, then, focuses on the main problems related to model-based sensorless control (open-loop integration, inverter non-linearity, parameters mismatch), describing some solutions proposed by the scientific literature. Afterwards, three recent proposals of model-based sensorless techniques, suitably developed for LIMs, are described in details: (1) the TLS EXIN MRAS (Model Reference Adaptive System) speed observer, (2) the TLS EXIN FOLO (Full Order Luenberger Observer) speed observer, (3) the CL-MRAS (Closed-Loop Model Reference Adaptive System) speed observer. Experimental tests performed on a suitably developed test set-up are shown, and some comparative performance analysis are made as well.
CE‐MS with electrokinetic supercharging and application to determination of neurotransmitters

Electrokinetic supercharging (EKS) is known as one of the most effective online electrophoretic preconcentration techniques, though pairing with it with mass spectrometry has presented challenges. Here, EKS is successfully paired with ESI-MS/MS to provide a sensitive and robust method for analysis of biogenic amines in biological samples. Injection parameters including electric field strength and the buffer compositions used for the separation and focusing were investigated to achieve suitable resolution, high sensitivity, and compatibility with ESI-MS. Using EKS, the sensitivity of the method was improved 5000-fold compared to a conventional hydrodynamic injection with CZE. The separation allowed for baseline resolution of several neurotransmitters within 16 min with LODs down to 10 pM. This method was applied to targeted analysis of seven biogenic amines from rat brain stem and whole Drosophila tissue. This is the first method to use EKS with CE-ESI-MS/MS to analyze biological samples.
Epigenetic Mechanisms in Leukemias and Lymphomas

Although we are just beginning to understand the mechanisms that regulate the epigenome, aberrant epigenetic programming has already emerged as a hallmark of hematologic malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and B-cell lymphomas. Although these diseases arise from the hematopoietic system, the epigenetic mechanisms that drive these malignancies are quite different. Yet, in all of these tumors, somatic mutations in transcription factors and epigenetic modifiers are the most commonly mutated set of genes and result in multilayered disruption of the epigenome. Myeloid and lymphoid neoplasms generally manifest epigenetic allele diversity, which contributes to tumor cell population fitness regardless of the underlying genetics. Epigenetic therapies are emerging as one of the most promising new approaches for these patients. However, effective targeting of the epigenome must consider the need to restore the various layers of epigenetic marks, appropriate biological end points, and specificity of therapeutic agents to truly realize the potential of this modality.
Prediction of Pedestrian Crossing Intentions at Intersections Based on Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network:

Traffic violations of pedestrians at intersections are major causes of road crashes involving pedestrians, especially red-light crossing behaviors. To predict the pedestrians’ red-light crossing in...
Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Problem-Solving Courts

The concept of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) describes the legal system’s ability to integrate psychological knowledge with the way the courts deal with people with mental illness and mental disabilities that prevent them from following the law. It calls for dispensing justice with compassion rather than strictly ‘by the book’ and calls for retraining all personnel who work in the legal system to become more psychologically attuned to what will help people solve their problems in a more socially acceptable way. One of the most important tenets of TJ is to avoid criminalizing the mentally ill and disabled where they have become involved in a ‘revolving door’ between jail, prison, hospital, and prison. Attempts to set up better community facilities are part of the trend to develop specialty courts such as mental health, domestic violence, drug, and veterans’ courts. Unique mental health services accompany these specialty courts. For example, in domestic violence court, perpetrators are deferred into batterers treatment programs that are psychoeducational in nature and require contact with the court. In mental health court the judge usually asks the defendants to regularly check in and report progress on the various referral services such as medical and psychological treatment compliance, housing, education, or job training, etc. In drug court the judge continues to follow-up on compliance with staying sober, out-of-trouble, and attending programs. Most TJ courts that have been established all over the world are based on a team approach and are successful in reducing the high recidivism rates as well as encouraging people to take better responsibility for their lives and move toward recovery.
The GFDL Global Atmospheric Chemistry-Climate Model AM4.1: Model Description and Simulation Characteristics

We describe the baseline model configuration and simulation characteristics of GFDL’s Atmosphere Model version 4.1 (AM4.1), which builds on developments at GFDL over 2013–2018 for coupled carbon-ch...
Effects of clinical depression on left ventricular dysfunction in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Depression is associated with heart failure independent of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Enhanced platelet activation has been suggested as a potential mechanism and has been associated with negative inotropic effects that can affect left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). We examined 131 consecutive acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients to assess whether depression increased the risk for developing LV dysfunction, and to determine the effects of platelet serotonin signaling in this relationship. Major depression was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview and depressive symptoms were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), with BDI ≥ 10 defined as abnormal. LV dysfunction was defined as LVEF ≤ 45%. Platelet serotonin response was measured by serotonin augmented platelet aggregation and platelet serotonin receptor density. Mean age of ACS participants was 59 years, 78.6% male and 74.0% Caucasian. 34.4% of patients had a reduced LVEF ≤ 45% on presentation. Almost half (47.0%) of patients had BDI ≥ 10 and 18.0% had major depressive disorder. Platelet serotonin response was found to be augmented in depressed patients with low LVEF compared to depressed patients with normal LVEF (p < 0.020). However, the presence of LV dysfunction was found to be similar in both depressed (32.3%) and non-depressed (36.2%) patients (p = 0.714). This suggests alternative factors contribute to poor cardiovascular outcomes in depressed patients that are independent of LV function in post ACS patients.
Old technology responses to new technology threats: demand heterogeneity and technology retreats

We explore the implications of a real and common alternative to attempting the transformation required to embrace a new, dominant, technology—the choice to maintain focus on the old technology. In considering this choice, we distinguish between “racing” strategies, which attempt to fight off the rise of the new technology by extending the performance of the old technology, and “retreat” strategies, which attempt to accommodate the rise of the new technology by repositioning the old technology in the demand environment. Underlying our arguments is the observation that the emergence of a new technology does more than just create a substitute threat—it can also reveal significant underlying heterogeneity in the old technology’s broader demand environment. This heterogeneity is a source of opportunities that can support a new position for the old technology, in either the current market or a new one. Using this lens, we explore the decision to stay with the old technology as a rational, proactive choice rather than as a mark of managerial and organizational failure. We then consider the distinctive challenges and organizational dynamics that arise in technology retreats, and their implications for the ways in which managers and scholars should approach questions regarding the management of capabilities, lifecycles, and ecosystems.
Introduction - Addiction: A Ubiquitous Problem

The editors of this section wished to explore psychoanalytic approaches to addiction and substance abuse; though not sub-specializing in that domain, in our own practices, we found we were both tre...
Male White-shouldered Fairywrens (Malurus alboscapulatus) elevate testosterone when courting females but not during territorial challenges

Testosterone mediates suites of physical and behavioral traits across vertebrates, and circulation varies considerably across and within taxa. However, an understanding of the causal factors of variation in circulating testosterone has proven difficult despite decades of research. According to the challenge hypothesis, agonistic interactions between males immediately prior to the breeding season produce the highest levels of testosterone measured during this period. While many studies have provided support for this hypothesis, most species do not respond to male-male competition by elevating testosterone. As a result, a recent revision of the hypothesis ( challenge hypothesis 2.0) places male-female interactions as the primary cause of rapid elevations in testosterone circulation in male vertebrates. Here, we offer a test of both iterations of the challenge hypothesis in a tropical bird species. We first illustrate that male White-shouldered Fairywrens (Malurus alboscapulatus) differ by subspecies in plasma testosterone concentrations. Then we use a social network approach to find that males of the subspecies with higher testosterone are characterized by greater social interaction scores, including more time aggregating to perform sexual displays. Next, we use a controlled experiment to test whether males respond to simulated territorial intrusion or courtship interaction contexts by elevating testosterone. Males sampled during courtship had greater plasma testosterone both relative to flushed controls and males sampled during simulated intrusion. Ultimately, our results are consistent with challenge hypothesis 2.0, as males rapidly elevated testosterone following interactions with females, but not during territorial challenges.
Derandomization of dimensionality reduction and SDP based algorithms

We present two results on derandomization of randomized algorithms. The first result is a derandomization of the Johnson-Lindenstrauss (JL) lemma based randomized dimensionality reduction algorithm. Our algorithm is simpler and faster than known algorithms. It is based on deriving a pessimistic estimator of the probability of failure. The second result is a general technique for derandomizing semidefinite programming (SDP) based approximation algorithms. We apply this technique to the randomized algorithm for Max Cut. Once again the algorithm is faster than known deterministic algorithms for the same approximation ratio. For this problem we present a technique to approximate probabilities with bounded error.