cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Como o estruturalismo pode resolver o problema do ‘acesso’

De acordo com o estruturalismo matematico, a matematica nao consiste no estudo de objetos matematicos, mas de estruturas. Ao afastar-se dos objetos, o estruturalista reivindica uma posicao que lhe permite resolver o problema do “acesso”: e possivel explicar a possibilidade do conhecimento matematico sem exigir qualquer acesso aos objetos em questao. Fraser MacBride criticou a resposta estruturalista, argumentando que esta enfrenta um dilema na tentativa de resolver o problema em apreco (MacBride, 2004). Neste artigo, argumento que o dilema de MacBride pode ser resistido e que, especialmente na versao articulada por Michael Resnik (Resnik, 1997), o estruturalismo pode resolver o problema do “acesso”. Mostro exatamente como o dilema de MacBride falha, argumentando que esta falha nos fornece uma oportunidade para destacar uma caracteristica importante do estruturalismo, a saber: a maneira pela qual ele articula uma imagem fundamentalmente diferente da epistemologia matematica com relacao aquela sugerida pela epistemologia tradicional.
Haptic representation of aortic pressure waveforms using synthetic ECG derived time intervals

While simple pulse-rate is perhaps the most common cardiovascular assessment, recent research suggests that there is valuable information contained in the actual pulse waveform. As the first step toward developing a feature-based haptic suite, this work investigates the ability of a consumer-grade haptic device to represent arterial touch as a function of the physiological waveform gated to synthetic ECGs instead of the more common square or triangle waveforms, which capture only heart rate. Included are preliminary observations indicating that there is a palpable difference between the representations, as well as an empirical description of the haptic sensation under both normal heart rhythm and synthesized arrhythmia.
Study on the performance evaluation model of balanced scorecard implementation based on the SAP

According to the evaluation of the current situation of SAP and its performance of domestic enterprises,from the Balanced Scorecard in the performance evaluation method,the SAP balanced score card,and uses the analytic hierarchy process to give the weight of the indicators,construct a set of performance evaluation of SAP implementation model.
Proactive enrollment of parents to tobacco quitlines in pediatric practices is associated with greater quitline use: a cross-sectional study

Background Every U.S. state has a free telephone quitline that tobacco users can access to receive cessation assistance, yet referral rates for parents in the pediatric setting remain low. This study evaluates, within pediatric offices, the impact of proactive enrollment of parents to quitlines compared to provider suggestion to use the quitline and identifies other factors associated with parental quitline use.
Finitary S5-Theories

The objective of this paper is to identify a class of epistemic logic theories with group knowledge operators which have the fundamental property of being characterized by a finite number of finite models (up to equivalence). We specifically focus on S5-theories. We call this class of epistemic logic theories as finitary S5 -theories. Models of finitary S5-theories can be shown to be canonical in that they do not contain two worlds with the same interpretation. When the theory is pure, these models are minimal and differ from each other only in the actual world. The paper presents an algorithm for computing all models of a finitary S5-theory. Finitary S5-theories find applications in several contextsin particular, the paper discusses their use in epistemic multi-agent planning.
Factors Associated with Self-Reported 14 or More Activity Limitation Days among Adults in the United States

Objective It is estimated that 41 million American adults 18 and older experience poor physical or mental health which limits their ability to engage in their daily activities. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with ≥14activity limitation days (ALD) due to poor physical or mental health as self-reported by persons aged 18 years and over in the United States (U.S). Methods Using the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS), persons over the age of 18 in the U.S. were examined to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with ≥ 14ALD due to poor physical or mental health. The BRFSS is administered on a continuous basis by telephone using random-digit dial sampling methods. A clustering sample design was used to account for differences in the probability of selection and non-response in order to accurately derive US and state-based population estimates. The design consists of a probability sample of all households with telephones in the state. Analyses were conducted using SAS 9.2. Results Of the 104,257 participants included in the analyses, 40% reported having ≥14 ALD due to poor physical or mental health. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, males (AOR1.17, 95% CI: 1.14-1.21), those with high school or less education (AOR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.37-1.21), those who were separated (AOR: 1.23; 95% CI=1.14-1.32), divorced (AOR: 1.10; 95% CI=1.06-1.15), those from the Southern Black Belt States (AOR1.14, 95% CI: 1.10-1.20), and those from the remainder of the Southern region of the U.S. (AOR1.14, 95% CI: 1.08-1.21) were significantly more likely to report ≥14ALD due to poor physical or mental health. Conclusion The prevalence of ≥14ALD due to poor physical or mental health among the study population was associated with sociodemographic and region of residence factors. These findings highlight the need for prevention strategies specifically for populations who might be more at risk for ALD due to social determinants of health.
Questions of condom use in the Muslim and Catholic response to HIV and AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya

Religious leaders in Roman Catholic and Sunni Muslim communities in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi are charged with responding in an official capacity to the pressing concerns facing their respective communities both theologically and practically. However, speaking about sexuality from a religious perspective particularly on the use of condoms in AIDS prevention has been rather troublesome topic many leaders and clergy find problematic discussing openly. This paper offers a comparative analysis of Muslim and Catholic views on sexuality by establishing the parameters within which to consider the presence and activity of Catholic and Muslim leaders in Kenya and the holistic, grassroots approach in responding to the AIDS epidemic in Nairobi regarding condom use.
DIRECT COSTING VS. ABSORPTlON COSTING: A HISTORICAL REVIEW

The purpose of accounting has been generally described as the process of providing information to owners, creditors, governmental regulatory agencies, and operating management. "In a broad sense accounting has one primary function: facilitating the administration of economic resources. This function has two closely related phases: (1) measuring and arraying economic data; (2) communicating the results of this process to interested parties."1 Of primary concern is the fact that the users of the accounting information are involved in the decision making process. However, they have different interests and objectives. Accordingly, the same information may require varied processing and summarization to meet the needs of each class of users. Various accounting practices, based on the same accounting concepts and principles, have been developed to satisfy the multiple and changing needs of the users of accounting reports. Direct and absorption costing are two such accounting practices. Controversy continues to exist as to which of these two costing methods is better for decision making purposes and for reporting to the users of accounting information. The objective of this paper is to dwell upon the historical nature of the controversy and build a case for a method of costing that rests on economic logic and realities of the market place.
Modeling dynamics of Polyacrylamide Gel in Oil-Water Mixtures: Dissipative Particle Dynamics Approach

Using dissipative particle dynamics approach, we model phase separation in a ternary system encompassing cross-linked polyacrylamide (PAM) gel, oil and water. PAM gels are widely used in many applications, from food and cosmetic applications to enhanced oil recovery approaches. We show that the PAM nanogel adsorbs at the oil-water interface and spreads out over this interface for the case of a loosely cross-linked polymer network. Tailoring PAM behavior at the oil-water interfaces by controlling gel’s properties could allow one to alter the properties of oil-water emulsions.
The Historical Development of Personality Assessment

Understanding and predicting other people’s behavior have been important tasks in human interaction for as long as human beings have been social animals. Thus, our ancestors were likely practicing one form or another of personality assessment long before any written records of such activities were kept. Over the course of human evolution, the adaptive benefits of being able to understand and predict the behavior of both friends and foes would clearly have created an evolutionary advantage for those who possessed the ability to assess these important characteristics. This evolutionary process has resulted in a natural tendency for humans to assess the personalities of those with whom they come into contact. As humankind has developed and advanced, so have the means by which people assess each other’s personalities. Early primitive and intuitive ways gave way to more sophisticated and systematic attempts to assess, characterize, and predict human behavior.
Functional programming using JavaScript and the HTML5 canvas element

Functional programming has several important benefits, including ease of testing and debugging, effective and robust implementation of concurrency and the ability to construct higher order functions. These advantages are illustrated at many points in the computer science classic "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (SICP) by Abelson and Sussman. For example, in chapter two, they implement a picture language invented by Henderson for creating images like MC Escher's "Square Limit". This provides a beautiful example of the power of data abstraction and closure which also involves higher order procedures in a natural way. Their approach, based on the Scheme programming language, is easily adapted to JavaScript using the web browser as the graphics environment. Owing to the high level of interest that many students have in the web, this new setting has proven to be highly motivating and effective for illustrating the power of functional programming to undergraduates. This paper begins with a description of JavaScript programming using the functional style, inspired by the approach given in SICP. Along the way, a brief introduction to the HTML5 canvas element and its programmatic control under JavaScript will be given.
The Question of Land-Use in the Participatory Transportation Study

The role of land development analysis and policy in urban transportation planning is currently very unclear in the United States. The relationship between land use and access has been the basis of the formal models sustaining urban transportation planning. Over the last twenty years it has gotten considerable methodological development and application in public policy studies. During the last five years, however, it has come under serious criticism. In particular, increased participation in urban transportation studies by citizens and local public officials has put marked pragmatic pressures on the role of land-use studies. The result is a different picture of policy-making than was prevalent in the earlier period of U.S. transportation planning.
Current trends in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with transarterial embolization: a cross-sectional survey of techniques

Despite being accepted as a mainstay of treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), technical aspects of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) continue to vary by reporting author, leading to heterogeneity in the literature and making meaningful comparisons between treatments difficult. The goal of this survey was to report international chemoembolization practices for the treatment of HCC in an effort to understand current treatment strategies as a first step towards technique standardization. An anonymous 18-question online survey, evaluating technical aspects of their TACE practice, was distributed via email to practicing members of the five largest interventional radiology societies in Chinese and English. A total of 1160 responses were obtained from 62 countries. Responses were categorized according to region of practice and analyzed using Fisher’s exact test and chi-square test with Bonferroni correction as needed. There were significant statistical differences between regions for nearly all questions. Doxorubicin was more commonly used among respondents from North America, Europe, and South Korea than Japan and China (p = 0.0001). For single and multiple HCCs, drug-eluting bead TACE was most popular in North America and Europe (p = 0.0001), while conventional TACE was most popular in Japan, Korea, and China (p = 0.0001). CT was the most commonly used modality for follow-up among all respondents, although MR was used more commonly in North America and in academic centers (p = 0.0001). This survey provides comprehensive information on and confirms the heterogeneous nature of current practice patterns in regard to TA(C)E for HCC. • There is a lack of information regarding current practice patterns in the area of technical considerations when performing transarterial chemoembolization. • Type of transarterial chemoembolization utilized to treat hepatocellular carcinoma varies widely across geographical area. • Chemotherapeutic agents and embolic agents used to perform transarterial chemoembolization for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma vary widely across geographical areas.
The Evolution of Input–Output Analysis

The static input–output model has been used by academics and policy analysts for decades to investigate real world problems and provide advice to policy makers. From its initial development, the input–output model has continuously evolved to incorporate more complex situations in a systematic manner. This includes integrating other biological, physical and social models into the input–output framework, developing dynamic models, and incorporating uncertainty to better analyze these complex real world problems. This paper outlines the history of input–output analysis and some of the specific country experiences. It explores the conceptual extensions of the basic input–output model that have significantly broadened its scope and discusses the numerous areas of application of input–output models and the insights of these applications. Finally, the paper makes suggestions on the future use of input–output analysis.
Contextualizing Performance of Coordinated Care Network of Veteran Services in Virginia

Coordinated care network is an approach to human service delivery that is recognized to improve client outcomes at a reduced cost. However, general mixed findings on the effectiveness of coordinate...
Machine-learning phase prediction of high-entropy alloys

Abstract High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been receiving intensive attention due to their unusual properties that largely depend on the selection among three phases: solid solution (SS), intermetallic compound (IM), and mixed SS and IM (SS + IM). Accurate phase prediction is therefore crucial for guiding the selection of a combination of elements to form a HEA with desirable properties. It is widely accepted that the phase selection is correlated with elemental features such as valence electron concentration and the formation enthalpy, leading to a set of parametric phase-selection rules [ 1 ]. Previous studies on predicting the phase selection employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to obtain some correlated parameters. But DFT calculations are time consuming and exhibit uncertainties in terms of treating the d orbitals of transition-metal atoms that are often components of HEAs. Here we employ machine learning (ML) algorithms to efficiently explore phase selection rules using a comprehensive experimental dataset consisting of 401 different HEAs including 174 SS, 54 IM, and 173 SS + IM phases. We adopt three different ML algorithms: K-nearest neighbours (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN). To avoid overfitting, we divide the whole dataset into four nearly equal portions to perform a cross validation. For the classification of the three phases at the same time, the testing accuracy values from the KNN, SVM and ANN calculations achieve 68.6%, 64.3% and 74.3%, respectively. We then focus on the classification of two of the three phases using SVM and ANN. We find that the testing accuracy values using ANN in classifying the SS and IM phases, the SS + IM and IM phases, and the SS and SS + IM phases, are 86.7%, 94.3%, and 78.9%, respectively, which are higher than the corresponding testing accuracy values using SVM. As such, the trained ANN model performs the best among the three ML algorithms and is useful for predicting the phases of new HEAs. Our work provides an alternative route of computational design of HEAs, which is also applicable to accelerate the discovery of other metal alloys for modern engineering applications.
Henosis: workload-driven small array consolidation and placement for HDF5 applications on heterogeneous data stores

Scientific data analysis pipelines face scalability bottlenecks when processing massive datasets that consist of millions of small files. Such datasets commonly arise in domains as diverse as detecting supernovae and post-processing computational fluid dynamics simulations. Furthermore, applications often use inference frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch whose naive I/O methods exacerbate I/O bottlenecks. One solution is to use scientific file formats, such as HDF5 and FITS, to organize small arrays in one big file. However, storing everything in one file does not fully leverage the heterogeneous data storage capabilities of modern clusters. This paper presents Henosis, a system that intercepts data accesses inside the HDF5 library and transparently redirects I/O to the in-memory Redis object store or the disk-based TileDB array store. During this process, Henosis consolidates small arrays into bigger chunks and intelligently places them in data stores. A critical research aspect of Henosis is that it formulates object consolidation and data placement as a single optimization problem. Henosis carefully constructs a graph to capture the I/O activity of a workload and produces an initial solution to the optimization problem using graph partitioning. Henosis then refines the solution using a hill-climbing algorithm which migrates arrays between data stores to minimize I/O cost. The evaluation on two real scientific data analysis pipelines shows that consolidation with Henosis makes I/O 300× faster than directly reading small arrays from TileDB and 3.5× faster than workload-oblivious consolidation methods. Moreover, jointly optimizing consolidation and placement in Henosis makes I/O 1.7× faster than strategies that perform consolidation and placement independently.
The Potential for Nuclear Power

I have been asked to discuss the potential for nuclear power in the years ahead, because generating power from nuclear fission does not lead to emission of greenhouse gases; and therefore replacement of any fossil fuel electricity generating plant by a nuclear one will reduce emission of greenhouse gases. In a talk given to this group three years ago, (Wilson 1989) I showed that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by changing from fossil fuels to nuclear power, and the reduction of emission of greenhouse gases by improvement of end use efficiency (loosely called energy conservation) are independent of each other. Both can be partially effective. It is stupid to reject either because it will not do the whole job. If the effect of rising greenhouse gas concentrations is as bad as most scientists fear, both are necessary. In particular I took some leading energy supply projections, and showed how simple modifications could lead to more nuclear power and fewer greenhouse gas emissions than otherwise. (figures 1 and 2)
Plasticity and functional recovery in neurology

Experiments on patients with phantom limbs suggest that neural connections in the adult human brain are much more malleable than previously assumed. Three weeks after amputation of an arm, sensations from the ipsilateral face are referred to the phantom; this effect is caused by the sensory input from the face skin 'invading' and activating deafferented hand zones in the cortex and thalamus. Many phantom arms are 'paralysed' in a painful position. If a mirror is propped vertically in the sagittal plane and the patient looks at the reflection of his/her normal hand, this reflection appears superimposed on the 'felt' position of the phantom. Remarkably, if the real arm is moved, the phantom is felt to move as well and this sometimes relieves the painful cramps in the phantom. Mirror visual feedback (MVF) has shown promising results with chronic regional pain syndrome and hemiparesis following stroke. These results suggest two reasons for a paradigm shift in neurorehabilitation. First, there appears to be tremendous latent plasticity even in the adult brain. Second, the brain should be thought of, not as a hierarchy of organised autonomous modules, each of which delivers its output to the next level, but as a set of complex interacting networks that are in a state of dynamic equilibrium with the brain's environment. Both principles can be potentially exploited in a clinical context to facilitate recovery of function.
Searching for Vector Dark Matter with an Optomechanical Accelerometer.

We consider using optomechanical accelerometers as resonant detectors for ultralight dark matter. As a concrete example, we describe a detector based on a silicon nitride membrane fixed to a beryllium mirror, forming an optical cavity. The use of different materials gives access to forces proportional to baryon ($B$) and lepton ($L$) charge, which are believed to be coupling channels for vector dark matter particles (``dark photons''). The cavity meanwhile provides access to quantum-limited displacement measurements. For a centimeter-scale membrane precooled to 10 mK, we argue that sensitivity to vector $B\ensuremath{-}L$ dark matter can exceed that of the E\"ot-Wash experiment in integration times of minutes, over a fractional bandwidth of $\ensuremath{\sim}0.1%$ near 10 kHz (corresponding to a particle mass of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}10}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}/{\mathrm{c}}^{2}$). Our analysis can be translated to alternative systems, such as levitated particles, and suggests the possibility of a new generation of tabletop experiments.
Inhibition of type 4 cAMP-phosphodiesterases (PDE4s) in mice induces hypothermia via effects on behavioral and central autonomous thermoregulation.

Abstract Inhibitors of Type 4 cAMP-phosphodiesterases (PDE4s) exert a number of promising therapeutic benefits, including potent anti-inflammatory, memory- and cognition-enhancing, metabolic, and antineoplastic effects. We report here that treatment with a number of distinct PDE4 inhibitors, including Rolipram, Piclamilast, Roflumilast and RS25344, but not treatment with the PDE3-selective inhibitor Cilostamide, induces a rapid (10–30 min), substantial (−5 °C) and long-lasting (up to 5 h) decrease in core body temperature of C57BL/6 mice; thus, identifying a critical role of PDE4 also in the regulation of body temperature. As little as 0.04 mg/kg of the archetypal PDE4 inhibitor Rolipram induces hypothermia. As similar or higher doses of Rolipram were used in a majority of published animal studies, most of the reported findings are likely paralleled by, or potentially impacted by hypothermia induced by these drugs. We further show that PDE4 inhibition affects central body temperature regulation and acts by lowering the cold-defense balance point of behavioral (including posture and locomotion) and autonomous (including cutaneous tail vasodilation) cold-defense mechanisms. In line with the idea of an effect on central body temperature regulation, hypothermia is induced by moderate doses of various brain-penetrant PDE4 inhibitors, but not by similar doses of YM976, a PDE4 inhibitor that does not efficiently cross the blood–brain barrier. Finally, to begin delineating the mechanism of drug-induced hypothermia, we show that blockade of D2/3-type dopaminergic, but not β-adrenergic, H1-histaminergic or opiate receptors, can alleviate PDE4 inhibitor-induced hypothermia. We thus propose that increased D2/3-type dopaminergic signaling, triggered by PDE4 inhibitor-induced and cAMP-mediated dopamine release in the thermoregulatory centers of the hypothalamus, is a significant contributor to PDE4 inhibitor-induced hypothermia.
Not all corporate social responsibility (CSR) is created equal: a study of consumer perceptions of CSR on firms post fraud

Through the lens of Resource-Advantage Theory, we find that consumer’s perceptions of CSR and CEO compensation influence their view of the firm in a post-fraud environment. Those who see CSR used i...
Atmospheric pressure loading in GPS positions: dependency on GPS processing methods and effect on assessment of seasonal deformation in the contiguous USA and Alaska

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has revolutionized the ability to monitor Earth-system processes, including Earth’s water cycle. Several analysis centers process GPS data to estimate ground-antenna positions at daily temporal resolution. Differences in processing strategies can lead to inconsistencies in coordinate-position estimates and therefore influence the analysis of crustal displacement associated with variations in atmospheric and hydrologic mass loading. Here, we compare five GPS data products produced by three processing centers: the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and UNAVCO Consortium. We find that 5 to 30% of the scatter in residual GPS time series (commonly considered noise) can be explained by atmospheric loading in the contiguous USA and Alaska, but that the percentages vary widely by data product. Positions derived using high-resolution troposphere models (e.g., ECMWF) exhibit significantly lower scatter after correcting for atmospheric loading than positions estimated using constant or slowly varying troposphere models (e.g., GPT2w). The data products also exhibit differences in seasonal deformation (commonly attributed, in large part, to fluctuations in hydrologic mass loading): median vector differences in estimated seasonal amplitude range from 0.4–1.0 mm in the vertical component and 0.1–0.3 mm in the horizontal components, or about 10–40% of the mean amplitudes of seasonal oscillation. Newer products exhibit lower total scatter and stronger correlations than older products. Network-coherent differences in estimates of seasonal deformation reveal reference-frame inconsistencies between data products. We also cross-check two independent models of atmospheric pressure loading: ESMGFZ and LoadDef.
MiniVLM: A Smaller and Faster Vision-Language Model.

Recent vision-language (VL) studies have shown remarkable progress by learning generic representations from massive image-text pairs with transformer models and then fine-tuning on downstream VL tasks. While existing research has been focused on achieving high accuracy with large pre-trained models, building a lightweight model is of great value in practice but is less explored. In this paper, we propose a smaller and faster VL model, MiniVLM, which can be finetuned with good performance on various downstream tasks like its larger counterpart. MiniVLM consists of two modules, a vision feature extractor and a transformer-based vision-language fusion module. We design a Two-stage Efficient feature Extractor (TEE), inspired by the one-stage EfficientDet network, to significantly reduce the time cost of visual feature extraction by $95\%$, compared to a baseline model. We adopt the MiniLM structure to reduce the computation cost of the transformer module after comparing different compact BERT models. In addition, we improve the MiniVLM pre-training by adding $7M$ Open Images data, which are pseudo-labeled by a state-of-the-art captioning model. We also pre-train with high-quality image tags obtained from a strong tagging model to enhance cross-modality alignment. The large models are used offline without adding any overhead in fine-tuning and inference. With the above design choices, our MiniVLM reduces the model size by $73\%$ and the inference time cost by $94\%$ while being able to retain $94-97\%$ of the accuracy on multiple VL tasks. We hope that MiniVLM helps ease the use of the state-of-the-art VL research for on-the-edge applications.
Randomized Trial Examining the Effect of a 12-wk Exercise Program on Hedonic Eating.

PURPOSE This efficacy trial tests the hypothesis that exercise training favorably affects hedonic eating (i.e., overeating, stress-induced overeating, disinhibited eating, eating when tempted), in a sample of women who are overweight or obese. METHODS Participants were inactive at baseline, self-identified as "stress eaters," and were randomized to 12 wk of moderate-intensity exercise training (EX; combination of supervised and objectively confirmed unsupervised sessions) or to a no-exercise control condition (CON). EX participants were given an exercise goal of 200 min·wk-1. No dietary instructions or weight control strategies were provided. Assessments occurred at baseline and 12 wk. Overeating episodes, stress-induced overeating, and dietary temptations were measured over 14 d at each assessment using ecological momentary assessment. Disinhibition and dietary restraint were assessed via a questionnaire. RESULTS Forty-nine participants (age, 40.4 ± 10.8 yr; body mass index, 32.4 ± 4.1 kg·m-2) enrolled, and 39 completed this study. Adherence to the exercise intervention was high (99.4% of all prescribed exercise). At week 12, the proportion of eating episodes that were characterized as overeating episodes was lower in EX versus CON (21.98% in EX vs 26.62% in control; P = 0.001). Disinhibition decreased in EX but not in CON (P = 0.02) and was driven by internal factors. There was a trend such that CON was more likely to give into dietary temptations (P = 0.08). Stress-induced overeating was low and did not differ between conditions (P = 0.61). CONCLUSIONS Exercise training reduced the likelihood of overeating and eating in response to internal cues in women who self-identified as stress eaters. This may be one pathway by which exercise affects body weight.
Native and Prosthetic Valve Staphylococcus capitis Endocarditis: A Review of the Literature

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare but serious disease. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are among the least prevalent causes of IE. Staphylococcus capitis, a species of CoNS, although described in the literature before has only been seen in a few cases. Even with such few cases, complications and mortality have still been demonstrated. In our review, we look at the epidemiology, diagnosis, management, and literature prevalence of CoNS in native and prosthetic valve IE.
Promoting work Engagement in the Accounting Profession: a Machine Learning Approach

In this paper, a non-linear multi-dimensional (machine learning-based) index for accountants that relates work engagement scores (according to accountants’ perceptions) with the seven Job Quality Indices (JQI) (proposed by Eurofound) has been proposed. The goal of the research is two-fold, namely, (i) to quantify the extent to which the JQI variables explain the work engagement scores, and (ii) to determine which JQI variables most affect the work engagement scores. The best performing regression model achieved a competitive root mean square percentage, highlighting that the selected variables primarily determine the work engagement values. Other important findings include (i) that the work engagement index is mainly influenced by the social environment index and (ii) that the skills and discretion and prospects indices are also crucial in the promotion of the work engagement of accountants. The instrument implemented could be employed by human resources practitioners to propose efficient human resources strategies that improve both individual well-being and company performance in the accounting sector.
Abstract 17414: Combination Therapy of Sildenafil and Rapamycin Alleviates Doxorubicin Induced Cardiotoxicity With Improvement of Skeletal Muscle Function

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a chemotherapeutic agent for multiple cancers, however, it causes systemic inflammation with multi-organ injury, including irreversible skeletal muscle (SM) dysfunc...
Readiness Assessment for Extubation Planning in the Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Background Extubation failure is the reintubation of patients meeting criteria for weaning from mechanical ventilation. Extubation failure is correlated with mortality, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and longer hospital stays. Noninvasive ventilation or high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy after extubation is recommended to prevent extubation failure in high-risk patients. Local problem The extubation failure rate is unknown. Prophylactic measures (noninvasive ventilation or high-flow nasal cannula) after extubation are not commonly used and vary among clinicians. The objective was to assess extubation planning readiness by determining extubation failure rate, identifying high-risk patients, and determining prophylactic measure compliance. Methods A quality improvement initiative included an evidence-based extubation failure risk assessment that identified high-risk patients and determined prophylactic measure compliance. A 2-year retrospective medical record review was used to determine baseline patient characteristics and extubation failure rate. Results Extubation failure rate within the retrospective cohort was 13 of 146 patients (8.9%). Extubation failure did not correlate with previously identified risk factors; however, 150 identified patients were excluded from analysis. During risk assessment integration, the extubation failure rate was 3 of 37 patients (8.1%) despite identifying 24 high-risk patients (65%). Few high-risk patients received prophylactic measures (noninvasive ventilation, 17%; high-flow nasal cannula, 12%). Conclusions Extubation failure should be routinely measured because of its effects on patient outcomes. This project reveals the multifactorial nature of extubation failure. Further research is needed to assess patients' risk and account for acute conditions. This project used best practice guidelines for routine patient care and added transparency to a previously unmeasured event.
Toward Agent-Supported and Agent-Monitored Model-Driven Simulation Engineering

The objective of this chapter is to illustrate how agents can be used to facilitate development of next-generation simulators and assist in conducting simulation experiments. First, we introduce and define software agents and then characterize the three dimensions of the ADS framework that help explore both the use of agents for simulation and the use of simulation for agents. This is followed by the introduction of multisimulation and delineation of how agent-monitored and agent-assisted mechanisms facilitate its design and implementation. To underline the diversity of roles that agents can play in the overall M&S life cycle, we highlight the issues and challenges in goal-directed experimentation with simulation models and present an agent-assisted and model-driven experiment management strategy to effectively address these challenges.
A new class of hybrid anticancer agents inspired by the synergistic effects of curcumin and genistein: Design, synthesis, and anti-proliferative evaluation

Inspired by the synergistic effects of dietary natural products with different scaffolds on the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, incorporation of central (1E,4E)-1,4-penta-dien-3-one linker (an optimal substitute for the central metabolically unstable diketone linker of curcumin), 1-alkyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl (a promising bioisostere of terminal aryl group in curcumin), and chromone (the common pharmacophore in genistein and quercetin) into one chemical entity resulted in ten new hybrid molecules, 3-((1E,4E)-5-(1-alkyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-3-oxopenta-1,4-dien-1-yl)-4H-chromen-4-ones. They were synthesized through a three-step transformation using acid-catalyzed aldol condensation as key step. The WST-1 cell proliferation assay showed that they have greater anti-proliferative potency than curcumin, quercetin, and genistein on both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent human prostate cancer cells.
A Comparative Analysis for Wilderness User Fee Policy

Users at both a fee and a nonfee backcountry area were surveyed between June and September, 1985. User characteristics, trip characteristics, and TCM demand functions all indicated fees did not cau...
Shorter Paths to Graph Algorithms

We illustrate the use of formal languages and relations in compact formal derivations of some graph algorithms.
The 'I' of the Camera: Essays in Film Criticism, History and Aesthetics

This is a collection of essays by a well-known film scholar and includes new chapters on Hitchcock, Griffith, Hawks, Chaplin and Renoir. They examine how theatrical melodrama is transformed by the role of the camera, the erotic dimension of film and the relationship between documentary and film.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF NON-PROGRESSIVE HYDROCEPHALUS TO INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING IN CHILDREN WITH SPINA BIFIDA CYSTICA

Seventy-five patients with variable degrees of spinal cord dysfunction secondary to spina bifida cystica have been studied with special reference to their neurological and psychological status. Their ages ranged from 5 to 21 years. The patients were divided into five different groups on the basis of functional disability secondary to spinal cord dysfunction. Those patients with a history of rapid head enlargement and who had not had neurosurgical treatment for this problem comprised 62% of the population studied (total seventy-five). These patients were considered to have non-progressive hydrocephalus. The hydrocephalic subgroup scored lower in psychological testing and presented a significant discrepancy between verbal and performance scores which could be considered a characteristic sign of brain damage. The psychological test scores of the patient with the same severe paralytic defect but without hydrocephalus were essentially normal. The physical rehabilitation potential of these patients is dependent upon the degree of physical disability, but their over-all rehabilitation achievement is largely determined by their intellectual capacity and psychosocial adjustment. We believe that if we are to improve the long-range prognosis of such children, one of the objectives of neurosurgery should be early and effective treatment of the hydrocephalus.
Comparability of Single Measurements of Serum Testosterone to the 24‐Hour Cavg in Patients Using Testosterone 2% Solution

Abstract Introduction Efficacy of testosterone replacement therapy is determined by the proportion of men with 24‐hour average serum testosterone concentration (C avg ) in the normal range. In clinical practice, monitoring and dose adjustments are based on single testosterone measurements; however, how single measurements reflect C avg is unclear. Aim This post‐hoc analysis evaluated whether single serum testosterone measurements and C avg from the same day are both in the normal range in men receiving testosterone replacement therapy. Methods In an open‐label, multicenter, titration trial, androgen‐deficient men (N = 155) were started on 60‐mg daily morning dose of testosterone 2% solution (Axiron®, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) applied to axillae (30 mg/axilla). Serum testosterone C avg was determined on Days 15, 60, and 120. If necessary, dose was adjusted to maintain C avg in the normal range (300–1,050 ng/dL). This analysis included subjects (n = 105) whose C avg was within the normal range on Days 15, 60, and 120. Main Outcome Measures Proportion of men with normal serum testosterone levels at 2, 4, or 8 hours post‐dose on Days 15, 60, and 120. Results Greater than 93% of subjects had testosterone serum levels within the normal range 2, 4, or 8 hours post‐dose on at least 1 day. In subjects with blood samples available from Days 15 and 60 or Days 15 and 120, 71.1% to 79.8% had normal levels at 2, 4, or 8 hours post‐dose on both days, and in subjects with blood samples available from Days 15, 60, and 120, 63.9% to 68.8% had normal levels at 2, 4, or 8 hours post‐application on all 3 days. Conclusion Less than 70% of single testosterone measurements made on 3 separate days were concordant with same‐day C avg for all 3 days. These findings, which are specific for testosterone 2% solution, indicate that single measurements do not always reflect the 24‐hour C avg , and may possibly lead to inappropriate dose adjustments. Muram D and Baygani S. Comparability of single measurements of serum testosterone to the 24‐hour C avg in patients using testosterone 2% solution. J Sex Med 2014;11:2826–2829.
RF characteristics of p-well GaAs MESFETs

The first experimental results on the RF performance of p-well MESFETs are presented. It is shown that the small-signal equivalent circuit for the p-well MESFET must include a series RC branch between the source and drain to properly model the undepleted well and its contact. The dependence of the equivalent circuit parameter values on the doping of the p-well is presented and shown to have only a minor effect on the RF performance. >
Ten Years of LibQual: A Study of Qualitative and Quantitative Survey Results at the University of Mississippi 2001–2010

Abstract This article analyzes quantitative adequacy gap scores and coded qualitative comments from LibQual surveys at the University of Mississippi from 2001 to 2010, looking for relationships between library policy changes and LibQual results and any other trends that emerged. Analysis found no relationship between changes in policy and survey results but did identify a number of trends across the survey period.
Auxiliary downstream elements are required for efficient polyadenylation of mammalian pre-mRNAs

We have previously identified a G-rich sequence (GRS) as an auxiliary downstream element (AUX DSE) which influences the processing efficiency of the SV40 late polyadenylation signal. We have now determined that sequences downstream of the core U-rich element (URE) form a fundamental part of mammalian polyadenylation signals. These novel AUX DSEs all influenced the efficiency of 3'-end processing in vitro by stabilizing the assembly of CstF on the core downstream URE. Three possible mechanisms by which AUX DSEs mediate efficient in vitro 3'-end processing have been explored. First, AUX DSEs can promote processing efficiency by maintaining the core elements in an unstructured domain which allows the general polyadenylation factors to efficiently assemble on the RNA substrate. Second, AUX DSEs can enhance processing by forming a stable structure which helps focus binding of CstF to the core downstream URE. Finally, the GRS element, but not the binding site for the bacteriophage R17 coat protein, can substitute for the auxiliary downstream region of the adenovirus L3 polyadenylation signal. This suggests that AUX DSE binding proteins may play an active role in stimulating 3'-end processing by stabilizing the association of CstF with the RNA substrate. AUX DSEs, therefore, serve as a integral part of the polyadenylation signal and can affect signal strength and possibly regulation.
How Have Kilochannel Infrared Instruments Improved Numerical Weather Forecasts

This talk will cover the progress to date on assimilating data from hyper-spectral infrared sounders such as AIRS and IASI into global numerical weather prediction systems to improve fore- casts and climate analyses.
Benthic–pelagic coupling on coral reefs: Feeding and growth of Caribbean sponges

Abstract Benthic–pelagic coupling and the role of bottom-up versus top-down processes are recognized as having a major impact on the community structure of intertidal and shallow subtidal marine communities. Bottom-up processes, however, are still viewed as principally affecting the outcome of top-down processes. Sponges on coral reefs are important members of the benthic community and provide a crucial coupling between water-column productivity and the benthos. Other than scleractinian corals, sponges dominate many of these habitats where water column productivity is composed of mostly autotrophic and heterotrophic picoplankton that sponges actively filter. While predation upon sponges by invertebrates, fish, and turtles occurs, the sponges Callyspongia vaginalis , Agelas conifera , and Aplysina fistularis from Florida, Belize, and the Bahamas, respectively, exhibit a consistent and significant pattern of greater biomass, rates of growth, and feeding, as does their food supply, with increasing depth. Sponges consume 65–93% of the available particulate food supply and, at all sites, sponges increase in size and growth rate as depth increases, suggesting that food supply and, therefore, bottom-up processes significantly influence the distribution and abundance of sponges in these habitats.
Relating economic infrastructure indexes to investor protection for selected emerging economies

This paper employs four indexes that capture economic infrastructure. Economic infrastructure refers to the quality of economic institutions that create an environment that may support productive activities and encourage capital accumulation. A second set of indicator variables used was related to investor protection, which includes rule of law, judicial efficiency, contract repudiation and expropriation risk. Multiple and single regressions were employed to find out whether economic infrastructure is associated with investor protection. The results are robust in that relationships hold well. Countries included for analysis were 17 market-oriented emerging economies.
Ordinary differential equations of molecular dynamics

Abstract The ordinary differential equations of Newtonian dynamics are used in atomic simulations with the method of molecular dynamics. The basic issues are surveyed and standard algorithms are described. Several algorithmic variants are discussed. Some advanced ideas relating to parallel computation are considered.
An acoustic filter based on layered structure

Acoustic filters (AFs) are key components to control wave propagation in multi-frequency systems. We present a design which selectively achieves acoustic filtering with a stop band and passive amplification at the high- and low-frequencies, respectively. Measurement results from the prototypes closely match the design predictions. The AF suppresses the high frequency aliasing echo by 14.5 dB and amplifies the low frequency transmission by 8.0 dB, increasing an axial resolution from 416 to 86 μm in imaging. The AF design approach is proved to be effective in multi-frequency systems.