cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the salivary microbiome in patients with pancreatic cancer

Clinical manifestations of pancreatic cancer often do not occur until the cancer has undergone metastasis, resulting in a very low survival rate. In this study, we investigated whether salivary bacterial profiles might provide useful biomarkers for early detection of pancreatic cancer. Using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene, we characterized the salivary microbiota of patients with pancreatic cancer and compared them to healthy patients and patients with other diseases, including pancreatic disease, non-pancreatic digestive disease/cancer and non-digestive disease/cancer. A total of 146 patients were enrolled at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center where saliva and demographic data were collected from each patient. Of these, we analyzed the salivary microbiome of 108 patients: 8 had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 78 with other diseases and 22 were classified as non-diseased (healthy) controls. Bacterial 16S rRNA sequences were amplified directly from salivary DNA extractions and subjected to high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Several bacterial genera differed in abundance in patients with pancreatic cancer. We found a significantly higher ratio of Leptotrichia to Porphyromonas in the saliva of patients with pancreatic cancer than in the saliva of healthy patients or those with other disease (Kruskal-Wallis Test; P < 0.001). Leptotrichia abundances were confirmed using real-time qPCR with Leptotrichia specific primers. Similar to previous studies, we found lower relative abundances of Neisseria and Aggregatibacter in the saliva of pancreatic cancer patients, though these results were not significant at the P < 0.05 level (K-W Test; P = 0.07 and P = 0.09 respectively). However, the relative abundances of other previously identified bacterial biomarkers, e.g., Streptococcus mitis and Granulicatella adiacens, were not significantly different in the saliva of pancreatic cancer patients. Overall, this study supports the hypothesis that bacteria abundance profiles in saliva are useful biomarkers for pancreatic cancer though much larger patient studies are needed to verify their predictive utility.
Perceptions of the food shopping environment are associated with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Objective: The present study examined whether characteristics such as quality, selection and convenience are associated with dietary intake of fruits and vegetables independent of perceived costs in an inner-city, low-income population. Design: Secondary analysis of baseline data from a social marketing intervention designed to change household dietary practices among parents of 3- to 7-year-old children. Setting: A community sample drawn from six low-income, primarily minority neighbourhoods in Chicago, IL, USA. Subjects: From the parent study, 526 respondents completed the baseline survey and were eligible for inclusion. Of this number, 495 provided complete data on sociodemographic characteristics, fruit and vegetable consumption, perceptions of the shopping environment, perceived costs of fruits and vegetables, and food shopping habits. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that more positive perceptions of the food shopping environment were associated with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables. There was an increase of approximately twofold in the likelihood of consuming three or more fruits and vegetables daily per level of satisfaction ascribed to the shopping environment. This association was independent of perceived cost, store type and sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusions: Our data show that among a generally minority and low-income population, quality, selection and convenience are important determinants of fruit and vegetable consumption. Nutrition promotion campaigns that aim to alter the built environment by increasing access to fruits and vegetables should recognize that simply increasing availability may not yield beneficial change when characteristics of the shopping context are ignored.
Serum Albumin Variants in New Guinea Indigenes

Four types of rapidly migrating and four types of slowly migrating variants of human serum albumin have been distinguished by starch gel electrophoresis [3]. Three of these were found in American Indians and the rest in Caucasians. As one adjunct to surveys undertaken for the purpose of malaria control, specimens from 724 individuals from 44 widely scattered indigenous villages in the Australian territories of Papua and New Guinea were examined in two starch gel electrophoretic systems (indicated in the legend of Figure 2) for variants of serum albumin: one rapidly migrating and one slowly migrating type of variant were observed. The electrophoretic pattern of the rapidly migrating variant has been previously reported [3]. This variant has now been found in residents of three widely separated New Guinea villages : in two of 35 people from a village (6" 10' S and 146" 12' E) in Marksham Valley in the Eastern Highlands, in one of 45 people from a village (8" 38' S and 146" 12' E) near Papondetta in the southeastern peninsula and in four of 31 people from Rossel Island (11" 21' S and 154" 16' E) in the Louisade Archipelago. An additional 12 individuals with the variant were identified during a subsequent investigation of relatives of the probands from Rossel Island, and the usual, autosomal, co-dominant pattern of inheritance observed (fig. 1). Since the sera were examined in two starch gel electrophoretic systems which are capable of detecting a variety of human albumin variants, it seems most likely that the rapidly migrating variant, despite its ascertainment in widely separated regions of New Guinea, is in each case the same. Although the individuals in this survey were not unrelated and hence no estimate of gene frequency can be made, the appearance of the variant in a few individuals from three widely separated areas
Kansei: a high-fidelity sensing testbed

Hardware and software testbeds are becoming the preferred basis for experimenting with embedded wireless sensor network applications. The Kansei testbed at the Ohio State University features a heterogeneous hardware infrastructure, with dedicated node resources for local computation, storage, data retrieval, and back-channel communication. Kansei includes a time-accurate hybrid simulation engine that uses testbed hardware resources to simulate large arrays. It supports high-fidelity sensor data generation as well as real-time data and event injection. The testbed also includes software components and an associated job-control language for complex multi-tier experiments.
ART-EMAP: A neural network architecture for object recognition by evidence accumulation

A new neural network architecture is introduced for the recognition of pattern classes after supervised and unsupervised learning. Applications include spatio-temporal image understanding and prediction and 3D object recognition from a series of ambiguous 2D views. The architecture, called ART-EMAP, achieves a synthesis of adaptive resonance theory (ART) and spatial and temporal evidence integration for dynamic predictive mapping (EMAP). ART-EMAP extends the capabilities of fuzzy ARTMAP in four incremental stages. Stage 1 introduces distributed pattern representation at a view category field. Stage 2 adds a decision criterion to the mapping between view and object categories, delaying identification of ambiguous objects when faced with a low confidence prediction. Stage 3 augments the system with a field where evidence accumulates in medium-term memory. Stage 4 adds an unsupervised learning process to fine-tune performance after the limited initial period of supervised network training. Each ART-EMAP stage is illustrated with a benchmark simulation example, using both noisy and noise-free data. >
Spatial-Temporal Aware Truth Finding in Big Data Social Sensing Applications

This paper presents a spatial-temporal aware analytical framework to solve the truth finding problem in social sensing applications. Social sensing has emerged as a new big data application paradigm of collecting observations about the physical environment from social sensors (e.g., humans) or devices on their behalf. The collected observations may be true or false, and hence are viewed as binary claims. A fundamental challenge in social sensing applications lies in accurately ascertaining the correctness of claims and the reliability of data sources without knowing either of them a priori. This challenge is referred to as truth finding. Significant efforts have been made to address this challenge but two important features were largely missing in the state-of-the-arts solutions: when and where the claims are reported by a source. In this paper, we develop a new spatial-temporal aware truth finding scheme to explicitly incorporate the time information of a claim and location information of a source into a rigorous analytical framework. The new truth finding scheme solves a constraint optimization problem to determine both the source reliability and claim correctness. We evaluated the spatial-temporal aware truth finding scheme through both an extensive simulation study and a real world case study using Twitter data feeds. The evaluation results show that our new scheme outperforms all the compared state-of-the-art baselines and significantly improves the truth finding accuracy in social sensing applications.
Non-model-based search guidance for set partitioning problems

We present a dynamic branching scheme for set partitioning problems. The idea is to trace features of the underlying MIP model and to base search decisions on the features of the current subproblem to be solved. We show how such a system can be trained efficiently by introducing minimal learning bias that traditional model-based machine learning approaches rely on. Experiments on a highly heterogeneous collection of set partitioning instances show significant gains over dynamic search guidance in Cplex as well as instance-specifically tuned pure search heuristics.
A Game Theoretic View of Efficiency Loss in Resource Allocation

Motivated by resource allocation problems in communication networks as well as power systems, we consider the design of market mechanisms for such settings which are robust to gaming behavior by market participants. Recent results in this work are reviewed, including: (1) efficiency loss guarantees for a data rate allocation mechanism first proposed by Kelly, both when link capacities are fixed and when they are elastic; (2) characterization of mechanisms that minimize the efficiency loss, within a certain class of “simple” mechanisms; (3) extensions to general networks; and (4) mechanism design for supply function bidding in electric power systems.
A new lattice formulation of the continuum

A new lattice formulation of the continuum is presented, which can be applied to quantum or classical field theories in any space–time dimension. The method is illustrated with an application to relativistic nontopological solitons. This approach also provides an effective means of removing the spurious lattice fermion degenerate solutions for the Dirac equation.
Effect of finite electron and ion temperature on magnetospheric whistler mode raytracing

Numerical raytracing is an important technique that is being used to determine the trajectory of whistler mode waves in the magnetosphere. Previous whistler mode raytracing techniques were developed by assuming cold magnetospheric plasma. In this work we analyze the effect of finite electron and ion temperature on the whistler mode wave trajectories.
Low Temperature Autoignition Behavior of Surrogate Jet Fuels with Targeted Properties in a Rapid Compression Machine

A rapid compression machine is used to study the autoignition characteristics of surrogate jet fuels with unique physical and/or chemical characteristics that may have an impact on the combustion properties. These surrogate fuels were specifically designed to study of the influence of chemical composition on autoignition, including the influence of branching in isoparaffins and effects of aromatic structures. The tests were conducted via a rapid compression machine that employed the direct test chamber charge preparation method which allows for high reproducibility of measurements. Ignition delay measurements are compared between the conventional military jet fuel and neat surrogate jet fuels. Measurements were made at a compressed pressure of 20 bar at equivalence ratios of 1.0, 0.5, and 0.25 in the low temperature region (625 K and 735 K). The results show significant variability in the ignition properties at these low temperature conditions based on the chemical structure. This variability may require attention when the engine is running outside the normal operational map or for new engine architectures in the future.
High-Frequency Trading: Implications for Markets, Regulators, and Efficiency

The sharp rise in high-frequency trading in recent years has caused average trade horizons to fall as traders attempt to exploit fleeting inconsistencies in prices with the aid of powerful computers and equally powerful algorithms. This practice is now poised to dominate the regular volume of order flow. More seriously, it brings into perspective issues such as induced excess volatility, whether the playing field is level for all market participants, and even the informational efficiency of security markets. In this article, the authors review what high-frequency trading is, and explore the links between such trading and market efficiency and volatility. Finally, they assess the potential for further trading practices to emerge, the likes of which most observers would not have imagined as feasible even 10 years ago.
Proton Transport Mechanism of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membranes

An understanding of proton transport within perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes is crucial to improve the efficiency of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Using reactive molecular dynamics si...
Accurate Image Retrieval with Unsupervised 2-Stage k-NN Re-Ranking

Many state-of-the-art image retrieval systems include a re-ranking step to refine the suggested initial ranking list so as to improve the retrieval accuracy. In this paper, we present a novel 2-stage k-NN re-ranking algorithm. In stage one, we generate an expanded list of candidate database images for re-ranking so that lower ranked ground truth images will be included and re-ranked. In stage two, we re-rank the list of candidate images using a confidence score which is calculated based on, rRBO, a new proposed ranking list similarity measure. In addition, we propose the rLoCATe image feature, which captures robust color and texture information on salient image patches, and shows superior performance in the image retrieval task. We evaluate the proposed re-ranking algorithm on various initial ranking lists created using both SIFT and rLoCATe on two popular benchmark datasets along with a large-scale one million distraction dataset. The results show that our proposed algorithm is not sensitive for different parameter configurations and it outperforms existing k-NN re-ranking methods.
Buddhist psychology: Selected insights, benefits, and research agenda for consumer psychology

Abstract Consumer psychology has been overly reliant on a small set of paradigms. As a result, the field appears less prepared than it could aspire to be for contributing new knowledge on, and relief from, our hyper-consumption era. Accordingly, I explore Buddhist psychology by drawing from its foundational framework known as the Three Marks of Existence (suffering, impermanence, and no-self) to introduce an Eastern theory of mind and provide alternative guidance on research for consumer well-being. The TME framework offers an opportunity to re-think the priorities, nature, and processes of the comparing and judging consumer mind (e.g., expectations, preferences, satisfaction); the attaching and depending consumer mind (e.g., ownership, materialism, excessive behaviors); and the deciding, choosing, and regulating consumer mind (marketplace morality, cognitive biases, values-based choice, and free will). From these considerations I generate research questions and summarizing propositions for future research. The closing discussion synopsizes the contributions and limitations, including extra opportunities for integrating Buddhist and consumer psychologies.
Resource Sharing Centric Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling for CMP Cores, Uncore, and Memory

With the breakdown of Dennard’s scaling over the past decade, performance growth of modern microprocessor design has largely relied on scaling core count in chip multiprocessors (CMPs). The challenge of chip power density, however, remains and demands new power management solutions. This work investigates a coordinated CMP systemwide Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) policy centered around shared resource utilization. This approach represents a new angle on the problem, differing from the conventional core-workload-driven approaches. The key component of our work is per-core DVFS leveraging a technique similar to TCP Vegas congestion control from networking. This TCP Vegas–based DVFS can potentially identify the synergy between power reduction and performance improvement. Further, this work includes uncore (on-chip interconnect and shared last level cache) and main memory DVFS policies coordinated with the per-core DVFS policy. Full system simulations on PARSEC benchmarks show that our technique reduces total energy dissipation by over 47p across all benchmarks with less than 2.3p performance degradation. Our work also leads to 12p more energy savings compared to a prior work CMP DVFS policy.
Extracorporeal Corpus-Venous Shunting for Priapism

We report a case in which extracorporeal circulation was used as an alternative to other forms of corpus-venous shunting and resulted in complete detumescence and maintenance of potency. The relative simplicity and the ability to repeat the procedure in cases of recurrent priapism suggest this as a reasonable form of treatment in patients who do not respond to conservative measures.
Current Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Comparative Review.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article is to review aspects of guidelines pertinent to radiologists involved in the diagnosis or treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. CONCLUSION. Early diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma are important because only 10% of patients meet the criteria for curative therapy at the time of diagnosis. Several organizations have developed guidelines for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Radiologists play a pivotal role in every aspect of these guidelines.
Steric and Electronic Influence on Proton-Coupled Electron-Transfer Reactivity of a Mononuclear Mn(III)-Hydroxo Complex

A mononuclear hydroxomanganese(III) complex was synthesized utilizing the N5 amide-containing ligand 2-[bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)]amino-N-2-methyl-quinolin-8-yl-acetamidate (dpaq2Me ). This complex is similar to previously reported [MnIII(OH)(dpaqH)]+ [Inorg. Chem. 2014, 53, 7622–7634] but contains a methyl group adjacent to the hydroxo moiety. This α-methylquinoline group in [MnIII(OH)(dpaq2Me)]+ gives rise to a 0.1 A elongation in the Mn–N(quinoline) distance relative to [MnIII(OH)(dpaqH)]+. Similar bond elongation is observed in the corresponding Mn(II) complex. In MeCN, [MnIII(OH)(dpaq2Me)]+ reacts rapidly with 2,2′,6,6′-tetramethylpiperidine-1-ol (TEMPOH) at −35 °C by a concerted proton–electron transfer (CPET) mechanism (second-order rate constant k2 of 3.9(3) M–1 s–1). Using enthalpies and entropies of activation from variable-temperature studies of TEMPOH oxidation by [MnIII(OH)(dpaq2Me)]+ (ΔH‡ = 5.7(3) kcal–1 M–1; ΔS‡ = −41(1) cal M–1 K–1), it was determined that [MnIII(OH)(dpaq2Me)]+ oxidizes TEMP...
Residual and Systemic Efficacy of Chlorantraniliprole and Flubendiamide Against Corn Earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Soybean.

Experiments were conducted in Mississippi from 2013 to 2015 to determine the systemic and residual efficacy of chlorantraniliprole and flubendiamide against corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), in soybean. Both insecticides were applied at V4 and R3. Ten leaves that were present at the time of application and 10 newly emerged leaves that were not present at the time of application were collected to measure residual and systemic efficacy, respectively. Ten pods were removed from each plot at R5.5. For all assays, corn earworm larvae were placed on plant material. Chlorantraniliprole appeared to provide systemic control of H. zea , but was dependent on soybean growth stage at the time of application. In the V4 experiment, chlorantraniliprole resulted in greater mortality than the control on new leaves at 7 d after treatment, but not at 14 d. In the R3 experiment, chlorantraniliprole resulted in greater than 90% mortality on new leaves at all evaluation intervals. Mortality of H. zea on new leaves was <17% for flubendiamide and was not different than the control. Both insecticides resulted in significant mortality of H. zea on leaves that were present at the time of application for at least 31 d after application. Chlorantraniliprole resulted in greater mortality than flubendiamide at 24 and 31 d. Neither insecticide resulted in mortality of H. zea feeding on reproductive structures. These results suggest that chlorantraniliprole moves to new vegetative structures but not to reproductive structures of soybean, and that flubendiamide does not move systemically.
Intertrochanteric/Subtrochanteric Fracture

Various common injuries in the pelvis and lower extremity are investigated in this section. Significant attention is paid not only to proper diagnostic examination and imaging, but also to optimal non-operative and operative treatment options to manage these conditions.
Treatment of men with high-risk prostate cancer based on race, insurance coverage, and access to advanced technology

Abstract Purpose We characterized factors related to nondefinitive management (NDM) of patients with high-risk prostate cancer and assessed impact from race, insurance status, and facility-level volume of technologically advanced prostate cancer treatments (i.e., intensity-modulated radiation therapy, robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy) on this outcome. Methods We identified men with high-risk localized prostate cancer (based on D׳Amico criteria) in the National Cancer Database (2010–2012). Primary outcome was NDM (i.e., delayed/no treatment with prostatectomy/radiation therapy or androgen-deprivation monotherapy). Treating facilities were classified by quartiles of proportions of patients treated with advanced technology. Multivariable regression estimated odds of primary outcome based on race, insurance status, and facility-level technology use, and evaluated for interactions between these covariates. Results Among 60,300 patients, 9,265 (15.4%) received NDM. This was more common among non-White men (P Conclusions Technology use at a facility correlates with high-quality prostate cancer care and is associated with diminished disparities based on insurance status and patient race. More research is required to characterize other facility-level factors explaining these findings.
Genomic characterization of human papillomavirus-positive and -negative human squamous cell cancer cell lines

// Nene N. Kalu 1, 6 , Tuhina Mazumdar 1 , Shaohua Peng 1 , Li Shen 2 , Vaishnavi Sambandam 1 , Xiayu Rao 2 , Yuanxin Xi 2 , Lerong Li 2 , Yuan Qi 2 , Frederico O. Gleber-Netto 3 , Ameeta Patel 3 , Jing Wang 2, 4 , Mitchell J. Frederick 5 , Jeffrey N. Myers 3, 4 , Curtis R. Pickering 3, 4 and Faye M. Johnson 1, 4 1 Department of Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 2 Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 3 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 4 The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas, USA 5 Department of Otolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA 6 Current/Present address: Lonza Viral Therapy, Houston, Texas, USA Correspondence to: Faye M. Johnson, email: fmjohns@mdanderson.org Keywords: human papillomavirus, cervical cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, cell lines, mutation Received: June 22, 2017 Accepted: August 21, 2017 Published: September 21, 2017 ABSTRACT Human cancer cell lines are the most frequently used preclinical models in the study of cancer biology and the development of therapeutics. Although anatomically diverse, human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven cancers have a common etiology and similar mutations that overlap with but are distinct from those found in HPV-negative cancers. Building on prior studies that have characterized subsets of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CESC) cell lines separately, we performed genomic, viral gene expression, and viral integration analyses on 74 cell lines that include all readily-available HPV-positive (9 HNSCC, 8 CESC) and CESC (8 HPV-positive, 2 HPV-negative) cell lines and 55 HPV-negative HNSCC cell lines. We used over 700 human tumors for comparison. Mutation patterns in the cell lines were similar to those of human tumors. We confirmed HPV viral protein and mRNA expression in the HPV-positive cell lines. We found HPV types in three CESC cell lines that are distinct from those previously reported. We found that cell lines and tumors had similar patterns of viral gene expression; there were few sites of recurrent HPV integration. As seen in tumors, HPV integration did appear to alter host gene expression in cell lines. The HPV-positive cell lines had higher levels of p16 and lower levels of Rb protein expression than did the HPV-negative lines. Although the number of HPV-positive cell lines is limited, our results suggest that these cell lines represent suitable models for studying HNSCC and CESC, both of which are common and lethal.
A New Ichnospecies of Gyrolithes from the Austin Chalk, Upper Cretaceous, Texas, USA

Gyrolithes, a helical marine trace fossil, occurs in beds of the Austin Chalk near Waco, McLennan County, Texas. The new ichnospecies Gyrolithes texanus is characterized by unique morphology and wa...
Student preconceptions and reality: A survey exercise to teach wealth inequality

Abstract This paper presents a way to enhance student interest and learning when teaching economic inequality. The approach draws on a well-known survey conducted by Norton and Ariely (2011). The approach involves surveying students, asking them to estimate the current level of wealth inequality in the US, and asking them to state their ideal level of wealth inequality. As in Norton and Ariely’s survey of a representative sample of Americans, our students underestimated actual wealth inequality and preferred a distribution of wealth for the US that was more equal than any country’s distribution. We suggest ways the student survey results can be presented and discussed. We also provide Stata code and an Excel workbook to ease effective classroom presentation of the survey results. This approach to beginning the study of inequality piqued our students’ interest and helped them understand how inequality is measured.
Lower level noise exposure that produces only TTS modulates the immune homeostasis of cochlear macrophages.

Noise exposure producing temporary threshold shifts (TTS) has been demonstrated to cause permanent changes to cochlear physiology and hearing function. Several explanations have been purported to underlie these long-term changes in cochlear function, such as damage to sensory cell stereocilia and synaptic connections between sensory cells and their innervation by spiral ganglion neurons, and demyelination of the auditory nerve. Though these structural defects have been implicated in hearing difficulty, cochlear responses to this stress damage remains poorly understood. Here, we report the activation of the cochlear immune system following exposure to lower level noise (LLN) that causes only TTS. Using multiple morphological, molecular and functional parameters, we assessed the responses of macrophages, the primary immune cell population in the cochlea, to the LLN exposure. This study reveals that a LLN that causes only TTS increases the macrophage population in cochlear regions immediately adjacent to sensory cells and their innervations. Many of these cells acquire an activated morphology and express the immune molecules CCL2 and ICAM1 that are important for macrophage inflammatory activity and adhesion. However, LLN exposure reduces macrophage phagocytic ability. While the activated morphology of cochlear macrophages reverses, the complete recovery is not achieved 2 months after the LLN exposure. Taken together, these observations clearly implicate the cochlear immune system in the cochlear response to LLN that causes no permanent threshold change.
Cosmogenic production of 39 Ar and 37 Ar in argon

We have experimentally determined the production rate of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ and $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$ from cosmic ray neutron interactions in argon at sea level. Understanding these production rates is important for argon-based dark matter experiments that plan to utilize argon extracted from deep underground because it is imperative to know what the ingrowth of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ will be during the production, transport, and storage of the underground argon. These measurements also allow for the prediction of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ and $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$ concentrations in the atmosphere which can be used to determine the presence of other sources of these isotopes. Through controlled irradiation with a neutron beam that mimics the cosmic ray neutron spectrum, followed by direct counting of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ and $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$ decays with sensitive ultralow background proportional counters, we determined that the production rate from cosmic ray neutrons at sea level is expected to be $(759\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}128)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/({\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}\mathrm{day})$ for $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$, and $(51.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}7.4)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/({\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}\mathrm{day})$ for $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$. We also performed a survey of the alternate production mechanisms based on the state of knowledge of the associated cross sections to obtain a total sea-level cosmic ray production rate of $(1048\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}133)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/({\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}\mathrm{day})$ for $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}, (56.7\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}7.5)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/({\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}\mathrm{day})$ for $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$ in underground argon, and $(92\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}13)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/({\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}\mathrm{day})$ for $^{37}\mathrm{Ar}$ in atmospheric argon.
Extracting health-related causality from twitter messages using natural language processing.

Twitter messages (tweets) contain various types of topics in our daily life, which include health-related topics. Analysis of health-related tweets would help us understand health conditions and concerns encountered in our daily lives. In this paper we evaluate an approach to extracting causalities from tweets using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. Lexico-syntactic patterns based on dependency parser outputs are used for causality extraction. We focused on three health-related topics: “stress”, “insomnia”, and “headache.” A large dataset consisting of 24 million tweets are used. The results show the proposed approach achieved an average precision between 74.59 to 92.27% in comparisons with human annotations. Manual analysis on extracted causalities in tweets reveals interesting findings about expressions on health-related topic posted by Twitter users.
The effect of body mass index and its interaction with family history on hypertension: a case–control study

BMI is an indicator commonly used in the world to measure the weight and height of the body, it reflects the comprehensive outcome of acquired lifestyle; FH is a sign reflecting the main role of genetic factors. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of BMI and interaction with FH on hypertension risk in Shanghai adult population. According to l:l matched pairs design, 342 cases and 342 controls were selected and investigated in this study, this study was performed in Shanghai, China. Participants received face-to-face questionnaire survey, anthropometric tests and laboratory examinations. Relevant indicators that reflect obesity including BMI and waist to hip ratio (WHR) were calculated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the association between factors and hypertension risk. Interactive effect was evaluated by synergy index (SI), relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), attributable proportion due to interaction (AP) and the percentage of the interaction between the pure factors (PAP). Among 684 study participants aged 28–87 years old, the differences of mean age and height between case group and control group are no significant (p > 0.05), but the differences of mean of weight, WC, HC, BMI and WHR are significant (p < 0.001). The OR of FH on hypertension is 4.986 (95%CI: 2.832~ 8.877); the OR of BMI on hypertension is respectively: low weight is 1.528 (95%CI: 0.551~ 4.239), overweight is 3.333 (95%CI: 1.678~ 6.617) and obesity is 7.312 (95%CI: 3.556~ 15.035). The OR of interaction between FH and BMI to hypertension is 12.993 (95%CI: 7.426~22.734). SI is 1.90 (95% CI: 1.48~3.78), RERI is 5.67 (95% CI: 1.66~11.88), AP is 43.87% (95% CI: 12.84~91.88%), and PAP is 47.55% (95%CI: 13.91~99.58%). FH and BMI have positive interaction on hypertension. 43.87% of hypertension exposed to both FH and BMI was attributable to the interaction of them. FH and BMI are significant higher risks of hypertension; with the increase of BMI, the risk of hypertension will increase more. FH and BMI have positive interaction with hypertension, the interaction is greater than the sum of two independent actions.
Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering: Exploiting Disciplinary Convergence to Address Grand Challenges

We are living in an era driven by exponentials and defined by hyperconnectivity, growing complexity, and increasing convergence among disciplines. In response to these trends, and at the urging of the research community, systems engineering (SE) is undergoing a timely transformation that includes developing formal underpinnings and reaching out to other disciplines to make connections and identify synergies. The impetus for this transformation stems, in part, from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges, which are mostly complex systems problems requiring contributions from multiple disciplines. Against this backdrop, this article defines various convergence types and the integrative discipline of transdisciplinary SE (TSE). TSE, enabled, in large part, by the growing convergence of engineering with other disciplines, has the potential to achieve unprecedented advances in both the thinking and the methods needed to address complex sociotechnical system problems. Using an NAE Grand Challenge problem as an example, this article illustrates the relevance of TSE and the opportunities available to the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (SMCS) to contribute to this important area through collaboration between its technical committees and working groups from sister societies, such as the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).
Host factors in susceptibility to urinary tract infections.

Acute uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) occur in millions of young women each year and the majority of these infections are caused by Escherichia coli.
An evolution algorithm of the distribution network reconfiguration to avoid the infeasible solution

The importance of the distribution network gains more attention due to the development of the smart grid and the renewable energy. A method to guarantee the radial structure of the distribution network reconfiguration schemes is proposed in this paper based on the features of the network. The self-own switches of each circle are proposed. The switch that is going to be opened during the iteration is selected in random from the closed switches of circles, which can ensure the optimal scheme. The operation of the self-own switch can guarantee the radial structure of the network. Furthermore, the proposed method can handle networks with different structures effectively, including the circle with circle. The results with IEEE33 and IEEE69 tested system demonstrate that the proposed method can find the optimal solution of the distribution network reconfiguration effectively. Meanwhile, the infeasible structures are avoided.
Introduction to Biliary Manual

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is one of the most common operations performed worldwide. Bile duct injury (BDI) with its devastating consequences for patients is the most feared LC complication, and its incidence has not decreased over time despite accumulating experience. To address this issue, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgery (SAGES) formed the Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force that aims to promote a universal culture of safety in LC to reduce BDI. This biliary manual provides its readers with an excellent resource for essential knowledge relevant to the care of patients with gallbladder disease. It addresses in-depth LC safe practices all general surgeons should be familiar with.
“Ultramicroporous” silica-based supported inorganic membranes

Abstract Ultramicroporous (Pore radius 10 ) separation layers with thicknesses in the range of 200-1200 A were deposited from polymeric silicate sols onto commercial alumina supports using a dip-coating/casting procedure. The silicate sols were prepared using a two-step acidcatalyzed hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane under pH conditions where the condensation rate is low, producing polymers of low fractal dimension which readily interpenetrate during film deposition to provide amorphous layers with extremely small pore sizes. At low aging times (ti´tge,-0.05), the acid catalyst concentration had a dramatic effect on the deposited membrane permeability. Using 1N HCl a discrete, featureless membrane layer was deposited on top of the mesoporous support (as revealed by TEM), while lower acid concentration (0.44 N) resulted in polymer penetration and filling of the support pores rather than the deposition of a discrete external layer. This was attributed to the effect of acid concentration on the polymer condensation rate during the final stages of membrane deposition and drying. Deposited membrane layer thickness was found to depend on sol aging time, solvent dilution, and dipping/casting time. Helium permeabilities for deposited layers were N 1000-2000 barren Measured reductions (65-90%) in the helium and nitrogen permeation rates upon membrane deposition indicated pore radii less than 10 A for the deposited membrane layers.
Characterizing #Backwoods on Instagram: "The Number One Selling All Natural Cigar".

We sought to assess the proportion of Backwoods (Imperial Tobacco Group Brands LLC) cigar-related posts to Instagram that may contain misleading claims, nature-evoking imagery, and appealing flavors. Inclusion criteria for this study included an Instagram post with the hashtag “#backwoods” from 30 August to 12 September 2018. Rules were established to content analyze (n = 1206) posts. Categories included misleading packaging (i.e., the post contained an image of a Backwoods product with the descriptor “natural” on the packaging), misleading promo (i.e., the corresponding caption to the post contained hashtag(s) like “#natural”, “#authentic”, “#alwaystrue”), nature-evoking imagery (i.e., the post contained images of grass, water, and pastural views along with a Backwoods product), flavors (i.e., the post contained a Backwoods product with brand-specific flavors on the packaging), flavor promo (i.e., the corresponding caption to the post contained hashtag(s) of Backwoods’ brand-specific flavors), marijuana-related (i.e., the post contained an image of marijuana next to a Backwoods pack, rolled cigars visibly contained marijuana, or hollowed-out cigars next to marijuana), smoking (the post contained an image of smoke or a lit cigar), brand-specific promo (i.e., the post contained an image of a Backwoods t-shirt, sweatshirt, hat, etc.), and perceived gender. Among the posts analyzed, 645 (53.5%) were marijuana-related, 564 (46.8%) were flavors, 463 (38.4%) were misleading packaging, 335 (27.8%) were flavor promo, 309 (25.6%) were misleading promo, 188 (15.6%) were nature-evoking imagery, 165 (13.7%) were smoking, 157 (13.0%) were brand-specific promo, and 239 (19.8%) were perceived male gender. Backwoods cigar-related posts to Instagram often contained misleading images and promotions of a “natural” tobacco product, images of marijuana use (in the form of blunt-making), brand-specific flavors, smoking, and promotional merchandise. Misleading images and the depictions of marijuana use in addition to the variety of flavor options may increase product appeal to consumers. These results underscore the need for comprehensive regulation of cigar products similar to cigarettes.
Extreme Ray Feasibility Cuts for Unit Commitment with Uncertainty

The unit commitment problem with uncertainty is considered one of the most challenging power system scheduling problems. Different stochastic models have been proposed to solve the problem, but suc...
Ultrasound-Guided Ventricular Puncture During Cranioplasty

Background In patients with brain parenchyma extending beyond the craniectomy defect, cerebrospinal fluid diversion may be necessary to facilitate proper bone flap replacement during cranioplasty. In this study, we present our case series of patients who underwent ultrasound-guided ventricular puncture during cranioplasty and report periprocedural metrics and clinical outcomes. Methods A retrospective study of patients who presented for cranioplasty that required ultrasound-guided ventricular puncture was performed. We also describe our operative technique for safely and accurately performing ultrasound-guided ventricular puncture. Results Ten consecutive patients were included in the overall patient cohort, all of whom required intraoperative ventricular puncture to achieve brain relaxation. The mean time between decompressive hemicraniectomy and cranioplasty was 145.4 days (range 19–419). The mean duration of cranioplasty operation was 146 minutes (range 74–193). All patients underwent ultrasound-guided ventricular puncture, and 5 patients had an external ventricular drain left in place for postoperative intracranial pressure monitoring and possible cerebrospinal fluid drainage. There were no instances of pericatheter hemorrhage. One patient presented postoperatively with wound infection, and this same patient was the only one in the cohort who required subsequent ventriculoperitoneal shunt for symptomatic hydrocephalus. Conclusions Ultrasound-guided ventricular puncture is safe, feasible, and efficacious for use during cranioplasty to help facilitate bone flap replacement in patients with “full” brains, with an overall low rate of associated periprocedural complications. Although further studies are needed in a larger patient cohort, this technique should be considered to help reduce the morbidity associated with cranioplasty.
Romantic Conceptions of Life

This chapter argues that the German Romantics brought life and semiotics into an influential proximity. Assessing the current scholarship as riven by the question of the “organic,” I show how force and meaning—always mediated by sign-giving—were set on a historical collision course during the Enlightenment that issued in their near identity in the works of Friedrich Schelling, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, and Novalis. This chapter concludes with the suggestion that the role that electricity played in this association of life and signs makes the romantic philosophy of life an important predecessor of media theory and the philosophy of technology.
Discriminative Bayesian Filtering for the Semi-supervised Augmentation of Sequential Observation Data

We aim to construct a probabilistic classifier to predict a latent, time-dependent boolean label given an observed vector of measurements. Our training data consists of sequences of observations paired with a label for precisely one of the observations in each sequence. As an initial approach, we learn a baseline supervised classifier by training on the labeled observations alone, ignoring the unlabeled observations in each sequence. We then leverage this first classifier and the sequential structure of our data to build a second training set as follows: (1) we apply the first classifier to each unlabeled observation and then (2) we filter the resulting estimates to incorporate information from the labeled observations and create a much larger training set. We describe a Bayesian filtering framework that can be used to perform step 2 and show how a second classifier built using the latter, filtered training set can outperform the initial classifier.
Expected Organizational Costs for Inserting Prevalence Information Into Lumbar Spine Imaging Reports.

Abstract Background Modifying physician behavior to more closely align with guideline-based care can be challenging. Few effective strategies resulting in appropriate spine-related health care have been reported. The Lumbar Imaging With Reporting of Epidemiology (LIRE) intervention did not result in reductions in spine care but did in opioid prescriptions written. Objectives To estimate organizational resource needs and costs associated with implementing a pragmatic, decision support-type intervention that inserted age- and modality-matched prevalence information for common lumbar spine imaging findings, using site-based resource use data from the LIRE trial. Research design Time and cost estimation associated with implementing the LIRE intervention in a health organization. Subjects Providers and patients assessed in the LIRE trial. Measures Expected personnel costs required to implement the LIRE intervention. Results Annual salaries were converted to daily average per person costs, ranging from $400 to $2,200 per day (base case) for personnel (range: $300-$2,600). Estimated total average cost for implementing LIRE was $5,009 (range: $2,651-$12,020), including conducting pilot testing with providers. Costs associated with a small amount of time for a radiologist (6-12 hours) and imaging-ordering providers (1-8 hours each) account for approximately 75% of the estimated total cost. Conclusions The process of implementing an intervention for lumbar spine imaging reports containing age- and modality-appropriate epidemiological benchmarks for common imaging findings required radiologists, imaging-ordering providers, information technology specialists, and limited testing and monitoring. The LIRE intervention seems to be a relatively low-cost, evidence-based, complementary tool that can be easily integrated into the reporting of spine imaging.