cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Importance of Appraisal

We are indefeasibly, not to say inherently, beings that not only accept and reject but do so for what we regard as reasons. In this study, I have not been able to do more than point to the whole of the institutional systems that have been developed in the framework of which these reasons are articulated, but the need for these systems, which are implicit in appraising itself has, I think, been made sufficiently clear. Appraisal is therefore important (to use this colorless but indispensable term) because it is evident that normally we do not leave our acceptance and rejections, our demands, at the level of childish screaming for compliance, of merely pounding the table. It is important first of all because it creates or recognizes the category of importance itself, of putting first things first and every other thing in its place — or wholly denying it a place.
SU-F-T-633: Cyberknife Boost Versus Conventional Tandem and Ovoid Treatment for Cervical Cancer

Purpose: Brachytherapy has been the standard of care for cervical cancer for 100 years. The treatment can be administered using an HDR (high dose rate) remote afterloader with a 192Ir source in an outpatient setting, a PDR afterloader with a 192Ir source, or with LDR manually loaded or a remote afterloader utilizing 192Ir or 137Cs sources in an inpatient setting. The procedure involves the placement of a tandem and ovoid, tandem and ring, or tandem and cylinder applicator in an operating room setting with the patient under general anesthesia. Inaccuracies introduced into the process occurring between placement of the applicator and actual delivery can introduce uncertainty into the actual dose delivered to the tumor and critical organs. In this study we seek to investigate the dosimetric difference between an SBRT-based radiotherapy boost and conventional Brachytherapy in treating cervical cancer. Methods: Five HDR tandem and ovoid patients were planned using the Brachyvision treatment planning system and treated in four fractions using the Varian Varisource afterloader (Varian Medical Systems). For the same cohort, the patient planning CTs were imported into Multiplan (Accuray Inc) and a dose/fractionation-equivalent CyberKnife SBRT plan was retrospectively generated. Dosimetric quantities such as target/CTV D90, V90, D2cc for rectum, bladder, and bowel were measured and compared between the two modalities. Results: The CTV D90 for the tandem and ovoid was 2540cGy (90.7%) and 3009cGy (107.5%) for the CyberKnife plan. The D2cc for the rectum, bladder, and bowel were 1576cGy, 1641cGy, and 996cGy for the tandem and ovoid and 1374cGy, 1564cGy, and 1547cGy for CyberKnife. Conclusion: The D2cc doses to critical structures are comparable in both modalities. The CTV coverage is far superior for the CyberKnife plan. The dose distribution for CyberKnife has the advantage of increased conformality and lower maximum CTV dose.
For Shame: The Public Humiliation of Prosecutors by Judges to Correct Wrongful Convictions

Shaming sanctions have a long history in the United States. In the colonial era, judges routinely subjected criminal offenders to a variety of public humiliations that included branding and even maiming. These punishments were designed to exact retribution, deter future misdeeds, and to impress upon the offender the importance of adhering to community norms. Shaming sanctions largely disappeared in the early 1800s with the rise of the prison industrial complex, only to reappear in courtrooms across the country in the early 1990s, when trial judges began to demand that offenders write public apologies, mop streets they had desecrated, and wear signs proclaiming their offenses to the world. Now a new shame sanction is on the horizon with a wholly unexpected cast of characters. The shamers are federal appellate judges; the shamed are prosecutors who vigorously defend criminal convictions that are infected by state-sanctioned misconduct. At stake are the reputation of the prosecutor’s office and the outcome of the case. The federal judges have no legal means of granting relief because of a statute that bars overturning state court judgments except under the most extreme circumstances. Hands tied, the judges turn oral argument into a public theatre in which they deploy shaming sanctions against prosecutors in live-streaming video that is later posted to YouTube and watched by thousands if not tens of thousands of people. In these arguments, the judges use moral condemnation to attempt to persuade the prosecution that its position is morally abhorrent. This article explores the use of this new shaming sanction from an ethical and efficacy perspective, asking if it is a proper use of judicial authority and more practically, if it works. The Article draws three conclusions based on a small sample of cases. First, that as judges grow more social-media savvy and video-streaming oral arguments becomes a more common practice, this shaming sanction will likely continue. Second, the efficacy of the sanction depends upon the ability of the lawyers to publicize the oral argument so that it reaches the greatest number of viewers possible. It is only when the moral outrage become a matter of public knowledge that the prosecutor’s office is likely to reconsider its position because of mounting political pressure. Finally, while shaming sanctions are arguably “extra-judicial” in that they are not rooted in legal doctrine, there is nothing unethical about using them. To the contrary, the Article concludes that by shaming prosecutors in this particular, case-specific way, federal judges are carrying out their essential mandate: to protect the individual – however powerless and despised – against the abuse of authority by the State.
A Comparison of Perioperative Management of Anomalous Aortic Origin of a Coronary Artery Between an Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Center.

Background:Anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery (AAOCA) presents in varying age-groups. Assuming management algorithms differ between pediatric and adult institutions, we compared the perioperative management of patients with AAOCA at two such centers.Methods:A retrospective review was conducted at a pediatric and an adult institution of patients 14 years or older who underwent surgical repair of AAOCA between January 2000 and May 2014.Results:Twenty patients from the pediatric center (median age: 16.5 years, range: 14-18 years) and nine patients from the adult center (median age: 40 years, range: 37-52 years) were included. An anomalous aortic origin of a right coronary artery was the most frequent pathology at each institution. Chest pain was the most common presenting symptom at both institutions. Preoperative echocardiography was performed in 95% patients at the pediatric center and in 100% of patients at the adult center. Cardiac catheterization was utilized more frequently at the adult cente...
Closing the power delivery/heat removal cycle for heterogeneous multi-scale systems

The semiconductor industry is poised to continue the historic Moore's law trend of doubling the level of integration every 1.5–2 years, even as the virtuous cycle benefits of Dennard scaling are quickly vanishing. Once devices no longer scale laterally, the only way to continue to increase areal density is by going vertical using 3D-IC. However, 3D-IC raises several fundamental difficulties in addition to the clear fabrication challenges: as the number of physical layers in a 3D-IC stack increases, from the present 2.5D multi-layer solutions (with an interposer, or only a couple of layers), to true 3D many-layer stacks, the energy cycle problem of delivering power to and removing heat from the 3D stack become daunting. The main reason for this power wall is the mismatch between the volumetric (cubic) power consumption and heat dissipation in 3D-IC, and the areal (quadratic) power delivery and heat removal through a 2D surface (top and/or bottom of the stack). In this paper we propose MultiSpot, a framework to provide fundamental solutions to the 3D-IC power wall that are also practical.
Comparative Cardiac Risks of Methylphenidate and Amphetamines in Treatment of ADHD

The risk for adverse cardiac events in subjects between 3 and 20 years of age treated with methylphenidate or amphetamine salts for ADHD was determined in a retrospective study at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
To Disclose or Not to Disclose Climate-Change Risk in Form 10-K: Does Materiality Lie in the Eyes of the Beholder?

We examine the relation between managers’ decisions whether to disclose climate-change risk (CCR) in Form 10-K and firm risk. Ambiguity about the materiality of CCR and the SEC’s inconsistent enforcement of CCR disclosures cause uncertainty about whether disclosing CCR is mandatory or voluntary. We hand-collect data over a seven-year period from about 3,000 Form 10-K filings of S&P 500 firms on whether they disclosed CCR. We use SASB’s Materiality Map™ to proxy for report users’ judgments of the materiality of CCR. We find that the cost of equity (COE) of disclosing firms is 21.3 bps lower than the COE of non-disclosing firms. More importantly, we find that for firms where report users judge CCR as material, the COE of disclosers is 49.1 bps lower than that of non-disclosers. In contrast, we find no association between disclosing CCR and COE for firms where report users judge CCR as not material.
Tangible Landscape: A Hands-on Method for Teaching Terrain Analysis

This paper presents novel and effective methods for teaching about topography--or shape of terrain--and assessing 3-dimensional spatial learning using tangibles. We used Tangible Landscape--a tangible interface for geospatial modeling--to teach multiple hands-on tangible lessons on the concepts of grading (i.e., earthwork), geomorphology, and hydrology. We examined students' ratings of the system's usability and user experience and tested students' acquisition and transfer of knowledge. Our results suggest the physicality of the objects enabled the participants to effectively interact with the system and each other, positively impacting ratings of usability and task-specific knowledge building. These findings can potentially advance the design and implementation of tangible teaching methods for the topics of geography, design, architecture, and engineering.
The AI stack: a blueprint for developing and deploying artificial intelligence

This paper provides an abstract technology model called the AI Stack for the development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence, and the strategic investment in research, technology, and organizational resources required to achieve asymmetric capability. Over the past five years, there has been a drastic acceleration in the development of artificial intelligence fueled by exponential increases in computational power and machine learning. This has resulted in corporations, institutions, and nation-states vastly accelerating their investment in AI to (a) perceive and synthesize massive amounts of data, (b) understand the contextual importance of the data and potential tactical/strategic impacts, (c) accelerate and optimize decision-making, and (d) enable human augmentation and deploy autonomous systems. From a national security and defense perspective, AI is a crucial technology to enhance situational awareness and accelerate the realization of timely and actionable intelligence that can save lives. For many current defense applications, this often requires the processing of visual data, images, or full motion video from legacy platforms and sensors designed decades before recent advances in machine learning, computer vision, and AI. The AI Stack - and the fusion of the interdependent technology layers contained within it - provides a streamlined approach to visualize, plan, and prioritize strategic investments in commercial technologies and transformational research to leverage and continuously advance AI across operational domains, and achieve asymmetric capability through human augmentation and autonomous systems. One application of AI for the Department of Defense is to provide automation and human augmentation for analyzing full motion video to drastically enhance the safety of our deployed soldiers by enhancing their situational awareness and enabling them to make faster decisions on more timely information to save lives.
Stochastic analysis of qualitative dynamics

We extend qualitative reasoning with estimations of the relative likelihoods of the possible qualitative behaviors. We estimate the likelihoods by viewing the dynamics of a system as a Markov chain over its transition graph. This corresponds to adding probabilities to each of the transitions. The transition probabilities follow directly from theoretical considerations in simple cases. In the remaining cases, one must derive them empirically from numeric simulations, experiments, or subjective estimates. Once the transition probabilities have been estimated, the standard theory of Markov chains provides extensive information about asymptotic behavior, including a partition into persistent and transient states, the probabilities for ending up in each state, and settling times. Even rough estimates of transition probabilities provide useful qualitative information about ultimate behaviors, as the analysis of many of these quantities is insensitive to perturbations in the probabilities. The algorithms are straightforward and require time cubic in the number of qualitative states. The analysis also goes through for symbolic probability estimates, although at the price of exponential-time worst-case performance.
Contemporary comic books and Hollywood noir: remediating cinematic style and cultural memory in The Fade Out

This article explores Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ recycling of film noir images and tropes in The Fade Out, a twelve-issue comic book series that borrows heavily from photographic and cinematic ...
Feature Extraction and RUL Prediction of SAC Solder Alloy Packages by Different Statistical and Time-frequency Analysis Techniques under Simultaneous Temperature-Vibration Loads

This study focuses on finding feature vectors from the strain signals of electronic assemblies under vibration load of 5 G acceleration levels at different temperatures. The strain measurements measured from the strain gauges fixed at different locations of the PCB were used to acquire signals at the different time of vibration of the packages. Different analyses were done in finding the feature vector for predicting failure of the packages under combined temperature and vibration loads. These include statistical as well as time-frequency based signal processing techniques. Frequency based techniques were used to understand the frequency content of the signal during vibration. Time-Frequency based techniques like spectrogram and Periodogram were used to find the change in the frequency content of the signal with time during vibration. Statistical techniques were combined with parametric and non-parametric spectral estimation techniques for identification of the feature vector. Higher order time-frequency distribution techniques like Wigner-Vile and Pseudo-Wigner vile distributions were also used to identify and verify the feature vectors. A combination of statistical and frequency based techniques were used to get the variation of different feature vectors and identify the patterns of the feature vectors with the change in the temperature levels. These feature vectors are used to predict the RUL of the packages.
Effect of pretreatment steroids on the development of immune related adverse events.

e15095Background: Immune checkpoint blockade is being used with increasing frequency across a variety of tumor types. Corticosteroids are used in diverse clinical scenarios and can have immune-modu...
Against canon: engaging the imperative of race in rhetoric

In her 2016 essay in Communication Review, Lisa A. Flores surveys the broad absence of race in rhetorical studies. Flores builds her case by outlining the fraught relationship that rhetoric has had...
Public Referral, Viral Campaign, and Celebrity Participation: A Social Network Analysis of the Ice Bucket Challenge on YouTube

AbstractPublic referral is a viral campaign strategy that takes advantage of the existence of networked culture in social media. The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge is an exemplary instance of a public r...
Norepinephrine and Vasopressin Compared With Norepinephrine and Epinephrine in Adults With Septic Shock

Background: The optimal adjuvant vasopressor to norepinephrine in septic shock remains controversial. Objective: To compare durations of shock-free survival between adjuvant vasopressin and epinephrine. Methods: A retrospective, single-center, matched cohort study of adults with septic shock refractory to norepinephrine was conducted. Patients receiving norepinephrine not at target mean arterial pressure (MAP; 65 mm Hg) were initiated on vasopressin or epinephrine to raise MAP to target. Vasopressin-exposed patients were matched to epinephrine-exposed patients using propensity scores. Mortality outcomes were examined using multivariable Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. Results: Of 166 patients, 96 (entire cohort) were included in the propensity score-matched cohort. Shock-free survival durations in the first 7 days were similar between epinephrine- and vasopressin-exposed patients in the matched cohort (median = 13.2 hours, interquartile range [IQR] = 0-121.0, vs median = 41.3 hours, IQR = 0-125.9; P = 0.51). Seven- and 28-day mortality rates were similar in the matched cohort (7-day: 47.9% vs 39.6%, P = 0.35; 28-day: 56.3% vs 58.3%, P = 0.84). Mortality rates were similar between epinephrine- and vasopressin-exposed patients in propensity score-matched regression models with and without adjustments at 7 (relative risk [RR] = 1.28, 95% CI = 0.92-1.79; RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 0.81-1.81) and 28 days (RR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.81-1.34; RR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.69-1.34). Conclusion and Relevance: Shock-free survival durations were similar in matched epinephrine- and vasopressin-exposed groups. Adjuvant epinephrine or vasopressin alongside norepinephrine to raise MAP to target requires further investigation.
Sensory Processing: Visual Sensitivity Gets High at Night

Every day and night, the retina undergoes dramatic changes in its physiology and function. The prevailing view is that these daily changes affect the retinal output and thereby visual perception. Recent evidence suggests that modifications in higher-order processing centers, and not in retinal computations, account for variations in visual sensitivity.
Hardware Development of a Sinusoidal PWM on a Three-Phase 3.5 kW SiC Converter

Pulse width modulation (PWM) is the most commonly used technology for switching power electronics-based power converters in smart grids. However, implementing PWM in actual hardware is not as straightforward as it sounds. This paper develops a step-by-step procedure to implement PWM for single-phase and three-phase silicon carbide (SiC) converters using popular digital signal processing (DSP) boards from Texas Instruments (TI). The proposed model classifies the PWM implementation into multiple cascaded loops so that it can be understood easily from the electrical engineering point of view. The proposed step-by-step solution is then implemented on a C2000 F28069M LaunchPad development kit for single-phase and three-phase applications. An experimental setup on a 3.5 kW three-phase Silicon-Carbide (Sic) inverter was developed to validate the three-phase PWM implementation.
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Aquaponics and Hydroponics in the Midwestern United States

Abstract With high productivity and low land and water use, controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) like aquaponics and hydroponics has become a promising solution to feed the rapidly growing global population. However, both aquaponic and hydroponic systems require high energy input, leading to potential environmental burdens. This cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA), for the first time, compared the environmental performance, on an economic basis, of aquaponics and hydroponics with identical system design in Indiana, US. For a one-month cultivation period, tilapia and six vegetables produced in the aquaponic system had almost twice the total value of the vegetables from the hydroponic system. Aquaponics produced 45% lower endpoint environmental impact than hydroponics. Electricity use for greenhouse heating and lighting, and water pumping and heating contributed to the majority of the environmental impacts of both systems, which was followed by the production of fish feed and fertilizers. However, changing the energy source from coal to wind power could make the hydroponic system more environment-friendly than the aquaponic system. This LCA study can provide CEA farmers with the groundwork to reduce the environmental cost of their production.
Green hydrogen production from biocompounds through membrane engineering

Abstract Membrane engineering is a well-established technology adopted in various scientific fields, resulting of great interest in hydrogen production and purification processes as well as in precombustion CO2 capture. This chapter focuses on the impact of membrane and membrane reactor technology combined to renewable feedstock exploitation in the viewpoint of hydrogen economy development and the environmental protection, highlighting the benefits over the conventional technologies due to the application of the principles of the process intensification strategy.
The large deviation principle for interacting dynamical systems on random graphs

Using the weak convergence approach to large deviations, we formulate and prove the large deviation principle (LDP) for W-random graphs in the cut-norm topology. This generalizes the LDP for Erdős-R{\' e}nyi random graphs by Chatterjee and Varadhan. Furthermore, we translate the LDP for random graphs to a class of interacting dynamical systems on such graphs. To this end, we demonstrate that the solutions of the dynamical models depend continuously on the underlying graphs with respect to the cut-norm and apply the contraction principle.
On the cross-slip of screw dislocations in zirconium

Abstract We develop here a cross-slip model for zirconium based on discrete dislocation dynamics and explicit representation of partial dislocations. It is found that the basal-to-prismatic cross-slip is always energetically favorable. The corresponding stress-free activation enthalpy is Δ H a * ∼ 0.5 eV , and the critical nucleation length is close to zero. The Escaig stress on the primary plane is found to be the most effective component in influencing the activation enthalpy. By contrast, prismatic-to-basal cross-slip is activated only if the Schmid stress on the conjugate plane is higher than ∼ 1 GPa , with an activation enthalpy larger than 5 eV. We propose that basal slip of 〈 a 〉 screw dislocations in Zr is mediated by the formation and subsequent lateral migration of kink pairs formed by double cross-slip. The proposed mechanism is consistent with experimental observations on the temperature-dependence of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) and the wavy motion of 〈 a 〉 -basal slip.
Streamlining sustainable design in building information modeling BIM-based PV design and analysis tools

The current BIM-based PV system design process largely depends on transferring a model to special PV simulation software. Critical geometric information is often lost during this process. An automa...
Opportunities and challenges in translational science.

The mission of translational science is to bring predictivity and efficiency to the development and dissemination of interventions that improve human health. Ten years ago this year, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences was founded to embody, conduct, and support this new discipline. The Center’s first decade has brought substantial progress across a broad range of translational areas, from diagnostic and drug development to clinical trials to implementation science to education. The origins of the translational science and advances to this point are reviewed here and allow the establishment of an ambitious future research agenda for the field.
Load dynamics of double planar foil liners and double planar wire arrays on the UM MAIZE LTD generator

In previous studies using the University of Nevada, Reno's (UNR's) high-impedance Zebra Marx generator (1.9 Ω, 1.7 MA, 100 ns), Double Planar Wire Arrays (DPWAs) proved to be excellent radiators, and Double Planar Foil Liners (DPFLs) proved useful for future inertial confinement fusion applications. This article presents the results of joint UNR/UM (University of Michigan) experiments with aluminum (Al) DPWAs, Al DPFLs, and tungsten (W) DPWAs using UM's Michigan Accelerator for Inductive Z-Pinch Experiments (MAIZE) generator, a low-impedance Linear Transformer Driver (LTD) (0.1 Ω, 0.5–1 MA, and 100–250 ns). The main goals of this study were twofold: the first was a pioneering effort to test whether a relatively heavy Al DPFL could successfully be imploded on a low-impedance university-scale LTD like the MAIZE generator, and, if so, to analyze the results and make comparisons to the optimized, lighter DPWA configurations that have been previously studied. The DPWAs consisted of two planes of micrometer-scale diameter Al or W wires, while the DPFLs consisted of two planes of micrometer-scale thickness Al foils. Diagnostics include filtered Si-diodes, an absolutely calibrated filtered PCD, x-ray pinhole cameras, spectrometers, and gated optical self-emission imaging. The implosion dynamics and radiative properties of Al DPWAs and DPFLs and W DPWAs on the MAIZE LTD are discussed and compared. Time-dependent load inductance calculations derived from measurements of the load current and a MAIZE circuit model provide a relative measurement of pinch strength. In experiments on MAIZE, W planar wire arrays exhibited a higher peak load inductance throughout the pinch than Al DPWAs and DPFLs, while x-ray pulses from Al DPFLs had the longest emission duration.
Network Modeling Predicts Personalized Gene Expression and Drug Responses in Valve Myofibroblasts Cultured with Patient Sera

Abstract Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) patients experience pathogenic valve leaflet stiffening due to excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. Numerous microenvironmental cues influence pathogenic expression of ECM remodeling genes in tissue-resident valvular myofibroblasts, and the regulation of complex myofibroblast signaling networks depends on patient-specific extracellular factors. Here, we combined a manually curated myofibroblast signaling network with a data-driven transcription factor network to predict patient-specific myofibroblast gene expression signatures and drug responses. Using transcriptomic data from myofibroblasts cultured with AVS patient sera, we produced a large-scale, logic-gated differential equation model in which 11 biochemical and biomechanical signals are transduced via a network of 334 signaling and transcription reactions to accurately predict the expression of 27 fibrosis-related genes. Correlations were found between personalized model-predicted gene expression and AVS patient echocardiography data, suggesting links between fibrosis-related signaling and patient-specific AVS severity. Further, global network perturbation analyses revealed signaling molecules with the most influence over network-wide activity including endothelin 1 (ET1), interleukin 6 (IL6), and transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) along with downstream mediators c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Lastly, we performed virtual drug screening to identify patient-specific drug responses, which were experimentally validated via fibrotic gene expression measurements in VICs cultured with AVS patient sera and treated with or without bosentan - a clinically approved ET1 receptor inhibitor. In sum, our work advances the ability of computational approaches to provide a mechanistic basis for clinical decisions including patient stratification and personalized drug screening.
Population Characteristics and Progression to Disability Among Patients with Small Fiber Neuropathy (2538)

Objective: Define population based characteristics and disability progression among patients with objective evidence of small fiber neuropathy. Background: Small fiber neuropathy is a common referral to neurology practices. Lacking are uniform diagnostic criteria, consensus definitions, and an understanding of the natural history making anticipatory guidance difficult. Design/Methods: This is a retrospective chart review (1998–2017). An electronic record retrieval system identified adult patients diagnosed with painful small fiber neuropathy residing in Olmsted or adjoining counties. All patients had to have completed an EMG and have one objective small fiber test abnormality by quantitative sudomotor reflex screen (QSART), thermoregulatory sweat test (TST), quantitative sensory testing (QST), intraepidermal nerve fiber skin biopsy. Disability and impairment status decline was calculated against baseline with a questionnaire including daily living skills and serial neurological exams for neuropathy impairment score (NIS). Results: Inclusion criteria were met in 104 patients. The mean onset age was 54 years (14–83), 66% female. Sensory symptoms included burning 53%, numbness 58%, pain 78%, paresthesias 68%. EMG and clinical evidence for associated large fiber nerve involvement were common 42%. Pain medications included opioids 25% and other 62%. Lower extremity onset was typical (76%). Objective testing abnormalities included QSART=36 (59%), TST=65 (89%), QST=17 (68%), skin biopsies=5 (71%). Of those surveyed, 8% self-reported becoming disabled over the study period. The median NIS was 6 (0–65) with a median change of 2 points (0–54) over median 3.8 years (0–15). Two patients (2%) had amyloid (1 hATTR, 1 AL), accounting for the largest cohorts change in NIS. Chart diagnosis included polygenic-idiopathic 77%, diabetes 9%, inflammatory 8%, MGUS 3%. Conclusions: Among most patients with objective evidence of small fiber neuropathy, progression to self-reported disability is out of proportion to the objective worsening of neurological impairments. Rapid change may suggest amyloidosis. Additional studies are needed to understand if comorbidities may contribute to these observations. Disclosure: Dr. Johnson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Staff has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hoffman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Klein has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Honorarium received from Ackea; Consulting for Pfizer, Stealth Pharmaceutical. No personal compensation received..
Patient complaints in the postoperative period following spine surgery.

OBJECTIVE Patient complaints are associated with a number of surgical and medical outcomes. Despite high rates of patient complaints regarding spine surgeons and efforts to study patient complaints across medicine and surgery, few studies have analyzed the complaints of patients undergoing spinal surgery. The authors present a retrospective analysis that, to their knowledge, is the first study to directly investigate the complaints of spine surgery patients in the postoperative period. METHODS Institutional records were reviewed over a 5-year period (2015-2019) to identify patients who underwent spine surgery and submitted a complaint to the institution's ombudsman's office within 1 year of their surgery. A control group, comprising patients who underwent spine surgery without filing a complaint, was matched to the group that filed complaints by admission diagnosis and procedure codes through propensity score matching. Patient demographic and clinical data were obtained by medical record review and compared between the two groups. Patient complaints were reviewed and categorized using a previously established taxonomy. RESULTS A total of 52 patients were identified who submitted a complaint after their spine surgery. There were 56 total complaints identified (4 patients submitted 2 each) that reported on 82 specific issues. Patient complaints were most often related to the quality of care received and communication breakdown between the healthcare team and the patient. Patients who submitted complaints were more likely to be Black or African American, have worse baseline health status, and have had prior spine surgery. After their surgery, these patients were also more likely to have longer hospital stays, experience postoperative complications, and require reoperation. CONCLUSIONS Complaints were most often related to the quality of care received and communication breakdown. A number of patient-level demographic and clinical characteristics were associated with an increased likelihood of a complaint being filed after spine surgery, and patients who filed complaints were more likely to experience postoperative complications. Improving communication with patients could play a key role in working to address and reduce postoperative complaints. Further study is needed to better understand patient complaints after spine surgery and investigate ways to optimize the care of patients with risks for postoperative complaints.
Topological conditions for propagation of spatially-distributed neural activity

An important task of the nervous system is to transmit information faithfully and reliably across brain regions, a process that involves the coordinated activity of a relatively large population of neurons. In topographically organized networks, where the entering and exiting axons of neurons terminate in confined areas, successful propagation depends on the spatial patterns of activity: the firing neurons in a presynaptic or source layer must be located sufficiently close to each other to ensure that cells in the postsynaptic or target layer receive the requisite number of convergent inputs to fire. Here, we use principles of topology to define the conditions for transmitting information across layers. We show that simplicial complexes formed by source neurons can be used to: 1) determine whether target neurons receive suprathreshold inputs; 2) identify neurons within the active population that contribute to firing; and 3) discriminate between single and multiple active clusters of neurons.
China’s Financial Sector Development and Global Presence: Editors’ Introduction

One of the most important developments in the evolution of the global economy has been the dramatic growth of the Chinese economy under its policies of gradual economic liberalization. While China’...
El otro Juan Rana

El actor espanol Cosme Perez constituye un caso unico en la historia del teatro. Tras crear el personaje de Juan Rana, a comienzos de la decada de los anos treinta del siglo xvii (unica autentica mascara, equiparable a las de la commedia dell'arte italiana, del teatro espanol), actor y personaje llegaron a fundirse de tal manera que el publico ya no pudo concebir la posibilidad de que otro actor "se atreviera" a interpretarlo. Tras la muerte de Cosme, la extraordinaria fama alcanzada por Rana durante casi cuarenta anos sobre las tablas motivo a algunos dramaturgos a intentar resucitarlo escenicamente, para perpetuar su exito. En este articulo se estudian esos intentos, la suerte que corrieron y las consecuencias que el paso del tiempo tuvo en el, convirtiendolo en un personaje diverso al primigenio.
A mini software engineering project for CS0

In an attempt to provide a better breadth-first Introduction to Computer Science, a mini software engineering project was added to the CS0-like course at the University of Northern Colorado during the fall of 2002. This introductory course is taken by prospective Computer Science students as well as those students in other majors. This paper will describe the project and enough of the course to provide an understanding of how previous assignments lead up to the final assignment/project. Finally, comments on the project attempt and suggestions for future attempts will be provided.
Patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer treated with concurrent twice-daily chest radiotherapy and etoposide/cisplatin followed by cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine

PURPOSEA phase II trial in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer treated with induction etoposide/cisplatin plus twice-daily chest radiotherapy was conducted in an attempt to increase response rates and prolong survival.PATIENTS AND METHODSFifty-four previously untreated patients with limited-stage small-cell cancer were treated with etoposide/cisplatin and concurrent radiotherapy at 1.5 Gy twice daily for 3 weeks to a total dose of 45 Gy. Patients then received three more cycles of etoposide/cisplatin followed by four cycles of vincristine, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide or an individualized chemotherapy regimen.RESULTSNine patients are alive and free of cancer a median of 4 years (range, 2 to 7) from the start of treatment. Thirty-eight have had progression of their cancer at a median of 1.2 years (range, 0.5 to 5.4) and all have died of small-cell cancer. Thirteen of these 38 patients' (34%) only site of initial relapse was in the CNS and all died of CNS metastases. Five patients died d...
Adaptive transmission with discrete code rates

This work examines an adaptive transmission system that supports a discrete set of code rates and continuously variable transmit power. Based on the concept of information outage, we maximize the system throughput over a slow fading channel. Properties of the throughput maximizing policies result in an iterative algorithm that yields good system designs. Numerical results show that in a Rayleigh fading channel, there is only a gap of 1 dB between the ergodic capacity and the throughput of a 2-rate adaptive transmission system when the throughput is less than 4 bits/sec/Hz.
Emergency coronary artery bypass grafts in the treatment of myocardial infarction.

Of the more than 1,900 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass procedures for coronary artery disease, a selected group of 17 patients underwent emergency coronary artery bypass because of the tentative diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. Almost all patients had status angina prior to cardiac catheterization as was proven by electrocardiographic evidence and serum enzyme changes. When further verification was obtained by gross examination at surgery and autopsy in the patients who expired, most patients had severe end stage coronary artery disease manifested by functional classification and severe anatomical lesions. Cardiac catheterization was done in all patients prior to myocardial infarction. Because of the combination of pre-existing severe anatomical disease and status angina, coronary artery bypass surgery was done despite the presence of acute myocardial infarction in the three groups of patients. Group I consisted of patients with myocardial infarction without hypotension but persistent chest pain and clinical symptoms. Group II patients had similar findings plus hypotension. Group III patients experienced actual cardiac arrest and were resuscitated by portable femoral arteriovenous cardiopulmonary bypass. In group I three of eight patients died, in group II one of six patients, and in group III two of three patients. There were two late deaths at two and three months postoperatively. Operation in the face of acute myocardial infarction has been successfully employed in a selected group of patients.
Open Disclosure of Adverse Events: Transparency and Safety in Health Care

Many patients suffering adverse events in health care turn to the legal system to learn what happened to them and to seek compensation. Health care providers have ethical, professional, and legal duties to disclose the harmful effects of care to the patient, regardless of how small the risk. The purpose of open disclosure is to explain what happened to the patient and to seek a just outcome for patient and provider. This article explores our experience of managing and implementing an open disclosure program in an acute and chronic tertiary care facility with university affiliation in the Veterans Health Administration.
Primary carcinoid tumor of testis with metastasis

A primary carcinoid tumor of the testis metastatic to one preaortic lymph node in a forty-three-year-old man is reported. The case was of great clinical interest not only because of the extreme rarity of testicular carcinoid with metastasis but also because of a coincidental bacterial endocarditis.
Annual variation of the Sun's spectrum in the region 3200 to 2900 ångström units

The intensity or variation of the spectrum in the violet and ultraviolet region is ordinarily measured by means of a thermo-couple or bolometer- arrangement. The physical, chemical, and physiological properties of the ultra-violet end of the spectrum are evidently not closely related to heat, and obviously any measurement based on the phenomenon of heat is unsatisfactory. The physiological properties of the region 3400 to 2900 A have recently attracted considerable attention and some dependable method of measurement other than one based on the phenomenon of heat would be very acceptable. At the present time the threshold values of certain metals seems to point in a promising direction. Einstein's photo-electric equation between the energy absorbed and that retained by an electron freed from a metal by ultra-violet light is Figure 1. vo being the low frequency limit for that particular metal.
ORION, minimizing reactive compensation on the electricity transmission system

This paper describes the need for a tool for reactive power planning and the consequent development of the program ORION. This program optimizes the cost of providing reactive compensation on the transmission network to ensure that voltage level requirements are met.
Foraging in groups of water striders (Gerris remigis): effects of variability in prey arrivals and handling times

In many species, socially subordinate individuals frequently remain in a group despite their lower priority of access to food and mates. This is expected to occur when the net benefits of staying in the group exceed those of a solitary existence. Analogously, territorial foragers surrounded by conspecific competitors are faced with tradeoffs as to patch tenacity. In either case, spatio-temporal variability in resource availability directly affects behavioral patterns and payoffs, particularly of individuals with low priority of access to the resource. However, such individuals may take advantage of natural environmental fluctuations in resource supply in cases where dominants are preoccupied. This arises regularly if two resource items cannot be handled simultaneously and if a second item arrives before handling of the first has been completed. I advance a heuristic model that predicts that foraging or mating success of individuals with low priority of access to resources may increase both with higher variance in inter-arrival times of the resource (given the same mean) and with an increase in the average handling time of the resource. I tested both predictions with two associations of individually marked, naturally foraging water striders (Gerris remigis) in the field. In natural streams individual water striders tend to occupy consistent positions that they may defend, resulting in priority of access to prey items floating downstream for individuals further up front. I manipulated the variance in prey inter-arrival times given the same mean, and the prey handling times by offering larger prey. The outcome was in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the model.
Stability of Color in‘Concord’Grape Juice and Expression of Color

The experiment was designed to determine the influence of chemical additives, ascorbic acid and storage time on‘Concord’grape juice color. Adding low concentrations of CaSO4 and SnCl2 increased retention of color as measured by Color Difference Meter (CDM) L, a and b values and by color expression a/L, aL and ab/L. Rapid color changes occurred during storage after 3 months except in juice with added CaSO4 and SnCl2. Ascorbic acid fortification accelerated color loss in some of the treatments. The highest correlations between sensory quality and instrumental color were those between sensory ratings for browning, flavor and hue and CDM L values, anthocyanins and absorbancies at 535/430 nm.
Recent Geology of Cane Wash, Monument Valley, Arizona

In the article "Recent Geology of Cane Wash, Monument Valley, Arizona," by Charles B. Hunt, in the issue of 30 September, page 584, a line of type was unfortunately misplaced at the last moment. The next to the last sentence in the third column should read: "Upstream from the lake beds (Fig. 2) Cane Wash is aggrading the valley floor."
An Auto-Immune Reaction Produced in Ducklings in Response to Injections of Duck Embryo Blood Infected with Plasmodium Lophurae

against noninfected as well as infected erythrocytes has occurred to several investigators (1,2, 3). In general, speculation was directed toward the associated disease of blackwater fever, which is characterized by massive hemagglutination and hemolysis of circulating red blood cells. Hypotheses, generally unsupported, have appeared in the literature and will be referred to more specifically where they pertain to the discussion of the foregoing experiments. Evidences of auto-immune responses in avian malaria infections are even
Hamilton Depression Scores Can Be Extracted from the K-SADS-P in Adolescents.

ABSTRACT Paralleling the work of Endicott and colleagues who provided an algorithm for extracting a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) score from the SADS and SADS-C interviews for adults, this report provides an algorithm for extracting a HDRS score from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children, Present Episode (KSADS-P). The HDRS and the K-SADS-P were administered to 21 adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder. Using symptoms from the K-SADS-P, an estimate of the HDRS total score was extracted and correlated with the actual HDRS total score. The interclass correlation coefficient was extremely high (0.987), demonstrating that the HDRS total score can be accurately estimated from the K-SADS-P. This method can help relate findings from clinical evaluations and research studies of children using the K-SADS-P to prior assessments of children as well as adults with major depression that employed the HDRS. Clinicians and researchers in psychopharmacology...
An Experimental Investigation on Frictional Properties of Bolted Joints

By using an approach developed to determining the torque-tension relationship for bolted joints, frictional properties of several typical bolted joints were studied experimentally. The approach allows for the direct determination of the thread friction and the bearing friction between the nut and its bearing surface independently. Detailed studies were made on the influences of the size and shape of the hole, the use of a slot in a bolted joint, contact area and position, and other factors such as turning speed, coating, and the use of wax on the bearing surface. The contact area and position of the washer have a marginal effect on the bearing friction. The organic coating on the nuts reduces the bearing friction significantly. Nuts with organic coating over a washer with zinc finish provide the smallest and the most consistent bearing friction. Experiments on thread friction shows that prevailing torque nuts with distorted threads and nylon inserts provided trivial benefits for preventing “self-loosening” of the nut. Repeated tightening-loosening generally increases frictions in a bolted joint. It was noted that the data scatter of the experimental results of frictions in a bolted joint may overshadow the influence of size, speed, and contact positions. The results from the experimental investigation will help to better design bolted joints.Copyright © 2002 by ASME