cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effective filtering for collaborative publishing

In little over the last decade the World Wide Web has established itself as a medium of interaction, communication, content delivery, and collaboration, opening doors of opportunity never before available to humanity, and on a scale unprecedented in human history. At the same time, information overload, due to democratization of content creation and delivery, remains a major problem. In this paper, we postulate that the problems of democracy are solved by democracy itself: harnessing the people power of the world wide web through collaborative filtering of content is the natural solution to the information overload problem; and we present approaches to promote such collaboration. We show that the standard PageRank Algorithm, inspired by the effectiveness of citation-structure analysis (“all links are good, and the more the better”) to estimate the relative importance of articles in scientific literature, is becoming less effective in this increasingly democratized world of online content. As long as uniformly edited content produced by media companies and other corporate entities dominated online content, the topological similarity of the web to the world of scientific literature was maintained sufficiently well. The explosion of unedited blogs, discussion fora, and wikis, with their “messier” hyperlink structure, is rapidly reducing this similarity, and also the effectiveness of standard PageRank-based filtering methods. We assume a slightly modified Web infrastructure in which links have positive and negative weights, and show that this enables radically different and more effective approaches to page ranking and collaborative content filtering, leading to a vastly improved environment to incentivize content creation and co-operation on the World Wide Web, helping realize, in essence, a vastly more efficient information economy in today’s online global village.
Containing the Nanometer “Pandora-Box”: Cross-Layer Design Techniques for Variation Aware Low Power Systems

The demand for richer multimedia services, multifunctional portable devices and high data rates can only been visioned due to the improvement in semiconductor technology. Unfortunately, sub-90 nm process nodes uncover the nanometer Pandora-box exposing the barriers of technology scaling-parameter variations, that threaten the correct operation of circuits, and increased energy consumption, that limits the operational lifetime of today's systems. The contradictory design requirements for low-power and system robustness, is one of the most challenging design problems of today. The design efforts are further complicated due to the heterogeneous types of designs (logic, memory, mixed-signal) that are included in today's complex systems and are characterized by different design requirements. This paper presents an overview of techniques at various levels of design abstraction that lead to low power and variation aware logic, memory and mixed-signal circuits and can potentially assist in meeting the strict power budgets and yield/quality requirements of future systems.
Determinants of renal function in patients with renal artery stenosis

Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is an important cause of renal failure; however, the factors associated with loss of kidney function in patients with RAS are poorly described, as are the predictors of an improvement in kidney function after stenting. One hundred patients at seven centers undergoing renal stenting were randomly assigned to an embolic protection device or double-blind use of a platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured using the creatinine-derived modified Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation, cystatin C, and iohexol clearance. In univariate and multivariate models, baseline MDRD and cystatin C GFR were associated with congestive heart failure (CHF) (p = 0.01), lesion length (p = 0.01), and percent stenosis (-0.27, p = 0.01). In multivariate models, MDRD-estimated GFR 1 month after stenting was associated with bilateral stenosis (p < 0.05) and lesion length (p < 0.05), whereas with cystatin C the multivariate model included angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) (p < 0.05) and minimal luminal diameter (MLD) (p < 0.05). The improvement in GFR from baseline to 1 month, measured as percent change, was related to baseline MDRD (p = 0.009) and cystatin C (p = 0.03) GFR. For MDRD GFR combined treatment with abciximab and Angioguard(®) embolic protection (p = 0.02) remained significant in multivariate analysis as did CHF, which was also significant with cystatin C (p = 0.05). In conclusion, CHF and lesion characteristics (MLD, percent stenosis and lesion length) are determinants of renal function in patients with RAS. In contrast, the acute improvement in renal function after revascularization is most strongly influenced by baseline GFR, and to a lesser degree CHF and combined procedural treatment with abciximab and embolic protection but not lesion characteristics. Clinical Trial Registration - URL:http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00234585.
A New Identity for Identity Research: Recommendations for Expanding and Refocusing the Identity Literature

I have been following the identity literature for more than 10 years and have been an active contributor to this literature since 1998. During the years that I have followed and contributed to the identity literature, I have had the opportunity to observe and take note of the general areas and themes that have been emphasized in this literature as well as important areas that have been neglected. In this editorial essay, I comment on some of the areas in which identity research has been lacking and on ways to expand identity research by focusing on these areas. I restrict my analysis to the literature rooted in Eriksonian and neo-Eriksonian theory because that is the area with which I am most familiar. I touch on a number of important areas, including methodological shortsightedness, reliance on a narrow and limiting theoretical approach, and lack of attention to important applied and social policy issues. However, I deliberately do not touch on another potentially problematic area in identity research—measurement issues—in this essay. I believe that measurement issues are secondary to theoretical issues, more broadly based research design issues, and applicability issues—and therefore that measurement issues should be raised only after these more important issues have been addressed. The measures that are selected for use in any given study are guided by the theoretical approach and research questions on which the study is based. As the identity literature expands to cover new ground, measures will be adapted or created to address the specific identity dimensions, research objectives, and populations being examined.
Abdominoscrotal Hydrocele in the Infant

Hydroceles are common in children, with a frequency of 6% in term male infants.1 Abdominoscrotal hydroceles, however, are extremely rare in infants, with only nine cases reported in the English literature.2-10Herein we report an additional case of an abdominoscrotal hydrocele in an infant and review the literature.
Development of an artificial placenta I: pumpless arterio-venous extracorporeal life support in a neonatal sheep model

Abstract Purpose Effective treatment of respiratory failure in premature infants remains an unsolved problem. The development of an artificial placenta, in the form of a pumpless arteriovenous extracorporeal life support (AV-ECLS) circuit that maintains fetal circulation, is an appealing alternative. Methods A near-term (140 d/term = 145 days) neonatal lamb model was used (n = 7). Fetuses were exposed by hysterotomy, and flow probes were placed on the ductus arteriosus, aorta, and carotid artery. Catheters were placed into the umbilical vessels, and pumpless AV-ECLS was initiated. Fetuses were submerged in a warm saline bath, and support was maintained for up to 4 hours. Results Mean initial device flow was 383 mL/min but steadily declined to 177 mL/min at 4 hours. Mean initial pO2 was 24 mm Hg and 18 mm Hg at 4 hours. Initial mean pCO2 was 60 mm Hg and declined to 42 mm Hg at 4 hours. Mean arterial pressure was initially 43 mm Hg and decreased to 34 mm Hg at 4 hours. Flow in the ductus arteriosus was maintained for 4 hours. Of 7 fetuses, 5 survived 4 hours of support. Conclusions Pumpless AV-ECLS can support gas exchange and maintain fetal circulation in a neonatal lamb model for a 4-hour period. Prolonged support (>4 hours) is hampered by high cannula resistance and declining device flow.
Walking in Simulated Martian Gravity: Influence of the Portable Life Support System’s Design on Dynamic Stability

With human exploration of the moon and Mars on the horizon, research considerations for space suit redesign have surfaced. The portable life support system (PLSS) used in conjunction with the space suit during the Apollo missions may have influenced the dynamic balance of the gait pattern. This investigation explored potential issues with the PLSS design that may arise during the Mars exploration. A better understanding of how the location of the PLSS load influences the dynamic stability of the gait pattern may provide insight, such that space missions may have more productive missions with a smaller risk of injury and damaging equipment while falling. We explored the influence the PLSS load position had on the dynamic stability of the walking pattern. While walking, participants wore a device built to simulate possible PLSS load configurations. Floquet and Lyapunov analysis techniques were used to quantify the dynamic stability of the gait pattern. The dynamic stability of the gait pattern was influenced by the position of load. PLSS loads that are placed high and forward on the torso resulted in less dynamically stable walking patterns than loads placed evenly and low on the torso. Furthermore, the kinematic results demonstrated that all joints of the lower extremity may be important for adjusting to different load placements and maintaining dynamic stability. Space scientists and engineers may want to consider PLSS designs that distribute loads evenly and low, and space suit designs that will not limit the sagittal plane range of motion at the lower extremity joints.
A Century of Change in Kenya’s Mammal Communities: Increased Richness and Decreased Uniqueness in Six Protected Areas

The potential for large-scale biodiversity losses as a result of climate change and human impact presents major challenges for ecology and conservation science. Governments around the world have established national parks and wildlife reserves to help protect biodiversity, but there are few studies on the long-term consequences of this strategy. We use Kenya as a case study to investigate species richness and other attributes of mammal communities in 6 protected areas over the past century. Museum records from African expeditions that comprehensively sampled mammals from these same areas in the early 1900's provide a baseline for evaluating changes in species richness and community structure over time. We compare species lists assembled from archived specimens (1896-1950) to those of corresponding modern protected areas (1950-2013). Species richness in Kenya was stable or increased at 5 out of 6 sites from historical to modern times. Beta-diversity, in contrast, decreased across all sites. Potential biases such as variable historical vs. modern collection effort and detection of small-bodied, rare, and low-visibility species do not account for the observed results. We attribute the pattern of decreased beta diversity primarily to increased site occupancy by common species across all body size classes. Despite a decrease in land area available to wildlife, our data do not show the extinctions predicted by species-area relationships. Moreover, the results indicate that species-area curves based solely on protected areas could underestimate diversity because they do not account for mammal species whose ranges extend beyond protected area boundaries. We conclude that the 6 protected areas have been effective in preserving species richness in spite of continuing conversion of wild grasslands to cropland, but the overall decrease in beta diversity indicates a decline in the uniqueness of mammal communities that historically characterized Kenya's varied landscape.
Intersubband gain and stimulated emission in long-wavelength (/spl lambda/=13 /spl mu/m) intersubband In(Ga)As-GaAs quantum-dot electroluminescent devices

The dynamics of injected carriers and the conditions for intersubband gain and population inversion in In(Ga)As-GaAs self-organized quantum dots have been studied. Direct femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy as a function of temperature and excitation density confirms earlier results and shows a long (>100 ps) electron relaxation time between the excited states and ground state in the dots. Intersubband gains as high as 170 cm/sup -1/ are calculated in the dots. Far-infrared spontaneous emission centered around 13 /spl mu/m is observed in edge-emitting light-emitting diodes. Stimulated emission, with a distinct threshold around 1.1 kA/cm/sup 2/ in the light-current characteristics, is observed in plasmon-enhanced waveguide devices. The intersubband threshold occurs after a threshold is observed for interband lasing (/spl sim/1 /spl mu/m) in the same device.
A componential analysis of the ERP elicited by novel events using a dense electrode array

In this study, we examined the relationship between the novelty P3 and the P300 components of the brain event-related potential (ERP). Fifteen subjects responded manually to the rare stimuli embedded either in a classical auditory oddball series or in a series in which "novel" stimuli were inserted. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded with a dense array of 129 electrodes. The data were analyzed by using spatial Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to identify a set of orthogonal scalp distributions, "virtual electrodes" that account for the spatial variance. The data were then expressed as ERPs measured at each of the virtual electrodes. These ERPs were analyzed using temporal PCA, yielding a set of "virtual epochs." Most of the temporal variance of the rare events was associated with a virtual electrode with a posterior topography, that is, with a classical P300, which was active during the virtual epoch associated with the P300. The novel stimuli were found to elicit both a classical P300 and a component focused on a virtual electrode with a frontal topography. We propose that the term Novelty P3 should be restricted to this frontal component.
Cognitive factors in addiction and nucleus accumbens function: Some hints from rodent models

Elevation of extracellular dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens is important for both the initiation and the maintenance of cocaine and heroin seeking in animal models. Nucleus accumbens neurons fire in response to both the receipt and the expectancy of reward. The learning of drug self-administration habits depends critically on the ability of the animal to learn associations between rewards and their environmental predictors, and such learning does not occur in accumbens-compromised animals. Reward-associated stimuli are also critical for the initiation of drug taking following periods of abstinence in trained animals. Reward-associated stimuli are also important in maintaining continued responding for these drugs, although once extracellular dopamine levels have become elevated by initial drug intake, subsequent drug self-administration becomes increasingly dominated by pharmacological factors, at least in rodent models. Initially rewarding drug injections appear to lose their rewarding effectiveness when dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens is elevated above some satiating level. When dopamine is depleted or dopamine function is impaired, the probability of response initiation decreases; rats do not appear to self-medicate depression of the reward system as humans have been suggested to do. This presumed difference between the two species may reflect cognitive functions unique to humans, such as insight gained from the observation of others and response biases conferred through language and culture. Thus, although they inform us regarding some cognitive factors in addiction and nucleus accumbens function, our animal models may inform us minimally about cognitive factors that are of major significance in humans.
Recent adventures with emotion-reading technology

This talk will share stories from recent investigations at the MIT Media Lab in creating technology to recognize and better communicate emotion. Examples include automating facial affect recognition online for sharing media experiences, gathering the worlds largest sets of natural expressions (instead of lab-elicited data) and training machine learning models to predict liking of the experience based on expression dynamics throughout the experience. We also have found that most people have difficulty discriminating peak smiles of frustration from peak smiles of delight in static images. With machine learning and dynamic features, we were able to teach the computer to be highly accurate at discriminating these. These kinds of tools can potentially help many people with nonverbal learning disabilities, limited vision, social phobia, or autism who find it challenging to read the faces of those around them. I will also share recent findings from people wearing physiological sensors 24/7, and how weve been learning about connections between the emotion system, sleep and seizures. Finally, I will share some of our newest work related to crowd sourcing cognitive-behavioral therapy and computational empathy, where sentiment analysis could be of huge benefit.
Motivational and Cognitive Aspects of Learning Disabilities

The term learning disabilities is used to describe the difficulties of children who are failing in one or more basic achievement skill areas despite normal intelligence. Learning-disabled (LD) children vary in the types and severity of learning problems as well as in the hypothesized causes for their achievement difficulties. Despite this heterogeneity, some motivational and cognitive characteristics consistently differentiate LD children from their normally achieving peers. Observations of these children in their classrooms and reports from their teachers indicate that they are inattentive and lack persistence in their attempts to master schoolwork (McKinney & Feagans, 1983). On laboratory tasks, LD children are less likely to adopt the effective strategies that are spontaneously produced by their peers (Torgesen, 1977a). These findings led to a conceptualization of LD children as inactive or maladaptive learners (Torgesen, 1977a; Torgesen & Licht, 1983). Although this conceptual framework does not necessarily explain LD children’s initial learning problems (Torgesen & Licht, 1983), these behavior patterns can clearly interfere significantly with a wide range of academic achievement. Therefore, an understanding of the causes of maladaptive learning styles and methods to promote adaptive learning among LD children is an important area of research.
Effect of a legal prime on clinician's assessment of suicide risk.

ABSTRACTThe present study evaluates how liability influences mental health clinicians’ assessment of suicide risk. In this online vignette-based experiment, clinicians (N = 268) were either primed with a legal standard prior to a case vignette or presented the case vignette alone. Clinicians then rated the patient’s likelihood of suicide and need for hospitalization. Results indicated that trainees provided significantly lower ratings of suicide risk following presentation of the legal standard, but this was not associated with hospitalization endorsement. Results have training and legal implications for improving the accuracy of suicide risk assessment in both trainees and licensed professionals.
Solution of Fejes Tóth's Illumination Problem

(1973). Solution of Fejes Toth's Illumination Problem. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 80, No. 4, pp. 409-410.
Chapter 7: Viral DExH proteins, the NS3/NPH-II family

RNA or DNA helicases are encoded by many diverse virus families, and SF2 RNA helicases are found in four virus families.1 Mimivirus, an exceptionally large DNA virus, was recently found to encode a DEAD-box protein (cf. Chapters 1 and 3). The other viruses containing SF2 RNA helicases are flavivirid...
Death Analysis of Malignant Tumor among Residents in Fengxian District of Shanghai City

[Objective]To understand the primary cause and correlation factors for malignant tumor death on household register persons in Fengxian District in Shanghai, and provide the basis of epidemiology for the formulation intervention measure.[Methods]Retrospective investigation and analysis were conducted on data of malignant tumor death in Fengxian District in Shanghai from 2003-2007. The classification was based on ICD-10. Standardized rate was calculated by national population structure in 2000.[Results]A total of 4994 death cases were due to malignant tumor, accounted for 29.09%, standardized mortality rate was 115.87/100 000 as the first cause of death. The first 3 tumor death causes were lung cancer, liver cancer and the stomach cancer, the mortality rate was 51.84/100 000, 35.92/100 000 and 26.49/100 000 respectively.[Conclusion]The malignant tumor has become the serious influence to resident's health in Fengxian District, prevention and control of pathogenic factors should be strengthened.
Different Social Influences and Desistance From Crime

Desistance from crime has been associated with numerous social influences. Although researchers have explored different theoretical rationales and underlying mechanisms between external social deve...
Neural interfaces for somatosensory feedback: bringing life to a prosthesis.

Purpose of reviewWhen an individual loses a limb, he/she loses touch with the world and with the people around him/her. Somatosensation is critical to the feeling of connection and control of one's own body. Decades of attempts to replace lost somatosensation by sensory substitutions have been ineff
SU-G-JeP2-03: Automatic Quantification of MLC Positional Accuracy in An MRI Guided Radiotherapy System

Purpose: MRI-guided-radiotherapy (MRIGRT) systems lack many features of traditional Linac based RT systems and specialized tests need to be developed to evaluate MLC performance. This work describes automatic tools for the analysis of positional accuracy of an MLC equipped MRIGRT system. Methods: This MLC analysis tool was developed for the MRIdian™ RT system which has three Co-60 equipped treatment heads each with a double focused MLC containing 30 leaf pairs, leaf thickness is 1.05cm defined at isocenter (SAD 105 cm). For MLC positional analysis a picket fence test was performed using a 25.4cm × 25.4cm Gafchromic™ RTQA2 film placed between 5cm solidwater and a 30cm × 30cm × 1cm jigwire phantom with seven embedded parallel metal strips 4cm apart. A plan was generated to deliver 2Gy per field and seven 23.1cm × 2cm fields centered over each wire in the phantom. For each leaf pair the center of the radiation profile was determined by fitting the horizontal profile with a Gaussian model and determining the center of the FWHM. This was compared with the metal strip location to determine any deviation. The following metrics were used to evaluate the deviations per gantry angle including maximum, minimum, mean, Kurtosis, and skewness. Results: The identified maximum/mean leaf deviations are, 1.32/0.55 mm for gantry 0°, 1.59/0.76 mm for gantry 90°, and 1.19/0.39 mm for gantry 270°. The percentage of leaf deviation less than 1mm are 90.0% at 0°, 74.6% at 90°, and 97.0% at 270°. Kurtosis/skewness of the leaf deviation are 2.41/0.14 at 0°, 2.53/0.23 at 90°, 3.33/0.83 at 270°, respectively. Conclusion: This work presents an automatic tool for evaluation of the MLC position accuracy of the MRIdian™ radiotherapy system which can be used to benchmark the performance of the MLC system for each treatment head and track the results longitudinally.
The Application of Models to Geotechnology

This chapter discusses the application of models to geotechnology. The exact reproduction of full-scale conditions, or absolute similitude, is not achieved on a small-scale model. For this to be possible, the scales of length, time, and pressure (or mass) must be changed, without altering the theoretical equations that describe the behavior of the materials concerned. On such a model, the deformations would be observed to the same scale as that of length, and the ratio of stresses in the model and its prototype would be equal to the same geometrical scale factor. A simple geometrical scale model, therefore, cannot reproduce in detail the behavior of a prototype rock or soil structure under load. When the model is loaded by the forces of gravity, generated by its own mass, it is simpler to reproduce the gravitational body forces in prototype and model. In this case, the materials from which the model is constructed must be much softer and less dense than those of the prototype structure. If they are chosen in such a way that the mechanical properties of elastic, plastic, and viscous deformation in the prototype may be deduced from scaled measurements of stresses, times, and deformations on the model, then the model is said to be made of equivalent materials.
A Collaborative I-LEARN Project With Kindergarten and Second-Grade Urban Teachers and Students at a University-Assisted School:

This study describes an information/digital literacy project that was conducted with kindergarten and second-grade students and teachers at a university-assisted school. The study centered on the I...
Quantum-control-landscape structure viewed along straight paths through the space of control fields

The dynamics of closed quantum systems may be manipulated by using an applied field to achieve a control objective value for a physical goal. The functional relationship between the applied field and the objective value forms a quantum control landscape, and the optimization process consists of a guided climb up the landscape from the bottom to the top. Two classes of landscape features are important for understanding the ease of finding an optimal control field. The first class of topological landscape features has been proven to be especially simple in that no suboptimal local maxima exist (upon satisfaction of certain assumptions), which partially accounts for the ease of finding optimal fields. Complementary to the topology, the second class of features entails the landscape structure, characterizing the sinuous nature of the paths leading to an optimal control field. Previous work found that the landscape structure is also particularly simple, as excursions up the landscape guided by a gradient algorithm correspond to nearly straight paths through the space of control fields. In this paper we take an alternative approach to examining landscape structure by constructing, and then following, exactly straight trajectories in control space. Each trajectory starts at a corresponding point on the bottom of the landscape and ends at an associated point on the top, with the observable values taken either as the state-to-state transition probability, the expectation value of a general observable, or the distance from a desired unitary transformation. In some cases the starting point is at a suboptimal critical-point saddle, with the goal, again, of following a straight field path to the optimal objective yield or another suboptimal critical point. We find that the objective value almost always rises monotonically upon following a straight control path from one critical point to another, which shows that landscape structure is very simple, being devoid of rough bumps and gnarled ``twists and turns''. An analysis reveals that the generally featureless nature of quantum control landscapes can be understood in terms of the occurrence of many interfering quantum pathways contributing while traversing the landscape, essentially smoothing out the terrain. These results also provide a basis for further studies to seek a new efficient algorithm to discover optimal fields by means of taking into account the inherently smooth landscape structure.
Robust hybrid supervisory control for rendezvous and docking of a spacecraft

We consider the problem of rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking of an autonomous spacecraft. The problem can be conveniently divided into four phases: 1) rendezvous with angles-only measurements; 2) rendezvous with range measurements; 3) docking phase; and 4) docked phase. Due to the different constraints, available measurements, and tasks to perform on each phase, we study this problem using a hybrid systems approach, in which the system has different modes of operation for which a suitable controller is to be designed. Following this approach, we characterize the family of individual controllers and the required properties they should induce to the closed-loop system to solve the problem within each phase of operation. Furthermore, we propose a supervisor that robustly coordinates the individual controllers so as to provide a solution to the problem. Due to the stringent mission requirements, the solution requires hybrid controllers that induce convergence, invariance, or asymptotic stability properties, which can be designed using recent techniques in the literature of hybrid systems. In addition, we outline specific controller designs that appropriately solve the control problems for individual phases and validate them numerically.1
Impact of Tigecycline Versus Other Antibiotics on the Fecal Metabolome and on Colonization Resistance to Clostridium difficile in Mice

Background : The glycylcycline antibiotic tigecycline may have a relatively low propensity to promote Clostridium difficile infection in part because it causes less disruption of the indigenous intestinal microbiota than other broad-spectrum antibiotics. We used a mouse model to compare the compare the effects of tigecycline versus other commonly used antibiotics on colonization resistance to C. difficile and on metabolic functions of the intestinal microbiota. Methods : To assess in vivo colonization resistance to C. difficile , mice were challenged with oral C. difficile spores 1, 7, or 12 days after completion of 3 days of treatment with subcutaneous saline, tigecycline, ceftriaxone, piperacillin-tazobactam, or linezolid. Levels of bacterial metabolites in fecal specimens of mice treated with the same antibiotics were analyzed using non-targeted metabolic profiling by gas chromatograph (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem MS (UPLC-MS/MS). Results : All of the antibiotics disrupted colonization resistance to C. difficile when challenge occurred 2 days after treatment. Only piperacillin/tazobactam and ceftriaxone-treated mice had disturbed colonization resistance at 7 days after treatment. All of the antibiotics altered fecal metabolites in comparison to controls, but tigecycline caused significantly less alteration than the other antibiotics, including less suppression of multiple amino acids, bile acids, and lipid metabolites. Conclusions : Tigecycline and linezolid caused transient disruption of colonization resistance to C. difficile , whereas ceftriaxone and piperacillin/tazobactam caused disruption that persisted for 7 days post-treatment. Tigecycline caused less profound alteration of fecal bacterial metabolites than the other antibiotics, suggesting that the relatively short period of disruption of colonization resistance might be related in part to reduced alteration of the metabolic functions of the microbiota
Real-time rotation invariant action recognition using Microsoft Kinect

A Human Action recognition system is proposed using the Skeletal Tracking from Kinect. The angular information of the joints helps in handling scaling errors. Vectors are generated using the joint coordinates and the angles of each joint are used as features for key pose recognition. A rotational compensation is included in the feature to handle rotational errors. The key poses are recognized using Similarity Matching Technique, neural network and decision tree algorithms. The recognized key postures are fed into a decision forest to pick the action based on the trained sequence of key poses.
Stat5 deficiency decreases transcriptional heterogeneity and supports emergence of hematopoietic sub-populations

// Zhengqi Wang 1 and Kevin D. Bunting 1 1 Department of Pediatrics, Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Correspondence to: Kevin D. Bunting, email: // Keywords : hematopoiesis, transcription factor, single-cell gene expression analysis, transcriptional heterogeneity, leukemogenesis Received : January 21, 2017 Accepted : January 25, 2017 Published : February 09, 2017 Abstract Aging is associated with significant changes in hematopoiesis, including clonal dominance, anemia, myeloid malignancies, and reduced activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (Stat5). In previous studies, Stat5 deletion surprisingly amplified FLT3/ITD + myeloid expansion or Myc-driven lymphoid expansion. Here we show that Stat5 deficiency has a strong impact upon transcriptional heterogeneity in single sorted c-Kit + Lin - Sca-1 + (KLS) cells or CD150 + CD48 - KLS long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC). Single cell polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on selected regulators of multi-lineage hematopoiesis. At least two dominant sub-populations were identified by increased expression of cell cycle regulatory and leukemia-associated genes. Furthermore, in the top expressing quartile of cells, the majority of genes were proportionally overrepresented. In wild-type KLS cells, Stat5 mRNA levels were also strongly correlated with several genes. Since heterogeneity decreases with age or inflammatory or oncogenic stress, these results provide a potential mechanistic linkage to Stat5 expression.
Can parked cars and carbon taxes create a profit? The economics of vehicle-to-grid energy storage for peak reduction

Abstract This article discusses a five-year, hourly economic model of vehicle-to-grid energy storage for peak reduction. Several scenarios are modeled for a participant using a 60 kW-h capacity battery electric vehicle, such as the Tesla Model S or Chevrolet Bolt, in the New York City area using pricing data for the years 2010 through 2014. Sensitivity analysis identifies that variables such as one-way power efficiency and battery lifetime are the major factors influencing the economics of selling electricity back to the grid. Although it is shown that vehicle-to-grid electricity sales can create positive economic benefits, the magnitudes are small due to the cost of added degradation to the vehicle's battery and are not likely to entice the average electric vehicle owner to participate. However, over the five-year period, the potential economic benefits of this technology have shown a promising trend. A carbon dioxide tax is examined as a potential policy measure to encourage vehicle-to-grid adoption. The implementation of a carbon dioxide tax is shown to create additional opportunities for economic gain but, these benefits are dependent on the grid's electricity generation portfolio. Added benefits from the tax are also small in magnitude considering current international carbon prices.
Cleaning and asthma: A systematic review and approach for effective safety assessment

Research indicates a correlative relationship between asthma and use of consumer cleaning products. We conduct a systematic review of epidemiological literature on persons who use or are exposed to cleaning products, both in occupational and domestic settings, and risk of asthma or asthma-like symptoms to improve understanding of the causal relationship between exposure and asthma. A scoring method for assessing study reliability is presented. Although research indicates an association between asthma and the use of cleaning products, no study robustly investigates exposure to cleaning products or ingredients along with asthma risk. This limits determination of causal relationships between asthma and specific products or ingredients in chemical safety assessment. These limitations, and a lack of robust animal models for toxicological assessment of asthma, create the need for a weight-of-evidence (WoE) approach to examine an ingredient or product's asthmatic potential. This proposed WoE method organizes diverse lines of data (i.e., asthma, sensitization, and irritation information) through a systematic, hierarchical framework that provides qualitatively categorized conclusions using hazard bands to predict a specific product or ingredient's potential for asthma induction. This work provides a method for prioritizing chemicals as a first step for quantitative and scenario-specific safety assessments based on their potential for inducing asthmatic effects. Acetic acid is used as a case study to test this framework.
Influence of the magnetic proximity effect on spin-orbit torque efficiencies in ferromagnet/platinum bilayers

Current-induced spin-orbit torques in ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeAl}/\mathrm{Pt}$ ultrathin bilayers are studied using a magnetoresistive harmonic response technique, which distinguishes the dampinglike and fieldlike contributions. The presence of a temperature-dependent magnetic proximity effect is observed through the anomalous Hall and anisotropic magnetoresistances, which are enhanced at low temperatures for thin platinum thicknesses. The fieldlike torque efficiency decreases steadily as the temperature is lowered for all Pt thicknesses studied, which we propose is related to the influence of the magnetic proximity effect on the fieldlike torque mechanism.
Effect of a Combination of Intranasal Ketorolac and Nitrous Oxide on the Success of the Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block in Patients with Symptomatic Irreversible Pulpitis: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind Study.

Abstract Introduction Previous studies in patients with irreversible pulpitis have reported increased success of the inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) using premedication with ketorolac. Preemptive nitrous oxide administration has also shown an increase in the success of the IANB. Recently, ketorolac has been made available for intranasal delivery. Perhaps combining ketorolac and nitrous oxide would increase success. Therefore, the purpose of this prospective, randomized, double-blind study was to determine the effect of a combination of intranasal ketorolac and nitrous oxide/oxygen on the anesthetic success of the IANB in patients presenting with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. Methods One hundred two patients experiencing spontaneous moderate to severe pain with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis in a mandibular posterior tooth participated. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups and received either 31.5 mg intranasal ketorolac or intranasal saline placebo 20 minutes before the administration of nitrous oxide/oxygen. Ten minutes after the administration of nitrous oxide/oxygen, the IANB was given. After profound lip numbness, endodontic treatment was performed. Success was defined as the ability to perform endodontic access and instrumentation with no pain or mild pain. Results The odds of success for the IANB was 1.631 in the intranasal saline/nitrous oxide group versus the intranasal ketorolac/nitrous oxide group with no significant difference between the groups (P = .2523). Conclusions Premedication with intranasal ketorolac did not significantly increase the odds of success for the IANB over the use of nitrous oxide/oxygen alone. Supplemental anesthesia will still be needed to achieve adequate anesthesia.
Mental Health Service Engagement Among Underserved Minority Adolescents and Young Adults: a Systematic Review

Limited ability to engage underserved racial-ethnic minority young adults into treatment contributes to mental health disparities among this population. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine the evidence for interventions that can improve their engagement with mental health services. A database search and bibliographic review yielded 1264 studies that were assessed according to the following inclusion criteria: sample with a mean age between 13 and 27; sufficient ethnic/racial representation (at least 50%); an explicitly stated objective for the intervention of improving mental health treatment engagement among adolescents and young adults (e.g., initiating treatment, retention, completion); and evaluation of an engagement outcome, such as session attendance or service utilization. Ten studies met inclusion criteria. Studies varied according to level of evidence for efficacy with underserved young adults, with four meeting criteria as probably efficacious. Interventions that were family based or were culturally adapted for age group or race-ethnicity also showed possible efficacy and promising results. Although the lack of studies focused on this population limited findings, evidence supports incorporating family and natural supports in a developmentally appropriate way, facilitating independence, and attending to cultural context as key components of interventions designed to address the unmet need in underserved minority young adults.
Drilling and Production Activity Related to Unconventional Gas Development and Severity of Preterm Birth.

Background: Studies of unconventional gas development (UGD) and preterm birth (PTB) have not presented risk estimates by well development phase or trimester. Objective: We examined phase and trimes...
Detailed Modeling of Transport-Kinetics Interactions of Ethylene Epoxidation at High Vacuum and Atmospheric Pressures

The activation of silver powder for ethylene epoxidation is investigated at vacuum and atmospheric pressure using transient response techniques based on a modified version of the TAP (Temporal Analysis of Products) reactor system. Comparisons between transient responses based on temperature programmed surface reaction and step response experiments at atmospheric pressure to those obtained at high vacuum using alternating pulses of oxygen and ethylene-d4 suggest that the activation process for silver powder is qualitatively the same in both pressure regimes. A detailed model that describes the incorporation of oxygen into the surface and subsurface sites is developed to interpret the TAP reactor data under high vacuum. Kinetic rate and transport parameters are obtained by matching the experimental and model predicted oxygen breakthrough transient responses. The results indicate that the activation process involves a concurrent filling of surface and subsurface sites, but that the latter sites are filled at a much slower rate.
Tortious Interference and the Law of Contract: The Case for Specific Performance Revisited

What is the role of contract law in remedying breach? The question of the appropriate legal remedy, specific performance versus money damages, has provided adequate fodder for three decades of debate in the law and economics discourse. In the legal discipline at large, the topic has spurred centuries of debate, as illustrated by Oliver Wendell Holmes's famous line: "The only universal consequence of a legally binding promise is, that the law makes the promisor pay damages if the promised event does not come to pass."' Holmes's approach to contractual remedy would evolve during the latter half of the twentieth century into the "efficient breach" theory, which advocates the remedy of expectation damages upon breach in order to encourage the promisor' s breach where the resulting profits to the promisor exceed the loss to the promisee.2 Although this favorite doctrine of law and economics scholars more or less describes the norm in AngloAmerican contract law, in which damages are routinely available and specific performance rarely granted, it has met and continues to meet with criticism on a variety of grounds.3
Instabilities of a Coupled Cavity Laser

External resonators have begun to play a growing role in laser application where higher stability and narrower linewidth are required. Because most systems of this type involve semiconductors as the active medium, the traditional theoretical descriptions have employed for the most part rate equations models with an appropriate (usually delayed) feedback term to simulate the action of the external resonator [1]. This approach is unlikely to provide a satisfactory description when interference effects between the two cavity fields cause a significant modulation of the total circulating power.
Endoscopic versus laparotomy management of endometriomas

Objective To compare the surgical management and follow-up of patients with endometriomas managed by endoscopic surgery versus laparotomy using a retrospective case control format. Design Endoscopic oophorocystectomies were performed on 36 patients. Chart review of laparotomy oophorocystectomies from 21 patients was conducted. Six-week and 12-month follow-up for evaluation of symptoms, evidence of recurrence, and fertility was available on all subjects. Results In the endoscopy group, 39 patients had screening laparoscopy for possible endoscopic surgery. Three of this group required laparotomy and 36 patients underwent endoscopic surgery. Chart review identified 21 patients who had undergone primary laparotomy for endometriomas. Patient groups were matched for age, severity of disease, presence of other infertility factors, and absence of perioperative medical suppression. Outcome parameters for each group were: operating time—endoscopy 2.8hours (±1.2), laparotomy 3.1hours (±1.8); estimated blood loss—endoscopy 40cc (±45); laparotomy, 240cc (±107); recovery time—endoscopy, 6.2days (±2.5), laparotomy 30days (±6.8); endometrioma recurrence rate—endoscopy 11.1%, laparotomy 19%; and pregnancy rate—endoscopy 42.8%, laparotomy 46.6%. Conclusion A high percentage of patients with endometriomas associated with advanced endometriosis can be managed effectively by endoscopic surgery.
Endothelial Activation Markers in Sub-clinical Atherosclerosis: Insights from Mechanism-Based Paradigms

Endothelial cell (EC) activation mediates inflammation and involves several effectors such as E-selectin, P-selectin, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1. These EC activation markers are detected to be significantly increased in clinical coronary artery disease (CAD), and mildly increased in subclinical CAD compared with non-disease reference groups. Because inflammation is implicated in all stages of CAD and thought to underlie plaque destabilization and rupture, monitoring the increase in EC activation markers could be a surrogate endpoint in the monitoring of subclinical coronary artery disease (subCAD) progression, and/or response to prevention/intervention strategies. While CAD progression is complex, and requires the contemporaneous analysis of multi-pathway markers, monitoring EC activation markers could provide insight into subCAD progression, especially when levels approach those detected in acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Clearly, mechanism-based deductions provide compelling evidence that EC activation markers should be integrated into the management of subCAD; however, much study remains to be done.