cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Virtual teamwork training: factors influencing the acceptance of collaboration technology

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence the acceptance of electronic collaboration technology by higher education students and that influence their predicted usage of the technology for virtual team collaboration. The research combined the unified theory of acceptance and usage of technology UTAUT with a virtual team-training model. All 108 participants completed a survey following their participation in virtual team training. Ten hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modelling technique, partial least squares. Five of the hypotheses were supported and five were not supported. The results indicated that three of the four UTAUT constructs were significant in predicting whether the participants would use the collaboration technology in the future. Additionally, the findings revealed that the participants had a positive perception of the virtual teamwork training.
Potential reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the use of electric energy storage on a power generation unit/organic Rankine system

Abstract This paper evaluates the potential carbon dioxide emissions reduction from the implementation of electric energy storage to a combined power generation unit and an organic Rankine cycle relative to a conventional system that uses utility gas for heating and utility electricity for electricity needs. Results indicate that carbon dioxide emission reductions from the operation of the proposed system are directly correlated to the ratio of the carbon dioxide emission conversion factor for electricity to that of the fuel. The location where the system is installed also has a strong influence on the potential of the proposed system to save carbon dioxide emissions. Finally, it is shown that by using carbon emissions cap and trade programs, it is possible to establish a frame of reference to compare/exchange operational cost gains with carbon dioxide emission reductions/gains.
Do Incentive-Based Programs Improve Teacher Quality and Student Achievement? An Analysis of Implementation in 12 Urban Charter Schools:

ContextPolicymakers have increasingly advocated for incentive-based approaches for improving urban schools.Purpose of the StudyFew studies have examined the implementation of incentive based approa...
The structure of RbmB from Streptomyces ribosidificus, an aminotransferase involved in the biosynthesis of ribostamycin.

Aminoglycoside antibiotics represent a classical group of antimicrobials first discovered in the 1940s. Due to their ototoxic and nephrotoxic side effects, they are typically only used against Gram negative bacteria which have become resistant to other therapeutics. One family of aminoglycosides includes such compounds as butirosin, ribostamycin, neomycin, and kanamycin, amongst others. The common theme in these antibiotics is that they are constructed around a chemically stable aminocyclitol unit referred to as 2-deoxystreptamine (2-DOS). Four enzymes are required for the in vivo production of 2-DOS. Here, we report the structure of RbmB from Streptomyces ribosidificus, which is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate dependent enzyme that catalyzes two of the required steps in 2-DOS formation by functioning on distinct substrates. For this analysis, the structure of the external aldimine form of RbmB with 2-DOS was determined to 2.1 A resolution. In addition, the structure of a similar enzyme, BtrR from Bacillus circulans, was also determined to 2.1 A resolution in the same external aldimine form. These two structures represent the first detailed molecular descriptions of the active sites for those aminotransferases involved in 2-DOS production. Given the fact that the 2-DOS unit is widespread amongst aminoglycoside antibiotics, the data presented herein provide new molecular insight into the biosynthesis of these sugar-based drugs.
Amino Acids Inhibitory Effects and Mechanism on 2-Amino-1-Methyl-6-Phenylimidazo [4,5-b]Pyridine (PhIP) Formation in the Maillard Reaction Model Systems.

This study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of amino acids (AAs) on the formation of 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) and to evaluate the inhibition mechanism of PhIP in Maillard model systems. Different AAs were individually added into model systems heat-treated at 180 °C/1 h. The PhIP, phenylacetaldehyde (PheAce), and pyrazines derivatives were determined using HPLC and GC-MS. AAs significantly reduced (P Pro > Leu > Met > Val > Ile > Thr > Phe > Asp, at the highest molar ratio. The PheAce content was gradually reduced with increasing AAs levels, suggesting that AAs may inhibit PhIP formation through scavenging the available PheAce. A correlation between PhIP inhibition and PheAce-scavenging activity of AAs was observed when PheAce and AAs were heated. The variety and quantity of pyrazines formed are highly depending on the type of AAs.
The Effectiveness of School-Based Mental Health Services for Elementary-Aged Children: A Meta-Analysis

Objective Given problems and disparities in the use of community-based mental health services for youth, school personnel have assumed frontline mental health service roles. To date, most research on school-based services has evaluated analog educational contexts with services implemented by highly trained study staff, and little is known about the effectiveness of school-based mental health services when implemented by school professionals. Method Random-effects meta-analytic procedures were used to synthesize effects of school-based mental health services for elementary school-age children delivered by school personnel and potential moderators of treatment response. Forty-three controlled trials evaluating 49,941 elementary school-age children met the selection criteria (mean grade 2.86, 60.3% boys). Results Overall, school-based services demonstrated a small-to-medium effect (Hedges g = 0.39) in decreasing mental health problems, with the largest effects found for targeted intervention (Hedges g = 0.76), followed by selective prevention (Hedges g = 0.67), compared with universal prevention (Hedges g = 0.29). Mental health services integrated into students’ academic instruction (Hedges g = 0.59), those targeting externalizing problems (Hedges g = 0.50), those incorporating contingency management (Hedges g = 0.57), and those implemented multiple times per week (Hedges g = 0.50) showed particularly strong effects. Conclusion Considering serious barriers precluding youth from accessing necessary mental health care, the present meta-analysis suggests child psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are wise to recognize the important role that school personnel, who are naturally in children’s lives, can play in decreasing child mental health problems.
Irregularities in 'Governance and Taxes'

A comparison of "Governance and Taxes" with a previous working paper version reveals a number of irregularities that together suggest the analysis was not performed as described in the published version. In particular, the two versions claim to use different main empirical specifications, but the numbers in all 11 tables are exactly the same in both versions. An assessment of other comparisons between the two versions suggests that it is unlikely that these irregularities are unintentional errors. Instead, a straightforward explanation of these anomalies is data falsification: the working paper version accurately describes the main specification, and the published version misstates the main specification. I conclude by demonstrating that the main result, when accurately described, fails a simple placebo test and is therefore spurious.
Chemokine expression in the early response to injury in human airway epithelial cells

Basal airway epithelial cells (AEC) constitute stem/progenitor cells within the central airways and respond to mucosal injury in an ordered sequence of spreading, migration, proliferation, and differentiation to needed cell types. However, dynamic gene transcription in the early events after mucosal injury has not been studied in AEC. We examined gene expression using microarrays following mechanical injury (MI) in primary human AEC grown in submersion culture to generate basal cells and in the air-liquid interface to generate differentiated AEC (dAEC) that include goblet and ciliated cells. A select group of ~150 genes was in differential expression (DE) within 2–24 hr after MI, and enrichment analysis of these genes showed over-representation of functional categories related to inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Network-based gene prioritization and network reconstruction using the PINTA heat kernel diffusion algorithm demonstrated highly connected networks that were richer in differentiated AEC compared to basal cells. Similar experiments done in basal AEC collected from asthmatic donor lungs demonstrated substantial changes in DE genes and functional categories related to inflammation compared to basal AEC from normal donors. In dAEC, similar but more modest differences were observed. We demonstrate that the AEC transcription signature after MI identifies genes and pathways that are important to the initiation and perpetuation of airway mucosal inflammation. Gene expression occurs quickly after injury and is more profound in differentiated AEC, and is altered in AEC from asthmatic airways. Our data suggest that the early response to injury is substantially different in asthmatic airways, particularly in basal airway epithelial cells.
Abstract 19881: Impact of Radiofrequency Application Time and Power on Lesion Volume Created by a Novel Heated Saline Enhanced Radiofrequency Needle-tip Catheter: Evidence From an MRI Lesion Validation Study

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess controllability of lesion creation in left ventricular myocardium using a novel heated saline enhanced radiofrequency (RF) needle-tip catheter. Methods: Six normal dogs underwent catheter ablation using this novel catheter (closed-end 25-gauge needle [penetration depth 6 mm], 24 radial side holes for injection of heated saline). Ablative lesions were created using different power and RF application times (21, 33, 40, 45W; application of 25, 50, 60, 75sec.; irrigation saline 60°C with 10mL/min flow). Needle penetration was assessed by intracardiac echocardiography (ICE). Hearts were explanted one week after ablation and evaluated using postmortem 3.0T-MR imaging (FSPGR sequences, 1mm slice interval). Gross pathologic and histologic characteristics of lesions were examined. Lesion volume was measured using MR images and compared to volumes obtained in gross pathology. Results: In total, 29 lesions (5 lesions with 21W/25sec, 5 with 21W/75sec, 5 with 33W/50sec, 4 with 40W/60sec, 5 with 45W/25sec and 5 with 45W/75sec) were assessed. No steam pop, perforation and lethal arrhythmia events were observed during RF application. All lesions were successfully identified on MR images. Out of the 29 lesions, 23 lesions (79.3%) were transmural. Lesion volume data are summarized in Figure. Time Δlesion volume was 50.2mm 3 /sec with 21W, 37.3mm 3 /sec with 45W and power Δlesion volume was 74.7mm 3 /W with 25sec, 47.7mm 3 /W with 75 sec. Spearman rank correlation test showed positive correlations between gross pathologic lesion volume, RF application time and MRI lesion volume (r=0.833; p Conclusions: This novel catheter created LV lesions correlates with RF application time. MR lesion size is dependent on both time and power, although, unlike other ablation tools ablation time is more important than power.
The Effect of Ketorolac on Thoracolumbar Posterolateral Fusion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Study Design:Systematic review and meta-analysis.Objective:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of postoperative ketorolac administration (ie, dosage and duration of use) on pseudarthrosis following thoracolumbar posterolateral spinal fusions.Summary of Background Data:Ketorolac is a
Neurological Implications of the Genetic Mouse Models for Human Phenylketonuria and Hyperphenylalaninemia

The inability to catabolize dietary phenylalanine (PHE) was first described by the Norwegian scientist and physician Asborn Folling (Folling, 1934). In this seminal work, Dr. Folling made a preliminary description of the biochemical basis of the defect that would come to be known as phenylketonuria (PKU), its apparent heritability, and its most obvious neurological manifestations. In the more than 60 years that have elpased since this breakthrough, an abundant amount of research has been undertaken to extend and complete this initial characterization. (For a recent review, see Scriver et al., 1994.)
Megakaryocytes their precursors and their progeny.

Although first defined nearly 40 years ago, the existence of thrombopoietin, the primary regulator of megakaryocyte and platelet production, was in doubt until only very recently. Since the initial reports of its cloning in 1994, much has been learned about the effects of the hormone on megakaryocytic proliferation and differentiation. Thrombopoietin affects all aspects of megakaryocyte development, from the commitment of hematopoietic stem cells to the megakaryocytic lineage through their maturation into large highly polyploid cells capable of fragmentation into thousands of platelets. As such, recombinant thrombopoietin will undoubtedly find use to augment platelet production in states of impaired bone marrow function. Moreover, as a number of pathologic states of platelet production are associated with abnormalities of homeostasis or thrombosis, a better comprehension of the mechanisms by which platelets are derived from marrow megakaryocytes will likely aid in our approach to a number of cardiovascular disorders. The availability of thrombopoietin ushers in a new era of understanding of the physiology of megakaryocytes, their precursors, and their progeny. © 1996, Elsevier Science Inc. (Trends Cardiovasc Med 1996;6:261-265).
The Philosophical Relevance of Decision Theory

There is, I am sure, a sense in which any developed scientific theory has philosophical significance. It is equally clear that some scientific theories are of considerably more philosophical importance than others. For philosophy, quantum mechanics is more important than hydrodynamics, learning theory than social psychology, the theory of sets than topology, and so on. It is the primary point of the present paper to discuss the philosophical relevance or importance of decision theory, a theory I classify as a new branch of mathematical statistics and economics, with certain ramifications in psychology. I hope to be able to show that in its own way decision theory has the kind of primary relevance for philosophy that we associate with quantum mechanics or the theory of sets.
New guidance to improve sample size calculations for trials: eliciting the target difference

Sample size calculations are central to the design of health research trials. To ensure that the trial provides good evidence to answer the trial’s research question, the target effect size (difference in means or proportions, odds ratio, relative risk or hazard ratio between trial arms) must be specified under the conventional approach to determining the sample size. However, until now, there has not been comprehensive guidance on how to specify this effect. This is a commentary on a collection of papers from two important projects, DELTA (Difference ELicitation in TriAls) and DELTA2 that aim to provide evidence-based guidance on systematically determining the target effect size, or difference and the resultant sample sizes for trials. In addition to surveying methods that researchers are using in practice, the research team met with various experts (statisticians, methodologists, clinicians and funders); reviewed guidelines from funding agencies; and reviewed recent methodological literature. The DELTA2 guidance stresses specifying important and realistic differences, and undertaking sensitivity analyses in calculating sample sizes. It gives recommendations on how to find appropriate differences, conduct the sample size calculation(s) and how to report these in grant applications, protocols and manuscripts. It is hoped that this will contribute not only to better powered studies, but better reporting and reproducibility and thinking about what a trial should be designed to achieve. The DELTA researchers have developed a set of comprehensive guidance documents that are welcome and will almost certainly improve the way that trials are designed and reported.
10 kHz spinal cord stimulation: a retrospective analysis of real-world data from a community-based, interdisciplinary pain facility.

Objective To evaluate clinical outcomes and health care utilization at 12 months post spinal cord stimulator (SCS) implantation compared with baseline and a matched sample of patients receiving conventional medical management (CMM) for the treatment of low back and lower extremity pain. Patients A retrospective study of patients with at least 24 months of active treatment at an interdisciplinary community pain center between December 1, 2014 and December 31, 2017. Thirty-two patients receiving implantation of a high-frequency (10 kHz) SCS and 64 patients receiving CMM were identified through propensity matching at a ratio of 2:1. Methods Data were extracted from medical records, including pain severity, prescribed opioid dose in morphine milligram equivalents, patient perception of disability, and volume of interventional pain procedures and total office visits to the pain center. Results Reductions in opioid dose were significantly greater for the SCS group than the CMM group. The 26.2 mg morphine equivalent dose reduction represents a 28% reduction from baseline, with 71.4% of those prescribed opioids in the SCS group reducing their dose at 12 months post-implant. Among those with SCS, there were significant within-group reductions in numerical pain score for low back and lower extremity pain, reducing by 46.2% and 50.9% from baseline, respectively. Change in functional pain score was not significant for either SCS group or CMM. Both groups had significant within-group reduction in disability. Reduction of interventional procedure volume was significant for both groups with a greater reduction observed in the SCS group. Office visit volume reduction was significant for the CMM group, but this was not a significant difference from the SCS group. Conclusions Results support the efficacy of 10 kHz SCS for analgesia, reduction of opioid utilization, reduction of interventional pain procedures, and patient perception of disability.
Properties and Imaging of Thick Doped Amorphous Silicon in Direct Contact with Aluminum For Use in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

We present the characterization of amorphous silicon/aluminum carrier-selective contacts in both front- and rear-emitter configurations, where the aluminum makes direct contact with the doped a-Si:H layers in silicon heterojunction solar cells. The resistance and passivation quality of these contacts have been measured using the transmission line measurement and the quasi-steady-state photoconductance techniques, respectively. The thickness of the doped a-Si:H layer in direct contact with the aluminum is 20 nm and post-aluminumsputtering annealing temperature ranges from 150-240 °C. Samples with aluminum on an a-Si:H(n) layer annealed at 180°C had a contact resistivity below 1 mΩcm2 while the lifetime remained at 4.8 milliseconds– essentially unchanged from the pre-sputtered, passivated sample. These values are superior to those for the traditional silicon heterojunction contact with a transparent conductive oxide layer and can enable devices with low resistive losses and tremendous optical properties through the insertion of a low-refractive index dielectric material at a wellchosen contact fraction.
WRKY1 mediates transcriptional crosstalk between light and nitrogen signaling pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana

ABSTRACT Plant responses to multiple stimuli must be integrated to trigger transcriptional cascades that lead to changes in plant metabolism and development. Light (L) and nitrogen (N) are two signaling pathways that are intimately connected to each other and to plant energy status. Here, we describe the functional role of the WRKY1 transcription factor in mediating the regulation between L and N signaling pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana. WRKY1 participates in genome-wide transcriptional reprogramming in leaves in response to individual and combined L and N signals. A regulatory network was identified, consisting of 724 genes regulated by WRKY1 and involved in both N and L signaling pathways. The loss of WRKY1 gene function has marked effects on the L and N response of genes involved in N uptake and assimilation (primary metabolism) as well as stress response pathways (secondary metabolism). Our results support a model in which WRKY1 enables plants to activate genes involved in the recycling of cellular carbon resources when L is limiting but N is abundant, and up-regulate amino acid metabolism genes when both L and N are limiting. In this potential energy conservation mechanism, WRKY1 integrates responses to N and light-energy status to trigger changes in plant metabolism. Summary Based on transcriptome analysis, the WRKY1 transcription factor mediates regulation of nitrogen and light signaling pathways in a potential energy conservation mechanism.
Standardization Committee on Bioelectrical Impedance Measurements

As a result of the interest generated by the International Conference on Bioelectrical Impedance (1) a round table conference on Bioelectrical Impedance Measurements was held during the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Neuroelectric Society in Las Vegas March 1970, (2) and a Committee of Standards was organized.
Response characterization of EBT-XD radiochromic films in megavoltage photon and electron beams.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the beam quality dependence of the EBT-XD radiochromic films for megavoltage photon and electron beam irradiations by studying their spectral response. Dose, dose rate, and interbatch dependencies were investigated as well. Methods EBT-XD and EBT3 radiochromic films were cut into 5 cm2 × 5 cm2 pieces, placed between solid water phantoms, and irradiated with 6 and 15 MV photon beams, 6 and 10 MV flattening filter free photon beams, and 6 and 20 MeV electron beams at dose levels between 0.5 and 50 Gy. In order to measure the spectral response, the films were illuminated by a deuterium and tungsten-halogen lamp and net absorption was measured in 400-800 nm spectral range using a fiber-coupled optical spectrometer. Film samples were then analyzed using a flatbed scanner in the red, green, and blue channel to obtain the optical density of the films. Results The net absorption spectra of the EBT-XD and EBT3 films showed two absorption bands centered at 635 and 585 nm, characteristic of the EBT model. However, for a given dose, the EBT-XD films showed lower net absorbance compared to the EBT3 films. At a given dose level, the net absorption spectra and dose-response curves for EBT-XD films showed only slight variations across various beam qualities. When a calibration curve obtained from a given beam quality is used to measure dose from films irradiated with other beam qualities, the maximum uncertainty in the calculated dose, in ranges 5-40 and 8-50 Gy for red and green channels, respectively, were ~3.1% and ~2.4%. Conclusions The response of the EBT-XD films is dose rate independent but batch dependent. No significant beam quality dependence was observed in EBT-XD films in the dose range up to 50 Gy.
Donors and Dollars: Art Community Sees Victory in Summer Settlement at Brandeis

June 2011 saw the settlement of the bitter legal battle over the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University. The outcome of Meryl Rose, et al, v. Brandeis University, et al, an action brought in July 2009 in Suffolk Probate and Family Court by museum supporters, will keep the Rose open for business. This paper reviews the history of the controversy as well as the legal dispute and settlement that followed. Nonprofits and museums around the country should look at the Brandeis firestorm as cautionary tale against de-accessioning donated artwork to generate revenues - even against the backdrop of a grim recession.
Continuous Random Variables

In Chapters 5-9 we discussed discrete random variables and the methods employed to describe them probabilistically. The principal assumption necessary in order to do so is that the sample space, which is the set of all possible outcomes, is finite or at most countably infinite. It followed then that a probability mass function (PMF) could be defined as the probability of each sample point and used to calculate the probability of all possible events (which are subsets of the sample space).
Input Convex Neural Networks for Optimal Voltage Regulation

The increasing penetration of renewables in distribution networks calls for faster and more advanced voltage regulation strategies. A promising approach is to formulate the problem as an optimization problem, where the optimal reactive power injection from inverters are calculated to maintain the voltages while satisfying power network constraints. However, existing optimization algorithms require the exact topology and line parameters of underlying distribution system, which are not known for most cases and are difficult to infer. In this paper, we propose to use specifically designed neural network to tackle the learning and optimization problem together. In the training stage, the proposed input convex neural network learns the mapping between the power injections and the voltages. In the voltage regulation stage, such trained network can find the optimal reactive power injections by design. We also provide a practical distributed algorithm by using the trained neural network. Theoretical bounds on the representation performance and learning efficiency of proposed model are also discussed. Numerical simulations on multiple test systems are conducted to illustrate the operation of the algorithm.
Knowledge and Belief towards Infertility among Undergraduate Students of Selected Colleges of Pokhara Metropolitan City

Introduction: Infertility is the global public health problem with adverse social and economic consequences. World Health Organization states that infertility affects 1 in every 10 couples worldwide. This study was carried out with an objective to find out the level of knowledge and belief regarding infertility among undergraduate students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and quantitative study, carried out among 420 undergraduate students of 7 selected colleges of Pokhara Metropolitan city from July to September 2019. Study populations were selected through simple random sampling method. Data collection was carried out using self-administered questionnaire. Results: Study revealed that 51.9% students had good level of knowledge with the female students having greater knowledge (57%) than male (48%). The study found that students’ knowledge score related to infertility was significantly associated with gender (p<0.05) and parental advices (p<0.05). Conclusions: More than half of the participants had good level of knowledge. Female students were more knowledgeable than male students. Less than half of the participants had ever attended on sexual and reproductive training programs.
Identifying the Dynamic Effects of Income Inequality on Crime

What happens to crime after an increase in income inequality? The microeconomics literature that attempts to answer this question often employs identification strategies that exploit external sources of variation that provide quasi‐experiments to identify causal effects. In contrast, this paper tackles this question by using structural vector autoregressions (SVAR), a methodology typically employed in modern empirical macroeconomics to identify and estimate dynamic causal effects of exogenous shocks. Unlike the macroeconomic SVAR models that are often applied to time‐series data, we exploit the time series and cross‐sectional dimensions of our data, leading to the estimation of panel SVAR models. Using U.S. state‐level data for the period 1960–2015, our results indicate that structural shocks to inequality increase both violent and property crime. Variance decomposition analyses show that inequality has little explanatory power for movements in crime.
Isolation of Chemically Cyclized Peptide Binders Using Yeast Surface Display

Cyclic peptides with engineered protein-binding activity have gained increasing attention for use in therapeutic and biotechnology applications. We describe the efficient isolation and characterization of cyclic peptide binders from genetically encoded combinatorial libraries using yeast surface display. Here, peptide cyclization is achieved by disuccinimidyl glutarate-mediated crosslinking of amine groups within a linear peptide sequence that is expressed as a yeast cell surface fusion. Using this approach, we first screened a library of cyclic heptapeptides by magnetic selection and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), to isolate binders for a model target (lysozyme) with low micromolar binding affinity (KD ~ 1.2 - 3.7 μM). The isolated peptides bound lysozyme selectively, and only when cyclized. Importantly, we showed that yeast surface displayed cyclic peptides could be used to efficiently obtain quantitative estimates of binding affinity, without chemical synthesis of the selected peptides. Subsequently, to demonstrate broader applicability of our approach, we isolated cyclic heptapeptides that bind human interleukin-17 (IL-17) using yeast-displayed IL-17 as a target for magnetic selection, followed by FACS using recombinant IL-17. Molecular docking simulations and follow-up experimental analyses identified a candidate cyclic peptide that binds IL-17 in its receptor binding region with moderate affinity (KD ~ 300 nM). Taken to-gether, our results show that yeast surface display can be used to efficiently isolate and characterize cyclic peptides generated by chemical modification from combinatorial libraries.
Introduction: Global Political Activism and Campaigns on Universal Basic Income

The co-editors present an overview of the contemporary climate of political activism regarding basic income initiatives. They provide the rationale for the book and a synopsis of what prompted their collaboration. Brief synopses of each chapter follow. The co-editors conclude the Introduction with a discussion of merits and limitations of UBI pilot projects, drawing on the experiences of Finland and Canada and lessons to enhance the efficacy of related political activism. Evidence from these two UBI pilot projects and from the case studies presented throughout the book suggests that reliance on political leaders and bureaucrats to roll out UBI is insufficient, that increased and sustained civil society and public pressure are necessary to enhance prospects for advancing a political agenda favorable to adoption of UBI initiatives.
Distinguishing Generalized Mycielskian Graphs

A graph $G$ is $d$-distinguishable if there is a coloring of the vertices with $d$ colors so that only the trivial automorphism preserves the color classes. The smallest such $d$ is the distinguishing number, $\operatorname{Dist}(G)$. The Mycielskian $\mu(G)$ of a graph $G$ is constructed by adding a shadow vertex $u_i$ for each vertex $v_i$ of $G$ and one additional vertex $w$ and adding edges so that $N(u_i)~=~N_G(v_i)~\cup~\{w\}$. The generalized Mycielskian $\mu^{(t)}(G)$ is a Mycielskian graph with $t$ layers of shadow vertices, each with edges to layers above and below. This paper examines the distinguishing number of the traditional and generalized Mycielskian graphs. Notably, if $G~\neq ~K_1,~K_2$ and the number of isolated vertices in $\mu^{(t)}(G)$ is at most $\operatorname{Dist}(G)$, then $\operatorname{Dist}(\mu^{(t)}(G)) \le \operatorname{Dist}(G)$. This result proves and exceeds a conjecture of Alikhani and Soltani.
PRESSING QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN THE HIV-1 AND SARS-COV-2 SYNDEMIC.

Since emerging into the human population in late 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has reached across the globe to infect >80 million people. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 can range in severity from mild and asymptomatic to severe and fatal. Identifying risk factors for adverse outcomes in COVID-19 is a major challenge. In the context of the existing HIV-1 pandemic, whether COVID-19 disproportionately burdens people living with HIV-1 infection (PLWH) is unclear. The following discussion highlights pressing questions and challenges in the HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 syndemic, including (i) age, sex, and race as drivers of COVID-19 severity; (ii) whether chronic inflammation common in PLWH influences immune response; (iii) whether disease severity and trajectory models for COVID-19 ought to be calibrated for PLWH; (iv) vaccine considerations, and finally, (v) long-term health outcomes in PLWH that are further burdened by coinfection with SARS-CoV-2.
Climate Urbanism: Towards a Critical Research Agenda: Edited by Vanesa Castán Broto, Enora Robin & Aidan While Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2020, xxi + 252 pp., $119.99 (hardback), $89.00 (e-book), ISBN: 978-3-030-53386-1

Climate change poses a grave challenge to human well–being and development, necessitating sweeping social transformations. This edited collection posits that climate change is compelling a new mode...
Cognitive and computational building blocks for more human-like language in machines

Humans learn language building on more basic conceptual and computational resources that we can already see precursors of in infancy. These include capacities for causal reasoning, symbolic rule formation, rapid abstraction, and common sense representations of events in terms of objects, agents and their interactions. I will talk about steps towards capturing these abilities in engineering terms, using tools from hierarchical Bayesian models, probabilistic programs, program induction, and neuro-symbolic architectures. I will show examples of how these tools have been applied in both cognitive science and AI contexts, and point to ways they might be useful in building more human-like language, learning and reasoning in machines.
PD-1 and CTLA-4 signals are not important for the maintenance of tolerant self-reactive CD8 T cells in the small intestine (MUC8P.808)

Tolerance is an important mechanism by which the immune system distinguishes between self and non-self. Peripheral T cell tolerance is critical for the control of self-reactive cells that escape negative selection. Anergy is one mechanism that controls self-reactive cells in the periphery and prevents autoimmunity. Using a system that allows for the study self-specific CD8 T cell responses to a known intestinal auto-antigen, we determined that mucosal antigen signaling can lead to a long-term, stable population of cells in the intestine that have a classic anergic phenotype. These cells do not produce effector cytokines or induce intestinal damage. Inhibitory molecules, like PD-1 and CTLA-4, are believed to be important for both the induction and maintenance of T cell tolerance. We show that the induction phase of CD8 T cell tolerance to self was highly sensitive to control through both PD-1 and CTLA-4. However, once tolerance was established, the maintenance of tolerant CD8 T cells was independent of PD-1 or CTLA-4 signaling. Overall, this indicates that distinct mechanisms are responsible for the induction and maintenance of tolerant T cells. In addition, there may be many tolerant T cells resistant to immunotherapeutics targeting these pathways. Determining which subsets of self-reactive cells are susceptible to modulation through these pathways is important for understanding basic mechanisms tolerance and autoimmunity and for improving cancer therapeutics.
An optimally self-biased threshold-voltage extractor [MOSFET circuit parametric testing]

A novel threshold-voltage extractor architecture is presented. A differential-difference transconductor (DDT) loop automatically biases the device-under-test in continuous time around the inflection point of the /spl radic/I/sub D/ versus V/sub GS/ characteristics. Another DDT operates as an arithmetic processor to precisely implement multiplication by two and subtraction as needed for extrapolation. The extraction procedure thus complies entirely with all steps of the manual saturation method. With appropriate modifications, the architecture can also serve as an extractor implementing the linear method. The proposed architecture is applicable to both PMOS and NMOS on the same chip, and generates the value of V/sub T/ as a voltage with respect to the appropriate rail. It has been fabricated on silicon, and its accuracy has been experimentally verified by comparing automatically and manually extracted parameter values.
Genomics and Evolution of Microbial Eukaryotes

Genomics and Evolution of Eukaryotic Microbes by Laura A. Katz and Debashish Bhattacharya is a concise, up-to-date text on microbial eukaryotic (protists) diversity and genome evolution. Understanding the diversity of protists is of paramount importance, considering that these microorganisms affect both our environment and health. Indeed, this group of organisms contains some of the deadliest known pathogens to men, such as the causative agent of malaria: Plasmodium falciparum. With a goal to convey a basic appreciation and understanding of the topic to a wide scientific community, the authors have assembled a volume of 15 articles representing the analyses and interpretations of leaders in the field. The first section provides an overview of the tremendous diversity and phylogeny of protests, which amount to approximately 200,000 described species. This section sets the stage for the proceeding sections by presenting current hypotheses in the field. Part two addresses the evolutionary genomics of protists via the examination of a few examples that exemplify the unique genomic architecture represented within the different clades. Finally, the third section of the text aims to provide the reader with an in-depth knowledge of synthesized data from the completed genomes of protists, including the approaches used to characterize the respective genomes. The last section is particularly interesting in that it brings to the forefront many discoveries challenging some of the principles of genome evolution. Using a precise writing style, the authors successfully have provided an easy-to-understand text for the complex and important field of protist evolutionary biology. Furthermore, the organized layout of the chapters makes it easy for the reader to progress through the complex layers of the field. Consequently, this book would provide a viable text for students from a broad range of disciplines interested in understanding both the micro and macro working of genomes.
A new topical antifungal drug: tioconazole.

: Following 4 weeks of treatment, 32 of 35 tioconazole treated patients (91.4%) and 29 of 34 miconazole treated patients (85.3%) achieved clinical and mycologic cures. At follow-up four weeks after completion of treatment, 29 of 31 tioconazole treated patients (93.5%) and 25 of 28 miconazole treated patients (89.3%) remained cured. There was no significant difference between clinical, mycologic or clinical plus mycologic response to the two medications. The 96.2% positive culture correlation in this study is attributed to the selection of multiple culture sites.
A TRIAXIAL PRESSURE APPARATUS FOR TESTING OF CONSOLIDATED OR UNCONSOLIDATED MATERIALS SUBJECTED TO PORE PRESSURE

TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT STRESS STATES AND PORE PRESSURE ON THE COMPACTION OF SEDIMENT AND ON THE DEFORMATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF ROCK, A TRIAXIAL APPARATUS WAS DEVELOPED THAT PERMITS CONTROL OF PORE PRESSURE DURING TRIAXIAL TESTING OF MATERIALS UNDER HIGH CONFINING PRESSURE. THE APPARATUS IS DESIGNED FOR USE WITH 1-IN. DIAMETER BY 2-IN. LENGTH SPECIMENS SUBJECTED TO CONFINING PRESSURES AND PORE PRESSURES UP TO 30,000 PSI AND AXIAL STRESS UP TO 130,000 PSI. THE AXIAL LOAD CAN BE HELD CONSTANT OR VARIED CONTINUOUSLY DURING TESTING. THE COMPACT NATURE OF THE APPARATUS PERMITS MOBILITY THAT MAKES THE APPARATUS PARTICULARLY DESIRABLE WHERE FIELD TESTING IS NECESSARY. /AUTHOR/
Determinants of Patient Satisfaction with Urology Practice

AbstractIntroduction: Although patient satisfaction surveys will be used by CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) to determine reimbursement in physician offices within 2 years, there are ...
Digital Hearing Aid with the Lapped Transform

Abstract This paper presents frequency domain techniques based upon new lapped transforms for utilization in a digital hearing aid. The lapped transform has the ability to substantially reduce the blocking effects inherent in traditional frequency domain filtering. Incorporated into the digital hearing aid are the functions of frequency shaping, acoustic feedback cancellation, and periodic noise reduction. The frequency domain algorithm allows these three functions to be easily integrated into a complete and efficient system.
An idiosyncratic systems approach to interactive graphics

This paper applauds and emphasizes the Workshop's title, "User-Oriented Design of Interactive Graphics Systems," but bemoans and condemns its subtitle, "Application-Specific User Behavior and Cognition." The pros and the cons are an incomplete but cogent case for consideration of an idiosyncratic systems approach to interactive graphics systems.An idiosyncratic system is a personalized system. Personalization means both recognition of and response to the complete range of an individual's characteristics, from physical traits, to work habits, to cognitive styles. Enough evidence exists in the literature of experimental psychology to substantiate the fact that user behavior is not application-specific, but driven by personality and experience. The resulting criteria for a user-oriented interactive graphics system include existential hardware, adaptive representations, inferential input, and graphical conversation.
Dynamic Selection of Trace Signals for Post-Silicon Debug

Post-silicon validation is one of the most expensive and complex tasks in today's System-on-Chip (SoC) design methodology. A major challenge in post-silicon debug is limited observability of the internal signals. Existing approaches address this issue by selecting a small set of useful signals. These signal states are stored in an on-chip trace buffer during execution. The applicability of existing methods is limited to a specific debug scenario where every component has equal importance all the time. In reality, a verification engineer would like to focus on a specific set of components (functional regions). Some regions can be ignored in a certain duration during execution due to clock gating and other considerations. Similarly, certain regions may be well verified datapath and less likely to have errors compared to other control-intensive regions. In this paper, we propose an efficient signal selection algorithm and a low-overhead trace controller design that would enable verification engineers to dynamically select a set of trace signals for improved error detection. Our experimental results using both ISCAS'89 benchmarks and Opencores circuits demonstrate that our approach can detect up to 3 times more errors compared to existing techniques.
Extending the validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory's (PAI) Level of Care Index (LOCI) in multiple psychiatric settings

The purpose of this study was to extend the validity and clinical application of the Level of Care Index (LOCI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in 2 independent psychiatric samples. In Study 1 (N = 201), the LOCI effectively differentiated level of care (inpatients from outpatients), and was also meaningfully associated with risk factors for psychiatric admission (e.g., suicidal ideation, self-harming behavior, previous psychiatric admission, etc.), even after controlling for other demographic variables (range of Cohen's ds = 0.57-1.00). Likewise, the LOCI also incremented other risk indicators (suicide and violence history) and relevant PAI indexes (i.e., Mean Clinical Elevation, and Suicide and Violence Potential) in predicting level of care, and explained an additional 6% to 12% of variance in the target variable. Diagnostic efficiency analyses indicated LOCI scores in the range of 15 to 18 optimize positive and negative predictive power, and classification rate. In Study 2 (N = 96), the LOCI was found to be significantly higher in those with a recent psychiatric admission within the past 6 months (d = 0.64), as compared to those without an admission. Similarly, those who were admitted for suicide risk had significantly higher mean LOCI scores as compared to those who did not (d = 0.70). The clinical implications of these findings and potential application of the LOCI are discussed.
Density functional calculations of the reflectivity of shocked xenon with ionization based gap corrections.

Experimental results [1] for the reflection coefficient of shock compressed xenon are compared with results from quantum molecular dynamics calculations with density functional theory (DFT). The real part of the optical conductivity is calculated within the Kubo-Greenwood formalism and the Kramers-Kroenig relations are used to generate the reflectivity and other optical properties. Improved agreement over non-ideal plasma theory [2] is found with the DFT calculations, but significant differences with the data remain. Since DFT in the various local density approximations tends to underestimate the band gap and overestimate the free electron population, we have used the ionizations from [2] to correct the DFT band gaps. This results in much improved agreement with the xenon reflectivity data and demonstrates a new approach to correcting DFT band gaps.
Defects of the renal collecting systems in patients receiving anticoagulants.

Four patients receiving oral anticoagulants had symptoms including flank pain and gross hematuria suggesting renal calculi. Excretory urography revealed diffuse infundibular narrowing and intramural filling defects of the renal pelvis and proximal ureters. In all cases the urograms returned to normal and the symptoms were remitted after the prothrombin activity level was increased. The changes probably represented submucosal hemorrhage. The major importance of this entity is its recognition as a relatively benign and easily remediable complication of anticoagulant therapy.
Misdirected search effort in a matching market: causes, consequences and a partial solution

Using data from an online labor market, I show that buyers inefficiently pursue oversubscribed sellers. Although oversubscribed sellers are positively selected, this fact alone cannot account for the amount of attention they receive. "Excess" buyer attention is caused by an information asymmetry: buyers do not know seller capacities and cannot condition their search efforts accordingly. Sellers---having free disposal on buyer inquiries---have little incentive to disabuse searching buyers. This misdirected search effort is consequential: using an instrumental variables analysis, I show that a recruited seller rejecting a buyer's recruiting inquiry reduces the probability of match formation by as much as 67% points. Motivated by the empirical results, I show how the market-creating platform can optimally allocate buyer attention, given each seller's estimated per-encounter probability of forming a match.