cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Band offsets between ZnGeN 2 , GaN, ZnO, and ZnSnN 2 and their potential impact for solar cells

The band offsets between the Zn-IV-N${}_{2}$ nitrides, ZnGeN${}_{2}$ and ZnSnN${}_{2}$, and two other closely lattice matched semiconductors, ZnO and GaN, are calculated using density functional theory calculations including quasiparticle corrections. The interface dependence as well as the role of strain are investigated. A staggered type-II alignment is found between ZnGeN${}_{2}$, GaN, and ZnO, with ZnO having the lower and ZnGeN${}_{2}$ having the higher valence band maximum. The potential benefits of this alignment for photovoltaic applications are pointed out.
Gowns, caps and masks in neonatal units: are they necessary?

The issue of gowning cannot be examined in isolation to other infection control policies. The value of a gown in controlling infection is highly questionable, but before discarding our gowns, many scientific aspects of its benefits and limitations could be studied. Further, those who handle the infant must keep in mind that gowns do not prevent sepsis-handwashing does. If the latter is not practised, gowns will be pieces of decoration.
Desmoid-type fibromatosis in children: a step forward in the cooperative group setting.

Overview:Desmoid-type (aggressive) fibromatosis (desmoid tumor) is a soft tissue neoplasm that can occur in both children and adults. Although it is formally classified as an intermediate-grade neo...
Student-Centered Analytics for Postsecondary Education

Recently, organizations have begun to realize the potential value in the huge amounts of raw, constantly fluctuating data sets that they generate and, with the help of advances in storage and processing technologies, collect. This leads to the phenomenon of big data. This data may be stored in structured format in relational database systems, but may also be stored in an unstructured format. The analysis of these data sets for the discovery of meaningful patterns which can be used to make decisions is known as analytics. Analytics has been enthusiastically adopted by many colleges and universities as a tool to improve student success (by identifying situations which call for early intervention), more effectively target student recruitment efforts, best allocate institutional resources, etc. This application of analytics in higher education is often referred to as learning analytics. While students of postsecondary institutions benefit from many of these efforts, their interests do not coincide perfectly with those of the universities and colleges. In this chapter, we suggest that postsecondary students will benefit from the use of analytics which are not controlled by the institutions of higher learning—what we call DIY (Do It Yourself) analytics—a set of tools developed specifically to meet the needs and preferences of postsecondary students.
Use of Multifidelity and Surrogate Models in the Design and Development of Physics-Based Systems

Building a complex system in a time and cost effective manner, that performs well, meets diverse user needs, and has no inimical emergent behaviors is a challenge. The solution is to model before building. End-to-end high fidelity HF computational modeling and simulation MS it may provide systems engineers with a cost-effective alternative to current approaches for modeling physics-based engineering systems e.g., radar, communications systems.
51 – Isolation and Characterization of Myogenic Stem Cells from Adult Skeletal Muscle

This chapter discusses the methodologies commonly used in laboratory for isolating, culturing, and characterization of myogenic stem cells from adult skeletal muscle. The procedures have been modified from the initial studies on myogenic stem cells from fetal and adult chickens. The terms myogenic stem cell, myogenic precursor cell, and myogenic progenitor have often been used interchangeably to refer to the satellite cell. The presence of myogenic precursors in cell preparations from adult skeletal muscle has been investigated at the morphologic level based on the emergence of multinucleated myotubes in cultures prepared from these cell isolates. Myoblasts in the adult muscle are classically considered to be derived from quiescent cells located on the surface of the myofiber. These myofiber-associated cells were originally defined on the basis of their location beneath the myofiber basement membrane and thus termed satellite cells. However, it was not until the introduction of single myofiber cultures that direct evidence has been provided that the myofiber unit can yield myogenic cells, capable of fusing into myotubes, and that the source of these myogenic cells are the satellite cells. Satellite cells provide the adult muscle with a reserve capacity to replace differentiated, postmitotic cells required for maintaining myofiber integrity and muscle function—as such, the satellite cells have been considered tissue-specific stem cells.
Self, Not-Self, Not Not-Self But Not Self, or The Knotty Paradoxes of ‘Autoimmunity’: A Genealogical Rumination

What indeed does man know about himself? [...] Does not nature keep secret from him most things, even about his body, e.g. the convolutions of the intestines, the quick flow of the blood currents, ...
Results of the First American Prospective Study of IV Iron in Oral Iron Intolerant Iron Deficient Gravidas

INTRODUCTION: Herein we present safety and efficacy results of the first American prospective study of intravenous (IV) iron (Fe) for oral (PO) Fe intolerant patients with iron deficient anemia (IDA) in the 2nd or 3rdtrimester (IND 114696, ClinTrials.gov NCT 02038023). Anemia affects up to 42% of gravidas. Neonatal Fe deficiency (ID) is associated with low birth weight, delayed growth, development and statistically significant increment in cognitive and behavioral abnormalities up to 10 years after Fe repletion. Although PO Fe is simple to use, inexpensive, up to 70% of gravidas to whom it is prescribed report significant gastrointestinal (GI) side effects. The availability of formulations convenient to administer in a brief single setting with favorable side-effect profiles may help decrease rates of anemia in pregnancy and improve hemoglobin (Hb) responses, maternal and fetal outcomes in women intolerant of, or unresponsive to, PO Fe. METHODS: We treated 74 women with a Hb concentration RESULTS: 73 of 74 enrolled subjects were treated. 1 experienced a minor infusion reaction (facial flushing) and requested treatment on another day. 72 hours later, labor commenced. 2 months post-partum IV Fe was given off study. Follow-up data were available in 58/73 subjects. The mean pre and post treatment Hb concentrations were 9.8 (SD 0.74) and 10.8 (SD 1.30) g/dl respectively (P DISCUSSION: The high prevalence of IDA in gravidas and its association with adverse maternal and infant outcomes, with a reported 2-fold increment of preterm labor and 3-fold increase in low birth weight, is concerning. PO Fe, the current standard, is fraught with GI toxicity and poor adherence in up to 70% to whom it is prescribed. Our prospective data corroborate a litany of studies, that IV Fe is a safe, effective and convenient method of Fe repletion. No significant adverse events have been reported. 96% had significant improvements in Hb, and 85% energy and activity. No adverse fetal outcomes were observed. The improved side effect profile of IV formulations allowing Fe repletion in a single, brief visit supports moving IV iron closer to frontline. Compared to PO Fe, IV Fe has fewer side effects and nearly always effective. Our data and those of others call for large prospective studies of IV vs. PO Fe for therapy of maternal IDA. Disclosures Auerbach:AMAG Pharma: Consultancy, Research Funding; Pharmacosmos: Consultancy, Research Funding; American Regent/Luitpold: Consultancy.
Outpatient and Inpatient Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty Procedures Have Similar Short-Term Complication Profiles.

Abstract Background Advances in surgical techniques and anesthesia have made performing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) in the outpatient setting a possibility. The touted benefits of outpatient surgery include higher patient satisfaction and reduced costs. However, detailed information on the perioperative outcomes of outpatient compared with inpatient UKA in a large, national patient population in the United States has never been reported. The present study compares perioperative complications between outpatient and inpatient UKAs in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Methods Patients who underwent UKA were identified in the 2005-2015 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Outpatient procedures were defined as those with length of hospital stay = 0 days, whereas inpatient procedures were defined as those with length of hospital stay = 1-4 days. Patients' characteristics and comorbidities were compared between the two groups. Propensity score matched comparisons were performed for 30-day perioperative complications and readmissions between the two cohorts. Results This study included 568 outpatient and 5312 inpatient UKA cases. After propensity matching to control potential confounding factors, statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in any perioperative complications or any postdischarge complications between the outpatient and inpatient cohorts. Notably, the rate of 30-day readmissions between the two cohorts was not statistically different. Conclusion Based on the perioperative outcome measures assessed in this study, outpatient UKA can be appropriately considered in carefully selected patients based on the lack of differences in rates of 30-day perioperative complications and readmissions between the outpatient and matched inpatient groups.
Tribo-electrochemical investigation of a slurry composition to reduce dissolution and galvanic corrosion during chemical mechanical planarization of Cu-Ru interconnects

Abstract Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a key processing step in the fabrication of copper interconnects. The present work focuses on certain electroanalytical aspects of evaluating slurry materials of CMP to aid the new processing strategies for the sub-22 nm technology nodes. The test slurry uses sodium percarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, benzotriazole and colloidal silica as an oxidizer, a complexing additive, a dissolution inhibitor, and an abrasive agent, respectively. The experiments employ open circuit potential transients, voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy, along with tactically applied tribological conditions appropriate for processing Ru barrier lines. The removal of surface materials is based on controlled tribo-corrosion, while the effects of dissolution and galvanic corrosion are suppressed. The results of the different measurements are analyzed in a combined framework of mixed potential effects to probe the underlying mechanisms of material removal and corrosion suppression.
45 : A Prospective Trial of Serial FGD-PET in Patients With Medically Inoperable Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Hypofractionated Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT)

Purpose Routine assessment is made of tumor metabolic activity as measured by 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in Stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This report describes PET correlates prospectively collected after SBRT for patients with medically inoperable NSCLC.
Upper Critical Solution Temperature Layer-by-Layer Films of Polyamino acid-Based Micelles with Rapid, On-Demand Release Capability

Here, we report on upper critical solution temperature (UCST)-type polyamino acid-based block copolymer assembled in a layer-by-layer system with a natural polyphenol. The UCST-type block copolymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone-b-polyureido(ornithine-co-lysine) (PVP-b-PUOL), was synthesized via ring opening polymerization followed by postpolymerization functionalization with ureido groups. PVP-b-PUOL exhibited UCST behavior that was controlled by both molecular weight and ornithine-to-lysine ratio. Importantly, PVP-b-PUOL with a UCST of 33 °C assembled into block copolymer micelles below UCST and dissociated above UCST, yet this behavior was not repeatable in solution due to β-sheet formation and large-scale aggregation. To overcome this limitation, UCST micelles (UCSTMs) were deposited within layer-by-layer (LbL) films via hydrogen bonding with tannic acid (TA). Significantly, the assembled TA/UCSTM films stabilized the micelles from desorption while maintaining their morphology and prevented β-sheet formation e...
Capacitive Nondestructive Evaluation of Aged Cross-Linked Polyethylene (XLPE) Cable Insulation Material

Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) is used widely as insulation material in low-voltage instrumentation cables deployed in nuclear power plants (NPPs). Suffering from degradation due to exposure to heat and radiation, the insulating properties of the material gradually degrade, which may imperil the safe operation of NPPs. In this paper, a new capacitive sensing method is introduced for nondestructive evaluation of aged instrumentation cable with XLPE insulation. The capacitive sensor is capable of measuring capacitance of cable materials and may potentially be employed to extract the dielectric properties of insulation material from those of the entire cable. Interdigital capacitive sensor designs are targeted that maximize sensitivity to changes in the dielectric values of the cable polymers.
Secrecy and Self-Interest: When Mediators Act Deceitfully

3rd party intervention in interstate conflict is a common strategy for mitigating conflict and obtaining a final agreement. However, not all mediations are successful, leading to the development of...
The Postexercise Common Femoral Artery Doppler Waveform: A Powerful Noninvasive Vascular Laboratory Test to Exclude Aortoiliac Disease:

ObjectiveThe detection of aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) has important clinical implications for patients with peripheral arterial disease. The clinical utility of the common femoral artery (C...
Effectiveness and Safety of Direct Oral Anticoagulants and Warfarin, Stratified by Stroke Risk in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation.

The objective of the study was to examine how the comparative effectiveness and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) and warfarin differ across subgroups of patients with atrial fibrillation defined by stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc score ≤3, 4 to 5, ≥6). Using Medicare claims data, we identified patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in 2013 to 2014 who initiated warfarin (n=12,354), apixaban (n=2,358), dabigatran (n=1,415), or rivaroxaban (n=5,139), and categorized them according to their CHA2DS2-VASc score (≤3, 4 to 5, ≥6). Primary outcomes included the combined risk of ischemic stroke, other thromboembolic event and death, and the risk of bleeding. We constructed Cox proportional hazard models that included terms for treatment, CHA2DS2-VASc subgroup, and the interaction between them, and controlled for demographics and a comprehensive list of clinical characteristics. We found that DOACs were generally more effective than warfarin, but this effect was most pronounced in the lowest risk subgroup. Specifically, the hazard ratio for the primary effectiveness outcome with apixaban compared with warfarin was 0.46 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.32 to 0.65) for CHA2DS2-VASc ≤3, 0.71 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.86) for 4 to 5, and 0.86 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.01) for ≥6 (p value for interaction = 0.005). The comparative safety profile of DOACs versus warfarin did not change with CHA2DS2-VASc score. In conclusion, DOACs are more effective than warfarin, but this effect is more pronounced in patients with lower risk of stroke. Further research is needed to validate these findings in other patient cohorts and uncover their underlying mechanisms.
Conditional relative survival among long-term survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers.

BACKGROUND Many studies have examined long-term outcomes after childhood cancer, but few address outcomes for adolescent and young adult (AYA; those aged 15-39 years) cancer survivors. Conditional survival reflects changing mortality risk with time since cancer diagnosis and is a useful measure for planning long-term follow-up care. METHODS Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry 9 database, the authors identified a cohort of AYA patients diagnosed with a first malignant cancer between 1973 and 2009 and followed through 2014. They estimated 5-year relative survival at the time of diagnosis and at each additional year survived up to 25 years after diagnosis, conditional on the individual being alive at the beginning of that year. RESULTS A total of 205,954 AYA patients with cancer were identified. Thyroid cancer, melanoma, testicular cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and central nervous system (CNS) tumors comprised 67% of all cancers. For all cancers combined, 5-year relative survival was 84.5% (95% confidence interval, 84.3%-84.7%) at 1 year after diagnosis and 94.0% (95% CI, 93.9%-94.2%) at 5 years. The relative survival first exceeded 95%, reflecting minimal excess mortality compared with the general population, at 7 years. Patients with thyroid cancer, testicular cancer, melanoma, and breast cancer reached a relative survival of >95% at the time of diagnosis and at 1, 3, and 18 years after diagnosis, respectively. Estimates for those with Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia were >95% at 6 and 13 years, respectively, but declined to <95% at 20 years. AYA individuals with CNS tumors did not reach 95% by 25 years after diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS For AYA survivors of breast cancer, CNS tumors, and hematologic malignancies, long-term excess mortality should be considered when planning follow-up care. Cancer 2018;124:3037-43. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
A Survey on Improving TCP Performance over Wireless Networks

As a result of the advancement of wireless technology and the proliferation of handheld wireless terminals, recent years have witnessed an ever-increasing popularity of wireless networks, ranging from wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) and wireless wide-area networks (WWANs) to mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In WLANs (e.g., the Wi-Fi technology) or in WWANs (e.g., 2.5G/3G/4G cellular networks), mobile hosts communicate with an access point or a base station that is connected to the wired networks. Obviously, only one hop wireless link is needed for communications between a mobile host and a stationary host in wired networks. In contrast, there is no fixed infrastructure such as base stations or access points in a MANET. Each node in a MANET is capable of moving independently and functioning as a router that discovers and maintains routes and forwards packets to other nodes. Thus, MANETs are multi-hop wireless networks by nature. Note that MANETs may be connected at the edges to the wired Internet. Transmission control protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol which provides reliable end-to-end data delivery between end hosts in traditional wired network environment. In TCP, reliability is achieved by retransmitting lost packets. Thus, each TCP sender maintains a running average of the estimated round trip delay and the average deviation derived from it. Packets will be retransmitted if the sender receives no acknowledgment within a certain timeout interval (e.g., the sum of smoothed round trip delay and four times the average deviation) or receives duplicate acknowledgments. Due to the inherent reliability of wired networks, there is an implicit assumption made by TCP that any packet loss is due to congestion. To reduce congestion, TCP will invoke its congestion control mechanisms whenever any packet loss is detected. Since TCP is well tuned, it has become the de facto transport protocol in the Internet that supports many applications such as web access, file transfer and email. Due to its wide use in the Internet, it is desirable that TCP remains in use to provide reliable data transfer services for communications within wireless networks and for those across wireless networks and the wired Internet. It is thus crucial that TCP performs well over all kinds of wireless networks in order for the wired Internet to extend to the wireless world. Unfortunately, wired networks and wireless networks are significantly different in terms of bandwidth, propagation delay, and link reliability. The implication of the difference is that packet losses are no longer mainly due to network congestion; they may well be due to some wireless specific reasons. As a matter of fact, in wireless LANs or cellular networks, most packet losses are due to high bit error rate in wireless channels and handoffs between two cells, while in mobile ad hoc networks, most packet losses are due to medium contention and route breakages, as well as radio channel errors. Therefore, although TCP performs well in wired networks, it will suffer from
Evidence-Based Practice in Action: Ensuring Quality of Pediatric Assessment Frequency

Purpose Optimal frequency of head-to-toe assessment in hospitalized pediatric patients is unknown. An alteration in head-to-toe assessment frequency was proposed at a Midwestern regional hospital. The purpose of this descriptive study was to evaluate patient safety and staff satisfaction following a change in head-to-toe assessment frequency. Method Chart audits were performed on all patients upon discharge and after any change in level of care to assess the risk to patient safety following the change in head-to-toe assessment frequency. Nurses were surveyed to determine satisfaction with the change. Results A total of 421 patients were included in the study. After the change, there was no increase in the number of unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit from the previous year. Registered nurses (N = 15) perceived no decrease in patient safety following the change. Registered nurses were satisfied with the change in assessment frequency noting they perceived more time to provide direct patient care. Conclusions The change in head-to-toe assessment frequency did not impact patient safety, but had a positive impact on nurse satisfaction. Following the study period, the unit policy was changed to reflect the new evidence based head-to-toe assessment interval. Further research is needed with a larger, more diverse sample of pediatric patients and pediatric nurses.
LES on Cartesian Grids with Anisotropic Refinement

Cartesian grids with local anisotropic adaptation are combined with an Immersed Boundary (IB) method and used to perform large eddy simulations. The approach used to generate Cartesian grids with desired normal and tangential resolution to three-dimensional surfaces is described. Anisotropic refinement result in a considerable reduction in grid size. An IB treatment based on solution reconstruction is proposed; it has the property of ensuring local mass conservation and its accuracy is investigated for laminar and turbulent flows in channel not aligned with the grid. Mesh modifications that improve the grid quality for LES are proposed. The resulting mesh then requires a fully unstructured discretization and a parallel polyhedral-based finite-volume solver is applied to perform simulations of the flow around several spheres.
Ulnar collateral ligament injuries of the elbow in female division I collegiate gymnasts: a report of five cases

Introduction Elbow ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries in gymnastics have not been well documented in the literature, in comparison to UCL injuries in baseball. Few studies have examined the mechanism and nonoperative management of this injury, and no studies to date have been published on incidence of injury and return to play recommendations in gymnastics. Patient case review A literature search was performed using PubMed to review articles from 1980 to 2016 that addressed the biomechanics of UCL injury in baseball and gymnastics, the anatomy of the elbow, injury rates, surgical vs non-surgical management, rehabilitation, and return to play recommendations for the sport of gymnastics. Five female collegiate gymnasts sustained UCL injury over a 3-year period. Electronic medical records for each case were thoroughly reviewed including imaging, surgical and non-surgical management, rehabilitation, and the progressive return to gymnastics. Discussion Four UCL injuries were confirmed by MRI to be avulsions at the distal insertion of the UCL and one was an avulsion at the proximal origin. While less than half of baseball players can return to competition with conservative management of these types of injuries, four out of five gymnasts were able to return to competition with nonoperative management. One gymnast opted to have reconstruction after a successful competition season. Time to return to play varied seemingly dependent on the severity of UCL injury and event. Conclusion In our case series, collegiate female gymnasts were able to return to participation with nonoperative treatment of the UCL. Their success in returning to competitive gymnastics may also depend on the event(s) in which they are trying to participate. Strength of recommendation taxonomy C.
The impact of great leadership

The mentorship I’ve enjoyed from some UIHC Ob-Gyn faculty has influenced not only my decision to enter this field, but also shaped the way I will practice in the future and given me reason to teach and mentor others. Finding faculty who really pushed me to be not just a better student but a more engaged health care provider, teacher, citizen and leader has cemented my career trajectory. I hope it will lead to richer experiences for the others that I work with along the way. Beyond what I have experienced in other departments, Ob-Gyn faculty at UIHC are doing the after-hours work of inspiring the next generation of women’s health providers. The value of this is incalculable, indescribable, and irreplaceable.
Redact to Protect? Customers’ Incentive to Protect Information and Suppliers’ Disclosure Strategies

Protecting value-relevant information is becoming increasingly important and challenging as we move towards a knowledge-based economy and partners along the supply chain are more closely intertwined. We document three customer-supplier characteristics (i.e., customer R&D intensity, patent cross-citations, customer size) that vary directly with suppliers’ likelihood of redacting mandated disclosures after controlling for supplier’s own proprietary cost concerns. We further use customers’ possession of trade secrets and nondisclosure agreements to capture customers’ known preference for information withholding and find that their suppliers are more likely to redact. The increased likelihood of redaction is concentrated in supply chain and R&D-related information. Overall, our findings highlight that customers’ incentive to protect information, particularly knowledge or value intensive information, can have a significant influence on suppliers’ disclosure strategies.
Integration of Advanced Technology in Initial Flight Training

As virtual reality and artificial intelligence technologies continue to advance, the United States Military is quickly integrating these capabilities into initial flight training through efforts like the Air Force's Pilot Training Next (PTN) program. A persistent issue, however, has been a lack of data guiding (1) the ideal degree of integration into traditional pilot training and (2) the optimal amount of structure for student pilots' training experience. The goal of this study was to evaluate the aforementioned PTN model when applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy's flight training program with special emphasis on the ideal degree of structure for airmanship success. To this end, a quasi-experimental approach was utilized, which included 60 USAFA cadets enrolled in the Powered Flight Program who were pseudo-randomly assigned to three independent groups with varying degrees of structure. The groups (i.e., High Structured, Scaffolded, and Low Structured Groups) represented a spectrum of VR-training curriculum structure ranging from a rigid, lineal objective-completion model (akin to traditional flight training) to an unguided, Montessori-like model. With group assignment as the independent variable, live-flight performance was used as the dependent variable, which was quantified using flight grade cards, number of “landing tabs” (i.e., modified solos) awarded, and a subjective Instructor Pilot rating. Subjective feedback was also obtained from students in each condition. Initial effectiveness data indicated an increased level of perceived self-efficacy in coordination with increased virtual reality simulator time as well as an accelerated rate of positive transfer to real aircraft from the strictly structured and scaffolded groups. The results of this study allow for initial recommendations for forthcoming airmanship training and undergraduate pilot training augmentation efforts across the Department of Defense.
Phase field modeling of chemomechanical fracture of intercalation electrodes: Role of charging rate and dimensionality

Abstract We investigate the fracture of Li-ion battery cathodic particles using a thermodynamically consistent phase-field approach that can describe arbitrarily complex crack paths and captures the full coupling between Li-ion diffusion, stress, and fracture. Building on earlier studies that introduced the concept of electrochemical shock, we use this approach to quantify the relationships between stable or unstable crack propagation, flaw size, and C-rate for 2D disks and 3D spherical particles. We find that over an intermediate range of flaw sizes, the critical flaw size for the onset of crack propagation depends on charging rate as an approximate power-law that we derive analytically. This scaling law is quantified in 2D by exhaustive simulations and is also supported by 3D simulations. In addition, our results reveal a significant difference between 2D and 3D geometries. In 2D, cracks propagate deep inside the particle in a rectilinear manner while in 3D they propagate peripherally on the surface and bifurcate into daughter cracks, thereby limiting inward penetration and giving rise to complex crack geometries.
Deep Recurrent Convolutional Neural Network for Remaining Useful Life Prediction

Remaining Useful Life (RUL) prediction of rotating machinery plays a critical role in Prognostics and Health Management (PHM). Data-driven methods for RUL estimation have been widely developed because they don’t depend on much prior knowledge of the system. Recurrent neural network (RNN) is capable of modeling sequential data, which has been investigated for RUL prediction with statistical features of vibration signals in time domain and frequency domain. The drawback of utilizing statistical features is the ignorance of time-frequency information, which is critical in RUL prediction because the vibration signals are non-stationary when the fault occurs. To solve this problem, a novel deep architecture, named deep recurrent convolutional neural network (DRCNN) is proposed. By incorporating convolutional operation in the process of state transition of RNN, the spatial information in time-frequency domain can be automatically learned from the vibration signals, which contributes to the improvement of prediction performance. With convolutional operation in RNN, both spatial information in time-frequency domain and previous information are employed for RUL prediction. Furthermore, by stacking recurrent convolutional neural network layer by layer, the deep architecture can learn high-level features in the time-frequency domain. Finally, experimental analysis of RUL prediction using vibration signals of run-to-failure tests are carried out. Compared with the results of conventional deep RNN method, the proposed method shows its effectiveness and superiority.
Kansan Guardian Perceptions of HPV and the HPV Vaccine and the Role of Social Media.

Introduction Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in Kansas historically have been low among children and adolescents. How Kansas parents and guardians perceive the HPV vaccine may influence vaccination rates among Kansas youth. Social media messages also may influence perceptions, suggesting implications for current and future disease and cancer burden. Methods Eligible Kansas guardians of children aged 9 - 17 years completed an online survey. The survey assessed their perceptions about a) HPV and the HPV vaccine, b) HPV and HPV vaccine representation on social media, and c) the effects that social media has on their perceptions about HPV and the HPV vaccine. Results Most Kansas guardians (n = 55, 57.9%) indicated seeing information about HPV and the HPV vaccine on social media. Kansas guardians who had reported seeing information on social media about the HPV vaccine were significantly more likely to perceive that the HPV vaccine could kill their child than those who had not seen information (t(79) = 0.019). Additionally, children of wealthier Kansan guardians were vaccinated more than children of less wealthy guardians. Conclusion Social media messages may be influencing Kansan guardians to think the HPV vaccine is lethal in their children. Future campaigns increasingly should be focused on HPV vaccine safety and effectiveness.
Sensor Self-Report Alignment (SSRA): Reducing Sun Exposure Assessment Error

In population and clinical-based studies, UV wearable sensors are increasingly being used to estimate UV exposure and time spent in physical activity outdoors, which is critical for understanding people's sun exposure behavior. This is particularly important in young adults at risk of developing melanoma as well as melanoma survivors, who want to continue engaging in outdoor activities which are a normal source of recreational physical activity. While wearable sensors provide objective and timely measures in free-living populations, self-report data are needed to provide important contextual information (e.g. sunscreen applied, clothing to protect from the sun) that improve our understanding of health behaviors. However, lack of proper time alignment between sensor and self-report data hinders analyses incorporating these data streams. We formulate this problem of alignment as a network flow graph and propose a Sensor Self-Report Alignment (SSRA) framework to fuse and align data from a chest-worn UV sensor, a hip-worn physical activity sensor, and a self-report. We performed a study on 40 participants (20 melanoma survivors, 20 young adults, who were first-degree relatives of melanoma survivors) who wore a chest-worn UV sensor and a hip-worn physical activity sensor for 7 consecutive summer days (total of 254 days assessed) and provided end-of-day self-reports of sun protection. The proposed SSRA framework provides a new approach to aligning sensor and self-report data, which results in significant changes in measures of time outdoors, as assessed by UV or physical activity sensors. This paper highlights the importance of using wearable sensors and alignment to self-report to reduce sun exposure assessment error, while laying the groundwork for integrating such a framework into population-based studies.
Experiences With Involuntary Nursing Home Relocation: The Staff Perspective.

Although involuntary nursing home closures for operational and care-related reasons occur infrequently, few studies have examined the centrality of the actions of staff to facilitate residents’ rel...
Shot in the foot: unintended political consequences of electoral engineering in the Turkish parliamentary elections in 2018

The ruling party in Turkey, the AKP, made an ex post mistake by changing the electoral law before the parliamentary elections in 2018. The new apparentement provision allowed parties to make electo...
Finding optimized conditions of slit-slat and multislit-slat collimators for breast imaging

438 Objectives We assume there exists a space representing the geometric parameters of slit-slat (SS) and multislit-slat (MSS) collimation and a function of these parameters that is a metric of image quality. Due to the constraints we introduced, the parameter space of the SS has 2 dimension (focal length f, radius of rotation ROR), and that of the MSS has 4 dimension (f, ROR, distance between slits, fraction of the detector for the center slit). Our goal is to examine how the variation of the parameters affects the function and find the point in the space where the function has its maximum value. Methods We investigated two quantities for a figure of merit of image quality: 1) contrast at the same noise based on ensembles (C) 2) signal to background ratio (SNR) using Cramer Rao lower bound (CRB). We simulated SS and MSS with different combinations of the geometric parameters and produced forward projection data using the Peter torso phantom containing lesions in the breast area. For the first method, we generated 100 ensembles for each forward projection selected by Poisson sampling and reconstructed the ensembles using an MLEM algorithm. Then, we computed the contrast and noise of the lesions. For the second method, we counted the activity concentration of the signal and background from the forward projection data and calculated the SNR based on CRB. Results The optimized condition of the SS was found at f=18 cm, ROR=8 cm, and that of the MSS was found at f=12 cm, ROR=8 cm, p=30%, s=4 cm when we detected a lesion located at the center of the breast. The MSS provides 13% and 70% improvement over the SS on the C and SNR based on CRB. The two metric values showed very similar patterns under the variation of the geometric parameters. Conclusions Since the geometric parameters of the collimator can be mapped to efficiency and angular range of the detector, we expressed the metric values of different parameter sets representing the image quality as a lego plot in the 2 dimensional space. We found the particular parameter sets to optimize the efficiency, angular range of the detector simultaneously
Integrating Multiomics Information in Deep Learning Architectures for Joint Actuarial Outcome Prediction in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients After Radiation Therapy.

Purpose Novel actuarial deep learning neural network (ADNN) architectures are proposed for joint prediction of radiation therapy outcomes—radiation pneumonitis (RP) and local control (LC)—in stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Unlike normal tissue complication probability/tumor control probability models that use dosimetric information solely, our proposed models consider complex interactions among multiomics information including positron emission tomography (PET) radiomics, cytokines, and miRNAs. Additional time-to-event information is also used in the actuarial prediction. Methods and Materials Three architectures were investigated: ADNN-DVH considered dosimetric information only; ADNN-com integrated multiomics information; and ADNN-com-joint combined RP2 (RP grade ≥2) and LC prediction. In these architectures, differential dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were fed into 1D convolutional neural networks (CNN) for extracting reduced representations. Variational encoders were used to learn representations of imaging and biological data. Reduced representations were fed into Surv-Nets to predict time-to-event probabilities for RP2 and LC independently and jointly by incorporating time information into designated loss functions. Results Models were evaluated on 117 retrospective patients and were independently tested on 25 newly accrued patients prospectively. A multi-institutional RTOG0617 data set of 327 patients was used for external validation. ADNN-DVH yielded cross-validated c-indexes (95% confidence intervals) of 0.660 (0.630-0.690) for RP2 prediction and 0.727 (0.700-0.753) for LC prediction, outperforming a generalized Lyman model for RP2 (0.613 [0.583-0.643]) and a generalized log-logistic model for LC (0.569 [0.545-0.594]). The independent internal test and external validation yielded similar results. ADNN-com achieved an even better performance than ADNN-DVH on both cross-validation and independent internal test. Furthermore, ADNN-com-joint, which yielded performance similar to ADNN-com, realized joint prediction with c-indexes of 0.705 (0.676-0.734) for RP2 and 0.740 (0.714-0.765) for LC and achieved an area under a free-response receiving operator characteristic curve (AU-FROC) of 0.729 (0.697-0.773) for the joint prediction of RP2 and LC. Conclusion Novel deep learning architectures that integrate multiomics information outperformed traditional normal tissue complication probability/tumor control probability models in actuarial prediction of RP2 and LC.
A Novel Application Architecture Design for Smart Grid Dispatching and Control Systems

A novel application architecture of smart gird dispatching and control systems is proposed based on decomposecoordinate strategy and multi-index optimization approaching control.By decompose-coordinate strategy,the higher level control center can carry out system level calculation such as load flow,short circuit current analysis,small-signal disturbance analysis,electromechanical transient simulation,electromechanical and electromagnetic hybrid simulation etc,even if the higher level control center does not collect real-time data and model data of lower level control centers.Therefore,decomposecoordinate strategy can reduce performance requirements for hardware and calculation software,and improve the convergence of system level calculation and fineness of power system models.By multi-objective optimization,smart grid dispatching and control systems can be more intelligent and have better balanced security,efficiency and environment protection.Also,in order to provide on-line power systems model for on-line applications,a state estimating method with load flow equation constraints is proposed.To provide stability margin index for on-line applications,a dynamic security analyzing method capable of giving minimal/maximal stability margins is proposed.
Critical Periods in Vision: Why my Friend Was Wearing an Eyepatch.

Our brain is plastic: it changes and adapts in response to our environment. While some circuits in our brain remain plastic during our whole life, others are capable of plasticity only at a certain age, and for a limited amount of time. These confined periods of intense development are called critical periods. Through the example of the visual system, we will explore the concept of critical periods in the brain, how they were discovered, what causes them, and how they contribute to the brain development in health and pathology.
Assessing Quantitative Modelling Practices, Metamodelling, and Capability Confidence of Biology Undergraduate Students.

Quantitative modelling plays an important role as biology increasingly deals with big data sets, relies on modelling to understand system dynamics, makes predictions about impacts of changes, and r...
Latinx immigrants raising children in the land of the free: Parenting in the context of persecution and fear:

Anti-immigrant rhetoric generated by the sociopolitical climate under the current U.S. presidential administration has exacerbated the fear of deportation and family separation within the unauthori...
TRPV1-lineage somatosensory fibers communicate with taste neurons in the mouse parabrachial nucleus

Trigeminal neurons supply somatosensation to craniofacial tissues. In mouse brain, ascending projections from medullary trigeminal neurons arrive at taste neurons in the autonomic parabrachial nucleus, suggesting taste neurons participate in somatosensory processing. However, the genetic cell types that support this convergence were undefined. Using Cre-directed optogenetics and in vivo neurophysiology in anesthetized mice of both sexes, here we studied whether TRPV1-lineage nociceptive and thermosensory fibers are primary neurons that drive trigeminal circuits reaching parabrachial taste cells. We monitored spiking activity in individual parabrachial neurons during photoexcitation of the terminals of TRPV1-lineage fibers that arrived at the dorsal spinal trigeminal nucleus pars caudalis, which relays orofacial somatosensory messages to the parabrachial area. Parabrachial neural responses to oral delivery of taste, chemesthetic, and thermal stimuli were also recorded. We found that optical excitation of TRPV1-lineage fibers frequently stimulated traditionally defined taste neurons in lateral parabrachial nuclei. The tuning of neurons across diverse tastes associated with their sensitivity to excitation of TRPV1-lineage fibers, which only sparingly engaged neurons oriented to preferred tastes like sucrose. Moreover, neurons that responded to photostimulation of TRPV1-lineage afferents showed strong responses to temperature including noxious heat, which predominantly excited parabrachial bitter taste cells. Multivariate analyses revealed the parabrachial confluence of TRPV1-lineage signals with taste captured sensory valence information shared across aversive gustatory, nociceptive, and thermal stimuli. Our results reveal that trigeminal fibers with defined roles in thermosensation and pain communicate with parabrachial taste neurons. This multisensory convergence supports dependencies between gustatory and somatosensory hedonic representations in the brain.
Ultralight dark matter or dark radiation cosmologically produced from infrared dressing

Infrared dressing of bosonic or fermionic heavy particles by a cloud of massless particles to which they couple is studied as a possible production mechanism of ultra light dark matter or dark radiation in a radiation dominated cosmology. We implement an adiabatic expansion valid for wavelengths much smaller than the Hubble radius combined with a non-perturbative and manifestly unitary dynamical resummation method to study the time evolution of an initial single heavy particle state. We find a striking resemblance to the process of particle decay: the initial amplitude of the single particle decays in time, not exponentially but with a power law with anomalous dimension $\propto t^{-\Delta/2}$ featuring a crossover to $t^{-\Delta}$ as the heavy particle becomes non-relativistic in both bosonic and fermionic cases suggesting certain universality. At long time the asymptotic state is an entangled state of the heavy and massless particles. The entanglement entropy is shown to grow under time evolution describing the flow of information from the initial single particle to the final multiparticle state. The expectation value of the energy momentum tensor in the asymptotic state is described by two indpendent fluids each obeying covariant conservation, one of heavy particles and the other of relativistic (massless) particles (dark radiation). Both fluids share the same frozen distribution function and entropy as a consequence of entanglement.
Xanthinuria in a Large Kindred

Xanthinuria is a rare hereditary disorder characterized by a gross deficiency of xanthine oxidase activity in tissues with a resultant decrease in urinary uric acid excretion and a concomitant increase in the excretion of xanthine and hypoxanthine in the urine. The differential diagnosis of hypouricemia includes many disorders such as uricosuric drugs, a specific defect in uric acid reabsorption from the tubule as reported by Praetorius and Kirk (1) and the Fanconi syndrome such as heavy metal intoxication or Wilson’s disease. These are associated with an increase in uric acid excretion however while the association of hypouricemia and hypouricosuria in conjunction with xanthinuria is an expression of xanthine oxidase impairment either primary or induced by enzyme blockers such as allopurinol.