cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extractive Summarization by Maximizing Semantic Volume

The most successful approaches to extractive text summarization seek to maximize bigram coverage subject to a budget constraint. In this work, we propose instead to maximize semantic volume. We embed each sentence in a semantic space and construct a summary by choosing a subset of sentences whose convex hull maximizes volume in that space. We provide a greedy algorithm based on the GramSchmidt process to efficiently perform volume maximization. Our method outperforms the state-of-the-art summarization approaches on benchmark datasets.
High-resolution optical frequency domain reflectometry

Optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) is a widespread and commercially successful technique for performing several types of measurements on fiber-optic networks and components. An alternative method, also in widespread use, is optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). This technique uses cw light, which is either stepped or swept continuously in frequency. The reflected or backscattered light, as a function of the frequency, can yield information about the system under test that is equivalent to that obtained by OTDR. In OFDR, signal detection can occur in a much smaller bandwidth than in the time-domain case, for an equivalent resolution. Thus, frequency-domain techniques hold out the possibility of reduced noise and superior dynamic range.
Three-phase current-fed zero current switching phase-shift PWM DC-DC converter

Abstract — A new topology of current-fed zero current switching (ZCS) three-phase DC-DC converter is proposed in this paper. The converter architecture is composed of a current-fed three-phase three-leg IGBT bridge, three single-phase high frequency transformers with star-connected primary, and three single-phase rectifier bridges with paralleled outputs. Primary IGBTs of the proposed modular phase converter are controlled with constant frequency phase-shift pulse width modulation technique. ZCS for all primary IGBTs is realized using transformer leakage inductance and small auxiliary AC capacitors connected in parallel to secondary side of single-phase transformers. The proposed converter is well-suited for current-fed high voltage alternative energy systems. Interval by interval analysis of steady state operation of the converter is discussed. Digital simulation and experimental test results are presented to investigate the converter design and operation.
Information Distribution and Team Situational Awareness: An Experimental Study:

Changes in task requirements and resulting system capabilities have led to the addition of crewmembers, information displays, and monitoring and coordination requirements in many domains. The overarching objective of this experimental study was to test whether providing task relevant information to individual team members in a time critical environment, while limiting their access to non-task relevant information, would change team interactions by improving team shared situational awareness and consequently, improve performance. The results of this experiment support this hypothesis and provide a new understanding of how the distribution of information among team members affects the development of shared expectations and information requirements, team and individual performance, and communications that has not been empirically documented elsewhere.
Folk computing

Communicating through the natural human senses, not just theusual text and images, experiential environments can serve even the illiterate and impoverished in the remotest human societies.
All-optically driven system in ultrasonic wave-based structural health monitoring

Ultrasonic wave based structural health monitoring (SHM) is an innovative method for nondestructive detection and an area of growing interest. This is due to high demands for wireless detection in the field of structural engineering. Through optically exciting and detecting ultrasonic waves, electrical wire connections can be avoided, and non-contact SHM can be achieved. With the combination of piezoelectric transducer (PZT) (which possesses high heat resistance) and the noncontact detection, this system has a broad range of applications, even in extreme conditions. This paper reports an all-optically driven SHM system. The resonant frequencies of the PZT transducers are sensitive to a variety of structural damages. Experimental results have verified the feasibility of the all-optically driven SHM system.
Fecal microbiota transplant for Clostridium difficile infection in older adults

Background:The objective of this study was to describe the safety of fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) among older adults.Methods:We performed a case revie...
B-1 B Cell Development

B-1 B cells are innate-like effectors that, in mice, are the source of most serum IgM and play an essential role in protection against encapsulated bacteria. Although the developmental origin of B-1 B cells has been the subject of debate, strong evidence now supports the conclusion that they are derived from distinct, B-1–specified progenitors whose production is most robust in the fetus and neonate. As B-1 B lymphopoiesis declines after birth, the development of B-2 B cells, which are the major population of B cell present in the adult, predominates. In addition to this distinct developmental history, there is emerging evidence that the factors that regulate B-1 and B-2 development also differ. Most of what is known regarding B-1 B cell development is based on murine studies, and a future challenge is to understand this process in humans.
The pathophysiology of disc disease.

Summary The bulk of research to date shows the protein polysaccharide molecule to be the basis for normal and abnormal function of the intervertebral disc. The integerity of this molecule is essential for proper functioning of the nucleus pulposus as a hydraulic gel. Depolymerization of protein polysaccharide molecules leads to subtle changes in the nucleus pulposus with respect to the ability of the matrix to imbibe fluids against pressure. Abnormal stresses thus placed on the anulus fibrosus ligament lead to fibrocartilaginous degeneration of this structure and eventually to clinically detectable pathologic changes in the disc. A review of the clinical pathology encountered and a philosophical consideration of therapeutic approach to disc disease is presented in light of the research findings.
A sample size calculator for SMART pilot studies.

In clinical practice, as well as in other areas where interventions are provided, a sequential individualized approach to treatment is often necessary, whereby each treatment is adapted based on the object’s response. An adaptive intervention is a sequence of decision rules which formalizes the provision of treatment at critical decision points in the care of an individual. In order to inform the development of an adaptive intervention, scientists are increasingly interested in the use of sequential multiple assignment randomized trials (SMART), which is a type of multi-stage randomized trial where individuals are randomized repeatedly at critical decision points to a set treatment options. While there is great interest in the use of SMART and in the development of adaptive interventions, both are relatively new to the medical and behavioral sciences. As a result, many clinical researchers will first implement a SMART pilot study (i.e., a small-scale version of a SMART) to examine feasibility and acceptability considerations prior to conducting a full-scale SMART study. A primary aim of this paper is to introduce a new methodology to calculate minimal sample size necessary for conducting a SMART pilot.
Optimal uplink power control and base station assignment

In cellular wireless communication systems, transmitted power is regulated to provide each user an acceptable connection. Previous work has focused on maximizing the minimum carrier to interference ratio (CIR) or attaining a common CIR over all radio links. However, previous work has assumed the assignment of mobiles to base stations is known. In the context of a CDMA system, the authors combine power control and base station assignment. They consider the minimization of the total transmitted uplink power subject to maintaining an individual target CIR for each mobile. This minimization occurs over the set of power vectors and base station assignments. The authors identify distributed algorithms that find the optimal power vector and base station assignment. >
Protecting the Health and Finances of the Elderly With Early Cognitive Impairment

The projected expansion of the nation's elderly population necessitates the revision of health care and policy strategies for safeguarding the health and assets of this community. The elderly are at greatly increased risk for developing mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. These conditions are associated with diminished complex decision-making abilities that adversely affect patients, their families, and society, even during early stages of Alzheimer's disease. We present three composite patient histories that demonstrate problems routinely encountered by families, health care providers, and legal professionals during the course of early AD and MCI. We review the prevalence of cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with MCI and early AD. Obstacles to early detection of cognitive decline, limitations of current testing modalities and benefits of earlier detection are discussed. Central themes common to medical and judicial approaches toward capacity assessment are discussed. We argue that an emphasis on earlier detection will result in benefits for patient health and result in financial savings to patients and the country as a whole. Finally, we recommend national guidelines for the evaluation of task-specific decision-making capacities to reduce the variability of outcome and improve quality of evaluations found among medical professionals, forensic evaluators, and legal actors.
Neurocircuitry of alcohol addiction: synthesis from animal models

Alcoholism, more generically drug addiction, can be defined as a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by: (1) compulsion to seek and take the drug (alcohol); (2) loss of control in limiting (alcohol) intake; and (3) emergence of a negative emotional state (e.g., dysphoria, anxiety, irritability), reflecting a motivational withdrawal syndrome, when access to the drug (alcohol) is prevented (defined here as dependence). The compulsive drug seeking associated with alcoholism can be derived from multiple neuroadaptations, but the thesis argued here, derived largely from animal models, is that a key component involves decreased brain reward function, increased brain stress function, and compromised executive function, all of which contribute to the construct of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is defined as drug taking that alleviates a negative emotional state. The negative emotional state that drives such negative reinforcement is hypothesized to derive from decreases in reward neurotransmission in the ventral striatum, such as decreased dopamine and opioid peptide function in the nucleus accumbens (ventral striatum), but also recruitment of brain stress systems, such as corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), in the extended amygdala. Data from animal models that support this thesis show that acute withdrawal from chronic alcohol, sufficient to produce dependence, increases reward thresholds, increases anxiety-like responses, decreases dopamine system function, and increases extracellular levels of CRF in the central nucleus of the amygdala. CRF receptor antagonists also block excessive drug intake produced by dependence. Alcoholism also involves substantial neuroadaptations that persist beyond acute withdrawal and trigger relapse and deficits in cognitive function that can also fuel compulsive drinking. A brain stress response system is hypothesized to be activated by acute excessive drug intake, to be sensitized during repeated withdrawal, to persist into protracted abstinence, and to contribute to the compulsivity of alcoholism. Other components of brain stress systems in the extended amygdala that interact with CRF and may contribute to the negative motivational state of withdrawal include increases in norepinephrine function, increases in dynorphin activity, and decreases in neuropeptide Y. The combination of impairment of function in reward circuitry and recruitment of brain stress system circuitry provides a powerful neurochemical basis for the negative emotional states that are responsible for the negative reinforcement that drives the compulsivity of alcoholism.
Discovering Cohorts of Pregnant Women From Social Media for Safety Surveillance and Analysis.

Background: Pregnancy exposure registries are the primary sources of information about the safety of maternal usage of medications during pregnancy. Such registries enroll pregnant women in a voluntary fashion early on in pregnancy and follow them until the end of pregnancy or longer to systematically collect information regarding specific pregnancy outcomes. Although the model of pregnancy registries has distinct advantages over other study designs, they are faced with numerous challenges and limitations such as low enrollment rate, high cost, and selection bias. Objective: The primary objectives of this study were to systematically assess whether social media (Twitter) can be used to discover cohorts of pregnant women and to develop and deploy a natural language processing and machine learning pipeline for the automatic collection of cohort information. In addition, we also attempted to ascertain, in a preliminary fashion, what types of longitudinal information may potentially be mined from the collected cohort information. Methods: Our discovery of pregnant women relies on detecting pregnancy-indicating tweets (PITs), which are statements posted by pregnant women regarding their pregnancies. We used a set of 14 patterns to first detect potential PITs. We manually annotated a sample of 14,156 of the retrieved user posts to distinguish real PITs from false positives and trained a supervised classification system to detect real PITs. We optimized the classification system via cross validation, with features and settings targeted toward optimizing precision for the positive class. For users identified to be posting real PITs via automatic classification, our pipeline collected all their available past and future posts from which other information (eg, medication usage and fetal outcomes) may be mined. Results: Our rule-based PIT detection approach retrieved over 200,000 posts over a period of 18 months. Manual annotation agreement for three annotators was very high at kappa (κ)=.79. On a blind test set, the implemented classifier obtained an overall F1 score of 0.84 (0.88 for the pregnancy class and 0.68 for the nonpregnancy class). Precision for the pregnancy class was 0.93, and recall was 0.84. Feature analysis showed that the combination of dense and sparse vectors for classification achieved optimal performance. Employing the trained classifier resulted in the identification of 71,954 users from the collected posts. Over 250 million posts were retrieved for these users, which provided a multitude of longitudinal information about them. Conclusions: Social media sources such as Twitter can be used to identify large cohorts of pregnant women and to gather longitudinal information via automated processing of their postings. Considering the many drawbacks and limitations of pregnancy registries, social media mining may provide beneficial complementary information. Although the cohort sizes identified over social media are large, future research will have to assess the completeness of the information available through them.
Semantically Empty Gestures

Frege held that the bare demonstrative ‘that’ is incomplete, and that it is the word together with a gesture that serves as the designating expression, and likewise that it is the word ‘yesterday’ together with the time of utterance that designates the relevant day. David Kaplan’s original theory of indexicals holds that Frege’s supplementation thesis is correct about demonstratives but incorrect about ‘yesterday’. Kaplan’s account of demonstratives deviates from Frege’s in treating supplemented demonstratives as directly referential, hence rigid. It is argued here that the gesture or other demonstration that accompanies an utterance of ‘that’ is not part of the designating expression but instead part of the utterance context.
Varicose Veins and Lower Extremity Venous Insufficiency

Lower extremity venous insufficiency and varicose veins are common conditions, affecting up to 25% of women. Herein, we review the pathophysiology of lower extremity venous insufficiency and varicose veins, the epidemiology of varicose veins, clinical diagnosis, and ultrasonographic diagnosis. We also discuss treatment rationale, algorithms, and techniques, with a focus on endovenous great saphenous vein ablation.
Long-Term Effects of Cyclic Environmental Conditions on Paintings in Museum Exhibition by Laser Shearography

To better evaluate current condition standards commonly used for the exhibition of canvas paintings, it is necessary to have a quantitative technique capable of measuring degradation components induced by changes in temperature and relative humidity, as well as the effects of ambient vibration and the thermomechanical effects of museum lighting. This paper presents advances in our development of a customized laser shearography system for temporal characterization of in-plane displacements of canvas paintings when subjected to changes in exhibition conditions. The shearography system performs concomitant measurements of gradients of displacement along two orthogonal shearing directions and is synchronized with a thermal IR camera to provide thermal maps of the area being analyzed. Recent innovations incorporated into the system include a real-time temporal phase unwrapping algorithm, and high-resolution Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods to calibrate applied shearing levels that allow a wide range of measuring resolutions. Examples will be presented that illustrate the system’s capabilities to detect cracks in the paint surface and measure and map associated strain vectors as a function of changes in condition parameters. Included are representative results of continuous 30 h recordings on American nineteenth century oil on canvas painting. Multi-domain data has been combined and correlated using the shearography and IR data from our system, temperature and humidity data from the museum’s climate control system, as well as activity log from museum’s security system.
Position and Abundance of Pear Thrips Eggs in Sugar Maple Flowering and Vegetative Buds

Bud samples were taken from flowering sugar maple, Acer saccharum (Marsh.), during budburst to determine the position and abundance of pear thrips, Taeniothrips inconsequens, eggs in 1992. Buds were stained with acid fuchsin to observe eggs. Peak numbers of eggs were found in mixed male and female flowering buds and exclusively male flowering buds collected on 1 May, and in vegetative buds collected on 14 May. No female flowering buds were collected. Most eggs were located in the petioles of flowering buds and in the leaf veins of vegetative buds. Factors influencing the position and abundance of eggs and the significance of flowering on the population dynamics of pear thrips are discussed.
Effect of Dehydration on the Specific Heat of Cheese Whey

Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine the specific heat of cheddar cheese whey as a function of water content and thereby provide fundamental data useful for the further development of dried whey products. The specific heat of fluid cheddar cheese whey, which contains 7% solids, was 0.951 ± .036 cal/g/°C at 12°C. A linear relationship was maintained between specific heat and moisture content when dried whey solids were re-hydrated to moisture levels between 3 and 93% H2O. The apparent partial specific heat of the whey solids was 0.328 cal/g/°C and that of the water was 0.995 cal/g/°C, a value close to that of bulk water. An inflection, however, was noted in the relation between specific heat and water content at 50% H2O when the specific heat data were obtained with concentrated whey samples prepared by evaporation of water from fluid whey. These data yielded apparent partial specific heat values for water of 0.966 cal/g/°C above 50% H2O and 1.203 cal/g/°C below 50% H2O. Apparently the water is in a more structured form in concentrated systems provided that the solids are initially fully hydrated. This conforms to the concept that a critical amount of water must be present in a proteinaceous system for the water to be held in a quasi-solid or “icelike” structure.
Five Layers of Interpretation for Possible Worlds

L'A. mesure le role de l'interpretation dans la theorie de l'ersatzisme linguistique des mondes possibles discutee par D. Lewis, d'une part, et interrroge la possibilite de l'ersatzisme a adopter une version de la theorie des contreparties, d'autre part. Definissant les mondes possibles en termes d'ensembles, dont l'ensemble vide et l'ensemble des nombres, l'A. presente les cinq niveaux d'interpretation des mondes possibles que sont: 1) l'interpretation des ensembles en termes de nombres, 2) l'interpretation des ensembles de nombres en termes de representations des localisations et termes d'ensembles de proprietes fondamentales, 3) l'interpretation des ensembles de paires de proprietes et de localisations en termes de representations de distributions de proprietes a travers les mondes possibles, 4) l'inteprretation des distributions de proprietes en termes de distributions des proprietes particulieres du monde actuel, 5) l'interpretation des distributions des proprietes particulieres en termes d'objets d'especes particulieeres et d'individus particuliers
Cheap Old Wine and Whiskey: Drinking Songs Straight from the Jukejoint

Lyrics about liquor, wine, and beer are common in middle and late twentieth-century sound recordings. From Billy Murray’s 1919 warning that Prohibition would prompt “The Alcoholic Blues” to George ...
Real-time cross-sectional and en face OCT angiography guiding high-quality scan acquisition

Defocusing, vignetting, and bulk motion degrade the image quality of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) more significantly than structural OCT. The assessment of focus, alignment conditions, and stability of imaging subjects in commercially available OCTA systems are currently based on OCT signal quality alone, without knowledge of OCTA signal quality. This results in low yield rates for further quantification. In this Letter, we developed a novel OCTA platform based on a graphics processing unit (GPU) for a real-time, high refresh rate, B-san-by-B-scan split-spectrum amplitude-decorrelation angiography. The GPU provides a real-time display of both cross-sectional and en face images to assist operators during scan acquisition and ensure OCTA scan quality.
Persistence of a soil legacy following removal of a nitrogen-fixing invader

Vast effort and resources are spent to control invasive plants. Often with the assumption that once these resources are spent and the invader is successfully removed, the impact of that species on the community is also eliminated. However, invasive species may change the environment in ways that persist, as legacy effects, after the species itself is gone. Here we evaluate the persistence of soil legacy effects following the death of Cytisus scoparius, an invasive nitrogen-fixer. In a field experiment, we periodically killed C. scoparius with herbicide, so that by the end of 2 years the invader had been absent from plots for different durations of time (22, 10, and 1 month). After the final C. scoparius removal treatment, we measured available soil nitrogen and phosphorus as well as the abundance of native and exotic vegetation. We planted Douglas-fir seedlings into the removal plots and tracked seedling success. One month after C. scoparius removal, there was a soil legacy effect in the form of a large initial pulse of inorganic N, presumably as a result of rapid decomposition of N-rich C. scoparius biomass. In the 10-month removal plots, this initial pulse of N had declined dramatically and was 70 % less than the invaded state. However, over the following year, there was little additional decline of N. Time since C. scoparius removal also affected Douglas-fir seedling growth, where seedlings planted into areas where C. scoparius had been removed for 22 months were smaller than seedlings planted into areas where C. scoparius had been removed for 1 and 10 months. This pattern may be caused by competition from a second wave of exotic invaders, whose cover increased with time following C. scoparius removal. Rather than providing a lasting positive fertilization effect on native vegetation, our results suggest that increased N availability instead favors the invasion of fast-growing, nitrophyllic exotic grasses and forbs, and that these species limit colonization and growth of native vegetation including the locally dominant tree Douglas-fir.
Health Threats that Can Affect Hispanic/Latino Migrants and Immigrants

Various health threats can affect Hispanic/Latino migrants and immigrants en route to and from, and following their arrival in the United States (US). In this chapter, I describe several of these health threats and examples of approaches that have been used to address some of them, and describe social-structural and circumstantial factors that can affect migrant and immigrant health. I then briefly describe factors that than can affect two Hispanic/Latino immigrant subpopulations that may be particularly vulnerable to health threats: women and children/minors. I also suggest that the concept of structural vulnerability is useful for characterizing and understanding the varied circumstances of Hispanic/Latino migrants and immigrants in their countries of origin and the US. I conclude the chapter with a brief reprise of several topics that merit further study.
TCT-92 Antegrade LAMPOON (Intentional Percutaneous Laceration of the Anterior Mitral Leaflet to Prevent Outflow Obstruction): A Novel Modification of the Previously Described Retrograde LAMPOON, is a Technically Feasible, Reproducible, Effective, and Safe Modification of This Procedure

LAMPOON (intentional laceration of the anterior mitral leaflet to prevent left ventricular outflow tract [LVOT] obstruction) has been shown to reduce the risk of LVOT obstruction. With experience, a simplified antegrade modification of this technique was developed. This is a single-center,
A computational study of hydrogen doping induced metal-to-insulator transition in CaFeO3, SrFeO3, BaFeO3 and SmMnO3

The metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in rare earth perovskite oxides has drawn significant research interest for decades to unveil the underlying physics and develop novel electronic materials. Recently, chemical doping induced MIT in SmNiO3 has been observed experimentally, with its resistivity changed by eight orders of magnitude. The mechanism of switching from one singly occupied Ni eg orbital to two singly occupied eg orbitals upon doping has been proposed by experimentalists and verified by computation. Here, we tested if this mechanism can be generally applied to other perovskite oxides with non-Ni B site elements. We applied first principles density functional theory (DFT) to study a series of perovskite oxides, CaFeO3, SrFeO3, BaFeO3 and SmMnO3. We investigated the geometry and electronic structures of pure and hydrogen doped oxides. We found that pure CaFeO3, SrFeO3 and BaFeO3 are metallic while pure SmMnO3 has a small band gap of 0.69 eV. Upon hydrogen doping, band gap opening was predicted for all four oxides: HSE06 predicted band gap values of 1.58 eV, 1.40 eV, 1.20 eV and 2.55 eV for H-doped CaFeO3, SrFeO3, BaFeO3 and SmMnO3, respectively. This finding opens up research opportunities for exploring a broader range of materials for MIT to be used in optical and electronic devices.
Selinexor: A First-in-Class Nuclear Export Inhibitor for Management of Multiply Relapsed Multiple Myeloma:

Objective: To review the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety of selinexor for management of relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). Data Sources: A literature search was performed of PubMe...
Instruction, example order, and student learning: reducing extraneous cognitive load by providing structure for elaborated examples

This experiment examined learning differences between students who read instructional examples that varied in the order that information was presented. In an online lesson about advice giving, 275 ...
Allelopathy: How Plants Suppress Other Plants

Allelopathy refers to the beneficial or harmful effects of one plant on another plant, both crop and weed species, from the release of biochemicals, known as allelochemicals, from plant parts by leaching, root exudation, volatilization, residue decomposition, and other processes in both natural and agricultural systems. This 5-page fact sheet introduces the concept of allelopathy and mentions potential applications as an alternative weed management strategy. Written by James J. Ferguson, Bala Rathinasabapathi, and Carlene A. Chase, and published by the UF Department of Horticultural Sciences, March 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs186
BOUNDARY LAYER (ATMOSPHERIC) AND AIR POLLUTION | Stably Stratified Boundary Layer

The traditional formulation of the stable boundary layer is briefly reviewed including the vertical structure, similarity theory, and stability parameters. A number of complications are considered including very stable conditions where the primary source of the weak turbulence may be detached from the surface, sometimes related to the nocturnal jet. The role of a vegetation canopy and surface heterogeneity are considered. Nonstationarity and meandering of the wind vector for very stable weak wind conditions are discussed.
Microenvironment-Mediated Resistance to Anti-Androgen Therapy.

In this issue of Cancer Cell, Zhang et al. expose new possibilities for targeting castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Activation of the HER2/HER3 axis by cancer-associated fibroblast-secreted NRG1 mediates castration resistance, recommending novel applications of clinical anti-NRG1/HER3 therapeutics in treating CRPC.
Advances in Targeted Therapies for Pediatric Brain Tumors

Over the last years, our understanding of the molecular biology of pediatric brain tumors has vastly improved. This has led to more narrowly defined subgroups of these tumors and has created new potential targets for molecularly driven therapies. This review presents an overview of the latest advances and challenges of implementing targeted therapies into the clinical management of pediatric brain tumors, with a focus on gliomas, craniopharyngiomas, and medulloblastomas. Pediatric low-grade gliomas (pLGG) show generally a low mutational burden with the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling presenting a key driver for these tumors. Direct inhibition of this pathway through BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors has proven to be a clinically relevant strategy. More recently, MEK and IL-6 receptor inhibitors have started to be evaluated in the treatment for craniopharyngiomas. Aside these low-grade tumors, pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG) and medulloblastomas exhibit substantially greater molecular heterogeneity with various and sometimes unknown tumor driver alterations. The clinical benefit of different targeted therapy approaches to interfere with altered signaling pathways and restore epigenetic dysregulation is undergoing active clinical testing. For these multiple pathway-driven tumors, combination strategies will most likely be required to achieve clinical benefit. The field of pediatric neuro-oncology made tremendous progress with regard to improved diagnosis setting the stage for precision medicine approaches over the last decades. The potential of targeted therapies has been clearly demonstrated for a subset of pediatric brain tumors. However, despite clear response rates, questions of sufficient blood-brain barrier penetration, optimal dosing, treatment duration as well as mechanisms of resistance and how these can be overcome with potential combination strategies need to be addressed in future investigations. Along this line, it is critical for future trials to define appropriate endpoints to assess therapy responses as well as short and long-term toxicities in the growing and developing child.
Electroencephalography Technologist Inter-rater Agreement and Interpretation of Pediatric Critical Care Electroencephalography

Abstract Objectives Electroencephalography (EEG) technologists commonly screen continuous EEG. Until now, the inter-rater agreement or sensitivity for important EEG findings has been unknown in this group. Methods Twenty-nine EEG technologists and three clinical neurophysiologists interpreted 90 five-minute samples of pediatric critical care EEG. Inter-rater agreement was examined with Cohen’s kappa and Fleiss’ kappa for EEG findings. A gold-standard consensus agreement was developed for examining sensitivity and specificity for seizures or discontinuity. Kruskal-Wallis tests with Benjamani-Hochberg corrections for multiple comparisons were utilized to examine associations between correct scoring and certification status and years of experience. Results Aggregate agreement was moderate for seizures and fair for EEG background continuity among EEG technologists. Individual agreement for seizures and continuity varied from slight to substantial. For individual EEG technologists, sensitivity for seizures ranged from 44 to 93% and sensitivity for continuity ranged from 81 to 100%. Raters with Certified Long Term Monitoring credentials were more likely to identify seizures correctly. Significance This is the first study to evaluate inter-rater agreement and interpretation correctness among EEG technologists interpreting pediatric critical care EEG. EEG technologists demonstrated better aggregate agreement for seizure detection than other EEG findings, yet individual results and internal consistency varied widely. These data provide important insight into the common practice of utilizing EEG technologists for screening critical care EEG.
Every Model Learned by Gradient Descent Is Approximately a Kernel Machine.

Deep learning's successes are often attributed to its ability to automatically discover new representations of the data, rather than relying on handcrafted features like other learning methods. We show, however, that deep networks learned by the standard gradient descent algorithm are in fact mathematically approximately equivalent to kernel machines, a learning method that simply memorizes the data and uses it directly for prediction via a similarity function (the kernel). This greatly enhances the interpretability of deep network weights, by elucidating that they are effectively a superposition of the training examples. The network architecture incorporates knowledge of the target function into the kernel. This improved understanding should lead to better learning algorithms.
Pseudonocardia Symbionts of Fungus-Growing Ants and the Evolution of Defensive Secondary Metabolism.

Actinobacteria belonging to the genus Pseudonocardia have evolved a close relationship with multiple species of fungus-growing ants, where these bacteria produce diverse secondary metabolites that protect the ants and their fungal mutualists from disease. Recent research has charted the phylogenetic diversity of this symbiosis, revealing multiple instances where the ants and Pseudonocardia have formed stable relationships in which these bacteria are housed on specific regions of the ant’s cuticle. Parallel chemical and genomic analyses have also revealed that symbiotic Pseudonocardia produce diverse secondary metabolites with antifungal and antibacterial bioactivities, and highlighted the importance of plasmid recombination and horizontal gene transfer for maintaining these symbiotic traits. Here, we propose a multi-level model for the evolution of Pseudonocardia and their secondary metabolites that includes symbiont transmission within and between ant colonies, and the potentially independent movement and diversification of their secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes. Because of their well-studied ecology and experimental tractability, Pseudonocardia symbionts of fungus-growing ants are an especially useful model system to understand the evolution of secondary metabolites, and also comprise a significant source of novel antibiotic and antifungal agents.
Pediatric penetrating cervical trauma in HCUP: Associations with hospital length of stay and cost

Abstract Objective To describe pediatric penetrating cervical trauma (PCT) and determine factors associated with increased length of stay (LOS) and total hospital charges. Study design Retrospective review of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) from the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) for 2016. Setting Public database. Methods A retrospective analysis of the HCUP from the KID for 2016 for inpatients ≤18 years of age. Comparisons between PCT and non-PCT patients were made, including hospital LOS and total charges. Results There were 1279 patients with neck trauma of which 686 (53.6%) were identified as sustaining PCT. Patients with PCT were older (13.2 vs 11.8 yr, p = .001), and were more likely to be male (65.9% vs 54.8%, p Conclusion LOS and total charges were not different in children with PCT and non-PCT, but both were increased when there were more cervical injuries and more related procedures done.
Transitioning FSW to a Controlled Production Process

Systematic investigation of the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process shows that a fixed rotational velocity and feed rate may not yield uniform mechanical properties along the length of a weldment. Nevertheless, correlations between process parameters and post-weld material properties have successfully demonstrated that peak temperature and cooling rate drive post-weld properties. We review the reported methodologies reported for controlling friction stir welding with a detailed look at how temperature control has been used. We compare data from uncontrolled FSW of AA 6111-T4 sheet with controlled FSW at temperatures ranging from 375 °C to 450 °C, as a means of demonstrating that a simplified methodology of a single-loop PID controlling with spindle speed may be used to effectively control temperature. This methodology can be simply used with any machine that already has the ability to actively control spindle speed, and has been previously shown to be able to be auto-tuned with a single weld.
Systematic review of novel technology-based interventions for ischemic stroke.

To identify novel technologies pertinent to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of ischemic stroke, and recommend the technologies that show the most promise in advancing ischemic stroke care. A systematic literature search on PubMed and Medscape was performed. Articles were assessed based on pre-determined criteria. Included journal articles were evaluated for specific characteristics and reviewed according to a structured paradigm. A search on www.clinicaltrials.gov was performed to identify pre-clinical ischemic stroke technological interventions. All clinical trial results were included. An additional search on PubMed was conducted to identify studies on robotic neuroendovascular procedures. Thirty journal articles and five clinical trials were analyzed. Articles were categorized as follows: six studies pertinent to pre-morbidity and prevention of ischemic stroke, three studies relevant to the diagnosis of ischemic stroke, 16 studies about post-ischemic stroke rehabilitation, and five studies on robotic neuroendovascular interventions. Novel technologies across the spectrum of ischemic stroke care were identified, and the ones that appear to have the most clinical utility are recommended. Future investigation of the feasibility and long-term efficacy of the recommended technologies in clinical settings is warranted.
Evaluation of Serum-Derived Bovine Immunoglobulin Protein Isolate in Subjects With Decompensated Cirrhosis With Ascites.

Background Bacterial translocation plays a pivotal role in the natural course of cirrhosis and its complications. Serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin (SBI) is an oral medical food that has been shown to both reduce inflammation in the intestines and neutralize bacteria. It represents a unique intervention that has not been studied in this population. Methodology We conducted a prospective open-label trial with an eight-week treatment phase of SBI. Individuals were assessed using lactulose breath testing, serum markers for enterocyte damage and bacterial translocation, and the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) prior to and after completion of the treatment phase. Results We evaluated nine patients with a diagnosis of decompensated cirrhosis with ascites. Subjects had a mean Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score of 11.6 ± 3.0 and were not taking lactulose or antibiotics. All subjects tolerated SBI well with no significant adverse events or changes to any of the six domains of the CLDQ. Laboratory tests including liver tests and MELD score remained stable over the course of treatment. There were no significant changes in the rates of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (55.6% vs 55.6%, p = 1.00) or serum levels of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, intestinal fatty acid-binding protein, or soluble CD14 (p-values 0.883, 0.765, and 0.748, respectively) when comparing values prior to and immediately after treatment. Conclusions No adverse events or significant changes to the quality of life were detected while on treatment. There were no statistically significant differences in our outcomes when comparing individuals before and after treatment in this small prospective proof-of-concept pilot study. Further prospective randomized studies could be beneficial.
Deep Learning-Driven Data Curation and Model Interpretation for Smart Manufacturing

Characterized by self-monitoring and agile adaptation to fast changing dynamics in complex production environments, smart manufacturing as envisioned under Industry 4.0 aims to improve the throughput and reliability of production beyond the state-of-the-art. While the widespread application of deep learning (DL) has opened up new opportunities to accomplish the goal, data quality and model interpretability have continued to present a roadblock for the widespread acceptance of DL for real-world applications. This has motivated research on two fronts: data curation, which aims to provide quality data as input for meaningful DL-based analysis, and model interpretation, which intends to reveal the physical reasoning underlying DL model outputs and promote trust from the users. This paper summarizes several key techniques in data curation where breakthroughs in data denoising, outlier detection, imputation, balancing, and semantic annotation have demonstrated the effectiveness in information extraction from noisy, incomplete, insufficient, and/or unannotated data. Also highlighted are model interpretation methods that address the “black-box” nature of DL towards model transparency.
Mitochondrial dysfunction in sepsis

Abstract Sepsis is a leading cause of death. Recent studies indicate that sepsis-induced mitochondrial alterations play a key role in the genesis of organ failure in sepsis. This chapter will review the role of mitochondria in modulating skeletal muscle dysfunction and organ failure in sepsis. Normal mitochondrial function and an overview of alterations in mitochondrial properties under pathological conditions will be examined. We will review how mitochondrial function influences responses to sepsis, discussing sepsis-induced: (a) alterations in mitochondrial ROS production, (b) changes in electron transport chain function/protein content, (c) alterations in mitochondrial ATP transport, (d) skeletal muscle weakness, (e) cardiac mitochondrial and contractile dysfunction, (f) multiorgan failure, (g) tissue dysoxia, (h) mitochondria and immune function, and (i) mitochondrial DAMPS. Discussion of potential treatments (antioxidants, melatonin, activators of mitochondrial biogenesis, and flavonoids) will focus on prevention and reversal of the pathophysiological processes by which sepsis impairs organ function.
Moribund: exploring the relationship between foreign direct investment and indigenous language erosion in Latin America

Past research has shown that national language policies can attract foreign direct investment (FDI), and that potential FDI-host countries coordinate their domestic language policies in anticipatio...
Adjusting the Errors-In-Variables Model: Linearized Least-Squares vs. Nonlinear Total Least-Squares

It has long been known that the Errors-In-Variables (EIV) Model is a special case of the nonlinear Gauss–Helmert Model (GHM) and can, therefore, be adjusted by standard least-squares techniques in iteratively linearized GH-Models, which is the approach by Helmert (Adjustment Computations Based on the Least-Squares Principle (in German), 1907) and – later – by Deming (Phil Mag 11:146–158, 1931; Phil Mag 17:804–829, 1934).
Acid-free sol-gel fabrication of glass thin films embedded with II-VI colloidal quantum dots

II-VI colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are ideal for optical sensors thanks to their high fluorescent brightness and good size uniformity. However, embedding colloidal QDs into a glass matrix with the standard sol-gel process leads to the QDs being damaged by the acid catalyst. Here, we report an acid-free sol-gel technique, which proves to be both simple and effective in fabricating silica glass thin films embedded with commercial II-VI colloidal QDs. Octadecylamine ligands are used as a bifunctional aid to not only stabilize the QDs in solution, but also assist the formation of the SiO2 gel. We demonstrate that high-quality QD-embedded glass thin films can be developed with this technique, and our fluorescent tests indicate that, except for a small blueshift in the emission spectrum, the QDs are very well preserved through the sol-gel process. This method offers a fast and low-cost path towards thin-film QD sensors with good mechanical and thermal stabilities, which are desirable for applications involving highly focused laser beams, such as ultrafast nanophotonics. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. (DOI:
Electrospray mass spectrometry of

There has been a substantial growth in the application of mass spectrometry (MS) methods for the analysis of inorganic materials, due to the inherent sensitivity of mass spectrometry ionization to the specific composition and structure of the analyzed materials. To date, few mass spectrometry studies have focused on metal-chalcogenide materials, an important class of semiconductor materials at the nanoscale, that exhibit interesting optical and electronic properties as a function of size. In this study, we report the application of a correlated electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS) study between negative-ion and positive-ion mode under low-cone voltage to probe size, composition, and stability of metal-chalcogenide materials at the <1 ran scale. This correlation approach provides insight into the ionization behavior and thermodynamic stability of clusters in the <1.0 ran size domain of the form [Zn4(SPh)10][Me4N]2, [Cd4(SPh)10][Me4N]2, [E4Zn10(SPh)16][Me4N]4, [E4Cd10(SPh)16][Me4N]4 (E = S, Se). It is demonstrated that application of low-cone voltage ESMS can be a useful technique for the rapid analysis of intact solid state nanomaterials when both negative and positive ionic modes are analyzed, with a potential for extrapolation to other classes of nanoscale materials.