cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The relationship of campus crime to campus and student characteristics

This research draws upon merged national databases containing federal crime statistics, community demographic data, and campus characteristics. The study displays the trends in campus crime since 1974, and using 1990 data, examines the relationships between three measures of campus crime and 23 predictors developed for this study. The results show that campus rates of both violent crime and property crime are falling, especially since 1985. Moreover, students are considerably safer on campus than in the cities and communities surrounding them. The lowest average crime rates are found at two-year colleges, while the highest overall rates are at medical schools and health science centers. None of the community characteristics, including community crime and poverty rates, are significantly associated with campus crime. While campus organizational measures in general are more highly related to campus crime than are student characteristics, we find differences in the patterns of variables associated with violent crime versus property crime. Factors associated with property crime are partially consistent with existing theory on criminal activity. Factors associated with violent crime are more complex and difficult to predict.
Green Computing Methodology for Next Generation Computing Scientists

Green computing has been an active research area which studies an efficient use of computing resources. It is a growing import subject that creates an urgent need to train next generation computer scientists or practitioners to think “green.” However, green computing has not yet been well taught in computer science (CS) or computer engineering programs (CE) programs, partly due to the lack of rooms to add a new course to those programs. Presented in this paper is an effort to reform core concepts of CS/CE to inculcate green computing in subjects such as algorithms, and operating systems.
Cardiovascular disease competes with breast cancer as the leading cause of death for older females diagnosed with breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study

Many women who survive breast cancer die of causes unrelated to their cancer diagnosis. This study was undertaken to assess factors that are related to breast cancer mortality versus mortality from other causes and to describe the leading causes of death among older women diagnosed with breast cancer. Women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 66 or older between 1992 and 2000 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare linked database and followed through the end of 2005. A total of 63,566 women diagnosed with breast cancer met the inclusion criteria and were followed for a median of approximately nine years. Almost one-half (48.7%) were alive at the end of follow-up. Ages and comorbidities at the time of diagnosis had the largest effects on mortality from other causes, while tumor stage, tumor grade, estrogen receptor status, age and comorbidities at the time of diagnosis all had effects on breast cancer-specific mortality. Fully adjusted relative hazards of the effects of comorbidities on breast cancer-specific mortality were 1.24 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13 to 1.26) for cardiovascular disease, 1.13 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.26) for previous cancer, 1.13 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.22) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 1.10 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.16) for diabetes. Among the total study population, cardiovascular disease was the primary cause of death in the study population (15.9% (95% CI 15.6 to 16.2)), followed closely by breast cancer (15.1% (95% CI 14.8 to 15.4)). Comorbid conditions contribute importantly to both total mortality and breast cancer-specific mortality among breast cancer survivors. Attention to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease should be a priority for the long-term care of women following the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
Coordination Chemistry of Homoleptic Actinide(IV)–Thiocyanate Complexes

The synthesis, X-ray crystal structure, vibrational and optical spectroscopy for the eight-coordinate thiocyanate compounds, [Et4 N]4 [Pu(IV) (NCS)8 ], [Et4 N]4 [Th(IV) (NCS)8 ], and [Et4 N]4 [Ce(III) (NCS)7 (H2 O)] are reported. Thiocyanate was found to rapidly reduce plutonium to Pu(III) in acidic solutions (pH<1) in the presence of NCS(-) . The optical spectrum of [Et4 N][SCN] containing Pu(III) solution was indistinguishable from that of aquated Pu(III) suggesting that inner-sphere complexation with [Et4 N][SCN] does not occur in water. However, upon concentration, the homoleptic thiocyanate complex [Et4 N]4 [Pu(IV) (NCS)8 ] was crystallized when a large excess of [Et4 N][NCS] was present. This compound, along with its U(IV) analogue, maintains inner-sphere thiocyanate coordination in acetonitrile based on the observation of intense ligand-to-metal charge-transfer bands. Spectroscopic and crystallographic data do not support the interaction of the metal orbitals with the ligand π system, but support an enhanced An(IV) -NCS interaction, as the Lewis acidity of the metal ion increases from Th to Pu.
Characterizing Linear Birth and Death Processes

Abstract This research determined the manner of convergence of certain Markov processes to their steady state limiting distributions. This article looks at linear birth and death processes with birth rate at each state determined by the immigration constant a and the natural growth multiplier b; with death rate at each state determined by fixed execution constant c and the natural declination multiplier d. All parameters are nonnegative. There is a reflective barrier at state 0. It is shown that when the natural growth multiplier is less than the declination parameter a limiting distribution exists, that is, when the multiplier difference is negative. We define a modal indicator as the ratio of the sum of the death parameters c and d diminished by immigration a to the multiplier difference. It is shown that when the modal indicator is negative then the mode occurs at state 0. When the indicator is an integer then the process is bimodal with the mode at that integral value and at the next larger integer. W...
POR channel estimation for UWB communications

Power of R (POR) technique has been successfully applied to multiuser detection for a direct sequence code-division multiple access (CDMA) system even when multipath channel is unknown. It yields channel estimate asymptotically converged to that of the ideal subspace approach while without request of estimation of the noise subspace of the received data covariance matrix. Its applicability in multiple access ultra-wideband (UWB) systems is investigated in this paper. First, a time-hopping (TH) UWB system using pulse position modulation (PPM) is converted to a linear form similar to a multirate CDMA system, after transforming modulation delays to amplitudes of pulses and then defining a new set of virtual inputs for each user. Based on the new multirate model, POR technique is applied to estimate unknown channel parameters. Performance of the proposed channel estimator is analyzed and verified. Comparisons with other approaches are also performed.
Student Understanding of Liquid-Vapor Phase Equilibrium.

Student understanding of the equilibrium coexistence of a liquid and its vapor was the subject of an extended investigation. Written assessment questions were administered to undergraduates enrolled in introductory physics and chemistry courses. Responses have been analyzed to document conceptual and reasoning difficulties in sufficient detail to be of practical use to instructors. Even after instruction on the relevant material, many students fail to recognize that for one-component systems in which a liquid and its vapor coexist in equilibrium, the pressure is controlled solely by the temperature. Although most students seem to realize that vaporization and condensation both take place, few are able to construct a coherent, step-by-step explanation for how dynamic phase equilibrium is established. Implications for instruction are discussed.
A Survey of Past Participants in the Annals of Emergency Medicine Editorial Board Fellowship Program

Annals of Emergency Medicine established the Resident Editorial Fellow program for senior residents in 1998. As of 2009, 14 residents had completed the 1-year program. We survey the literature on training of medical editors, describe the structure of the fellowship, and present the results of a survey of all past participants, documenting their subsequent professional positions and the perceived influence of the fellowship on their careers. The response rate was 100%.
Executive Function, Cognitive Control, and Sequence Learning in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

The bulk of clinical research on cochlear implants (CIs) has been intellectually isolated from the mainstream of current research and theory in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and developmental neuropsychology. As a consequence, the major clinical research issues have been narrowly focused on speech and language outcomes and efficacy of cochlear implantation as a medical treatment for profound hearing loss. Little basic or clinical research in the past has investigated the underlying neurobiological and neurocognitive bases of the individual differences and variability in the effectiveness of CIs. Many of the deaf children with CIs may have comorbid disturbances and/or delays in several basic neurocognitive processes that subserve information processing systems used in spoken language processing. In this chapter, we report new findings on executive function and implicit visual sequence learning in deaf children with CIs. The results of these experiments suggest that differences in neural reorganization of multiple brain systems resulting from a period of profound deafness and language delay may be responsible for the enormous variability observed in speech and language outcome measures following implantation.
Antibody response in non-haemorrhagic smallpox patients.

Two hundred and sixteen sera from 151 patients suffering from smallpox (non-haemorrhagic) were examined for antibody by precipitation in agar gel, by haemagglutinin inhibition (HI), complement fixation (CF) and neutralization tests. Most of the patients were adults and the majority had been vaccinated earlier in life. HI and neutralizing antibodies showed rising titres from the 6th day of illness while the majority showed precipitins and CF antibodies from the 8th day. The results of the precipitation-in-agar-gel tests are in marked contrast to the findings in healthy vaccinated and revaccinated individuals, none of whose sera gave a positive result for antibody by this technique. In unvaccinated patients the antibody response was frequently delayed and the titres lower than those attained by the previously vaccinated patients. There was no exact correlation in antibody titres obtained by the four methods of measurement, HI antibody, in particular, reaching in some cases relatively high titres when other tests showed low titres. It is suggested that with the methods and materials used, a positive precipitation test in agar gel, a CF titre of 1/20 or more and an HI titre of 1/80 or higher in a single specimen of serum would be suggestive of recent smallpox infections. Such a result might be of special value in the retrospective diagnosis of missed cases and in the detection of minimal or subclinical infections.This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant AI–1632–16 VR from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, by the World Health Organization and by the Marcus T. Reynolds III Fund.
Conserved characteristics of heterochromatin-forming DNA at the 15q11-q13 imprinting center

Nuclear matrix binding assays (NMBAs) define certain DNA sequences as matrix attachment regions (MARs), which often have cis-acting epigenetic regulatory functions. We used NMBAs to analyze the functionally important 15q11-q13 imprinting center (IC). We find that the IC is composed of an unusually high density of MARs, located in close proximity to the germ line elements that are proposed to direct imprint switching in this region. Moreover, we find that the organization of MARs is the same at the homologous mouse locus, despite extensive divergence of DNA sequence. MARs of this size are not usually associated with genes but rather with heterochromatin-forming areas of the genome. In contrast, the 15q11-q13 region contains multiple transcribed genes and is unusual for being subject to genomic imprinting, causing the maternal chromosome to be more transcriptionally silent, methylated, and late replicating than the paternal chromosome. We suggest that the extensive MAR sequences at the IC are organized as heterochromatin during oogenesis, an organization disrupted during spermatogenesis. Consistent with this model, multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization to halo nuclei demonstrates a strong matrix association of the maternal IC, whereas the paternal IC is more decondensed, extending into the nuclear halo. This model also provides a mechanism for spreading of the imprinting signal, because heterochromatin at the IC on the maternal chromosome may exert a suppressive position effect in cis. We propose that the germ line elements at the 15q11-q13 IC mediate their effects through the candidate heterochromatin-forming DNA identified in this study.
Introduced plague lessens the effects of an herbivorous rodent on grassland vegetation

Summary 1. Plague, introduced from Eurasia around 1900, today affects many animal species in the western part of North America, including black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus, widespread colonial herbivores of the Central Plains. Most studies of introduced diseases describe how they affect susceptible individuals or populations. We examined the indirect community and ecosystem-level effects of plague to address the hypothesis that frequent plague epizootics have a mediating effect on the important role of prairie dogs in shaping grassland plant communities. 2. We used 25 years of spatially explicit monitoring data on the Pawnee National Grassland (Colorado, USA) to estimate frequency of plague epizootics in prairie dog colonies. We also examined plant community characteristics of young (3–8 years), old (20 years) and plague-extirpated (7–12 years when extirpated) colonies intermittently to determine how colony age and status (active or inactive) influence the effects of prairie dogs on plant communities. 3. Approximately 98% of colonies experienced a plague epizootic within 15 years of continuous activity, nearly half remained inactive for at least 5 years following an epizootic, and less than half attained their pre-plague area within 10 years of an epizootic. 4. Prairie dogs lowered plant canopy height, reduced plant biomass and altered plant community composition. These effects were most pronounced for older colonies. Plague-extirpated colonies were not significantly different from their associated off-colony sites for most variables measured. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our work shows that introduced diseases can indirectly affect community- and ecosystem-level processes through their modification of host species dynamics. Frequent epizootics that lessen the effects of prairie dogs on vegetation probably affect colony-associated species and grassland food webs. Over 100 animal species are associated with prairie dog colonies because prairie dogs are an important food source and their colonies provide habitat. Prairie dogs are considered competitors with livestock for forage and are exterminated on private lands at considerable expense to ranchers. Extermination may be unwarranted and cost-ineffective where plague exists because of the high frequency of plague epizootics.
Unplanned, model-free, single grasp object classification with underactuated hands and force sensors

In this paper we present a methodology for discriminating between different objects using only a single force closure grasp with an underactuated robot hand equipped with force sensors. The technique leverages the benefits of simple, adaptive robot grippers (which can grasp successfully without prior knowledge of the hand or the object model), with an advanced machine learning technique (Random Forests). Unlike prior work in literature, the proposed methodology does not require object exploration, release or re-grasping and works for arbitrary object positions and orientations within the reach of a grasp. A two-fingered compliant, underactuated robot hand is controlled in an open-loop fashion to grasp objects with various shapes, sizes and stiffness. The Random Forests classification technique is used in order to discriminate between different object classes. The feature space used consists only of the actuator positions and the force sensor measurements at two specific time instances of the grasping process. A feature variables importance calculation procedure facilitates the identification of the most crucial features, concluding to the minimum number of sensors required. The efficiency of the proposed method is validated with two experimental paradigms involving two sets of fabricated model objects with different shapes, sizes and stiffness and a set of everyday life objects.
Efficient multi-view video coding scheme based on dynamic video object segmentation

Multi-view video, which simultaneously acquires multiple video sequences from multiple viewpoints or view directions, is poised to become the next generation video technology. Exploiting redundancy is the hallmark of traditional video coding but is even more essential in multi-view video coding (MVC) where the data size is extremely large. The exploitation of additional redundancies, however, incurs extra computational overhead, thereby counteracting the benefits gained from coding efficiency. This dissertation proposes an efficient MVC scheme that provides a complete encoding solution with low complexity. This includes exploitation of inter- and intra-view redundancies for achieving high coding efficiency, and exploitation of inter-view and temporal domain coded information for lowering the coding complexity. In order to be compatible with single-view applications, a multi-view scene typically consists of at least one base view (BV) and multiple enhancement views (EVs). The proposed encoding scheme first segments the pre-encoded BV into objects and background using a proposed fast segmentation technique with low overhead. Next, it generates the initial disparity maps (DM) of each object and background as well as initial inter-view prediction frame for each EV using an object registration and warping algorithm. With this initial DM, fast EV coding can be realized by using the coded information in BV. This approach has several advantages: First, the DMs for EVs are refined based on the initial DM within small search range. Second, disparity vectors (DVs) are differentially encoded with respect to the initial DV, which leads to bit-rate savings and reduced computational complexity. Third, in addition to block-based disparity compensated prediction, one more inter-view prediction is provided, which enhances accuracy with low encoding overhead. Fourth, guided by the initial DM, the motion vectors (MVs) of the EV are predicted from the MV field of the BV, which leads to lower complexity motion estimation. Another contribution of this work is an efficient frame-based segmentation algorithm for MVC. The algorithm combines the intensity of the reconstructed frame and MVs obtained from the pre-encoded base view in MVC to segment objects in fast turnaround time. The proposed segmentation, object warping and registration methodologies, collectively provide a complete compression scheme.
Cause versus Effect in Hybrid Systems: A Rigorous Non-standard Analysis Approach

Abstract A new approach for modeling nonlinear impulsive system is suggested based on nonstandard analysis. Basic properties of the hyperreals in nonstandard analysis are revisited, and extended to define generalized functions via a sequence approach. The extended generalized functions yield a non unique definition for a Heaviside function and the delta function, which are used to characterize a nonsmooth vector field. By using these extended generalized function, a causal way for characterizing jumps in discontinuous systems follows. An example for a simple affine system illustrates the usefulness of this theoretical development.
c.3623G > A mutation encodes a CFTR protein with impaired channel function

The aims of this study were to characterize clinical features of a pediatric African-American cystic fibrosis (CF) patient heterozygous for F508del and a novel c.3623G > A mutation, and to identify the molecular defect(s) associated with c.3623G > A mutation. The medical record of this patient was analyzed retrospectively. Western blotting and iodide efflux assay were used to study mutant CFTR protein expression level, maturation status, channel function, and the effects of CFTR modulation on these characteristics. The encoding protein of c.3623G > A mutation, G1208D-CFTR, has a moderate processing defect and exhibits impaired channel function, which were partially rescued by using VX-809 or exposed to low temperature (28 °C). The patient has mild CF disease manifestations. Our biochemical findings correlate with the clinical phenotype and suggest that c.3623G > A is a CF-causing mutation. The study helps expand our knowledge of rare CFTR mutations in a minority population and may have important clinical implications for personalized therapeutic intervention.
Flexibility or Muscle Length

To the Editor: I read with special interest the research report by Bandy and Irion entitled “The Effect of Time of Static Stretch on the Flexibility of the Hamstring Muscles,” as well as the invited commentary by Walker and the authors' response to the commentary (September 1994). I commend the authors for their efforts to study the effects of different times of static stretching of the hamstring muscles (15, 30, and 60 seconds per day) over a period of 6 weeks. I believe that their experimental methods and conclusions were basically sound and that the results add to our body of knowledge about the effects of stretching exercises on this important muscle group. In her commentary, Walker provided valuable insight into some of the possible shortcomings of the study, as well as suggestions for future studies. [ ARTICLE][1] [ ARTICLE][2] [1]: /lookup/volpage/74/845?iss=9 [2]: /lookup/volpage/74/850?iss=9
Degenerative changes in the atlanto-dens joint and dens fractures in the elderly: close relatives or just neighbors?: a commentary on an article by Matthew S. Shinseki et al.: "association between advanced degenerative changes of the atlanto-dens joint and presence of dens fracture".

Dens fractures in the elderly continue to haunt modern health care. These injuries are especially prevalent in this more frail patient population; they can present following seemingly trivial trauma; and, with the dramatic growth of the geriatric sector of our general population, it is reasonable to assume that the incidence of these injuries will increase. Moreover, dens fractures in the elderly are extremely challenging to treat, and are associated with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality regardless of whether operative or nonoperative treatment is used. Although certain patient characteristics (age, female sex, osteoporosis, and senility) have been linked to dens fractures in general, their association with specific upper cervical spine anatomic abnormalities has yet to be determined. Shinseki et al. investigated potential associations between advanced degenerative changes in the atlanto-dens joint and dens fractures in the elderly. They are not the first to do so. In 1942, Olsson1 described arthrosis of the median facet of the atlas and the dens process, which he reported could cause pain and limit neck motion. Almost fifty years later, Genez2 touted thin-section, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) with reconstruction as the best way to depict atlanto-dens osteoarthritis and recognized that the physiological abnormalities associated with these changes had yet to be described. Several years later, in a …
5.9 A 24MHz crystal oscillator with robust fast start-up using dithered injection

Wireless nodes in Internet-of-Everything (IoE) applications achieve low power consumption by operating the radio at very low duty cycles. The wireless node spends most of its time in sleep, waking only occasionally to transmit or receive data. For some standards, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the data or advertising packet length can be less than the time it takes the crystal oscillator, which is used as the reference clock for the radio's PLL, to turn on. Figure 5.9.1 shows a simplified power profile for a node with a typical BLE advertising packet length. A significant fraction of energy used for each RX/TX burst is used to turn on the oscillator. For applications where average power is not dominated by sleep power, the crystal oscillator start-up time can be a large contributor to average power consumption.
Lithographic Fabrication of Multi-Layered Optical Data

We present a new fabrication method for multi-layer ROM. Individual layers of an initially-liquid holographic photopolymer are photo-patterned via mask projection and post-cured to a solid. The process is repeated to efficiently print high-density disks
The Exploitation on Family Biomass Gasification and Heating Equipment by High Efficiency and Clean Combustion

Based on the crop in northwest of China,the corncobs is used as fuel. Equipment for biomass gasification and heating was developed. The equipment has simple structure,low cost,and is easy to operate and maintain for farmers. The mathematical models of the key parts were built in the development,and the CFD was used to simulate and optimize the design of the equipment. The optimal structure of the equipment was obtained by experiments and structure improvements. The green and thermal design of prototype for the equipment was tested by professional agencies,which was consistent with indicator values. The equipment is a good choice for biomass-energy utilization technique.
High c-erbB-3 protein expression is associated with shorter survival in advanced non-small cell lung carcinomas

c-erbB-3 is a new member of the Type I growth factor receptor family that includes epidermal growth-factor receptor (also called c-erbB-1) and HER-2/neu (also called c-erbB-2). Frequency and significance of c-erbB-3 overexpression in lung cancers have not been reported previously. A series of 549 cases of primary lung carcinomas were immunostained with a monoclonal anti-human c-erbB-3 antibody (Clone RTJ.1) using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissue. Sharp membranous staining or punctate cytoplasmic staining was interpreted as positive and scored 0 ( or = 50%). Medical records were reviewed for clinical data, including stage and survival. Actuarial cumulative survival analysis with the Mantel-Cox test was performed on 443 cases that had a single primary site in the lung of pure non-small cell carcinoma (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma) and that also had follow-up data for more than 3 months. In all stages, squamous cell carcinoma showed the greatest rate of high c-erbB-3 positivity (score, 3) (34/119; 28.6%), followed by adenocarcinoma (41/256; 15.9%) and large cell carcinoma (7/66; 10.6%). Patients with high c-erbB-3 expression (score, 3) survived for significantly shorter times than did patients with low c-erbB-3-expression (score, 0-2) in Stages III and IV (P = 0.002), but not in Stage I or II non-small cell lung carcinomas. In conclusion, high c-erbB-3 expression in advanced non-small cell lung carcinomas might be an adverse prognostic factor. This finding suggests that c-erbB-3 might be a potential target for molecular therapy in advanced non-small cell lung carcinomas.
Midwave infrared emitters with biaxially compressed InAsSb active regions

Midwave (2-5 μm) infrared diode lasers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are required for a variety of applications including in situ chemical sensing and process monitoring, laser radar, fluoride-based fiber communications, and infrared countermeasures. As-rich, InAsSb heterostructures may display unique electronic properties that are beneficial to the performance of midwave infrared emitters. In biaxially compressed InAsSb, strain breaks the valence band degeneracy and increases the threshold energy of the dominant Auger process (CHCC or Auger-1).1 With this improvement, the wavelength of diode lasers operating at room temperature may be extended from recently demonstrated 2,1– 2.3 μm devices (in unstrained InGaAsSb)2 to the 3–5 μm range where emitters will be limited by Auger processes. In this paper we report the first prototype emitters, an optically pumped laser and a light-emitting diode (LED), constructed from biaxially compressed, InAsSb heterostructures.
Extending Faceted Search to the Open-Domain Web

Faceted search enables users to navigate a multi-dimensional information space by combining keyword search with drill-down options in each facets. For example, when searching "computer monitor" in an e-commerce site, users can select brands and monitor types from the the provided facets {"Samsung", "Dell", "Acer", ...} and {"LET-Lit", "LCD", "OLED",...}. It has been used successfully for many vertical applications, including e-commerce and digital libraries. However, this idea is not well explored for general web search in an opendomain setting, even though it holds great potential for assisting multi-faceted queries and exploratory search.The goal of this work is to explore this potential by extending faceted search into the opendomain web setting, which we call Faceted Web Search. We address three fundamental issues in Faceted Web Search, namely: how to automatically generate facets (facet generation); how to re-organize search results with users' selections on facets (facet feedback); and how to evaluate generated facets and entire Faceted Web Search systems.In conventional faceted search, facets are generated in advance for an entire corpus either manually or semi-automatically, and then recommended for particular queries in most of the previous work. However, this approach is difficult to extend to the entire web due to the web's large and heterogeneous nature. We instead propose a query-dependent approach, which extracts facets for queries from their web search results. We further improve our facet generation model under a more practical scenario, where users care more about precision of presented facets than recall.The dominant facet feedback method in conventional faceted search is Boolean filtering, which filters search results by users' selections on facets. However, our investigation shows Boolean filtering is too strict when extended to the open-domain setting. Thus, we propose soft ranking models for Faceted Web Search, which expand original queries with users' selections on facets to re-rank search results. Our experiments show that the soft ranking models are more effective than Boolean filtering models for Faceted Web Search.To evaluate Faceted Web Search, we propose both intrinsic evaluation, which evaluates facet generation on its own, and extrinsic evaluation, which evaluates an entire Faceted Web Search system by its utility in assisting search clarification. We also design a method for building reusable test collections for such evaluations. Our experiments show that using the Faceted Web Search interface can significantly improve the original ranking if allowed sufficient time for user feedback on facets.
Transfer of IVF-contaminated blastocysts with removal of the zona pellucida resulted in live births.

Purpose Bacterial contamination may cause loss or damage to cultured oocytes or embryos, resulting in cancelation or delaying of a fresh embryo transfer. While live births have been reported following the transfer of embryos contaminated with yeast, very little information is available on how to handle embryos with bacterial contamination. We report two cases of successful pregnancy in patients with bacterial contamination of embryo culture dishes.
H. W. Broda, Moving the classroom outdoors: schoolyard-enhanced learning in action

I read Herbert W. Broda’s book Moving the Classroom Outdoors: Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning in Action expecting to find solid, useful ideas to implement in the classroom. I was not disappointed. The...
Noise properties of regularized image reconstruction in x-ray computed tomography

X-ray computed tomography (CT) has routine use in medical diagnosis. Technology advancements enable further clinical applications, such as cardiac imaging and lung cancer screening. It also has use in industrial applications. The spatial resolution and noise properties of image reconstruction methods are important for imaging system design, reconstruction method comparisons and reconstruction parameter selection. Current reconstruction methods fall into two main categories: analytical and iterative methods. The representative of the former category is filtered back projection (FBP) or convolution back projection (CBP). The iterative methods can be further divided into algebraic and statistical methods. The spatial resolution and noise properties of analytical methods are well studied and understood. The statistical reconstruction methods have the potential to offer improved image quality and better bias-variance performance. They are based on models for measurement statistics and physics, and can easily incorporate the prior information, the system geometry and the detector response. They can also model Compton scattering and the polyenergetic spectrum of the X-ray source. The main disadvantages of the statistical reconstruction methods are the longer computation time of iterative algorithms that is usually required to minimize certain cost functions, and the lack of insights into the resolution and noise properties of the reconstructed images. This thesis addresses these two concerns of statistical reconstruction methods by developing the fast non-uniform FFT (NUFFT)-based forward and back-projectors and by deriving an analytical approach to study the noise properties of the statistically reconstructed images. The overall computation for the NUFFT based 2D fan-beam forward projector is akin to previous hierarchical methods, and is about two times faster than the distance-driven (DD) forward projector while providing comparable accuracy. The proposed analytical noise variance predictions for the 2D fan-beam geometry provide accuracy comparable to FFT-based predictions and agree well with empirical variances in fan-beam CT, but require much less computation than the traditional FFT method. An extension to 3D cylindrical CT is also developed.
Dada 1916/2016

What happened in the five months between February and July 1916 at Spiegelgasse No. 1, on the small stage in the back room of the beer bar “Meierei” in Zurich's red light district Niederdorf, has b...
A Simulation-based, cognitive assessment of resident decision making during complex urinary catheterization scenarios.

Abstract Background This study explores general surgery residents' decision making skills in uncommon, complex urinary catheter scenarios. Methods 40 residents were presented with two scenarios. Scenario A was a male with traumatic urethral injury and scenario B was a male with complete urinary blockage. Residents verbalized whether they would catheterize the patient and described the workup and management of suspected pathologies. Residents' decision paths were documented and analyzed. Results In scenario A, 45% of participants chose to immediately consult Urology. 47.5% named five diagnostic tests to decide if catheterization was safe. In scenario B, 27% chose to catheterize with a 16 French Coude. When faced with catheterization failure, participants randomly upsized or downsized catheters. Chi-square analysis revealed no measurable consensus amongst participants. Conclusions Residents need more training in complex decision making for urinary catheterization. The decision trees generated in this study provide a useful blueprint of residents' learning needs. Summary Exploration of general surgery residents' decision making skills in uncommon, complex urinary catheter scenarios revealed major deficiencies. The resulting decision trees reveal residents' learning needs.
Cross-sectional relations of whole-blood miRNA expression levels and hand grip strength in a community sample.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression with emerging data suggesting miRNAs play a role in skeletal muscle biology. We sought to examine the association of miRNAs with grip strength in a community-based sample. Framingham Heart Study Offspring and Generation 3 participants (n = 5668 54% women, mean age 55 years, range 24, 90 years) underwent grip strength measurement and miRNA profiling using whole blood from fasting morning samples. Linear mixed-effects regression modeling of grip strength (kg) versus continuous miRNA 'Cq' values and versus binary miRNA expression was performed. We conducted an integrative miRNA-mRNA coexpression analysis and examined the enrichment of biologic pathways for the top miRNAs associated with grip strength. Grip strength was lower in women than in men and declined with age with a mean 44.7 (10.0) kg in men and 26.5 (6.3) kg in women. Among 299 miRNAs interrogated for association with grip strength, 93 (31%) had FDR q value < 0.05, 54 (18%) had an FDR q value < 0.01, and 15 (5%) had FDR q value < 0.001. For almost all miRNA-grip strength associations, increasing miRNA concentration is associated with increasing grip strength. miR-20a-5p (FDR q 1.8 × 10-6 ) had the most significant association and several among the top 15 miRNAs had links to skeletal muscle including miR-126-3p, miR-30a-5p, and miR-30d-5p. The top associated biologic pathways included metabolism, chemokine signaling, and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Our comprehensive assessment in a community-based sample of miRNAs in blood associated with grip strength provides a framework to further our understanding of the biology of muscle strength.
Moment rate scaling for earthquakes 3.3 ≤ M ≤ 5.3 with implications for stress drop

We have determined a scalable apparent moment rate function (aMRF) that correctly predicts the peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), local magnitude, and the ratio of PGA/PGV for earthquakes 3.3 ≤ M ≤ 5.3. Using the NGA-West2 database for 3.0 ≤ M ≤ 7.7, we find a break in scaling of LogPGA and LogPGV versus M around M ~ 5.3 with nearly linear scaling for LogPGA and LogPGV for 3.3 ≤ M ≤ 5.3. Temporal parameters tp and td—related to rise time and total duration—control the aMRF. Both scale with seismic moment. The Fourier amplitude spectrum of the aMRF has two corners between which the spectrum decays ~ f− 1. Significant attenuation along the raypath results in a Brune-like spectrum with one corner fC. Assuming that fC ≅ 1/td, the aMRF predicts non-self-similar scaling M0∝fC3.3 and weak stress drop scaling Δσ∝M00.091. This aMRF can explain why stress drop is different from the stress parameter used to predict high-frequency ground motion.
Historical Institutionalism and Change in Higher Education

Institutional change and regional integration are discussed in a historical institutional perspective, as rational and socially constructed objectives. Since the introduction of the Bologna Process, the state has given higher education institutions greater autonomy in governance and administration. There have been ongoing negotiations among the supranational, national level, and institutional levels of governance in higher education since the inception of the Bologna Process. Three periods of historical analysis in regional integration are examined. These periods are (1) 1957 to 1999, from the Treaty of Rome to the launch of the Bologna Process; (2) 1999 to 2010, from the launch of the Bologna Process to the creation of the EHEA (including the Lisbon Strategy and the Open Method of Coordination); and (3) 2010 to 2015, from the creation of EHEA to the 9th Ministerial Conference in Yerevan, Armenia.
Impact of academic facility type and volume on post-surgical outcomes following diagnosis of glioblastoma.

Abstract Objective To identify if facility type and/or facility volume impact overall survival (OS) following diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM). We also sought to compare early post-surgical outcomes based on these factors. Methods The National Cancer Database was queried for patients with GBM diagnosed from 2004 to 2013 with known survival. Patients were grouped based on facility type and facility volume. Multivariable analyses were performed to investigate factors associated OS following diagnosis and Chi-square tests were used to compare early post-surgical outcomes. Results 89,839 patients met inclusion criteria. Factors associated with improved OS on multivariable analysis included younger patient age, female gender, race, lower comorbidity score, higher performance score, smaller tumor size, unifocal tumors, MGMT hypermethylation, fully resected tumors, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy (each p Conclusions This study suggests that patients treated in Academic/Research programs and high patient-volume centers have increased survival and more favorable early-postsurgical outcomes. The extent to which differences in patient populations, socioeconomic factors, and/or provider expertise play into this cause will be areas of future research.
Constructing Your Idea

All startups emerge from an initial idea. Every successful startup owner will be able to tell you, misty-eyed, about that one dinner, train ride, drinking session or quick coffee where the idea was born. That point where they recognized an unaddressed gap in the market, or a way to do something significantly cheaper than the competition.
THERAPEUTIC DILEMMA IN AN OVERLAP BETWEEN BRUGADA SYNDROME AND ARRHYTHMOGENIC RIGHT VENTRICULAR CARDIOMYOPATHY

Brugada Syndrome (BS) and Arrythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardioyopathy (ARVC) are inherited arrhythmias that can overlap and present a clinical challenge given their disparate therapies. A 45-year-old man presented after an episode of syncope that lead to a motor vehicle accident. He denied any
Application of network smoothing to glycan LC-MS profiling.

Motivation Glycosylation is one of the most heterogeneous and complex protein post-translational modifications. Liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is a common high throughput method for analyzing complex biological samples. Accurate study of glycans require high resolution mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry data contains intricate sub-structures that encode mass and abundance, requiring several transformations before it can be used to identify biological molecules, requiring automated tools to analyze samples in a high throughput setting. Existing tools for interpreting the resulting data do not take into account related glycans when evaluating individual observations, limiting their sensitivity. Results We developed an algorithm for assigning glycan compositions from LC-MS data by exploring biosynthetic network relationships among glycans. Our algorithm optimizes a set of likelihood scoring functions based on glycan chemical properties but uses network Laplacian regularization and optionally prior information about expected glycan families to smooth the likelihood and thus achieve a consistent and more representative solution. Our method was able to identify as many, or more glycan compositions compared to previous approaches, and demonstrated greater sensitivity with regularization. Our network definition was tailored to N-glycans but the method may be applied to glycomics data from other glycan families like O-glycans or heparan sulfate where the relationships between compositions can be expressed as a graph. Availability and implementation built executable http://www.bumc.bu.edu/msr/glycresoft/ and Source Code: https://github.com/BostonUniversityCBMS/glycresoft. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Triarylpyrazoles with basic side chains: development of pyrazole-based estrogen receptor antagonists.

Abstract Recently, we developed a novel triaryl-substituted pyrazole ligand system that has high affinity for the estrogen receptor (ER) (Fink, B. E.; Mortenson, D. S.; Stauffer, S. R.; Aron, Z. D.; Katzenellenbogen, J. A. Chem. Biol. 1999, 6, 205). Subsequent work has shown that some analogues in this series are very selective for the ERα subtype in terms of binding affinity and agonist potency (Stauffer, S. R.; Coletta, C. J.; Tedesco, R.; Sun, J.; Katzenellenbogen, J. A. J. Med. Chem. 2000, submitted). We now investigate how this pyrazole ER agonist system might be converted into an antagonist or a selective estrogen receptor modifier (SERM) by incorporating a basic or polar side chain like those typically found in antiestrogens and known to be essential determinants of their mixed agonist/antagonist character. We selected an N-piperidinyl-ethyl chain as a first attempt, and introduced it at the four possible sites of substitution on the pyrazole core structure to determine the orientation that the pyrazole might adopt in the ER ligand binding pocket. Of these four, the C(5) piperidinyl-ethoxy-substituted pyrazole 5 had by far the highest affinity. Also, it bound to the ER subtype alpha (ERα) with 20-fold higher affinity than to ERβ. In cell-based transcription assays, pyrazole 5 was an antagonist on both ERα and ERβ, and it was also more potent on ERα. Based on structure-binding affinity relationships and on molecular modeling studies of these pyrazoles in a crystal structure of the ERα–raloxifene complex, we propose that pyrazoles having a basic substituent on the C(5) phenyl group adopt a binding mode that is different from that of the pyrazole agonists that lack this group. The most favorable orientation appears to be one which places the N(1) phenol in the A-ring binding pocket so that the basic side chain can adopt an orientation similar to that of the basic side chain of raloxifene.
Differential Temporal Dynamic Logic dTL

We combine first-order dynamic logic for reasoning about the possible behaviour of hybrid systems with temporal logic for reasoning about the temporal behaviour during their operation. Our logic supports verification of hybrid programs with first-order definable flows and provides a uniform treatment of discrete and continuous evolution. For our combined logic, we generalise the semantics of dynamic modalities to refer to hybrid traces instead of final states. Further, we prove that this gives a conservative extension of our dynamic logic for hybrid systems. On this basis, we provide a modular verification calculus that reduces correctness of temporal behaviour of hybrid systems to nontemporal reasoning, and prove that we obtain a complete axiomatisation relative to the nontemporal base logic. Using this calculus, we analyse safety invariants in a train control system and symbolically synthesise parametric safety constraints.
Improving and sustaining outpatient cancer screening by medicine residents.

ABSTRACT:The sustained effectiveness in improving resident performance of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening examinations in the medicine outpatient department (OPD) was studied. Residents were divided into two groups: an intervention group, which received lectures presenting cancer s