cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Study of Stiffness Testing of Elastomers at Low Temperatures

Abstract In light of the above discussion, it does not appear logical to choose a “best” test for determining low-temperature moduli. A study of the data as a whole indicates that the correlation between the two sets of values from the simple beam-method (laboratories C-1 and C-2) are closest, but there is nothing to show that they are the most valid. It should be emphasized that, in the temperature region of greatest technical importance, that is, where the rubber is changing from its ordinary flexible state to a hard stiff material, the different tests show good agreement. A low-temperature limit of serviceability would be close to −80° F for the Hevea gum and −60° F for the GR-S by each of the methods studied. Another conclusion that might well be reached by a study of the test methods and data presented is that the term “modulus”, as applied to rubberlike materials, is rather vague unless the method of obtaining that modulus is also given.
PET imaging of reactive oxygen species

26 Objectives Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are implicated in the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases including cancer, neurocognitive and neurodenerative disorders, and diabetes. We perform pre-clinical PET studies to evaluate a F-18 radiolabeled analog of dihydroethidium (DHE), [18F]WC-4-77, in quantifying ROS load due to superoxide free radical. Methods Doxorubicin (DOX) has been shown to induce the formation of ROS chief among them is the generation of the superoxide radical. To that end, eight male C57BL/6 mice were divided into 2 groups (4 mice/group)—untreated control and DOX-treated. The untreated group received a 200µL of saline interperiteneal (i.p.) while the DOX-treated mice were administered a single dose of DOX HCL i.p. at 20mg/kg. Five days post administration of DOX, 60min dynamic small animal PET imaging was performed with [18F]WC-4-77 (250-300µCi/100µL). At the conclusion of imaging, the biodistribution of [18F]WC-4-77 was determined in multiple organs. In addition, HPLC analysis was performed to determine the presence of parent and metabolites species in heart and blood. Standardized uptake values (SUV) were determined in anterolateral region of the myocardium to assess [18F]WC-4-77 uptake. A student’s t-test was used to assess for differences in uptake between groups. Results The biodistribution data indicated that the hearts’ of DOX-treated mice exhibited approximately a two-fold higher retention of [18F]WC-4-77 in comparison to untreated mice (P=0.02). Consistent with biodistribution data, there was a significantly higher (P=0.02) uptake of [18F]WC-4-77 in the myocardium. Metabolite analysis confirmed the presence of oxidized form of [18F]WC-4-77 in DOX-treated animals which was absent in untreated mice. Conclusions Our data on this first generation DHE analog, [18F]WC-4-77, is encouraging, thus providing a platform for further optimization of desired pharmacokinetics as an in-vivo measure of superoxide load. Research Support The work was supported by NIBIB grant 5R01EB012284 and NIA grant 5RC1AG036045
Perceptual Sensitivity to Dialectal and Generational Variations in Vowels.

Perception of dialect variation is well studied with respect to perceptual similarity of talkers based on dialectal markers. This study examines the perceptual distinctiveness of regional vowel variants in light of cross-generational changes in vowel productions. Listeners from two regional dialects of English identified the dialect of the speaker in monosyllabic words (produced by older adults, young adults and children). Differential listener sensitivity to speaker dialect was found, which was highly affected by speaker generation. This suggests that the ability to determine dialect membership is an interaction between the perceptual spaces of listeners and the acoustic variations in vowels.
Behavior Modification and Cognitive Therapy

Behavior modification has been extensively studied and implemented with various populations. It involves cognitive and behavioral techniques used in assisting individuals to set goals for desired lifestyle changes. This type of therapy, also termed cognitive behavioral therapy, consists of various strategies including goal-setting, self-monitoring, stimulus control, cognitive restructuring, stress management, social support, behavioral contracting, and relapse prevention. This chapter focuses on the implementation of these strategies in promoting lifestyle changes. Additionally, numerous randomized controlled trials have shown that individuals are successful in achieving behavior change. More recently, the Diabetes Prevention Program and Look AHEAD randomized controlled studies successfully demonstrated the efficacy of behavioral strategies in assisting participants to achieve and maintain long-term weight losses.
Wave Motion and Sound

This chapter discusses wave motion and sound. Wave motion is a means of transferring energy from one place to another without the transfer of matter. A wave on the surface of a body of water, for example, can transfer energy over long distances while the particles within the medium, the water, move only by jiggling locally as the overall disturbance, the wave, passes. The media through which waves propagate may be liquids, solids, gases, or even a vacuum in the case of electromagnetic waves. The chapter focuses on mechanical waves that propagate through elastic media composed of particles, which, after having been displaced from their undisturbed equilibrium positions with the passage of a wave, are restored to their equilibrium positions. Physically, any mechanical wave passing through a solid, liquid, or gas may be considered an acoustic wave or a sound wave. To physiologists and psychologists, sound waves are usually considered those waves to which the human ear responds.
The PRI and the Political Reform Projects

Both supporters and opponents often use the term instituto politico (political institute) to refer to the PRI. The term emphasises the close integration of the party with the presidency and bureaucracy. In February 1985, when President De la Madrid announced the sale of 237 public enterprises, opposition leaders joked about searching the lists carefully in hope of finding the PRI on the auction block.
Real-time realistic rendering of nature scenes with dynamic lighting

Rendering of natural scenes has interested the scientific community for a long time due to its numerous applications. The targeted goal is to create images that are similar to what a viewer can see in real life with his/her eyes. The main obstacle is complexity: nature scenes from real life contain a huge number of small details that are hard to model, take a lot of time to render and require a huge amount of memory unavailable in current computers. This complexity mainly comes from geometry and lighting. The goal of our research is to overcome this complexity and to achieve real-time rendering of nature scenes while providing visually convincing dynamic global illumination. Our work focuses on grass and trees as they are commonly visible in everyday life. We handle geometry and lighting complexities for grass to render millions of grass blades interactively with dynamic lighting. As for lighting complexity, we address real-time rendering of trees by proposing a lighting model that handles indirect lighting. Our work makes extensive use of the current generation of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to meet the real-time requirement and to leave the CPU free to carry out other tasks.
Implementing Trust Bootstrapping: Open Source Tools

Here we introduce a variety of open-source software projects that are highly relevant to bootstrapping trust. At the time of this writing many interesting software packages are available, including a full Linux distribution and several LiveCDs that facilitate experimentation without modifying anything on one’s hard drive. These software packages are an excellent starting place for gaining a deeper understanding of the capabilities of existing hardware and software to bootstrap trust.
Theory-based explanation as intervention.

Cogent explanations are an indispensable means of providing new information and an essential component of effective education. Beyond this, we argue that there is tremendous untapped potential in using explanations to motivate behavior change. In this article we focus on health interventions. We review four case studies that used carefully tailored explanations to address gaps and misconceptions in people’s intuitive theories, providing participants with a conceptual framework for understanding how and why some recommended behavior is an effective way of achieving a health goal. These case studies targeted a variety of health-promoting behaviors: (1) children washing their hands to prevent viral epidemics; (2) parents vaccinating their children to stem the resurgence of infectious diseases; (3) adults completing the full course of an antibiotic prescription to reduce antibiotic resistance; and (4) children eating a variety of healthy foods to improve unhealthy diets. Simply telling people to engage in these behaviors has been largely ineffective—if anything, concern about these issues is mounting. But in each case, teaching participants coherent explanatory frameworks for understanding health recommendations has shown great promise, with such theory-based explanations outperforming state-of-the-art interventions from national health authorities. We contrast theory-based explanations both with simply listing facts, information, and advice and with providing a full-blown educational curriculum, and argue for providing the minimum amount of information required to understand the causal link between a target behavior and a health outcome. We argue that such theory-based explanations lend people the motivation and confidence to act on their new understanding.
Increased Cardiac Sympathetic Activity and Oxidative Stress in Habitual Electronic Cigarette Users: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk

Importance Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have gained unprecedented popularity, but virtually nothing is known about their cardiovascular risks. Objective To test the hypothesis that an imbalance of cardiac autonomic tone and increased systemic oxidative stress and inflammation are detectable in otherwise healthy humans who habitually use e-cigarettes. Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional case-control study of habitual e-cigarette users and nonuser control individuals from 2015 to 2016 at the University of California, Los Angeles. Otherwise healthy habitual e-cigarette users between the ages of 21 and 45 years meeting study criteria, including no current tobacco cigarette smoking and no known health problems or prescription medications, were eligible for enrollment. Healthy volunteers meeting these inclusion criteria who were not e-cigarette users were eligible to be enrolled as control individuals. A total of 42 participants meeting these criteria were enrolled in the study including 23 self-identified habitual e-cigarette users and 19 self-identified non–tobacco cigarette, non–e-cigarette user control participants. Main Outcomes and Measures Heart rate variability components were analyzed for the high-frequency component (0.15-0.4 Hz), an indicator of vagal activity, the low-frequency component (0.04-0.15 Hz), a mixture of both vagal and sympathetic activity, and the ratio of the low frequency to high frequency, reflecting the cardiac sympathovagal balance. Three parameters of oxidative stress were measured in plasma: (1) low-density lipoprotein oxidizability, (2) high-density lipoprotein antioxidant/anti-inflammatory capacity, and (3) paraoxonase-1 activity. Results Of the 42 participants, 35% were women, 35% were white, and the mean age was 27.6 years. The high-frequency component was significantly decreased in the e-cigarette users compared with nonuser control participants (mean [SEM], 46.5 [3.7] nu vs 57.8 [3.6] nu; P = .04). The low-frequency component (mean [SEM], 52.7 [4.0] nu vs 39.9 [3.8] nu; P = .03) and the low frequency to high frequency ratio (mean [SEM], 1.37 [0.19] vs 0.85 [0.18]; P = .05) were significantly increased in the e-cigarette users compared with nonuser control participants, consistent with sympathetic predominance. Low-density lipoprotein oxidizability, indicative of the susceptibility of apolipoprotein B–containing lipoproteins to oxidation, was significantly increased in e-cigarette users compared with nonuser control individuals (mean [SEM], 3801.0 [415.7] U vs 2413.3 [325.0] U; P = .01) consistent with increased oxidative stress, but differences in high-density antioxidant/anti-inflammatory capacity and paraoxonase-1 activity were not significant. Conclusions and Relevance In this study, habitual e-cigarette use was associated with a shift in cardiac autonomic balance toward sympathetic predominance and increased oxidative stress, both associated with increased cardiovascular risk.
Interplay of Reggeon and photon in pA collisions

We discuss the effects of the electromagnetic interaction in high-energy proton collisions with nuclei of large Z at strong coupling $\ensuremath{\lambda}={g}^{2}{N}_{c}$. Using the holographic dual limit of large ${N}_{c}g\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\gg}1$, we describe the Reggeon exchange as a twisted surface and show that it gets essentially modified by the electromagnetic interaction.
Improvements in brain and behavior following eradication of hepatitis C

Despite recent advances in treatment, hepatitis C remains a significant public health problem. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known to infiltrate the brain, yet findings from studies on associated neurocognitive and neuropathological changes are mixed. Furthermore, it remains unclear if HCV eradication improves HCV-associated neurological compromise. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between neurocognitive and neurophysiologic markers among healthy HCV- controls and HCV+ adults following successful HCV eradication. We hypothesized that neurocognitive outcomes following treatment would be related to both improved cognition and white matter integrity. Participants included 57 HCV+ participants who successfully cleared the virus at the end of treatment (sustained virologic responders [SVRs]) and 22 HCV- controls. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing and, for a nested subset of participants, neuroimaging (diffusion tensor imaging) at baseline and 12 weeks following completion of HCV therapy. Contrary to expectation, group-level longitudinal analyses did not reveal significant improvement in neurocognitive performance in the SVRs compared to the control group. However, a subgroup of SVRs demonstrated a significant improvement in cognition relative to controls, which was related to improved white matter integrity. Indeed, neuroimaging data revealed beneficial effects associated with clearing the virus, particularly in the posterior corona radiata and the superior longitudinal fasciculus. Findings suggest that a subgroup of HCV+ patients experienced improvements in cognitive functioning following eradication of HCV, which appears related to positive changes in white matter integrity. Future research should examine whether any additional improvements in neurocognition and white matter integrity among SVRs occur with longer follow-up periods.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the City It Made. By Domenic Vitiello, with George E. Thomas

“Triumph and Tragedy” could well have been a subtitle of this history of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The triumph came in the exchange’s first century, beginning in 1790 when merchant-financiers organized the Board of Brokers, the first stock exchange in the United States. New York also traded securities at the time, but its traders would not form a similar securities trading club, the forerunner of the New York Stock Exchange, until 1792. Until the 1830s, the exchanges of the two cities were peers. Philadelphia’s exchange benefited from the city being the capital of the country in the 1790s and the headquarters of the two Banks of the United States, while New York’s exchange thrived as its city became the largest of all U.S. cities and the nation’s commercial capital. When the second Bank of the United States lost its federal charter in 1836, and then as a state-chartered bank failed a few years later, New York City and its exchange continued to grow and shot ahead. But Philadelphia became a leading industrial city, and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (the name adopted in 1875) played an important role in financing the economic infrastructure— banks, insurance companies, roads, railroads, urban transit, and utilities— that made it an industrial center. In the century of triumph a number of America’s leading financiers were Philadelphians: Thomas Willing, Robert Morris, Thomas and Nicholas Biddle, Enoch Clark, Jay Cooke, and Anthony Drexel.
Phylogeny of early vertebrate skeletal induction and ossification patterns

The past 40 years has witnessed the demise of paleontology as a panacea with the ability to vindicate great phylogenetic theories. Today the role of fossils has been quite sharply defined (e.g., Hennig, 1965; Schaeffer et al., 1972; Nelson, 1978; Gaffney, 1979; Cracraft, 1979; Patterson, 1981a,b). The fossil record nevertheless provides useful data by refuting putative synapomorphies and by revealing nonhomology among living taxa, by suggesting sequential acquisitions of characters, and by providing supplemental biogeographic data (Patterson, 1981a). In these regards, fossils perform like newly discovered Recent taxa, but the paleontological data are potentially more dynamic in adding the element of geological time (hence giving minimum dates for taxic divergence and for biogeographic and other evolutionary events). Furthermore, the chances of discovering phylogenetically intermediate taxa (whether they are called “sister groups,” “ancestors,” “stem taxa,” “missing links,” or whatever) are inherently greater in fossil biotas than in Recent ones (vide the taxic paucity of “living fossils,” such as monotremes, coelacanths, cladistians [polypterids], agnathans, etc., versus the relative abundance of primitive Mesozoic mammals, fossil sarcopterygians, “palaeoniscoids,” and Paleozoic agnathans).
Limited range spatial load balancing in non-convex environments using sampling-based motion planners

This paper analyzes the limited range, spatial load balancing problem for agents deployed in non-convex environments and subject to differential constraints which restricts how the agents can move. First, the (unlimited range) spatial load balancing problem is introduced and the minimization problem with area constraints is defined. Then, to extend the problem for limited ranges, two cost functions and a sub-partition are defined. The problems are then analyzed and the results prove the existence of a partition that satisfies the area constraints. The non-convex environment makes the problem difficult to solve in continuous-space. Therefore, a probabilistic roadmap is used to approximate agents’ cells via a graph. A distributed algorithm is proven to converge to an approximate solution. Finally, the convergence of the algorithm is shown in simulation.
Workplace Deviance as a Possible “Maladaptive Coping” Behavior Displayed in Association with Workplace Stressors

The Threat Appraisal and Coping Theory suggests that in response to environmental stressors, individuals sometimes display “maladaptive coping” behaviors that may vent frustration immediately but w...
Next-generation Sequence-analysis Toolkit (NeST): A standardized bioinformatics framework for analyzing Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in next-generation sequencing data

Rapid advancements in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have led to the development of numerous bioinformatics tools and pipelines. As these tools vary in their output function and complexity and some are not well-standardized, it is harder to choose a suitable pipeline to identify variants in NGS data. Here, we present NeST (NGS-analysis Toolkit), a modular consensus-based variant calling framework. NeST uses a combination of variant callers to overcome potential biases of an individual method used alone. NeST consists of four modules, that integrate open-source bioinformatics tools, a custom Variant Calling Format (VCF) parser and a summarization utility, that generate high-quality consensus variant calls. NeST was validated using targeted-amplicon deep sequencing data from 245 Plasmodium falciparum isolates to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms conferring drug resistance. The results were verified using Sanger sequencing data for the same dataset in a supporting publication.NeST offers a user-friendly pipeline for variant calling with standardized outputs and minimal computational demands for easy deployment for use with various organisms and applications.
Social Construction of User Beliefs of Collaborative Technology: A Multi-Method Approach

In this multi-method study, we combine a longitudinal field study and agent-based modeling to examine the social construction process of user beliefs of collaborative technology over time. We argue that the primary methods in the technology acceptance literature—variance-based analysis and interpretive case study—are limited in understanding the reciprocal social influence process inherent to user beliefs of collaborative technology. Drawing on Bijker’s (1995) social construction of technology theory and Salancik and Pfeffer’s (1978) social information processing theory, research questions regarding the social construction of user beliefs are developed. We describe the longitudinal field study and agent-based modeling employed for answering the research questions. The future steps of this research-in-progress are outlined. We discuss the implications of this study at the end.
What You See Is What You Get: on Visualizing Music.

Though music is fundamentally an aural phenomenon, we often communicate about music through visual means. The paper examines a number of visualization techniques developed for music, focusing especially on those developed for music analysis by specialists in the field, but also looking at some less successful approaches. It is hoped that, by presenting them in this way, those in the MIR community will develop a greater awareness of the kinds of musical problems music scholars are concerned with, and might lend a hand toward addressing them
Rna Synthesis in Embryonic Cerebellar Explants Cultured with Estradiol

Studies from this laboratory and associate laboratories have shown that steroid hormones play a regulatory role in CNS maturation (Timiras et al. 1968, Vernadakis and Woodbury 1971a, b; Vernadakis 1971a, b).
Pregnancy rates after operative endoscopic treatment of total (neosalpingostomy) or near total (salpingostomy) distal tubal occlusion

Objective To determine the efficacy of the endoscopic treatment of complete distal tubal occlusion or moderate to severe tubal phimosis and to analyze outcome using contemporary statistical methodologies. Design Prospective cohort analysis. Setting Tertiary-care institution. Patients One hundred thirteen consecutive patients undergoing a neosalpingostomy or salpingostomy. Interventions KTP/532 laser (Laserscope, Santa Clara, CA) laparoscopy. Additional infertility factors were treated postoperatively. Main Outcome Measures Crude pregnancy rate (PR), monthly fecundity rate, monthly probability of pregnancy, cure rate, and cumulative PRs. Outcome was compared on the basis of the surgical procedure performed. The impact of endometriosis as well as other fertility factors was analyzed. Results Twenty-three patients conceived yielding a crude PR of 20.4%, a monthly fecundity rate of 2.6%, a monthly probability of pregnancy of 6.4%, and a cure rate of 52.4%. There were six ectopic pregnancies (5.3%). A significant difference was found among the cumulative pregnancy curves. The cumulative pregnancy curve for unilateral salpingostomy differed significantly from that of unilateral neosalpingostomy. Patients with endometriosis and no other infertility factors had a significantly better cumulative pregnancy curve compared with patients without endometriosis or other factors as well as compared with patients with no endometriosis but with other infertility factors. Patients undergoing bilateral neosalpingostomy had a cure rate of 9.0% whereas patients undergoing bilateral salpingostomy had a cure rate of 34.2%. Conclusions Operative endoscopy yields PRs that are comparable to those reported in the literature for laparotomy. The presence of complete bilateral distal tubal occlusion has a negative impact on outcome.
Modeling Approach and Extensions

Previous chapters have detailed the general TCAT approach, the steps needed to build TCAT models, and the development of three specific classes of models. While considerable ground has been covered, much more remains to be accomplished in extending the models presented and in going on to other cases and problem types. The purpose of this concluding chapter is to point out a few of the many opportunities that exist for evaluation and extension of TCAT models.
The First Margaret Mead Memorial Lecture

I’m proud to be the first Margaret Mead lecturer. I was a friend of Margaret’s and I was pediatrician for Catherine, her daughter. I had great admiration for her. She was extraordinarily perceptive and intuitive in her study of societies. She was courageous in popularizing anthropology. I don’t know if you are aware of the beating she took from some of the academic anthropologists of her time, who, like some academicians in other fields, looked down on anyone who tried to educate the public and popularize the subject. She was indefatigable, always willing to take on more responsibilities, always ready to fight for a good cause.
Enabling Concurrent IoT Transmissions in Distributed C-RAN

As rapid expansion of the low-cost next billion devices, wireless sensor networks (WSN) undertake much denser low-end internet of things (IoT) nodes nowadays. In the meantime, the future next 5 generation (5G) radio base stations (BS) are granted more capabilities. Distributed cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is becoming available for the future massive WSN. However, real-world distributed C-RAN is less explored for low-end IoT based WSN due to its difficulties in implementation. In this paper, we built a distributed C-RAN which has tens of distributed radio frontends using USRP N210s in a 20 × 20 × 3 m3 area. By exploiting the inherent hardware properties of low-end IoT devices and the spatial diversity of distributed C-RAN system, we show the distributed C-RAN can potentially decode collided signals from low-end IoT devices with all signal processing been done on the cloud.
The toxin from a ParDE toxin‐antitoxin system found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa offers protection to cells challenged with anti‐gyrase antibiotics

Toxin-antitoxin systems are mediators of diverse activities in bacterial physiology. For the ParE-type toxins, their reported role of gyrase inhibition utilized during plasmid-segregation killing indicates they are toxic. However, their location throughout chromosomes leads to questions about function, including potential non-toxic outcomes. The current study has characterized a ParDE system from the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa). We identified a protective function for this ParE toxin, PaParE, against effects of quinolone and other antibiotics. However, higher concentrations of PaParE are themselves toxic to cells, indicating the phenotypic outcome can vary based on its concentration. Our assays confirmed PaParE inhibition of gyrase-mediated supercoiling of DNA with an IC50 value in the low micromolar range, a species-specificity that resulted in more efficacious inhibition of Escherichia coli derived gyrase versus Pa gyrase, and overexpression in the absence of antitoxin yielded an expected filamentous morphology with multi-foci nucleic acid material. Additional data revealed that the PaParE toxin is monomeric and interacts with dimeric PaParD antitoxin with a KD in the lower picomolar range, yielding a heterotetramer. This work provides novel insights into chromosome-encoded ParE function, whereby its expression can impart partial protection to cultures from selected antibiotics.
Precursors of Gate-Oxide Degradation in Silicon Carbide MOSFETs

Gate-oxide degradation is more critical in Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs than in Silicon (Si) MOSFETs. This is because of the smaller gate-oxide thickness and the higher electric field that develops across this thinner gate oxide in SiC MOSFETs. While multiple precursors (indicators) have been identified for monitoring the gate-oxide degradation process in Si MOSFETs, very few have been identified for their SiC counterparts. The purpose of this digest is to demonstrate that the gate-oxide degradation precursors used in Si MOSFETs: a) gate plateau voltage and b) gate plateau time, can also be used as precursors for SiC MOSFETS. Moreover, the precursors are found to exhibit a simultaneous increasing trend (during the stress time) leading to an increase in on-state loss, switching loss and switching time of the SiC MOSFET. The existing studies of gate-oxide degradation mechanisms in SiC MOSFETs, and their effects on threshold voltage and mobility were extended to correlate a variation of precursors using analytical expressions. The increasing trends of precursors were experimentally confirmed by inducing gate-oxide degradation in a commercial SiC MOSFET.
Home Bias in Corporate Investments: Evidence from U.S. Domestic M&A

In this paper, we first document that firms exhibit a strong "home bias" in their M&A deals and identify some of the factors that drive this bias. We examine the spatial distribution of a sample of about 15,000 U.S. domestic M&A deals announced by public acquirers during 1990-2003. The key findings of the paper are summarized as follows: First, nearly a quarter (half) of sample targets are located within a 100 (900) kilometer radius from acquirers' locations, with the frequency of deals declining sharply as the distance between targets and acquirers increases. Firms exhibit behavior that is strikingly similar to the well-documented "home bias" exhibited by portfolio investors. Second, when the state, rather than the geographical distance, is used as an observation unit, we again observe a strong home bias - firms tend to acquire a disproportionate number of targets in the home states. For example, while targets domiciled in Wisconsin account for 1.39% of the total number of sample targets, they account for 32.63% of the total acquisitions by Wisconsin firms. After the home state, the most popular target states for the Wisconsin acquirers are Illinois and Minnesota, displaying a "near-home" as well as home bias. Third, logistic regression analyses show that the propensity to acquire in-state targets is positively related to the size of the domicile state of the acquiring firm, reflecting the opportunities at home, and negatively related to the severity of anti-takeover statutes endorsed by the home state of the acquirer. Thus, state-level laws matter in determining where M&A takes place. Mitigating the home-state bias in M&A, anti-takeover statutes have an unexpected effect of integrating the market for corporate control. Further, good macroeconomic conditions like the level of IPO activity and the interest rate both are found to negatively affect the propensity to acquire in-state targets, possibly by affecting the acquirer's risk attitude and the cost of funding. Fourth, the propensity to acquire in-state is negatively (positively) related to the acquirer firm size and book-to-market ratio (debt ratio). Banks, oil and petroleum companies show a higher propensity for in-state M&A, while telecom and construction companies make more out-of-state acquisitions. Ceteris paribus, public targets are more likely to be acquired by home-state firms than private targets, possibly due to the political resistance to out-of-state takeover of public firms that tend to be more visible and vital to the state economy. The results are similar when we alternatively use multinomial logistic regression analyses based on geographical distance.
Assessing the value of a censored surrogate outcome

Assessing the potential of surrogate markers and surrogate outcomes for replacing a long term outcome is an active area of research. The interest in this topic is partly motivated by increasing pressure from stakeholders to shorten the time required to evaluate the safety and/or efficacy of a treatment or intervention such that treatments deemed safe and effective can be made available to those in need more quickly. Most existing methods in surrogacy evaluation either require strict model assumptions or that primary outcome and surrogate outcome information is available for all study participants. In this paper, we focus on a setting where the primary outcome is subject to censoring and the aim is to quantify the surrogacy of an intermediate outcome, which is also subject to censoring. We define the surrogacy as the proportion of treatment effect on the primary outcome that is explained by the intermediate surrogate outcome information and propose two robust methods to estimate this quantity. We propose both a nonparametric approach that uses a kernel smoothed Nelson-Aalen estimator of conditional survival, and a semiparametric method that derives conditional survival estimates from a landmark Cox proportional hazards model. Simulation studies demonstrate that both approaches perform well in finite samples. Our methodological development is motivated by our interest in investigating the use of a composite cardiovascular endpoint as a surrogate outcome in a randomized study of the effectiveness of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on survival. We apply the proposed methods to quantify the surrogacy of this potential surrogate outcome for the primary outcome, time to death.
Swimming freely near the ground leads to flow-mediated equilibrium altitudes

Experiments and computations are presented for a foil pitching about its leading edge near a planar, solid boundary. The foil is examined when it is constrained in space and when it is unconstrained or freely swimming in the cross-stream direction. It was found that the foil has stable equilibrium altitudes: the time-averaged lift is zero at certain altitudes and acts to return the foil to these equilibria. These stable equilibrium altitudes exist for both constrained and freely swimming foils and are independent of the initial conditions of the foil. In all cases, the equilibrium altitudes move farther from the ground when the Strouhal number is increased or the reduced frequency is decreased. Potential flow simulations predict the equilibrium altitudes to within 3 %–11 %, indicating that the equilibrium altitudes are primarily due to inviscid mechanisms. In fact, it is determined that stable equilibrium altitudes arise from an interplay among three time-averaged forces: a negative jet deflection circulatory force, a positive quasistatic circulatory force and a negative added mass force. At equilibrium, the foil exhibits a deflected wake and experiences a thrust enhancement of 4 %–17 % with no penalty in efficiency as compared to a pitching foil far from the ground. These newfound lateral stability characteristics suggest that unsteady ground effect may play a role in the control strategies of near-boundary fish and fish-inspired robots.
Use of Pseudotypes of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus to Study Cellular Resistance to Murine Rna Tumor Viruses

Pseudotypes of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) genomes coated by the surface envelope from an N-tropic or a B-tropic tumor virus grow equally well in cells homozygous for either the Fv-1 n or Fv-1 p alleles. Therefore, the product of the Fv-1 locus, which restricts growth of murine RNA tumor viruses, must act on an intracellular aspect of tumor virus replication, a step following attachment and penetration.
A variational approach to /spl Lscr//sub /spl infin//-gain analysis of nonlinear systems

The /spl Lscr//sub /spl infin//-gain of nonlinear systems is characterized by means of the value function of an associated variational problem. The value function is shown to be the unique continuous viscosity solution of the variational inequality in the finite horizon case, and the minimal lower semicontinuous solution in the infinite horizon case. A condition that guarantees local boundedness of the infinite horizon value function is presented. Approximation schemes for the variational inequalities are developed in the framework of discrete dynamic programming. The control theoretic origin of these inequalities is exploited to develop algorithms for computing upper and lower bounds for their solutions. The framework developed enables computation of the /spl Lscr//sub /spl infin//-induced norm over bounded sets of signals. The only regularity required for the underlying dynamics is continuity, allowing the analysis of a large class of systems including saturated feedback loops.
Test dense subgraphs in sparse uniform hypergraph

In network data analysis, one of the fundamental data mining tasks is to find dense subgraphs, which has wide applications in biology, finance, graph compression and so on. In practice, given netwo...
Cornell BEST: Keys to successful institutionalization of career and professional development programming

Abstract Cornell University's BEST award took advantage of its rural environment, rich collaborative history, and prior successful models on which to build a new career and professional development program for Ph.D.s. By addressing employer skill gaps through flexible experiential learning opportunities and a method to ascertain participant needs, we garnered faculty buy-in by alleviating their pain points. Here we share specific examples and some lessons learned, such as to pivot early, to reiterate based on participant feedback, and to leverage on campus and external collaborations. By setting out with the intent to institutionalize the program, and using flexible funding to address changing needs, we are able to address society's need for Ph.D.s in many sectors of employment. This experience exemplifies a roadmap for institutionalizing activities to help prepare Ph.D.s for the many varied careers in and outside academia.
Abstract P1-17-16: Deconstructing breast cancer reconstruction

Background: The American Cancer Society currently invests more in breast cancer research than any other cancer type. However surgical treatments for breast cancer have been studied as far back as 3,000 BCE. Until the mid 19th century, the surgical treatment of breast cancer was limited either by sociocultural and religious views or technology. The advent of anesthesia and sterile practice in the late 1800s and early 1900s paved the way for innovation and precision. Synopsis: Despite being completely against breast reconstruction, Dr. William Halsted completely reconstructed breast cancer surgery. At the turn of the 20th century, Halsted’s new mastectomy procedure demonstrated to the world how technological advancements showed promise for a cure for breast cancer. The “Halsted Radical Mastectomy” recommended the removal of all diseased tissue including the pectoralis major muscle. Halsted later recommended further dissection of rectus abdominis, serratus anterior, subscapularis, latissimus dorsi and the teres major muscle without any breast reconstruction. With a local recurrence rate of 7% - an unheard of figure among the surgeons of the time- the “Halsted Radical Mastectomy” dominated the field for almost a century. With Halsted’s domination of technique came domination of thought. Halsted’s strong opinion against breast reconstruction influenced the American standard of care for breast cancer surgery for decades to follow. His treatment plan of mastectomy without reconstruction was the standard, so much so that other procedures for reconstruction, such as the latissimus dorsi pedicle flap (the first myocutaneous flap for breast reconstruction) were forgotten about for almost 70 years. Despite Halsted’s tight grasp on surgical thought, later 20th century innovations in breast reconstruction showed aesthetic results. Gradually, immediate breast reconstruction began to be advocated for all patients who were eligible. Breast cancer surgery and treatments continued to evolve and improve to ultimately lead to personalized medicine plans which have greatly improved patient outcomes. The shift in American surgical culture around breast reconstruction after mastectomies provide a lesson on how the power of cultural context shapes modern medical treatments. Significance: The medical recognition and treatment of breast cancer long outdated the modern day anesthetized, sterile, evidence-based procedures. Today, most women with early stage breast cancer will have some type of surgery. Therefore, it is important to appreciate the advancements and improvements in technology that have led us to the personalized medicine plans that have greatly improved outcomes. Citation Format: Cecelia Allison, David Fear. Deconstructing breast cancer reconstruction [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-17-16.
Effect of Haptic Assistance Strategy on Mental Engagement in Fine Motor Tasks

This study investigates the effect of haptic control strategies on a subject’s mental engagement during a fine motor handwriting rehabilitation task. The considered control strategies include an er...
A Career Centre's Community Connection

The ever changing nature of today's workplace means that career planning and management does not end when individuals complete their formal education. People outside formal school settings where gu...
First Year’s Work Experiences of Foreign Educated Nurses Coming to Norway From Other European Countries:

IntroductionNurses educated in the European Union and European Economic Area are automatically given professional authorization to work in all member states, facilitating workforce mobility between...
Patterns and associations of smoking and electronic cigarette use among survivors of tobacco related and non-tobacco related cancers: A nationally representative cross-sectional analysis.

Abstract Background Tobacco-use among cancer survivors leads to preventable morbidity, mortality, and increased healthcare costs. We sought to explore the prevalence of smoking and e-cigarette use among survivors of tobacco and non-tobacco related cancers. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the 2015–2018 National Health Interview Survey. Our primary outcome was the prevalence of current cigarette smoking or e-cigarette use among adults with self-reported history of tobacco related or non-tobacco related cancer. Logistic regression analysis was to assess the association of reported cancer type with cigarette smoking or e-cigarette use. Secondary outcomes included yearly trends and dual use. Results A total of 12,984 respondents reported a history of cancer, representing a weighted estimate of 5,060,059 individuals with a history of tobacco-related malignancy and 17,583,788 with a history of a tobacco and non-tobacco related cancer, respectively. Survivors of tobacco-related cancers had a significantly higher prevalence of current cigarette use (18.2 % vs 9.7 %, P Conclusions Survivors of tobacco-related cancers have a higher prevalence of current cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use compared to survivors of non-tobacco related cancers. There was a sequential increase in the prevalence of cigarette use during each subsequent year from the time of a new cancer diagnosis, underscoring the need for long term tobacco cessation support among newly diagnosed adults with cancer.
Development of a Microplate Platform for High-Throughput Sample Preparation Based on Microwave Metasurfaces

Sample preparation is one of the most time-consuming steps in diagnostic assays, particularly those involving biological samples. In this paper we report the results of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations and thermographic imaging experiments carried out with the intent of designing a microplate for rapid, high-throughput sample preparation to aid diagnostic assays. This work is based on devices known as microwave lysing triangles (MLTs) that have been proven capable of rapid sample preparation when irradiated in a standard microwave cavity. FDTD software was used to model a microplate platform as a polystyrene substrate with an array of various passive scattering elements (PSEs) of different sizes, shapes, and interelement spacings in a 2.45 GHz field identical to that of a common microwave oven. Based on the FDTD modeling, several PSE arrays were fabricated by cutting PSEs out of aluminum foil and adhering them to the bottom of regular polystyrene microplates to make prototypes. Each prototype microplate was then irradiated in a microwave cavity for a range of different times, powers, and source angles and the heating effects were observed via a forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera. Based on the results, two prototype microplate platforms have been shown to demonstrate electromagnetic and thermal enhancements similar to those seen with MLTs as well as tunable thermal responses to radio frequency (RF) irradiation.
The Oath Keepers

Oath Keepers (OK) is a prominent organization within the militia/patriot movement in the United States. The group rejects the legitimacy of the Biden administration and played a major role in the s...
Rapidly Reconfigurable Inextensible Inflatables

Inextensible material inflatables, such as those made from heat-sealable fabric or Mylar, are lightweight, robust, and easily packed into compact spaces and self-deployed. They are commonly made by heat-pressing two sheets together to seal them along a desired curvilinear path. Upon inflation, the sheets wrinkle about the constraints imposed by the seals, giving rise to fascinating and functional shapes. In previous literature, once an inflatable has been manufactured, it can only attain a single inflated shape. Changing task demands of the real world motivate adaptive inflatables that are not fixed to a single deformation. Herein we present a method for creating inflatables that rapidly switch between multiple deformation modes. By patterning conductive fabric on the surface, we bestow the ability to locally form or remove seals during real-time operation. Namely, pulling a vacuum to supply compression force and locally Joule heating regions of the conductive fabric mimics the action of a heat press. Furthermore, we present a finite element model to aid in the analysis and inverse design of inextensible inflatables. Together, the reconfigurable inflatables and inverse model unlock a vast array of programmed inflated shapes with a single enclosed volume.