cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new method for continuous, long-term polysomnographic recording of neonatal rats.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Many findings suggest that in altricial mammals neonatal REM sleep has developmental functions. However, investigations of these developmental functions has been hampered by technical limitations of the conventional polysomnographic (PSG) recording technique. One limitation is that continuous (24 hour/day), long-term (weeks) PSG recordings have not been achieved. A second limitation is that the metal screw electrodes and head plugs cemented to the skull cannot be removed to allow the neonate to mature into adulthood. As a result of these limitations, the relationship between neonatal sleep/wake variables and adult variables has not been studied. Also the effects of polysomnographically controlled neonatal REM sleep deprivation on adult variables have not been studied. The present work describes a new technique called the soft head plug (SH) method for continuous, long-term PSG recording. DESIGN: In the new technique, electrodes are thin, strong, Teflon wires that are led by a suturing needle through the soft skull to the epidural space, then with a U-turn exited from the skull and tied to the entry wire. Thus, in contrast to the conventional technique, the soft head plug technique does not use screws as electrodes and does not cement a hard, relatively large electrode plug to the skull, removal of which is fatal or very traumatic. The SH recording electrodes can be removed without damage to neonates. SETTING: NA. PATIENTS: NA. INTERVENTIONS: NA. RESULTS: In the present study sleep/wake results with the soft head plug technique were reliable (replicated) and, compared with results of the conventional method, valid. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the soft head plug technique can be used to study relationships between neonatal sleep/wake variables and adult variables.
DynaMOS: dynamic schedule migration for heterogeneous cores

InOrder (InO) cores achieve limited performance because their inability to dynamically reorder instructions prevents them from exploiting Instruction-Level-Parallelism. Conversely, Out-of-Order (OoO) cores achieve high performance by aggressively speculating past stalled instructions and creating highly optimized issue schedules. It has been observed that these issue schedules tend to repeat for sequences of instructions with predictable control and data-flow. An equally provisioned InO core can potentially achieve OoO's performance at a fraction of the energy cost if provided with an OoO schedule. In the context of a fine-grained heterogeneous multicore system composed of a big (OoO) core and a little (InO) core, we could offload recurring issue schedules from the big to the little core, to achieve energy-efficiency while maintaining performance.To this end, we introduce the DynaMOS architecture. Recurring issue schedules may contain instructions that speculate across branches, utilize renamed registers to eliminate false dependencies, and reorder memory operations. DynaMOS provisions little with an OinO mode to replay a speculative schedule while ensuring program correctness. Any divergence from the recorded instruction sequence causes execution to restart in program order from a previously checkpointed state. On a system capable of switching between big and little cores rapidly with low overheads, DynaMOS schedules 38% of execution on the little on average, increasing utilization of the energy-efficient core by 2.9X over prior work. This amounts to energy savings of 32% over execution on only big core, with an allowable 5% performance loss.
The questions of quota from the view of EU

European Union does not fully respect free trade principles in its foreign trade policy. As an alternative approach the idea of common market has been chosen. The common market is under unified regulation and joint protection and import rules are followed. One of the non-tariff barriers to trade used in the EU is a quantitative restriction of supply. This means regulation of domestic production and internal market protection against (cheaper) imports.
Nonplanar textures of /sup 3/He-A in a slab

The Ginzburg-Landau theory is used to study the texture of superfluid /sup 3/He-A in a slab subject to a uniform perpendicular magnetic field and a weak oscillatory hydrodynamic flow. For steady or low-frequency motion, l undergoes synchronous rotation about H; at high frequency, the orbital viscosity suppresses such motion, producing a planar texture. The integrated mass current provides an operational definition of the mean superfluid density; improved calculations agree somewhat better with available experimental data.
Biogeographic Patterns Between Bacterial Phyllosphere Communities of the Southern Magnolia ( Magnolia grandiflora ) in a Small Forest

The phyllosphere presents a unique system of discrete and easily replicable surfaces colonized primarily by bacteria. However, the biogeography of bacteria in the phyllosphere is little understood, especially at small to intermediate scales. Bacterial communities on the leaves of 91 southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) trees 1-452 m apart in a small forest plot were analyzed and fragments of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequenced using the Illumina platform. Assemblages were dominated by members of the Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteria. Patterns in community composition were measured by both relative abundance (theta) and presence-absence (Jaccard) dissimilarity metrics. Distance-based Moran's eigenvector map analyses of the distance-decay relationship found a significant, positive relationship between each dissimilarity metric and significant eigenfunctions derived from geographic distance between trees, indicating trees that were closer together had more similar bacterial phyllosphere communities. Indirect gradient analyses revealed that several environmental parameters (canopy cover, tree elevation, and the slope and aspect of the ground beneath trees) were significantly related to multivariate ordination scores based on relative bacterial sequence abundances; however, these relationships were not significant when looking at the incidence of bacterial taxa. This suggests that bacterial growth and abundance in the phyllosphere is shaped by different assembly mechanisms than bacterial presence or absence. More broadly, this study demonstrates that the distance-decay relationship applies to phyllosphere communities at local scales, and that environmental parameters as well as neutral forces may both influence spatial patterns in the phyllosphere.
Facilitatory neural dynamics for predictive extrapolation

Neural conduction delay is a serious issue for organisms that need to act in real time. Perceptual phenomena such as the flash-lag effect (FLE, where the position of a moving object is perceived to be ahead of a brief flash when they are actually colocalized) suggest that the nervous system may perform extrapolation to compensate for delay. However, the precise neural mechanism for extrapolation has not been fully investigated. The main hypothesis of this dissertation is that facilitating synapses, with their dynamic sensitivity to the rate of change in the input, can serve as a neural basis for extrapolation. To test this hypothesis, computational and biologically inspired models are proposed in this dissertation. (1) The facilitatory activation model (FAM) was derived and tested in the motion FLE domain, showing that FAM with smoothing can account for human data. (2) FAM was given a neurophysiological ground by incorporating a spike-based model of facilitating synapses. The spike-based FAM was tested in the luminance FLE domain, successfully explaining extrapolation in both increasing and decreasing luminance conditions. Also, inhibitory backward masking was suggested as a potential cellular mechanism accounting for the smoothing effect. (3) The spike-based FAM was extended by combining it with spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), which allows facilitation to go across multiple neurons. Through STDP, facilitation can selectively propagate to a specific direction, which enables the multi-neuron FAM to express behavior consistent with orientation FLE. (4) FAM was applied to a modified 2D pole-balancing problem to test whether the biologically inspired delay compensation model can be utilized in engineering domains. Experimental results suggest that facilitating activity greatly enhances real time control performance under various forms of input delay as well as under increasing delay and input blank-out conditions. The main contribution of this dissertation is that it shows an intimate link between the organism-level problem of delay compensation, perceptual phenomenon of FLE, computational function of extrapolation, and neurophysiological mechanisms of facilitating synapses (and STDP). The results are expected to shed new light on real-time and predictive processing in the brain, and help understand specific neural processes such as facilitating synapses.
An Interview with Leopoldo Zea

EW scholars have achieved such distinction in the field of Latin American intellectual history as has Leopoldo Zea. For more than forty years he has devoted his professional career to research, teaching, and the promotion of the study of Latin America. Leopoldo Zea's studies have constantly displayed originality, academic rigor, a personal involvement, commitment to his subject matter, creativity, and diversity in the themes addressed. His classic works on positivism in Mexico, El positivismno en Mexico and Apogeo y decadencia dcel positivisnmo en Mexico, represented the first major historiographical view of the intellectual history of Mexico. The studies remain standard interpretations of the relationships among ideology, society, and politics in the nineteenth century. Professor Zea has also been instrumental in the development of the intellectual current of "Mexico y lo mexicano," which probes and seeks to define the essence of the Mexican and of Mexico. Zea broke with tradition when he extended his research inquiry to comparative analysis of Latin America, from which came his provocative interpretations of the culture. His most recent and perhaps most ambitious work focuses upon the relationships of Latin America with western industrialized nations and with the Third World. Indicative of the merit and significance of Professor Zea's publications is the fact that his books and articles have been translated and published in numerous countries, where they have evoked much commentary, mostly of a positive nature. Professor Zea has had a remarkably varied career. He has held appointments at the Colegio de Mexico and from 1944 to the present, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where his graduate seminar has attracted students from several Latin American and European coun
Low Thermal Budget Processing Of Organic Dielectrics

Low dielectric constant organic materials are ideal for use as interconnect dielectrics forintegrated circuits. As compared to silicon dioxide, organic dielectrics with K <3.84 reducepower dissipation, crosstilk and RC delays in interconnects. Curing is essential afterdeposition of these materials to initiate polymerization reactions and form films of desirableelectrical properties. For high performance and reliability, low thermal budget processing isa necessity. Rapid isothermal processing (RIP) based on the use of dual spectral sources isa potential technique to lower the thermal budget. In this paper, we demonstrate the role ofphotoeffects in the curing of polyimide films (K∼2.6) using a rapid isothermal processor witha dual spectral source (Tungsten Halogen and vacuum ultra violet (VUV) lamps) as a sourceof optical and thermal energy. Lamp configurations that allowed a greater availability of ultraviolet and vacuum ultra violet photons on the film to initiate physical and chemical processesallowed a lower curing temperature to achieve the same level of immidization. Furthermore, these samples also gave the lowest leakage current and film stress. Therefore, the rapidheating and cooling features of rapid isothermal processing in conjunction with lowerprocessing temperature through the use of high energy photons to enhance surface reactionsgive superior film properties
Fertilization in Nicotiana tabacum : Cytoskeletal modifications in the embryo sac during synergid degeneration

The cytoskeletal organization of the embryo sac of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) was examined at maturity and during synergid degeneration, pollen-tube delivery and gamete transfer using rapid-frozen, freeze-substituted and chemically fixed material in combination with immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy. Before fertilization, the synergid is a highly polarized cell with dense longitudinally aligned arrays of microtubules adjacent to the filiform apparatus at the micropylar end of the cell associated with major organelles. The cytoskeleton of the central cell is less polarized, with dense cortical microtubules in the micropylar and chalazal regions and looser, longitudinally oriented cortical microtubules in the lateral region. In the synergid and central cell, F-actin is frequently found at the surface of the organelles and co-localizes with either single microtubules or microtubule bundles. Egg cell microtubules are frequently cortical, randomly oriented and more abundant at the chalazal end of the cell; actin filaments are associated with microtubules and the cortex of the egg cell. At 48 h after pollination and before the pollen tube arrives, the onset of degeneration is evident in one of the two synergids: the electron density of cytoplasmic organelles and the ground cytoplasm increases and the nucleus becomes distorted. Although synergids otherwise remain intact, the vacuole collapses and organelles degenerate rapidly after pollen-tube entry. Abundant electron-dense material extends from the degenerated synergid into intercellular spaces at the chalazal end of the synergid and between the synergids, egg and central cell. Rhodamine-phalloidin and anti-actin immunogold labeling reveal that electron-dense aggregates in this region contain abundant actin forming two distinct bands termed “coronas”. This actin is part of a mechanism in the egg apparatus which appears to precisely position and facilitate the access of male gametes to the egg and central cell for fusion.
Determination of the glyceride structure of fats: Distribution of individual saturated and unsaturated acids

A method has been devised which gives the distribution of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. It involves fractionation of the triglycerides into groups on the basis of total unsaturation by employing chromatography on a silicic acid-silver nitrate column. The glyceride composition of each fraction is then determined by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) of the oxidized glycerides. Using this method, the glyceride composition of lard and cocoa butter was determined to give quantitative amt of 24 and 18 glycerides, respectively. Duplicate analyses agreed to within ±0.5%. The fatty acid composition calculated from the glyceride composition agreed to within ±1.5% with that of the original fat. This approach provides a new basis for the evaluation of the glyceride tyes in natural fats and for the first time permits the quantitative determination of all the chemically different glycerides of myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids in a fat.
Analysis to drug resistance of 69 cases Dysente ricbacilli

Objective To analysis the drug resistance of Dysenteric bacilli so as to guide the physicians to choose effective antibiotics.Methods From January 2001 to December 2011 in our hospital,Dysenteric bacilli were isolated from the stools of 69 patients,the drug resistance of Dysenteric bacilli were analyzed.Results Dysenteric bacilli were highly resistant to Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole,Chloramphenicol,Ampicillin,Piperacillin,Norfloxacin,Ciprofloxacin.Conclusion It is necessary to use antibacterial efficient and ensure enough course of treatment to reduce the resistance.
TU-H-207B-02: Funding (NCI) for Radiomics

Research and development in radiomics for precision medicine have been advancing at a rapid pace, and can be extended to eventually be mature enough for integration into clinical practice. To facilitate advances in this field, investigators need updated information on research funding, regulatory matters, and clinical translation efforts. In this special radiomics symposium, the attendee will learn of various novel funding mechanisms – both past and present – that have been used to support a number of quantitative imaging and radiomics research and resource infrastructures. In addition, a regulatory presentation will be given to provide the attendee with an understanding of when a radiomics tool might require FDA clearance or approval, and with what supporting performance data. We will end with insights from a clinical radiologist who is greatly involved in quantitative imaging in order to enable the attendee to appreciate the needs and subtleties involved in moving radiomics into the clinical workflow. J. Boone, This is a memorial and not a funded event.
Evaluating the Accessibility of Online University Education

The rights of disabled students are protected law in nearly every country. However, the lack of awareness of the laws and the need to make web pages accessible has created barriers to fully implementing the intent of these laws. These laws typically go beyond web pages to include all instructional devices including e-readers, social networking sites, and smart phone apps. This paper takes a look at the requirements of accessibility laws, the formation of the accessibility initiative, and the resulting WCAG 2.0 standard. Accessibility testing tools for websites and web content are discussed and then used to measure the level of compliance for a number of universities. It was found that almost all university sites checked had multiple accessibility errors. Finally, a number of recommendations are made based on the compliance issues found and on the terms of several U.S. Department of Justice consent decrees.
NeuroMonitor ambulatory EEG device: Comparative analysis and its application for cognitive load assessment

We have previously presented a wireless ambulatory EEG device (NeuroMonitor) to non-invasively monitor prefrontal cortex scalp EEG activity in real-life settings. This paper discusses analysis and application of data acquired using this device. We assess the device data against a commercially available, clinical grade Neuroscan SynAmps RT EEG system. For the comparison, temporal statistical measures and Power Spectral Density (PSD) are computed for the simultaneous recordings from both devices from (nearly) identical electrode locations. Although the analog signal processing, sampling, and data recording specifications are slightly different for these devices (e.g., filter specifications, ADC - NeuroMonitor: 16 bit and Neuroscan: 24 bit, electrodes - NeuroMonitor: GS26 Pre-gelled Disposable, Neuroscan: Ag/AgCl reusable EEG disc electrodes), the temporal signals and the PSD of two devices had sufficient correlation. The paper also describes pilot data collection for a test protocol to determine cognitive load using the NeuroMonitor device. For analyzing attention levels for 5 different tasks, EEG rhythms (Alpha, Beta and Theta) are extracted and cognitive load index (CLI) is computed. Results show variations in the PSD of these rhythms with respect to corresponding expected cognitive loads in attention-related and relaxed tasks. This study validates the NeuroMonitor ambulatory EEG device data and shows a use-case for real-life cognitive load studies.
Subsidies on Investments in the EU Member States

The article compares the investment subsidies in agriculture within the EU member states throughout the period of 2004 – 2013 based on the FADN database. Low investment level affects the cost and efficiency of agricultural production and thus the overall competitiveness of agricultural production. European programs providing support for the investments for agriculture aim at improving agricultural competitiveness. Development of subsidies on investment, property and Farm Net Income adjusted to economic size of enterprise by correlation analysis is compared in every EU country. Using cluster analysis, the member states were divided into groups according to subsidies on investments, their share in gross investment and the share of gross investments in fixed assets. The relationship between subsidies on investments and gross investment ranges from middle to higher dependency. The amount of subsidies on investments does not significantly affect the amount of current Farm Net Income.
Analytical expressions for transients in seismometer-galvanometer systems

Abstract Laplace transforms are a convenient method of obtaining analytical solutions for the motion of seismographs. The motions resulting from various kinds of forced vibrations are readily found, and their frequency content easily deduced because of their explicit form and without the need for computers. Examples in illustration are shown for the simple oscillator and for the seismometer-galvanometer combination with different periods. The existence of a unique critical condition, and the distorting oscillations resulting from deviations from it, are demonstrated.
Quality metrics currently used in academic radiology departments: results of the QUALMET survey

Objective:We present the results of the 2015 quality metrics (QUALMET) survey, which was designed to assess the commonalities and variability of selected quality and productivity metrics currently employed by a large sample of academic radiology departments representing all regions in the USA.Methods:The survey of key radiology metrics was distributed in March–April of 2015 via personal e-mail to 112 academic radiology departments.Results:There was a 34.8% institutional response rate. We found that most academic departments of radiology commonly utilize metrics of hand hygiene, report turn around time (RTAT), relative value unit (RVU) productivity, patient satisfaction and participation in peer review. RTAT targets were found to vary widely. The implementation of radiology peer review and the variety of ways in which peer review results are used within academic radiology departments, the use of clinical decision support tools and requirements for radiologist participation in Maintenance of Certification a...
Textual voice elements and voice strength in EFL argumentative writing

Abstract This study examined how the quantity and diversity of textual voice elements contribute to holistic voice strength and essay quality. For the quantification of voice elements, this study used an automated processing tool, the Authorial Voice Analyzer (AVA), which was developed based on categories from Hyland’s voice model (i.e., hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions, reader pronouns, and directives). To explore the relationship between textual voice elements and holistic voice strength, as well as between voice elements and essay quality, this study analyzed 219 argumentative essays written by L1 Greek-speaking EFL students. The results suggested positive, but weak to moderate, correlations between textual voice and holistic voice strength; a regression model with three textual voice features explained 26% of the variance in voice strength scores. The results also indicated weak correlations between textual voice and essay quality. Interestingly, the textual voice features contributing to voice strength (boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions) were different from those contributing to essay quality (hedges). Interpreting these findings in relation to the context (timed argumentative writing in an EFL context), this study suggests implications for L2 writing assessment and pedagogy.
THE IMPACT OF BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS ON AGRICULTURE SECTOR REFORM AGENDA: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIAN PUBLIC SECTOR

This study examined the impact of budgetary allocations on public sector reform agenda in Nigeria. In particular, allocations to the agricultural sector were reviewed so as to determine its contribution to the Nigerian economy. Agricultural sector has always been a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product of Nigerian economy. In view of this, Government has always allocated a sizeable portion of its budget to agriculture. Towards this backdrop, this study looked at Nigeria budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector and evaluated its contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The relevant literature to the study was reviewed to identify and fill the existing gap. The data were presented and analyzed using trend analysis to show the increases and decreases in data trend as well as interactions between variables. The findings revealed that the Federal Government budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector do not have a positive and significant impact on Nigeria’s gross domestic product. Conclusion was drawn and it was recommended based on the findings of the study among others that the federal government of Nigeria must ensure that its budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector must translate into a positive relationship between gross domestic product and economic growth.
Metaproteomics approaches and techniques: A review

Extensive studies have been done on metagenomics for various microbial communities. The advancements in metagenomics level led to the need of metaproteomics approaches. Metaproteomics involve the identification, function and expression of various proteins present in microbial community, it also involves the identification and expression analysis of stress related proteins. The concepts of metaproteomics come with advancement in proteomics techniques which includes 2D gel electrophoresis for the identification of proteins and peptides in a particular microbial community. Mass spectrometry which is used to separate the proteins by desorption and ionization using a gas on a liquid medium. MALDI use for protein identification and separation, connected with TOF to give better results. The metaproteomics approaches become more advanced when HPLC and LC were used for peptides and protein with computational tools to sequence the peptide and protein. It is concluded that there is a requirement of research in metaproteomics. Many scientists have done research on these approaches but there is lack of better quality and desirable results.
Compressive spectral anomaly detection

We propose a novel compressive imager for detecting anomalous spectral profiles in a scene. We model the background spectrum as a low-dimensional subspace while assuming the anomalies to form a spatially-sparse set of spectral profiles different from the background. Our core contributions are in the form of a two-stage sensing mechanism. In the first stage, we estimate the subspace for the background spectrum by acquiring spectral measurements at a few randomly-selected pixels. In the second stage, we acquire spatially-multiplexed spectral measurements of the scene. We remove the contributions of the background spectrum from the spatially-multiplexed measurements by projecting onto the complementary subspace of the background spectrum; the resulting measurements are of a sparse matrix that encodes the presence and spectra of anomalies, which can be recovered using a Multiple Measurement Vector formulation. Theoretical analysis and simulations show significant speed up in acquisition time over other anomaly detection techniques. A lab prototype based on a DMD and a visible spectrometer validates our proposed imager.
Understanding Legal Pluralism: Past to Present, Local to global†

The notion of legal pluralism is gaining momentum across a range of law-related fields. Part 1 of this article will portray the rich history of legal pluralism, from the medieval period up to the present. Part II will explain why current theoretical efforts to formulate legal pluralism are plagued by the difficulty of defining “law.” Finally, Part III will articulate an approach to contemporary legal pluralism that avoids the conceptual problems suffered by most current approaches, while framing the salient features of legal pluralism.
Identification of smartphone-image source and manipulation

As smartphones are being widely used in daily lives, the images captured by smartphones become ubiquitous and may be used for legal purposes. Accordingly, the authentication of smartphone images and the identification of post-capture manipulation are of significant interest in digital forensics. In this paper, we propose a method to determine the smartphone camera source of a particular image and operations that may have been performed on that image. We first take images using different smartphones and purposely manipulate the images, including different combinations of double JPEG compression, cropping, and rescaling. Then, we extract the marginal density in low frequency coordinates and neighboring joint density features on intra-block and inter-block as features. Finally, we employ a support vector machine to identify the smartphone source as well as to reveal the operations. Experimental results show that our method is very promising for identifying both smartphone source and manipulations. Our study also indicates that applying unsupervised clustering and supervised classification together (clustering first, followed by classification) leads to improvement in identifying smartphone sources and manipulations and thus provides a means to address the complexity issue of intentional manipulation.
Primary Mediastinal Seminoma and the 67Gallium Total Body Scan: a Case Report

AbstractWe describe a case in which radionuclide scanning was used for staging and assessing treatment of a germinal neoplasm. Primary mediastinal seminoma is an ectopic manifestation of the not infrequent germinoma. Controversy surrounds the histogenesis of this tumor. Management may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or any combination of these. Because of the rather marked radiosensitivity of the tumor the prognosis generally is favorable. The radio-gallium scan was helpful in guiding and following treatment.
Should social workers be engaged in these practices

We recognize that there are social workers who conduct critically important work every day. It is also apparent that the boundaries of social work as a profession are unclear (Hill, Fogel, Donaldso...
On very noisy channels with feedback

We show that even perfect feedback does not improve the high-rate error exponent, normal approximation, or moderate deviations performance of fixed-blocklength codes over very noisy channels.
Origins of Discordant Responses among 3 Rheumatoid Arthritis Improvement Criteria

Objective We examined agreement between the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), and Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) response criteria in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and tested whether discordant responses were associated with patients’ baseline characteristics or changes in RA activity encapsulated by the different criteria. Methods In a prospective longitudinal study, we examined responses of 243 patients with active RA to escalation of antirheumatic treatment. We computed agreement between pairs of response criteria using κ coefficients and identified patient characteristics associated with unique responses to individual criteria. Results We found that 110 patients (45.3%) had an ACR 20% improvement (ACR20) response, 135 (55.5%) had a EULAR moderate/good response, and 83 (34.1%) had an SDAI50 response. Agreement was moderate to good (ACR20/EULAR κ 0.57; ACR20/SDAI50 κ 0.64; EULAR/SDAI50 κ 0.59). All who had SDAI50 response also had a EULAR response. Patient characteristics at baseline generally did not distinguish those who responded to both, 1, or neither criterion. Discordance was most often because of improvements in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein level among EULAR and SDAI50 responders, which were not as common among ACR20 responders. Based on receiver-operating characteristic curves, SDAI35 response had a better balance of sensitivity and specificity relative to ACR20 and EULAR moderate/good responses than SDAI50. Conclusion Discordant responses to RA improvement criteria are most often because of differences in responses of acute-phase reactants. SDAI35 response had higher sensitivity for improvement, as reflected by other response criteria, than SDAI50 response.
Fragmentation of Interstellar Clouds

The dense cores that form stars through gravitational collapse are embedded in much larger and more rarefied expanses of gas. How the parent▶molecular cloud produces its substructure of dense cores is the problem of fragmentation. The traditional view is that the parent cloud breaks apart as it collapses in on itself. In numerical simulations, objects resembling dense cores are created in turbulent, collapsing clouds. However, there is little evidence that large clouds are indeed collapsing. If they are not, but are at least temporarily stable, then dense cores must be produced in another fashion, perhaps by the slow accretion of background gas.
Pathophysiology of Vulnerability Caused by Thrombogenic (Vulnerable) Blood

Atherosclerosis constitutes the single most important contributor to the increasing problem of cardiovascular disease. Endothelial dysfunction is considered the early pivotal event in atherogenesis and precedes development of clinically detectable atherosclerotic plaques. The term “vulnerable plaque” identifies an atherosclerotic plaque that is particularly susceptible to disruption, with exposure of tissue factor to the blood flow and subsequent activation of coagulation cascade resulting in lumen occlusion by overlying thrombi. Despite the central role of vulnerable plaques in the onset of cardiovascular events, there are still certain situations (e.g. eroded lesions) wherein hyperactive blood (vulnerable blood) takes the central role. The magnitude and severity of arterial thrombosis is a complex phenomenon and depends on several factors: arterial vessel wall substrates, local rheologic characteristics of blood flow, and systemic factors in the circulating blood. Biomarker of “vulnerable blood,” including blood markers reflecting hypercoagulability, is one tool to identify high-risk individuals for accurate diagnosis and stratification. The importance of the coagulation/fibrinolytic system is highlighted by several autopsic studies that show a high prevalence of old plaque disruptions without infarctions. The imbalance between coagulation and anticoagulation systems is likely to result in an acute event. The prolonged presence of residual thrombus over a disrupted or eroded plaque can induce smooth muscle migration and produce new intima, leading to plaque expansion. Therefore, an active fibrinolytic system may be able to prevent luminal thrombosis in some cases of plaque disruption. Its rapid decline is associated with an increasing plaque burden and vulnerability, and it is related to endothelial cell injury. Identification of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque and improvement of endothelial function represent a primary approach in the management of cardiovascular patients.
Advances in Disaster Communications: Broadband Systems for First Responders

First responders depend upon reliable communications to function effectively. During the past eight decades, their communications needs have expanded from simple two-way voice radios to highly integrated voice and data transmissions that allow not only command messages to be transmitted, but also data and images to be shared. These days, the need for data at the site of a disaster requires responders to be able to access broadband networks that are connected to the internet. Simultaneously, the communications of the general public have evolved from the utilization of individual landlines to the ubiquitous smart phones of today. The broadband communications needs of first responders and the general public utilize the same broadband networks. Hence, when a disaster occurs, these broadband networks become overloaded and communications and access become unreliable. To rectify this problem for first responders, a dedicated First Responder Network, FirstNet, has been created as a public-private partnership that will allow priority access for first responders at a disaster scene. In this article, I begin by outlining the evolution of communications technology that led to the development of FirstNet. I then describe the political process that supported the establishment of FirstNet, the implementation of this public-private partnership, and the awarding of the FirstNet contract to a consortium led by AT&T. I highlight complementary technologies to those used in FirstNet and illustrate how they may be used in concert with FirstNet’s LTE network to further extend communications opportunities for first responders. I conclude with a discussion of some possible enhancements to the LTE technology chosen by FirstNet to further expand its capabilities and usefulness.
Current, Planned, and Proposed Experiments, 2014–Present

This chapter briefly discusses some of the now ongoing Universal Basic Income (UBI) experiments, proposed UBI experiments, and experiments in policies similar to UBI. The book references these experiments only rarely, because its goal is not to analyze or criticize them, but to offer some useful analysis to the people commissioning, designing, conducting, reporting on, and reading about them.
Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma in a Giant Esophageal Polyp: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Soft tissue sarcomas represent an extremely rare cause of esophageal masses, and undifferentiated sarcomas are rarer. The proportion of dedifferentiated liposarcomas (DDL) is even lower. The case of a 58-year-old male who complained of dysphagia and was found to have an 18-centimeter long esophageal mass/polyp on esophagogastroduodenoscopy is presented. The lesion was resected endoscopically and a diagnosis of DDL was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Due to its rarity, the treatment experience with esophageal DDLs is limited. However, based on our experience, endoscopic resection of the lesion can be considered as the treatment of choice when feasible. We performed a review of the literature to identify and analyze similar reported cases.
The Contribution of Home Literacy Context to Preschool Academic Competencies for American Indian and Alaska Native Children

Despite rich cultural, lingual, and tribal assets, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children experience suboptimal educational outcomes that start before kindergarten entry. Evidence suggests that home literacy activities may be supportive of developmental outcomes within this population, but these home literacy activities have not been substantially investigated with AIAN populations. This study examined how the overall home literacy context and individual home literacy indicators (i.e., frequency of shared book reading, singing songs, telling stories, and the number of books in the home) relate to AIAN children’s preschool reading and math skills. This study comprised data from the ECLS-B, which included a nationally-representative sample of 10,400 children born in 2001 and a deliberate oversample of AIAN children. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between home literacy and preschool reading and math skills with an analytic sample of 650 AIAN children. Overall home literacy context was supportive of AIAN children’s reading and math skill development, and the particular import of shared book reading was found in improving reading skills. Findings support the value of what parents do with their children (i.e. participate in home literacy activities) above and beyond relatively static economic or social characteristics (e.g., maternal education, income-to-needs ratio).
Stricturoplasty and Small-Bowel Stricture Bypass (Open and MIS Approaches)

This abstract describes the surgical procedure as performed by the following approaches: diagnostic laparoscopy, laparoscopic-assisted stricturoplasty or conversion to laparotomy, and Heineke–Mikulicz stricturoplasty (longitudinal incision and transverse closure) or Finney stricturoplasty (small-bowel side-to-side antiperistaltic stricture bypass), or side-to-side isoperistaltic stricture bypass. The text includes an introduction that outlines the indications, risks, alternatives, essential steps, needed equipment, and variations in technique for the procedure in question. This is followed by a template operative dictation, which provides the reader with an operative report, such as is found in a patient chart or electronic medical record. A description is provided of the critical concepts and different techniques for this procedure.
Neuropsychological Correlates of Anosognosia for Objective Functional Difficulties in Older Adults on the Mild Cognitive Impairment Spectrum.

Objective To examine the neuropsychological correlates of anosognosia for instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia. Method Participants (n = 103; age range = 54-88, 52% female) with MCI and mild dementia were recruited from neurology and geriatrics clinics for cross-sectional analysis. They completed neuropsychological tests along with subjective and performance-based assessments of six IADLs: financial management, driving, grocery shopping, nutrition evaluation, telephone use, and medication management. For each IADL, participants were classified as having anosognosia when there was objective difficulty but no subjective complaints. Results Depending on functional domain, 13-39% of the sample had objective IADL difficulty, and of those, 65-93% lacked insight into these deficits. Binomial logistic regression models controlling for demographic variables revealed that measures of global cognition, executive function, visual attention, and verbal memory predicted classification of anosognosia, and these relationships varied across IADLs. In contrast, basic auditory attention, working memory, depressive symptoms, nor cognitive reserve were significantly related to anosognosia for any IADL. Conclusion Results support the Conscious Awareness Model, which theorizes that accurate metacognitive output is reliant on attentional, memory, and executive functioning systems. Findings from this study suggest that anosognosia for different IADLs may arise from breakdowns at varying points in this model, explaining both inter- and intra-patient variability in self-awareness of functional deficits.
"I've taken a first CS class and liked it! What's next?" Exploring the Multiplicity of CS2 Paths for Majors and Non-Majors

Driven by diverse needs of students, as well as increasing needs of other disciplines, the past two decades have seen a proliferation of emerging variations in how computer science programs approach a second course in the discipline. Approaches more focused on majors include adaptations to a traditional introduction to data structures course that may heavily incorporate object-oriented programming or emphasize using data structures from libraries. Paths that might be concurrent with a traditional CS2, or have greater appeal to non-majors include recent efforts with data science or secure computing. In a world of increasingly limited resources but ever-increasing needs and demands from inside and outside the major, how do we provide solutions? Bringing together educators who are concerned about intermediate CS education will allow participants to hear multiple viewpoints about what the needs are and how various institutions are currently, or are considering, addressing them. The discussion leaders will kick off the conversation with local expertise---one approach of a CS2 course for majors and non-majors that emphasizes data science and modern practical skills such as databases and HTTP, another with new curricula for multiple CS2 courses, and a third with novel approaches in a traditional data structures CS2 course. Attendees will be able to connect with other people interested in the future of course curricula following CS1 and share ideas, resources, successes, and failures. We will be soliciting participants' perspectives on preparing CS2 students for downstream paths, including (i) future courses, (ii) interviews, (iii) internships, and (iv) research projects.
YjbH Requires Its Thioredoxin Active Motif for the Nitrosative Stress Response, Cell-to-Cell Spread, and Protein-Protein Interactions in Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a model facultative intracellular pathogen. Tight regulation of virulence proteins is essential for a successful infection, and the gene encoding the annotated thioredoxin YjbH was identified in two forward genetic screens as required for virulence factor production. Accordingly, an L. monocytogenes strain lacking yjbH is attenuated in a murine model of infection. However, the function of YjbH in L. monocytogenes has not been investigated. Here, we provide evidence that L. monocytogenes YjbH is involved in the nitrosative stress response, likely through its interaction with the redox-responsive transcriptional regulator SpxA1. YjbH physically interacted with SpxA1, and our data support a model in which YjbH is a protease adaptor that regulates SpxA1 protein abundance. Whole-cell proteomics identified eight additional proteins whose abundance was altered by YjbH, and we demonstrated that YjbH physically interacted with each in bacterial two-hybrid assays. Thioredoxin proteins canonically require active motif cysteines for function, but thioredoxin activity has not been tested for L. monocytogenes YjbH. We demonstrated that cysteine residues of the YjbH thioredoxin domain active motif are essential for L. monocytogenes sensitivity to nitrosative stress, cell-to-cell spread in a tissue culture model of infection, and several protein-protein interactions. Together, these results demonstrated that the function of YjbH in L. monocytogenes requires its thioredoxin active motif and that YjbH has a role in the posttranslational regulation of several proteins, including SpxA1.IMPORTANCE The annotated thioredoxin YjbH in Listeria monocytogenes has been implicated in virulence, but its function in the cell is unknown. In other bacterial species, YjbH is a protease adaptor that mediates degradation of the transcriptional regulator Spx. Here, we investigated the function of L. monocytogenes YjbH and demonstrated its role in the nitrosative stress response and posttranslational regulation of several proteins with which YjbH physically interacts, including SpxA1. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the cysteine residues of the YjbH thioredoxin active motif are required for the nitrosative stress response, cell-to-cell spread, and some protein-protein interactions. YjbH is widely conserved among Firmicutes, and this work reveals its unique requirement of the thioredoxin-active motif in L. monocytogenes.