cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Automatic pulmonary vessel segmentation in 3D computed tomographic pulmonary angiographic (CTPA) images

Automatic and accurate segmentation of the pulmonary vessels in 3D computed tomographic angiographic images (CTPA) is an essential step for computerized detection of pulmonary embolism (PE) because PEs only occur inside the pulmonary arteries. We are developing an automated method to segment the pulmonary vessels in 3D CTPA images. The lung region is first extracted using thresholding and morphological operations. 3D multiscale filters in combination with a newly developed response function derived from the eigenvalues of Hessian matrices are used to enhance all vascular structures including the vessel bifurcations and suppress non-vessel structures such as the lymphoid tissues surrounding the vessels. At each scale, a volume of interest (VOI) containing the response function value at each voxel is defined. The voxels with a high response indicate that there is an enhanced vessel whose size matches the given filter scale. A hierarchical expectation-maximization (EM) estimation is then applied to the VOI to segment the vessel by extracting the high response voxels at this single scale. The vessel tree is finally reconstructed by combining the segmented vessels at all scales based on a "connected component" analysis. Two experienced thoracic radiologists provided the gold standard of pulmonary arteries by manually tracking the arterial tree and marking the center of the vessels using a computer graphical user interface. Two CTPA cases containing PEs were used to evaluate the performance. One of these two cases also contained other lung diseases. The accuracy of vessel tree segmentation was evaluated by the percentage of the "gold standard" vessel center points overlapping with the segmented vessels. The result shows that 97.3% (1868/1920) and 92.0% (2277/2476) of the manually marked center points overlapped with the segmented vessels for the cases without and with other lung disease, respectively. The results demonstrate that vessel segmentation using our method is not degraded by PE occlusion and the vessels can be accurately extracted.
Multiple Principals and Oversight of Bureaucratic Policy-Making

I examine a model in which multiple legislative principals monitor a bureaucratic agent's implementation of a project. The principals can each perform oversight of the implementation to limit information asymmetries exploited by the agent. Oversight is costly to perform and due to information leakages between principals, oversight by one principal reveals information to all principals. Thus for some values of the audit costs, there is a collective action problem in monitoring among the principals: the multiplicity of principals can cause the level of this form of oversight to be underperformed relative to the principals' joint interests. Notably, the multiplicity of principals reduces their collective control over the agent even though they have common interests about the agent's actions, i.e. conflicting preference about agent actions are not necessary to attenuate accountability when there are multiple principals. Overall the results point out that the institutional structure of the overseeing body has ...
Opening rate of the transverse cusp diffraction catastrophe in light scattered by oblate spheroidal drops: errata.

Light scattered by an oblate drop of water has been observed to produce cusp caustics in the general vicinity of the rainbow region [ P. L. Marston E. H. Trinh , Nature London312, 529– 531 ( 1984)]. The principal curvatures of the generic local wave front that produces the far-field transverse cusp are examined. This wave front is shown to generate a transverse cusp curve (U − Uc)3 = − d∞V2, where U and V are horizontal and vertical scattering angles and Uc is the cusp point direction. The far-field opening rate d∞ is calculated for the transverse cusp. It is shown that d∞ has a simple dependence on the parameters of the generic wave front. We define the aspect ratio of the drop q = D/H, where H is the height and D is the equatorial width for the scattering drop. The method of generalized ray tracing is used to relate q to principal curvatures and shape parameters of the outgoing wavefront and hence to d∞. Measurements of d∞. for scattering laser light from acoustically levitated drops appear to support the calculation. As q goes to q4 ≈ 1.31, the critical value for generation of a hyperbolic–umbilic focal section, the predicted d∞ goes to infinity. The nature of the divergence was numerically investigated as was the rate at which d∞ vanishes as q approaches critical values for lips and transition events.
The Morning NO x maximum in the forest atmosphere boundary layer

Abstract. During the 1998, 2000, 2001, 2008, and 2009 summer intensives of the Program for Research on Oxidants: PHotochemistry, Emissions and Transport (PROPHET), ambient measurement of nitrogen oxides (NO + NO2 = NOx) were conducted. NO and NOx mole fractions displayed a diurnal pattern with NOx frequently highest in early morning. This pattern has often been observed in other rural areas. In this paper, we discuss the potential sources and contributing factors of the frequently observed morning pulse of NOx. Of the possible potential contributing factors to the observed morning pulse of NO and NOx, we find that surface-layer transport and slow upward mixing from soil emissions, related to the thermodynamic stability in the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) before its morning breakup are the largest contributors. The morning NOx peak can significantly impact boundary layer chemistry, e.g. through production of HONO on surfaces, and by increasing the importance of NO3 chemistry in the morning boundary layer.
An all-digital phase-locked loop with fast acquisition and low jitter

An all-digital phase-locked loop that achieves fast acquisition and low jitter was developed for high-speed clock generation. By employing a time-to-digital converter (TDC), the frequency difference is precisely measured and converted to the control word of the digital oscillator. Using this feature, the ADPLL has a faster lock-in time than previous digital phaselocked loops. The ADPLL was implemented using a 0.9 V 32 nm practical transistor model (PTM). The simulation results show that the proposed ADPLL achieves 5 and 10 reference cycles of frequency and phase acquisitions at 700 MHz with peak to peak jitter < 53 ps.
Pretreatment of P815 mastocytoma cells with inhibitors of protein synthesis reduces their susceptibility to lysis by cytotoxic thymus-derived lymphocytes

Abstract Protein synthesis inhibitors like cycloheximide, emetine, and puromycin diminish the ability of P815, a mastocytoma of DBA/2 mice, to react with anti-H-2 d cytotoxic thymus-derived lymphocytes (CTLs). Compared to untreated P815, tumor cells incubated with the protein synthesis inhibitors exhibited a reduced sensitivity to lysis and a reduced ability to inhibit lysis of untreated P815 cells. Consistent with this reduced reactivity of cycloheximide-treated P815 cells with CTLs was the inability of anti-H-2 d CTLs to form T cell-target cell conjugates with treated P815 cells. As evaluated by the binding of an anti-H-2 d serum, treated P815 cells expressed the same amount of H-2 membrane antigen as untreated cells. However, treated cells were still lysed by CTLs in the presence of the agglutinator, concanavalin A (Con A).
Prevention of atherosclerosis progression in asymptomatic healthy elderly

This review focuses on the role of lipid-lowering, blood pressure-lowering, antithrombotic drugs and diet and their place in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis in middle-aged and elderly men and woman. The major emphasis is on noninvasive assessment of the extent of atherosclerotic plaque and the importance of following plaque progression or regression by use of noninvasive ultrasound. With these data, we can demonstrate to both patients and physicians the value, at any age, of treating hypertension and abnormal blood lipids.
Artist canvas as a new standard for the cotton‐strip assay

Keywords: cotton-strip assay; cotton tensile-strength loss; cellulose decomposition; Shirley soil burial test fabric
Defeating memory error exploits using automated software diversity

The vast majority of today's security vulnerabilities, accounting for as much as 88% of US-CERT advisories in the past few years, are caused by memory errors such as buffer overflows, heap overflows, integer overflows, and format-string bugs. Previous research has developed techniques for preventing known attack classes exploiting these vulnerabilities. However, attackers quickly developed alternative exploits to circumvent these protections. In contrast to these approaches, comprehensive memory error detection techniques can help track down memory-related bugs, as well as provide full runtime protection from known and future exploits of buffer overflows. However, they typically introduce very high overheads, slowing down programs by a factor of 2 or more; or require significant modifications to existing code that is too expensive in practice. In contrast, we develop low-overhead techniques that can provide probabilistic protection against all memory error exploits, while preserving full code compatibility. Our techniques are based on automated software diversity. In this dissertation, we undertake a systematic study of possible automated transformations that can defeat memory error exploits, and develop (a) address space randomization, which disrupts exploits by making it difficult to predict the object that would be overwritten as a result of a memory corruption attack, and (b) data space randomization , which randomizes the interpretation of overwritten data. These randomization techniques make the effect of memory-error exploits non-deterministic, with only a very small chance of success. Thus, an attacker is forced to make several attack attempts, and each failed attempt typically results in crashing the victim program thereby making it easy to detect the attack. Our implementation approaches are based on automatic source-level or (where feasible) binary-level transformations. We present experimental results on several large pieces of software.
Local-spin mutual exclusion using fetch-and-/spl phi/ primitives

We present a generic fetch-and-/spl phi/-based local-spin mutual exclusion algorithm with O(1) time complexity under the RMR (remote-memory-reference) measure. This algorithm is "generic" in the sense that it can be implemented using any fetch-and-/spl phi/ primitive of rank 2N, where N is the number of processes. The rank of a fetch-and-/spl phi/ primitive expresses the extent to which processes may "order themselves" using that primitive. By using an arbitration tree, a /spl otimes/(log/sub r/ N) algorithm can be constructed using any primitive of rank r, where 2 /spl les/ r < N. For primitives that meet a certain additional condition, we present a O(log N/log log N) algorithm, which is time-optimal for certain primitives of constant rank.
Models for Adaptive Feedforward Control of Turbulence

We present numerical results from an idealized model simulation which implements the Least Mean Square (LMS) and the Filtered-X-Least-Mean-Square (FXLMS) control algorithms as applied to adaptive feedforward control of wall-bounded turbulent shear flows. The FXLMS system is found to work extremely well, effectively controlling the model system which includes phase delays, multiple sensor inputs, high levels of noise and nonlinearities in the forward system.
Comparative renal tubular toxicity of chemotherapy regimens including ifosfamide in patients with newly diagnosed sarcomas.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess renal tubular toxicity (RTT) of ifosfamide-containing regimens (ICR) in patients with newly diagnosed sarcomas at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Methods: The authors reviewed the records of 199 patients receiving ICR at St. Jude between June 1986 and December 31, 1994 for evidence of RTT. Their median age was 13.3 years (range 1.2-24.8); 150 patients were white and 112 were male patients. Diagnoses included osteosarcoma (n = 82), Ewing sarcoma (n = 82), rhabdomyosarcoma (n = 28), and a group of other tumors (n = 7). Results: The authors estimated the proportion of patients with severe RTT during the first five cycles of ICR and within 1 year after therapy for three groups of patients receiving ifosfamide (IFOS, n = 110), ifosfamide/cisplatin (IFOS/CDDP, n = 51), and ifosfamide/carboplatin (IFOS/CARBO, n = 38). The IFOS/CDDP patients received three cycles of IFOS before receiving CDDP and received only 200 mg/m 2 by cycle 5, whereas the IFOS/CARBO patients received both agents simultaneously. The authors compared the probability of severe RTT among treatment groups using a generalized linear model for the first five cycles of ICR, as well as the probability of severe RTT within 1 year after therapy among treatment groups for patients receiving all prescribed IFOS using an exact chi-square test with pairwise comparisons when the three-way P value was less than 0.10. The proportion of patients with severe RTT during the first three cycles of ICR was significantly greater in the IFOS/CARBO group than in the other two. Although the proportion of patients with severe RTT in the IFOS/CDDP group increased during cycles 4/5, the proportion of patients with severe RTT remained significantly greater in the IFOS/ CARBO group. Within 1 year after therapy, the proportion of patients with severe RTT differed among the three groups, and pairwise comparisons revealed a significant difference between the IFOS and the IFOS/CDDP group. Severe RTT developed in four IFOS/CDDP patients more than 1 year after therapy, suggesting a long-term effect of CDDP on tubular function. Conclusions: Chemotherapy regimens including IFOS/ CARBO produce severe acute RTT more frequently than regimens including IFOS or IFOS/CDDP. Patients receiving IFOS/ CDDP appear at risk for delayed RTT. Long-term follow-up of these patients is essential to assess whether the number of patients receiving IFOS/CDDP with severe RTT continues to increase over time and to evaluate the long-term significance of these abnormalities.
Manufacturing Functionally Gradient Material Objects With an Off the Shelf 3D Printer: Challenges and Solutions

This paper presents the challenges and solutions encountered while printing functionally gradient material (FGM) objects using an off the shelf Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer. The printer, Build Builder Dual-Feed Extruder from 3dprinter4u, has the unique design of extruding two different filaments out of one nozzle. Two separate motors independently pull two different filaments into one chamber causing plastic to extrude out of one nozzle. By using different filaments with different properties, an object with a material properties gradient can be manufactured. These material property gradients can help minimize the difficulty of bonding two different materials directly to each other, and give the designer the ability to tailor individual regions of one object to have different physical properties. Finding an optimal object design that can take advantage of this gradation is a unique problem that goes beyond the traditional solid modeling found in most CAD software. Once a design is obtained, slicing the object and creating an optimal build path is challenging because the gradation must be considered. Several objects were designed and manufactured to test the printers ability to print FGM objects. The python code used to add gradient change commands to the existing Gcode, and to slice a FGM flywheel while taking into account the material gradation has been made open source.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Religion, Power, and Final Foucault

L'A. affirme que les auteurs qui ont choisi l'approche proposee par Michel Foucault au debut de sa carriere, ont encourage une vision simpliste et dogmatique de l'etude de la religion. Ils ont ignore de maniere ironique la maniere dont le Foucault de la fin remettait en question les dogmes du debut. Dans sa premiere phase, Foucault adhere a la pensee de Clausewitz. Cette adhesion est marquee par un caractere moral qui conduit Foucault a critiquer les etudes religieuses au sujet du peche, de la culpabilite et de l'auto-accusation. Chez Foucault, la religion est affaire de pouvoir. En second lieu, le concept de religion implique une force coercitive
Influence of Behavioral Interactions on Spatial Segregation of Sympatric Sigmodon, Baiomys, and Reithrodontomys Populations

S. hispidus, B. taylori et R. fulvescens vivent en sympatrie dans de nombreuses regions du Texas. Leurs microhabitats se chevauchent considerablement dans un habitat de savane. Des etudes experimentales montrent que les interactions comportementales (relations dominance-soumission) influencent la segregation spatiale dans les zones de sympatrie; l'interpretation ecologique de telles interactions est liee au fait que les confrontations entre individus sont renforcees par des conditions artificielles d'habitat
Clinical Characteristics of Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Security of Taking Ratalin over Long Time

Objective To discuss clinical characters in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)and analyze of security of taking Ritalin over long time by clinical classification of children with ADHD and electroencephalogram(EEG)evaluation before and after therapy.Methods One hundred and twenty-one children diagnosed as ADHD from Jan.2005 to Jun.2006 in our hospital,who took Ratalin 10-20 mg/d,were observed for 6-18 months.The ADHD RS-Ⅳ-Parent:Inv,CGI-ADHD-S and EEG of the patients were eva-luated.Results 1.Classification characteristics:in 121 ADHD patients,ADHD-I account for 44.6% and ADHD-HI account for 9.1%;2.Ratio of male and female patient was 6.11;3.Curative effect and EEG:Ritalin was effective to 85 of 121 patients,and EEG was normal in the patients before and after therapy.Conclusions Girls are less than boys in ADHD patients.The main characteristics are learning disabilities and attention-dificit problem.Long-term taking Ritalin has no influence on patients' curative effect and EEG.
Surface Modification Methods for Enhanced Device Efficacy and Function

Currently available microfluidic devices can accomplish a variety of tasks useful in molecular biology. When moving analytical processes to a microenvironment, the properties of the device surface play a larger role in the functioning of the device. Surface modification may become necessary or advantageous for the purpose of control of the functional mechanics of the device, keeping cell components from adsorbing, attaching antibodies to the surface for detection of biological components, and attaching a functional bonding complex. Modification of the surface of microfluidic devices for the control of flow and device function, or for functionalization of the surface to tailor the device to a specific use, can be accomplished in numerous bench-top, postfabrication procedures. The use of polyelectrolyte multilayers, ultraviolet grafting of polymers, and polydimethylsiloxane/surfactant coating to control flow and mitigate adsorption is discussed. In addition, the functionalization of devices through amine termination of surfaces, and immobilization of biotin within a phosphotidylcholine bilayer is detailed.
Aggression and Crimes against Peace: Introduction: Between the Horrors and Necessity of War

This book is about the normative grounding of crimes of aggression, or what are sometimes called crimes against peace. The crime of aggression is the only one of the three crimes charged at Nuremberg (the other two being crimes against humanity and war crimes) that is not currently being prosecuted. The ensuing discussion of the crime of aggression is timely since the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to prosecute such crimes, as they were prosecuted at Nuremberg, but the ICC currently lacks, and is now seeking, a mechanism for international trials for the crime of aggression. I will examine the justifiability of initiating war, as well as who should be held liable for initiating or waging an unjustified war. I will focus on issues in international criminal law, that is, on when and whether individuals should be prosecuted for initiating and waging aggressive war, rather than on the more traditional question of when or whether States are to be criticized or sanctioned for waging aggressive war. My view is that crimes of aggression are deserving of international prosecution when one State undermines the ability of another State to protect human rights. This thesis runs against the grain of how aggression has been traditionally understood in international law. Previously, it was common to say that aggression involved a State's first strike against another State, where often what that meant was simply that one sovereign State had crossed the borders of another sovereign State.
The Vascular Flora of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee

ABSTRACT Sewanee: The University of the South, located in Franklin County, Tennessee, is a 5,263 ha site that encompasses a variety of plateau and cove habitats on the southern Cumberland Plateau in southeastern Tennessee. The vascular flora of the University of the South was documented from 1948–2015 and comprises 1,118 species and lesser taxa in 553 genera and 150 families. We documented 229 exotic taxa, 20.5% of the flora. This flora contains six state records, 74 Franklin County records, and two potential new species. Eighteen taxa are listed as protected either at the state or federal level, including the federally listed endangered Clematis morefieldii and state listed endangered Diamorpha smallii, Silphium brachiatum, and Symphyotrichum pratense. When compared to the five other published floras for the southern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, the University of the South flora is the most diverse, capturing 69% of the total taxa at the species level for the region. The high diversity of plant spec...
Constructing the Universal Norms of International Business

How should business answer the question, “When in Rome should you do as the Romans do?” I begin with a critical consideration of the views of Donaldson/Dunfee and Patricia Werhane on this question. Using examples of international agreements, I argue that universal norms must be negotiated and constructed in actual agreements if they are to be seen as legitimate. I consider a number of international agreements and conclude that the United Nations Global Compact has the best case for legitimacy of any of the international agreements.
Success and Failure in Counterinsurgency Campaigns: Lessons from the Cold War

Why did U.S.-assisted counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts succeed in the Philippines in the 1950s yet falter in Vietnam a decade later? Why were counterinsurgents able to score a quick victory in Venezuela in the early 1960s but confronted by a long and bloody conflict in El Salvador in the 1970s and 1980s? In seeking to answer these questions, this article provides theoretical motivation for the oft-made claim that U.S. counterinsurgency strategy has been most effective in countries in which the local government engaged in meaningful political and economic reforms to address a population's grievances. What determines whether a government is likely to engage in a reform process? The article proposes that reform is a function of the economic structure of elite assets. When assets are immobile and highly concentrated in one sector, as in heavily agricultural societies like Vietnam or El Salvador, redistributive reforms will prove more difficult, and counterinsurgency efforts will struggle as a result. Converse...
Post-fire vegetation response at the woodland–shrubland interface is mediated by the pre-fire community

Understanding the drivers of ecosystem responses to disturbance is essential for management aimed at maintaining or restoring ecosystem processes and services, especially where invasive species respond strongly to disturbance. In this study, we used repeat vegetation surveys from a network of prescribed fire treatments at the woodland–shrubland interface in the Shoshone Mountains, Nevada, USA, to investigate post-fire responses of the understory plant community. First, we characterized post-fire community trajectories for sites located along an elevational gradient, hypothesizing a positive relationship between elevation and resistance to invasion. Unburned understory communities and their responses to disturbance differed along the gradient. As hypothesized, lower elevations experienced greater species turnover and higher invasive annual grass (Bromus tectorum) cover after fire. Second, we characterized post-fire plant community trajectories for sites with varying levels of pre-fire pinyon and juniper cover, hypothesizing that pre-fire tree dominance and associated reductions in perennial understory species lead to less predictable post-fire trajectories. Among sites with low-to-moderate tree cover, burning largely eliminated differences in understory composition, suggesting that biotic legacies were sufficient to result in predictable trajectories. In contrast, sites with high pre-fire tree cover transitioned into an annual forb-dominated community with sparse vegetation cover, suggesting that the loss of the understory community initiated unpredictable and divergent post-fire trajectories. Because plant communities were still changing four years after fire, it is unclear whether the alternate trajectories in sites with high tree cover will result in the formation of alternate states, or whether community composition will eventually converge with other sites at the same elevation. Results indicate that careful evaluation of site characteristics can be used to predict treatment outcomes at the woodland–shrubland interface, and to guide the appropriate use of prescribed fire or other management practices.
Nano-Composite Foam Sensor System in Football Helmets.

American football has both the highest rate of concussion incidences as well as the highest number of concussions of all contact sports due to both the number of athletes and nature of the sport. Recent research has linked concussions with long term health complications such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy and early onset Alzheimer’s. Understanding the mechanical characteristics of concussive impacts is critical to help protect athletes from these debilitating diseases and is now possible using helmet-based sensor systems. To date, real time on-field measurement of head impacts has been almost exclusively measured by devices that rely on accelerometers or gyroscopes attached to the player’s helmet, or embedded in a mouth guard. These systems monitor motion of the head or helmet, but do not directly measure impact energy. This paper evaluates the accuracy of a novel, multifunctional foam-based sensor that replaces a portion of the helmet foam to measure impact. All modified helmets were tested using a National Operating Committee Standards for Athletic Equipment-style drop tower with a total of 24 drop tests (4 locations with 6 impact energies). The impacts were evaluated using a headform, instrumented with a tri-axial accelerometer, mounted to a Hybrid III neck assembly. The resultant accelerations were evaluated for both the peak acceleration and the severity indices. These data were then compared to the voltage response from multiple Nano Composite Foam sensors located throughout the helmet. The foam sensor system proved to be accurate in measuring both the HIC and Gadd severity index, as well as peak acceleration while also providing additional details that were previously difficult to obtain, such as impact energy.
Ensemble validation paradigm for intelligent data analysis in autism spectrum disorders

Cluster analysis is an important exploratory tool for a broad range of applications including data analysis of biomedical datasets to uncover meaningful subgroups such as in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For a given clustering algorithm, multiple results can be obtained on the same dataset by varying the algorithm parameters. In biomedical applications, discovering meaningful subgroups, not just the optimal number of clusters, is expedient. It is imperative to develop quality measures capable of identifying optimal partitions for a given dataset. In this paper, we apply varied clustering methods to subgroup an ASD simplex sample based on relevant phenotype features that may uncover meaningful subtypes. We present a detailed cluster validation analysis using an ensemble validation paradigm and visualization techniques. We present a rigorous clinical/behavioral analysis of the top highly ranked results. The evaluation demonstrated that both configurations yielded similar clinical significance results: 2-subgroups configuration with distinct clinical profile.
Statistical shape analysis for population studies via level-set based shape morphing

We present a method that allows the detection, localization and quantification of statistically significant morphological differences in complex brain structures between populations. This is accomplished by a novel level-set framework for shape morphing and a multi-shape dissimilarity-measure derived by a modified version of the Hausdorff distance. The proposed method does not require explicit one-to-one point correspondences and is fast, robust and easy to implement regardless of the topological complexity of the anatomical surface under study. The proposed model has been applied to different populations using a variety of brain structures including left and right striatum, caudate, amygdala-hippocampal complex and superior- temporal gyrus (STG) in normal controls and patients. The synthetic databases allow quantitative evaluations of the proposed algorithm while the results obtained for the real clinical data are in line with published findings on gray matter reduction in the tested cortical and sub-cortical structures in schizophrenia patients.
Distinct fNIRS-Derived HbO2 Trajectories During the Course and Over Repeated Walking Trials Under Single- and Dual-Task Conditions: Implications for Within Session Learning and Prefrontal Cortex Efficiency in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND Neural trajectories of gait are not well established. We determined two distinct, clinically relevant neural trajectories, operationalized via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) HbO2 measures in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), under Single-Task-Walk (STW), and Dual-Task-Walk (DTW) conditions. Course trajectory assessed neural activity associated with attention during the course of a walking task; the second trajectory assessed neural activity associated with learning over repeated walking trials. Improved neural efficiency was defined as reduced PFC HbO2 after practice. METHODS Walking was assessed under STW and DTW conditions. fNIRS was utilized to quantify HbO2 in the PFC while walking. Burst measurement included three repeated trials for each experimental condition. The course of each walking task consisted of six consecutive segments. RESULTS Eighty-three nondemented participants (mean age = 78.05 ± 6.37 years; %female = 49.5) were included. Stride velocity (estimate = -0.5259 cm/s, p = <.0001) and the rate of correct letter generation (log estimate of rate ratio = -0.0377, p < .0001) declined during the course of DTW. In contrast, stride velocity (estimate = 1.4577 cm/s, p < .0001) and the rate of correct letter generation (log estimate of rate ratio = 0.0578, p < .0001) improved over repeated DTW trials. Course and trial effects were not significant in STW. HbO2 increased during the course of DTW (estimate = 0.0454 μM, p < .0001) but declined over repeated trials (estimate = -0.1786 μM, p < .0001). HbO2 declined during the course of STW (estimate = -.0542 μM, p < .0001) but did not change significantly over repeated trials. CONCLUSION We provided evidence for distinct attention (course) and learning (repeated trials) trajectories and their corresponding PFC activity. Findings suggest that learning and improved PFC efficiency were demonstrated in one experimental session involving repeated DTW trials.
Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers link toxic astrogliosis and microglial activation to multiple sclerosis severity.

Abstract Background Once multiple sclerosis (MS) reaches the progressive stage, immunomodulatory treatments have limited efficacy. This suggests that processes other than activation of innate immunity may at least partially underlie disability progression during late stages of MS. Pathology identified these alternative processes as aberrant activation of astrocytes and microglia, and subsequent degeneration of oligodendrocytes and neurons. However, we mostly lack biomarkers that could measure central nervous system (CNS) cell-specific intrathecal processes in living subjects. This prevents differentiating pathogenic processes from an epiphenomenon. Therefore, we sought to develop biomarkers of CNS cell-specific processes and link them to disability progression in MS. Methods In a blinded manner, we measured over 1000 proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 431 patients with neuroimmunological diseases and healthy volunteers using modified DNA-aptamers (SOMAscan®). We defined CNS cell type-enriched clusters using variable cluster analysis, combined with in vitro modeling. Differences between diagnostic categories were identified in the training cohort (n = 217) and their correlation to disability measures were assessed; results were validated in an independent validation cohort (n = 214). Results Astrocyte cluster 8 (MMP7, SERPINA3, GZMA and CLIC1) and microglial cluster 2 (DSG2 and TNFRSF25) were reproducibly elevated in MS and had a significant and reproducible correlation with MS severity suggesting their pathogenic role. In vitro studies demonstrated that proteins of astrocyte cluster 8 are noticeably released upon stimulation with proinflammatory stimuli and overlap with the phenotype of recently described neuro-toxic (A1) astrocytes. Conclusion Microglial activation and toxic astrogliosis are associated with MS disease process and may partake in CNS tissue destruction. This hypothesis should be tested in new clinical trials.
Teacher Education at the Intersection of Race and Ability.

In this dialogue with Phillip A. Boda’s Conceptualizing the margins into science education praxis: disability as case in point, I would like to continue the conversation on an equity-focused graduate course meant to prepare pre-service educators to value and leverage diversity in the classroom. While Boda’s analysis revealed that graduate students struggled to attend to disability as a marker of diversity when planning classroom activities, a similar study conducted by Waitoller and Kozleski (Teach Teach Educ Int J Res Stud 31:35–45, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.11.006 ) showed that graduate students often attended to disability over cultural diversity. Both studies point to the need for teacher preparation programs that prepare educators to create inclusive environments that support, value, and empower students at the intersection of various forms of diversity. This article will leverage axiological shifts noted in graduate students’ reflections from Boda’s study to start a discussion about Waitoller and Kozleski’s view of inclusive education. Pulling from scholarship on asset-based pedagogies and my experience as an urban science educator in special education settings, I will discuss opportunities to create educator learning experiences that can connect theory and practice.
MEAD: support for Real-Time Fault-Tolerant CORBA: Research Articles

The OMG's Real-Time CORBA (RT-CORBA) and Fault-Tolerant CORBA (FT-CORBA) specifications make it possible for today's CORBA implementations to exhibit either real-time or fault tolerance in isolation. While real-time requires a priori knowledge of the system's temporal operation, fault tolerance necessarily deals with faults that occur unexpectedly, and with possibly unpredictable fault recovery times. The MEAD (Middleware for Embedded Adaptive Dependability) system attempts to identify and to reconcile the conflicts between real-time and fault tolerance, in a resource-aware manner, for distributed CORBA applications. MEAD supports transparent yet tunable fault tolerance in real-time, proactive dependability, resource-aware system adaptation to crash, communication and timing faults with bounded fault detection and fault recovery. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Non-accidental trauma increases length of stay and mortality in pediatric trauma

More than half a million children experience non-accidental trauma (NAT) annually. Historically, NAT has been associated with an increased hospital length of stay (LOS). We hypothesized that in pediatric trauma patients, NAT is associated with longer hospital LOS, independent of injury severity, compared to accidental trauma (AT). The Pediatric Trauma Quality Improvement Program (2014–2016) was queried for patients aged 1–16 years. Patients were stratified into two groups: AT and NAT. The median LOS for the entire cohort was identified and used in a multivariable logistic regression analysis. From 93,089 pediatric trauma patients, 417 (< 0.1%) were involved in NAT. Patients with NAT had a lower median age (3 vs. 9 years, p < 0.001) and higher median injury severity score (10 vs. 5, p < 0.001), compared to patients with AT. After controlling for covariates, patients with NAT were associated with a longer hospital LOS (≥ 2 days), compared to those with AT (OR = 4.99 CI = 3.55–7.01, p < 0.001). In comparison to AT, NAT was also associated with a higher mortality rate (10.3% vs. 0.8%, p < 0.001). Pediatric patients presenting after NAT have a prolonged hospital and ICU LOS, even after adjusting for injury severity. Furthermore, pediatric victims of NAT had a higher mortality rate compared to those presenting after AT.
Correction of specimen strain measurement in Kolsky tension bar experiments on work-hardening materials

Abstract Cylindrical dog-bone (or dumbbell) shaped samples have become a common design for dynamic tensile tests of ductile materials with a Kolsky tension bar. When a direct measurement of displacement between the bar ends is used to calculate the specimen strain, the actual strain in the specimen gage section is overestimated due to strain in the specimen shoulder and needs to be corrected. The currently available correction method works well for elastic-perfectly plastic materials but may not be applicable to materials that exhibit significant work-hardening behavior. In this study, we developed a new specimen strain correction method for materials possessing an elastic-plastic with linear work-hardening stress–strain response. A Kolsky tension bar test of a Fe-49Co-2V alloy (known by trade names Hiperco and Permendur) was used to demonstrate the new specimen strain correction method. This new correction method was also used to correct specimen strains in Kolsky tension bar experiments on two other materials: 4140 alloy, and 304L-VAR stainless steel, which had different work-hardening behavior.
Co-optimization of speed trajectory and power management for a fuel-cell/battery electric vehicle

Abstract With the advent of vehicle connectivity via intelligent transportation systems, the simultaneous optimization of powertrain operation and vehicle dynamics has become an important research problem to improve energy efficiency. However, this problem is still very challenging due to computational loads in terms of time and memory usage, and hence very little effort has been spent to reveal the full potential of co-optimization. Studies in the literature on eco-driving or energy-efficient operation typically preferred using a sequential optimization or eliminating some constraints for fast computation. This paper extends the authors’ previous work of determining energy-efficient speed profiles focused on vehicle dynamics by including additional state and control variables due to vehicle hybridization in application to a fuel-cell/battery electric vehicle. The results from Pontriagyn’s Minimum Principle analysis reveal that the co-optimization can be formulated with one discrete variable describing vehicle operation and another continuous variable for power distribution to reduce computation in implementing Dynamic Programming. Then, the performance of co-optimization and sequential optimization for energy-efficient driving is comprehensively analyzed and compared in terms of energy consumption by each powertrain component, operating modes, and computational cost. The total energy savings by co-optimization range from 5.3% to 24.2% for aggressive driving on a hilly terrain. Meanwhile, on a relatively flat road, the benefit of co-optimization is less significant. Nonetheless, co-optimization achieved 0.5%–5.3% reduction in total energy consumption as compared to sequential optimization.
Characterizing viscoelastic materials via ensemble-based data assimilation of bubble collapse observations.

Abstract Viscoelastic material properties at high strain rates are needed to model many biological and medical systems. Bubble cavitation can induce such strain rates, and the resulting bubble dynamics are sensitive to the material properties. Thus, in principle, these properties can be inferred via measurements of the bubble dynamics. Estrada et al. (2018) demonstrated such bubble-dynamic high-strain-rate rheometry by using least-squares shooting to minimize the difference between simulated and experimental bubble radius histories. We generalize their technique to account for additional uncertainties in the model, initial conditions, and material properties needed to uniquely simulate the bubble dynamics. Ensemble-based data assimilation minimizes the computational expense associated with the bubble cavitation model , providing a more efficient and scalable numerical framework for bubble-collapse rheometry. We test an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), an iterative ensemble Kalman smoother (IEnKS), and a hybrid ensemble-based 4D-Var method (En4D-Var) on synthetic data, assessing their estimations of the viscosity and shear modulus of a Kelvin–Voigt material. Results show that En4D-Var and IEnKS provide better moduli estimates than EnKF. Applying these methods to the experimental data of Estrada et al. (2018) yields similar material property estimates to those they obtained, but provides additional information about uncertainties. In particular, the En4D-Var yields lower viscosity estimates for some experiments, and the dynamic estimators reveal a potential mechanism that is unaccounted for in the model, whereby the apparent viscosity is reduced in some cases due to inelastic behavior, possibly in the form of material damage occurring at bubble collapse.
Entrepreneurship Addiction and the Negative Mental Health Consequences of Entrepreneurial Engagement Among Some Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is often lauded as a positive pursuit for individuals because of the assumption that it confers benefits to the entrepreneur such as autonomy and the pursuit of a passion. While entrepreneurial endeavours do offer these benefits to some individuals, recent evidence suggests that they may also lead to patterns of intensive engagement that correspond to the development of a psychological addiction to the experience. Entrepreneurship addiction is linked to a variety of negative outcomes for the entrepreneur, indicating that there is reason to be against entrepreneurship for the risks it poses to some individuals. This chapter discusses the less studied negative aspects of entrepreneurial engagement and the variety of negative mental health and well-being outcomes that can be linked to entrepreneurship for some individuals.
A Pilot Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Trial of Bumetanide to Treat Neonatal Seizures.

OBJECTIVE In the absence of controlled trials, treatment of neonatal seizures has changed minimally despite poor drug efficacy. We tested bumetanide added to phenobarbital to treat neonatal seizures in the first trial to include a standard-therapy control group. METHODS A randomized, double-blind, dose-escalation design was employed. Neonates with postmenstrual age 33 to 44 weeks at risk of or with seizures were eligible. Subjects with electroencephalography (EEG)-confirmed seizures after ≥20 and <40mg/kg phenobarbital were randomized to receive additional phenobarbital with either placebo (control) or 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3mg/kg bumetanide (treatment). Continuous EEG monitoring data from ≥2 hours before to ≥48 hours after study drug administration (SDA) were analyzed for seizures. RESULTS Subjects were randomized to treatment (n = 27) and control (n = 16) groups. Pharmacokinetics were highly variable among subjects and altered by hypothermia. The only statistically significant adverse event was diuresis in treated subjects (48% vs 13%, p = 0.02). One treated (4%) and 3 control subjects died (19%, p = 0.14). Among survivors, 2 of 26 treated subjects (8%) and 0 of 13 control subjects had hearing impairment, as did 1 nonrandomized subject. Total seizure burden varied widely, with much higher seizure burden in treatment versus control groups (median = 3.1 vs 1.2 min/h, p = 0.006). There was significantly greater reduction in seizure burden 0 to 4 hours and 2 to 4 hours post-SDA (both p < 0.01) compared with 2-hour baseline in treatment versus control groups with adjustment for seizure burden. INTERPRETATION Although definitive proof of efficacy awaits an appropriately powered phase 3 trial, this randomized, controlled, multicenter trial demonstrated an additional reduction in seizure burden attributable to bumetanide over phenobarbital without increased serious adverse effects. Future trials of bumetanide and other drugs should include a control group and balance seizure severity. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:327-340.
Angela Esterhammer, Print and Performance in the 1820s: Improvisation, Speculation, Identity

Review by Frederick Burwick ( University of California, Los Angeles ) of Angela Esterhammer, Print and Performance in the 1820s: Improvisation, Speculation, Identity . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. x + 280. £75.00. ISBN 9781108656832.
The true self as essentially morally good: An obstacle to virtue development?

Psychological research has revealed that there is a strong tendency for people to believe that they have a ‘true self’, and to believe that this true self is inherently morally good. This would see...