cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Z-dependence of thick-target bremsstrahlung produced by monoenergetic low-energy electrons

Abstract The dependence of thick-target bremsstrahlung emitted by low-energy beams of monoenergetic electrons on the atomic number of the target material has been investigated experimentally for incident electron energies of 4.25 keV and 5.00 keV using thick aluminum, copper, silver, tungsten, and gold targets. Experimental data suggest that the intensity of the thick-target bremsstrahlung emitted is more strongly dependent on the atomic number of the target material for photons with energies that are approximately equal to the energy of the incident electrons than at lower energies, and also that the dependence of thick-target bremsstrahlung on the atomic number of the target material is stronger for incident electrons of higher energies than for incident electrons of lower energies. The results of the experiments are compared to the results of simulations performed using the PENELOPE program (which is commonly used in medical physics) and to thin-target bremsstrahlung theory, as well. Comparisons suggest that the experimental dependence of thick-target bremsstrahlung on the atomic number of the target material may be slightly stronger than the results of the PENELOPE code suggest.
Curative effect observation of flavored artemisia capillaris soup with Chinese medicine external treatment of mother washing son ABO blood group

Objective To investigate the clinical curative effect of flavored artemisia capillaris soup with Chinese medicine external treatment of mother washing son ABO blood group.Methods Selected our hospital 120 cases of blood group antibody IgG immune resistance to A(B) titer of 1:12 8 or more pregnant women each 60 cases were randomly divided into treatment group and control group.Treatment group was given flavored artemisia capillaris soup with Chinese medicine outside treatment,and the control group was given oral vitamin C,vitamin E.Observed two groups blood immune antibody IgG titer A(B) decline in resistance and neonatal hemolysis disease condition.Results Pregnant women blood type antibody IgG immune resistance to treatment group A(B) titer dropped to normal 55 patients,the clini cal total effective rate was 91.67%(55/60),significantly higher than the control group 53.33%(32/60);Postpartum treat ment group newborns hemolytic disease incidence of 6.67%(4/60),significantly lower than the control group 18.33%(11/ 60),the treatment effect was similar between the two groups was statistically significant(P 0.05).Conclusion Flavored artemisia capillaris soup with Chinese medicine external treatment of mother washing effect of ABO blood group are not satisfied,can effectively reduce the serum antibody titer,prevent the happening of postpartum and neonatal hemolytic disease,worth clinical promotion.
Structure of the Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid/SiO2 Interface Studied by Sum-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy

In the study presented here, the structure of the RTIL/SiO2 interface has been examined by sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (SFVS). A series of hydrophobic RTILs composed of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (Cnmim, n = 6, 8 and 10) and bis(perfluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (BMSI) and bis(perfluoroethylsulfonyl)imide (BETI) anions have been examined. SFVS was used to determine the orientation of the cation as well as the structure of water at the RTIL/SiO2 interface. The alkyl chain of the imidazolium cation was determined to be nearly normal to the surface for all the RTILs examined. The conformational order of the alkyl chain on the cation was also determined and was found to be dependent on the length of the alkyl chain, with longer chains being more ordered with few gauche defects. The tilt of the imidazolium ring with respect to the surface normal was also determined and was found to be ∼28° for the BMSI salts with a reduction in the tilt angle to ∼18° for the BETI RTILs. The water at the surface associa...
Upside: A New Dynamics Method Capable of Cooperative De Novo Protein Folding in CPU-Hours

Protein dynamics can be simulated at many levels of resolution, from every atom to single beads representing one residue. Using only the backbone N, Cα, and C atoms, we have developed a coarse-grained model for Langevin dynamics (LD) simulations that is capable of cooperatively folding some small proteins with near A accuracy in hours on a home computer. Its extreme speed and high accuracy, respectively, are largely due to representing each residue with only the three backbone atoms but using their positions to reconstruct the influence of the missing groups. More specifically, the location of the backbone atoms defines the positions of pendant groups not explicitly represented in the model, thereby enabling the computation of the forces on these inferred positions and the distribution of these forces back onto the backbone atoms. Importantly, the reconstructed protein is associated with detailed AA- and neighbor-dependent Ramachandran maps, backbone H-bonding, and side chain packing potentials, features absent in many coarse grained folding models. This reconstruction allows the forces from a much more detailed model to act directly on the fundamental backbone degrees of freedom despite using only 3 explicit atoms per AA. This algorithm is implemented in a novel simulation framework, Upside, that is highly configurable and efficient. While Upside is originally designed to describe protein folding, we are also applying it to study intrinsically disordered and membrane proteins, as well as conformational change. Upside's extreme speed makes it an extremely powerful method for studies requiring extensive conformational sampling, for example, providing initial transition paths that can be further investigated using all-atom simulations.
Brain-controlled driving aid for electric wheelchairs

The Brain-computer interface (BCI) is an engaging field which could find applications in numerous fields like industrial, biomedical and engineering. In this paper a BCI based electric wheelchair driving aid design that utilizes mental concentration (EEG signals) and eye blinks (EMG signals) of the user, is presented. The design incorporates a safety controller with peripheral safety sensors that override the user command and stop the wheelchair when it detects an obstacle in its path. The wheelchair driving aid design is cost-effective (estimated cost less than $200) as it utilizes off-the-shelf BCI headset and electronics. Four experiments were conducted to validate the performance and reliability of the design.
A Study of a New Concept of High Resolution Hadron Calorimeter

We present a novel calorimeter concept capable of achieving energy resolution better than 25%/radicE for single hadrons and jets. The energy resolution improvement is achieved by utilizing the Cerenkov photon signal as an estimator of the energy loss due to nuclear processes. We demonstrate the excellent energy resolution for the case of a large homogeneous calorimeter by GEANT4 simulation. We also investigate a possible design of a sampling calorimeter involving alternating lead glass and scintillator planes. This design enables construction of a calorimeter with arbitrary segmentation in the transverse direction and in depth, as is required by many high-energy physics experiments. Such a calorimeter would at the same time enable excellent energy resolution for electrons and photons.
Naturally occurring vitreous chamber-based myopia in the Labrador retriever.

PURPOSE. TO investigate whether myopia is present in a breed of domestic dog, the Labrador retriever, and how the ocular components are related to refractive error in this breed. METHODS. Cycloplegic refractive error was measured in 75 Labrador retrievers by retinoscopy. Corneal and crystalline lens radii of curvature were measured in the right eyes of 57 of these dogs using a video-based keratophakometer, with axial ocular dimensions measured using A-scan ultrasonography. RESULTS. Of the 75 dogs tested, 11 (14.7%) were myopic by at least —0.50 D in one eye, and 6 (8.0%) were myopic in both eyes (full range of refractive errors, +3-50 D to —5.00 D). Of the 57 dogs with ocular component measurements, seven (12.3%) were myopic by at least —0.50 D in the right eye. There was a significant negative correlation between refractive error and vitreous chamber depth (Spearman r = —0.42; P < 0.001). Myopic eyes had an elongated vitreous chamber depth (10.87 ± 0.34 mm for myopic dogs, 10.02 ± 0.40 mm for nonmyopic dogs; P < 0.0001, Kruskal-Wallis test). There was also a significant quadratic association between lens thickness and vitreous chamber depth (P < 0.005; R 2 — 0.11), indicating that thinner lenses occurred at both shorter and longer vitreous chamber depths. CONCLUSIONS. Myopia in the Labrador retriever is analogous to human myopia in that it is caused by an elongated vitreous chamber. Thinner crystalline lenses found at longer vitreous chamber depths may be analogous to lens thinning documented in human ocular development. The Labrador retriever warrants investigation as a potential model of myopia that is naturally occurring rather than experimentally induced. {Invest Ophthalmol Vis Set. 1999;40:1577-1584)
Emotions as Information-Processing Functions in Behavior and Experience

Here we consider two components of emotions from a functional perspective of information processing: one of behavior and one of experience. The first component we discuss is facial expressive behav...
Enhanced Cytotoxicity in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Primitive Progenitors by the Combined Action of Imatinib and An HDM2-Inhibitor

Abstract In Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) the 9;22 chromosomal translocation and corresponding BCR-ABL protein are present in the most primitive hematopoietic stem/progenitors (Lin−/CD38−/CD34+). These cells are refractory to the effect of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The mechanism of this resistance has not been fully elucidated but is clearly distinct from the mechanism of resistance in the more mature CML cells. The p53 gene is rarely mutated in the chronic phase of CML. BCR-ABL is able to positively affect p53 expression whose potential proapoptotic effect may be balanced by survival signals such as Bcl-XL and Stat signaling. However, BCR-ABL also positively regulates HDM2, the negative regulator of p53, which may be the alternative mechanism of counteracting the induced p53. In an effort to facilitate a cytotoxic effect directed against the refractory CML primitive stem/progenitor cells we elected to explore the role of stabilizing the p53 protein. Accordingly we tested a novel inhibitor of the HDM2-p53 interaction (MI-219; Ascenta), which interferes with unmutated p53 degradation. MI- 219 induced reproducible cytotoxicity in four CML blast-crisis cell lines with intact p53 (WDT2, WDT3, BV173 and BV173R) with an IC50 ~2 microM. The BV173R cell line which has the Imatinib resistant T315I mutation displayed a cytotoxic effect with the MI- 219 equal to its parental BV173 cell line (IC50 ~2 microM). Responses were associated with the induction of p53 protein, its targets p21WAF1 and PUMA, and cleavage of PARP. The K562 cell line with mutated p53 did not respond to MI-219 as expected. MI-219 had a modest cytotoxic effect on magnetically separated (MACS) CD34+ cells from CML patients as a single agent (range of 30–50% cell death at 5 microM MI-219). Nevertheless, MI-219 markedly enhanced the cytotoxic effect of Imatinib on CD34+ cells, while as a single agent Imatinib induced 15–30% apoptosis. However the combination of 2 microM Imatinib and 5 microM MI-219 led to a cytotoxic effect averaging 76.4 ± 10.6% apoptosis. This enhanced cytotoxic effect was further noted in flow cytometrically sorted progenitor (Lin−/CD38+/CD34+) populations (~86.7% apoptosis). This combination equally induced apoptosis in primitive progenitor/stem cells (Lin−/CD38−/CD34+; ~83.0%), despite the minimal affect of each agent when given alone (Imatinib, ~20.8 % apoptosis; MI-219, ~36.9% apoptosis). This cytotoxic effect in primary CML cells was again associated with the induction of p53, p21WAF1, and the cleavage of PARP. Here we demonstrate that an increased level of p53 bypasses T315I associated resistance to Imatinib, and in combination with Imatinib generates a substantial cytotoxic effect in early progenitors, which are otherwise refractory to the effect of either agent alone. Thus these observations propose that the combination of MI-219 an HDM2-inhibitor with Imatinib may facilitate the eradication of minimal residual disease present within the primitive Lin−/CD38−/CD34+ population of CML.
Relationships between Scent Marking by Male Mice and the Pheromone-Induced Secretion of the Gonadotropic and Ovarian Hormones that Accompany Puberty in Female Mice

Many mammals use specific olfactory cues (pheromones) as an integral part of their intrapopulation communication. These compounds can be conveniently categorized according to function as:(a) signalling pheromones, which elicit a more or less immediate change in behavior (if indeed a response does occur), and (b) priming pheromones, which trigger neuroendocrine and endocrine activity. Sex attractants are an example of the former:the regulatory effect of urinary odors on the mouse estrous cycle is an example of the latter. Much of the recent interest in mammalian pheromones stems from the discovery in the 1950’s of a series of dramatic primer effects in female mice (e.g., Whitten, 1956:Bruce, 1959). Many contributions have since been made by ethologists, psychologists, and reproductive physiologists:but work by chemists and neuro-physiologists is conspicuously absent. Recent reviews include Bronson (1968, 1971, 1974), Bruce (1966, 1967, 1970), Cheal and Sprott (1971), Eisenberg and Kleiman (1974), Gleason and Reynierse (1969), Mykytowycz (1970), Ralls (1971), Schultz and Tapp (1974), Whitten (1966), and Whitten and Bronson (1970).
CHAPTER 22 – Multidrug-Resistance Gene Therapy in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

This chapter focuses on the multidrug resistance gene 1(MDR1), which encodes a drug efflux pump that removes toxic compounds, including many chemotherapy agents, from the cell. The chapter also reviews preclinical experience with the MDR1 in conferring chemoprotection to hematopoietic tissues and examine its current potential for clinical applications. The MDR1 gene encodes a membrane glycoprotein, the P-glycoprotein. The P-glycoprotein prevents cellular accumulation of specific compounds, most of which are lipophilic cations. P-glycoprotein is expressed at low levels in bone marrow progenitor and peripheral blood cells. This leads to significant accumulation of certain toxic agents in these cells, resulting in their death and a decrease in circulating blood cells. One approach that has been proposed to minimize the hematologic toxicity of chemotherapeutic agents is to increase the expression of P-glycoprotein in progenitor cells, leading to removal of such toxic agents from progenitor cells. MDR1 cDNA packaged into retroviral vectors has been used widely to study the feasibility of generating chemotherapy-resistant human progenitor cells.
Safety and Sacrifice

ABSTRACTThis paper critically investigates a possible tension between beliefs about the usefulness of police and prisons and awareness of the harms some communities face at the hands of criminal justice systems. If a person feels well-served by police and prison systems but becomes aware of the ways they are endangering some communities, they may feel they have a responsibility to work to transform or dismantle criminal justice systems, potentially sacrificing the safety they have gained from them. This paper considers more closely the understanding of safety underlying such a perceived ‘responsibility to sacrifice’. It clarifies an understanding of safety motivating both current systems of policing and incarceration and the idea of a responsibility to sacrifice: namely, the idea that safety is an exchangeable good, that is, that one person’s safety could be guaranteed by compromising another’s. It considers an available alternative understanding of safety as a shared good. The paper concludes by arguing ...
Experimental Measurements and Surface Complexation Modeling of U(VI) Adsorption onto Multilayered Graphene Oxide: The Importance of Adsorbate-Adsorbent Ratios.

Surface complexation models use experimental adsorption measurements to calculate stability constants that quantify the thermodynamic stability of adsorbed species. However, these constants are often poorly constrained due to nearly complete removal of the solute from solution and/or because the tested adsorbate:adsorbent ratios are not varied sufficiently. Using data sets that quantify the adsorption of U(VI) to multilayered graphene oxide (MLGO), we tested whether three different U(VI):MLGO ratios (3 ppm U; 20–210 mg L–1 MLGO) affect the ability of nonelectrostatic and diffuse layer models to predict U(VI) adsorption behaviors across a range of ionic strength (1–100 mM) and pH (2–9.5) conditions. Model formulations assumed interactions between discrete MLGO surfaces sites and the most abundant aqueous U(VI) complex(es) within a given pH range. We determined that the observed extents of U(VI) binding require adsorption of more than one U(VI) species (UO22+ and uranyl hydroxide(s) and/or carbonate(s)) and...
Sensitivity of woody carbon stocks to bark investment strategy in Neotropical savannas and forests

Abstract. Fire frequencies are changing in Neotropical savannas and forests as a result of forest fragmentation and increasing drought. Such changes in fire regime and climate are hypothesized to destabilize tropical carbon storage, but there has been little consideration of the widespread variability in tree fire tolerance strategies. To test how aboveground carbon stocks change with fire frequency and composition of plants with different fire tolerance strategies, we update the Ecosystem Demography model 2 (ED2) with (i) a fire survivorship module based on tree bark thickness (a key fire-tolerance trait across woody plants in savannas and forests), and (ii) plant functional types representative of trees in the region. With these updates, the model is better able to predict how fire frequency affects population demography and aboveground woody carbon. Simulations illustrate that the high survival rate of thick-barked, large trees reduces carbon losses with increasing fire frequency, with high investment in bark being particularly important in reducing losses in the wettest sites. Additionally, in landscapes that frequently burn, bark investment can broaden the range of climate and fire conditions under which savannas occur by reducing the range of conditions leading to either complete tree loss or complete grass loss. These results highlight that tropical vegetation dynamics depend not only on rainfall and changing fire frequencies but also on tree fire survival strategy. Further, our results indicate that fire survival strategy is fundamentally important in regulating tree size demography in ecosystems exposed to fire, which increases the preservation of aboveground carbon stocks and the coexistence of different plant functional groups.
Lessons learned from the Youngstown, Ohio induced earthquake sequence from January 2011 to January 2012

Abstract The Youngstown earthquake sequence of 2011 is one of the clearest examples of inadvertently induced seismicity for which detailed documentation is available. In this paper, we investigate (i) likely stress states in the vicinity of the injection well, (ii) a range of likely permeability scenarios, and (iii) relatively simple methods by which induced seismicity can be evaluated and mitigated. We use relocated hypocenters from the seismic sequence to construct a basement fault structure, which is then used to serve as a reference surface within the basement, and on which we calculate the effects of pore pressure changes induced by the injection activities of the Northstar #1 injection well. We also deduce an in situ (pre-injection) strike-slip stress regime, where σ 2 ≈ σ 3 , and it is consistent with both recent earthquake data and published stress estimates for the region. If the reactivation characteristics of the basement are known or assumed, a critical or threshold slip tendency can be determined and the basement faults can be analyzed for the likelihood of reactivation in a perturbed pore pressure field. Comparison of well injection pressures and simulated pore pressure perturbations within the basement below the injection well indicates that permeability anisotropy is necessary to generate sufficient pore pressure perturbation to induce fault reactivation. Simulations of the well's injection history show that our estimate of in situ stress state, coupled with a highly anisotropic permeability structure, can generate sufficient pore pressure perturbation on the inferred basement structure to cause reactivation, potentially slipping an area of approximately 4 × 10 5 m 2 .
Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap: Improving Hallway Behavior Using Positive Behavior Supports:

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a positive behavior support (PBS) intervention in a rural elementary school. Through this use of clear, consistent behavioral expectations, grade-level ass...
Art Therapist-Facilitated Open Studio Versus Coloring: Differences in Outcomes of Affect, Stress, Creative Agency, and Self-Efficacy (Studio ouvert animé par un art-thérapeute versus coloriage : différences de résultats sur l'affect, le stress, l'agentivité créatrice et l'efficacité personnelle)

ABSTRACTBackground: Coloring books for adults have become a ubiquitous presence in retail outlets worldwide and in the visual cultural landscape. The goal of this study was to determine differences in outcomes between art therapist-facilitated open studio and individual coloring.Methods: The study used a within-subjects experimental design. Healthy adult participants (aged 19–67 years) were invited to engage in one session each of individual coloring, and open studio facilitated by an art therapist. A total of 36 participants enrolled in the study; 29 completed pre- and post-surveys for both conditions. Outcomes measured included positive and negative affect, perceived stress, self-efficacy, and creative agency.Results: The art therapist-facilitated open studio condition resulted in superior improvements in positive affect, creative agency, and self-efficacy compared to the coloring condition. Both conditions resulted in lowered stress and reduced negative affect.Discussion and implications: The results i...
Antecedents of Cultural Intelligence Among American Hospitality Students: Moderating Effect of Ethnocentrism

As interactions and markets become increasingly global, hospitality firms must retain culturally-intelligent managers and hospitality education must nurture its students so they are qualified to meet this demand. This study examines the relationship between the cultural intelligence (CQ) of American hospitality students and its possible antecedents: cross-cultural academic training, foreign language skills, daily intercultural social contact, and international travel. Using hierarchical regression analysis of data from 938 American college students enrolled in hospitality programs in the United States, our study demonstrated that these variables generally predict CQ with a few exceptions. Results of multi-group analysis further showed that student ethnocentrism moderates the relationships between the antecedents and CQ. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.
Domain-Specific Use Cases for Knowledge-Enabled Social Media Analysis

Social media provides a virtual platform for users to share and discuss their daily life, activities, opinions, health, feelings, etc. Such personal accounts readily generate Big Data marked by velocity, volume, value, variety, and veracity challenges. This type of Big Data analytics already supports useful investigations ranging from research into data mining and developing public policy to actions targeting an individual in a variety of domains such as branding and marketing, crime and law enforcement, crisis monitoring and management, as well as public and personalized health management. However, using social media to solve domain-specific problem is challenging due to complexity of the domain, lack of context, colloquial nature of language, and changing topic relevance in temporally dynamic domain. In this article, we discuss the need to go beyond data-driven machine learning and natural language processing, and incorporate deep domain knowledge as well as knowledge of how experts and decision makers explore and perform contextual interpretation. Four use cases are used to demonstrate the role of domain knowledge in addressing each challenge.
Allele frequencies for 15 autosomal STR loci on U.S. Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic populations

were purchased from Interstate Blood Bank (Memphis, TN) and Millennium Biotech, Inc. (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and extracted using a modified salt out procedure (1). The extracted DNA was then quantified using UV spectrophotometry at 260 nm and a PicoGreen assay (2). A 150L aliquot of the extracted DNA solution was directly quantified in a Cary 100 double-beam spectrophotometer (Varian Analytical Instruments, Walnut Creek, CA). Low volume micro-cuvettes allowed for accurate absorbance measurements (A 0.2 to 0.6) without prior dilution of the stock extracted DNA. Sample concentrations were adjusted to 1 ng/ L for typing purposes using the PicoGreen assay values. Fifteen autosomal STR markers (the 13 CODIS core loci and D19S433 and D2S1338) were typed along with amelogenin using the Applied Biosystems AmpF STR IdentifilerTM kit (3). PCR amplification was carried out on a GeneAmp 9700 (Applied Biosystems) using 1 ng of DNA according to kit protocols (3) with the exception of reduced volume reactions (5 L instead of 25 L) and reduced cycles (26 instead of 28). Amplification products were diluted 1:15 in HiDiTM formamide and GS500-LIZ internal size standard (Applied Biosystems) and analyzed on the 16-capillary ABI Prism 3100 Genetic Analyzer without prior denaturation of samples. POPTM-6 (Applied Biosystems) rather than POPTM-4 was utilized for higher resolution separations on a 36 cm array. Samples were injected electrokinetically for either 10 s at 3 kV (default value) or 5 s at 2 kV. Allele calls were made in Genotype 3.7 by comparison with kit allelic ladders using the Kazaam macro (20% filter). A total of 700 unique STR profiles were evaluated: 302 Caucasian, 258 African American, and 140 Hispanic. There were 660 males and 40 females. The resultant data were evaluated using the DNATYPE program (4). The allele frequencies with observed and expected heterozygosity values from Hardy-Weinberg tests in the three U.S. populations are listed in Tables 1–3. The complete dataset is available at http://www.cstl.nist.gov/biotech/strbase.
Circulation: A Comparison of Reptiles, Mammals, and Birds

The evolution of endothermy has required structural elaboration of the airways and respiratory exchange surfaces. The presence of a completely septated heart in endotherms precludes the use of predominantly neurogenic control of pulmonary vascular resistance, as seen in noncrocodilian reptiles. The occurrence of ventilation-perfusion inequities in the finely subdivided airways of endotherms has required local vascular control in response to prevailing alveolar \({\text{P}}_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }\) with potential for intrapulmonary shunting from poorly ventilated to more adequately ventilated respiratory units. No evidence for this mechanism is seen in the pulmonary circulation of turtles. Although mean air convection requirements are similar in reptiles and endotherms at similar body temperatures and mean blood flow requirements are similar when adjusted for differences in the O2 capacity of blood, many noncrocodilian reptiles exhibit temporal variation in pulmonary blood flow during a given respiratory cycle. Right-to-left intracardiac shunting is intensified with the length of the apneic period. Such shunts are not possible in endotherms because of complete cardiac septation. An hypothesis is presented to the effect that intracardiac shunting may aid in depletion of available O2 stores during protracted apnea. The shunt may profitably be viewed as a CO2 shunt past the alveolar gas phase. The resulting influence on alveolar and systemic P \({\text{P}}_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} }\) may augment O2 binding to Hb in the lungs while intensifying unloading through the Bohr effect at the tissue level. From this perspective, the reptilian blood flow distribution patterns may be viewed as adaptive to the protracted apnea and lower respiratory frequency characterizing the group. These differences may be related to differences in metabolic intensity, respiratory frequency, and the consequent adaptive value of differing control mechanisms for pulmonary vascular resistance in ectotherms and endotherms.
Characterization of germline genomic alterations in familial pancreas cancer.

4116Background: Family history of BRCA-related tumors may correlate with response to chemotherapy and overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer (PC). We retrospectively compared family hi...
Privatization, racial disproportionality and disparity in child welfare: Outcomes for foster children of color

Abstract Purpose This study examined the effect of privatization policy on the issue of racial disparity in the child welfare system. Method Specific outcomes for N = 118,761 foster children across 10 states were compared to determine if the state system type [privatized vs. non-privatized] had any influence on disparities in outcomes by race. Results A main effect emerged for race and in the interactions between system type and race. Discussion The extent of disparity for children of color in foster care was supported, but for some outcomes, both groups fared better in privatized systems.
Higher-order Demand-driven Program Analysis

Developing accurate and efficient program analyses for languages with higher-order functions is known to be difficult. Here we define a new higher-order program analysis, Demand-Driven Program Analysis (DDPA), which extends well-known demand-driven lookup techniques found in first-order program analyses to higher-order programs. This task presents several unique challenges to obtain good accuracy, including the need for a new method for demand-driven lookup of non-local variable values. DDPA is flow- and context-sensitive and provably polynomial-time. To efficiently implement DDPA, we develop a novel pushdown automaton metaprogramming framework, the Pushdown Reachability automaton. The analysis is formalized and proved sound, and an implementation is described.
Visualizing Weather Financial Impact on Industries and Weather Derivatives

With the accelerating generation of enormous datasets, data processing tools are also increasing in computational efficiency as well as accuracy. Along with data mining and clustering techniques, tools that enable data visualization are also becoming mainstream mechanisms for extracting the maximum available useful information out of data. This is especially true for financial systems. Analyzing all available information and predicting short and long-term market trends with their fluctuations has been the cornerstone of trading strategies and giving investment advice for years. One of the interesting financial instruments, which can potentially utilize big data analysis and algorithms in several different ways are weather derivatives. Unlike other financial instruments, their research combines both market and weather analysis. This is quite complex and fits perfectly as an area we can explore big data processing and visualization capabilities. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between weather derivatives and weather and investigate how predicting the weather leads to predicting index values and therefore prices for weather derivatives. In pursuing this, we develop a web-based tool that employs weather prediction tools and use it to visualize and predict weather future prices. This research provides an example of how converging data streams can be efficiently analyzed.
Mobilizing Religion and Gender in India: The Role of Activism: by Nandini Deo, London, Routledge, 2016,xiv + 159 pp., $51.95 (Paperback), ISBN 978-1-138-49342-1

The rise of Hindu nationalism under the premiership of Narendra Modi continues to be a disturbing trend in Indian politics. Nandini Deo’s book is a fresh and illuminating contribution to an ample l...
Do Teacher Credentials and Characteristics Affect Teacher Effectiveness in High School Economics

We use student-level administrative data from Georgia to examine how teacher characteristics affect student learning. Specifically, we examine students’ normalized end-of-course test scores for a r...
A Neural Topic-Attention Model for Medical Term Abbreviation Disambiguation

Automated analysis of clinical notes is attracting increasing attention. However, there has not been much work on medical term abbreviation disambiguation. Such abbreviations are abundant, and highly ambiguous, in clinical documents. One of the main obstacles is the lack of large scale, balance labeled data sets. To address the issue, we propose a few-shot learning approach to take advantage of limited labeled data. Specifically, a neural topic-attention model is applied to learn improved contextualized sentence representations for medical term abbreviation disambiguation. Another vital issue is that the existing scarce annotations are noisy and missing. We re-examine and correct an existing dataset for training and collect a test set to evaluate the models fairly especially for rare senses. We train our model on the training set which contains 30 abbreviation terms as categories (on average, 479 samples and 3.24 classes in each term) selected from a public abbreviation disambiguation dataset, and then test on a manually-created balanced dataset (each class in each term has 15 samples). We show that enhancing the sentence representation with topic information improves the performance on small-scale unbalanced training datasets by a large margin, compared to a number of baseline models.
Defining success for a public library makerspace: Implications of participant-defined, individualized evaluative criteria

Abstract Public libraries are increasingly investing in makerspaces and seeking to evaluate their offerings. Defining success is the first step of the evaluation process yet proves difficult due to the heterogeneity of making participants and purposes and the individualized, self-directed nature of makerspace participation. This study identified and compared seven evaluative criteria that represented participants' and library definitions of success for one public library makerspace. Findings revealed that at least one criterion drawn from library objectives was relevant for each participant in the sample, yet none of the seven criteria was relevant for every participant. In an evaluation, drawing criteria exclusively from library objectives and/or applying criteria uniformly could underestimate the benefits of the makerspace. Drawing criteria from both library and participant perspectives and using individualized criteria that vary across the population could yield an assessment that reflects the breadth of purposes and benefits associated with the makerspace.
An Exploration of Suffering and Spirituality Among Older African American Cancer Patients as Guided by Howard Thurman's Theological Perspective on Spirituality.

The use of the religious experience to mitigate suffering within the context of a cancer diagnosis and treatment is poorly understood. Specifically, in this article, we explore suffering and the religious experience using Howard Thurman’s theological perspective. This perspective permits an exploration of the ways in which spirituality enables African American cancer patients to better manage suffering through: (1) a positive self-image as a child of God or the identification with the sufferings of Jesus; (2) seeking harmony in one’s environment; (3) the use of spirituality as self-nourishment; and, (4) the perspective of suffering as sacrament. In this paper, we use the narratives of African American cancer patients to argue that these theological perspectives are indeed relevant to the relief of suffering among this population.
Associations between memory loss and trauma in US asylum seekers: A retrospective review of medico-legal affidavits

Background The U.S. immigration system mandates that persons seeking asylum prove their persecution claim is credible and their fear of returning home is well-founded. However, this population represents a highly trauma-exposed group, with neuropsychiatric symptoms consequent to prior torture or maltreatment that may interfere with cognitive function and their ability to recall their trauma. These memory lapses may be incorrectly perceived by asylum adjudicators as indicators of dishonesty and jeopardize the person’s credibility and asylum claim. Our retrospective mixed methods study seeks to present associations between trauma and memory loss in a sample of persons seeking asylum to the U.S. and describe how memory impairments manifest in this trauma-exposed population. Methods We randomly selected 200 medico-legal affidavits from 1346 affidavits collected in the past 30 years, as part of the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Network connecting clinicians with legal providers for medical and/or psychiatric affidavits of U.S. asylum seekers and persons seeking other forms of humanitarian relief (hereafter, “asylum seekers”). Data was extracted from these affidavits using a coding manual informed by the Istanbul Protocol, the global standard for torture documentation. Seven affidavits were excluded due to missing age. We used multiple logistic regression to assess the association of memory loss with neuropsychiatric diagnoses: head trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. We supplemented these findings with a qualitative content analysis of the affidavits documenting memory loss. Memory loss presented among the asylum seekers’ affidavits in several ways: memory gaps of the traumatic event; challenges with presenting a clear chronology of the trauma, avoidance of traumatic memories, and persistent short-term memory loss interfering with daily activity. Results A majority of the sample received a neuropsychiatric diagnosis: 69% (n = 132) of asylum-seekers received a diagnosis of PTSD and 55% (n = 106) of depression. Head trauma was reported among 30% (n = 58) of affidavits. Further, 68% (n = 131) reported being subject to physical violence and 20% (n = 39) were documented as being at risk of suicide. Memory loss was documented among 21% (n = 40) asylum-seekers. In adjusted models, both PTSD and depression, but not head trauma, were associated with memory loss (p<0.05). Conclusion Stakeholders in the asylum process, spanning the medical, legal and immigration enforcement sectors, must be aware of the interplay of trauma and memory loss and how they might impact immigration proceedings for this vulnerable population.
Control of Non-Deterministic Systems With $\mu$ -Calculus Specifications Using Quotienting

The supervisory control problem for discrete event system (DES) under control involves identifying the supervisor, if one exists, which, when synchronously composed with the DES, results in a system that conforms to the control specification. In this context, we consider a non-deterministic DES under complete observation and control specification expressed in action-based propositional $\mu$ -calculus. The key to our solution is the process of quotienting the control specification against the plan resulting in a new $\mu$ -calculus formula such that a model for the formula is the supervisor. Thus the task of control synthesis is reduced a problem of $\mu$ -calculus satisfiability. In contrast to the existing $\mu$ -calculus quotienting-based techniques that are developed in deterministic setting, our quotienting rules can handle nondeterminism in the plant models. Another distinguishing feature of our technique is that while existing techniques use a separate $\mu$ -calculus formula to describe the controllability constraint (that uncontrollable events of plants are never disabled by a supervisor), we absorb this constraint as part of quotienting which allows us to directly capture more general state-dependent controllability constraints. Finally, we develop a tableau-based technique for verifying satisfiability of quotiented formula and model generation. The runtime for the technique is exponential in terms of the size of the plan and the control specification. A better complexity result that is polynomial to plant size and exponential to specification size is obtained when the controllability property is state-independent. A prototype implementation in a tabled logic programming language as well as some experimental results are presented.
Contemporary Review of MRI in Benign Genitourinary Pelvic Medicine: What Every Urologist Should Know

Herein we report a systematic review of literature to identify the contemporary focus areas of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use in benign Urology and present the highest yield results. MRI, specifically upright MRI, in combination with proper instructions and repeated Valsalva maneuvers, allows for more objective assessment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) staging. The lack of standardization of reference lines and points used in MRI evaluation of POP is a key limitation. Evaluation of prostate artery embolization (PAE) as an effective treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was a key focus of recent studies, but clear data regarding ideal patient population, procedure standardization, and performance compared to TURP are still lacking. A longer membranous urethral length (MUL) measured on MRI was predictive of post-prostatectomy continence. Dynamic MRI of the vesicourethral junction provided insight into the development of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and the factors that contribute to successful treatment with a sling. Functional MRI demonstrated that localization of the defective signaling mechanism in women with overactive bladder (OAB) determines their likelihood to respond to pelvic floor muscle training. Patients with both neurogenic and non-neurogenic LUT dysfunction show abnormalities in both grey and white brain matter compared to healthy individuals, especially in the pontine micturition center and periaqueductal grey. MRI has become an indispensable tool in benign Urology with its applicability in diagnosis, prediction, and prognosis of the disease at the organ level (bladder, prostate, urethra) and beyond (brain).
Acquired hypolipoproteinemia and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: A previously unexplored association?

e19041Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare disease that is the result of macrophage hyperactivation, leading to disordered cellular phagocytosis that is highly fatal if le...
Particle dry deposition algorithms in CMAQ version 5.3: characterization of critical parameters and land use dependence using DepoBoxTool version 1.0

Abstract. This study investigates particle dry deposition by characterizing critical parameters and land-use dependence in a 0-D box model as well as quantifying the resulting impact of dry deposition parameterizations on regional-scale 3-D model predictions. A publicly available box model configured with several land-use dependent dry deposition schemes is developed to evaluate predictions of several model approaches with available measurements. The 0-D box model results suggest that current dry deposition schemes in 3-D regional models underestimate particle dry deposition velocities, but this varies with size distribution properties and land-use categories. We propose two revised schemes to improve dry deposition performance in air quality models and test them in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The first scheme improves the previous CMAQ scheme by preserving the original dry deposition impaction calculation but turning off redundant integration across particle size for each aerosol mode. The second scheme adds a dependence on leaf area index (LAI) to better estimate uptake to vegetative surfaces while using a settling velocity that is integrated across particle size for the Stokes number calculation. CMAQ model performance was evaluated for a month in July 2011 for the conterminous U.S. based on available observations of ambient sulfate (SO4) aerosol concentrations from multiple routine particulate matter monitoring networks. Incorporation of the first scheme has a larger impact on coarse particles than fine particles, systematically reducing monthly domain-wide average particle dry deposition velocities (Vd) by approximately 96% and 35%, respectively, and increasing monthly average SO4 concentrations by 395% and 21%. After incorporating LAI into the boundary layer resistance (Rb), the second scheme creates more spatial diversity of Vd and changes SO4 concentrations (coarse = −76% to +336%; fine = −7% to +18%) with land-use categories. These modifications are incorporated into the current publicly available version of CMAQ (v5.3 and beyond).
Perturbation of the Zonal Radiation Balance by a Stratospheric Aerosol Layer.

The effect of stratospheric aerosols on the earth's monthly zonal radiation balance is investigated using a model layer consisting of 75% H2SO4, the primary constituent of the background aerosol layer. The reduction in solar energy absorbed by the earth-atmosphere system is determined through the albedo sensitivity, and the optically thin approximation is used in conjunction with the Henyey-Greenstein phase function for scattering. An infrared radiative transfer model is used to estimate the increased greenhouse effect from the aerosol layer, and the infrared heating compensates for the albedo effect in altering the radiation balance. The results indicate that the dominant influence of the thin model stratospheric aerosol layer is an increased reflection of solar energy all over the globe except for the polar-winter region, but the change in the radiation balance is uniform and small equatorward of 50 deg.
Predictors for Prolonged Drain Use Following Autologous Breast Reconstruction.

Background Surgical drains are routinely used following autologous reconstruction, but are often cited as the leading cause of peri-operative discomfort. This study defined routine drain use duration and assessed the risk factors for prolonged breast and abdominal drain use during microvascular breast reconstruction, measures which have never previously been defined. Methods Patients who underwent an abdominal microvascular free flap were included. Demographics, comorbidities, and operation-related characteristics were retrospectively collected in a prospectively maintained database. Statistical analysis utilized chi-square independent t-test, and linear regression analyses. Results One hundred forty-nine patients comprising 233 breast flaps were included. Average breast and abdominal drain duration were 12.9 ± 3.9 and 17.7 ± 8.2 days, respectively. Prolonged breast and abdominal drain duration were defined as drain use beyond the 75th percentile at 14 and 19 days, respectively. Multivariable regression revealed hypertension was associated with an increased breast drain duration by 1.4 days (p = 0.024), axillary dissection with 1.7 days (p = 0.026), African-American race with 3.1 days (p Conclusion Elevated BMI, hypertension, and axillary dissection increase risk for prolonged breast drain requirement in autologous reconstruction. African-American and Hispanic populations experience prolonged breast drain requirement after controlling for other factors, warranting further study.