cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Human Sickle Erythrocyte Hydration Status by Endothelin-1 Is Mediated by Casein Kinase II.

Abstract 3020 Poster Board II-996 In Sickle Cell Disease, K+ efflux and osmotically induced water loss leads to erythrocyte dehydration, an important step in the formation of hemoglobin S polymers and irreversible sickle cells. We have previously reported that activation of sickle erythrocyte endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptors is partially responsible for dense irreversible sickle cell formation thru mechanisms that are still undefined. Casein Kinase II (CK2), a serine/threonine kinase that phosphorylates acidic proteins, has been shown to regulate calmodulin activity and cytoskeletal proteins. Thus, we posit that CK2 may regulate cellular hydration status. CK2 activity is modulated by apigenin, emodin, heparin, and ornithine decarboxylase. Our results indicate that CK2 activity in erythrocyte membranes increases in the presence of ET-1 (2.8 ± 0.1 to 4.9 ± 0.01 nmol/min/mL * 106 cell) an event that is blunted by pre-incubation with the ET-1 B receptor blocker, BQ788 (2.5 ± 0.1 nmol/min/mL * 106 cell). Our data also indicate that 20 μM apigenin blocks ET-1 induced CK2 activity in sickle erythrocytes (2.8 ± 0.1 to 2.7 ± 0.4 nmol/min/mL * 106 cell). We then examined the role of CK2 activation in cellular dehydration. We incubated sickle erythrocytes for 3 hours in deoxygenation-oxygenation cycles in the presence or absence of 20μM apigenin or 2μM 4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzotriazole (TBB), another specific CK2 inhibitor, and measured the changes in erythrocyte density by the phthalate oil method. We observed that inhibition of CK2 led to the inhibition of deoxygenation-stimulated cellular dehydration in sickle erythrocytes by apigenin (D50= 1.106 to 1.100 g/mL) or TBB (D50 =1.097 g/mL). Apigenin also inhibited the volume-stimulated K+ efflux in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 = 18 ± 1 μM). These results strongly implicate CK2 as an intermediate of the ET-1 stimulated cellular volume regulatory systems in erythrocytes and suggest that regulation of CK2 activity may lead to reduction of hemoglobin S polymerization in vivo. Supported by NIH R01-HL09632 to AR. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Comparing the effectiveness of commercial obfuscators against MATE attacks

The ability to protect software from malicious reverse engineering remains a challenge faced by commercial software companies who invest a large amount of resources in the development of their software product. In order to protect their investment from potential attacks such as illegal copying, tampering, and malicious reverse engineering, most companies utilize some type of protection software, also known as obfuscators, to create variants of their products that are more resilient to adversarial analysis. In this paper, we report on the effectiveness of different commercial obfuscators against traditional man-at-the-end (MATE) attacks where an adversary can utilize tools such as debuggers, disassemblers, and de-compilers as a legitimate end-user of a binary executable. Our case study includes four benchmark programs that have associated adversarial goals categorized as either comprehension or change tasks. We use traditional static and dynamic analysis techniques to identify the adversarial workload and outcomes before and after each program is transformed by a set of three commercial obfuscators. Our results confirm what is typically assumed: an adversary with a reasonable background in the computing disciplines can both comprehend and make changes to any of our completely unprotected programs using standard tools. Additionally, given the same skill set and attack approach, protected programs can still be probed to leak certain information, but none could be successfully altered and saved to create a cracked version. As a contribution, our methodology is unique compared to prior studies on obfuscation effectiveness in that we categorize adversarial skill and delineate program goals into comprehension and change ability, while considering the load time and overhead of obfuscated variants.
Developmental Trajectories of Bottle-Feeding During Infancy and Their Association with Weight Gain.

OBJECTIVE To describe patterns of bottle-feeding across the first year postpartum and explore whether bottle-feeding trajectories are differentially associated with infant weight gain. METHOD Data came from 1291 mothers who participated in the Infant Feeding Practices Study 2. Mothers completed a prenatal questionnaire and monthly surveys of infant feeding and growth between birth and 12 months. Group-based trajectory mixture modeling was used to describe developmental trajectories of bottle-feeding intensities across the first year. Growth curve modeling was used to explore associations between bottle-feeding intensity trajectory group membership and weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) trajectories from birth to 12 months. RESULTS Four qualitatively distinct trajectories of bottle-feeding were identified: (1) High-Stable: ∼100% of feeds from bottles across infancy; (2) Rapid-Increase: <30% of feeds from bottles during the neonatal assessment, increasing to ∼100% by 6 months; (3) Gradual-Increase: <10% of feeds from bottles during the neonatal assessment, gradually increasing to ∼100% by 12 months; and (4) Low-Stable: <5% of feeds from bottles across the majority of infancy. Bottle-feeding groups had significantly different WAZ trajectories across infancy; by 12 months, the High-Stable and Rapid-Increase groups had significantly higher WAZs compared with the Gradual-Increase and Low-Stable groups (p < .001). The association between bottle-feeding group membership and WAZ trajectories was not confounded by sociodemographic characteristics or the extent to which infants received breast milk. CONCLUSION High-intensity bottle use during early infancy may place infants at higher risk for excess weight gain. Supports and policies that help mothers delay high-intensity bottle use until later infancy are warranted.
Evaluation of volume fraction of solid in alloys formed by semisolid processing

Three of the methods used to determine the volume fraction of solid as a function of temperature in alloys in the semisolid state, namely utilization of thermodynamic data, thermal analysis, and quantitative metallography on quenched microstructures, are studied. The accuracy of each method is evaluated and the advantages and limitations are recognized. It is demonstrated that, while all methods are approximate, they offer distinct and different advantages.
The Management of End User Computing in a Distributed Decision Support Systems Environment

Due to the heavy use of End User Computing (EUC) at all levels within organizations, there is a need to integrate user-developed systems and other subsystems to effectively support organizational management and decision making. In this paper, the authors examine issues related to EUC in a subsystem-interface based distributed Decision Support Systems (DSS) environment from which several guidelines on managing EUC are recommended. These guidelines include: 1) the planning of EUC should be incorporated into the design of DSS; 2) the management of EUC should be oriented to the effectiveness of organizational decision making; and 3) the management of EUC cannot be separated from the management of communication activities.
Utilization of Health Care Services and Ambulatory Resources Associated with Chronic Noncancer Pain

Objective Examine traditional and uncompensated health care utilization associated with chronic noncancer pain. Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Tertiary academic medical center. Subjects Internal medicine patients on long-term opioids for chronic noncancer pain with or without a pain agreement between April 1, 2014, and April 1, 2015 (N = 834). Patients without pain served as controls (N = 782). Methods Univariate statistics were used to compare health care utilization by the presence of chronic pain, pain agreement status, opioid dose, and schedule. Logistic regression was used to assess predictors of health care utilization, with emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and after-hour calls as binary outcomes and office visits and phone/e-mail contacts as ordinal outcomes. Results Patients with chronic pain used significantly more health care resources compared with patients without pain (all P < 0.001). Patients on a pain agreement had more telephone and secure messages than patients without an agreement ( P = 0.002). Controlling for demographics and other factors, patients with chronic pain had 2.6 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.1-3.4) times the odds of an emergency room visit, 5.0 (95% CI = 3.6-7.0) times the odds of a hospitalization, and 2.3 (95% CI = 1.7-3.0) times the odds of an after hour call, compared with nonpain controls. Ordinal logistic regression yield adjusted common odds ratios of 3.4 (95% CI = 2.7-4.2) and 2.9 (95% CI = 2.3-3.6) for total clinic visits and telephone or secure messages, respectively, indicating higher utilization for chronic pain patients. Conclusions Patients with chronic noncancer pain utilized more traditional and uncompensated health care resources compared with patients without chronic pain.
The Partial Reinforcement Hump in A Two-Choice Sequential Prediction Task With Alternatives of Unequal Frequency

Four hundred college students received one of five sequences in which one of two events occurred on either 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or 95% of 100 trials followed by 30 trials during which one event was always correct. A partial reinforcement hump—a rise and decline in the dependent variable curve following partial reinforcement—appeared in the postacquisition curves of two of the five groups. In the other three groups, a large fall-off in the curve occurred where a large drop in the curve should occur if postacquisition choices are controlled by the cognitive processes posited to produce the partial reinforcement hump. These results are consistent with the general expectancy position.
Inflammation on Prostate Needle Biopsy is Associated with Lower Prostate Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose: We performed a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association of inflammation on prostate needle biopsies and prostate cancer risk.Materials and Methods: We searched Embase®, PubMed® and Web of Science™ from January 1, 1990 to October 1, 2016 for abstracts containing the key words prostate cancer, inflammation and biopsy. Study inclusion criteria were original research, adult human subjects, cohort or case-control study design, histological inflammation on prostate needle biopsy and prostate cancer on histology. Two independent teams reviewed abstracts and extracted data from the selected manuscripts. Combined ORs and 95% CIs of any, acute and chronic inflammation were calculated using the random effects method.Results: Of the 1,030 retrieved abstracts 46 underwent full text review and 25 were included in the final analysis, comprising a total of 20,585 subjects and 6,641 patients with prostate cancer. There was significant heterogeneity among studies (I2 = 84.4%, p...
A Simulation Study of Information Theoretic Techniques and Classical Hypothesis Tests in One Factor Anova

This work studies the performance of certain information theoretic techniques and two classical hypothesis testing procedures in identifying the correct models for population means in one factor ANOVA. A simulation study is used, and data samples are generated to conform to assumptions of the one factor fixed effects analysis of variance. Data sets with three data samples in each set are generated for different combinations of population means and sample sizes with equal variances for the samples. The sizes of the three samples are specified both equal and unequal. Three different specifications of population means are studied, all three means equal, two means equal and one mean different, and all three means different. The effectiveness of each statistical technique is measured by the empirical probabilities of selecting the correct model for the population means.
Adaptive Opportunistic Maintenance for Multi-unit Systems Subject to Stochastic Degradation

For a multi-unit system subject to stochastic degradation failure, the maintenance performed on any component usually incurs a common system setup cost, regardless of the number of components being maintained. Therefore, whenever a component undergoes the maintenance, there is an opportunity to conduct preventive maintenance (PM) on other components even though their degradation does not exceed their own PM thresholds. Thus, simultaneously conducting PM on multiple components can pontential reduce total setup costs, realizing maintenance saving over a long run. Though multi-component maintenance planning has received much attentions in the past decades, most decision models are built upon individual components, such as block-based maintenance and periodic inspection/replacement policy. In this paper, we propose an opportunistic maintenance policy that adaptively adjusts the inspection interval, and the thresholds of PM and opportunistic maintenance based on the degradation of all components. A simulation model is developed to minimize the long-run cost rate by considering the costs associated with inspection, setup, and maintenance actions. Finally, the numerical examples are provided to demonstrate how to optimize the opportunistic maintenance threshold under different setup cost, PM overhead, and reliability parameters.
Judges and Jews: congregational conflict and the Protestant secular in 19th-century America

This article shows how 19th-century Jews embraced the American legal system. In spite of the rhetoric of ‘religious freedom’ the fact that religious congregations were legal corporations meant that...
Effect of a Biobehavioral Environmental Approach on Disability Among Low-Income Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Disability among older adults is a strong predictor of health outcomes, health service use, and health care costs. Few interventions have reduced disability among older adults. Objective To determine whether a 10-session, home-based, multidisciplinary program reduces disability. Design, Setting, and Participants In this randomized clinical trial of 300 low-income community-dwelling adults with a disability in Baltimore, Maryland, between March 18, 2012, and April 29, 2016, 65 years or older, cognitively intact, and with self-reported difficulty with 1 or more activities of daily living (ADLs) or 2 or more instrumental ADLs (IADLs), participants were interviewed in their home at baseline, 5 months (end point), and 12 months (follow-up) by trained research assistants who were masked to the group allocation. Participants were randomized to either the intervention (CAPABLE) group (n = 152) or the attention control group (n = 148) through a computer-based assignment scheme, stratified by sex in randomized blocks. Intention-to-treat analysis was used to assess the intervention. Data were analyzed from September 2017 through August 2018. Interventions The CAPABLE group received up to 10 home visits over 5 months by occupational therapists, registered nurses, and home modifiers to address self-identified functional goals by enhancing individual capacity and the home environment. The control group received 10 social home visits by a research assistant. Main Outcomes and Measures Disability with ADLs or IADLs at 5 months. Each ADL and IADL task was self-scored from 0 to 2 according to whether in the previous month the person did not have difficulty and did not need help (0), did not need help but had difficulty (1), or needed help regardless of difficulty (2). The overall score ranged from 0 to 16 points. Results Of the 300 people randomized to either the CAPABLE group (n = 152) or the control group (n = 148), 133 of the CAPABLE participants (87.5%) were women with a mean (SD) age of 75.7 (7.6) years; 126 (82.9%) self-identified as black. Of the controls, 129 (87.2%) were women with a mean (SD) age of 75.4 (7.4) years; 133 (89.9%) self-identified as black. CAPABLE participation resulted in 30% reduction in ADL disability scores at 5 months (relative risk [RR], 0.70; 95% CI, 0.54-0.93;P = .01) vs control participation. CAPABLE participation resulted in a statistically nonsignificant 17% reduction in IADL disability scores (RR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.65-1.06;P = .13) vs control participation. Participants in the CAPABLE group vs those in the control group were more likely to report that the program made their life easier (82.3% vs 43.1%;P Conclusions and Relevance Low-income community-dwelling older adults who received the CAPABLE intervention experienced substantial decrease in disability; disability may be modifiable through addressing both the person and the environment. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:NCT01576133
Stem Cells as a Potential Adjunctive Therapy in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Despite advances in the management of subarachnoid hemorrhage, a considerable proportion of patients are still left with severe and disabling long-term consequences. Unfortunately, there are limited therapeutic options to counteract the sequelae following the initial insult. The role of stem cells has been studied in the treatment of various diseases. The goal of this study was to provide a literature review regarding the potential advantages of stem cell therapy to counteract or minimize the sequelae of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. PubMed, Google Scholar and ClinicalTrials.gov searches were conducted to incorporate pertinent studies that discussed stem cell use in the management of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Included articles were subjected to data extraction for a synthesis of the efficacy of stem cell therapy. Four pre-clinical studies with 181 animal-model subjects (44 mice, 137 rats) were incorporated in our review. Endovascular punctures (65%) and blood injections in subarachnoid spaces (17%) were used to induce hemorrhage models. Stem cells were administered intravenously (3.0x10 6 cells) or intranasally (1.5x10 6 cells). According to literature, mesenchymal cell therapy significantly (p<0.05) induces stem cell migration to lesion sites, decreases associated neural apoptosis and inflammation, improves ultrastructural integrity of cerebral tissue, and aids in improving sensorimotor function post subarachnoid hemorrhage. Overall, stem cells, particularly mesenchymal stem cells, have shown promising cellular, morphological, and functional benefits in animal models suffering from induced subarachnoid hemorrhages. However, further studies are warranted to elucidate the full effects of stem cell therapy for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Cell-free Hemoglobin Increases Inflammation, Lung Apoptosis, and Microvascular Permeability in Murine Polymicrobial Sepsis

Increased endothelial permeability is central to the pathogenesis of sepsis and leads to organ dysfunction and death but the endogenous mechanisms that drive increased endothelial permeability are not completely understood. We previously reported that cell-free hemoglobin (CFH), elevated in 80% of patients with sepsis, increases lung microvascular permeability in an ex vivo human lung model and cultured endothelial cells. In this study, we augmented a murine model of polymicrobial sepsis with elevated circulating CFH to test the hypothesis that CFH increases microvascular endothelial permeability by inducing endothelial apoptosis. Mice were treated with an intraperitoneal injection of cecal slurry with or without a single intravenous injection of CFH. Severity of illness, mortality, systemic and lung inflammation, endothelial injury and dysfunction and lung apoptosis were measured at selected time points. We found that CFH added to CS increased sepsis mortality, plasma inflammatory cytokines as well as lung apoptosis, edema and inflammation without affecting large vessel reactivity or vascular injury marker concentrations. These results suggest that CFH is an endogenous mediator of increased endothelial permeability and apoptosis in sepsis and may be a promising therapeutic target.
Rethinking the process of diffusion in innovation: A service-ecosystems and institutional perspective

Abstract The diffusion of innovation is generally referred to as the spread or adoption of a technology within a social context. This view separates technological and market aspects of innovation by relying on an underlying assumption of a unidirectional flow of innovation–that is, from the technological side to the market side. More recent work, however, points toward more dynamic, inclusive, and integrative approaches to studying innovation and diffusion. We develop a theoretical framework for rethinking the process of diffusion in innovation, using a service-centered, ecosystems, and institutional lens. This framework helps to overcome narrow conceptions that separate technological aspects of innovation from processes of diffusion or adoption, and highlights the importance of institutional change. Specifically, our framework does not privilege one actor as an innovator/producer and another as an adopter/consumer, but rather considers all actors as resource integrators, and diffusion as a critical part of recursive innovation processes.
ROC: A Reconfigurable Optical Computer for Simulating Physical Processes

Due to the end of Moore’s law and Dennard scaling, we are entering a new era of processors. Computing systems are increasingly facing power and performance challenges due to both device- and circuit-related challenges with resistive and capacitive charging. Non-von Neumann architectures are needed to support future computations through innovative post-Moore’s law architectures. To enable these emerging architectures with high-performance and at ultra-low power, both parallel computation and inter-node communication on-the-chip can be supported using photons. To this end, we introduce ROC, a reconfigurable optical computer that can solve partial differential equations (PDEs). PDE solvers form the basis for many traditional simulation problems in science and engineering that are currently performed on supercomputers. Instead of solving problems iteratively, the proposed engine uses a resistive mesh architecture to solve a PDE in a single iteration (one-shot). Instead of using actual electrical circuits, the physical underlying hardware emulates such structures using a silicon-photonics mesh that splits light into separate pathways, allowing it to add or subtract optical power analogous to programmable resistors. The time to obtain the PDE solution then only depends on the time-of-flight of a photon through the programmed mesh, which can be on the order of 10’s of picoseconds given the millimeter-compact integrated photonic circuit. Numerically validated experimental results show that, over multiple configurations, ROC can achieve several orders of magnitude improvement over state-of-the-art GPUs when speed, power, and size are taken into account. Further, it comes within approximately 90% precision of current numerical solvers. As such, ROC can be a viable reconfigurable, approximate computer with the potential for more precise results when replacing silicon-photonics building blocks with nanoscale photonic lumped-elements.
Analysis of Scanning Tunneling Microscope Topographs of Graphite Surfaces Roughened by Ar+ Ion Bombardment

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has been used to investigate graphite surfaces roughened by 5 keV Ar+ ion bombardment. The (0001) surfaces of several samples were etched with the same total ion dose but with different sputter rates for each surface. STM images taken after sputtering show that the roughness of the sputtered surfaces depended on the sputter rate and that the surface topography of each sample appeared self-similar over a large range of length scales. These experimental observations agree with predictions of the recently proposed Shadow Model. The two dimensional height-height correlation function is utilized as a means of quantitative analysis for STM topographs of sputtered surfaces.
Extended Aging and Marbling Class Effects on Color Stability of Beef Longissimus lumborum, Gluteus medius, and Biceps femoris Steaks

Postmortem aging improves palatability of various muscles, especially those from lower quality grades. This study evaluated postmortem aging and marbling class effects on the color stability of longissimus lumborum, gluteus medius, and biceps femoris steaks. Carcasses were selected at grading to have Lower Small (Small00 to Small50; n = 50) or Upper Slight (Slight50 to Slight90; n = 50) marbling scores. Strip loin and top sirloin subprimals from each carcass side were assigned to aging treatments (14, 21, 28, or 35 d) in an incomplete block arrangement. After aging, subprimals were cut into longissimus lumborum, gluteus medius, and biceps femoris steaks, respectively. Steaks were placed in a simulated retail display for 11 d. Changes in redness (a* and hue angle) were much slower and less extensive (P < 0.001) in longissimus lumborum steaks than in gluteus medius steaks, which had slightly slower and less extensive (P < 0.01) redness changes than biceps femoris. Increasing aging time increased (P < 0.001) the rate and extent of overall color change (ΔE) during simulated retail display. Steaks from Lower Small carcasses had higher (P < 0.01) L* values than steaks from Upper Slight carcasses at 14, 28, and 35 d postmortem. In steaks from Upper Slight carcasses, L* values were lower (P < 0.01) in steaks aged for 28 d compared to other aging times. In steaks from Lower Small carcasses, L* values were highest (P < 0.001) when aged for 14 d. Increased aging time generally decreased (P < 0.05) a*, b*, and chroma values. However, within each aging time, only b* values of steaks aged for 35 d differed (P = 0.01) with regard to marbling class. Results indicate that increasing aging time decreased color life of beef muscles, and that marbling class had minimal impact on lean color stability.
National trends in oropharyngeal cancer incidence and survival within the Veterans Affairs Health Care System

BACKGROUND Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) epidemiology has not been examined previously in the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) population. METHODS Joinpoint regression analysis was applied to OPSCC cases identified from VA administrative data from 2000 to 2012. RESULTS We identified 12 125 OPSCC cases (incidence: 12.2 of 100 000 persons). OPSCC incidence declined between 2000 and 2006 (annual percent change [APC] = -4.27, P < .05), then increased between 2006 and 2012 (APC = 7.02, P < .05). Significant incidence increases occurred among white (APC = 7.19, P < .05) and African American (APC = 4.87, P < .05) Veterans and across all age cohorts. The percentage of never-smokers increased from 8% in 2000 to 15.7% in 2012 (P < .001), and 2-year overall survival improved from 31.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) [30-33.4]) to 55.7% (95% CI [54.4-57.1]). CONCLUSIONS OPSCC incidence is increasing across all racial and age cohorts in the VA population. Smoking rates remain high among Veterans with OPSCC and gains in survival lag those reported in the general population.
Recent Outbursts from the Transient X-Ray Pulsar Cep X-4 (GS 2138+56)

We report on X-ray observations of the 66 s period transient X-ray pulsar Cep X-4 (GS 2138+56) with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) and with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). Two outbursts from Cep X-4 were observed with BATSE in 1993 June-July and 1997 July. Spin periods of P(sub spin) = 66.2510 +/- 0.0009 s on 1993 June 25 (MJD 49,163) and P(sub spin) = 66.27 68 +/- 0.0007 s on 1997- July 12 (MJD 50,641) were each measured from 2 day spans of BATSE data near each outburst's peak. Cep X-4 showed an average spin down rate of P/P = (8.7 +/- 0.2) x 10(exp -5)/ yr between the 1993 and 1997 outbursts. After BATSE could no longer detect Cep X-4, public observations were performed on 1997 July 18 & 25 with the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on RXTE. A spin period Of P(sub spin) = 66.28 +/- 0.02 s was measured from observations on 1997 July 18 (MJD 50,647). Significant aperiodic noise, with an rms variance of approx. 18% in the frequency range 0.01 - 1.0 Hz was observed on both days. Energy and intensity dependent pulse shape variations were also seen in these data. Recently published optical observations associate Cep X-4 with a Be companion star.
Dural arteriovenous fistula and arteriovenous malformation presenting as trigeminal neuralgia.

A 56-year-old man presented to our emergency department for intractable left facial pain. The pain originally started about 10 months prior and was described as intermittent, sharp and shock-like in the left mandible and jaw area, triggered by chewing or touching his face. He was initially seen at
Facility Defect and Cost Reduction by Incorporating Maintainability Knowledge Transfer Using Maintenance Management System Data

AbstractFacility maintenance is critical to the proper function and utilization of facilities and fit and function are highly important to dormitories. This study analyzed 39,093 work orders from a...
Need for Retinal Detachment Reoperation Based on Primary Repair Method Among Commercially Insured Patients, 2003-2016

Purpose To examine associations between primary repair, patient characteristics, and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) reoperation. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods We used administrative claims to identify enrollees with incident RRD treatment by laser barricade, pneumatic retinopexy (PR), pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), or scleral buckle (SB) between 2003 and 2016. Analysis excluded patients with less than 3 years of continuous enrollment, previous RRD diagnosis, or repair. We determined reoperation frequency (PPV, PR, or SB) within 90 days postrepair and used multivariable logistic regression to identify associations between reoperation and patient and primary repair characteristics. Results Of 16,190 patients with documented primary RRD repair, 2,918 (18.0%) required reoperation within 90 days. Reoperation was significantly associated with male sex (odds ratio [OR] 1.24, P Conclusions Nearly 1 in 5 patients require reoperation within 90 days after primary RRD repair. Cases requiring only primary laser barricade had lowest reoperation odds, likely representing less severe RRDs. Primary PR had highest reoperation odds; PPV and SB were similar to each other. These findings are important for patient education and surgical decision-making.
Binary search algorithm to predict the time of next link change in wireless mobile networks

We propose a binary search algorithm of logarithmic time complexity to predict the time for next link change in a wireless mobile network (WMN). The search space for the algorithm ranges from the current time instant (initial left index) to the last time instant of the simulation (initial right index). The algorithm always maintains an invariant that the WMN has not undergone any link change at the time instant corresponding to the left index and has undergone at least one link change at the time instant corresponding to the right index. The algorithm goes through a sequence of iterations (the search space reduces by half in each iteration) until the difference between the right index and left index is within a termination threshold (e). We also show that the predicted times of next link changes follow an exponential distribution, especially for lower values of the termination threshold.
The 'Severe and Pervers-ive' Standard of Hostile-Work-Environment Law: Behold the Motivating Factor Test

It seems that every day the media reports another shocking example of sexual harassment in the workplace. Although federal civil rights law attempts to deter such abuses, the law has apparently failed. The reason for this failure begins with Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Supreme Court decision ruling that to be actionable a hostile work environment must be so severe or pervasive that it altered the victim’s working conditions and rendered them abusive. Other victims of workplace discrimination are not burdened with these demanding elements because Title VII, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, does not require them. Title VII merely requires that a victim of workplace discrimination prove that discriminatory intent was a motivating factor for any act “with respect to” a condition of employment. The Supreme Court compounded the error it committed in Meritor when it decided Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth. That case created an affirmative defense for employers ostensibly accountable for the harassment of their supervisors. This affirmative defense exonerated employers if (1) they had taken reasonable measures to prevent and correct harassment, and (2) the victim did not take advantage of those measures or otherwise failed to avoid harm. This affirmative defense violates the spirit if not the letter of the 1991 Civil Rights Act. The so-called “same-decision” defense, created in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, would have exonerated employers who would have made an adverse employment decision regardless of their discriminatory intent. Congress, however, retrenched the defense so that it now merely limits plaintiffs’ remedies. Employers are strictly liable if discrimination was a motivating factor with respect to any employment action. Despite this demonstration of Congress’s displeasure with an affirmative defense in the area of employment discrimination, Ellerth created one. The aggregate effect of Meritor, Ellerth and other Supreme Court decisions has doomed claims alleging serious and sometimes flagrant acts of harassment. To align the elements of a hostile-work-environment claim with the requirements of Title VII, this Article proposes as new standard. It would make actionable words or conduct of a sexual or gender-related nature, which, when taken as a whole, would be highly offensive to a reasonable person and were highly offensive to the victim. This standard would give victims of harassment a fighting chance to find justice.
Storms and Wars

Before I got my powers everything was different. All that time right up to my eighteenth birthday, it was smooth and peaceful. Always the same. When I saw somebody downtown, they said, "Hi, Billy." They smiled. Nothing was wrong with them. They were all fine. Everybody was, and they never changed. Back then the weather was so good. The stars came out and I could see the moon over the fields most nights. Mornings, when I opened up my eyes, the sun was there. Sometimes it could get windy. It snowed and it rained good and hard, but there were no bad storms, never a hurricane like the one last year that scared people to death. Back then nobody was scared. They didn't need to be. Judge Johnson might get mad once in a while. He'd yell at someone, but there was nobody bad in Hinsdale. Nobody rotten that I knew. There were a few kids that teased me. Jack Wilson teased me a few times. He called me stupid, said I was a retard. But Tom Stone always stuck up for me. One time he got Jack on the ground and sat on him till Jack was crying. "Fm sorry, Billy," Tom made him say. I can remember when the Eagles won the championship every year. It never mattered who was playing. Whether it was Buck Fuller, Bobby Freeman, or Jay Curry. The last game of the season Grandpa jumped up, red in the face. "They won it, Billy!" he yelled. "By God, they won it!" Then he took me by both arms and jumped me up and down. The whole gym was up and jumping, and every where I looked people were yelling and laughing and smiling, like Grandpa and me. It used to be my head was light. I couldn't even feel it. I could run up the drive, hop the steps up to the porch, and it was more like I was flying. Now there's always something in my head. There's people there summer and winter. At night I dream of them and in the day they stay inside me. They never leave. There's Grandpa. There's Jeannie, my mother, disappeared since I was two. There's John McClarren, who shot himself after his barn burned down.
The Law of Monetary Policy

Towards the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, the Federal Reserve began using — or reviving — innovative tools for providing liquidity to the financial markets. This paper examines the types of tools at the disposal of the Federal Reserve System and highlights how the Federal Reserve attempts to keep credit risk off its balance sheet. I further argue that the current situation in the financial markets is not one due to a dearth of liquidity, but to a lack of market depth. This has important implications as to what policies should be employed to alleviate the current problems.
Progenitor programming in mammalian nephrogenesis

Nephrogenesis is dependent on the input of several transcriptional regulatory networks. However, the details of how these networks operate and converge to facilitate nephron progenitor specific programmes are largely unknown. To this end, recent studies have focused on identifying the precise regulatory mechanisms that modulate progenitor maintenance and induction. Continued focus on this area of research will help identify nephrogenic programmes which could be manipulated for therapeutic intervention of kidney disease.
Algorithmic Verification of Systems Software Using SMT Solvers

Program verification is an undecidable problem; all program verifiers must make a tradeoff between precision and scalability. Over the past decade, a variety of scalable program analysis tools have been developed. These tools, based primarily on techniques such as type systems and dataflow analysis, scale to large and realistic programs. However, to achieve scalability they sacrifice precision, resulting in a significant number of false error reports and adversely affecting the usability of the tool. In this talk, I will present a different approach to program verification realized in the HAVOC verifier for low-level systems software. HAVOC works directly on the operational semantics of C programs based on a physical model of memory that allows precise modeling of pointer arithmetic and other unsafe operations prevalent in low-level software. To achieve scalability, HAVOC performs modular verification using contracts in an expressive assertion language that includes propositional logic, arithmetic, and quantified type and data-structure invariants. The assertion logic is closed under weakest precondition, thereby guaranteeing precise verification for loop-free and call-free code fragments. To reduce the effort of writing contracts, HAVOC provides a mechanism to infer them automatically. It allows the user to populate the code with candidate contracts and then searches efficiently through the candidate set for a subset of consistent contracts. The expressive contract language in HAVOC has two important benefits. First, it allows the documentation and verification of properties and invariants specific to a particular software system. Second, it allows a user to systematically achieve the ideal of precise verification (with no false alarms) by interacting with the verifier and providing key contracts that could not be inferred automatically. HAVOC has been implemented using the Boogie verification-condition generator and the Z3 solver for Satisfiability-Modulo-Theories. I will describe the design and implementation of HAVOC and our experience applying it to verify typestate assertions on medium-sized device drivers with zero false alarms. I will conclude with a discussion of remaining challenges and directions for future work.
Subcritical Collisionless Shock Waves

The development history of theoretical accounts of low Mach number collisionless shock waves is related to recent observational advancements, with attention to weaker shocks in which shock steepening is limited by dispersion and/or anomalous resistivity and whose character is primarily determined by the dispersive properties of the ambient plasma. Attention has focused on nearly perpendicular shocks where dispersive scale lengths become small and the associated cross-field currents become strong enough to generate significant plasma wave turbulence. A number of oblique, low Mach number bow shocks have been studied on the basis of data from the ISEE dual spacecraft pair, allowing an accurate determination of shock scale lengths.
Cross‐stage consequences of egg temperature in the insect Manduca sexta

Summary 1. An organism’s environment, particularly early in development, can profoundly shape its future phenotypes. While the long-term consequences of embryonic temperature are well studied in vertebrates, insects have complex life cycles that may uncouple temperature’s effects in one stage from physiology in the next. 2. This study examines how egg temperature affects insect performance across all subsequent life stages. We focused on the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, and examined how egg temperatures affected hatching time, hatchling mass, larval growth, development time, head capsule size, pupal mass and adult fecundity. Eggs were exposed to either diurnal temperature cycles or a single heat shock; in both experiments, temperatures were within the range to which eggs are typically exposed in the field. 3. Although the consequences of egg temperature varied depending on the type of treatment, both cycling temperatures and heat shock affected egg development time and initial larval growth rate, which likely have fitness consequences for M. sexta in nature. In contrast, egg temperature had no persistent effect on any trait measured in later larval stages, pupae or adults. 4. Organisms with complex life cycles –Manduca has four distinct life stages and multiple larval sub-stages – may benefit from rapid compensation for poor early conditions. Additionally, the modularity of insect life cycles may help insects cope with environmental variability by insulating later stages from disturbances during embryogenesis.
Buffalo Bill' Wild West and John M. Burke

Abstract Public relations and advertising textbooks either ignore or treat the old fashioned press agent with contempt. Yet the origin of modern day sports and entertainment promotion dates back to a group of press agents who made important contributions to the marketing communication tactics we take for granted. From 1884 to 1917, the promotion of Buffalo Bill' Wild West incorporated advertising, public relations, and integrated marketing communication strategies and tactics. Many of these tactics are still in use today. A case will be made to view Buffalo Bill as a „brand“ By doing so, the promotion of the Wild West takes on a new meaning. Buffalo Bill' press agent, John M. Burke, for more than 30 years increased the „brand equity“ of the Buffalo Bill product through effective and strategically sound advertising and public relations campaigns. For example, building upon the long circus tradition in American folk culture, Burke staged parade events headed by Buffalo Bill to generate major press coverage ...
Manipulation of progesterone to increase ovulatory response to the first GnRH treatment of an Ovsynch protocol in lactating dairy cows receiving first timed artificial insemination

Ovulation to the first GnRH (G1) treatment of the Ovsynch protocol improves synchronization rate and pregnancies per AI (P/AI). Elevated progesterone (P4) concentrations at G1 decrease the ovulatory response by decreasing the magnitude of the GnRH-induced LH surge. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the effect of temporarily decreasing P4 concentrations before initiation of an Ovsynch protocol on ovulatory response to G1 and P/AI. Lactating Holstein cows (n=800) at 53±3 (herd A) or 51±3 (herd B) d in milk (DIM) were synchronized using a modified Double-Ovsynch protocol [pre-Ovsynch protocol (d 0, GnRH; d 7, PGF2α; d 10, GnRH) followed 7 d later by an Ovsynch-56 protocol (d 0, G1; d 7, PGF2α; d 8, PGF2α; d 9.5, GnRH)] to receive first timed artificial insemination (TAI; 80±3 DIM) 16h after the last GnRH treatment. Cows were randomly assigned to receive 12.5mg of PGF2α (a half-dose of dinoprost tromethamine) 2 d before G1 (low-P4) or serve as untreated controls (high-P4). Overall, high-P4 cows had greater P4 concentrations at G1 compared with low-P4 cows (3.0 vs. 1.3ng/mL, respectively). Ovulatory response to G1 was greater for low-P4 than high-P4 cows [81.1 vs. 60.3%, respectively]. Premature luteal regression during the second Ovsynch protocol did not differ between treatments [15.0% vs. 10.7%; for low-P4 vs. high-P4 cows, respectively]. Overall, P/AI did not differ between treatments 32 d after TAI [56.3 vs. 52.9%, for low-P4 vs. high-P4 cows, respectively] or 67 d after AI [50.5 vs. 47.6%, for low-P4 vs. high-P4 cows, respectively]. Pregnancy loss from 32 to 67 d after TAI did not differ between treatments [9.9 vs. 9.3%, for low-P4 vs. high-P4 cows, respectively]. Overall, cows that ovulated to G1 had more P/AI than cows that did not ovulate [58.2 vs. 41.8%, respectively]. The increase in P/AI for cows that ovulated to G1 (16.4%) combined with the observed increase in ovulation to G1 due to treatment (20.8%; low-P4 - high-P4) resulted in the expected numerical increase in P/AI of 3.4% in low-P4 versus high-P4 cows observed in this experiment. We conclude that administration of a half-dose of PGF2α 2 d before G1 during a Double-Ovsynch protocol decreased P4 at G1 and increased ovulatory response to G1.
Theory for particle settling and shear-induced migration in thin-film liquid flow.

Particles suspended in a film flow can either settle out of the flow, remain well mixed, or even advance faster than the fluid, accumulating at the moving contact line. Recent experiments by Zhou et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 117803 (2005)] have demonstrated that these three settling behaviors can be achieved by control of the average particle concentration $\ensuremath{\phi}$ and inclination angle $\ensuremath{\theta}$. This work presents a theory for determining the settling behavior in the Stokes regime by calculating the depth profile of $\ensuremath{\phi}$ and the depth-averaged velocities of the liquid and particle phases. It is found that shear-induced particle fluxes can lead to an inversely stratified flow, in which the particles move on average faster than the liquid. The theory is directly compared to Zhou et al.'s experimental data, and the implications of stratification for lubrication-type models are also discussed.
Neighborhood covenants and restrictions: an examination of fit

Covenants and restrictions (CR rather the fact that C&Rs are not enforced fits resident preference. Seemingly, residents are content being unaware of the C&Rs, then they do not know if someone is breaking the rules or not. This may imply that residents would not want to have C&Rs in the first place.
Infant formula: a mass, uncontrolled trial in perinatal care.

ABSTRACT: Widespread recognition of the immunologic value of human milk has left untouched an equally widespread belief in the nutritional adequacy of infant formula and its equivalence to human milk. Thus many believe that while “breast is best” in conditions of poor sanitation, there is little difference between formula and human milk where good hygiene is possible. Many also believe that women must be free to choose breast or bottle feeding, and that any critique of formula (though not of breastfeeding) is an intrusion upon that choice. But to be free, choice must be informed. This paper looks at the claims of nutritional adequacy and equivalence and argues that infant formula is unable to be “humanized”; that it is intrinsically hazardous; and that damage to Western children has occurred and is probably still occurring on a frightening scale. Once the risks of formula feeding are exposed, social and political change becomes necessary.
Pediatric cervical spine clearance: implications for nursing practice.

t Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a360-bed regional level I trauma center, an inter-disciplinary team developed an algorithm for c-spine clearance (Figure 1). The guideline is based on theNational Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Studydecision instrument for obtaining c-spine radiography.