cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) phased-array wavelength multi/demultiplexer with extremely low-polarization sensitivity

We demonstrate the first phased-array wavelength multiplexer fabricated in the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide technology. The four-channel wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) has a channel spacing of 1.9 nm centered at 1550-nm wavelength and a 3-dB channel bandwidth of 0.72 nm. The crosstalk to neighboring channels is less than -22 dB and the on-chip insertion loss is below 6 dB for all channels. The TE-TM shift is less than 0.04 nm which is the smallest attained without compensation techniques in any integrated optic technology.
Online Learning of Dynamic Parameters in Social Networks

This paper addresses the problem of online learning in a dynamic setting. We consider a social network in which each individual observes a private signal about the underlying state of the world and communicates with her neighbors at each time period. Unlike many existing approaches, the underlying state is dynamic, and evolves according to a geometric random walk. We view the scenario as an optimization problem where agents aim to learn the true state while suffering the smallest possible loss. Based on the decomposition of the global loss function, we introduce two update mechanisms, each of which generates an estimate of the true state. We establish a tight bound on the rate of change of the underlying state, under which individuals can track the parameter with a bounded variance. Then, we characterize explicit expressions for the steady state mean-square deviation(MSD) of the estimates from the truth, per individual. We observe that only one of the estimators recovers the optimal MSD, which underscores the impact of the objective function decomposition on the learning quality. Finally, we provide an upper bound on the regret of the proposed methods, measured as an average of errors in estimating the parameter in a finite time.
Surface polymerization of poly(γ-alkyl-L-glutamate) on solid substrates

Surface polymerization of poly(γ-methyl-L-glutamate) and a copolymer of γ-methyl and γ-stearyl-L-glutamate are conducted on aminopropyl triethoxysilane modified silicon(100) native oxide substrates. The film formation is monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the conformation and orientation of surface-bound polypeptides are characterized by transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Both films are formed as β-sheet material, and the film orientations are tilted from the solid substrate.
Construction and Validation of a Sex-Based Equal-Opportunity Measure for the College Campus:

The preliminary stages in constructing and validating a sex-based equal opportunity climate measure were researched. Content and construct validity were established for the initial instrument's validation. 64 subjects comprised a content-evaluation panel to examine the measure based on content relating to equal opportunity. Construct validity was established through factorial validity, internal consistency, and discriminant validity. Three factors emerged in the factor analysis, indicating three subcategories related to an over-all construct of equal opportunity. Cronbach alphas for the internal consistency were high and corresponded to the factors. Statistically significant t tests indicated that each factor was sensitive to the experimental manipulation used to establish discriminant validity. It was concluded that the instrument had content and construct validity and would be a useful measure of ecological dissonance generated in sexist climates.
Measuring beliefs about orthodontic treatment: a questionnaire approach

OBJECTIVES: Few studies have examined what parents and orthodontists expect from and value about orthodontic treatment. In this study, we designed and tested a questionnaire to outline what drives consumer demand for children's orthodontic care. Further, we present data from the questionnaire to illustrate how expectations and values pertaining to orthodontic treatment relate to sociodemographic variables. METHODS: Subjects were 220 Pennsylvania orthodontists and 220 parents at a university orthodontic clinic who were administered a questionnaire designed to assess what parents and orthodontists value about and expect from orthodontic treatment. Items for the questionnaire were developed via a qualitative, telephone interview process. Data were analyzed using factor analysis and reliability analysis for scale development, and analysis of variance for preliminary validity assessment. RESULTS: Through factor analysis, the questionnaire was reduced from 84 to 52 items, and eight scales were examined: expected treatment benefits, expected treatment risks (short- and long-term), expected treatment inconveniences, value of treatment benefits, value of risks (short- and long-term), and value of treatment inconveniences. For parents, the reliability for all scales was in the acceptable range. For orthodontists, only the "short-term risks" scale failed to attain an acceptable reliability. Preliminary validity was assessed through examining relationships between demographic variables and subscale scores. For parents, income, father's education level, and sex of respondent were related to treatment expectations and values. For orthodontists, age, sex, and patient volume were related to treatment values. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire developed in the present study was found to be practical and reliable for use with providers and consumers of orthodontic care and can be used to explore factors affecting the demand for orthodontic care. Implications of possible unrealistic treatment expectations on the part of orthodontists and parents also are discussed.
Optimization of a 96% efficient 12–1 V Gallium Nitride based point of load converter

A 12-1 V Gallium Nitride based POL converter demonstrates over 96% efficiency and under 4 ns switching time. This is accomplished through a layout technique that does not require costly microvias but still minimizes parasitic inductance to support fast switching. A single-sided synchronous buck converter phase operates up to 30 A in a 5.6 cm2 (0.87 in2) package that outperforms other commercially available and published POL converters, and size could be reduced by over 40% in a similar double-sided design. Part selection and layout techniques are explored among three POL versions with incremental improvements. Expansion to multiple phases is explored, and experimental data illustrates that switching losses are remarkably low. This work shows how to properly employ modern wide bandgap semiconductor technology in power supply design for highly efficient DC-DC conversion.
Evaluation of ultrasound tissue damage based on changes in image echogenicity

The rate of decay of increased echogenicity of the focal zone insonified in vivo canine kidney was quantified and parameterized to evaluate tissue damage. High intensity focused sonification was conducted at high mechanical index in order to assure onset of cavitation. A 2D local correlation method was applied to trace temporal change at each location and for motion compensation. The decay half time of increased echo, t/sub half/, defined as the time for echo enhancement to decay by a factor of 2, was measured. The average t/sub half/ determined from 23 occurrences of tissue damage, characterized by coagulation necrosis, pitting, and/or blanching, was approximately 45 seconds. On the other hand, when increased echogenicity decayed significantly faster, the observed damage, if present at all, was limited to minor hemorrhage. In 18 cases where increased echogenicity was observed and associated tissue damage was not found, the average was approximately 13 seconds. The correlation between the decay half time and the observed tissue damage is presented and may provide a useful method for both pre-treatment localization and post-treatment evaluation for non-invasive ultrasound surgery.
Unperturbed dimensions of poly(9‐vinyladenine)

The effect of base stacking interactions on the conformation of poly(9-vinyladenine) (PVAd) was investigated by osmometry, intrinsic viscosity, and light-scattering measurements. At neutral pH, ideal solution behavior (θ conditions) for this polymer was observed at 26 and 40°C. Intrinsic viscosity measurements revealed a conformational transition on heating from 26 to 40°C, while the ultraviolet absorbance of the solution was insensitive to the change. The transition was accompanied by an inversion in sign of the entropy parameter from negative to positive and an increase in the partial specific volume. At 40°, the variation of intrinsic viscosity with molecular weight corresponded to a random coil conformation, but the characteristic ratio, r02/nl2 = 8.6 ± 0.2 indicated that the unperturbed dimensions were smaller than usually observed for comparable vinyl polymers. At 26°, a rare macromolecular phenomenon was found, the intrinsic viscosity–molecular weight relation and the estimated r02/nl2 of 6.0–6.8 suggested that the PVAd was in a very highly compacted coil conformation, approaching a semirigid sphere. It is proposed that this effect be named the introversion phenomenon. Unlike polyadenylic acid, whose unperturbed dimensions increase with decreasing temperature due to nearest-neighbor base stacking, the results reported here suggest that both nearest-neighbor and long-range intramolecular base stacking occur in PVAd. The different stereochemical arrangements of bases in PVAd and Poly A are probably responsible for the opposite behavior observed.
Inertia Effects in a Hybrid Bearing With a 45 Degree Entrance Region

An investigation is presented that illustrates the effects of inertia on the flow and pressure field throughout a hybrid bearing with a 45 degree entrance region. This type of bearing has been previously shown to offer better performance over the hybrid bearing with a normal entry region. A two-dimensional planar approach is adopted and the resulting flow governing equations are solved using the Galerkin Weighted Residual finite element method. This algorithm incorporates an advanced streamline upwinding method to evaluate the nonlinear effects on the convection terms. The results demonstrate the complex nature of the velocity field and its subsequent impact on the pressure field. This comprehensive parametric study also shows why traditional lubrication approaches that typically exclude convection effects will become unreliable at high operating speeds of turbomachinery. A set of loss coefficients modeling the pressure 'ram' effects are provided to illustrate the inertia effects in the entrance region of the film lands. In a hybrid bearing, these effects have to be characterized according to the operating parameters of the bearing and the journal direction of rotation
Internal consistency of the Heisenberg-Dirac model for antiferromagnetism

Abstract An attempt is made to investigate the internal consistency of the Heisenberg-Dirac model for antiferromagnets with nearest-neighbor interactions only. The Bethe-Peierls-Weiss approximation and the results of Brown and Luttinger are used to obtain relations between the Neel temperature and the exchange integral, J , and between the susceptibility at the Neel temperature and J . By combining these relations with experimental values of T N and X ( T N ) for a given compound, two distinct values of J can be deduced. These values should agree if the theory is internally consistent. Comparisons have been made with experimental data on six antiferromagnetic compounds which seem to satisfy the nearest-neighbors-only restriction. The agreement is about as good as could be expected, considering the estimated experimental error. Approximate values of ¦ J ¦/ k deduced for the compounds MnF 2 , FeF 2 , LaFeO 3 , LaCrO 3 , KFeF 3 and KCoF 3 are 1.8, 3.0, 27, 28, 6.0 and 12°K, respectively.
A mixed methods evaluation of the Brain Injury Family Intervention.

Objective: To describe and compare caregivers' and patients' helpfulness and goal attainment ratings of the Brain Injury Family Intervention (BIFI), and qualitatively evaluate their perceptions of most important things learned. Methods: 76 caregivers and 76 patients with acquired brain injury participated in the BIFI, a structured family intervention program which includes educational, skill building, and psychological support components. Outcome measures were obtained following each of the five intervention sessions and following completion of the entire program. Results: Session helpfulness ratings for caregivers and patients were uniformly high as were ratings of the extent to which session goals were met. Between group comparisons did not indicate differences for individual session helpfulness or goal attainment ratings. Qualitative analysis of most important things learned provided corroboratory evidence that BIFI topics were relevant and consistent with program goals. Conclusions: The present investigation provides evidence that the BIFI is perceived as helpful and that treatment methods facilitate achievement of goals. The investigation also suggests that investigators may benefit from using mixed methods to evaluate outcomes, complementing traditional quantitative methods with qualitative approaches.
Haptoglobin: the evolutionary product of duplication, unequal crossing over, and point mutation.

The question of how genetic material controls phenotypic expression was posed 60 years ago by Hermann Muller (1922), but the ability to answer the question awaited the development of biochemical techniques capable of dissecting and comparing purified proteins (Moore et al., 1958; Edman and Sjoquist, 1956; Ingram, 1957). Human haptoglobin has served as an unexpected source of information relating the mechanisms involved in genetic rearrangements to the linear sequence of amino acids within a protein. After developing a potent technique, starch gel electrophoresis, which proved capable of resolving and identifying previously unknown inherited variations in many human plasma proteins, Oliver Smithies and co-workers (Smithies, 1959; Smithies et al., 1962a, 1962b) demonstrated that serum haptoglobin molecules from different individuals varied one from another in a heritable way. Haptoglobin has served as an impressive paradigm of how genetic rearrangements can construct a polymorphic system and how, in the evolutionary process, old proteins can obtain new functions by utilizing amino acid sequences which have been ever so slightly altered. Excellent reviews have been written about haptoglobin, which can be consulted for further detail (Javid, 1978; Putnam, 1975; Pintera, 1971; Sutton, 1970; Giblett, 1969; Kirk, 1968; Schultze and Heremans, 1966). This review will emphasize recent developments in analyzing the composition of the haptoglobin molecules and the evolutionary implications of these findings.
Postmating reproductive barriers contribute to the incipient sexual isolation of US and CaribbeanDrosophila melanogaster

The nascent stages of speciation start with the emergence of sexual isolation. Understanding how reproductive barriers influence this evolutionary process is an ongoing effort. We present here a study of Drosophila melanogaster populations from the southeast United States and Caribbean islands undergoing incipient sexual isolation. The existence of premating reproductive barriers have been previously established, but they do not fully account for the degree of isolation present. To assess the influence of postmating barriers, we investigated putative postmating barriers of female remating and egg laying behavior, as well as hatchability of eggs laid and female longevity after mating. While we did not find any effects in female remating or egg laying, we did observe lower hatchability in the central region of our geographical spread as well as shorten female life spans after mating to genetically different males in females originating from the northern- and southernmost locations of those surveyed. These results serve as evidence that long-term consequences after mating such as the fitness of offspring and shortened lifespan have a stronger effect than short-term postmating behaviors.
Osteotomy vs Augmentation Genioplasty: Which Is Best?

Patients seeking improved lower facial esthetics through genioplasty are often confrontedwith the options of bony advancement osteotomy vs implant augmentation. The choice of one of these options vs the other is often based on surgical experience and training rather than evidence-based data.1 Implant surgery is less invasive and reversible but carries the risks of underlying bony resorption and hardware infection.2-5 Osteotomy ismore versatile and long lasting and can provide functional improvements, if the genial tubercles are involved in the design, but is more invasive and technically more challenging.6,7 Chan and Ducic suggest that advancement genioplasty should bemore readily used because of the potential functional benefits that accompany its esthetic changes.8 They report it to be a safe, reliable, and effectivemethod that is reproducible by all surgeons, regardless of whether trained inotolaryngology, plastic surgery, or oral and maxillofacial surgery. Oral andmaxillofacial surgeons tend to performbony advancement osteoplasty on the basis of their surgical training, which includes significant bony procedures, such as orthognathic surgery and facial fracture reconstruction. As a result, most oral andmaxillofacial surgeons find the procedure relatively simple andoftenperform it in theoffice settingbut consider implant augmentation when a less invasive approach is preferred. Plastic surgeons and otolaryngologists-facial plastics surgeons are more familiar with soft-tissue surgery and seemingly prefer implant augmentation. This raises the key question: What is the best surgery for patients? A literature search does little to answer this question and only reinforces the risks or benefits of each technique. Thus, a clinically relevant prospective study is needed to assess patient outcomes and thepreferredmethodofgenioplasty.Until this isdone, the surgeon must continue to perform the surgery best suited to each individualpatienton thebasis ofpatientneed rather than historical training methods. Addressing this issue, ChanandDucic present theirmodified technique, performed on 126 patients during 17 years, in which theosteotomydesign is basedon intersecting lineswith the mental foramen as the key landmark. This creates a predictable surgical procedure for the novice and expert alike, minimizing the allure of alloplastic augmentation. It should benoted,however, that theosteotomydesigndone in theprocedure raises the concerns of possible notching of the inferior border and shorteningof the lower thirdof the face.Apure advancement genioplasty avoids an acute-angle osteotomy and extends posteriorly toward the first molars to alleviate these concerns. However, the point of the article is clear in that advancement genioplasty ismore versatile, with less long-term risk than alloplastic augmentation, and should be usedmore routinely by all surgeons.
Hypnosis after an adverse response to opioids in an ICU burn patient.

Objective: Burn injuries produce severe wound care pain that is ideally controlled on intensive burn care units with high-dosage intravenous opioid medications. We report a case illustrating the use of hypnosis for pain management when one opioid medication was ineffective. Setting: Intensive burn care unit at a regional trauma center. Patient: A 55-year-old man with an extensive burn suffered from significant respiratory depression from a low dosage of opioid during wound care and also experienced uncontrolled pain. Intervention: Rapid induction hypnotic analgesia. Outcome Measures: Verbal numeric pain scale, and pain and anxiolytic medication usage. Results: The introduction of hypnosis, supplemented by little or no opioids, resulted in excellent pain control, absence of need for supplemental anxiolytic medication, shortened length of wound care, and a positive staff response over a 14-day period. Conclusions: This case illustrates that hypnosis can not only be used easily and quite appropriately in a busy medical intensive care unit environment, but that sometimes this treatment may be a very useful alternative when opioid pain medication proves to be dangerous and ineffective. This case also illustrates possible clinical implications both pain relief and side-effect profiles for opioid receptor specificity. Although this report does not provide data regarding hypnotic mechanisms, it is clear that with some patients nonopioid inhibitory mechanisms can be activated in a highly effective manner, that clinical contenxt may be important for the activation of those pathways, and that those mechanisms may be accessed more easily than opioid mechanisms.
Imaging Cross Section of X-ray Multilayer Mirror by Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Multilayers are used in x-ray optics as mirrors.1 They usually consist of a stack of bi-layers of two different materials. For x-ray optics, the thickness of the bi-layer, or the d-spacing of the multilayer, ranges from 2 nm to 20 nm. Since x-ray multilayers are usually made by evaporation or sputtering technique, most of materials in multilayers are amorphous or polycrystalline.
Numerical Investigation of Particle Dispersal in Multiphase Explosions

ow model is proposed in the present study to solve the extended problem of Brode (Brode, H. L., \Numerical Solutions of Spherical Blast Waves," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 26, 1955, pp. 766-775), namely an explosion generated by a spherical charge containing a compressed gas-particle mixture. One-way coupled simulations are carried out for several initial conditions and particle properties. A scaling analysis is performed with the goal of obtaining a similarity solution.
The Microbiome, Timing, and Barrier Function in the Context of Allergic Disease

Allergic disease affects millions. Despite many advances in our understanding of the immune system in the past century, the physiologic underpinning for the existence of allergy remains largely mysterious. Food allergies, in particular, have increased dramatically in recent years, adding a new sense of urgency to unraveling this mystery. The concurrence of significant lifestyle changes in Western societies with increasing disease prevalence implies a causal link. Demographic variables that influence the composition and function of the commensal microbiota early in life seem to be most important. Identifying the evolutionary and physiologic foundations of allergic disease and defining what about our modern environment is responsible for its increased incidence will provide insights critical to the development of new approaches to prevention and treatment.
Investigation on occupational hazardous factors in industrial enterprises of Tongcheng County in Hubei in 2010

[Objective]To understand the distribution of occupational hazardous factors in industrial enterprises,provide the basis for effectively controlling the occupational hazardous factors and reducing the occupational hazards.[Methods]The field investigation was performed in 271 industrial enterprises of Tongcheng County.[Results] Among 271 industrial enterprises had occupational hazardous factors,128(7.23%) were collective enterprise.The occupational hazardous factors were mainly found in non-metallic mineral products industry(58.67%) and furniture manufacturing industry(7.38%),and workers exposed to occupational hazardous factors accounted for 40.10% of total workers.At present,the main occupational hazardous factors were dust,high temperature,noise,benzene,methylbenzene and dimethylbenzene.Most of workshops and posts had no protective facility,or were equipped with simple protective facilities.Workers exposed to occupational hazardous factors did not use the protective article,or can not use it correctly.[Conclusion]The occupational hazardous factors are diffrence.The collective enterprises are the key of occupational health work in Tongcheng County.It is important to strengthen the education of occupational diseases prevention among migrant workers.
X-ray-induced specific-locus mutations in the ad-3 region of two-component heterokaryons of Neurospora crassa. VII. Genetic lesions resulting in gene/point mutations at the ad-3B locus have different dose-response relationships.

Abstract Genetic characterization of X-ray-induced ad-3 mutants, induced in a two-component heterokaryon (H-12) of Neurospora crassa, has been performed to determine genotype, patterns of allelic complementation, and leakiness, anf to distinguish gene/point mutations from multilocus deletions and multiple locus mutations (de Serres, 1989c, 1990a). The arrau of genotypes in the classes and subclasses in the spectrum of ad-3 mutants induced by a mutagenic agent constitute its mutagenicity profile; for X-rays this profile consists of 29 different genotypes. In the present paper, the data on gene/point mutations induced at the ad-3B locus (designated ad-3BR mutations) have been tabulated as a function of X-ray dose to determine the dose-dependent relationships of complementing and noncomplementing mutants. This analysis has shown that the overall percentages of mutants showing allelic complementation and the percentages of complementing mutants with nonpolarized patterns (both leaky and nonleaky) and noncomplementing mutants were dose-dependent; the former class decreased with increasing X-ray dose, and the latter class increased with increasing X-ray dose. The percentages of complementing mutants with polarized patterns were X-ray dose-independent. In addition, an unexpectedly high frequency of mutants with nonpolarized complementation patterns are discontinuous and probably result from multiple-site mutations.
Multistrategy health education program to increase mammography use among women ages 65 and older.

Mammography use decreases with age although the risk of breast cancer increases with age. Medicare now provides biennial coverage for screening mammography. This study was designed to simulate the Medicare condition by subsidizing mammography among women in eight retirement communities in the metropolitan Philadelphia area. The study also measured the impact of health education interventions and the presence of a mobile mammography van on increased use of mammography. Retirement communities were assigned randomly to the control (cost subsidy alone) or experimental group (cost subsidy, mammography van, and tailored health education interventions). A total of 412 women ages 65 and older who had not had mammograms in the previous year were surveyed at baseline and 3 months later. Analytic techniques reflected the cluster nature of the randomization. Women in the experimental group were significantly more likely than the control group women to have obtained mammograms. Forty-five percent of the experimental group women compared with 12 percent of the control group women subsequently had mammograms in the 3 months after the baseline interview (P less than .001). Logistic regression analysis for mammography use indicated an odds ratio of 6.1 associated with being in the experimental group. For women in the experimental group, a separate logistic regression for mammography use showed an odds ratio of 7.8 associated with attendance at the educational presentation. The results suggest that Medicare coverage alone will not increase mammography use sufficiently to achieve year 2000 objectives. However, the addition of access enhancing and health education interventions boosts utilization dramatically.
Testing Keynesian Unemployment Theory against Structuralist Theory: Global Evidence of the Past Two Decades

The theory of unemployment accorded the status of orthodoxy in Western macroeconomics — the theory expounded in the textbooks — is, in a word, Keynesian. It derives from (among others) Keynes, Hicks, Tobin, Patinkin, the ‘natural rate’, and either a ‘new microeconomics’ apparatus without rational expectations or a New Keynesian apparatus compatible with rational expectations in order to generate inappropriate responses or inertia in nominal wages or prices. Some would allow hysteresis making the natural rate of unemployment ‘path-dependent’. The monetarists use the same theory, though with different emphases, and in a sense the New Classical theory is a special (and more fully elaborated) case of it. So entrenched has it become in conventional economic thinking that people who know no economics at all have learned, like Samuelson’s parrot, to say ‘weaker demand’ or ‘supply shock’ with every slump no matter how prolonged it is or how obscure its source or sources.
Hexachlorocyclohexanes, potent stimuli of O2- production and calcium release in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes

alpha-, gamma-, and delta-Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCCH), but not the beta-isomer, are shown to be potent stimuli for the production of superoxide anion (O2-) and the release of calcium in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Although O2- production occurs in the absence of exogenous divalent cations, calcium (0.5 mmol/L) enhances O2- production by 50%. In addition, gamma-HCCH-induced O2- production is sensitive (IC50–30–40 mumol/L) to inhibition by the putative intracellular antagonist, 8-(diethylamino)octyl-3,4,5- trimethoxybenzoate hydrochloride (TMB-8). Furthermore, it is shown that gamma-HCCH induces a marked loss of membrane-associated calcium as monitored by chlortetracycline fluorescence. This pool of calcium appears to encompass the same pool released by the formylated tripeptide, formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (FMLP). We suggest that the HCCHs represent a new class of stimuli of O2- production and calcium mobilization in PMNs.
Inhibition of Human Class I vs Class III Phosphatidylinositol 3'-Kinases.

Most investigations of phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase (PI3K) drug inhibition have been via assays based on ADP appearance or ATP consumption (e.g., Liu, Q., et al. (2011) J. Med. Chem. 54, 1473–1480). However, at least some PI3K isoforms show basal ATPase activity in the absence of PI lipid substrate(s), which may complicate quantification of drug potency, isoform specificity of some drugs, and synergy for drug combinations. In this study, we probe the class I vs class III isoform specificity of a selected set of PI3K inhibitors using a simple, inexpensive, semi high-throughput assay that quantifies production of phosphatidylinositol 3′-phosphate (PI3P) from phosphatidylinositol. Results are compared to previous data largely generated using ATPase activity assays. Good agreement between EC50 values computed via ATPase assays vs the reported PI3P formation assay is found for most drugs, but with a few exceptions. Furthermore, for the first time, drug inhibition of class I vs class III enzymes is compared s...
Timing of nerve transfer for elbow flexion in neonatal brachial plexus palsy

Abstract Background Neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP) occurs in 1–4/1000 live births, and those with palsies of the upper trunk can suffer permanent loss of elbow flexion. One option for restoring elbow flexion comprises nerve transfer from an ulnar nerve fascicle to the musculocutaneous nerve branch to biceps, also known as the Oberlin procedure. Although outcomes are encouraging, the timing of surgical intervention from the time of injury continues to be controversial. Methods We performed a retrospective review of infants with NBPP who underwent Oberlin transfer procedure. Outcome measures included active range of motion and muscle power (MRC grade) at serial examinations up to 12 months. Results We demonstrate a positive trend in outcomes of elbow flexion and supination in patients intervened on earlier rather than later. Conclusions The optimal timing in the use of Oberlin transfer in the NBPP population is not well defined. Our study is the first to focus on ulnar to musculocutaneous nerve transfer timing in NBPP, and we demonstrate a positive trend in functional outcomes with earlier surgery.
Revolution in Higher Education: Identity & Cultural Beliefs Inspire Tribal Colleges & Universities

The public increasingly requires that higher education institutions demonstrate their return on investment by measuring graduation rates, cost per student, job placement rates, and income. The moti...
Vortex Filament Models

In this chapter we discuss the evolution of vorticity in three dimensions, whose equation is given by $$\frac{{D\omega }}{{Dt}} = \omega .\nabla u$$ (1)
Tending School: A Forum on the Experiences of Refugee and Immigrant Students in the United States System.

This article contributes to the investigation of refugee and immigrant education. As one part of a comprehensive qualitative study, it showcases the school experiences of three students: Quincy, a refugee from Afghanistan who came to the United States at age thirteen; Emily, an immigrant from Poland who arrived at age six; and Maung, a political refugee from Burma who arrived at age eighteen. The school experiences of these students mirror those of many children who come from countries and communities outside the dominant culture of the United States.
Negotiated privacy

Exponential growth in digital information gathering, storage, and processing capabilities inexorably leads to conflict between well-intentioned government or commercial datamining, and fundamental privacy interests of individuals and organizations. This paper proposes a mechanism that provides cryptographic fetters on the mining of personal data, enabling efficient mining of previously-negotiated properties, but preventing any other uses of the protected personal data. Our approach does not rely on complete trust in the analysts to use the data appropriately, nor does it rely on incorruptible escrow agents. Instead, we propose conditional data escrow where the data generators, not the analysts, hold the keys to the data, but analysts can verify that the prenegotiated queries are enabled. Our solution relies on verifiable, anonymous, and deterministic commitments which play the role of tags that mark encrypted entries in the analyst's database. The database owner cannot learn anything from the encrypted entries, or even verify his guess of the plaintext on which these entries are based. On the other hand, the verifiable and deterministic property ensures that the entries are marked with consistent tags, so that the database manager learns when the number of entries required to enable some query reaches the prenegotiated threshold.
DDX41 mutations in myeloid neoplasms are associated with male gender, TP53 mutations and high-risk disease.

Myeloid neoplasms with germline DDX41 mutations have been incorporated into the 2017 WHO classification. Limited studies describing the clinicopathologic features and mutation profile are available. We searched for myeloid neoplasms with a DDX41 gene mutation tested by an 81-gene next-generation sequencing panel over a 7-month period. We identified 34 patients with myeloid neoplasms with DDX41 abnormalities; 26 (76%) men and 8 women (24%) [median age, 70 years], 20 acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 10 myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 1 chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and 3 myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Fifty-nine DDX41 variants were detected: 27 (46%) appeared somatic and 32 (54%) were presumably germline mutations. The majority of presumed germline mutations were upstream of the Helicase 2 domain (93%) and involved loss of the start codon (30%). The majority of somatic mutations were within the Helicase 2 domain (78%), with the missense mutation p.R525H being most common (67%). There was a significant difference in the location of germline or somatic mutations (P < .0001). Concomitant mutations were detected involving 19 genes, but only TP53 (n = 11, 32%), ASXL1 (n = 8, 24%), and JAK2 (n = 4, 12%) were recurrent. Twenty (59%) patients showed diploid cytogenetics. Twenty-three (68%) patients presented with AML or MDS-EB-2, suggesting an association with high-grade myeloid neoplasm. Patients with myeloid neoplasms carrying DDX41 mutations show male predominance (3:1), higher age at presentation, association with TP53 mutations, and association with high-grade myeloid neoplasms in our cohort at a referral cancer center setting. These findings support the recognition of myeloid neoplasms with DDX41 mutation as unique, need for germline confirmation, and further assessment of family members.
Self-Reported Quality, Health, and Cost-Related Outcomes of Care Coordination Among Patients with Complex Health Needs.

Care coordination is an increasingly popular strategy to help patients with complex health conditions manage their diseases more effectively. The purpose of the current study was to assess associat...
Parameterizations for Bayesian state-space surplus production models

Abstract Bayesian state-space surplus production models are commonly applied in fisheries stock assessment when the only information available is an index of relative abundance. However, even relatively simple models such as these can be computationally expensive to fit, and diagnosing poor fits can be difficult. The Stan software package provides an advanced Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler and diagnostics that are not available in other packages for fitting Bayesian models. Here the sampler diagnostics, efficiency, and posterior inferences are compared among multiple parameterizations of a state-space biomass dynamics model, using both Pella-Tomlinson and Schaefer dynamics. Two parameterizations that prevent predictions of negative biomass are introduced, one of which allows for errors in catch. None of the parameterizations used avoid diagnostic warnings using the default sampler parameter values. Choosing the appropriate parameterization of a model, and paying attention to these diagnostics can increase computational efficiency and make inferences more robust.
Small-scale Microgrid Energy Market Based on PILT-DAO

The energy market of DERs in Microgrids (MGs) is still under devolvement due to low security and transparency at present. Therefore, a small-scale microgrid energy market is proposed in this study based on Decentralized Autonomous Organization of Parallel, Integrity, Longevity, and Transparency (PILT-DAO) based on the features of the blockchain. A buyer or seller at the microgrid level can complete the transaction matching in the PILT-DAO market. In order to implement this energy trading platform, the first step is to simulate a modified distributed IEEE 13 node test feeders system. The next step is to develop a price mechanism based on a consensus + innovation distributed algorithm to calculate the Distribution Locational Marginal Price (DLMP). In the meantime, smart meters record the Power Flow (PF) data of each DG as one node of the whole simulated distribution power system and send them to blockchain including distributed price and power generation data. The third step is to constitute a decentralized autonomous market by programming smart contracts in Ethereum DAO, running in an artificial system parallelly. A case study of a small-scale microgrid energy market based on PILT-DAO is illustrated followed by the conclusion.
A proposal to fight tornadoes with multiple connected balloons

A tornado is an extreme weather condition that can cause enormous damage to human society. In this paper, we propose a low cost, environmentally friendly method to fight against tornadoes using clusters of connected balloons. Deployed over a sufficiently wide area, these large balloons may be able to reduce the wind speed of the tornado, block and disrupt the convective flow of air, and destroy the tornado.
Diagnosing from a Distance: Debates over Libel Law, Media, and Psychiatric Ethics from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump

Ever since the rise of Adolf Hitler, mental health professionals have sought to use their knowledge of human psychology to understand - and intervene in - political developments. From Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump, psychiatrists have commented, sometimes brashly, on public figures' mental health. But is the practice ethical? While the American Psychiatric Association prohibits psychiatric comment on public figures under its 'Goldwater Rule', others disagree. Diagnosing from a Distance is the first in-depth exploration of this controversy. Making extensive use of archival sources and original interviews, John Martin-Joy reconstructs the historical debates between psychiatrists, journalists, and politicians in an era when libel law and professional standards have undergone dramatic change. Charting the Goldwater Rule's crucial role in the current furor over Trump's fitness for office, Martin-Joy assesses the Rule's impact and offers a more liberal alternative. This remarkable book will change the way we think about psychiatric ethics and public life.
Mutual-Information-based Feature Selection for Facial Emotion Recognition on Light-Weight Devices

Light-weight devices have become ubiquitous in our daily life, such as smartphones, smart monitors, and other smart devices in our home. As light-weight devices are becoming popular, the demand for sophisticated human-computer interaction (HCI) applications for light-weight devices is also increasing. One particularly promising HCI application for light-weight devices is facial expression recognition (FER), since it may open up possibilities of various medical, psychological or psychiatric monitoring. However, its high computational demand has prevented widespread adoption of FER on light-weight devices. To address this issue, here we aim at decreasing computational overhead of FER by reducing the number of facial landmarks. We calculated mutual information of facial landmarks’ movements and detected their clusters using hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC). We also applied a genetic algorithm (GA)-inspired landmark selection method to filter out low-utility features from each facial landmark cluster. The selected features were provided to a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to classify facial expressions, and its performance was compared among several different algorithm settings. Results showed that our proposed method achieved classification accuracy similar to the classifier that used the original full-featured dataset, with improved performance robustness and computational time reduced by 63.5%.
Acoustic bubble-based bidirectional micropump

Efficient transportation of fluids and microparticles is an important capability in many medical and biological applications. In this article, an efficient bi-directional micropump using microcavity-trapped acoustic bubbles is studied. With acoustic actuation, a controllable microstreaming net flow is generated inside a microchannel by the oscillating bubbles. Based on theory and experimental results, different sized microbubbles have different resonant frequencies. Thus, by oppositely placing the different sized microbubbles, the flow direction can be switched via altering the frequency. The pumping flow rate can be tuned by adjusting the input voltage and can achieve as high as 1600 nl/min with high stability. Furthermore, the bi-directional pumping ability is also proved using blood-mimicking fluid (BMF), allowing for on-chip high-viscosity fluid pumping. In the end, the proposed device is employed in pumping Escherichia coli bacteria, indicating that the micropump is capable of pumping cells without damaging them. This inexpensive, portable and biocompatible acoustic bubble-based bi-directional pump for transporting fluids and particles has great potential to integrate with other on-chip platforms for multiple biological and chemical applications, such as drug delivery, cell separation, and chemical analysis.
Central Nervous System Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder: Response to Ibrutinib

Abstract Primary central nervous system post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (CNS-PTLD) are often high grade lymphomas, with an aggressive clinical course and poor prognosis. Underlying iatrogenic immunosuppression and the risk of graft rejection makes CNS- PTLD a unique entity and challenging to treat. High dose methotrexate and rituximab-based regimens have been most commonly used to treat CNS-PTLD. Treatment of patients who are methotrexate ineligible/ refractory is not well defined. Ibrutinib, a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor is a promising treatment for CNS-PTLD due to its ability to cross the blood brain barrier and target the B-cell receptor signaling pathway. We describe a patient with refractory CNS-PTLD who attained a complete response with Ibrutinib and has remained in remission for more than 20 months.
Primary case inference in viral outbreaks through analysis of intra-host variant population

Abstract Investigation of outbreaks to identify the primary case is crucial for the interruption and prevention of transmission of infectious diseases. These individuals may have a higher risk of participating in near future transmission events when compared to the other patients in the outbreak, so directing more transmission prevention resources towards these individuals is a priority. Genetic characterization of intra-host viral populations, although highly efficient in the identification of transmission clusters, is not as efficient in routing transmissions during outbreaks, owing to complexity of viral evolution. Here, we present a new computational framework, PYCIVO: primarycase inference in viral outbreaks. This framework expands upon our earlier work in development of QUENTIN, which builds a probabilistic disease transmission tree based on simulation of evolution of intra-host hepatitis C virus (HCV) variants between cases involved in direct transmission during an outbreak. PYCIVO improves upon QUENTIN by also implementing a custom heterogeneity index which empowers PYCIVO to make the important ‘No primary case’ prediction. One or more samples, possibly including the primary case, may have not been sampled, and this designation is meant to account for these scenarios. These approaches were validated using a set of 105 sequence samples from 11 distinct HCV transmission clusters identified during outbreak investigations, in which the primary case was epidemiologically verified. Both models can detect the correct primary case in 9 out of 11 transmission clusters (81.8%). However, while QUENTIN issues erroneous predictions on the remaining 2 transmission clusters, PYCIVO issues a null output for these clusters, giving it an effective prediction accuracy of 100%. To further evaluate accuracy of the inference, we created 10 modified transmission clusters in which the primary case had been removed. In this scenario, PYCIVO was able to correctly identify that there was no primary case in 8/10 (80%) of these modified clusters. This model was validated with HCV; however, this approach may be applicable to other microbial pathogens. A version of this software is publicly available at the following url: https://www.github.com/walkergussler/PYCIVO
Sleep and puberty

Abstract In 1976, Boyar et al made the seminal observation that during the early stages of puberty, there is a sleep-specific augmentation of pulsatile luteinizing hormone secretion. Building on this tantalizing association between sleep and the reawakening of the neuro-reproductive axis, a number of investigators have since mapped the dynamic relationship between sleep and reproductive hormones across the pubertal transition. In this review, we focus on the complex, reciprocal relationship between sleep and reproductive hormones during adolescence, as well as on the potential effects of melatonin and orexin on gonadotropin-releasing hormone activity in children with chronic insomnia and narcolepsy, respectively. Given the important interaction between the reproductive and somatotropic axes during puberty, we end with a discussion of sleep and growth hormone secretion in children.
Correction to: Taking Preprimary Programs to Scale in Developing Countries: Multi-source Evidence to Improve Primary School Completion Rates

The article Taking Preprimary Programs to Scale in Developing Countries: Multi‑source Evidence to Improve Primary School Completion Rates.