cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Time Series Regression and ARIMA Models

In Chapter 1, we introduced autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions (ACF’s and CCF’s) as tools for clarifying relations that may occur within and between time series at various lags. In addition, we have explained how to build linear models based on classical regression theory for exploiting the associations indicated by large values of the ACF or CCF. The time domain methods of this chapter, contrasted with the frequency domain methods introduced in later chapters, are appropriate when we are dealing with possibly nonstationary, shorter time series; these series are the rule rather than the exception in applications arising in economics and the social sciences. In addition, the emphasis in these fields is usually on forecasting future values, which is easily treated as a regression problem. This chapter develops a number of regression techniques for time series that are all related to classical ordinary and weighted or correlated least squares.
Stanley Mandelstam and my postdoctoral years at Berkeley

From 1959 to 1961 I was a postdoc at U.C. Berkeley. Personally, I regard my postdoctoral period as “Golden Years” – finished with course taking and thesis writing, not yet burdened with classes to teach, students to mentor, grants to apply for. Lots of freedom, lots of things to explore in the beautiful Bay Area.
Thick Filament Compliance in Passively Stretched Skeletal Muscle

Titin is a giant sarcomeric protein (∼2.9MDa to 4.0MDa) that spans half of the sarcomere from the Z disc to the M band. Titin closely interacts with the thick filament inside the A band, and plays important roles in sarcomere development and force generation. In vertebrate muscle, multiple titin isoforms with different molecular weights exist resulting from alternative splicing of a single titin gene. Different sizes of titin lead to different overall stiffnesses of the muscle having multiple effects on muscle function. Titin with different sizes would expect to have different effects on myofilament properties. Here we used the Rbm20 mouse model to study how titins of different sizes, and hence, compliance can affect sarcomere structure with increasing sarcomere length in skeletal muscle using small angle X-ray diffraction. In this Rbm20 mouse model, homozygous mice (KO) expresses the largest titin, and heterozygous mice (HET) expresses an intermediate molecular weight titin compared to titin expressed in wild type mice. The results showed that titin-based passive tension strains thick filaments, and the titin isoform in Rbm20 KO muscle strains the thick filament the least. Our results also showed that the thick filament extensibility, and hence, compliance, in passively stretched muscle is non-linear. Meridional X-ray reflections attributed to myosin binding protein C (MyBP-C) decrease in intensity with increasing sarcomere length, consistent with the notion that MyBP-C interacts with actin and that this interaction is lost when thin filaments are pulled out of the C-zone. Our results also showed that KO muscle with most compliant titin isoform had the largest inter-filament spacing and lowest equatorial intensity ratio at slack length. Supported by R01AR060697 and P41GM103622 from the National Institutes of Health.
Mapping Utopias: From New Babylon to Black Rock City

New Utopian plans for liberated urban spaces emerged during the post-war era with the work of the Lettrist (LI), Situationist International (SI), and specifically Constant Nieuwenhuys, a Dutch painter turned architect and sculptor who understood urban planning as intimately linked to nomadism, play and creativity. Influenced by the bombed detritus of European capitals and the possibilities of new technology, Constant’s plans for a future society were post-revolutionary, with unseen automated factory production and spaces for innovation that were elevated on stilts. Constant’s conflicting ideas are referenced and emulated in Black Rock City – a short-term encampment erected every year for the Burning Man festival in the desert of Nevada. These multileveled zones would allow for the blurring of public and private space as well as zones of work and leisure. Article received: December 12, 2016; Article accepted: January 10, 2017; Published online: Aprile 20, 2017 Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Novakov, Anna. "Mapping Utopias: From New Babylon to Black Rock City." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 12 (2017): 9-16. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i12.163
Bayesian optimization with tree-structured dependencies

Bayesian optimization has been successfully used to optimize complex black-box functions whose evaluations are expensive. In many applications, like in deep learning and predictive analytics, the optimization domain is itself complex and structured. In this work, we focus on use cases where this domain exhibits a known dependency structure. The benefit of leveraging this structure is twofold: we explore the search space more efficiently and posterior inference scales more favorably with the number of observations than Gaussian Process-based approaches published in the literature. We introduce a novel surrogate model for Bayesian optimization which combines independent Gaussian Processes with a linear model that encodes a tree-based dependency structure and can transfer information between overlapping decision sequences. We also design a specialized two-step acquisition function that explores the search space more effectively. Our experiments on synthetic tree-structured objectives and on the tuning of feedforward neural networks show that our method compares favorably with competing approaches.
A fringe projector-based study of the Brighter-Fatter Effect in LSST CCDs

To achieve the goals of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope for Dark Energy science requires a detailed understanding of CCD sensor effects. One such sensor effect is the Point Spread Function (PSF) increasing with flux, alternatively called the `Brighter-Fatter Effect.' In this work a novel approach was tested to perform the PSF measurements in the context of the Brighter-Fatter Effect employing a Michelson interferometer to project a sinusoidal fringe pattern onto the CCD. The Brighter-Fatter effect predicts that the fringe pattern should become asymmetric in the intensity pattern as the brighter peaks corresponding to a larger flux are smeared by a larger PSF. By fitting the data with a model that allows for a changing PSF, the strength of the Brighter-Fatter effect can be evaluated.
The Relationships Between the Bernoulli Numbers B2n & an And the Euler Numbers E2n & bn

Traditionally, the values of Riemann zeta function at the even positive integers have been formulated in terms of Bernoulli numbers n B2 and the sums of the alternating series of odd powers of the reciprocal of odd positive integers have been calculated in terms of Euler numbers . 2n E However, the present author reproduced the sum of the same series using different procedures in terms of two rational numbers n a and . n b In this paper, the relationships between n B2 & n a and n E2 & n b have been established. Consequently, some of the theorems and corollaries in [5] have been restated in terms of n B2 and E2n.
Entertainment, News, and Income Inequality: How Colombian Media Shape Perceptions of Income Inequality and Why It Matters

This study integrates theories of mass-media effects with research on relative deprivation to explore the relationship between media exposure, perceptions of inequality, and political outcomes. Based on a representative sample of the Colombian adult population ( N = 1,031), this study shows a negative relationship between news exposure and perceptions of income inequality but also a positive link between entertainment content and citizens’ understanding of income gaps. Moreover, our findings suggest that more realistic perceptions of inequality, shaped by media exposure, are positively associated with redistributive policy and participation behaviors, with a moderating role of socioeconomic stratum.
Technical Note: On maximizing Cherenkov emissions from medical linear accelerators.

PURPOSE Cherenkov light during MV radiotherapy has recently found imaging and therapeutic applications but is challenged by relatively low fluence. Our purpose is to investigate the feasibility of increasing Cherenkov light production during MV radiotherapy by increasing photon energy and applying specialized beam-hardening filtration. METHODS GAMOS 5.0.0, a GEANT4-based framework for Monte Carlo simulations, was used to model standard clinical linear accelerator primary photon beams. The photon source was incident upon a 17.8 cm3 cubic water phantom with a 94 cm source to surface distance. Dose and Cherenkov production was determined at depths of 3-9 cm. Filtration was simulated 15 cm below the photon beam source. Filter materials included aluminum, iron, and copper with thicknesses of 2-20 cm. Histories used depended on the level of attenuation from the filter, ranging from 100 million to 2 billion. Comparing average dose per history also allowed for evaluation of dose-rate reduction for different filters. RESULTS Overall, increasing photon beam energy is more effective at improving Cherenkov production per unit dose than is filtration, with a standard 18 MV beam yielding 3.3-4.0× more photons than 6 MV. Introducing an aluminum filter into an unfiltered 2400 cGy/min 10 MV beam increases the Cherenkov production by 1.6-1.7×, while maintaining a clinical dose rate of 300 cGy/min, compared to increases of ~1.5× for iron and copper. Aluminum was also more effective than the standard flattening filter, with the increase over the unfiltered beam being 1.4-1.5× (maintaining 600 cGy/min dose rate) vs 1.3-1.4× for the standard flattening filter. Applying a 10 cm aluminum filter to a standard 18 MV, photon beam increased the Cherenkov production per unit dose to 3.9-4.3× beyond that of 6 MV (vs 3.3-4.0× for 18 MV with no aluminum filter). CONCLUSIONS Through a combination of increasing photon energy and applying specialized beam-hardening filtration, the amount of Cherenkov photons per unit radiotherapy dose can be increased substantially.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A Biopsychosocial Approach to Patient Management of Ventricular Fibrillation and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators

Sudden cardiac arrest remains the single most common cause of death for adults in the Western world. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) affects approximately 350,000 Americans annually and is a significant health concern and risk (The American Heart Association 2007). These potentially life-threatening arrhythmias often begin as ventricular tachycardia (VT), a dangerously fast heart rhythm that originates in one of the ventricles that may decompensate into ventricular fibrillation (VF). Treatment for VF usually includes high-energy defibrillation from either an automatic external defibrillator (AED) or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) that restores proper heart rate and rhythm using high-energy electrical shock. Randomized controlled clinical trials have demonstrated superior mortality benefits of ICDs compared to medications for both primary and secondary prevention for patients at risk for VT/VF. The patient experiences of both spontaneous life-threatening arrhythmias and the treatment via high-energy shock from the ICD have prompted significant clinical and research attention to psychosocial factors (Stutts, Cross, Conti, & Sears, 2007). Biopsychosocial approaches to understanding and managing the risk of sudden cardiac arrest have included examination of psychosocial factors both as antecedents and as consequences to the experience of VF and the subsequent treatment by the ICD. The purpose of this chapter is to review the medical manifestation of ventricular fibrillation and the psychosocial factors of ventricular fibrillation and its treatment and suggest psychological intervention approaches for patients with VF/ICDs.
Simulation of a Steady-State Electron Shock Wave in a Submicron Semiconductor Device Using High-Order Upwind Methods

The hydrodynamic model treats electron flow in a semiconductor device through the Euler equations of gas dynamics, with the addition of a heat conduction term. Thus the hydrodynamic model PDEs have hyperbolic, parabolic, and elliptic modes.
Systematic Approach to Metabolic Diseases of Bone

This chapter begins with a brief introduction to bone metabolism. The main focus is discussing generalized diminished bone density (GDBD), but examples of generalized increased bone density are also briefly presented. Since various causes of GDBD are not considered in the WHO definitions, a radiologic classification based on pathophysiology of GDBD will follow, complementing the WHO definitions and distinguishing osteoporosis from osteomalacia, osteolysis, and marrow proliferative disorders. The primary and secondary osteoporoses are discussed. Diagnostic imaging of osteoporosis by radiography, dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), quantitative CT analysis, microcomputerized tomography, quantitative ultrasonography, and MRI is briefly reported. The major risk of advanced osteoporosis is fracture of the spine, hip, and less frequently other bones. A summarized treatment of osteoporosis is followed by discussion of osteomalacia, rickets, hypervitaminoses D and A, as well as fluorosis.
Abstract 15193: Preclinical Heart Failure: Evaluation of Long-Term Outcomes in Patients With Stage A and Stage B Heart Failure in the General Population

Introduction: AHA/ACC classification of Stage A and B heart failure (HF) encompasses patients without clinical symptoms. Stage A is defined as those at high risk for HF, but without structural hear...
Effects of conversion harvests on light regimes in a southern pine ecosystem in transition from intensively managed plantations to uneven-aged stands

Abstract Uneven-aged silviculture is increasingly viewed as ecologically and economically appropriate strategy to manage forest ecosystems. Consequently, there is interest in converting intensively managed pine plantations to uneven-aged stands in the southeastern United States. Understanding biophysical factors that determine performance and growth of desirable species is critical to success of such conversions. We initiated a replicated, long-term, operational-scale stand conversion experiment in mature slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) plantations in mesic-wet flatwoods sites in northwest Florida, and examined how five conversion harvests (shelterwood, group selection, staggered third row thin, third row thin, cut 2 leave 3 thin harvests), in addition to an uncut control, affected understory light availability in these forests. Light availability was measured in terms of leaf area index, sky, and fractions of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (both direct and diffuse). The values of these variables were derived by analyzing a total of 880 (450 in the harvest treatment plots and additional 430 in the gaps of group selection) Digital Hemispherical Photographs using image analyzing software CAN-EYE. We found that shelterwood harvest resulted in highest light availability, whereas greatest variability in light conditions was observed following group selection harvests. Among the four circular gap sizes (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 ha) we studied, gaps of larger sizes had greater light availability. Light availability increased as the distance from the gap edge increased and was highest either in the center of the gap or slightly towards northern and western sides of the gap center. Variability in light availability increased as gap size increased from 0.1 to 0.4 ha but was reduced in the 0.8 ha gap. In shade-intolerant species like slash pine in wet flatwoods-- where soil moisture and nutrients are generally not limiting-- light availability could be the most critical factor determining the success of regeneration and stand conversion. Overall, the results indicated that shelterwood harvest resulted in highest average light availability which would be conducive to slash pine regeneration while group selection harvest created the most diverse light environment during the stand conversion which may promote a broader diversity of groundcover species. Long-term monitoring of regeneration growth and recruitment following prescribed burning and over multiple cutting cycles will determine if slash pine can be sustainably managed using uneven-aged silviculture.
Some Comments on the Papers by Kagel and Battalio and by Smith: Experimentation and Tests of Economic Hypotheses

Publisher Summary There exists fundamental behavioral laws that apply equally well to both experimental and ordinary environments. Acceptance of the proposition that the same laws underlie both laboratory and real world behavior does not imply acceptance of a proposition that the same behavior will characterize both circumstances. The two environments are quite different and even if one confines to a single species (human), there are many reasons for expecting actual behavior to differ in the two alternative situations. This chapter describes few problems that are frequently encountered in experimental practice. It appears that Kagel and Battalio have confined their discussion to a class of phenomena in which the implications of the two behavioral paradigms are identical. Considering the general success of laboratory experiments in replicating learning phenomena, one suspects that had Kagel and Battalio extended their work to saving behavior or to decision making in risky situations.
Incidence and Prevalence

Perhaps one the murkiest and most contentious questions concerns the frequency of sexual violence. More than any other type of criminal conduct, sexual offenses, in their extraordinary diversity, are likely to fade into the unfathomable abyss of human experience, never to be known by the criminal justice system. The innumerable problems that plague investigators who have estimated the frequency (or incidence) of rape and child molestation were reviewed by Quinsey (1986). Essentially, those same problems remain unsolved today.
Molecular-size selective H-β zeolite-encapsulated Ce-Zr/Ni-Mg catalysts for steam reforming

Abstract A composite H-β zeolite membrane encapsulated 1.6%Ni/1.2%Mg/Ce 0.6 Zr 0.4 O 2 steam reforming catalyst was prepared by a physical coating method using silica sol as a binder between the H-β zeolite shell and steam reforming catalyst core. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analyses indicated that H-β zeolite was coated successfully on the core reforming catalyst and the shell thickness was at least 100 nm. The pore size of H-β zeolite shell was between 0.43 and 0.57 nm, as measured by the HK method. Steam reforming of CH 4 and C 7 H 8 (as a tar model) were conducted with the composite H-β zeolite coated reforming catalyst, the two components individually, and physical mixtures of the two components as a function of temperature (780–840 °C). CH 4 conversion was enhanced by a factor of 2–3 (depending on temperature) for the composite catalyst as compared to the core reforming catalyst individually even though the zeolite did not have any activity alone. Possible reasons for the enhanced CH 4 conversion include confined reaction effects (increase residence time within pores) of the catalyst containing the zeolite coating and/or Al 3+ promotion of the active sites. Alternatively, due to molecular-size selectivity, the composite H-β zeolite coated reforming catalyst demonstrated a decrease in C 7 H 8 conversion when compared to the uncoated reforming catalyst. The results validate the use of size selective catalysts to control molecular traffic and enhance the reforming reactant selectivity.
Strategic Foresight: An Exercise

The exercise asks students to perform a strategic analysis of the consulting industry in order to identify untapped strategic opportunities.Learning Objective: The purpose is to show that we tend to hold similar mental categories of known industries, which lead to the identification of similar strategic opportunities. Taking this logic to the extreme, if all strategic leaders in a given industry think about the world in the same way, they will all identify the same strategic opportunities. That is why re-categorizing the industry is crucial to identify untapped superior positions.
Habitat Characteristics and Selection by Ornate Box Turtles in the Sandhills of South Dakota

The ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata Agassiz) is a species of greatest conservation need in South Dakota. Habitat loss through agricultural development and fragmentation is the main threat to the species throughout its range, which extends from Wisconsin and northern Indiana through the central Great Plains, and from southern South Dakota to Arizona, northern Mexico, and the Gulf Coast of Texas. The objectives of this study were to determine the ornate box turtle's preferred vegetation characteristics (microhabitat) compared to the available habitat (macrohabitat) on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota Sandhills region, during 2010–2011. In both years, using a modified Robel pole method, we determined that turtles selected microhabitat with greater visual obstruction readings (VORs) than those within the random available macrohabitat (P < 0.01), with means of 22 cm and 15 cm, respectively. Higher VOR values indicate greater vegetation height and/or density. Canopy cover results showed that ornate box turtles exhibited high selection (P < 0.01) for sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia Torr.) coverage (38%) but selected lower cover than available within the macrohabitat for total grasses (37%), total forbs (19%), and bare ground (14%). Shrubs, such as sand sagebrush, are an important component of box turtle microhabitat, as they facilitate thermoregulation by providing cool areas during the summer and favorable hibernation sites during the winter. Shrub coverage is highly reco mmended for consideration when developing habitat management plans that aim to increase or sustain ornate box turtle populations in the Sandhills ecological type.
How to Learn Imprecise Concepts: A Method for Employing a Two-Tiered Knowledge Representation in Learning

Abstract Most human concepts have imprecise, context-dependent meaning. Such concepts enable people to express a great variety of meanings by fewer words, and this serves cognitive economy. The ability to learn imprecise context-dependent concepts is therefore a fundamental, yet unsolved, problem in machine learning. This paper proposes an approach to learning such concepts based on the idea of two-tiered concept representation. In this representation, the meaning of any concept is defined by two components: the base concept representation (BCR), and the inferential concept interpretation (ICI). The BCR expresses the general, typical and easy-to-define meaning of the concept. The ICI assigns the meaning to any particular concept instance by conducting inference (deductive, analogical or inductive) matching the BCR with the properties of the instance. This process uses the interpretation method associated with the concept, that involves the context of discourse and the interpreter's relevant background knowledge. Learning of a concept using two-tiered representation thus has two parts: the system has to acquire the base representation, and also the concept interpretation method. An early concept learning experiment using a simple form of two-tiered representation has shown that by shifting a large part of the concept meaning from the base concept representation to the inferential concept interpretation, the amount of memory needed for concept representation was greatly reduced. At the same time, the performance accuracy in recognizing concepts not only did not decrease, but increased slightly.
HIV Cure Research: Risks Patients Expressed Willingness to Accept

Despite doing well on antiretroviral therapy, many people living with HIV have expressed a willingness to accept substantial risks for an HIV cure. To date, few studies have assessed the specific quantitative maximal risk that future participants might take; probed whether, according to future participants, the risk can be offset by the benefits; and examined whether taking substantial risk is a reasonable decision. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 22 people living with HIV and used standard gamble methodology to assess the maximum chance of death a person would risk for an HIV cure. We probed participants' reasoning behind their risk-taking responses. Conventional inductive content analysis was used to categorize key themes regarding decision-making. We found that some people would be willing to risk even death for an HIV cure, and some of their reasons were plausible and went far beyond the health-related utility of an HIV cure. We contend that people's expressed willingness to take substantial risk for an HIV cure should not be dismissed out of hand.
A Bitter Harvest: US Foreign Policy and Afghanistan

In the aftermath of Al Qaeda's terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington, DC on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush quickly fo...
Abstract 2862: Cetuximab-Triptolide conjugate suppresses growth of EGFR-overexpressing lung cancers through targeting RNA polymerase II

Triptolide (TPL), a natural compound isolated from a traditional Chinese medicine Thunder God Vine, exhibits strong anticancer activities; however, its clinical use is limited by low water-solubility and high systemic toxicity. To overcome these disadvantages, we developed a novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) to specifically delivered TPL to cancer cells overexpressing EGFR which is frequently found in many types of human cancers including 70% of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). The ADC is made by conjugation of TPL to Cetuximab, a clinically available anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody, via lysine residues of the antibody. Biochemical analysis showed that the average of drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) of Cet-TPL is about 5, and the conjugation has little effect on the solubility and binding affinity of Cetuximab. The antitumor efficacy and toxicity of Cet-TPL were assessed and compared to that of TPL, Cetuximab, and a combination of these two. And the results demonstrated that Cet-TPL drastically suppresses in vitro proliferation and in vivo growth of these EGFR-overexpressing cancers including A549 and H1299 NSCLC cell lines, and two NSCLC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs); and SCC6 head-neck cancer cell line, while it did not significantly inhibit the proliferation and growth of NSCLC H520 that barely expresses EGFR. Furthermore, immunofluorescent analysis revealed that Cet-TPL is effectively transported into lysosomes of cancer cells that overexpress EGFR proteins, spared cells that don9t express EGFR. Similar to TPL, which inhibits RNA polymerase II (Pol II) mediated transcription, Cet-TPL can also effectively target Pol II and significantly induce apoptosis in these EGFR-overexpressing cancers. Compared to Triptolide, Cetuximab, or their combinations, Cet-TPL displays higher target-specific cytotoxicity against EGFR-expressed cancers and much lower in vivo systematic toxicity. In addition, Cet-TPL efficiently suppresses activated EGFR pathway in SCC6 cancer cells. Taken together, Cet-TPL represents a potent targeted therapeutic agent against EGFR-overexpressing NSCLC and other cancers. Citation Format: Keqiang Zhang, Yuelong Ma, Yuming Guo, Ting Sun, Jun Wu, David Horne, Dan Raz. Cetuximab-Triptolide conjugate suppresses growth of EGFR-overexpressing lung cancers through targeting RNA polymerase II [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2862.
Intraspecies variation in ectotympanic tube length and orientation among humans

Ectotympanic bone morphology is commonly used as a large-scale phylogenetic indicator across primates. Less well-understood is the intraspecies variation in this characteristic and the dynamic ways in which it affects and is affected by overall basicranial shape. This study attempts to clarify relationships between the external ear canal and basicranial shape among humans in a sample of archaeological human crania. The ectotympanic length and orientation were hypothesized to correlate with the shape of the cranial base and particularly with shape variables associated with relative brachycephaly. Basicranial shape in 80 computed tomography (CT) scans of adult humans were quantified using landmark coordinate data, with particular emphasis on the cranial base and auditory structures. Scaled ectotympanic lengths were taken from interlandmark distances and then compared to shape variation of the whole basicranium as summarized by procrustes shape variables and principal components analysis (PCA). The length of the ectotympanic bone was correlated with total cranial base variation. Long ectotympanic bones were found to be associated with brachycephalic individuals and less flexed basicrania. Additionally, long ectotympanic bones were found to be more horizontally oriented, as opposed to inferiorly sloped. We suggest that as brachycephaly increases the distance between the otic capsule and the pinna, the ectotympanic bone lengthens in response.
Complete Radiation Boundary Conditions for Maxwell's Equations

We describe the construction, analysis, and implementation of arbitrary-order local radiation boundary condition sequences for Maxwell's equations. In particular we use the complete radiation boundary conditions which implicitly apply uniformly accurate exponentially convergent rational approximants to the exact radiation boundary conditions. Numerical experiments for waveguide and free space problems using high-order discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretizations are presented.
Firearm Suicides in the Elderly: A Narrative Review and Call for Action

Firearm suicides are one of the leading causes of death for older Americans. The purpose of this review is to explore the risk factors associated with suicides in the elderly, provide an overview of the epidemiology of firearm-related suicides in older Americans, and explore methods of preventing firearm suicides in the elderly. The vast majority (70 %) of elderly suicides in the U.S were committed using a firearm. Elderly firearm suicides have increased by 49 % between 2010 and 2018, disproportionately affecting white males. Yearly firearm suicides in the elderly ranged from 4,276 in 2010 to 6,375 in 2018. In 2018, the rate of elderly male firearm suicides was 24.96/100,000 compared to a rate of 1.92/100,000 for elderly females, a rate ratio of 13 to 1 for males compared to females. The primary risk factors for elderly firearm suicides seem to be physical illnesses, mental illnesses, and social factors. Older Americans engage in suicidal behaviors with greater planning and lethality of intent than do young adults. Of all the strategies to prevent suicides with firearms, the most efficacious measures based on current research seem to be state firearm legislation and improving mental healthcare, but these effects are not specific to the elderly. Strengthening state firearm laws and improving mental healthcare for the elderly may have promise in preventing elderly firearm-related suicides. Additional implications for practice and research are discussed in this review.
Fracture Liaison Service: US Perspective

Abstract The Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) model of care is critical to improving postfracture care in the United States of America and is the solution to narrowing the postfracture medical care osteoporosis care gap. In this chapter, factors leading to the FLS movement are described. The Kaiser Healthy Bones programme and Geisinger High-Risk Osteoporosis Clinic programme are summarised in detail, followed by a description of other programmes such as ‘Own the Bone’ and orthopaedic-led models of postfracture care. Osteoporosis care gaps are addressed, as are FLS database/registries and quality reporting measures. Importantly, no ‘one size fits all’ model exists as postfracture care is provided in open, closed and ‘hybrid’ systems of care. The chapter concludes by encouraging existing FLS programmes to report benchmarking metrics, track performance and learn from the experiences and activities of others.
Trends, survival outcomes, and predictors of nonadherence to mastectomy guidelines for nonmetastatic inflammatory breast cancer.

BACKGROUND The Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend modified radical mastectomy (MRM) as the surgical treatment of choice for nonmetastatic inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Limited studies have looked into the outcomes of breast conserving surgery (BCS) vs. MRM for IBC. METHODS National Cancer Database (NCDB) data from 2004 to 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients' demographics, tumor characteristics, and overall survival (OS) trends were compared for BCS and MRM cases of nonmetastatic IBC. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS A total of 413 (3.89%) BCS and 10,197 (96.11%) MRM cases were identified. Median follow-up was 58.45 months. Compared to MRM, BCS patients were more likely to be older, be African American, have Medicare/Medicaid or be uninsured, live in lower education ZIP codes, and live in a metropolitan area (all p < 0.05). BCS rates significantly decreased from 5.84% in 2004 to 3.19% in 2014 (p < 0.001). BCS patients also were more likely to have less than 50% of the breast involved (51.57% vs. 43.88%; p = 0.0081) and were less likely to receive trimodal therapy (50.85% vs. 74.62%; p = <0.0001). The OS was significantly higher in the mastectomy group over 9 years at 62.02% vs. 54.47% in the BCS group. Additionally, in the adjusted multivariate model, BCS cases were associated with 23% higher hazards of overall mortality (p = 0.0091). CONCLUSION BCS was performed in a limited number of cases, which decreased over the study period. The analysis identified both demographic predictors of receiving BCS and significantly lower OS for IBC patients undergoing a BCS.
Aristotelian Phronêsis, the Discourse of Human Rights, and Contemporary Global Practice

This essay outlines some fundamental differences between the evaluative and explanatory language of Aristotelian practical reason based on his empirical psychological theory of human development, on the one hand, and the late 20th and 21st century discourse of human rights based on a NeoKantian transcendent principle of universal human dignity on the other. To what extent are these two types of political discourse compatible in today’s globalizing world? To the extent that they are not compatible, which should be preferred? My answer is that they are compatible and even complementary, but only if the Aristotelian framework is treated as more fundamental, and the rights-and-dignity perspective is understood as a potentially good political solution, for the time being, in the contemporary context of global politics.
CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells from JNK-/- mice prolong pancreatic allograft survival in type 1 diabetic mice (TRAN2P.970)

In the current study we asked whether modified CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T-cells (T-regs) can induce long term allograft tolerance. Pancreatic islets from BALB/c mice survived in a type 1 diabetic C57BL/6 mice (recipient mice) liver up to 18-21 days (n=5). Preloading islets with T-regs from WT (wild type) C57BL/6 mice, enhanced survival up to 37 days (N=5 and p = 0.003). Further preloading islets with T-regs from JNK1 -/- mice (C57BL/6 background) enhanced survival up to 107 days (N=5 and p = 0.002). In contrast preloading islets with T-regs from FAS -/- (C57BL/6 background) did not enhance islet survival beyond 45 days. T-cell receptor stimulation of T-regs from JNK1 -/- mice produced significant high amount of IL-10 (14.67 ± 2.784 vs 3.803 ± 0.8325, p = 0.009) and TGF-β (27.93 ± 7.563 vs 9.920 ± 1.212, p = 0.05) compared to T-regs from WT mice. Preloading islets with T-regs from JNK1 -/- mice reduced IL-1β (30.91 ± 2.41 vs 16.13 ± 2.76; p = 0.003), TNF-α (3.802 ± 0.69 vs 1.888 ± 0.26; p = 0.03) IL-17 (24.82 ± 4.07 vs 4.708 ± 1.57; p = 0.0017). Studies are underway to determine the JNK1 -/- T-regs mediated mechanisms involved in prolongation of allograft survival.
Responsive Systems: A Marriage Between Real Time and Fault Tolerance

A concept of responsive computer systems is presented. The emerging responsive systems demand fault-tolerant and real-time performance in parallel and distributed computing environments. A new design framework for responsive systems is introduced. It is based on a fundamental problem of consensus. Then, a new measure of responsiveness for specifying fault tolerance and real-time requirements is described. Next, the design methodologies for fault-tolerant, real-time and responsive systems are discussed, and novel techniques for introducing redundancy for improved performance and dependability are illustrated.
Differences in behavior of dynamic parameterized operators

Finding the optimal parameter values for parameterized operators such as the S-OWA-AND aggregation operator or BADD defuzzification method can be difficult. Also, as the reasoning situation changes, the optimal parameter values may change. This paper first demonstrates how much the output of a given fuzzy system, one that controls an inverted pendulum, can vary depending on which aggregation operator and/or defuzzification method is used. These variations can be more significant than varying the rules or membership functions. Next, examples are given of how dynamic switching of parameterized operators can be used to determine appropriate parameter values as the reasoning situation changes. Our technique involves the dynamic generation of switching tables from which hierarchical meta-rules can be created. These meta-rules can then be used to dynamically change the appropriate parameter values as warranted.
A Kernelized Architecture for Multilevel Secure Object-Oriented Databases Supporting Write-Up

This paper presents a kernelized architecture (i.e., an architecture in which no subject is exempted from the simple-security and *-properties) for multilevel secure (mls) object-oriented database management systems (DBMS's) which support write-up. Relational mls DBMS's typically do not allow write-up, due to integrity problems arising from the blind nature of write-up operations in these systems. In object-oriented DBMS's, on the other hand, sending messages upwards in the security lattice does not present an integrity problem because such messages will be processed by appropriate methods in the destination object. However, supporting write-up operations in object-oriented systems is complicated by the fact that such operations are no longer primitive; but can be arbitrarily complex and therefore can take arbitrary amounts of processing time. We focus on support for remote procedure call (RPC) based write-up operations. Dealing with the timing of such write-up operations consequently has broad implications on confidentiality (due to the possibility of signaling channels), integrity, and performance.We present an asynchronous computational model for mls object-oriented databases, which achieves the conflicting goals of confidentiality, integrity, and efficiency (performance). This requires concurrent computations to be generated within a user session, and for them to be scheduled so the net effect is logically that of a sequential (RPC-based) computation. Our work utilizes an underlying message filter security model to enforce mandatory confidentiality. We demonstrate how our computational model can be implemented within the framework of a kernelized architecture. In doing so, we present various intra-session and inter-session concurrency schemes. The intra-session schemes are concerned with the scheduling and management of concurrent computations generated within a user session, and we present conservative as well as aggressive scheduling algorithms. The inter-session schemes provide the traditional concurrency control functions of managing shared access to database objects, across user sessions.
Design and comparison of lightweight group management strategies in envirosuite

Tracking is one of the major applications of wireless sensor networks. EnviroSuite, as a programming paradigm, provides a comprehensive solution for programming tracking applications, wherein moving environmental targets are uniquely and identically mapped to logical objects to raise the level of programming abstraction. Such mapping is done through distributed group management algorithms, which organize nodes in the vicinity of targets into groups, and maintain the uniqueness and identity of target representation such that each target is given a consistent name. Challenged by tracking fast-moving targets, this paper explores, in a systematic way, various group management optimizations including semi-dynamic leader election, piggy-backed heartbeats, and implicit leader election. The resulting tracking protocol, Lightweight EnviroSuite, is integrated into a surveillance system. Empirical performance evaluation on a network of 200 XSM motes shows that, due to these optimizations, Lightweight EnviroSuite is able to track targets more than 3 times faster than the fastest targets trackable by the original EnviroSuite even when 20% of nodes fail.
The Centrality of Military Procurement: Explaining the Exceptionalist Character of United States Federal Public Procurement Law

This study builds upon prior work that delineates opposing tendencies of exceptionalism and congruence that measure the degree to which a body of public contracts law diverges or adheres to the norms of private contract law. This study has two objectives. First, it seeks to define more precisely, and track the incidence and locus of a phenomenon described as exceptionalism in public procurement law. Exceptionalism enhances the powers or reduces the liabilities of the government with respect to its private contracting partners. The first branch of this study also seeks to distinguish such true exceptionalism from a phenomenon of reverse exceptionalism that imposes duties on the government that private parties engaged in procurement do not share. This study concludes that true exceptionalism is strongly associated with the law governing performance of federal public procurement contracts, while reverse exceptionalism is associated characteristically with the law of federal public contract formation. The second objective of this study concerns the role of military procurement - which historically has been central to the development of the procurement law system in the United States. This feature of the United States public procurement regime distinguishes it from the national law of many other nations, and from the requirements of many transnational public procurement regimes. This study demonstrates the strong causal role played by military procurement, in the emergence of this exceptionalist tendency in the United States law governing performance of federal public procurement contracts. These findings have particular relevance for developing nations and transitional economies emerging from state socialism. Although the common practice of excluding military procurement from the field of newly established competitive procurement regimes in such nations is entirely understandable, this study suggests that this approach fosters the adoption of regime that lacks appropriate flexibility. The experience of the United States should caution other nations to consider the unrecognized costs of broadly excluding military procurement from their procurement regimes at the threshold.
Inflation and Relative Price Dispersion in Equity Markets and in Goods and Services Markets

We examine the link between inflation and the variability of relative prices in U.S. equity markets and in U.S. goods and services markets. We find strong, comparable links in both sets of markets. This finding represents a puzzle since conventional wisdom ? derived from menu cost or imperfect information models ? is not compelling in equity markets. We next examine whether we can attribute the results to small sample biases. We do find an important but generally overlooked bias that is present in many existing studies. However, the bias is too small to explain our own findings, and the puzzle remains.
Redefining Design Ethics

ABSTRACTDiscussions of law within graphic design education typically focus on copyright, trademarks, contracts, and the legal rights of designers, rather than on the laws that regulate the content and form of media such as web and mobile applications. Similarly, discussions of “design ethics” in many curricula are incomplete, referencing “Citizen Designer” or Glaser's “12 Steps on the Road to Hell,” but overlooking the ethical dimensions of the design process that occur subsequent to the selection of a client. Using the legal case of Maguire v. SOCOG (2000) and the issue of accessibility as points of departure, this article examines the legal and ethical aspects of web and mobile design. It proposes alternative definitions of design ethics that apply to the entirety of the production process, and calls for designers to adopt industry self-regulation or licensure to help ensure that designers are aware of and comply with the ethical standards and laws applicable to their profession.
Abstract 13431: Global Longitudinal Strain Combined With Radial Strain Delay Before Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy is Associated With Long Term Survival

Introduction: Identifying factors related to nonresponse in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) remains clinically important. The interaction of factors of global longitudinal strain (GLS), as an associated marker of scar burden, and radial strain delay, as a mechanical dyssynchony marker remains unclear. Hypothesis: Our aim was to test the hypothesis that GLS by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) combined with positive radial strain delay have prognostic utility in CRT patients. Methods: We studied 128 heart failure patients with routine CRT indications according to current clinical guidelines (ischemic 68%, age 64.9 ± 11.7 years, QRS width 159.3 ± 29.5 ms, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) 23.9 ± 5.4%). GLS was determined with speckle tracking as the average of the segmental values from routine 2D apical views. Baseline radial strain delay was assessed by speckle tracking radial strain with positive (+) pre-defined as anteroseptal to posterior wall delay ≥130 ms. Response was defined...
Learning the common language of genetics.

> This article is based on [Spradling (2004)][1]. Anecdotal, Historical and Critical Commentaries on Genetics Edited by James F. Crow and William F. Dove TODAY the Earth hosts millions of species of multicellular organisms, whose individuals may contain trillions of interacting cells comprising