cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An address dependence model of computation for hierarchical memories with pipelined transfer

Powerful memory models, including hierarchies with block transfer or with pipeline of accesses have been proposed in theory and are partially realized in commercial systems, to reduce the average memory overhead per operation. However, even for such powerful models, there are simple direct flow programs, with no branches and no indirect addressing that require non-constant overhead, resulting in superlinear execution time. Indeed, we characterize a wide, natural class of machines, including nearly all previously proposed models, and develop a technique, which yields superlinear time lower bounds on any machine of this class, for suitable direct-flow computations. We propose the address dependence model (ADM) for machines with pipelined memory hierarchies, where any direct-flow program runs in time linear in the number of executed instructions. As an example of the capabilities of ADM for algorithms non amenable to direct-flow formulation, we show how to implement quicksort in time proportional to the number of executed comparisons, whose expected value is O(n log n), even on memories where the latency of address x is a(x)=/spl theta/(x). (In contrast, T=/spl Omega/(n log/sup 2/ n) for sorting in the block transfer model of [A. Aggarwal et al. (1987)].) Finally, we consider the question of physical implementation of ADM and propose an extensible machine design, in which the number of gates and the length of a wire that a signal traverses in one clock period are, within a given technology, independent of system size. Such designs scale with system size (in particular, with memory latency) as well as with technological advancement. We assume aggressive, but feasible [G. Bilardi et al. (2002)], hierarchical memories pipelinable at a constant rate. The main contribution is a novel processor organization capable of fully exploiting such memories.
The Mesoscale and Microscale Structure and Organization of Clouds and Precipitation in Midlatitude Cyclones. XII: A Diagnostic Modeling Study of Precipitation Development in Narrow Cold-Frontal Rainbands

Abstract The highest precipitation rates in midlatitude cyclones are often associated with the narrow cold-frontal rainband. In this paper the formation of precipitation in this type of rainband is analyzed with the aid of a diagnostic cloud model and field measurements. Model results indicate that the high precipitation rates in narrow cold-frontal rainbands are associated with graupel. The graupel forms when ice particles, which originate in the stratiform cloud ahead of the rainband, grow rapidly by riming after entering the strong updraft (and hence a region of high liquid water content) associated with the rainband. When this source of input ice particles is not present the precipitation is somewhat weaker, but still mainly associated with graupel. In this case, the graupel forms as small, frozen drops grow by riming. The drops form in the updraft region due to the autoconversion of cloud water and they are frozen by collisions with small ice crystals. A series of sensitivity studies dealing with var...
Potential use of Liquid Membranes for Emergency Treatment of Drug Overdose

AbstractSeveral liquid membrane formulations were evaluated for the absorption of model drugs from two different donor solutions. Up to 95% of both phenobarbital and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) were removed from pH 2 donors and more than 85% of the former from a pH 7 donor in
Novel address mappings for shingled write disks

Shingled Write Disks (SWDs) increase the storage density by writing data in overlapping tracks. Consequently, data cannot be updated freely in place without overwriting the valid data in subsequent tracks if any. A write operation therefore may incur several extra read and write operations, which creates a write amplification problem. In this paper, we propose several novel static Logical Block Address (LBA) to Physical Block Address (PBA) mapping schemes for in-place update SWDs which significantly reduce the write amplification. The experiments with four traces demonstrate that our scheme can provide comparable performance to that of regular Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) when the SWD space usage is no more than 75%.
Establishing a database of Canadian feline mitotypes for forensic use

Hair shed by pet animals is often found and collected as evidence from crime scenes. Due to limitations such as small amount and low quality, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is often the only type of DNA that can be used for linking the hair to a potential contributor. mtDNA has lower discriminatory power than nuclear DNA because multiple, unrelated individuals within a population can have the same mtDNA sequence, or mitotype. Therefore, to determine the evidentiary value of a match between crime scene evidence and a suspected contributor, the frequency of the mitotype must be known within the regional population. While mitotype frequencies have been determined for the United States' cat population, the frequencies are unknown for the Canadian cat population. Given the countries' close proximity and similar human settlement patterns, these populations may be homogenous, meaning a single, regional database may be used for estimating cat population mitotype frequencies. Here we determined the mitotype frequencies of the Canadian cat population and compared them to the United States' cat population. The two cat populations are statistically homogenous, however mitotype B6 was found in high frequency in Canada and extremely low frequency in the United States, meaning a single database would not be appropriate for North America. Furthermore, this work calls attention to these local spikes in frequency of otherwise rare mitotypes, instances of which exist around the world and have the potential to misrepresent the evidentiary value of matches compared to a regional database.
Zeroth order Fabry-Perot resonance enabled ultra-thin perfect light absorber using percolation aluminum and silicon nanofilms

We demonstrated perfect light absorption in optical nanocavities made of ultra-thin percolation aluminum and silicon films deposited on an aluminum surface. The total layer thickness of the aluminum and silicon films is one order of magnitude less than perfect absorption wavelength in the visible spectral range. The ratio of silicon cavity layer thickness to perfect absorption wavelength decreases as wavelength decreases due to the increased phase delays at silicon-aluminum boundaries at shorter wavelengths. It is explained that perfect light absorption is due to critical coupling of incident wave to the fundamental Fabry-Perot resonance mode of the structure where the round trip phase delay is zero. Simulations were performed and the results agree well with the measurement results.
Smart acoustic sensor array (SASA) system for real-time sound processing applications

Abstract: This chapter describes the design and implementation of a smart acoustic sensor array (SASA) system that consists of a 52-microphone micro-electromechanical systems array embedded in a field-programmable gate array platform with real-time data acquisition, signal processing and network communication capabilities. The SASA system is evaluated using several case studies in order to demonstrate the versatility and scalability of the sensor array platform for real-time sound analysis applications. These case studies include sound mapping and source localization.
Redox signaling: An evolution from free radicals to aging

Redox biology has evolved from studies of the pathology that involves oxidants to an understanding of how oxidants participate in normal as well as aberrant signal transduction. Although the concept that signal transduction involved changes in the redox state dates from the 1930s, the modern history of redox biology began with the discovery of superoxide dismutase by McCord and Fridovich. The initial focus was on free radicals and damage of macromolecules, which remains an important topic. But, over time it was realized that hydroperoxides, especially H2O2 produced by NADPH oxidases, and electrophiles derived from lipid peroxidation or metabolism, played essential roles in physiologically relevant signaling. The mechanisms through which H2O2 and other electrophiles signal became an important area of study that provided insight into how these reactive molecules were involved in major signaling pathways and regulation of transcription factors. Thus, the field of redox signaling that is the overlap of signal transduction with redox biology was established. Alterations in redox signaling are observed in aging, but we also now know that redox signaling is essential in physiological homeostasis and that sustained deviation from redox homeostasis results in disease. This is a review of the history of redox biology from a personal perspective of nearly fifty years working in this field that hopefully provides some insights for the reader.
Proposed pathophysiologic framework to explain some excess cardiovascular death associated with ambient air particle pollution: Insights for public health translation

The paper proposes a pathophysiologic framework to explain the well-established epidemiological association between exposure to ambient air particle pollution and premature cardiovascular mortality, and offers insights into public health solutions that extend beyond regulatory environmental protections to actions that can be taken by individuals, public health officials, healthcare professionals, city and regional planners, local and state governmental officials and all those who possess the capacity to improve cardiovascular health within the population. The foundation of the framework rests on the contribution of traditional cardiovascular risk factors acting alone and in concert with long-term exposures to air pollutants to create a conditional susceptibility for clinical vascular events, such as myocardial ischemia and infarction; stroke and lethal ventricular arrhythmias. The conceptual framework focuses on the fact that short-term exposures to ambient air particulate matter (PM) are associated with vascular thrombosis (acute coronary syndrome, stroke, deep venous thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism) and electrical dysfunction (ventricular arrhythmia); and that individuals having prevalent heart disease are at greatest risk. Moreover, exposure is concomitant with changes in autonomic nervous system balance, systemic inflammation, and prothrombotic/anti-thrombotic and profibrinolytic-antifibrinolytic balance. Thus, a comprehensive solution to the problem of premature mortality triggered by air pollutant exposure will require compliance with regulations to control ambient air particle pollution levels, minimize exposures to air pollutants, as well as a concerted effort to decrease the number of people at-risk for serious clinical cardiovascular events triggered by air pollutant exposure by improving the overall state of cardiovascular health in the population. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Air Pollution, edited by Wenjun Ding, Andrew J. Ghio and Weidong Wu.
Roles of Health Care Providers and Patients in Initiation of Unnecessary Papanicolaou Testing After Total Hysterectomy

Objectives. To assess Papanicolaou (Pap) testing use among US adult women with a history of a total hysterectomy for a benign condition and the roles of health care providers and patients in the initiation of screening Pap tests.Methods. We used 2000 to 2013 data from the National Health Interview Survey on women aged 20 years or older who had undergone a hysterectomy (n = 11 616) to estimate unnecessary Pap test use.Results. The percentage of self-reported Pap testing in the preceding 3 years among women who had undergone a hysterectomy decreased from 72.2% in 2000 to 53.3% in 2013. In 2013, 42.4% of women who had undergone a hysterectomy reported receiving recommendations for screening from a health care provider in the past year (32% of which were unnecessary), and 32.1% reported undergoing Pap tests in the preceding year (22.1% of which were unnecessary). Although the majority of Pap tests were performed at a clinician’s recommendation, approximately one fourth were initiated by patients without clini...
A Galaxy-Halo Model for Multiple Cosmological Tracers

The information extracted from large galaxy surveys with the likes of DES, DESI, Euclid, LSST, SKA, and WFIRST will be greatly enhanced if the resultant galaxy catalogues can be cross-correlated with one another. Predicting the nature of the information gain, and developing the tools to realize it, depends on establishing a consistent model of how the galaxies detected by each survey trace the same underlying matter distribution. Existing analytic methods, such as halo occupation distribution modelling, are not well suited for this task, and can suffer from ambiguities and tuning issues when applied to multiple tracers. In this paper, we take the first step towards constructing an alternative that provides a common model for the connection between galaxies and dark matter haloes across a wide range of wavelengths (and thus tracer populations). This is based on a chain of parametrized statistical distributions that model the connection between (i) halo mass and bulk physical properties of galaxies, such as star formation rate; and (ii) those same physical properties and a variety of emission processes. The result is a flexible parametric model that allows analytic halo model calculations of one-point functions to be carried out for multiple tracers, as well as providing semi realistic galaxy properties for fast mock catalogue generation.
The Revelations of St Bridget of Sweden in Fifteenth-Century England

The foundation of the Brigittine Order in England at Syon Monastery in 1415 is just one indication of fifteenth-century English aristocratic interest in St Bridget. Syon’s book holdings show a steady focus on contemplative and visionary texts and their reach extended to Westminister and London where Syon’s noble patrons resided. Bridget’s Revelations were received by fifteenth-century readers in the form of extracts as well as the full text. The anonymous Contemplations of the Dread and Love of God borrowed from Bridget’s visionary work and was widely read by the laity. St Bridget had a formative influence on Margery Kempe and is one of the female mystics of the high Middle Ages who united contemplation with active ministry in the world.
Density and Dispersion of Cavity Dwelling Ant Species in Nuts of Eastern US Forest Floors

ABSTRACT Here we report on nut-nesting ant communities in the southeastern United States. We compared species diversity, ant abundance, and nut occupancy rates among sites in five states, and report the spatial dispersion of ant colonies in nuts in relation to colony-housing opportunities created by nuts and nest-site choice. Our results indicated that species diversity and nut occupancy rates do not differ among sites or states and that ant-occupied nuts are spatially aggregated across ant species, a pattern inconsistent with spatial segregation of species that might arise in a competition-assembled community. We tested the ability of artificial nest cavities (“Mobile Artificial Ant Pods”, MAAPs) to attract ant colonies, a method for sampling the ant fauna in litter. MAAP occupancy rates were similar to occupancy rates for nearby nuts.
Abstract 207: Adherence to the 2010 American College of Cardiology Foundation Appropriate Use Criteria for Cardiac Computed Tomography: Quality Analysis at a Tertiary Referral Center

Background: In November 2010, the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) published the revised appropriateness criteria (AC) for cardiac computed tomography (CCT). We decided to evaluate adherence to these criteria at our tertiary referral center. Methods: Reports for 383 patients who underwent clinical CCT from December 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011 were reviewed by physicians with appropriate training in CCT. Scans were classified as appropriate, inappropriate or uncertain based on the revised 2010 AC. Studies that did not fall under any of the specified indications were labeled as unclassified. Adherence to the AC was also analyzed as a function of provider type. Research scans were excluded from this analysis. Results: 308 (80%) exams were classified as appropriate, 26 (7%) as inappropriate, 30 (8%) as uncertain, and 19 (5%) as unclassified (Table 1). Of the 19 (5%) unclassified CCT studies, the most common indication was for evaluation of suspected aortic dissection. 305 (80%) exams were referred by cardiologists, 73 (19%) by internists, and 5 (1%) by neurologists (Figure 1). Of the 305 cardiology-referred studies, 221 (73%) were ordered by general cardiologists, 28 (9%) by interventional cardiologists, and 56 (19%) by electrophysiologists. There was no significant difference in adherence to the criteria between provider specialties or between cardiology subspecialties (p>0.05) Conclusions: Adherence to the 2010 AC at our center was uniformly high across provider specialties. The distribution of inappropriate and uncertain studies suggests residual ambiguity in the value of CCT after stress testing and prior to noncardiac and noncoronary cardiac surgery. This highlights an area for monitoring and future educational intervention.
Dynamic modeling of cancer cell migration in an extracellular matrix fiber network

We have established a dynamic modeling framework for predicting spatiotemporal behaviors of cancer cell migration in the extracellular matrix (ECM). Dynamic model of cancer cell migration is integrated from four individual simulations, such as 1) filopodia penetration dynamics into the ECM, 2) intracellular mechanics including remodeling of cellular and nuclear membranes, contractile motion of actin stress fibers, and focal adhesion dynamics, 3) structural mechanics of ECM fiber networks, and 4) reaction diffusion mass transfer of degrading enzymes in the ECM. This work is motivated by experimental observations of malignant cancer cell migration, which shows that abundant filopodial formation in cancer cells is a critical characteristic of aggressive cancer cell which invade into the tissue. The dynamic model presented in this work suggests the mechanical interplay between filopodia of cancer cell and surrounding viscoelastic ECM fiber network. The work presented here compares filopodia dynamics in between soft and stiff ECMs varying its pore size.
Complexity and Opportunities in Caregiving: A Story of Holding On and Letting Go

What does it mean to take control of the aging process? Changes over the past several decades in medical care, health insurance, and health policy mean that aging and caregiving in the United States may have very different implications compared with prior eras. New medications and medical devices, insurance coverage schemes, and federal and state regulations have significantly affected how long individuals live and how quickly they die. Caring for aging individuals has transformed from a task historically performed by family members into a profitable category of senior housing, assisted living, and skilled nursing businesses that are often acquired by large corporations. But do all these changes enable individuals to exercise more control over their future? Does planning ahead really matter?
Reaction Discovery Using Neopentylene-Tethered Coupling Partners: Cycloisomerization/Oxidation of Electron-Deficient Dienynes

A rhodium-catalyzed cycloisomerization and oxidation of tethered dienynes for the synthesis of indanes is described. An auxiliary fragmentation/olefination method (also described herein) provides novel access to tethered alkyne-dienoate substrates. The reported method circumvents current limitations in and expands the scope of inverse-demand Diels–Alder-type cycloadditions. Traditional discovery substrates involving malonate-, ether-, and sulfonamide-based tethers are problematic in the current methodology, underscoring the unique virtue of neopentylene-tethered substrates for reaction discovery.
Emergency in the clinic: a simulation curriculum to improve outpatient safety

Background Emergency response skills are essential when events such as seizure, anaphylaxis, or hemorrhage occur in the outpatient setting. Because services and procedures increasingly move outside the hospital, training to manage complications may improve outcomes. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate a simulation-based curriculum in outpatient emergency management skills with the outcome measures of graded objective performance and learner self-efficacy. Study Design This pre- and postcurriculum study enrolled residents and fellows in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Family Medicine in a simulation-based, outpatient emergency management curriculum. Learners completed self-efficacy questionnaires and were videotaped managing 3 medical emergency scenarios (seizure, over-sedation/cardiopulmonary arrest, and hemorrhage) in the simulation laboratory both before and after completion of the curriculum. Evaluators who were blinded to training level scored the simulation performance videotapes using a graded rubric with critical action checklists. Scenario scores were assigned in 5 domains and globally. Paired t -tests were used to determine differences pre- and postcurriculum. Results Thirty residents completed the curriculum and pre- and postcurriculum testing. Subjects' objective performance scores improved in all 5 domains ( P P =.001) and ability to communicate well in emergency situations ( P Conclusion A simulation-based curriculum improved both self-efficacy and objectively rated performance scores in management of outpatient medical emergencies. Simulation-based curricula should be incorporated into residency education.
Exotic Optical Fibers and Glasses: Innovative Material Processing Opportunities in Earth's Orbit.

Exotic optical fibers and glasses are the platform material for photonics applications, primarily due to their superior signal transmission (speed, low attenuation), with extending bandwidth deep into the infrared, exceeding that of silica fibers. Gravitational effects (convection sedimentation) have a direct impact on the phase diagram of these materials and influence melting properties, crystallization temperatures, and viscosity of the elemental mix during the manufacturing process.Such factors constitute limits to the yield, transmission quality, and strength and value of these fibers; they also constrain the range of applications. Manufacturing in a gravity-free environment such as the Earth's Orbit also helps with other aspects of the fabrication process (i.e., improved form factor of the manufacturing unit, sustainability). In this article, revolutionary developments in the field of photonics over the past decade merge with the paradigm shift in the privatization of government-owned capabilities supporting a more diverse infrastructure (parabolic, suborbital, orbital), reduced price, and increased frequency to access space and the microgravity environment. With the increased dependence on data (demand, bandwidth, efficiency), space and the microgravity environment provide opportunities for optimized performance of these exotic optical fibers and glasses underlying the development of enabling technologies to meet future data demand. Existing terrestrial markets (Internet, telecommunications, market transactions) and emerging space markets (on-orbit satellite servicing, space manufacturing, space resources, space communications, etc.) seem to converge, and this innovative material processing opportunity of exotic optical fibers and glasses might just be that "killer app": technologically competitive, economically viable, and with the ability to close the business case.
Ion Beam Induced Intermixing in the Pd/Si System

MeV He backscattering, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis were used to investigate the effect of Ar ion bombardment on thin evaporated Pd layers on single crystal Si. Ar ions of energies between 40 and 400 keV were used and the thickness of the Pd films varied between 300 and 1100A. Back-scattering measurements showed that for cases where the range of the implanted ions was comparable to the Pd film thickness, pronounced intermixing occurred. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the intermixing resulted in the formation of Pd2Si. The intermixing was found to occur for ion doses > 1016cm-2. No mixing was observed for ion doses < 1015 cm-2 and for film thickness in excess of the ion range. We attribute the intermixing to a dynamic process of beam-enhanced diffusion. It does not appear to be a heating effect and it is also unlikely that the intermixing results from knock-on implantation.
Three-Vessel Assessment of Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction in Patients With Clinical Suspicion of Ischemia: Prospective Observational Study With the Index of Microcirculatory Resistance

Background— Difficulty directly visualizing the coronary microvasculature as opposed to the epicardial coronary artery makes its assessment challenging. The goal of this study is to measure the index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) in all 3 major coronary vessels to identify the clinical and angiographic predictors of an abnormal IMR. Methods and Results— Ninety-three patients who underwent coronary physiological assessment in all 3 major coronary vessels were prospectively enrolled (59.8±9.4 years with 77.4% men). IMR was corrected using Yong’s formula and coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) was defined using vessel-specific cutoffs. A global IMR was calculated as the sum of the IMR in all 3 major epicardial vessels. Angiographic epicardial disease severity was assessed with vessel-specific and overall SYNTAX score. Median IMR and fractional flow reserve was 17.2 (Q1–Q3: 13.3–22.9) and 0.92 (0.85–0.97). The majority of patients (59.1%) had no CMD, 23.7% had 1-vessel CMD, 14.0% had 2-vessel CMD, and 3.2% had 3-vessel CMD. CMD was observed at a similar rate in the territories supplied by all 3 major coronary vessels (left anterior descending coronary artery 28.0%, left circumflex artery 19.4%, and right coronary artery 23.7%; P =0.39). Fractional flow reserve had a weak, positive correlation with IMR (ρ=0.16; P P =0.99) and a vessel-specific level (ρ=−0.06; P =0.36). By multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis, no variable was left as an independent predictor of an abnormal IMR. Conclusions— Clinical factors and epicardial coronary disease severity are not predictors of the extent of CMD. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01621438.
Expertise Ranking of Users in QA Community

Community Question Answering services (CQAs) have become ubiquitous, and are widely used. Hence, it would be beneficial if we can mine useful inferences from these data sets to improve these services. For example, if we can infer or identify expertise of users’ from these data sets, we can route questions to the right people. With the identification of expertise, number of experts needed to cover a set of topics (in a CQA service) can also be optimized. This paper addresses the problem of inferring expertise.
Abstract 16130: Early Invasive Assessment of the Coronary Microcirculation Predicts Subsequent Acute Rejection After Heart Transplantation

Background: Acute rejection plays an important role in the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) and long-term mortality after heart transplantation; therefore, more emphasis should b...
Observability of a Thrusting/Ballistic Trajectory in 3-D From a Single Fixed Passive Sensor

In previous works, it has been shown that the motion of a thrusting/ballistic object in a three-dimensional (3-D) space is observable with 2-D measurements from a stationary passive sensor. The measurements can either start from the launch point or can be delayed. The observability was investigated by testing the invertibility of the Fisher Information Matrix (FIM). This paper discusses the observability via the uniqueness of the target state vector for a certain sequence of 2-d angle-only measurements from a single fixed passive sensor. The discussion starts with polynomial motion from which the results are extended to nonlinear thrusting/ballistic motion. To illustrate the observability of a thrusting/ballistic target, the estimation problem of such a target with delayed acquisition after burn-out time is solved with a 7-d parameter vector (velocity vector azimuth angle and elevation angle, drag coefficient, 3-d acquisition position, and target speed at the acquisition time). A maximum likelihood (ML) estimator is used for the motion parameter estimation at acquisition time. The impact point prediction is then carried out with the ML estimates. The FIM is investigated via simulations to prove the observability numerically and the maximum likelihood estimator is shown to be efficient.
Word and Trinity

Much of the Latin medieval development of the doctrine of the Trinity occurred in the context of a particular set of philosophical theories about the nature and operations of the human mind. In this paper, I use Aquinas as my example of a medieval theologian because his psychology is especially representative of the Latin medieval theories connected to the doctrine of the Trinity. When we see his interpretation of the doctrine of the second person of the Trinity in the context of his philosophical psychology, the philosophical theory illuminates the theological doctrine as Aquinas understands it. The divine Word which becomes incarnate is to God what an inner word is to a human being: united to the knower, but distinct from him, the means by which the intellect of the knower cognizes extramental objects, and, finally, an object of understanding in its own right, when the intellect reflects on itself. Aquinas’s account of the inner word in human cognition is thus a model for him of the divine inner Word which is the second person of the Trinity.
Microwave radiometric determination of oceanographic and meteorological parameters

The thermal microwave brightness from the atmosphere over an ocean in the range 5-40 GHz is influenced primarily by the distribution of vapor and liquid water in the atmosphere and the temperature and wind speed at the sea surface. The Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), which was carried aboard both the Nimbus-7 and Seasat satellites (both launched in 1978), measures this radiation at five frequencies to find these four parameters. A retrieval algorithm has been developed which, on simulated data, yields accuracies of 1.5 C in sea surface temperature, 0.9 m/s in wind speed, 4 mg/ sq cm of cloud liquid water content and 0.14gm/sq cm of precipitable water vapor. Results from the Seasat SMMR, while both preliminary and sparse, are consistent with these simulations.
Parameterized complexity and subexponential-time computability

Since its inception in the 1990's, parameterized complexity has established itself as one of the major research areas in theoretical computer science. Parameterized and kernelization algorithms have proved to be very useful for solving important problems in various domains of science and technology. Moreover, parameterized complexity has shown deep connections to traditional areas of theoretical computer science, such as structural complexity theory and approximation algorithms. In this paper, we discuss some of the recent results pertaining to the relation between parameterized complexity and subexponential-time computability. We focus our attention on satisfiability problems because they play a key role in the definition of both parameterized complexity and structural complexity classes, and because they model numerous important problems in computer science.
Role of Glutathione in the Aging and Development of Insects

Glutathione is a tripeptide consisting of glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine moieties, and is found in all aerobes (Kosower and Kosower 1976). Glutathione may exist in the reduced form (GSH) or as an oxidized dimer (GSSG). More than 90% of the glutathione contained in cells is in the form of GSH; the oxidized form, GSSG, is rapidly reduced to GSH by glutathione reductase or is extruded from the cells (Meister and Anderson 1983). The cellular concentration of GSH is usually high, exceeding one millimolar in many tissues (Meister and Anderson 1983). Glutathione plays an important role in multiple physiological processes, due mainly to its ability to donate reducing equivalents; indeed, most of the reducing equivalents in cells are contained in GSH (Chance et al. 1979). Although the principle role of glutathione is to detoxify potentially deleterious substances, including oxygen free radicals, it strongly modulates the redox state of cells, which is a function of the ratio of oxidizing to reducing equivalents (Chance et al. 1979).
Randomized Clinical Trial to Assess the Impact of the Broadly Neutralizing HIV-1 Monoclonal Antibody VRC01 on HIV-1 Persistence in Individuals on Effective ART.

Background Broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (bnMAbs) may promote clearance of HIV-1-expressing cells through antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. We evaluated the effect of the CD4-binding site bnMAb, VRC01, on measures of HIV-1 persistence in chronically infected individuals. Methods A5342 was a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study. Participants on effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) were randomized to receive 2 infusions of VRC01 (40 mg/kg) at entry and week 3, and 2 infusions of placebo (saline) at weeks 6 and 9; or 2 infusions of placebo at entry and week 3, and 2 infusions of VRC01 at weeks 6 and 9. Results Infusion of VRC01 was safe and well tolerated. The median fold-change in the cell-associated HIV-1 RNA/DNA ratio from baseline to week 6 was 1.12 and 0.83 for the VRC01 and placebo arms, respectively, with no significant difference between arms (P = .16). There were no significant differences in the proportions with residual plasma viremia ≥1 copies/mL or in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate/ionomycin-induced virus production from CD4+ T cells between arms (both P > .05). Conclusions In individuals with chronic HIV-1 infection on ART, VRC01 infusions were safe and well tolerated but did not affect plasma viremia, cellular HIV-1 RNA/DNA levels, or stimulated virus production from CD4+ T cells. ClinicalTrialsgov Identifier NCT02411539.
Pilot randomized, controlled trial of a dyadic yoga program for glioma patients undergoing radiotherapy and their family caregivers

Background While the use of behavioral medicine in managing glioma patients' symptoms is not well studied, the high symptom burden in patients and their family caregivers is well established. We conducted a pilot randomized, controlled trial to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a dyadic yoga (DY) intervention as a supportive care strategy. Methods Glioma patients undergoing radiotherapy and their caregivers were randomized to a 12-session DY or waitlist control (WLC) group. Prior to radiotherapy and randomization, both groups completed measures of cancer-related symptoms (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Brain Tumor module), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression measure), fatigue (Brief Fatigue Inventory), and overall quality of life (QOL; Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form survey). Dyads were reassessed at the last day of radiotherapy. Results Twenty patients (mean age: 46 years, 50% female, 80% WHO grade IV and caregivers (mean age: 50 years, 70% female, 50% spouses) participated in the trial. A priori feasibility criteria were met regarding consent (70%), adherence (88%), and retention (95%) rates. Controlling for relevant covariates, change score analyses revealed clinically significant improvements for patients in the DY compared with the WLC group for overall cancer symptom severity (d = 0.96) and symptom interference (d = 0.74), depressive symptoms (d = 0.71), and mental QOL (d = 0.69). Caregivers in the DY group reported clinically significant improvements in depressive symptoms (d = 1.12), fatigue (d = 0.89), and mental QOL (d = 0.49) relative to those in the WLC group. Conclusion A DY intervention appears to be a feasible and beneficial symptom and QOL management strategy for glioma patients undergoing radiotherapy and their caregivers. An efficacy trial with a more stringent control group is warranted. Clinical trial number NCT02481349.
Faith and Learning in Higher Education: Merging the Bible with Discipline-Specific Content

This article offers a brief history on the origin of universities, summarizes how faith shaped higher education from the European university’s advent to its Western reproduction, and presents recom...
Climate Change, Disease and Gender Gaps in Human Capital Investment

The goal of this chapter is to examine the role of climate-induced disease in widening the gender gap in human capital investment. This chapter reviews the literature on climate change, disease and gender gaps, and highlights evidence from a particular disease context—the meningitis belt in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides evidence that changes in the seasonal climate, through the dry season or Harmattan period, are strongly associated with meningitis epidemics in the region. It discusses results from research on the role of Niger’s 1986 meningitis epidemic in reducing girls’ education relative to boys. It highlights the income effects of the epidemic and, specifically, early marriage of girls in exchange for a bride price as a primary mechanism driving the results. The findings underline the need for more research on the interaction between climate change, health and education and gender equality, all major parts of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Polling Place Quality and Access

This chapter reports the findings from a nationwide study of polling places attributes and practices in the 2016 presidential election. We compare these 2016 broad data to the prior research in limited jurisdictions. For 2016, research teams were recruited from colleges and universities located in 26 counties across 17 states. Student teams observed polling location traits and practices. We report findings for three polling place traits: accessibility, quality, and barriers to voting. The findings from our national sample of polling place practices show the quality and performance of election polling practices to be on balance strong. Contrary to earlier research, we found no evidence that accessibility to polling places, their quality and practices varied by race, ethnicity or the socioeconomic makeup of the persons who voted at our sample of polling places. Variation in polling place quality and practices appears to be a function of county and state level factors.
Cognitive/affective factors in systems engineering designs for international conflict resolution

Abstract A field of forces containing overlapping subsystems provides overarching theory. Differential emphasis on the politicomilitary subsystem can cause a shift in the dynamics of dominance to environmental and economic subsystems, whose increasing instability can undermine the very purposes of military buildups. International conflict resolution requires much greater attention to complex psychological processes underlying policymaking and decisionmaking. The nature and handling of conflict are reviewed. The special case of deterrence is examined critically. The cognitive and affective underpinnings of policymaking and decisionmaking are presented. The complicating factor of chaos and turbulence in acted-on subsystems is discussed. Conclusions about the gravity of the present world situation and about future research directions are offered.
Personalized Assessment Worksheets for Scratch (PAWS): Exploring a Bridge between Interviews, Written Assessments, and Artifact Analysis

The computer science community has struggled to assess student learning, especially at the early elementary level. Prior work has included one-on-one interviews, written assessments, and artifact analysis, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. Through our Personalized Assessment Worksheets for Scratch (PAWS) tool, we explore personalized assessments as an assessment technique that lies in between interviews, written assessments, and artifact analysis. PAWS creates personalized written assessments that integrates code from student Scratch projects. We hope that our PAWS tool, and more generally personalized assessments, will lead to an assessment technique that is both more accurate than written assessments and artifact analysis, and less time-consuming than interviews.
Eigenrank by committee: Von-Neumann entropy based data subset selection and failure prediction for deep learning based medical image segmentation.

Abstract Manual delineation of anatomy on existing images is the basis of developing deep learning algorithms for medical image segmentation. However, manual segmentation is tedious. It is also expensive because clinician effort is necessary to ensure correctness of delineation. Consequently most algorithm development is based on a tiny fraction of the vast amount of imaging data collected at a medical center. Thus, selection of a subset of images from hospital databases for manual delineation - so that algorithms trained on such data are accurate and tolerant to variation, becomes an important challenge. We address this challenge using a novel algorithm. The proposed algorithm named ‘Eigenrank by Committee’ (EBC) first computes the degree of disagreement between segmentations generated by each DL model in a committee. Then, it iteratively adds to the committee, a DL model trained on cases where the disagreement is maximal. The disagreement between segmentations is quantified by the maximum eigenvalue of a Dice coefficient disagreement matrix a measure closely related to the Von Neumann entropy. We use EBC for selecting data subsets for manual labeling from a larger database of spinal canal segmentations as well as intervertebral disk segmentations. U-Nets trained on these subsets are used to generate segmentations on the remaining data. Similar sized data subsets are also randomly sampled from the respective databases, and U-Nets are trained on these random subsets as well. We found that U-Nets trained using data subsets selected by EBC, generate segmentations with higher average Dice coefficients on the rest of the database than U-Nets trained using random sampling (p
Abstract 122: Reliability Analysis for Image-based Non-invasive Pressure Quantification in Aortorenal Artery Systems

Non-invasive quantification of fractional flow reserve (FFR) based on CT angiography has great potential to replace invasive catheterization for quantifying the amount of ischemia caused by a speci...
Cervicovaginal microbial communities deficient in Lactobacillus species are associated with second trimester short cervix.

Background The cervix functions as a barrier to ascending pathogens in pregnancy. Short cervical length and lack of cervicovaginal Lactobacillus species are risk factors for spontaneous preterm birth; however, whether they interact to increase risk remains unknown. Objective We sought to examine the relationship between cervicovaginal microbiota and short cervix as well as their combined impact on spontaneous preterm birth risk. Study Design This was a secondary analysis of a prospective nested, case-control pregnancy study. Cervical swabs were collected between 16 and 20 weeks of gestation. Cervical length was measured per standard clinical care during a clinically indicated ultrasound at approximately 20 weeks of gestation. Cervicovaginal microbiota were analyzed with 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and classified into community state types among 67 cases of spontaneous preterm birth, 47 cases of medically indicated preterm birth, and 358 cases of term births. Logistic regression was used to model associations of community state type IV, a community characterized by a paucity of Lactobacillus species and a wide array of anaerobic bacteria, and short cervix ( Results Among the 472 women in the data set, there were 38 with short cervix (8.1%) and 177 with community state type IV (37.5%). Short cervix was associated with spontaneous preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio, 15.59; 95% confidence interval, 6.77–35.92). Women with community state type IV had higher odds of short cervix (adjusted odds ratio, 2.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–4.53) as well as spontaneous preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio, 1.97; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–3.65). While the interaction of community state type IV and short cervix was not significant (P = .771), women with both short cervix and community state type IV (n = 20) had higher odds of spontaneous preterm birth compared with women with both normal cervical length and community state types I, II, III, or V (n = 277) (adjusted odds ratio, 21.8; 95% confidence interval, 6.78–70.2). Conclusion Community state type IV, characterized by a diverse set of strict and facultative anaerobes and a paucity of Lactobacillus species, is associated with increased odds of short cervix. Women with both community state type IV and short cervix have higher odds of spontaneous preterm birth than women with either factor alone. Determining the cascade of events leading to premature cervical shortening, including dysbiosis, may be critical in preventing spontaneous preterm birth.
Spectral Clustering using Eigenspectrum Shape Based Nystrom Sampling.

Spectral clustering has shown a superior performance in analyzing the cluster structure. However, its computational complexity limits its application in analyzing large-scale data. To address this problem, many low-rank matrix approximating algorithms are proposed, including the Nystrom method - an approach with proven approximate error bounds. There are several algorithms that provide recipes to construct Nystrom approximations with variable accuracies and computing times. This paper proposes a scalable Nystrom-based clustering algorithm with a new sampling procedure, Centroid Minimum Sum of Squared Similarities (CMS3), and a heuristic on when to use it. Our heuristic depends on the eigen spectrum shape of the dataset, and yields competitive low-rank approximations in test datasets compared to the other state-of-the-art methods
The optomechanical design of the Quad-camera Wavefront-sensing Six-channel Speckle Interferometer (QWSSI)

The Quad-camera Wavefront-sensing Six-channel Speckle Interferometer (QWSSI) is a new speckle imaging instrument available on the 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT). QWSSI is built to efficiently make use of collected photons and available detector area. The instrument images on a single Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) at four wavelengths in the optical (577, 658, 808, and 880nm) with 40nm bandpasses. Longward of 1µm, two imaging wavelengths in the NIR are collected at 1150 and 1570nm on two InGaAs cameras with 50nm bandpasses. All remaining non-imaging visible light is then sent into a wavefront EMCCD. All cameras are operated synchronously via concurrent triggering from a timing module. With the simultaneous wavefront sensing, QWSSI characterizes atmospheric aberrations in the wavefront for each speckle frame. This results in additional data that can be utilized during post-processing, enabling advanced techniques such as Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution. The design philosophy was optimized for an inexpensive, rapid build; virtually all parts were commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), and custom parts were fabricated or 3D printed on-site. QWSSI’s unique build and capabilities represent a new frontier in civilian high-resolution speckle imaging.