cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Onyx embolization for the endovascular treatment of infectious and traumatic aneurysms involving the cranial and cerebral vasculature.

Background Onyx is a liquid non-adhesive viscous embolic agent ideal for slow targeted injections which is currently approved for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations. Methods We performed a single-center retrospective analysis of consecutive patients who underwent off-label use of Onyx as the single embolic agent for the treatment of traumatic or infectious pseudoaneurysms involving the cerebral or cranial vasculature. Results A total of nine pseudoaneurysms treated by Onyx embolization were identified. Six of the pseudoaneurysms were post-surgical, one of the pseudoaneurysms was traumatic and two were infectious in nature. The mean pseudoaneurysm size was 5.9 mm (range 2–10 mm). Onyx-34 was used in all cases. Following treatment there was complete exclusion of all pseudoaneurysms including their inflow and outflow zones. Conclusions Our experience demonstrates the efficacy and applicability of the use of Onyx in the treatment of complex traumatic and mycotic pseudoaneurysms involving the cerebral and cranial vascular tree.
A Graph-Based Approach to Learn Semantic Descriptions of Data Sources

Semantic models of data sources and services provide support to automate many tasks such as source discovery, data integration, and service composition, but writing these semantic descriptions by hand is a tedious and time-consuming task. Most of the related work focuses on automatic annotation with classes or properties of source attributes or input and output parameters. However, constructing a source model that includes the relationships between the attributes in addition to their semantic types remains a largely unsolved problem. In this paper, we present a graph-based approach to hypothesize a rich semantic description of a new target source from a set of known sources that have been modeled over the same domain ontology. We exploit the domain ontology and the known source models to build a graph that represents the space of plausible source descriptions. Then, we compute the top k candidates and suggest to the user a ranked list of the semantic models for the new source. The approach takes into account user corrections to learn more accurate semantic descriptions of future data sources. Our evaluation shows that our method produces models that are twice as accurate than the models produced using a state of the art system that does not learn from prior models.
Identification of Cis-DNA Regions Controlling Bmp4 Expression during Tooth Morphogenesis in vivo

Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions are required for tooth formation. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4) is a crucial signaling molecule during this process. For better understanding of the role of the Bmp4 gene during tooth development, we studied the mechanisms that control its temporal and spatial expression during development. Using a transgenic approach, we determined that the domains which controlled Bmp4 expression in epithelium-derived ameloblasts were located in the region between 0.26 kb and 1.1 kb of the murine Bmp4 promoter. In contrast, the domains controlling Bmp4 expression in mesenchyme-derived odontoblasts and pulp cells existed in other regions of the Bmp4 gene. We have also demonstrated that the domains controlling Bmp4 expression in primordial tooth cells differ from those controlling Bmp4 expression in mature tooth tissues. The determination of unique domains by controlling the expression of the Bmp4 gene suggests that different transcriptional factors regulate the Bmp4 level at different stages during tooth morphogenesis.
Ultrasound-guided biopsy of the cricoarytenoideus lateralis muscle: Technique and safety in horses

Summary Reasons for performing study Current diagnosis of recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) depends upon disease recognition in the clinically affected horse. Biopsy of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles may provide a method to identify the changes in fibre-type composition that occur in RLN before clinical signs become apparent. Objective To develop an ultrasound-guided biopsy technique of the left cricoarytenoideus lateralis muscle (CALM) and evaluate its efficacy and safety in vivo. Study design A longitudinal descriptive study. Methods Six standing horses underwent ultrasound-guided biopsy of the left CALM. Frozen muscle cores were obtained with a breast biopsy tool. Serial endoscopic, ultrasonographic and physical examinations before and for 8 weeks after the biopsy were assessed for iatrogenic trauma. Histologies of representative muscle core cross-sections were analysed for the total number of muscle fibres obtained with each biopsy. Results There were no immediate complications of the procedure and the left CALM was harvested in all instances. Biopsy samples had an average weight of 0.043 g (range = 0.023–0.077 g) and contained 3418 fibres in cross-section (range = 711–7143). Laryngeal endoscopic grade did not change significantly between prebiopsy and the end of the 8 week follow-up. The left CALM had significantly greater echogenicity than the right throughout the study (P<0.001), but there was no difference between the prebiopsy CALM echogenicity and that at completion of the study. Conclusions Ultrasound-guided biopsy of the left CALM is safe and well tolerated, providing a minimally invasive method to obtain muscle from healthy horses. This new technique may be applicable in research and clinical settings.
Spatially Coherent Latent Topic Model for Concurrent Segmentation and Classification of Objects and Scenes

We present a novel generative model for simultaneously recognizing and segmenting object and scene classes. Our model is inspired by the traditional bag of words representation of texts and images as well as a number of related generative models, including probabilistic latent semantic analysis (pLSA) and latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). A major drawback of the pLSA and LDA models is the assumption that each patch in the image is independently generated given its corresponding latent topic. While such representation provides an efficient computational method, it lacks the power to describe the visually coherent images and scenes. Instead, we propose a spatially coherent latent topic model (spatial-LTM). Spatial-LTM represents an image containing objects in a hierarchical way by over-segmented image regions of homogeneous appearances and the salient image patches within the regions. Only one single latent topic is assigned to the image patches within each region, enforcing the spatial coherency of the model. This idea gives rise to the following merits of spatial-LTM: (1) spatial-LTM provides a unified representation for spatially coherent bag of words topic models; (2) spatial-LTM can simultaneously segment and classify objects, even in the case of occlusion and multiple instances; and (3) spatial-LTM can be trained either unsupervised or supervised, as well as when partial object labels are provided. We verify the success of our model in a number of segmentation and classification experiments.
Separation of heavy minerals from mudrocks

The non-clay-mineral fraction of mudrocks is receiving increased attention. The heavy-mineral fraction in fine-grained rocks, however, has largely been neglected, partially because of the difficulty in separating heavy minerals from the host mudrock. We propose a technique that will separate some heavy minerals from a clay matrix. This method was developed initially by soil scientists for separating quartz and feldspar from clays, and later modified for mudrocks. The technique involves fusing the rocks with sodium bisulfate, making clay minerals soluble in basic solutions. We have tested this procedure on nine common heavy minerals: andradite, almandine, grossular, zircon, magnetite, schorl, apatite, rutile, and a gem variety of tourmaline. Each mineral was fused and the mass reduction and resultant chemical changes observed. Physical grain alterations were examined by SEM and chemical changes analyzed by electron microprobe. Almandine, grossular, and zircon survived the fusion process in high percentages and showed little chemical change. Andradite, although it showed small mass loss, was highly etched by the precess. Schorl, gem tourmaline, magnetite, and ruffle showed a high mass loss with some chemical change to the residue. Apatite was totally dissolved. The chemical resistance of several heavy-mineral species makes this technique useful for provenance studies of mudrocks, especially when combined with chemical studies of heavy minerals.
Progressive mucosal injury in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease and increasing peripheral blood eosinophil counts.

Hypothesis Peripheral blood eosinophil count increases with the degree of mucosal injury associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Design Retrospective review. Setting Single-institution tertiary hospital. Patients Two hundred ninety-five patients (215 men and 80 women; median age, 57 years [interquartile range (IQR), 46-66 years]). One hundred had GERD without intestinal metaplasia, 100 had GERD with intestinal metaplasia, 40 had GERD with dysplasia, and 55 had GERD with intramucosal carcinoma. Results of complete blood count with differential and serum chemistry studies were compared among the groups using a nonparametric test for trend. Results Patients with a higher degree of mucosal injury were older ( P P = .04) but lost significance when controlled for age ( P = .53). Percent eosinophil counts were 2.0 (IQR, 1.3-2.8) in patients with GERD without intestinal metaplasia, 2.5 (IQR, 1.6-3.7) in GERD with intestinal metaplasia, 2.6 (IQR, 1.7-4.4) in GERD with dysplasia, and 2.7 (IQR, 1.5-4.3) in GERD with intramucosal carcinoma. This progressive increase in the percent eosinophil count was statistically significant ( P = .006), remained significant after controlling for age ( P = .04), and was also significant when measuring the absolute eosinophil count. Conclusion There is a progressive increase in the percent and absolute peripheral blood eosinophil count associated with progressive mucosal injury in patients with GERD.
A geoscientist in the State Department

It must have been in a fit of idealism, a la Jimmy Stewart, that I applied to be a Jefferson Science Fellow (JSF) at the U.S. Department of State in the summer of 2004. The flyer was appealing, offering an opportunity to become “directly involved with the State Department, applying current knowledge of science and technology in support of the development of U.S. international policy. The Jefferson Science Fellowships enable academic scientists and engineers to act as consultants to the State Department on matters of science, technology, and engineering as they affect foreign policy.” My own science—elating to ozone depletion, climate change, and aviation environmental impacts—often has been at the science-policy interface. As a result, I have attended governmental and intergovernmental meetings, particularly the international assessments on climate change and ozone depletion. I had even come to know the State Department team on climate negotiations, although I had never been inside the State Department. The appeal of working on the inside of negotiations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was strong—if only to find out what an ‘interlocutor’ was.
A practical measurement placement algorithm to restore observability for large scale systems

The operating conditions of a power system can only be determined if a state estimation solution can be obtained using the available set of measurements. If the available set of measurements is not sufficient to get a unique estimate for the system state, some additional meters may have to be placed at particular locations to get a fully observable system. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for measurement placement. The main advantage of the proposed iterative algorithm is its numerical efficiency which naturally lends itself to cases involving large scale power systems. IEEE 14 and 30 bus systems, with insufficient measurements, are used to illustrate the use of the proposed algorithm for measurement placement.
Dispersion and Lorentz Microscopy of Samarium Cobalt Nanoparticles in a Polymer Matrix

A new method for dispersing magnetic nanoparticles in a polymer matrix is described. SmCo5 nanoparticle powders are first prepared by ball milling, and then embedded in thermoplastic powder by further milling. The nanoparticle-embedded thermoplastic powder was compacted to form solid magnetic composites which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by SQUID magnetometry. The conventional TEM measurements on microtomed sections of the composites showed spherical nanoparticles clearly separated from their nearest neighbors, thereby eliminating exchange interactions and greatly reducing magnetostatic interactions. Lorentz microscopy illustrated the potential for imaging single particles and determining the magnetization directions of isolated and interacting particles. Magnetic measurements on dilute samples show that the processing method does not degrade the magnetic properties of the particles.
Potential Vertical Transmission of Winter Ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) from Moose (Alces americanus) Dams to Neonates

Abstract North American moose (Alces americanus) frequently become infested with winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus). During capture of neonatal moose in northeastern Minnesota, US, in May–June 2013 and 2014, we recovered adult ticks from neonates, presumably vertically transferred from dams, heretofore, not documented. Infestations on neonates may have population-level implications.
Work in progress - the public image of an engineer

Recent efforts aimed at improving technological literacy and attracting the younger generation to engineering careers by the National Association of Engineers, as well as IEEE, have provoked discussions about the public image of the engineer. These discussions usually focus on the image or stereotype of engineers in popular television shows or other media. One element that is missing from this discussion, however, is the historical context in which this image has developed. This paper presents a historical perspective which examines how engineers were viewed by past generations and how the current image of engineers from earlier periods shapes how individuals see the engineering profession today. We conclude that though the overall image of the engineer is not entirely negative, there is a lack of understanding of the contribution of engineers in the publicpsilas perception. This paper also proposes an image of engineering that more fully represents the work and contributions of engineers.
Harvest residue removal and soil compaction impact forest productivity and recovery: Potential implications for bioenergy harvests

Understanding the effects of management on forest structure and function is increasingly important in light of projected increases in both natural and anthropogenic disturbance severity and frequency with global environmental change. We examined potential impacts of the procurement of forest-derived bioenergy, a change in land use that has been suggested as a climate change mitigation strategy, on the productivity and structural development of aspen-dominated ecosystems. Specifically, we tested the effects of two factors: organic matter removal (stem-only harvest, whole-tree harvest, whole-tree harvest plus forest floor removal) and soil compaction (light, moderate, and heavy) over time. This range of treatments, applied across three sites dominated by aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) but with different soil textures, allowed us to characterize how disturbance severity influences ecosystem recovery. Disturbance severity significantly affected above-ground biomass production and forest structural development with responses varying among sites. At the Huron National Forest (sandy soils), the removal of harvest residues reduced above-ground biomass production, but no negative effect was observed following whole-tree harvest at the Ottawa and Chippewa National Forests (clayey and loamy soils, respectively) relative to stem-only harvest. Maximum diameter and the density of stems greater than 5 cm DBH exhibited negative responses to increased disturbance severity at two sites, indicating that structural development may be slowed. Overall, results suggest that disturbance severity related to procuring harvest residues for bioenergy production may impact future productivity and development, depending on site conditions and quality.
AMPA Receptor Flip/Flop Mutants Affecting Deactivation, Desensitization, and Modulation by Cyclothiazide, Aniracetam, and Thiocyanate

AMPA receptor GluRA subunits with mutations at position 750, a residue shown previously to control allosteric regulation by cyclothiazide, were analyzed for modulation of deactivation and desensitization by cyclothiazide, aniracetam, and thiocyanate. Point mutations from Ser to Asn, Ala, Asp, Gly, Gln, Met, Cys, Thr, Leu, Val, and Tyr were constructed in GluRAflip. The last four of these mutants were not functional; S750D was active only in the presence of cyclothiazide, and the remaining mutants exhibited altered rates of deactivation and desensitization for control responses to glutamate, and showed differential modulation by cyclothiazide and aniracetam. Results from kinetic analysis are consistent with aniracetam and cyclothiazide acting via distinct mechanisms. Our experiments demonstrate for the first time the functional importance of residue 750 in regulating intrinsic channel-gating kinetics and emphasize the biological significance of alternative splicing in the M3–M4 extracellular loop.
Health Care Expenditures of Living with a Disability: Total Expenditures, Out of Pocket Expenses and Burden, 1996-2004

Objective -- This paper estimates the healthcare expenditures associated with a disability at the individual level and their recent trends. Design -- Retrospective analysis of survey data. Participants--Data from multiple years (1996 through 2004) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for a nationally representative sample of civilian, non-institutionalized US population. Interventions - Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures - Healthcare expenditures consisted of: total healthcare expenditures, total out-of-pocket spending (OOP), and burden (the ratio of OOP to individual income). All the analyses accounted for the complex survey design of the MEPS. Results -- Between 1996 and 2004, 6% to 9% of individuals in the working age group (21-61 years) were identified as having a disability. Persons with disabilities consistently had higher total health expenditures, OOP and burden compared to their counterparts without disabilities. In 2004, the average total expenditures were estimated at $10,508 for persons with disabilities and at $2,256 for those without disabilities. In a multiple regression framework, persons with disabilities were consistently found to have higher expenditures and OOP between 1996 and 2004. Although expenditures, OOP and burden increased over time, after controlling for demographic, socio-economic, and health status, these three healthcare costs were not found to increase disproportionately for individuals with disability. Conclusions -- Over the 1996-2004 period, persons with disabilities are consistently found to have significantly higher health expenditures and OOP compared to their counterparts without disabilities, which may adversely affect their health and standard of living.
Dioxaborine- and indole-terminated polymethines: effects of bridge substitution on absorption spectra and third-order polarizabilities.

Cyanine-like dyes are promising candidates for third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) applications such as all-optical switching. Here, we examine the consequences for linear and nonlinear optical properties of varying substituents on the central methine unit of bis(dioxaborine)-terminated anionic pentamethines and bis(indole)-terminated cationic heptamethines. The variation in absorption maxima and electrochemical potentials with structure can generally be rationalized using the Dewar−Knott rules, providing that mesomeric and inductive electron-withdrawal and donation are explicitly considered. In the case of nitro- and (dioxaborinyl)vinyl-substituted bis(dioxaborine) pentamethines, the low-energy transitions are significantly broadened, consistent with 1H NMR spectra indicating deviation from cyanine-like geometry. Real and imaginary parts of the third-order polarizabilities, Re(γ) and Im(γ), were measured at 1.3 μm. The values of Im(γ) indicate that the values of Re(γ) are significantly resonantly enhance...
Finding the missing physics: Mapping polydispersity into lattice-based simulations

Polydispersity plays an important role in polymer physics influencing both processing approaches and final properties. Despite the obvious physical importance of polydispersity, studies usually simulate monodisperse chains or occasionally, a few different chain lengths. This work presents a comprehensive methodology for mapping various molecular weight distributions onto a finite number of lattice chains. The use of a lattice in the present derivation enables a variety of lattice-based simulations to incorporate polydispersity. Examples are provided by extending the cooperative motion (COMOTION) algorithm for polydispersity to create the “polydisperse cooperative motion algorithm” (p-COMOTION). The dynamic version of p-COMOTION captures the dynamics of entangled polydisperse melts. For the same weight-averaged molecular weight, polydispersity gives a lower Rouse time and introduces a broadening of the reptation transition. In addition, when adapted into the cooperative motion with flow (COMOFLO) algorithm...
Formation of Direct Energy Gap Group IV Semiconductor Alloys and Quantum Dot Arrays in SnxSi1−x/Si AND SnxGe1−x/Ge Alloy Systems

The narrow gap semiconductor alloys SnxGe1−x and SnxSi1−x offer the possibility for engineering tunable direct energy gap Group IV semiconductor materials. For pseudomorphic SnxGe1−x alloys grown on Ge (001) by molecular beam epitaxy, an indirect-to-direct bandgap transition with increasing Sn composition is observed, and the effects of misfit on the bandgap analyzed in terms of a deformation potential model. Key results are that pseudomorphic strain has only a very slight effect on the energy gap of SnxGe1−x alloys grown on Ge (001) but for SnxGe1−x alloys grown on Ge (111) no indirect-to-direct gap transition is expected. In the SnxSi1−x system, ultrathin pseudomorphic epitaxially-stabilized α-SnxSi1−x alloys are grown on Si (001) substrates by conventional molecular beam epitaxy. Coherently strained α-Sn quantum dots are formed within a defect-free Si (001) crystal by phase separation of the thin SnxSi1−x layers embedded in Si (001). Phase separation of the thin alloy film, and subsequent evolution occurs via growth and coarsening of regularly-shaped α-Sn quantum dots that appear as 4-6 nm diameter tetrakaidecahedra with facets oriented along elastically soft directions. Attenuated total reflectance infrared absorption measurements indicate an absorption feature due to the α-Sn quantum dot array with onset at ~0.3 eV and absorption strength of 8 × 103 cm−1, which are consistent with direct interband transitions.
Enzyme active site interactions by Raman/FTIR, NMR, and Ab initio calculations

Characterization of enzyme active site structure and interactions at high resolution is important for the understanding of the enzyme catalysis. Vibrational frequency and NMR chemical shift measurements of enzyme-bound ligands are often used for such purpose when X-ray structures are not available or when higher resolution active site structures are desired. This review is focused on how ab initio calculations may be integrated with vibrational and NMR chemical shift measurements to quantitatively determine high-resolution ligand structures (up to 0.001 A for bond length and 0.01 A for hydrogen bonding distance) and how interaction energies between bound ligand and its surroundings at the active site may be determined. Quantitative characterization of substrate ionic states, bond polarizations, tautomeric forms, conformational changes and its interactions with surroundings in enzyme complexes that mimic ground state or transition state can provide snapshots for visualizing the substrate structural evolution along enzyme-catalyzed reaction pathway. Our results have shown that the integration of spectroscopic studies with theoretical computation greatly enhances our ability to interpret experimental data and significantly increases the reliability of the theoretical analysis.
Flow boiling of water at sub-atmospheric pressure in staggered micro pin-fin heat sink

Flow boiling of deionized (D.I.) water through staggered micro pin-fin heat sink was studied. The device had an array of staggered circular pin fins with diameter of 150 µm, and both the transverse and longitudinal pitches 450 µm. The pin fin array covered an area of 1 cm ×1 cm, and pin height was 200 µm. Mass fluxes of 624 kg/m2s and 1248 kg/m2s, heat fluxes ranged from 20 W/cm2 to 300 W/cm2, and inlet temperatures of 50 °C and 60 °C were tested. All tests were conducted in a closed flow loop with pressure below atmospheric. Flow patterns were visualized by high speed camera. Unstable boiling pattern with single phase flow and two phase flow alternatively occupying micro channel was observed for 1248 kg/m2s with inlet temperature of 50 °C. Bubbles initiated at upstream nucleation sites expanded to triangular wakes for stable two phase flow.
Development of Restoration Performance Curves for Streams in Southern California Using an Integrative Condition Index

Determining success of stream restoration projects is challenging, due to the disconnection between required monitoring periods and the actual time necessary to achieve ecological success. Performance curves could help address this challenge by illustrating likely developmental trajectories of restored streams. We applied the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM), an integrative index of stream condition, in a 10 year chronosequence to create performance curves that project the development of functional streams for 30 years following restoration. CRAM scores for high functioning sites between zero and 10 years were plotted against time since restoration. Best-fit curves were derived using either power functions or polynomial functions, depending on the CRAM metric. We tested the curves’ ability to predict conditions for other projects across a range of ages, flow conditions (ephemeral to perennial), and physiographic settings. The curves are able to predict the time required for projects to achieve reference-level scores for the CRAM index and Hydrology and Biotic Structure attributes, but underestimate the time required for projects to achieve reference-level scores for the Physical Structure attribute. Our research demonstrates the potential to use modeled restoration performance curves based on CRAM scores to guide expectations for restoration project performance.
Influence of slip on lateral displacement of the tractor on slope

Abstract Theoretical analysis of influence of leading away of wheels on the lateral displacement of thetractor on a slope, is given. A calculating formula for lateral displacement of the tractor on the; down-hill side of the slope, considering: angle of the slope; mass of the tractor; coefficient of; leading away of wheels; speed of displacement and traveled path, is deduced. In accordance; with this, some traction and exploitation indices of the tractor aggregates are made more exact at; operating on the slope. The research results can be used in developing of new mountain tractors.
Examining Studies Comparing Tags and Controlled Vocabularies

Tags have been compared to controlled vocabulary terms and have been suggested as replacements or enhancements in indexing. This paper explores tagging and controlled vocabulary studies in the context of studies examining title and author keywords or user search terms to determine the methods used and impact of these studies. Les etiquettes ont ete comparees avec les vedettes matieres et ont ete suggerees comme remplacements ou comme addition a l'indexation. Cet article examine la recherche sur l'etiquetage et les vedettes matieres dans le cadre d'etudes portant sur les mots-cles de titre ou d'auteur ou les termes des requetes d'usager pour determiner les methodes utilisees et l'impact de ces etudes.
Tutorial: blockchains and databases

In the last few years, blockchain (also known as distributed ledger), the underlying technology of the permissionless or public Bitcoin network, has become very popular for use in private or permissioned environments. Computer companies like IBM and Microsoft, and many key players in different vertical industry segments have recognized the utility of blockchains for securely managing assets (physical/digital) other than cryptocurrencies. IBM did some pioneering work by architecting and implementing a private blockchain system, and then open sourcing it. That system, which has since then been named Fabric, is being enhanced via the Hyperledger Consortium set up under the auspices of the Linux Foundation. Other efforts in the industry include Enterprise Ethereum, R3 Corda and BigchainDB.
Q-Conditional Symmetries of the First Type and Exact Solutions of Nonlinear Reaction-Diffusion Systems

Two classes of two-component nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems are studied in order to find Q-conditional symmetries of the first type (a special subset of nonclassical symmetries), to construct exact solutions, and to show their applicability. The first class involves systems with constant coefficient of diffusivity, while the second contains systems with variable diffusivities only. The main theoretical results are given in the form of two theorems presenting exhaustive lists (up to the given sets of point transformations) of the reaction-diffusion systems belonging to the above classes and admitting Q-conditional symmetries of the first type. The reaction-diffusion systems obtained allow one to extract specific systems occurring in real-world models. A few examples are presented, including a modification of the classical prey–predator system with diffusivity and a system modelling the gravity-driven flow of thin films of viscous fluid. Exact solutions with attractive properties are found for these nonlinear systems and their possible biological and physical interpretations are presented.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders as Model Systems for Understanding Typical and Atypical Mathematical Development

Abstract Neurodevelopmental disorders, such as spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM) that are associated with high rates of mathematics disabilities and diagnosed at birth provide model systems for conducting longitudinal studies of the relation between early developing domain-general and domain-specific mathematical abilities and mathematics achievement in school. We summarize studies of mathematical cognition in children with SBM and typically developing peers, focusing on longitudinal data from 36 months to 9–10 years of age. Working memory at 36 months is a robust predictor of multidigit calculations and mathematical problem solving 6 years later, underlining the important role of working memory in the development of mathematical cognition. Nonverbal arithmetic at 60 months also predicts later calculation outcomes, suggesting developmental continuity in the ability to manipulate quantity. Math fact fluency is predicted by early counting knowledge. The findings are discussed with respect to their importance for developmental models of mathematical ability and disability.
Chemical Imaging of Cyanoacrylate‐Fumed Fingerprints by Matrix‐assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging

For new techniques to be incorporated into forensic science, they must be compatible with current practices. Here, cyanoacrylate fuming, a common development technique for latent fingerprints, is studied for its compatibility with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) for chemical imaging of latent fingerprints. Half of a fingerprint was fumed while the other half was not; then, the changes in chemical composition and signal intensity were compared with MALDI-MS imaging. No evidence was found that fingerprint compounds are chemically altered by fuming or their signal intensities affected. The only exceptions were significant signal loss for quaternary ammonium compounds from hygiene products and moderate signal loss for tertiary amine compounds. This result is in striking contrast with the previous attempts by others, which is attributed to the difference in instrumentation.
On Fuzziness: Empiricism and Cross-Disciplinarity Unbounded

Fuzziness came to my attention through the disciplinary prism of philosophy of science, with its issues and its history. My goal is to identify the bearing of fuzziness on these abstract issues and to suggest valuable lessons.
Case-based diagnostic analysis in a blackboard architecture

In this project we study the effect of a user's high-level expository goals upon the details of how case-based reasoning (CBR) is performed, and, vice versa, the effect of feedback from CBR on them. Our thesis is that case retrieval should reflect the user's ultimate goals in appealing to cases and that these goals can be affected by the cases actually available in a case base. To examine this thesis, we have designed and built FRANK (Flexible Report and Analysis System), which is a hybrid, blackboard system that integrates case-based, rule-based, and planning components to generate a medical diagnostic report that reflects a user's viewpoint and specifications. FRANK's control module relies on a set of generic hierarchies that provide taxonomies of standard report types and problemsolving strategies in a mixed-paradigm environment. Our second focus in FRANK is on its response to a failure to retrieve an adequate set of supporting cases. We describe FRANK's planning mechanisms that dynamically re-specify the memory probe or the parameters for case retrieval when an inadequate set of cases is retrieved, and give an extended example of how the system responds to retrieval failures.
Modeling and predicting total hydrogen adsorption in nanoporous carbon materials for advanced nuclear systems

Abstract The retention of hydrogen in a variety of disordered carbon materials including graphene nanoplatelets and amorphous carbon was measured by volumetric adsorption and modeled using thermodynamic methods. To date, high temperature hydrogen adsorption research in carbon has predominately focused on graphite used as plasma-facing materials in fusion systems, moderators in high temperature gas reactors, and fuel components in molten-salt cooled reactors. Tritium, a hydrogen isotope that is produced in these systems, adsorbs on carbon surfaces that could be used effectively as sinks to remove tritium. Since hydrogen has chemical similarity to tritium, it can be used as a surrogate to simplify experimental studies, greatly expediting materials exploration. Thus, an understanding and prediction of hydrogen behavior on carbon materials is essential for evaluation of performance and safety of present and future reactor designs. Chemisorption experiments were conducted on 9 different materials with a range of surface areas, pore volumes, and pore size distributions. The results showed that carbons with higher surface area and pore volume exhibit higher hydrogen adsorption, which is attributed to larger quantities of active sites. Further, hydrogen adsorption was found to increase in materials with greater micropore (
Interpretable Basis Decomposition for Visual Explanation

Explanations of the decisions made by a deep neural network are important for human end-users to be able to understand and diagnose the trustworthiness of the system. Current neural networks used for visual recognition are generally used as black boxes that do not provide any human interpretable justification for a prediction. In this work we propose a new framework called Interpretable Basis Decomposition for providing visual explanations for classification networks. By decomposing the neural activations of the input image into semantically interpretable components pre-trained from a large concept corpus, the proposed framework is able to disentangle the evidence encoded in the activation feature vector, and quantify the contribution of each piece of evidence to the final prediction. We apply our framework for providing explanations to several popular networks for visual recognition, and show it is able to explain the predictions given by the networks in a human-interpretable way. The human interpretability of the visual explanations provided by our framework and other recent explanation methods is evaluated through Amazon Mechanical Turk, showing that our framework generates more faithful and interpretable explanations (The code and data are available at https://github.com/CSAILVision/IBD).
Where Do We Begin? Building Blocks to Establish a Cardiothoracic Surgery Interest Group

Background With the impending shortage of cardiothoracic (CT) surgeons, much focus has been on increasing trainee interest, particularly at the medical student level. We aimed to determine the effect of participation in our Cardiothoracic Surgery Interest Group (CTSIG) on medical student attitudes regarding surgery, and especially CT surgery. Methods An anonymous survey was administered at two time points to the current member list of our 2015 to 2016 CTSIG and repeated for the 2016 to 2017 academic year. A set CTSIG event schedule was developed with current CT faculty and included events every 1 to 2 months. Total CTSIG membership was 101 students. Descriptive analysis was performed on quantitative data. Results Of 73 preclinical students completing both pre/postsurveys, 62% (45) were male. Postsurveys demonstrated increased interest in surgery and CT surgery as a career, which was significantly greater than those reporting no change (p Conclusions Establishing a CTSIG that includes preset events with exposure to CT surgery by shadowing and interaction with faculty in a relaxed setting has the ability to increase preclinical interest in CT surgery. More emphasis on advocacy is needed to clear up misconceptions about CT surgery to maintain recruitment of outstanding students in our CT surgery heritage.
A Controlled Trajectory Rapid Compression and Expansion Machine (CT-RCEM) for Chemical Kinetic Investigations

In this work, we present a controlled trajectory rapid compression and expansion machine (CT-RCEM) for chemical kinetic investigations of fuels, with the unique capability of precise motion control...
High-throughput thermodynamic screening of carbide/refractory metal cermets for ultra-high temperature applications

Abstract Carbide/refractory metal cermets possess attractive combinations of thermal and mechanical properties for ultra-high temperature structural applications. Using a high-throughput computational thermodynamic approach, 16 carbide/refractory metal cermet systems were identified, out of 1808 possible combinations, that could be fabricated by the displacive compensation of porosity (DCP) method using molten copper alloys as infiltrators at 1300 °C. Experimental results for ZrC/W and ZrC/Mo, and other proposed systems in the literature provide a level of validation to this approach. We found that copper alloys are more suitable for DCP than aluminum alloys owing to the low melting temperature of copper alloys (e.g., Zr 2 Cu and Ti 2 Cu), and the minimal chemical reaction as well as very limited mutual solid solubility of copper with refractory metals. Our results show that high-throughput thermodynamics calculation is a robust approach for systematically and thoroughly identifying refractory metal cermets that are suitable for DCP.
Syria: Language Situation

In Syria, Arabic diglossia and regional varieties of Arabic exist. Syria has a wealth of language minority communities including Kurdish, South Azerbaijani, Circassian, Domari, Armenian, Assyrian, and Aramaic. Although not as widely as in neighboring Lebanon, French and English are also spoken.
Automatic Generalized Quadrilateral Surface Meshing in Computational Electromagnetics by Discrete Surface Ricci Flow

We present methods for the automated generation of high-order generalized quadrilateral surface meshes for computational electromagnetics (CEM) using discrete surface Ricci flow and parametric domain iterative refinement. We offer a brief overview of discrete surface Ricci flow as it pertains to this work and demonstrate its usefulness for higher-order quadrilateral mesh generation. We present extremely-high-order surface meshes, automatically generated by this method using minute numbers of quadrilateral elements with exceptionally high geometrical orders, demonstrating the method’s robustness on both simple and complicated surfaces. The examples of the NASA almond, one of the most popular benchmarking examples, and a more complicated fighter jet model, with as few as four elements of up to 50th geometrical order, are first of a kind, showing great promise for higher order CEM.
A modeling framework for operating systems courses

This paper describes a Java modeling framework that is intended for pedagogical use in operating systems courses. With this framework, students in an introductory operating systems course can develop and/or experiment with numerous models of non-trivial OS components without the complexities of integrating their work into a real operating system. Students should be able to use this framework if they have completed a Java programming course. In addition, students can use models we have developed to carry out detailed examinations of the performance tradeoffs of various operating system and hardware configuration options.
Technological Change, Universal Access, and the End of the Library

Library and Information Science (LIS) does not lend itself to philosophizing. Political philosophy offers a useful and necessary approach to thinking about libraries. Teleological thinking helps bring into relief some of the problems and issues of library and information science. When we do not address political problems teleologically, we may confuse means and ends, and ignore ends altogether. As an example of a teleological investigation, the author considers a proposition that some take to be the end of the library, the proposition that libraries should provide free access to all information to all persons all of the time. Should libraries embrace all radical technological changes in a quest to seem relevant? Should libraries act according to the Universal Access Principle?
Environmental colonialism, digital indigeneity, and the politicization of resilience:

While there is wide scholarly agreement that anthropogenic climate change has serious global implications, more debate exists around whether discourses of adaptation and resilience are effective at...
A passion for people: the unconventional and innovative business success of Bill Veeck

Bill Veeck earned a reputation as one of the most influential men in the history of baseball and the field of sport marketing during his long and well-documented career. His entrepreneurial spirit ...
Ultrafast electron diffractive voltammetry: General formalism and applications

We present a general formalism of ultrafast diffractive voltammetry approach as a contact-free tool to investigate the ultrafast surface charge dynamics in nanostructured interfaces. As case studies, the photoinduced surface charging processes in oxidized silicon surface and the hot electron dynamics in nanoparticle-decorated interface are examined based on the diffractive voltammetry framework. We identify that the charge redistribution processes appear on the surface, sub-surface, and vacuum levels when driven by intense femtosecond laser pulses. To elucidate the voltammetry contribution from different sources, we perform controlled experiments using shadow imaging techniques and N-particle simulations to aid the investigation of the photovoltage dynamics in the presence of photoemission. We show that voltammetry contribution associated with photoemission has a long decay tail and plays a more significant role in the nanosecond timescale, whereas the ultrafast voltammetry are dominated by local charge transfer, such as surface charging and molecular charge transport at nanostructured interfaces. We also discuss the general applicability of the diffractive voltammetry as an integral part of quantitative ultrafast electron diffraction methodology in researching different types of interfaces having distinctive surface diffraction and boundary conditions.
Abstract 17207: Impact of Racial Differences in Treatment Intensification and Missed Visits on Disparities in BP Control

Introduction: Hypertensive black patients have the lowest rates of blood pressure (BP) control. It is unknown to what extent variation in healthcare processes like treatment intensification (TI) an...
Wetland Compensation and Landscape Change in a Rapidly Urbanizing Context

While there are regulatory requirements that regulators should assess the impact of landscape-scale changes on the success of US Clean Water Act wetland compensatory mitigation sites, these requirements are poorly specified and very little work has been done to characterize how landscape change impacts CWA compensation sites. We created a rapid assessment method with both site-based and landscape-scale components, and used it to assess a population of wetland compensation sites in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota in 1997. We resampled the sites in 2010. The watersheds of these 22 compensation sites are characterized by rapid urbanization, the increase in impervious surfaces, and the loss of agriculture. This has resulted in extreme hydrographs at compensation sites and a fragmenting landscape context of more and smaller undeveloped patches. The ecosystem services provided by these compensation sites in 2010 are not significantly different than in 1997, indicating resilience in the face of landscape change, but not showing a trajectory of improvement. Reference sites were established for each ecosystem service, but two reference sites declined dramatically; results point to the importance of understanding ongoing landscape change even at benchmark sites. Compensation sites are typically located in rapidly changing and fragmenting landscapes, and understanding the relationship between landscape and compensation site will be important to ensuring appropriate compensation for impacts regulated by the Clean Water Act.
Insight Into the Hispanic Paradox: The Language Hypothesis.

Hispanics have a lower burden of heart disease than would be predicted from their risk factors. Explanations for this phenomenon, the Hispanic paradox, focus on specific characteristics of the cult...
Statistical Array Allocation and Partitioning for Compute In-Memory Fabrics.

Compute in-memory (CIM) is a promising technique that minimizes data transport, the primary performance bottleneck and energy cost of most data intensive applications. This has found wide-spread adoption in accelerating neural networks for machine learning applications. Utilizing a crossbar architecture with emerging non-volatile memories (eNVM) such as dense resistive random access memory (RRAM) or phase change random access memory (PCRAM), various forms of neural networks can be implemented to greatly reduce power and increase on chip memory capacity. However, compute in-memory faces its own limitations at both the circuit and the device levels. Although compute in-memory using the crossbar architecture can greatly reduce data transport, the rigid nature of these large fixed weight matrices forfeits the flexibility of traditional CMOS and SRAM based designs. In this work, we explore the different synchronization barriers that occur from the CIM constraints. Furthermore, we propose a new allocation algorithm and data flow based on input data distributions to maximize utilization and performance for compute-in memory based designs. We demonstrate a 7.47\(\times \) performance improvement over a naive allocation method for CIM accelerators on ResNet18.