cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SUBCAPITAL FRACTURES: A CHANGING PARADIGM

There is continuing debate among orthopedists regarding the appropriate treatment of femoral neck fractures, open reduction internal fixation (ORIF), Total hip arthroplasty (THA) or hemiarthroplasty. In 2003 310,000 patients were hospitalized for hip fracture in the United States and about one-third were treated with total hip arthroplasty. Worldwide, the total number of hip fractures is expected to surpass 6 million by the year 2050. In a survey distributed by the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and of the 381 members who responded, 85% preferred hemiarthroplasty, 2% preferred ORIF and 13% preferred THA. The decision to perform internal fixation, hemiarthroplasty, or THA is based on comminution of the fracture activity level and independence, bone quality, presence of rheumatoid or degenerative arthritis, and mental status. Evidence based practice indicates that in a young patient with good bone stock and a fracture with relatively low comminution an ORIF is the treatment of choice. If the patient has a comminuted fracture with poor bone quality, minimal DJD, no RA, and low activity demand a hemiarthroplasty is a reasonable choice. If the patient has a comminuted fracture with poor bone quality, DJD and high activity demand a total hip replacement is a reasonable choice.
Intergenerational Mobility and Preferences for Redistribution

Using new cross-country survey and experimental data, we investigate how beliefs about intergenerational mobility affect preferences for redistribution in France, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Americans are more optimistic than Europeans about social mobility. Our randomized treatment shows pessimistic information about mobility and increases support for redistribution, mostly for "equality of opportunity" policies. We find strong political polarization. Left-wing respondents are more pessimistic about mobility: their preferences for redistribution are correlated with their mobility perceptions; and they support more redistribution after seeing pessimistic information. None of this is true for right-wing respondents, possibly because they see the government as a "problem" and not as the "solution".
Phototherapeutic Keratectomy for Epithelial Basement Membrane Dystrophy

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy of phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) in treating epithelial basement membrane dystrophy (EBMD). METHODS Preoperative and postoperative records were reviewed for 58 eyes of 51 patients with >3 months follow-up (range 3-170 months) treated for EBMD with PTK after failure of conservative medical treatment at Byers Eye Institute of Stanford University. Symptoms, clinical findings, and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) were assessed. The primary outcome measure was symptomatic recurrence as measured by erosions or visual complaints >3 months after successful PTK. RESULTS For eyes with visual disturbances (n=30), preoperative CDVA waŝ20/32 (0.24 Log-MAR, SD 0.21) and postoperative CDVA was ~20/25 (0.07 LogMAR, SD 0.12; P<0.0001). Twenty-six eyes (86.7%) responded to treatment, with symptomatic recurrence in 6 eyes (23.1%) at an average of 37.7 months (SD 42.8). For eyes with painful erosions (n=29), preoperative CDVA was ~20/25 (0.12, SD 0.19) and postoperative CDVA was ~20/20 (0.05. SD 0.16; P=0.0785). Twenty-three eyes (79.3%) responded to treatment, with symptomatic recurrence in 3 eyes (13.0%) at an average of 9.7 months (SD 1.5). The probability of being recurrence free after a successful treatment for visual disturbances and erosions at 5 years postoperatively was estimated at 83.0% (95% confidence interval 68.7%-97.0%) and 88.0% (95% confidence interval 65.3%-96.6%), respectively. CONCLUSION The majority of visual disturbances and painful erosions associated with EBMD respond to PTK. For those with a treatment response, symptomatic relief is maintained over long-term follow-up.
Who should we hire?: Examining coaching succession in NCAA Division I women’s basketball:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of newly hired coaches in relation to their predecessors, and utilize the analysis to provide guidance to decision makers in college athlet...
Control of Gene Regulatory Networks With Noisy Measurements and Uncertain Inputs

This paper is concerned with the problem of stochastic control of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) observed indirectly through noisy measurements and with uncertainty in the intervention inputs. The partial observability of the gene states and uncertainty in the intervention process are accounted for by modeling GRNs using the partially observed Boolean dynamical system (POBDS) signal model with noisy gene expression measurements. Obtaining the optimal infinite-horizon control strategy for this problem is not attainable in general, and we apply reinforcement learning and Gaussian process techniques to find a near-optimal solution. The POBDS is first transformed to a directly observed Markov decision process in a continuous belief space, and the Gaussian process is used for modeling the cost function over the belief and intervention spaces. Reinforcement learning then is used to learn the cost function from the available gene expression data. In addition, we employ sparsification, which enables the control of large partially observed GRNs. The performance of the resulting algorithm is studied through a comprehensive set of numerical experiments using synthetic gene expression data generated from a melanoma gene regulatory network.
Boundary conditions of the heliosphere

We present new calculations of the ionization of the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) by directly observed sources including nearby stellar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources and the diffuse emission of the Soft X-ray Background (SXRB). In addition, we model the important, unobserved EUV emission both from the hot gas responsible for the SXRB and from a possible evaporative boundary between the LIC and the hot gas. We show that these ionization sources can provide the necessary ionization and heating of the cloud to match observations. Including the radiation from the conductive boundary, while not required, does improve the agreement with observations of the temperature of the LIC. The ionization predicted in our models shows good agreement with pickup ion results, interstellar absorption line data towards epsilon CMa, and EUV opacity measurements of nearby white dwarf stars. The areas of disagreement point to a possible underabundance (relative to solar abundance) of neon in the LIC. The presence of dust in the cloud, or at least depleted abundances, is necessary to maintain the heating/cooling balance and reach the observed temperature.
Non-equilibrium allele frequency spectra via spectral methods

A major challenge in the analysis of population genomics data consists of isolating signatures of natural selection from background noise caused by random drift and gene flow. Analyses of massive amounts of data from many related populations require high-performance algorithms to determine the likelihood of different demographic scenarios that could have shaped the observed neutral single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) allele frequency spectrum. In many areas of applied mathematics, Fourier Transforms and Spectral Methods are firmly established tools to analyze spectra of signals and model their dynamics as solutions of certain Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). When spectral methods are applicable, they have excellent error properties and are the fastest possible in high dimension; see Press et al. (2007). In this paper we present an explicit numerical solution, using spectral methods, to the forward Kolmogorov equations for a Wright-Fisher process with migration of K populations, influx of mutations, and multiple population splitting events.
Forces and energetics of intermittent swimming

Experiments are reported on intermittent swimming motions. Water tunnel experiments on a nominally two-dimensional pitching foil show that the mean thrust and power scale linearly with the duty cycle, from a value of 0.2 all the way up to continuous motions, indicating that individual bursts of activity in intermittent motions are independent of each other. This conclusion is corroborated by particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow visualizations, which show that the main vortical structures in the wake do not change with duty cycle. The experimental data also demonstrate that intermittent motions are generally energetically advantageous over continuous motions. When metabolic energy losses are taken into account, this conclusion is maintained for metabolic power fractions less than 1.
Shift-encoded optically multiplexed imaging

In a multiplexed image, multiple fields-of-view (FoVs) are superimposed onto a common focal plane. The attendant gain in sensor FoV provides a new degree of freedom in the design of an imaging system, allowing for performance tradeoffs not available in traditional optical designs. We explore design choices relating to a shift-encoded optically multiplexed imaging system and discuss their performance implications. Unlike in a traditional imaging system, a single multiplexed image has a fundamental ambiguity regarding the location of objects in the image. We present a system that can shift each FoV independently to break this ambiguity and compare it to other potential disambiguation techniques. We then discuss the optical, mechanical, and encoding design choices of a shift-encoding midwave infrared imaging system that multiplexes six 15×15 deg FoVs onto a single one megapixel focal plane. Using this sensor, we demonstrate a computationally demultiplexed wide FoV video.
Global investigation of return autocorrelation and its determinants

Abstract We estimate global return autocorrelation by using the quantile autocorrelation model and investigate its determinants across 43 stock markets from 1980 to 2013. Although our results document a decline in autocorrelation across the entire sample period for all countries, return autocorrelation is significantly larger in emerging markets than in developed markets. The results further document that larger and liquid stock markets have lower return autocorrelation. We also find that price limits in most emerging markets result in higher return autocorrelation. We show that the disclosure requirement, public enforcement, investor psychology, and market characteristics significantly affect return autocorrelation. Our results document that investors from different cultural backgrounds and regulation regimes react differently to corporate disclosers, which affects return autocorrelation.
SenseClusters - finding clusters that represent word senses

SenseClusters is a freely available word sense discrimination system that takes a purely unsupervised clustering approach. It uses no knowledge other than what is available in a raw unstructured corpus, and clusters instances of a given target word based only on their mutual contextual similarities. It is a complete system that provides support for feature selection from large corpora, several different context representation schemes, various clustering algorithms, and evaluation of the discovered clusters.
A statistical perspective on algorithmic leveraging

One popular method for dealing with large-scale data sets is sampling. For example, by using the empirical statistical leverage scores as an importance sampling distribution, the method of algorithmic leveraging samples and rescales rows/columns of data matrices to reduce the data size before performing computations on the subproblem. This method has been successful in improving computational efficiency of algorithms for matrix problems such as least-squares approximation, least absolute deviations approximation, and low-rank matrix approximation. Existing work has focused on algorithmic issues such as worst-case running times and numerical issues associated with providing high-quality implementations, but none of it addresses statistical aspects of this method. In this paper, we provide a simple yet effective framework to evaluate the statistical properties of algorithmic leveraging in the context of estimating parameters in a linear regression model with a fixed number of predictors. In particular, for several versions of leverage-based sampling, we derive results for the bias and variance, both conditional and unconditional on the observed data. We show that from the statistical perspective of bias and variance, neither leverage-based sampling nor uniform sampling dominates the other. This result is particularly striking, given the well-known result that, from the algorithmic perspective of worst-case analysis, leverage-based sampling provides uniformly superior worst-case algorithmic results, when compared with uniform sampling. Based on these theoretical results, we propose and analyze two new leveraging algorithms: one constructs a smaller least-squares problem with "shrinkage" leverage scores (SLEV), and the other solves a smaller and unweighted (or biased) least-squares problem (LEVUNW). A detailed empirical evaluation of existing leverage-based methods as well as these two new methods is carried out on both synthetic and real data sets. The empirical results indicate that our theory is a good predictor of practical performance of existing and new leverage-based algorithms and that the new algorithms achieve improved performance. For example, with the same computation reduction as in the original algorithmic leveraging approach, our proposed SLEV typically leads to improved biases and variances both unconditionally and conditionally (on the observed data), and our proposed LEVUNW typically yields improved unconditional biases and variances.
Instrument choice and stranded assets in the transition to clean capital

Abstract This paper compares the impact of different climate mitigation policies — mandates, feebates, performance standards, and carbon pricing — in a Ramsey model with clean and polluting capital, irreversible investment, and a climate constraint. These policy instruments imply different transitions to the same balanced growth path. The optimal carbon price minimizes the discounted social cost of the transition to clean capital, but may prompt premature retirement of existing polluting capacities and significant private costs in the form of stranded assets. Second-best mandates and feebates affect new investment decisions without providing incentives to under-use existing polluting equipment. These instruments lead to higher discounted social costs, but smoother abatement costs, and do not result in premature retirement or stranded assets. A phased-in carbon price can avoid premature retirement but still result in stranded assets, that is in a drop of wealth for the owners of polluting capital. We discuss a potential trade-off between the political feasibility and cost-effectiveness of climate mitigation policies.
On kinematic contributions to form factors

The procedure of calculating kinematical contributions to form factors is examined. Off-shell effects in π Open image in new window →π Open image in new window scattering and a model problem are calculated. It is shown that some approximations that have been used to describe such effects are not generally valid.
Recipes for Translating Big Data Machine Reading to Executable Cellular Signaling Models

Biological literature is rich in mechanistic information that can be utilized to construct executable models of complex systems to increase our understanding of health and disease. However, the literature is vast and fragmented, and therefore, automation of information extraction from papers and of model assembly from the extracted information is necessary. We describe here our approach for translating machine reading outputs, obtained by reading biological signaling literature, to discrete models of cellular networks. We use outputs from three different reading engines, and demonstrate the translation of different features using examples from cancer literature. We also outline several issues that still arise when assembling cellular network models from state-of-the-art reading engines. Finally, we illustrate the details of our approach with a case study in pancreatic cancer.
Model Study of Mooring Forces of Docked Ship

Laboratory data presented on forces induced by water gravity waves in camels and mooring lines of Liberty Ship, moored alongside dock, for waves up to 5 ft in height and with periods up to 120 sec; it was not possible to obtain simple natural periods of surge, sway, etc for this particular mooring arrangement as one motion induced another.
A Robust Failure Detection and Isolation Method for Automotive Power Train Sensors

Abstract A Failure Detection and Isolation system for an automotive power train is developed and implemented to detect and isolate faults in engine speed, torque converter turbine speed, and wheel speed. A bank of extended Kalman filters, with different observation combinations and specially formulated gains to maximize robustness, is used to generate residuals. This method of gain selection increases the robustness of the residuals to parameter variations and unmodeled dynamics. Results of this model based Failure Detection and Isolation method utilizing fully nonlinear state equations is experimentally validated using a research vehicle.
Gynecomastia in a Hospitalized Male Population

Abstract Two hundred fourteen hospitalized adult men, aged 27 to 92, were examined for the presence of palpable gynecomastia. The overall prevalence was 65 percent. Gynecomastia was bilateral in all but 11 subjects. The prevalence was greatest in the 50 to 69-year-old group (72 percent). It was lower in the 70- to 89-year-old (47 percent, p 2 or greater had gynecomastia. The diameter of breast tissue also increased with increasing body mass index (r = 0.52, p
Incidence and Distribution of Intrathoracic Metastases From Renal Cell Carcinoma

• Chest roentgenographic findings in 46 patients with renal cell carcinoma were analyzed and correlated to clinical and pathologic findings. Twenty-five patients (54.3%) had intrathoracic metastasis, 17 (37%) of whom had roentgenographic evidence of intrathoracic metastasis at the time of initial diagnosis. Lung metastasis was present in 14 patients (30%), alone in ten patients and along with mediastinal or pleural metastasis in four patients. Mediastinal lymph node metastasis was present in 13 patients (28.2%) and was distributed in the following locations: bilateral hila, six; right hilum, two; right paratracheal area, two; left hilum, one; left paratracheal area, one; and left hilum and right paratracheal area, one. Mediastinal lymph node enlargement was the sole roentgenographic finding in six patients (13%). Metastasis to the lungs or mediastinum may already be present in more than a third of the patients with renal cell carcinoma at the time of diagnosis. Mediastinal lymph node metastasis from renal cell carcinoma occurs more frequently than previously reported and may be the only chest roentgenographic manifestation of the disease. (Arch Intern Med1984;144:273-276)
Papillary Serous Carcinoma of the Retroperitoneum

We describe a retroperitoneal neoplasm in an 11-year-old girl which had a light microscopic appearance identical to that of papillary serous carcinoma of the ovary. There was no evidence of ovarian involvement. Immunohistochemical staining for amylase was positive within the cytoplasm of tumor cells. Since amylase is a marker for serous ovarian tumors, this finding supports the belief that "ovarian-type" neoplasms that occur at ectopic locations are essentially identical to their ovarian counterparts. We believe they originate from metaplasia of mesothelium. Our findings support the concept that these tumors should exhibit a biologic behavior and therapeutic response which are similar to those of an ovarian tumor of the same grade and comparable stage. The demonstration of intracytoplasmic amylase also may prove useful in differentiating peritoneal serous tumors from non-metaplastic mesothelial proliferations. We are unaware of a prior report of an extra-ovarian serous carcinoma in a child.
Client Deadline Concentration in Audit Offices and Audit Quality

SUMMARY This research investigates the effect on audit quality of concentrated public company financial statement filing deadlines in audit offices. Audit offices must effectively manage their reso...
Supernumerary Nipples and Renal Anomalies in Neonates

• A high rate of association between supernumerary nipples (SNNs) and hidden renal anomalies has previously been reported. We examined 2035 term infants and detected SNNs in 49. Only one patient, at age 4 months, was found to have a renal anomaly, as determined by ultrasound examination. The likelihood of finding a renal anomaly in a term infant with an SNN is likely to be lower than previously reported. ( AJDC 1987;141:987-988)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Program – Intelligent Task Automation

Abstract The establishment of a science and technology base for many aspects of defense manufacturing and for adapting intelligent systems for complex military operational tasks is a cornerstone effort of advanced research with great national significance. This presentation provides an overview of the efforts of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Wright Aeronautical Laboratories (AFWAL) to plan and fund technology development for a substantial leap in Intelligent Task Automation (ITA). In addressing the needs for high productivity in manufacturing and robust applications to complex military tasks, the ITA program develops and integrates the generic technologies impacting, gripping, sensing, viewing, recognizing and understanding the environment, controlling manipulation, and intelligently providing command of the task.
Causes of Obesity: External Influences

Individuals have heterogeneous preferences for food consumption, physical activity, and body weight, which may be shaped by environmental and market factors. These factors have also contributed to changes in household budget and time constraints in ways that have encouraged consumers to make choices consistent with gaining weight. In particular, changes in income, prices, the opportunity cost of time, and the quantity of time required to prepare and consume certain types of food have affected choices of physical activity and food consumption. In this chapter we examine the roles of these external factors, including environmental factors such as public transportation and food access, and market factors, such as food marketing, and the prices and availability of different options for food and exercise.
Importance of limiting hohlraum leaks at cryogenic temperatures on NIF targets

Inertial confinement fusion targets are complex systems designed to allow fine control of temperature and pressure for making precise spherical ice layers of hydrogen isotopes at cryogenic temperatures. We discuss the various technical considerations for a maximum leak rate based on heat load considerations. This maximum flow rate turns out to be standard cc per second, which can be caused by an orifice less than half a micron in diameter. This makes the identification of the location and resolution of the leak a significant challenge. To illustrate this, we showcase one example of a peculiar failure mode that appeared suddenly but persisted whereby target production yield was severely lowered. Identification of the leak source and the root cause requires very careful analysis of multiple thermomechanical aspects to ensure that the end solution is indeed the right remedy and is robust.
On offset Hamilton cycles in random hypergraphs

Abstract Let k and l be integers satisfying 1 ≤ l ≤ k ∕ 2 . An l -offset Hamilton cycle C in a k -uniform hypergraph H on n vertices is a collection of edges of H such that for some cyclic order of [ n ] and every even i every pair of consecutive edges E i − 1 , E i in C (in the natural ordering of the edges) satisfies | E i − 1 ∩ E i | = l and every pair of consecutive edges E i , E i + 1 in C satisfies | E i ∩ E i + 1 | = k − l . We show that in general e k l ! ( k − l ) ! ∕ n k is the sharp threshold for the existence of the l -offset Hamilton cycle in the random k -uniform hypergraph H n , p ( k ) . We also examine this structure’s natural connection to the 1–2–3 Conjecture.
Quantitative Perspectives on Fifty Years of the Journal of the History of Biology

Journal of the History of Biology provides a fifty-year long record for examining the evolution of the history of biology as a scholarly discipline. In this paper, we present a new dataset and preliminary quantitative analysis of the thematic content of JHB from the perspectives of geography, organisms, and thematic fields. The geographic diversity of authors whose work appears in JHB has increased steadily since 1968, but the geographic coverage of the content of JHB articles remains strongly lopsided toward the United States, United Kingdom, and western Europe and has diversified much less dramatically over time. The taxonomic diversity of organisms discussed in JHB increased steadily between 1968 and the late 1990s but declined in later years, mirroring broader patterns of diversification previously reported in the biomedical research literature. Finally, we used a combination of topic modeling and nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques to develop a model of multi-article fields within JHB. We found evidence for directional changes in the representation of fields on multiple scales. The diversity of JHB with regard to the representation of thematic fields has increased overall, with most of that diversification occurring in recent years. Drawing on the dataset generated in the course of this analysis, as well as web services in the emerging digital history and philosophy of science ecosystem, we have developed an interactive web platform for exploring the content of JHB, and we provide a brief overview of the platform in this article. As a whole, the data and analyses presented here provide a starting-place for further critical reflection on the evolution of the history of biology over the past half-century.
National Family Policy Development in Panama and the US

The purpose of this study was to determine which factors account for the variation of national family policies within two countries in this hemisphere, Panama and the United States. The United States was selected for two major reasons. It is in the process of national welfare repeal with concomitant empowerment of state and local governments to carry out family assistance programs. In addition, many nations, especially in the Americas, are affected by U.S. policy shifts. Panama’s ties with the U.S. have been extremely close, beginning with the U.S. military involvement in the secession of Panama from Colombia in 1903 (Conniff, 1992). Panama was selected for many reasons: it is actively in the process of implementing its first national family law; it is the geo-political center of the Americas; it is the “partner” country of Delaware in the Partners of the Americas organization; it is a culturally diverse country much like the United States and it is closely linked to the United States, politically and economically.
The Value of Commitments When Selling to Strategic Consumers: A Supply Chain Perspective

We consider a decentralized supply chain consisting of a retailer and a supplier that serves forward-looking consumers in two periods. In each period, the supplier and the retailer dynamically set ...
An Efficient Convex Formulation for Model-Predictive Control on Wave-Energy Converters

Model-Predictive Control (MPC) has shown its strong potential in maximizing energy extraction for Wave-Energy Converters (WECs) while handling hard constraints. As MPC can solve the optimization problem on-line, it can better account for state changes and reject disturbances from the harsh sea environment. Interests have arisen in applying MPC to an array of WECs, since researchers found that multiple small-size WECs are more economically viable than a single large-size WEC. However, the computational demand is known to be a primary concern for applying MPC in real-time, which can determine the feasibility of such a controller, particularly when it comes to controlling an array of absorbers.In this paper, we construct a cost function and cast the problem into a Quadratic Programming (QP) with the machinery force being the “optimizer,” for which the convexity can be guaranteed by introducing a penalty term on the slew rate of the machinery force. The optimization problem can then be solved efficiently, and a feasible solution will be assured as the global optima. Constraints on the motion of the WEC and the machinery force will be taken into account. The current MPC will be compared to others existing in literature, including a nonlinear MPC [1] which has been applied in wave-tank tests. The effects of constraints on the control law and the absorbed power are investigated. Performances of the WEC are shown for both regular and irregular wave conditions. The current MPC is found to have good energy-capture capability and is able to broaden the band-width for capturing wave energy. The reactive power required by the PTO system is presented. The additional penalty term provides a tuning parameter, of which the effects on the MPC performance and the reactive power requirement are discussed.Copyright © 2017 by ASME
Donation After Circulatory Arrest in Pancreas Transplantation: A Report of 10 Cases

Abstract Introduction Transplantation of pancreas allografts procured from donation after circulatory death (DCD) remains uncommon. This study reviews a series of pancreas transplants at a single center to assess the donor and recipient characteristics for DCD pancreas transplant and to compare clinical outcomes. Methods DCD procurement was performed with a 5-minute wait time from pronouncement of death to first incision. In 2 patients, tissue plasminogen activator was infused as a thrombolytic during the donor flush. All kidney grafts were placed on pulsatile perfusion. Results There were 606 deceased donor pancreas transplants, 596 standard donors and 10 DCD donors. Of the 10 DCD transplants, 6 were simultaneous pancreas-kidney and 4 were pancreas transplant alone. The average time from incision to aortic cannulation was less than 3 minutes. The median total ischemia time for the DCD grafts was 5.4 hours, compared with 8.0 hours for standard donors (P = .15). Median length of hospital stay was 7 days for both groups, and there were no episode of acute cellular rejection in the first year post-transplant for the DCD group (4.2 % for standard group, P = .65). There was no difference in early or late graft survival, with 100% graft survival in the DCD group up to 1 year post-transplant. Ten-year Kaplan-Meier analysis shows similar graft survival for the 2 groups (P = .92). Conclusions These results support the routine use of carefully selected DCD pancreas donors. There were no differences in graft function, postoperative complications, and early and late graft survival.
A prescribed walking regimen plus arginine supplementation improves function and quality of life for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension: a pilot study:

Current evidence suggests that exercise training is beneficial in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Unfortunately, the standard supervised, hospital-based programs limit patient accessibility to this important intervention. Our proof-of-concept study aimed to provide insight into the usefulness of a prescribed walking regimen along with arginine supplementation to improve outcomes for patients with PAH. Twelve PAH patients (all women) in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class (FC) II (n = 7) or III (n = 5) and in stable condition for ≥ 3 months were enrolled. Patients performed home- and fitness-center- based walking at 65-75% heart rate (HR) reserve for 45 min, six sessions/week for 12 weeks. Concomitant L-arginine supplementation (6000 mg/day) was provided to maximize beneficial endothelial training adaptations. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, 6-min walk testing (6MWT), echocardiography, laboratory studies, and quality of life (QoL) survey (SF-36) were performed at baseline and 12 weeks. Eleven patients completed the study (72 session adherence rate = 96 ± 3%). Objective improvement was demonstrated by the 6MWT distance (increased by 40 ± 13 m, P = 0.01), VO2max (increased by 2 ± 0.7 mL/kg/min, P = 0.02), time-to-VO2max (increased by 2.5 ± 0.6 min, P = 0.001), VO2 at anaerobic threshold (increased by 1.3 ± 0.5 mL/kg/min, P = 0.04), HR recovery (reduced by 68 ± 23% in slope, P = 0.01), and SF-36 subscales of Physical Functioning and Energy/Fatigue (increased by 70 ± 34% and 74 ± 34%, respectively, P < 0.05). No adverse events occurred, and right ventricular function and brain natriuretic peptide levels remained stable, suggesting safety of the intervention. This proof-of-concept study indicates that a simple walking regimen with arginine supplementation is a safe and efficacious intervention for clinically stable PAH patients, with gains in objective function and QoL measures. Further investigation in a randomized controlled trial is warranted.
“Patterning with loops” to dynamically reconfigure polymer gels

The structural and mechanical properties of gels can be controlled by promoting the unfolding (and refolding) of loops (stored lengths) embedded within the networks. As a loop unfolds, the released chain length can increase the extensibility and reconfigurability of the gel. Here, we develop a theoretical model that couples the elasticity of the gel to the dynamic transitions occurring in loops that lie between the crosslinks. Using this model, we show that a thermally-induced swelling of the gel generates an internal strain, which unfolds the loops and thereby further increases the degree of gel swelling. We exploit this cooperative behavior to reconfigure the gel by patterning the location of the loops within the sample. Through this approach, we convert flat, two-dimensional layers into three-dimensional forms and introduce architectural features into uniform 3D slabs. At a fixed temperature, an applied force produces analogous structural transformations. The shape-changes are reversible: the systems return to their original structure when the temperature is reset or the force is removed. The findings provide guidelines for creating materials that interconvert thermal, chemical and mechanical energy to perform work. Such systems could be useful for designing soft robotic materials that convert environmental stimuli into useful functionality.
Molecular control of gene expression by Brucella BaaR, an IclR-type transcriptional repressor.

The general stress response sigma factor σE1 directly and indirectly regulates the transcription of dozens of genes that influence stress survival and host infection in the zoonotic pathogen Brucella abortus. Characterizing the functions of σE1-regulated genes therefore would contribute to our understanding of B. abortus physiology and infection biology. σE1 indirectly activates transcription of the IclR family regulator Bab2_0215, but the function of this regulator remains undefined. Here, we present a structural and functional characterization of Bab2_0215, which we have named Brucella adipic acid-activated regulator (BaaR). We found that BaaR adopts a classic IclR-family fold and directly represses the transcription of two operons with predicted roles in carboxylic acid oxidation. BaaR binds two sites on chromosome II between baaR and a divergently transcribed hydratase/dehydrogenase (acaD2), and it represses transcription of both genes. We identified three carboxylic acids (adipic acid, tetradecanedioic acid, and E-aminocaproic acid) and a lactone (E-caprolactone) that enhance transcription from the baaR and acaD2 promoters. However, neither the activating acids nor caprolactone enhanced transcription by binding directly to BaaR. Induction of baaR transcription by adipic acid required the gene bab2_0213, which encodes a major facilitator superfamily transporter, suggesting that Bab2_0213 transports adipic acid across the inner membrane. We conclude that a suite of structurally related organic molecules activate transcription of genes repressed by BaaR. Our study provides molecular-level understanding of a gene expression program in B. abortus that is downstream of σE1.
Feasibility of Clinician-Facilitated Three-Dimensional Printing of Synthetic Cranioplasty Flaps.

Background Integration of three-dimensional (3D) printing and stereolithography into clinical practice is in its nascence, and concepts may be esoteric to the practicing neurosurgeon. Currently, creation of 3D printed implants involves recruitment of offsite third parties. We explored a range of 3D scanning and stereolithographic techniques to create patient-specific synthetic implants using an onsite, clinician-facilitated approach. Methods We simulated bilateral craniectomies in a single cadaveric specimen. We devised 3 methods of creating stereolithographically viable virtual models from removed bone. First, we used preoperative and postoperative computed tomography scanner–derived bony window models from which the flap was extracted. Second, we used an entry-level 3D light scanner to scan and render models of the individual bone pieces. Third, we used an arm-mounted, 3D laser scanner to create virtual models using a real-time approach. Results Flaps were printed from the computed tomography scanner and laser scanner models only in a ultraviolet-cured polymer. The light scanner did not produce suitable virtual models for printing. The computed tomography scanner–derived models required extensive postfabrication modification to fit the existing defects. The laser scanner models assumed good fit within the defects without any modification. Conclusions The methods presented varying levels of complexity in acquisition and model rendering. Each technique required hardware at varying in price points from $0 to approximately $100,000. The laser scanner models produced the best quality parts, which had near-perfect fit with the original defects. Potential neurosurgical applications of this technology are discussed.
The Influence of Corporate Sustainability Officers on Performance

The creation of a specialized executive position that oversees sustainability activities represents a distinct shift in the structure of top management teams and their approach for addressing sustainability concerns. However, little is known about these management team members, namely the corporate sustainability officers or CSOs. We examine CSO appointments and their association with subsequent sustainability performance. Our results indicate that the creation of a CSO position may represent more of a symbolic versus substantive governance mechanism. Further tests suggest that CSO expertise and the firm’s existing sustainability performance affect the association between the CSO and post-appointment sustainability performance. We find no association between CSO appointments and subsequent sustainability performance for firms that were already poor performers, while firms possessing relatively higher levels of prior sustainability performance appointing a CSO begin to experience significant improvements to performance after 3 years. We further find that CSOs with prior sustainability expertise are associated with increases in sustainability performance in firms that were already strong performers, but not in firms with poor sustainability performance. Non-expert CSOs, on the other hand, are associated with initial decreases in performance for poor performing firms, whereas better performing firms hiring non-expert CSOs are able to rely on other sustainability attributes of the firm and benefit from improvements in performance in the long term. We discuss the potential importance of these positions as it relates to symbolic versus substantive governance mechanisms through the lens of top management team literature streams.
Threshold Cryptosystems from Threshold Fully Homomorphic Encryption

We develop a general approach to adding a threshold functionality to a large class of (non-threshold) cryptographic schemes. A threshold functionality enables a secret key to be split into a number of shares, so that only a threshold of parties can use the key, without reconstructing the key. We begin by constructing a threshold fully-homomorphic encryption scheme (ThFHE) from the learning with errors (LWE) problem. We next introduce a new concept, called a universal thresholdizer, from which many threshold systems are possible. We show how to construct a universal thresholdizer from our ThFHE. A universal thresholdizer can be used to add threshold functionality to many systems, such as CCA-secure public-key encryption (PKE), signature schemes, pseudorandom functions, and others primitives. In particular, by applying this paradigm to a (non-threshold) lattice signature system, we obtain the first single-round threshold signature scheme from LWE.
What women say about their dysmenorrhea: a qualitative thematic analysis

Dysmenorrhea is highly prevalent and is the leading cause of absence from school and work among women of reproductive age. Evidence suggests that dysmenorrhea may also be a risk factor for other chronic pain conditions. Limited research has examined women’s experience with dysmenorrhea using qualitative data. Research is warranted to address issues and needs that are important from women’s own perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe women’s salient thoughts about their experiences of dysmenorrhea. We analyzed data collected from an open-ended question within a cross-sectional survey study conducted in the United States. Using qualitative thematic analysis, free text responses to a question asking women to share their experience with dysmenorrhea were analyzed. The sample consisted of 225 women who provided valid responses to the open-ended question. Six themes were identified: (1) The dysmenorrhea symptom experience varied among women; (2) The dysmenorrhea symptom experience varied across time, (3) A variety of factors influenced the dysmenorrhea symptom experience, (4) Dysmenorrhea symptoms could have a negative impact on the women’s daily lives, (5) Dysmenorrhea was not seen as a legitimate health issue by the women, health care providers, or society, and (6) Treatment for women with dysmenorrhea varied in acceptability and effectiveness. The findings of this study have important implications for dysmenorrhea symptom assessment and the development of personalized interventions to support dysmenorrhea management.
A study on the use of IDE features for debugging

Integrated development environments (IDEs) provide features to help developers both create and understand code. As maintenance and bug repair are time-consuming and costly activities, IDEs have long integrated debugging features to simplify these tasks. In this paper we investigate the impact of using IDE debugger features on different aspects of programming and debugging. Using the data set provided by MSR challenge track, we compared debugging tasks performed with or without the IDE debugger. We find, on average, that developers spend more time and effort on debugging when they use the debugger. Typically, developers start using the debugger early, at the beginning of a debugging session, and that their editing behavior does not appear to significantly change when they are debugging regardless of whether debugging features are in use.
Who and Where: A Socio-Spatial Integrated Approach for Community-Based Health Research

Social and spatial characteristics of a population often interact to influence health outcomes, suggesting a need to jointly analyze both to offer useful insights in community health. However, researchers have used either social or spatial analyses to examine community-based health issues and inform intervention programs. We propose a combined socio-spatial analytic approach to develop a social network with spatial weights and a spatial statistic with social weights, and apply them to an ongoing study of mental and physical well-being of rural Latino immigrants in North Florida, USA. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to calculate measures, such as social network centrality, support contact dyads, and spatial kernel density based on a health survey data. Findings reveal that the integrated approach accurately reflected interactions between social and spatial elements, and identified community members (who) and locations (where) that should be prioritized for community-based health interventions.
Teetering stars: resonant excitation of stellar obliquities by hot and warm Jupiters with external companions

Stellar spin-orbit misalignments (obliquities) in hot Jupiter systems have been extensively probed. Such obliquities may reveal clues about hot Jupiter dynamical histories. Common explanations for generating obliquities include high-eccentricity migration and primordial disk misalignment. This paper investigates another mechanism for producing stellar spin-orbit misalignments in systems hosting a close-in planet with an external, modestly inclined companion. Spin-orbit misalignment may be excited due to a secular resonance, occurring when the precession rate of the stellar spin axis (driven by the inner planet) becomes comparable to the nodal precession rate of the inner planet (driven by the companion). Due to the spin-down of the host star via magnetic braking, this resonance may be achieved during the star's main-sequence lifetime for a wide range of planet masses and orbital architectures. Obliquity excitation is accompanied by a decrease in mutual inclination between the inner planet and perturber, and can thus erase high inclinations. For hot Jupiters, the stellar spin axis is strongly coupled to the orbital axis, and obliquity excitation by a giant planet companion requires a strong perturber, usually located within 1-2 AU. For warm Jupiters, the spin and orbital axes are more weakly coupled, and the resonance may be achieved for distant giant planet perturbers (at several to tens of AU). Since warm Jupiters have a high occurrence rate of distant planetary companions with appropriate properties for resonant obliquity excitation, stellar obliquities in warm Jupiter systems may be common, particularly for warm Jupiters orbiting cool stars that have undergone significant spin-down.
The Curse of Small Domains: New Attacks on Format-Preserving Encryption

Format-preserving encryption (FPE) produces ciphertexts which have the same format as the plaintexts. Building secure FPE is very challenging, and recent attacks (Bellare, Hoang, Tessaro, CCS ’16; Durak and Vaudenay, CRYPTO ’17) have highlighted security deficiencies in the recent NIST SP800-38G standard. This has left the question open of whether practical schemes with high security exist.