cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fabrication, characterization, and analysis of a DRIE CMOS-MEMS gyroscope

A gyroscope with a measured noise floor of 0.02/spl deg//s/Hz/sup 1/2/ at 5 Hz is fabricated by post-CMOS micromachining that uses interconnect metal layers to mask the structural etch steps. The 1 /spl times/ 1 mm lateral-axis angular rate sensor employs in-plane vibration and out-of-plane Coriolis acceleration detection with on-chip CMOS circuitry. The resultant device incorporates a combination of 1.8-/spl mu/m-thick thin-film structures for springs with out-of-plane compliance and 60-/spl mu/m-thick bulk silicon structures defined by deep reactive-ion etching for the proof mass and springs with out-of-plane stiffness. The microstructure is flat and avoids excessive curling, which exists in prior thin-film CMOS-microelectromechanical systems gyroscopes. Complete etch removal of selective silicon regions provides electrical isolation of bulk silicon to obtain individually controllable comb fingers. Direct motion coupling is observed and analyzed.
Randomized routing with shorter paths

Studies the use of randomized routing in multistage networks. While log N additional randomizing stages are needed to break "spatial locality", within each permutation, only log log N additional randomizing stages are needed to break "temporal locality" among successive permutations. Thus, log N bits of initial randomization per input, followed by log log N bits of randomization per packet are sufficient to ensure that t permutations are delivered in time t+log N. We present simulation results that validate this analysis.
Are Senior Leisure Travelers Different

Many researchers have examined the market for leisure travel by travelers 55 years of age and older. This article tests the hypothesis that demand for household leisure travel to South Carolina is the same for senior and nonsenior households. The results show that two variables affect senior households’ leisure travel behavior differently from non-senior households’ behavior: housing type and distance. Housing type may represent unmeasured income arising from homeowners’ equity. The results are based on individual household data from the 1995 American Travel Survey (ATS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Spectroscopic imaging using terahertz time-domain signals

Imaging systems based on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy offer a range of unique modalities due to the broad bandwidth, sub-picosecond duration, and phase-sensitive detection of the terahertz pulses. Furthermore, an exciting possibility exists to combine spectroscopic characterization and/or identification with imaging because the radiation is broadband in nature. In order to achieve this, novel methods for real-time analysis of terahertz waveforms are required. Unfortunately, both the absorption and the phase delay of a transmitted terahertz pulse vary exponentially with the sample's thickness. We describe a robust algorithm for extracting both the thickness and the complex index of refraction of an unknown sample. In contrast, most spectroscopic transmission measurements require accurate knowledge of the sample's thickness to determine the optical parameters. We also investigate the limits of our method.
A distributed space-time coding in asynchronous wireless relay networks

Jing and Hassibi recently presented a detailed analysis on the problem of distributed space-time coding for a synchronized wireless relay network, where only linear transforms are implemented at relay nodes, and proposed a linear dispersion coding scheme. In this letter, we extend it to asynchronous wireless networks by employing OFDM to combat timing errors from relay nodes. Based on a layered structure, we present a distributed space-time code design achieving full spatial diversity for an asynchronous wireless relay network.
DNA Adducts of Decarbamoyl Mitomycin C Efficiently Kill Cells without Wild-Type p53 Resulting from Proteasome-Mediated Degradation of Checkpoint Protein 1

The mitomycin derivative 10-decarbamoyl mitomycin C (DMC) more rapidly activates a p53-independent cell death pathway than mitomycin C (MC). We recently documented that an increased proportion of mitosene1-beta-adduct formation occurs in human cells treated with DMC in comparison to those treated with MC. Here, we compare the cellular and molecular response of human cancer cells treated with MC and DMC. We find the increase in mitosene 1-beta-adduct formation correlates with a condensed nuclear morphology and increased cytotoxicity in human cancer cells with or without p53. DMC caused more DNA damage than MC in the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Checkpoint 1 protein (Chk1) was depleted following DMC, and the depletion of Chk1 by DMC was achieved through the ubiquitin proteasome pathway since chemical inhibition of the proteasome protected against Chk1 depletion. Gene silencing of Chk1 by siRNA increased the cytotoxicity of MC. DMC treatment caused a decrease in the level of total ubiquitinated proteins without increasing proteasome activity, suggesting that DMC mediated DNA adducts facilitate signal transduction to a pathway targeting cellular proteins for proteolysis. Thus, the mitosene-1-beta stereoisomeric DNA adducts produced by the DMC signal for a p53-independent mode of cell death correlated with reduced nuclear size, persistent DNA damage, increased ubiquitin proteolysis and reduced Chk1 protein.
The prediction of the viscosity of multicomponent, nonpolar gaseous mixtures at atmospheric pressure

The method for predicting the viscosity of binary nonpolar gaseous mixtures from pure component Lennard-Jones force parameters and composition has been extended to multicomponent mixtures. The 136 mixtures examined contained from three to seven components from sixteen different gases in the temperature range from 5° to 1,014°C. The predicted gaseous viscosities should fall between −0.3 and −6.7° of the actual viscosities 95% of the time. With a slight modification of the constant in the viscosity expression, the viscosity can be predicted to within ±3.2% of the experimental viscosity 95% of the time for mixtures containing three or more components.
Strain Differences of Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension

Differences in the severity of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension between species and strains have long been known, based on the work of high altitude physiologists on species adapted to high altitude. The mechanisms responsible for these differences are of interest not only to physiologists, but also to clinicians, because understanding them could lead to valuable insights into the regulation of vascular tone as well as to potential therapies for pulmonary hypertension. One of the most studied models has been the Madison and Hilltop strains of Sprague Dawley rat that have markedly different cardiopulmonary responses to both acute and chronic hypoxia. These differences are heritable and associated with differences in vascular reactivity. Notably, the strains exhibit a dissociation between the intensities of acute and chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. The Madison rats have a more intense acute vasoconstrictor response than the Hilltops, but then promptly blunt the response so that the severity of chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension is considerably less than in the Hilltops that fail to blunt. The biochemical/cellular mechanisms underlying this interesting phenomenon have not been elucidated. Although the strains also have differing polycythemic responses that parallel the cardiopulmonary differences, these hematologic differences do not appear to be contributing to the cardiopulmonary differences. Pulmonary artery rings isolated from the 2 strains retain the differences in reactivity to acute hypoxic exposure, and stripping the endothelium eliminates the difference, suggesting that an endothelium-derived mediator is at least partly responsible for the differences. Endothelin 1 appears to contribute to strain differences in some cases, such as those observed between the Wistar-Kyoto and Fisher 344 rat strains, but not in the Madison and Hilltop rats. There is evidence for EDHF release in pulmonary arteries isolated from normoxic Madisons but not Hilltops. However, the reasons for the enhanced susceptibility to chronic hypoxia remain unclear. Genetic approaches including cross-breeding and gene array experiments may yield additional insights, but as yet, the fundamental mechanisms responsible for enhancement of cardio- pulmonary responses to hypoxia remain largely unknown.
Motion-vector clustering for traffic speed detection from UAV video

A novel method for detecting the average speed of traffic from non-stationary aerial video is presented. The method first extracts interest points from a pair of frames and performs interest point tracking with an optical flow algorithm. The output of the optical flow is a set of motion vectors which are k-means clustered in velocity space. The centers of the clusters correspond to the average velocities of traffic and the background, and are used to determine the speed of traffic relative to the background. The proposed method is tested on a 70-frame test sequence of UAV aerial video, and achieves an average error for speed estimates of less than 12%.
Novel Probes Establish Mas-Related G Protein-Coupled Receptor X1 Variants as Receptors with Loss or Gain of Function

The Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor X1 (MrgprX1) is a human seven transmembrane-domain protein with a putative role in nociception and pruritus. This receptor is expressed in dorsal root ganglion neurons and is activated by a variety of endogenous peptides, including bovine adrenal medulla peptide (BAM) and γ2-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (γ2-MSH). In the present work, we study how naturally occurring missense mutations alter the activity of MrgprX1. To characterize selected receptor variants, we initially used the endogenous peptide ligand BAM8-22. In addition, we generated and characterized a panel of novel recombinant and synthetic peptide ligands. Our studies identified a mutation in the second intracellular loop of MrgprX1, R131S, that causes a decrease in both ligand-mediated and constitutive signaling. Another mutation in this region, H133R, results in a gain of function phenotype reflected by an increase in ligand-mediated signaling. Using epitope-tagged variants, we determined that the alterations in basal and ligand-mediated signaling were not explained by changes in receptor expression levels. Our results demonstrate that naturally occurring mutations can alter the pharmacology of MrgprX1. This study provides a theoretical basis for exploring whether MrgprX1 variability underlies differences in somatosensation within human populations.
The Service Revolution

Are we running out of physical-goods markets?The author shows how a large and growing market for commodities lies in the development of service systems.
A Cycloidal Propeller Using Dynamic Lift

The highly efficient locomotion of birds, insects and fish is based on unsteady fluid dynamics. In recent years, research has focused on tapping into the potential that rests within these unsteady aerodynamic processes. However, most of the dynamic pitch and heave patterns encountered in nature are difficult to produce in an air vehicle that is propelled using rotating shaft power from an engine. To address this problem, this research assessed the feasibility and performance of a cycloidal propeller designed to utilize unsteady aerodynamic lift. A cycloidal propeller consists of one or more propeller blades mounted perpendicular to a rotating disk (see Figure 1). Contrary to current technical implementations of this type of propeller, dynamic pitch changes of a single blade mounted eccentrically to the propeller shaft in order to produce free leading edge stall vortices in the fluid are investigated. To generate thrust, a flow pattern that is the inverse of the von Karman vortex street is created in the fluid. The resulting time averaged flow field distant from the propeller is that of a jet. This type of propeller is particularly suited for low flow speeds, where state of the art propellers become inefficient due to flow separation on the blades. Potential applications include micro air vehicles that may use this device for propulsion as well as vertical take off and landing, and high altitude long endurance (HALE) aircraft that need to produce lift and thrust at low Reynolds numbers efficiently. The ability of a cycloidal propeller to produce similar efficiencies as dynamic pitch and heave motions reported in literature is demonstrated in this work.
Continuity and Change in Paths to High Political Office: Ex-Bureaucrats and Hereditary Politicians in Japan

This paper examines two dominant paths to national political office in order to assess the degree of changes in Japanese politics. Ex-bureaucrats in political office (seikai tenshin) and hereditary politicians (seshu giin) make up a high percentage of prime ministers, cabinet members, and holders of elected positions in the Lower House of the Diet as well as in the Liberal Democratic Party. The percentage of seikai tenshin politicians has remained relatively stable, while that of seshu giin rose dramatically, pointing toward a narrowing of channels to high political office. Although it is well known that seshu giin represents a form of personalistic politics, it is less well known that over 60 per cent of cabinet members and almost 60 per cent of LDP Lower House members came through one of these two channels at the 2003 election. We maintain that the rise of seshu giin is related to koenkai, while hereditary politicians represent a bridging channel between local interests and the central government. This channel serves to illustrate the permeability of Japan's civil society and its state.
Testing and disclosures related to amyloid imaging and Alzheimer's disease: Common questions and fact sheet summary

Abstract Alzheimer's disease research has often focused on the molecular brain changes that promote memory loss and other dementia-related cognitive impairments. Many studies, for example, have used positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to measure brain levels of the beta-amyloid protein, a key molecular suspect in Alzheimer's. In recent years, PET scans have become more prominent in clinical settings. Clinicians may use a positive PET scan—that is, a significant presence of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain—to help determine a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Yet, because beta-amyloid PET remains a fairly new diagnostic tool, physicians and patients still have many basic questions about how and why it is used. This article addresses some of those questions. It explains what PET scans actually show, how they are employed in research and clinical trials, and when they should and should not be used to help diagnose Alzheimer's in everyday patients. The article also discusses whether cognitively healthy people should request PET scans to assess their risk for developing dementia. Information in the text will be updated in future years, as diagnostic imaging techniques for Alzheimer's disease continue to evolve.
Effect of producer service agglomeration on industrial structures

Aiming at the development trend and current situation of producer services and industrial structures,a method of calculating the effect of producer service agglomeration on the industrial structures was proposed. The E-G index was used to calculate the level of producer service agglomeration. In combination with the grey correlation analysis and analytic hierarchy process( AHP) methods,the influence degree of producer service agglomeration on the industrial structures was dynamically analyzed from the quantitative and qualitative perspectives,and Shenyang city was taken as an example for the introduction and analysis. The results showthat the proposed method can accurately calculate the influence degree of producer service agglomeration on the industrial structures. The effect of producer services on the second industry is greater than its effect on the third and first industries.
The Association of Parental Coping and Childhood Injury.

Objectives Injuries are the leading cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality in the United States. Interaction between child, parent and environmental factors may contribute to injuries. This study investigates the association between coping with parenthood and injuries in children age 0–5 years. Methods In this cross-sectional observational study, we analyzed data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, a random-digit-dialing, nationally-representative telephone survey. Information was obtained from a caregiver about children 5 years of age or younger. Parental coping with the demands of parenthood was categorized into three groups—“very well”, “somewhat well” and “not very well” or “not very well at all”. Injury was defined as caregiver report of any injury within the previous 12 months that required medical attention. Results This study included 27,471 surveys about children 5 years of age or younger. With weighted analysis, 10.4 % of children were reported to have an injury; 31.1 % of caregivers reported coping with parenthood “somewhat well” and 1.7 % reported coping “not very well”/“not very well at all”. The adjusted odds ratio of sustaining an injury was 1.26 (95 % CI 1.00, 1.59) for children of parents who reported coping somewhat well with the demands of parenthood compared to those with parents coping very well. Conclusions Parental report of coping with parenthood less than very well was associated with injury in children ages 0–5 years, further highlighting the importance of the interaction between parent factors and childhood injury.
Thatcher’s US Policy II: The Diplomacy of Interests

The costs of Britain’s American policy were clear, sometimes painfully so, under Thatcher, while the benefits of its first two objectives, at least, were hard to demonstrate. It was beyond the power of British diplomacy to exercise decisive influence over the level of US engagement in the world. That depended primarily on the existence of external threats to American interests and secondarily on the ability of US administrations to convince their electorates of the reality of these threats. Influencing US foreign policy offered more scope, especially if the prime minister and president of the day liked each other enough to engage in close consultations. Thatcher enjoyed considerable success in this regard but even so, it is still hard to determine how much influence she actually exercised. Was she, for example, an independent source of opinion listened to by senior figures in the Reagan administration, or merely the instrument of one faction against another in the bureaucratic politics which characterizes much of the American policy process? Even the strong testimony of American officials, as opposed to their British counterparts, about the extent of Thatcher’s influence in Washington provides no easy answer to that question.
Composite solitons in /sup 3/He-A in the presence of superflow

We have studied theoretically the effect of superflow on the composite solitons in $^{3}\mathrm{He}$-$A$ for $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{H}}\ensuremath{\parallel}{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{v}}}_{s}$ and $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{H}}\ensuremath{\perp}{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{v}}}_{s}$. Here $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{H}}$ is a static magnetic field and ${\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{v}}}_{s}$ is the superfluid velocity. The domain-wall energy as well as related NMR satellite frequencies are determined as functions of ${v}_{s}$. In the parallel geometry ($\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{H}}\ensuremath{\parallel}{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{v}}}_{s}$), we predict hysteresis in the satellite frequencies when the superfluid velocity ${v}_{s}$ is changed, due to the existence of two branches of stable textures. In both configurations there exist critical velocities ${v}_{s}(\ensuremath{\lesssim}1 \mathrm{mm}/sec)$, at which the domain-wall energy becomes negative indicating the global instability of the uniform texture.
Accurately initializing real time clocks to provide synchronized time in sensor networks

Time synchronization is an essential service in many sensor network applications. Several time synchronization protocols have been proposed to synchronize the clocks on sensor nodes. All the synchronization protocols bring energy and complexity overhead to the network. There are many WSN applications which timestamp their samples with second level granularity. We claim real-time clocks can satisfy timing requirements of such applications. In this work, real time clocks are utilized to build a time-synchronized sensor network. We propose an accurate, robust, scalable and energy efficient approach to synchronize sensor network by accurately initializing RTCs on sensor nodes. Our experiments show that accurate initialization of real time clocks allows us to build a time-synchronized sensor network without any energy or complexity overhead of running sophisticated online time synchronization protocol.
The Dilemma of Evaluating Faith-based Correctional Programs in Institutional and Community Settings

Faith-based correctional programs are intended to produce inner change in participants. Research con­firming positive effects of these programs may then support program continuation or expansion. Empirical evaluations can measure ethical action, but not redemption in terms of transcendent reality. This paper argues that evaluations of faith-based programs are incorrectly tied to empirical designs based in social science, rather than on understandings about the true redemptive changes that can occur in the lives of participants in the programs. We suggest that grace and redemption are beyond the reaches of scientific inquiry and that empirically-based evaluation studies of such programs miss the mark
Abstract TMP53: Ifn-γ-inducible Protein 10 (IP-10) Levels Increase With Age and Stroke

Background: IP-10 is a pro-inflammatory CXC chemokine that acts as a chemo-attractant for monocytes and T cells. Prior work has shown that IP-10 levels increase after experimental stroke. IP-10 levels are correlated with degree of neurological injury; lower levels are associated with better outcome. Importantly, although nearly three quarters of strokes occur in aged people, no studies have examined IP-10 levels in aged stroke patient or animal populations. As mice and humans age, there is a progressive increase in pro-inflammatory factors circulating in the blood. Consequently, we hypothesize that aged populations will have significantly higher post-stroke IP-10 levels. Methods: Young (2-3 months) and aged (20 months) male C57BL6 mice were subjected to 60 minutes (24hr and 28 day group) or 90 minutes (72hr group) of MCAO and randomly split into 3 groups (n=5/group). Mice were sacrificed 24hrs, 72hrs, or 28 days after sham or stroke surgery. We collected serum samples from the 24hr and 28-day group and brain samples from the 72hr group. We also collected young (37-69yrs; n=18) and aged (70yrs; n=23) human serum samples 24hrs after imaging-confirmed ischemic stroke. IP-10 levels were assessed via ELISA (mouse) and cytokine multiplex assay (human). Results: Aged mice had significantly higher serum IP-10 levels than young mice (102.43±9.21pg/ml vs. 61.99±8.98pg/ml; p Conclusions: This study demonstrates that aging exacerbates post-stroke brain and serum IP-10 levels in both mice and human subjects. Blocking IP-10 may be especially beneficial in improving post stroke recovery in aged populations.
Abstract 359: Human CD34+ Cell-Derived Exosomes Target Endothelial Cells to Deliver MiR-126 Promoting Revascularization and Myocardial Repair

Introduction: Locally transplanted human CD34 + stem cells have been shown to improve exercise tolerance in patients with myocardial ischemia and promote angiogenesis in animal models. Recently we have demonstrated that CD34 + cells secrete exosomes, membrane bound nano-vesicles, as a major component of their paracrine secretion which induces angiogenesis. We hypothesize that cell-free exosomes from CD34 + cells (CD34 Exo) mimic the beneficial effects of cells, and promote myocardial revascularization and repair via transfer of pro-angiogenic microRNAs, possibly to endothelial cells. Methods and Results: Therapeutic potential of CD34 Exo isolated from equal number of adult human peripheral blood-derived CD34 + cells was evaluated in a murine model of myocardial ischemia (MI). Similar to cells, treatment with CD34 Exo resulted in significant improvement in ischemia compared to treatment with PBS (ejection fraction, 42±4 v 22±6%; capillary density, 113±7 v 66±6/HPF; fibrosis 27±2 v 48±7%, p Conclusion: CD34 + exosomes transfer miR126 to endothelial cells to induce angiogenesis and myocardial repair. The functional benefits associated with CD34 + cell therapy may be mediated by exosomes-mediated transfer of angiogenic microRNAs to endothelial cells.
Heavy-Vehicle Crash Rate Analysis

Studies investigating crash rates by roadway classification are few and far between and even more rare if extended to focus on heavy vehicles. This study explored and compared two advanced econometric methods—random-parameter Tobit regression and latent class Tobit regression—to determine contributing factors for heavy-vehicle crashes per million vehicle miles traveled while accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity present in crash data. The increasing crash rates in Idaho, crash proportion by roadway classification, and available data made an ideal case study. Empirical results show that although the random-parameter Tobit regression model provides better insight into heavy-vehicle crash rates than the fixed-parameter approach, the latent class Tobit regression model is the preferred methodology for the given data set. Traffic volumes, roadway characteristics, and traffic control devices were among the variables found to be statistically significant. Results from this study provide an alternate framew...
The Maze: Enabling Collaborative Planning in Games Through Annotation Interfaces

The Maze is a multiplayer game in which players collaboratively coordinate activities in advance in order to win. Utilizing planning, The Maze explores how players cooperate with each other by experimenting with available collaborative planning mechanics, communication channels, and view perspectives. Players use the in-game annotation system to plan actions in advance and then execute their plan to complete objectives and win in the game. Based on previous research on disaster response planning, we see an opportunity to develop games that help disaster responders practice effective planning activities through games. We present background research that helped inform the design of the game, followed by a description of the concept and design. We reflect on our observations from the gameplay testing session and discuss future work.
Tables of permittivity, dipole moment and dielectric relaxation time

These tables contain data reported in publications abstracted by Chemical Abstracts for the year 1976. In addition, some data from a few articles abstracted in 1975 but not obtained early enough to be included in the 1975 Digest are also included. The majority of data cited has been taken from the original literature. In cases where the original literature was unobtainable the Chemical Abstract reference number is given parenthetically after the reference itself. References are given in Chemical Abstracts' style and where an English translation of a foreign language article was obtained, a parenthetical reference to the translation is given also. No indication of language implies the original article to have been written in English. References to data not suitable for inclusion in tabular form are noted in supplementary lists which follow the appropriate tables. These lists are catalogued by compound formula in the same manner as for the tables (see below). Included in these sections are references to certain pertinent reviews and references to original articles which proved to be unobtainable at the time of compilation and for which the abstract contained insufficient information for inclusion in the main tables.
P252 Clinical profile of infants with cystic fibrosis screen positive, inconclusive diagnosis (cfspid) in the west midlands

Background The introduction of newborn screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) has resulted in up to 10% of infants with the positive result but inconclusive diagnosis. The European cystic fibrosis consensus group has defined CFSPID as newborn screened infants with elevated immunoreactive trypsinogen and normal sweat chloride and two CFTR mutations, at least one with unclear phenotypical consequences OR infants with intermediate sweat chloride with one or no CFTR mutations (Munck:2015). The majority will remain well and have no long-term health implications. However, a small percentage of these infants may develop the disease by three years. Aim To study the prevalence, clinical characteristics and clinical course of children who meet the CFSPID criteria within a large UK regional paediatric CF centre Methods Retrospective data review of children identified on newborn screening who met the ECFS CFSPID criteria using CF registry, regional screening centre notification and the local network database. Results Between October 2006 to December 2016, 148 infants were CF screen positive. 9 children (6.08%) met CFSPID diagnostic criteria. The median follow up period was 25 months (range 6–95 months). Median age at repeat sweat test was 3 years (range 1.5–5 year). All patients were heterozygous for ΔF508. The second mutation identified included R117H in 6 children, D1152H in one child and Arg810Ser in 2 siblings. 2 patients had Staph aureus and Haemophilus influenzae once on cough swabs. None of them was positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. All were pancreatic sufficient. All children in the group remained nutritionally well. None had chronic isolates of significant respiratory pathogens common in cystic fibrosis and repeat sweat test remained normal in all patients. Conclusion Early outcomes for CFSPID are good. National guidance on information provided to families at diagnosis, frequencies of clinic follow up are necessary. In addition assessment of the psychological impact of the diagnosis to the families would be valuable. National data collection possibly through a UK CF registry based study to inform long term outcomes in children with a diagnosis of CF SPID is needed.
Spiritually integrated care for PTSD: A randomized controlled trial of "Building Spiritual Strength".

Abstract Previous literature documents important cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between spiritual distress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outcomes. This study tests the efficacy of a spiritually integrated intervention “Building Spiritual Strength” (BSS) that can be delivered by trained chaplains. The intervention addresses spiritual concerns expressed by trauma survivors, including concerns in relationship with a Higher Power, difficulty with forgiveness, and theodicy. In a randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment, veterans were randomized to engage in a BSS condition (n = 71) or Present Centered Group Therapy (PCGT; control) condition (n = 67) with assessments at baseline, posttreatment, and a two-month follow up. Both groups showed similar, statistically significant reductions in symptoms of PTSD as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). BSS was shown to be more effective than PCGT in treating distress in relationship with a Higher Power. This was the second clinical trial of BSS with promising results and highlights the need for further study in psychospiritual interventions. More research is warranted on BSS being offered by non-specialized chaplains and on the application of BSS in suicide prevention.
Government as God: An Update on Federal Intervention in the Treatment of Critically Ill Newborns

Whether a severely impaired or critically ill infant should receive lifesaving, and sometimes extraordinary, medical treatment, or be allowed to die, is hotly debated. The issue initially garnered public attention in 1982, when an infant who was born with Down's Syndrome, “Baby Doe,” was allowed to die from a correctable birth defect. Following this, the federal government took a lead role in determining the fate of critically ill newborns. In the meantime, doctors, philosophers, and others have debated whether federal interference in this area is appropriate.This essay will bring the reader up to date on the “Baby Doe” issue by summarizing the contours of the debate and explaining the legislation, in the form of amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (CAPTA), that ultimately resulted from the initial “Baby Doe” controversy. This essay also will add an additional voice to the discussion by criticizing federal intervention in this area on three main grounds. The first ground is that the federal government purports to solve a problem that largely does not exist, and in so doing, it oversimplifies the profound moral questions that surround the issue of whether to aggressively treat a severely impaired newborn. Secondly, federal intervention in this area through the CAPTA Amendments is bad policy because it eliminates parents from the treatment decision. Thirdly, the policy fails on a philosophical level because it does not square with our intuitions. Finally, this essay will highlight a view that is largely missing from the debate on this issue - that of the practicing physicians who work with critically ill, severely impaired newborns and their parents every day. The essay will conclude by briefly suggesting an alternative policy approach, which would presume that parents, in consultation with their doctors, are the appropriate decision-makers in these cases unless circumstances warrant otherwise.
Social and Economic Conditions and Firm Growth

Firms operate in particular social contexts, characterized by the national, social and economic institutions, which influence the social conditions of innovative activity. Governance institutions have an effect on strategic control, employment institutions influence organizational integration and investment institutions shape financial commitment. This chapter examines whether these social and economic factors matter for the emergence of innovative firms in a less-developed economy context. This is an important aspect since the social conditions are variables that can be influenced by government policies and managers.
Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Outcomes Post-Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

Purpose Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important prognostic factor among patients with heart failure though its impact on post-ventricular assist device (VAD) outcomes is not yet known. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients who received LVADs at a single high-volume institution from 2007 to 2018 was conducted. SES was evaluated using the area deprivation index (ADI), a multifactorial neighborhood-based metric developed by Kind et al, where higher deprivation index denotes worse SES. Patients were stratified into four cohorts based on their national ADI: ≤10th, 11-50th, 51-89th and ≥90th percentiles. Results During the study period, 387 VAD pts were identified. Overall, 81% were male, 65% were Caucasian, 28% belonged to INTERMACS class I, 56% were destination therapy (DT), and 13% required biventricular support. Based on their ADI, 37 pts (10%) were ≤10th, 222 pts (57%) were 11-50th, 105 pts (27%) were 51-89th and 23 pts were ≥90th percentile (6%). All cohorts had comparable baseline characteristics. ≥90th percentile group had the highest proportion of DT patients (71 vs 52%, p Conclusion In this single-center, retrospective study, worse SES tended to have a protective effect though this remains to be validated in a larger cohort. The area deprivation index (ADI) may offer a new, powerful method to evaluate patients’ SES in the heart failure patient population, and their prognosis post-ventricular assist device implantation.
Neonatal sepsis evaluation across the pond.

One of the most uncommon, life-threatening and feared issues newborn clinicians struggle to measure is the likelihood that a newborn has acquired a bacterial infection during the process of birth. Early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) occurs at a rate of 1/1000 to 1/2000 term-born infants in high-income areas such as the UK and the USA; most of those affected require neonatal intensive care, and 2%–3% die despite such care. The optimal approach to this low-incidence, high-consequence condition has vexed neonatal clinicians for decades. An understanding of the pathogenesis of EONS as ascending colonisation and invasion of the uterine compartment and fetus with maternal genitourinary and gastrointestinal flora informs specific risk factors for infection. The definitive diagnostic for EONS is isolation of a pathogenic species from blood or cerebrospinal fluid culture; this test requires adequate volumes of these fluids, and the answer is not available in most cases for 12–48 hours. Assuming that inflammation accompanies infection, laboratory tests such as the complete blood count (CBC), C reactive protein and procalcitonin are measured to predict the presence of infection before culture can confirm it. In USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and professional societies such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics provide guidance on how to approach risk of EONS. In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence …
CHAPTER 8 – Amino Acids

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a few methods for amino-acid assays. A successful assay for amino acids requires some knowledge of the nutrition and physiology of the assay organism. Quantitative determination of a particular amino acid by microbiological assay requires an organism that, in a specific medium, will not grow without that ammo acid and whose growth is proportional only to the quantity of the amino acid provided. Rapid growth is an additional aid not only in the speed of obtaining the results of the assay but it may also increase the precision of the assay. The sensitivity of the organism for the particular amino acid may be an important factor. The selection of the test organism and the choice of method for measuring growth are interdependent. An agar diffusion assay for phenylalanine is based on the inhibition of growth of Bacillus subtilis by β-2-thienylalanine and its competitive reversal by phenylalanine.
Trends of Hospital-Based Surgery for Varicose Veins in the Elderly

Abstract Objective The treatment of varicose veins has shifted during the past decade to the office setting. Although recent studies have demonstrated the safety of venous ablation for the elderly in the office, a paucity of data is available on the contemporary outcomes of surgery for varicose veins in the operating room. The present study analyzed the trends and outcomes of varicose vein surgery in the elderly using a large national database. Methods The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Initiative Program database (2005-2017) was reviewed. Patients undergoing vein ablation or open surgery (ie, high ligation, stripping, phlebectomy) for venous insufficiency were identified using Current Procedural Terminology codes and the principal diagnosis. The patients were stratified into 3 age groups Results A total of 48,615 venous surgeries had been performed, with 9177 (18.9%) performed in patients aged 65 to 79 years and 1180 (2.4%) in patients aged ≥80 years. The proportion of patients in the 65- to 79-age group had steadily increased during the study period from 12.8% in 2005 to 22.3% in 2017 (P Conclusions Varicose vein surgery is safe for all age groups and is being increasingly offered to the elderly. High-risk patients might benefit from the avoidance of hybrid procedures and general anesthesia when possible to minimize the occurrence of adverse events. Conservative measures should be exhausted before surgery for the dialysis population.
Unruly visions: the aesthetic practices of queer diaspora: by Gayatri Gopinath, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2018, 248 pp., 72 illustrations, 16 pp. in color, USD$25.95 (paperback), ISBN 9781478000358; USD$99.95 (cloth), ISBN 9781478000280

Centering contemporary art of the queer diaspora, Gayatri Gopinath’s Unruly Visions develops a queer optic across regions and across archives in a poignantly affective register, as she offers a blu...
The Psychological Experience of Obstetric Patients and Health Care Workers after Implementation of Universal SARS-CoV-2 Testing.

Objective This study was aimed to describe the hospitalization and early postpartum psychological experience for asymptomatic obstetric patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) as part of a universal testing program and report the impact of this program on labor and delivery health care workers' job satisfaction and workplace anxiety. Study Design This is a cohort study of asymptomatic pregnant women who underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing between April 13, 2020 and April 26, 2020. Semistructured interviews were conducted via telephone at 1 and 2 weeks posthospitalization to assess maternal mental health. Depression screening was conducted using the patient health questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). An online survey of labor and delivery health care workers assessed job satisfaction and job-related anxiety before and during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as employees' subjective experience with universal testing. Patient and employee responses were analyzed for recurring themes. Results A total of 318 asymptomatic women underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing during this 2-week period. Six of the eight women (75%) who tested positive reported negative in-hospital experiences secondary to perceived lack of provider and partner support and neonatal separation after birth. Among the 310 women who tested negative, 34.4% of multiparous women reported increased postpartum anxiety compared with their prior deliveries due to concerns about infectious exposure in the hospital and lack of social support. Only 27.6% of women, tested negative, found their test result to be reassuring. Job satisfaction and job-related anxiety among health care workers were negatively affected. Universal testing was viewed favorably by the majority of health care workers despite concerns about delays or alterations in patient care and maternal and neonatal separation. Conclusion Universal testing for SARS-CoV-2 in obstetric units has mixed effects on maternal mental health but is viewed favorably by labor and delivery employees. Ongoing evaluation of new testing protocols is paramount to balance staff and patient safety with quality and equality of care. Key Points
Asymptotic Convergence of Thompson Sampling

Thompson sampling has been shown to be an effective policy across a variety of online learning tasks. Many works have analyzed the finite time performance of Thompson sampling, and proved that it achieves a sub-linear regret under a broad range of probabilistic settings. However its asymptotic behavior remains mostly underexplored. In this paper, we prove an asymptotic convergence result for Thompson sampling under the assumption of a sub-linear Bayesian regret, and show that the actions of a Thompson sampling agent provide a strongly consistent estimator of the optimal action. Our results rely on the martingale structure inherent in Thompson sampling.
LA-8 Computational Analysis and Validation Studies Using FlightStream

With the emerging market of Urban Air Mobility and the associated unique new flight vehicles with the capability of vertical takeoff and landing, design tools need to be calibrated to assist in the development of these new flight vehicle concepts. Distributed electric propulsion (DEP) covers these vehicles with high-energy flow from the array of motors, which leads to extensive propulsion/airframe interaction effects. With limited experimental data of vehicles using DEP and vehicle operation across a large range of angles of attack, including post-stall conditions, there is a lack of validated design tools to advance new vehicle concepts that have blown wings and operate in multiple flight modes. Although some CFD tools can handle the integration of multiple propulsors and unique geometries, the computational time with a full vehicle is extraordinary. FlightStream, a surface vorticity flow solver that can run in a fraction of the time of other CFD methods, has been evaluated using the Langley Aerodrome No. 8 (LA-8) vehicle as a test case. The LA-8 vehicle is a DEP tandem tilt-wing research vehicle that was designed, built, and tested at NASA Langley Research Center. The LA-8 design features both high-performance and high-technical risks aspects. The vehicle has gone through extensive design of experiments wind tunnel testing in the NASA Langley 12-Foot Low-Speed Wind Tunnel in order to capture all modes of operation. In addition, the LA-8 vehicle has undergone wind tunnel testing with and without propellers, which contributes to the validation of FlightStream for aerodynamic performance in blown and unblown wing cases. This study shows that FlightStream can produce trends and magnitudes of the lift and drag coefficients similar to the data collected from the wind tunnel testing of LA-8. The test cases were both blown and unblown wing cases and with and without high lift control surface deflections.
Acceleration of Market Value-at-Risk Estimation

The proliferation of algorithmic trading, derivative usage and highly leveraged hedge funds necessitates the acceleration of market Value-at-Risk (VaR) estimation to measure the severity of portfolios losses. This paper demonstrates how solely relying on advances in computer hardware to accelerate market VaR estimation overlooks significant opportunities for acceleration. We use a simulation based delta-gamma Value-at-Risk (VaR) estimate and compute the loss function using basic linear algebra subroutines (BLAS). Our NVIDIA GeForce GTX280 graphics processing unit (GPU) based baseline implementation is a straight-forward port from the CPU implementation and only had a 8.21x speed advantage over a quad-core Intel Core2 Q9300 central processing unit (CPU) based implementation.We demonstrate three approaches to gain additional speedup over the baseline GPU implementation. Firstly, we reformulate the loss function to reduce the amount of necessary computation and achieved a 60.3x speedup. Secondly, we selected functionally equivalent distribution conversion modules to give the best convergence rate - providing an additional 2x speedup. Thirdly, we merged data-parallel computational kernels to remove redundant load store operations leading to an additional 1.85x speedup. Overall, we have achieved a speedup of 148x against the baseline GPU implementation, reducing the time of a VaR estimation with a standard error of 0.1% from minutes to less than one second.
Automated Indunation Mapping: Comparison of Methods

High-resolution imagery is increasingly used to detect flooded areas during a crisis situation. The article presents a comparison of four image classification methods for flood extent mapping. The methods include Random Forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), fully convolutional network (FCN), and normalized difference water index (NDWI). High-resolution UAV imagery collected during Hurricane Matthew (2016) flood events were used to evaluate the classification methods for generating an accurate flood extent map. In this study, a fully convolutional network fine-tuned to segment the inundation areas. RF, SVM, and NDWI are implemented using the same dataset used for mapping flood extents. The results show that the FCN achieved an overall accuracy of 97.72%, followed by NDWI with 96.0%, SVM with 88.9%, and 87.8 % of RF. The results imply that FCN is more efficient than RF, SVM, and NDWI on generating real-time flood extent maps.