cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Are we underestimating acid reflux

Have conventional pH monitoring techniques substantially underestimated the duration of acid exposure for the most distal segment of the oesophagus? For a simple organ like the oesophagus, which functions primarily as a conduit, it is hard to imagine a more unpleasant neighbour than the stomach, a reservoir of concentrated acid constrained by a leaky valve. Studies using pH monitoring techniques developed in the 1970s have shown that the distal oesophagus of normal ambulatory individuals can be exposed to refluxed gastric acid (with pH <4) for up to 5% of a 24 hour monitoring period.1 Conventionally, oesophageal pH monitoring has been performed with the pH sensor positioned at a level 5 cm above the lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS). In a study reported in this issue of Gut , Fletcher and colleagues2 in Glasgow have found that conventional pH monitoring techniques have substantially underestimated the duration of acid exposure for the most distal segment of the oesophagus [see page 168] . To study acid exposure in the most distal oesophagus, the investigators devised a novel endoscopic technique for positioning a modified pH catheter, with two pH electrodes located 5 cm apart. A short prolene loop was attached to the catheter 5 mm below the distal pH electrode and the catheter was passed through the nose into the oesophagus. An endoscopic examination was performed, the junction of squamous and columnar epithelia (the Z line) in the distal oesophagus was identified, and an endoscopic clip was used to fix the prolene loop to the Z line. In this way, the distal pH electrode was anchored in the distal oesophagus at a level 5 mm above the Z line whereas the proximal electrode …
Rawlsian social-contract theory and the severely disabled

Martha Nussbaum has powerfully argued in Frontiers ofJustice and elsewhere that John Rawls’s sort of social-contract theory cannot usefully be deployed to deal with issues pertaining to justice for the disabled. To counter this claim, this article deploys Rawls’s sort of social-contract theory in order to deal with issues pertaining to justice for the disabled—or, since, as Nussbaum stresses, we all have some degree of disability—for the severely disabled. In this way, rather than questioning one by one Nussbaum’s interpretive claims about Rawls’s view, one can simply see how the Rawlsian framework can work in application to this issue.
REACTION OF YOUNG AND ADULT RABBITS TO PNEUMOCOCCI INJECTED INTO THE SKIN

1. Young and adult rabbits react differently to intracutaneous injection of virulent pneumococci. In adult rabbits a very extensive inflammation develops at the site of infection and bacteriemia and death occur only in a relatively few rabbits. Young rabbits fail to develop extensive inflammation and die with bacteriemia. 2. It is probable that the fate of the animals is influenced by the capacity to develop inflammation at the site of injection of pneumococci.
IMPROVED RESOURCE UTILIZATION WITH BUFFERED COSCHEDULING

We present buffered coscheduling, a new methodology to multitask parallel jobs in a message-passing environment and to develop parallel programs that can pave the way to the efficient implementation of a distributed operating system. Buffered coscheduling is based on three innovative techniques: communication buffering, strobing, and non-blocking communication. By leveraging these techniques, we can perform effective optimizations based on the global status of the parallel machine rather than on the limited knowledge available locally to each processor The advantages of buffered coscheduling include higher resource utilization, reduced communication overhead, efficient implementation of flow-control strategies and fault-tolerant protocols, accurate performance modeling, and a simplified yet ;.till expressive parallel programming model which offloads many resource-management tasks to the operating system. Preliminary experimental results show that buffered coscheduling is very effective in increasing the o...
Proper Standard of Judicial Review

Commentary on a recent decisions upholding an affordable housing exaction imposed on developers against charge of absence of linkage.
Sinews of the nation: constructing Irish and Zionist bonds in the United States

Sociologist Dan Lainer-Vos, in his book Sinews of the Nation: Constructing Irish and Zionist Bonds in the United States, takes a very original approach to the study of nation building. Interested i...
At the Tipping Point: Defining an Earth Jurisprudence for Social and Ecological Justice

The early twenty-first century is marked by momentous shifts. Protests for political and economic justice have gripped the globe. Aligned with contemporary movements for social justice are those claiming ecological equity for future generations and rights of nature. Respected scientists propose that Earth systems are shifting and are approaching or passing the tipping point in three significant areas: global warming, interference with the global nitrogen cycle, and loss of biodiversity. What is the responsibility of the world’s systems of law and governance to meet these challenges? Clearly, a “business-as-usual” approach will yield more of the same: calamitous oil wars and oil spills, spiraling poverty and civil strife, mounting global warming, and the extinction of an unimaginable number of other-than-human species. This article proposes that a meaningful response to the ecological and social challenges of this era requires a shift of thinking at the jurisprudential level. Tinkering with our present legal systems will not change the direction of the world as it advances toward collapse of countries and the planet’s major ecosystems. Instead, the transition to a just and sustainable future also requires the transformation of the jurisprudence underlying systems of law and governance. Because the relationship between humanity and Earth is the template for society, the starting point for a new jurisprudence should be principles governing the functioning of Earth.This article offers an approach to jurisprudence that inquires into the structure, purpose, assumptions, and values of law and governance for the well-being of humanity and the Earth community. Earth Jurisprudence is a developing field that rethinks law and governance from an Earth-centered perspective. To make the shift from the present systems of law and governance that are solely human-centered, Earth Jurisprudence draws from approaches both within and beyond existing law. In this transition, humankind takes its place as a member of the Earth community and exercises its proper role to establish legal systems that are just and sustainable for all members of the Earth community. In the process, humanity and human institutions will be transformed.
MATING BEHAVIOR AND FITNESS AS A FUNCTION OF SINGLE ALLELE DIFFERENCES IN EPHESTIA KÜHNIELLA Z.

Genetic investigations have revealed many aspects of pleiotropy due to genic substitution at single loci in Ephestia kuihniella Z. When the phenotype of the mutant homozygote was examined in depth, chemical and biochemical alterations were added to the evidence of morphological and developmental differences between the wild type and the mutant homozygotes. The basic hypothesis of the studies reviewed here has been that mutation at a given locus which controlled developmental and biochemical pathways would be manifest in alteration of the behavioral as well as structural and metabolic characteristics of the organism. These additional (i.e. behavioral) characteristics of the phenotype have been considered in the concept of fitness of the mutant gene in population dynamics (Reed and Reed, 1950; Sturtevant, 1915). In the meal moth, Ephestia kuihniella, the mutant allele a of the a+ locus demonstrates marked pleiotropy which is derived from a biochemical lesion in the formation of tryptophane pyrrolase (Egelhaaf and Caspari, 1960; Egelhaaf, 1963). Alterations in the cellular milieu of the homozygous mutant include an elevation in free tryptophane in the circulating hemolymph, and a relative increase in the amounts of tryptophane-containing proteins (Caspari and Richards, 1948). Red eye color, the key phenotypic feature of the mutant homozygote, results from a reduction in the available amounts of kynurenin (Kuhn and Becker, 1942), this pigment precursor normally being derived from tryptophane. Among the biological manifestations of pleiotropy are: (1) reduced mean rate of development; (2) decreased rate of oxygen consumption (Caspari, 1948); (3) higher preadult mortality (Kuhn, 1932; Cotter, 1963); (4) increased variance in rate of development; (5) reduction in the mean values of quantitative characteristics of the antennae of the adult (unpublished data); and (6) rapid loss of the a allele in experimental populations with the estimated selection coefficient = 0.35 (Cotter, 1963). The experiments reported in this paper were designed to test for differences in reproductive behavior of the mutant homozygote by comparing its behavior with that of the wild-type homozygote and heterozygote. Because the loss of the a allele in experimental populations was greater than that which was due to the reduced preadult viability of the a/a homozygote, it was thought that an alteration of normal mating behavior might account for the increased magnitude of the selection coefficient.
Patch-exploitation Efficiency in a Torymid Parasite (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) of a Gall Midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Galls of Rhopalomyia californica Felt contain from 1 to >50 larvae per gall and can be viewed as discrete host patches in space and time. Analysis of >1,800 galls from three adjacent field sites in northern California revealed that Torymus koebelei (Huber) parasitized hosts in a sufficient number of galls to permit an analysis of spatial density dependence for 10 sample dates. Average parasitization per exploited gall was consistently low (<25%), and response to spatial variation in host density was either density independent (five cases) or inversely density dependent (five cases). For all galls combined (exploited + nonexploited), average parasitization never exceeded 12%; response to spatial variation in host density was density independent in six cases and directly density dependent in four. Virtually all responses to spatial variation in host density (both data sets) qualified as “density vague.” Results indicate that T. koebelei is relatively inefficient in exploiting host patches and that it is not capable of consistently regulating or controlling the midge population. It is suggested that patch-exploitation patterns may be of some value in selecting parasites for use in biological control, particularly in augmentative release programs.
The Effect of Religiosity on Secular and Ascetic Deviance

Abstract Basing their ideas on the distinction between ascetic and secular ethical standards as originally suggested by Middleton and Putney (1962), Burkett and White (1974) claim that only where secular values are ambiguous in defining an activity as wrong is the effect of religiosity expected to have any salient impact on inhibiting deviance. That is, non-ascetic behaviors such as premarital sex and substance use, which are not consistently disapproved of in secular settings, are more likely than personal or property crimes to be affected by religiosity. This paper explores Burkett and White's (1974) ideas with survey data on self-reported delinquency and substance use from a sample of 3,065 male and female adolescents in grades seven through twelve in three midwestern states. The results, based on a logistic regression analysis, indicate that the deviance inhibiting impact of religiosity is more generalizeid than Burkett and White (1974) suggest.
Defoliation by the Spruce Budworm Stimulates Epicormic Shoots on Balsam Fir

In spite of extensive literature on effects of spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), defoliation, there is a lack of data on epicormic shoots produced in response to defoliation.
Pressor Reactions and Gastric Ulcer

The local effect of single and repeated spasm of the small blood vessels apparently ultimately results in alterations in the tissues that can be demonstrated objectively. This has been shown by us in production of experimental bacterial endocarditis and also observed in studies of bacterial localization in the central nervous system. Vascular spasms were induced by single and repeated injections of pitressin (betahypophamine).Our experiments were carried out on dogs and rabbits. The dose most useful for our purpose was found to be 20 pressor units per 5 kg. of weight of the dog and 10 pressor units per 2 kg. of weight of the rabbit. The pitressin was administered intravenously from one single dose to 50 doses in dogs and from 5 to 19 doses in rabbits. The repeated injections were given twice a week. Five dogs and 2 rabbits died, the rest were killed at certain time intervals.The gastrointestinal tract was examined and the following data obtained:In 12 of the 35 dogs there were macroscopic pathological cha...
Employment relations and growing income inequality: Causes and potential options for its reversal

The growth of income inequality is now recognized to be one of the most important developments in employment relations of our time. While inequality has increased in many parts of the world, it has been most pronounced in the United States. We review the factors that have been suggested to cause the growth in inequality and, given these multiple causes, suggest a set of actions that might begin to reverse this trend. We give special attention to the changes in the employment relationship related to labor market institutions – including unions and other forms of worker representation, wage regulations and enforcement, and safety net policy – while also accounting for explanations and proposals that focus on technology, skills and education, and globalization. Additionally, we argue that emerging forms of organizational restructuring are becoming increasingly important to the study of inequality and its remedies.
The relative association of obstructive sleep apnea, obesity and excessive daytime sleepiness with incident depression: a longitudinal, population-based study

It is postulated that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a risk factor for the development of depression. However, obesity and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) are associated with both OSA and depression. The goal of this study was to examine the relative contribution of OSA, obesity and EDS to incident depression. A representative random sample of 1137 adults without depression from the Penn State Adult Cohort was followed up after 7.5 years. All subjects underwent a full medical examination and polysomnography at baseline. OSA was defined as an apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) ⩾5, overweight as a body mass index (BMI) of 25–29.9 kg m−2, obesity as a BMI⩾30 kg m−2 and EDS as moderate-to-severe drowsiness/sleepiness and/or irresistible sleep attacks. Overweight, obesity and EDS were associated with incident depression, whereas OSA alone was not. Overweight was associated with incident depression in women, while obesity and EDS were associated with incident depression in both genders. The association of overweight and obesity with incident depression was independent of premorbid emotional distress, while that of EDS was not. The association between BMI and EDS with incident depression was stronger in women 20–40 years old. The severity of EDS predicted incident depression in those with OSA, while AHI or oxygen desaturation did not. Overweight, obesity and EDS are the main predictors of incident depression. Obesity may be linked to depression through psychobiological mechanisms, while EDS may be an early sign of depression. Obesity should be a target of our preventative strategies for depression.
AC AND DC INSULATION STRENGTH OF THREE POLYMER FILMS UNDER TENSION STATUS IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

The insulation films used for superconducting devices usually endure several lapping tension when lapped on the conductor,so the AC and DC insulation strengths of insulation films at tension status are important.A test system used for testing the insulation strength of insulation films at tension status in liquid nitrogen is designed.The insulation strengths of polyimide,polypropylene laminated paper(PPLP) and polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) sheets in normal temperature and liquid nitrogen environment at tension status are tested,the weibull plot method is used to process the data.As a result,the AC breakdown strengths of polyimide films both in normal temperature and liquid nitrogen environment increase as the tensile stresses increasing.The DC breakdown strengths of PPLP and PTFE sheets decrease obviously as the tensile stresses increasing.PPLP sheets have good liquid nitrogen impregnating characteristic.
Identification of the intermediate filament-associated protein gyronemin as filamin. Implications for a novel mechanism of cytoskeletal interaction

In a previous paper, a monoclonal antibody (designated M1.4) that recognized a 240 kDa polypeptide was characterized. This antibody stained the intermediate filaments in several cell lines, and biochemical characteristics of the 240 kDa polypeptide led us to conclude that it was a novel intermediate filament-associated protein, which we termed gyronemin. Here we report that gyronemin is expressed in adult rat organs that contain a substantial smooth muscle component. Taking advantage of this observation, this protein was purified from bovine uterine tissue and, by biochemical, immunological and amino acid sequence analysis, found to be homologous to the actin-associated protein filamin. Three novel monoclonal antibodies raised using purified bovine gyronemin as the immunogen show this protein to be associated with actin-containing stress fibers, although our original M1.4 antibody continued to be localized along vimentin filaments. Since two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis did not demonstrate a difference in either relative molecular mass or isoelectric point of this polypeptide when associated with either filamentous system, we conclude that filamin is a bifunctional protein capable of associating with both the intermediate filament and actin cytoskeletal systems.
Improved Two-Source Extractors, and Affine Extractors for Polylogarithmic Entropy

In a recent breakthrough [1], Chattopadhyay and Zuckerman gave an explicit two-source extractor for min-entropy k ≥ logC n for some large enough constant C, where n is the length of the source. However, their extractor only outputs one bit. In this paper, we improve the output of the two-source extractor to kΩ(1), while the error remains n-Ω(1) and the extractor remains strong in the second source. In the non-strong case, the output can be increased to k. Our improvement is obtained by giving a better extractor for (q, t, γ) non-oblivious bit-fixing sources, which can output tΩ(1) bits instead of one bit as in [1]. We also give the first explicit construction of deterministic extractors for affine sources over F2, with entropy k ≥ log n for some large enough constant C, where n is the length of the source. Previously the best known results are by Bourgain [2], Yehudayoff [3] and Li [4], which require the affine source to have entropy at least Ω(n/√log log n). Our extractor outputs kΩ(1) bits with error n-Ω(1). This is done by reducing an affine source to a non-oblivious bit-fixing source, where we adapt the alternating extraction based approach in previous work on independent source extractors [5] to the affine setting. Our affine extractors also imply improved extractors for circuit sources studied in [6]. We further extend our results to the case of zero-error dispersers, and give two applications in data structures that rely crucially on the fact that our two-source or affine extractors have large output size.
The legal implications of detecting Alzheimer's disease earlier

Early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) raises a number of challenging legal questions. In this essay, we explore some of those questions, such as: Is a neurological indicator of increased risk for AD a legally relevant brain state before there are any outward behavioral manifestations? How should courts address evidentiary challenges to the admissibility of AD-related neuroimaging? How should the government regulate the marketing of neuroimaging diagnostic tools? How should insurance coverage for the use of these new tools be optimized? We suggest that many voices and multidisciplinary perspectives are needed to answer these questions and ensure that legal responses are swift, efficient, and equitable.
Genome-epigenome interactions in tumors with excessive proliferation.

CS17-03 Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms both contribute to, and interact during tumorigenesis. In genetic mouse models of tumors, disruption of DNA methylation modifies dramatically the incidence of tumor formation and the spectrum of tumor types. Methylation imbalance alone is also sufficient to induce tumors in mice. These studies illustrate a functional role of epigenetic imbalance in tumorigenesis, and also emphasize the interaction of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in determining tumor incidence and tumor type. In human tumors, single gene analyses also show that these mechanisms can cooperate directly. Epigenetic mechanisms can also cause genetic alterations, and vice versa . These initial studies raise important questions about the degree to which genetic and epigenetic pathways cooperate in human tumorigenesis, the identity of the specific cooperating genes and how they interact functionally to determine the differing biological and clinical course of tumors. To address this gap in our knowledge we developed tools for integrating large scale genomic and epigenomic analysis of human tumors. We applied our large scale analysis to glioblastomas (GBM) which are the most common and most malignant of human brain tumors. We describe a state of severe hypomethylation that occurs in human GBM, affecting up to an estimated 10 million CpG dinucleotides per haploid tumor genome. Demethylation involves pericentromeric, subtelomeric and interspersed repetitive elements, and appears to be one factor predisposing to specific genetic alterations commonly occurring in GBM. In individual tumors we find evidence for all three proposed consequences of hypomethylation, including specific sites of chromosomal instability, reactivation of normally silent genes and imprinting defects. The cases of severe hypomethylation are also hyperproliferative. These data will be discussed in the context of an integrated genetic and epigenetic model that connects inadequate methyl-donor production and genome-wide hypomethylation to genomic instability and cellular hyperproliferation.
Disseminated Tuberculosis Presenting as Baker's Cyst Infection.

In the absence of coexisting immunocompromised state and lack of specific symptoms a reactivation of treated mycobacterial tuberculosis (MTB) infection is generally not considered in the differential diagnosis of leg pain. We present a unique case of disseminated tuberculosis presenting as an infected Baker’s cyst in a 73-year-old immunocompetent male.
Vitamin D induces myogenic differentiation in skeletal muscle derived stem cells

Skeletal muscle wasting is a serious disorder associated with health conditions such as aging, chronic kidney disease and AIDS. Vitamin D is most widely recognized for its regulation of calcium and phosphate homeostasis in relation to bone development and maintenance. Recently, vitamin D supplementation has been shown to improve muscle performance and reduce the risk of falls in vitamin D deficient older adults. However, little is known of the underlying molecular mechanism(s) or the role it plays in myogenic differentiation. We examined the effect of 1,25-D3 on myogenic cell differentiation in skeletal muscle derived stem cells. Primary cultures of skeletal muscle satellite cells were isolated from the tibialis anterior, soleus and gastrocnemius muscles of 8-week-old C57/BL6 male mice and then treated with 1,25-D3 The efficiency of satellite cells isolation determined by PAX7+ cells was 81%, and they expressed VDR. Incubation of satellite cells with 1,25-D3 induces increased expression of: (i) MYOD, (ii) MYOG, (iii) MYC2, (iv) skeletal muscle fast troponin I and T, (v) MYH1, (vi) IGF1 and 2, (vii) FGF1 and 2, (viii) BMP4, (ix) MMP9 and (x) FST. It also promotes myotube formation and decreases the expression of MSTN. In conclusion, 1,25-D3 promoted a robust myogenic effect on satellite cells responsible for the regeneration of muscle after injury or muscle waste. This study provides a mechanistic justification for vitamin D supplementation in conditions characterized by loss of muscle mass and also in vitamin D deficient older adults with reduced muscle mass and strength, and increased risk of falls.
Intraductal oncocytic papillary neoplasm: a benign hepatic cystic neoplasm

A 61-year-old Asian man presented with severe right upper quadrant pain which had been worsening for several months. Laboratory results indicated elevated aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. The subsequent ultrasound, CT and MRI showed a large cystic mass with solid components and severe intrahepatic and extrahepatic biliary ductal dilatation. The mass was resected and pathology showed a well-demarcated mucinous cystic lesion with polygonal cells containing ovoid nuclei and abundant pink oncocytic cytoplasm. These findings are characteristic of intraductal oncocytic papillary neoplasm (IOPN), a rare subtype of intraductal papillary neoplasm of the liver. IOPN occurs most frequently in the Asian regions endemic to clonorchiasis and hepatolithiasis; however, cases have been reported in the Western world as well. Patients with IOPN are male or female and typically middle-aged. Treatment is typically resection. Prognosis is favourable and recurrence is rare. The 5-year survival rate is upwards of 80%.
Female Offenders’ Perceptions of Police Procedural Justice and Their Obligation to Obey the Law

Although the process-based model of criminal justice has received substantial empirical attention, few previous studies have examined individuals embedded in a criminal lifestyle and at the most risk for future offending, and few have focused exclusively on female offenders. Employing structural equation modeling, the present study tests the process-based model of self-regulation among a sample of 694 incarcerated females. Specifically examined is the effect of perceptions of voice in respondents’ most recent encounter with police on their perceptions of police procedural justice and the impact of respondents’ procedural justice perceptions on their perceived obligation to obey the law. Results reveal support for the process-based model among serious female offenders, though the impact may be attenuated by increased experience with the criminal justice system. Policy implications are discussed.
Cyclooxygenase-2 dependent expression of angiogenic CXC chemokines, ENA-78/CXCL5 and IL-8/CXCL8, in human non-small cell lung cancer

4942 Elevated tumor cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) activity plays a multifaceted role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To elucidate the role of COX-2 in the in vitro and in vivo expression of two known NSCLC angiogenic peptides, CXCL8 and CXCL5, we studied two COX-2 gene modified NSCLC cell lines, A549 and H157. COX-2 overexpression enhanced the in vitro expression of both CXCL8 and CXCL5. In contrast, specific COX-2 inhibition decreased the in vitro production of both peptides. Consistent with the COX-2 in vitro effects, the enhanced tumor growth of COX-2 expressing tumors in a SCID-mouse model of NSCLC was accompanied by elevated levels of CXCL5 and CXCL8. Furthermore, neutralizing anti-CXCL5 and anti-CXCL8 antisera inhibited the tumor growth of COX-2 overexpressing tumors in SCID-mice. In addition, the COX-2 related angiogenic capacity of H157 was efficiently reduced by anti-CXCR2 treatment in a rat corneal pocket model of angiogenesis. In summary, we conclude that COX-2 contributes to the progression of NSCLC tumorigenesis by enhancing the expression of angiogenic chemokines CXCL8 and CXCL5. Further studies will be required to determine if COX-2 inhibitors can regulate angiogenic chemokines in lung cancer patients.
Structure-property relationships of crosslinked disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) membranes for desalination of water

Abstract Controlled molecular weight poly(arylene ether sulfone) oligomers with aromatic amine end groups and systematically varied degrees of disulfonation were synthesized by direct polymerization of disulfonated and non-sulfonated 4,4′-dichlorodiphenylsulfone. The oligomers were crosslinked with a tetrafunctional epoxy curing agent in the membrane casting process. Water uptake and IEC were investigated to understand how the structure and ion content affected the fixed charge concentrations (moles of ions/L of sorbed water). The hydrated mechanical properties of these copolymer networks were also studied in light of their ion contents and water uptake. At similar IECs, membranes with shorter ∼5000 Da oligomers absorbed less water than those with ∼10,000 Da blocks. The salt permeabilities correlated with water uptake and fixed charge density. Among the crosslinked membranes, the one with the 10,000 Da oligomer and with 50% disulfonation (mB5-10) had an excellent combination of water uptake, hydrated mechanical properties, fixed charge density, and low salt permeability.
Transonic flow behind a detached shock wave

In recent years interest in the re-entry problem has stimulated investigation of the hypersonic flow past a blunt body. What has been needed mathematically is a reliable description of the flow between the body and the detached bow shock wave that forms in front of it. Because of difficulties in determining the shock wave corresponding to a given body, much effort has been concentrated on calculating flows behind prescribed curved shock waves. This leads to the Cauchy problem for partial differential equations of elliptic or of mixed type. Since Cauchy’s problem is well posed only for equations of the hyperbolic type, naive numerical schemes for solving the inverse detached shock problem prove to be unstable. However, answers of any desired accuracy can be computed by means of complex substitutions, provided that an explicit analytic continuation of the relevant Cauchy data is available.
Dependent Variable Missing

This chapter discusses the ordinary differential equations in which the dependent variable is missing. These are equations of the form G ( y ( n ) , y ( n−1 ) ,…., y“, y', x ) = 0. If the dependent variable does not appear explicitly in an ordinary differential equation, then the order of the ordinary differential equation can be reduced by one. The chapter considers the n- th order ordinary differential equation G ( y ( n ) ,y ( n−1 ) ,., y“, y', x ) = 0. The variable y ( x ) does not appear explicitly in this equation. If p ( x ) = y' ( x ) is defined , then equation G ( y ( n ) ,y ( n-1 ) ,., y“, y', x ) = 0 becomes G ( p ( n-1 ) p ( n−2 ) ,….,p', p, x ) = 0 , which is an ordinary differential equation of order ( n− 1) for the dependent variable p ( x ). After solving G ( p ( n−1 ) p ( n−2 ) ,….,p', p, x ) = 0 for p ( x ) , y ( x ) can be found by integrating p ( x ).
Mothers of the Retarded

Almost all mothers fear a defective child. Today such fears are amplified by the news of possible causes of mental retardation, concern about food additives, phenylketonuria, radiation hazards, and fetal alcohol syndrome, as well as by widely disseminated media reports on genetic counseling, Down’s syndrome, and the hazards of nitrites, ordinary medications, and dietary patterns. Much unassimilated information contributes to the vague apprehension that terrible things can happen to a fetus. Folk tales about sex during the final stages of pregnancy and about youthful indiscretions still cause people to become fearful about producing retarded children. In addition, some individuals may worry about having relatives who are intellectually handicapped or who had abnormal births. Brewer and Kakalik (1979) estimate that currently in the United States there are nearly 3 million retarded youths age 21 or younger.
ALTERED EXPRESSION OF T-LYMPHOID CELL SURFACE ANTIGENS ASSOCIATED WITH VIRAL INFECTION

ABSTRACT Variants of a murine T-lymphoblastoid cell line (EL4) differing in their production of murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and in their expression of MuLV gene products at the cell surface, have similar morphological, growth and size characteristics, and express similar amounts of the normal T-cell surface differentiation alloantigen Thy-1. However, gene products of the H-2K and H-2D regions of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are present on the surface of the productively infected variant at a level approximately ten times that of the non-producing variant. Altering expression of H-2 products on the non-producing variant by infection with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), resulted in a concomitant and selective decrease in the expression of both H-2K and H-2D region products. VSV-infection of the MuLV producer line, however, resulted only in a modest decrease in H-2K antigen expression, with no effect on H-2D antigen expression. These results indicate possible differences between the two variant lines in cellular processing of H-2 antigens, and further suggest that H-2K and H-2D region products differ in their susceptibility to virus-induced alterations of surface expression in cells productively infected with MuLV.
Understanding User Perceived Video Quality Using Multipath TCP Over Wireless Network

Modern computing devices such as smartphones and personal computers provide multiple network interfaces such as WiFi and 3G/LTE cellular network. Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is a commonly proposed method of aggregating the bandwidth of these interfaces. However, how MPTCP affects the quality of experience of existing services, especially to variances in bandwidth and latency among the individual paths over the wireless networks is not well-known. In this work, we explore the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) of adaptive video streaming using MPTCP over wireless network given its vast popularity and significant bandwidth demand. Unlike prior works, we conduct systematic measurements over three mobile network operators, AT&T, Verizon Wireless (VzW), and T-Mobile, along with WiFi. Based on extensive measurements, we show that MPTCP can improve the QoS and QoE of video streaming only if the network interfaces have the roughly similar bandwidth and latency. Our studies also show that MPTCP can perform worse than TCP in case of extreme differences between the network interfaces.
215-OR: Safety and Performance of the Omnipod Hybrid Closed-Loop System in Young Children Aged 2-6 Years with Type 1 Diabetes

T1D therapies must be proven safe for young children, who face unique diabetes management challenges. The safety and performance of the Omnipod® hybrid closed-loop (HCL) personalized model predictive control algorithm were assessed in those with T1D aged 2-5.9 y with A1C Disclosure B.A. Buckingham: Advisory Panel; Self; ConvaTec Inc., Novo Nordisk Inc., Profusa, Inc. Consultant; Self; Medtronic MiniMed, Inc. Research Support; Self; Beta Bionics, ConvaTec Inc., Dexcom, Inc., Insulet Corporation, Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., Tandem Diabetes Care. Other Relationship; Self; Insulet Corporation, Tandem Diabetes Care. G.P. Forlenza: Advisory Panel; Self; Dexcom, Inc. Consultant; Self; Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., Tandem Diabetes Care. Research Support; Self; Dexcom, Inc., Insulet Corporation, Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., Tandem Diabetes Care. J. Sherr: Advisory Panel; Self; Bigfoot Biomedical, Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation. Consultant; Self; Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medtronic, Sanofi. Research Support; Self; Dexcom, Inc., Insulet Corporation. A. Galderisi: None. L. Ekhlaspour: None. J. Lee: Employee; Self; Insulet Corporation. J.B. OConnor: Employee; Self; Insulet Corporation. B. Dumais: None. L.M. Huyett: Employee; Self; Insulet Corporation. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Insulet Corporation. J.E. Layne: Employee; Self; Insulet Corporation. T.T. Ly: Employee; Self; Insulet Corporation. Funding Insulet Corporation
Joint Durability Studies with Abraded, Etched, Coated and Anodized Aluminum Adherends

The effect of surface pretreatment on the aluminum oxide surface is critical and intimately related to the bond permanence of aluminum adhesively bonded joints. It is difficult, however, to distinguish the benefit of different surface treatments in the absence of some weathering test condition since the joints will fail cohesively for many different surface-treating conditions when tested without such exposure. Aluminum alloy 6061-T6 was pretreated by various procedures including sanding, grit blasting, hot acid etching, heat-cured epoxy paint priming, Alodining, and sulfuric acid anodizing. Both room-temperature-curing two-part and one-part heat-curing epoxy adhesives were used to fabricate the test specimens. The weathering evaluation procedures included both accelerated laboratory-type and natural atmospheric exposures. The list of weathering conditions included: immersion in room-temperature water, exposure to continuously condensing humidity at 52°C (125 F), and hot water soak/freeze/thaw cycling; as well as, exposure in an industrial-type atmosphere and a seacoast atmosphere.
Smart Self-driving Gate Driver for Fast Switching and Crosstalk Suppression of SiC MOSFETs

Wide band gap device, like SiC and GaN, have high switching speed potential. However, the actual speed in practical application is limited by the gate loop parasitic and the interaction between high side switch and low side switch in a single phase-leg configuration, known as crosstalk. This paper proposes an isolated voltage source gate driver with crosstalk suppression capability to take full advantage of the inherent high switching speed ability of WBG device. By applying variable gate voltage through the auxiliary circuit, the crosstalk problem can be mitigated. Using the original Vgs voltage as auxiliary circuit driving signal, the gate driver dose not introduce any control signal which avoids the additional signal/power isolation and makes the auxiliary circuit very easy to be implemented on the existing commercial gate driver. LTSPICE simulation and experiment results based on 1.2kV Wolfspeed SiC MOSFET are shown in this paper to verify the proposed gate driver.
Automatic detection of brain metastases using 3D mask R-CNN for stereotactic radiosurgery

Brain metastases are one of the most common neurologic complications of cancers, occurring in about 30% of all patients with cancer. Moreover, about 40% of brain metastases patients have more than three metastases. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a well-established treatment for brain metastases, which requires accurate detection and delineation of the brain metastases. However, manually detecting and locating all the brain metastases can be very time-consuming and laborintensive, which is a big efficiency bottleneck in this typical one-day outpatient SRS procedure. Developing a fast automatic detection tool of brain metastases is highly desirable, but is very challenging given the large number of brain metastases that a patient can have and the small size that a brain metastasis can be. In this work, we propose to use a 3D Mask R-CNN method to automatically and quickly detect the brain metastases on magnetic resonance (MR) images for SRS. At the training stage, coarse feature maps were extracted from 3D MR image patches using pretrained ResNet. Then, a region proposal network (RPN) was used to predict the locations and sizes of the rough candidate tumor ROIs from the coarse feature maps. By using a uniformed fully convolution network (FCN), the metastases within ROI was segmented. The segmentation loss, classification loss (metastases or non-metastases), as well as ROI location and size regression loss were used to supervise the proposed networks. For a new query patient, candidate ROIs and predicted probability maps within ROIs were obtained from our trained model. By aggregating ROIs and the tumor probability maps and performing a consolidation via weighted cluster scoring, the final ROIs of the brain metastases was obtained. We have tested our method on 20 patients’ brain contrast T1-weighted MR images, and achieved 86.5%±3.2% sensitivity and 89.7%±4.8% specificity. For each patient, it took our trained model a few seconds to detect the brain metastases on the 3D MR images. The results of our preliminary study have demonstrated its efficacy and clinical feasibility. This auto-detection method could be a useful tool to significantly improve the efficiency of SRS treatment planning and hence ultimately improve the clinical outcome.
Superior Energy Dissipation by Ultrathin Semicrystalline Polymer Films Under Supersonic Microprojectile Impacts

Distinct deformation mechanisms that emerge in nanoscale enable the nanostructured materials to exhibit outstanding specific mechanical properties. Here, we present superior microstructure- and strain-rate-dependent specific penetration energy (up to ∼3.8 MJ kg-1) in semicrystalline poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) thin films subjected to high-velocity (100 m s-1 to 1 km s-1) microprojectile (diameter: 9.2 μm) impacts. The geometric-confinement-induced nanostructural evolutions enable the sub-100 nm thick P(VDF-TrFE) films to achieve high specific penetration energy with high strain delocalization across the broad impact velocity range, superior to both bulk protective materials and previously reported nanomaterials. This high specific penetration energy arises from the substantial stretching of the two-dimensionally oriented highly mobile polymer chains that engage abundant viscoelastic and viscoplastic deformation mechanisms that are further enhanced by the intermolecular dipole-dipole interactions. These key findings provide insights for using nanostructured semicrystalline polymers in the development of lightweight, high-performance soft armors for extreme engineering applications.
Greedy Bandits with Sampled Context.

Bayesian strategies for contextual bandits have proved promising in single-state reinforcement learning tasks by modeling uncertainty using context information from the environment. In this paper, we propose Greedy Bandits with Sampled Context (GB-SC), a method for contextual multi-armed bandits to develop the prior from the context information using Thompson Sampling, and arm selection using an epsilon-greedy policy. The framework GB-SC allows for evaluation of context-reward dependency, as well as providing robustness for partially observable context vectors by leveraging the prior developed. Our experimental results show competitive performance on the Mushroom environment in terms of expected regret and expected cumulative regret, as well as insights on how each context subset affects decision-making.
Opioid stewardship in pediatric surgery: Approaching zero.

Abstract Introduction In response to the opioid epidemic, we hypothesized that adequate pain control can be achieved with few, if any, opioid prescriptions at discharge following pediatric surgical procedures. Methods All records for patients 0–15 years old who underwent pediatric surgical operations from December 2017 through May 2018 were reviewed. Opioids prescriptions, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospital readmissions were recorded. Postoperative pain was assessed on a scale from 0 to 10 via phone call within three days of discharge. Results 352 patients underwent 394 surgical procedures. Three patients were prescribed opioids at discharge. There were no pain-related readmissions. One patient returned to the ED owing to pain. 116 unique pain scores were obtained from 114 patients: score 0 (n = 69, 59%), 1–3 (n = 31, 27%), 4–5 (n = 11, 9%), 6–8 (n = 5, 4%), and 9–10 (n = 0, 0%). There was a positive association between pain and increasing age (r = 0.26, p = 0.005). No patients who underwent hernia repair reported a pain score greater than 3. Conclusions Adequate pain control at discharge after pediatric general surgical procedures can be achieved for most children with scheduled nonopioid medications only. A limited supply of opioids for analgesia after discharge may benefit small subset of patients. This strategy would help reduce opioid prevalence in the community. Type of study Retrospective cohort study. Level of evidence Level III.
Example-Driven Intent Prediction with Observers

A key challenge of dialog systems research is to effectively and efficiently adapt to new domains. A scalable paradigm for adaptation necessitates the development of generalizable models that perform well in few-shot settings. In this paper, we focus on the intent classification problem which aims to identify user intents given utterances addressed to the dialog system. We propose two approaches for improving the generalizability of utterance classification models: (1) observers and (2) example-driven training. Prior work has shown that BERT-like models tend to attribute a significant amount of attention to the [CLS] token, which we hypothesize results in diluted representations. Observers are tokens that are not attended to, and are an alternative to the [CLS] token as a semantic representation of utterances. Example-driven training learns to classify utterances by comparing to examples, thereby using the underlying encoder as a sentence similarity model. These methods are complementary; improving the representation through observers allows the example-driven model to better measure sentence similarities. When combined, the proposed methods attain state-of-the-art results on three intent prediction datasets (\textsc{banking77}, \textsc{clinc150}, \textsc{hwu64}) in both the full data and few-shot (10 examples per intent) settings. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed approach can transfer to new intents and across datasets without any additional training.
A Review on Machine Learning and Gesture Recognition

This is a review on Machine Learning and Gesture Recognition based on researches on Machine Learning and Gesture Recognition. It also includes my personal interpretation and ideas for the future. By conducted an indepth study on the gesture recognition technology based on machine learning, researched on accurate segmentation algorithm of multi-gesture images based on skin color, analyzed the distribution characteristics of skin color in different color spaces under different brightness, by combining gestures in actual scenes Segmentation quality to find the best color space for building skin model, researchers also developed and implemented a gesture recognition control system for home scenes: elaborating the hardware and software environment of the gesture recognition control system and explaining the gesture collection system and gesture recognition function. The system was tested in terms of function, performance, and the technical advantages to make sure the overall advantages of the system.
Novitates Antillanae. III

A preliminary survey of the flora of Hispaniola in the West Indies has revealed a number of novelties in the generaAcidoton, Bacopa, Calliandra, Cordia, Diodia, Frankenia, Gesneria,Ginoria, Jacaranda, Justicia, Marsdenia, Matelea, Piptocoma, Psidium, Samanea,Satureia, Scolosanthus, Tabebuia, Tetrazygia, Verbesina. Descriptions of the new species are given, along with several new combinations for plants of that Island as well as from Cuba.