cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solvation dynamics in methanol: Experimental and molecular dynamics simulation studies

Abstract We have investigated the ultrafast dynamics of methanol by time dependent fluorescent shift experiments and molecular dynamic simulations. The experiments were performed with two different probe molecules, 1-aminonaphthalene and coumarin 153. The molecular dynamic simulations employed these probes as well as small atomic and diatomic solutes. We find a previously unobserved fast decay component in the solvation response of methanol. The molecular dynamics results are in good agreement with this experimental result. The origin of this fast response and the linearity of the solvent response are discussed.
Risk management systems engineering

A major purpose of the systems management function is to implement the strategic plan of the organization so as to provide a total quality approach, including associated risk management. The author examines a number of issues related to risk management. Systems engineering processes are inherently subject to risks of a variety of types. When risks materialize, they usually manifest themselves as cost issues, schedule issues, and technological failure issues. Information technology provides major support to risk management through the potential provision of timely information that can be used to plan for risks that might occur and deal with those that do materialize. The author provides an overview of the field of risk management and the role of information technology and systems engineering in risk management.
Patch antennas using embedded lumped element delay line for size reduction

Small antennas have a wide range of applications in modern personal communications. This paper presents a systematic design methodology to reduce the antenna size by using lumped elements in the antenna structure. These lumped elements change the current distribution on the patch and can lower the resonant frequency. Some simple lumped element delay lines are introduced and the resonant frequency variation is studied for different cases. Measured results demonstrate good agreement with numerical analysis. It is also shown that cross polarization can be controlled with the introduction of the embedded lumped elements.
The Standing Heel-Rise Test for Ankle Plantar Flexion: Criterion for Normal

Background and Purpose. Manual muscle testing with the examiner providing the resistance has long been a standard test of muscle strength. Through the use of extremities acting as levers, clinicians have been able to effectively apply resistance to all muscle groups except the the ankle plantar flexors. As a result, a standing heel-rise test that uses body weight as the resistance has been substituted. The number of heel-rises that represent normal plantar-flexor “strength” and the ability of subjects to repeatedly use that “strength” remain unresolved. Because walking is an endurance task, the hypothesis tested by this study was that individuals without known weakness would be able to perform more than the standard recommended one to five standing heel-rises. The purpose of this study was to measure the number of standing heel-rises that individuals without known weakness could accomplish. Subjects. Two hundred three subjects were studied for their ability to do standing heel-rises, as is done when testing plantar-flexion strength using the upright test. There were 122 male subjects and 81 female subjects, ranging in age from 20 to 59 years. Methods. Each subject was asked to do as many standing heel-rises as he or she could, with careful monitoring of body and limb alignment and of ankle motion, with specific criteria for stopping. Results. The average number of heel-rises was 27.9 (SD=11.1, minimum=6, maximum=70) for all groups and both genders, with no differences between male and female subjects. The lower 99% confidence interval was 25. Conclusion and Discussion. A recommendation is made to change the standard of testing plantar-flexion function, when using the standing heel-rise test, to require 25 repetitions for a grade of Normal.
A data path approach for testing microprocessors with a fault bound: the MC68000 case

Abstract This paper presents an improved approach to data path testing for microprocessors. The proposed approach is based on the technique of Freeman1; it utilizes stimulus (S-) and fault (F-) paths in the functional description of a microprocessor to generate test vectors in a knowledge based testing system2 such that controllability/observability as well as any additional hardware for design-for-testability can be promptly assessed. The proposed approach to data path testing is used for testing the MC68000 microprocessor. A combination of fault models (functional, instruction and stuck-at) inclusive of a fault bound assumption is used to discriminate between control and non-control faults. A test set for the combinational functional units of the MC68000 is then generated and compared with a pseudo-exhaustive approach. A significant reduction in the number of required test vectors is accomplished.
Effect of the Ovine Conceptus on in vitro Responses of Uterine Arteries to Prostaglandin E2 and Norepinephrine

Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of the ovine conceptus (Day 1 3 postmating) on the in vitro constriction of the adjacent uterine artery in response to prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and norepinephrine (NE). Segments of uterine arteries from 8 pregnant and 10 nonpregnant ewes were utilized in 2 experiments. The first experiment consisted of examining the responses of arteries to periarterial sympathetic nerve stimulation (NS) during perfusions of vehicle (saline), PGE2 and excess NE. In the second experiment, the presynaptic release of neurotransmitter was bypassed with intraluminal injections of increasing concentrations of NE. Uterine arteries from nonpregnant ewes responded to NS during perfusions of saline with greater constriction (P<0.01) than arteries from pregnant ewes. Responses of arteries of pregnant and nonpregnant ewes to NS during perfusion of PGE2 were not significantly different from the responses during saline perfusions. Although responses of arteries to NS during perfusion of excess NE were greater (P<0.01) than during saline perfusion, arterial responses to NE were not significantly different between pregnant and nonpregnant ewes. Magnitude of constriction of uterine arteries increased linearly with exposure to increasing concentrations of NE; however, the response of arteries from pregnant ewes at each concentration of NE was less (P<0.01) than that of arteries of nonpregnant ewes. These data suggest that the presence of the conceptus exerts a dilatory effect on the uterine artery by inhibiting the response of smooth muscle cells to the neurotransmitter. BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 20, 847-851 (1979)
Predictors of patient preferences and treatment choices for localized prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND. Little is known regarding how patients select treatment for localized prostate cancer. This study examined determinants of patients' preferences for health states related to prostate cancer, and assessed whether preferences and/or other factors predict treatment choices. METHODS. A survey of 167 patients with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer was conducted in 4 academic medical practices from 2004 to 2007. The authors assessed demographic and health factors, and used a time-tradeoff method to elicit preferences in the form of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) regarding health states related to prostate cancer. Linear regressions identified predictors of preferences (in QALYs) for erectile dysfunction (ED), urinary incontinence, rectal/bowel symptoms, and metastatic prostate cancer. Linear probability models identified predictors of treatment choice. RESULTS. Patient preferences were affected by a range of behavioral, demographic, and health factors. For example, sexually active men reported significantly lower QALYs for living with ED, and men with family members who died of cancer reported lower QALYs for metastatic disease. The strongest predictor of treatment was the type of physician seen (radiation oncology vs urology) at the time of the survey. Age and tumor grade also were found to be strongly predictive of treatment. In general, QALYs were not found to predict treatment choice. CONCLUSIONS. Patient preferences, as reported in QALYs, are shaped by reasonable behavioral and demographic influences. However, actual treatment choices appear to bear little relation to these patient preferences, and instead demonstrate a strong association with clinician specialty. More attention to variation in preferences among patients, as well as the use of decision-support technologies, may enable physicians to facilitate more optimal individualized treatment choices for patients with prostate cancer. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.
What is "Good Legal Writing" and Why Does it Matter?

Law schools face increasing pressure to improve instruction in practice-oriented skills. One of the most important of these skills is legal writing. The existing literature on legal writing contains various rules and suggestions as to how legal writers can improve their writing skills. Yet it lacks an adequate theoretical account of the fundamental nature of good legal writing. As a result, legal writers are left without a conceptual framework to ground the individual rules and suggestions. This article attempts to fill the theoretical void in the literature by offering a systematic analysis of what it is for a legal document to be well-written. It starts by examining a foundational conceptual issue, which is what legal writers mean when they say that a legal document is well-written. It argues that legal readers judge a document to be well-written if the writing helps them make the decisions they need to make in the course of their professional duties. The article then provides an analysis of the fundamental qualities that enable legal writing to do this, concluding that there are three such qualities: clarity, conciseness, and the ability to appropriately engage the reader. The article explains why each of these qualities is essential to good legal writing, and it examines the tools good writers use to make their writing clear, concise, and engaging. Lastly, the article examines what it is that distinguishes the very best writing in the field, arguing that great legal writing is not just writing that is especially clear, concise, and engaging, but is instead writing characterized by a separate quality, elegance, that is aesthetic in nature. The article then goes on to explore what it is that makes such writing elegant, and whether it is desirable for legal writers to strive for elegance in their own writing. The article concludes by briefly considering the pedagogical implications of the analysis discussed in the previous sections.
Changes in Cardiovascular Health in the United States, 2003–2011

Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, making improving cardiovascular health a key population health goal. As part of efforts to achieve this, the American Heart Association has developed the first comprehensive cardiovascular health index (CVHI). Our objective was to investigate the changes in CVHI in US states from 2003 to 2011. Methods and Results CVHI was examined using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data between 2003 and 2011 (odd‐numbered years). Total CVHI decreased from 3.73±0.01 in 2003 to 3.65±0.01 in 2009. The majority of states (88%) experienced a decline in CVHI and an increase in the prevalence of “poor” CVHI between 2003 and 2009. Among CVHI components, the highest prevalence of “ideal” was observed for blood glucose followed by smoking, whereas the lowest prevalence of “ideal” was observed for physical activity and diet. Between 2003 and 2009, prevalence of “ideal” smoking and diet status increased, while “ideal” prevalence of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, body mass index, and physical activity status decreased. We observed statistically significant differences between 2009 and 2011, outside the scope of the 2003–2009 trend, which we hypothesize are partially attributable to differences in sample demographic characteristics related to changes in Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System methodology. Conclusions Overall, CVHI decreased, most likely due to decreases in “ideal” blood pressure, body mass index, and cholesterol status, which may stem from low prevalence of “ideal” physical activity and diet status. These findings can be used to inform state‐specific strategies and targets to improve cardiovascular health.
The Behavior of the Listener

In the traditional view of a speech episode, held by philosophers for thousands of years, the speaker perceives some part of the world in the literal sense of capturing or taking it in (or rather, because there is no room for the world itself, taking in a copy or representation) and then puts the copy into words, the meanings of which correspond in some way with what the speaker perceived. The listener takes the meanings out of the words and composes another copy or representation. The listener thus receives or conceives what the speaker has perceived. Something has been communicated in the sense of made common to both speaker and listener. A message has been sent, the content of which is sometimes called information. Information theory, however, was invented to deal only with the structural features of a message (how many bits or bytes could be sent through a telephone line or stored in a computer?). The content of a message is more appropriately called knowledge, from a root that gave the Greek word gnomein, the Latin gnoscere, the late-Latin co-gnitio, and at last our own cognition.
A Computer Vision Approach for Automatically Mining and Classifying End of Life Products and Components

The authors of this work present a computer vision approach that discovers and classifies objects in a video stream, towards an automated system for managing End of Life (EOL) waste streams. Currently, the sorting stage of EOL waste management is an extremely manual and tedious process that increases the costs of EOL options and minimizes its attractiveness as a profitable enterprise solution. There have been a wide range of EOL methodologies proposed in the engineering design community that focus on determining the optimal EOL strategies of reuse, recycle, remanufacturing and resynthesis. However, many of these methodologies assume a product/component disassembly cost based on human labor, which hereby increases the cost of EOL waste management. For example, recent EOL options such as resynthesis, rely heavily on the optimal sorting and combining of components in a novel way to form new products. This process however, requires considerable manual labor that may make this option less attractive, given products with highly complex interactions and components. To mitigate these challenges, the authors propose a computer vision system that takes live video streams of incoming EOL waste and i) automatically identifies and classifies products/components of interest and ii) predicts the EOL process that will be needed for a given product/component that is classified. A case study involving an EOL waste stream video is used to demonstrate the predictive accuracy of the proposed methodology in identifying and classifying EOL objects.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Absorption and Excretion of Sulfadiazine.

Summary1. Sulfadiazine was rapidly absorbed into the blood stream and comparatively high levels of total drug were reached.2. The proportion of conjugated sulfadiazine in the blood was small.3. The blood level falls rather slowly after the drug is discontinued.4. Most of the drug is excreted by the kidney. 5. In 4 patients given 2 g of sulfadiazine and in 8 patients given a total of from 7 to 16 g the only toxic reaction noted was a morbilliform rash in one case in the latter group.
Prediction of Waste Package Life for High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal at Yucca Mountain

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Viability Assessment (VA) of the proposed high-level waste (HLW) repository at Yucca Mountain (YM), Nevada. The proposed standard for the repository requires the evaluation of the predicted —over 10,000 yr— performance of the system. In the VA, it is argued that long waste package (WP) lifetimes are responsible for significant containment and delay in release of the HLW. This paper examines the DOE WP lifetime prediction by combining the VA parameters modeling the corrosion behavior of the WP materials with the repository performance assessment code developed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA). The objective of the analysis is to exercise and strengthen the NRC review capabilities in preparation for receipt of the DOE license application for the proposed HLW repository. The results indicate that during the first 10,000 yr, radionuclide release depends almost entirely on the fraction of initially defective waste packages (IDWP). Radionuclide release resulting from corrosion of the WPs occurs only beyond 10,000 yr. The long WP lifetimes (>10,000 yr), reported in the VA and in this study, primarily depend on corrosion rates developed from an expert elicitation consensus. Given the importance in the estimation of the onset of radionuclide release and the lifetime of the WP materials, it is suggested the need for a stronger technical basis to assess the fraction of IDWP and to support the low corrosion rates of the WP materials.
An open-source computational tool to automatically quantify immunolabeled retinal ganglion cells.

A fully automated and robust method was developed to quantify β-III-tubulin-stained retinal ganglion cells, combining computational recognition of individual cells by CellProfiler and a machine-learning tool to teach phenotypic classification of the retinal ganglion cells by CellProfiler Analyst. In animal models of glaucoma, quantification of immunolabeled retinal ganglion cells is currently performed manually and remains time-consuming. Using this automated method, quantifications of retinal ganglion cell images were accelerated tenfold: 1800 images were counted in 3 h using our automated method, while manual counting of the same images took 72 h. This new method was validated in an established murine model of microbead-induced optic neuropathy. The use of the publicly available software and the method's user-friendly design allows this technique to be easily implemented in any laboratory.
Integrable Hamiltonian systems and symmetric products of curves

This chapter is entirely devoted to the construction and a geometric study of a big family of integrable Hamiltonian systems. The phase space is C2d but equipped with many different Poisson structures: for each non-zero φ ∈ C[x, y] we construct (in Paragraph 2.2) a Poisson bracket {·, ·} d φ which makes (C2d , {·, ·} d φ ) into an affine Poisson variety. Each of these brackets has maximal rank 2d (in particular the algebra of Casimirs is trivial) and they are all compatible. An explicit formula for all these brackets is given; they grow in complexity (i.e., degree) with φ so that only the first members are (modified) Lie-Poisson structures.
Endobronchial polyp: A case presentation

The case of a patient with a benign endobronchial polyp is presented. Early diagnosis will prevent irreversible obstructive lung disease and spare unnecessary pulmonary resection.
Mutability and the Literary Life

The Faerie Queene — along with the mysterious Cantos of Mutability, which were published twelve years after Spenser’s death — is often seen as the most significant poetic document of its age. This assessment has been based on the poem’s celebration of the apparent glories of the ‘golden’ Elizabethan age. But as we have surveyed Spenser’s career, it can be seen that The Faerie Queene’s significance may lie rather in its depiction of the crumbling of an archaic world and the opening up of what, for want of a better word, we can term the modern. It is especially crucial to our understanding of the transition in English cultural life, and not only in poetry, between the death of Sidney in 1586 and the outbreak of the Civil War over fifty years later. In part deliberately (and as it grew, increasingly) nostalgic, retrogressive, and disillusioned, The Faerie Queene opens for our view the emerging forces which were eventually to shatter the world it celebrates and from which it traced its origins and inspiration. Spenser criticism has rarely confronted this contradiction, preferring to explain away the frustrations, dislocations, and disruptions by searching — probably as desperately as Spenser himself might have — for principles of unity, harmony, and authority that somehow lie ‘behind’ the shifting intentions and unpredictabilities of the poem and behind the changing shape of his own life.
The Dubious Enumberated Power Doctrine

The enumerated power doctrine maintains that Congress may undertake only the activities specially mentioned in the text of the Constitution. Even the necessary and proper clause at the end of article I, section 8 and the tax clause at the beginning were at one time said not to expand Congress's power beyond the enumeration. The Constitution, however, neither says nor was intended to say that the listed powers were exclusive. The Articles of Confederation had limited the Congress to "expressly delegated" powers and the Framers removed the limitation because it had been "destructive to the Union." The best reading of the Constitution, moreover, is that it gives Congress the general power "to provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States." The phrase is a synonym for the Convention's supposedly mandatory resolution allowing Congress to "legislate for the common interests of the Union." The enumerated powers of article I, section 8 are best read as desirable activities that are illustrative of the appropriate national sphere, but not exhaustive. The claim that the enumeration of powers in article I, section 8 is exhaustive has never reflected actual practice. When activities necessary for the common interest arise, we generally find that they are authorized although not enumerated. Sometimes the unenumerated power is implied without any basis in text. Sometimes an unenumerated power is implied by stretching the words of the text to cover a desired power. The common defense and general welfare standard tells us how far to stretch the words of the enumeration and tells us when implied powers are appropriate.
Effect of Broken Conjugation on the Stretchability of Semiconducting Polymers.

Increasing the flexibility of polymer chains is a common method of increasing the deformability of solid polymeric materials. Here, the effects of “conjugation-break spacers” (CBSs)—aliphatic units that interrupt the sp2-hybridized backbone of semiconducting polymers—on the mechanical and photovoltaic properties of a diketopyrrolopyrrole-based polymer are described. Unexpectedly, the tensile moduli and cracking behavior of a series of polymers with repeat units bearing 0%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100% of the CBS are not directly related to the percent incorporation of the flexible unit. Rather, the mechanical properties are a strong function of the order present in the film as determined by grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction. The effect of the CBSs on the photovoltaic performance of these materials, on the other hand, is more intuitive: it decreases with increasing fraction of the flexible units. These studies highlight the importance of solid-state packing structure—as opposed to only the flexibility of the individual molecules—in determining the mechanical properties of a conjugated polymer film for stretchable, ultraflexible, and mechanically robust electronics.
CE-04 Sex differences in healthcare utilisation, end-stage renal disease and mortality among U.S. medicaid beneficiaries with incident lupus nephritis

Background Past studies suggest that males with lupus nephritis (LN) may have increased rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and mortality compared to females. However studies included few males and were focused on biological differences, not healthcare use. In a nationwide cohort of SLE patients with incident LN, we investigated LN-related outcomes and utilisation by sex. Materials and methods We used the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) with nationwide billing claims to identify individuals 5–65 years with LN (2000–2004) using a validated algorithm (PPV 80%) and required 12 months without any LN codes to define incident cases. MAX data were linked to the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) 2000–2006 to identify ESRD onset. Mortality was determined using National and Social Security Death Index Files (2000–2006). We assessed sex-specific incidence rates and adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for healthcare utilisation, medications, preventive care and renal biopsies using Poisson regression. We used Fine and Grey proportional hazard models to compare the subdistribution hazard ratios (HRsd) of ESRD by sex accounting for the competing risk of death, and Cox models to compare hazard ratios (HR) of death, adjusted for age and race/ethnicity. Results Of 2576 patients with incident LN, 230 (9%) were male. Mean follow-up was 2.8 (SD 1.5) years for both sexes. Mean age was 30 (SD 16) years among males and 34 (SD 14) years among females (p Conclusions In this incident LN Medicaid cohort, we found high rates of ESRD and mortality overall, with no differences in ESRD by sex in the first two years but more than twice the risk among males thereafter. Males had lower rates of outpatient and ED visits compared to females. Further studies are needed to understand the relationship between utilisation and long-term outcomes. Acknowledgements Drs. Feldman and Broder contributed equally.
Structural motions in polyimide films: Preliminary assignments

The elucidation of the structure of polyimide, poly (4, 4'-oxydiphenyl pyromellitimide), is important insofar as it determines the properties and use limits of the material. For example, an unidentified transition in the 25°–100°C region was believed responsible1 for the drastic decrease in frictional coefficient and increase in wear life found for this material.
Structural, mutational and biophysical studies reveal a canonical mode of molecular recognition between immune receptor TIGIT and nectin-2

In addition to antigen-specific stimulation of T cell receptor (TCR) by a peptide-MHC complex, the functional outcome of TCR engagement is regulated by antigen-independent costimulatory signals. Costimulatory signals are provided by an array of interactions involving activating and inhibitory receptors expressed on T cells and their cognate ligands on antigen presenting cells. T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT), a recently identified immune receptor expressed on T and NK cells, upon interaction with either of its two ligands, nectin-2 or poliovirus receptor (PVR), inhibits activation of T and NK cells. Here we report the crystal structure of the human TIGIT ectodomain, which exhibits the classic two-layer β-sandwich topology observed in other immunoglobulin super family (IgSF) members. Biophysical studies indicate that TIGIT is monomeric in solution but can form a dimer at high concentrations, consistent with the observation of a canonical immunoglobulin-like dimer interface in the crystalline state. Based on existing structural data, we present a model of the TIGIT:nectin-2 complex and utilized complementary biochemical studies to map the nectin-binding interface on TIGIT. Our data provide important structural and biochemical determinants responsible for the recognition of nectin-2 by TIGIT. Defining the TIGIT:nectin-2 binding interface provides the basis for rational manipulation of this molecular interaction for the development of immunotherapeutic reagents in autoimmunity and cancer.
Using simulation to teach lean methodologies and the benefits for Millennials

Lean manufacturing is no longer just a practice for industrial manufacturing. In an effort to generate more revenue with less resources, companies of all product and service types are turning to Lean methodologies. In its simplest form, Lean is described as identifying value-added tasks versus the non-value-added tasks through the eyes of the end customer. Teaching the newest workforce has changed given the visual learning preferences of the youngest demographic in the workplace – the digital natives who grew up immersed in technology. In an effort to teach Lean to all employees, in particular the youngest cohort, training has taken on forms that mimic the modern technology of today’s commercially popular pastimes: video games. Video games are essentially simulations of one or more real-life components applied via an interactive, responsive environment. Using simulations to teach Lean methodologies allows for instant feedback on components that are applicable to specific companies. Simulation-based traini...
ChIPSeqFPro, a pipeline for sequential processing of ChIP-Seq fastq to bigwig files

ChIPSeqFPro is a pipeline that automates processing of a collection of ChIPSeq or ATAC-Seq data starting from the gzip compressed fastq files. It performs the quality control using FastQC, mapping to the human genome hg19 or mouse mm10 using BWA mapper, for both single read or paired end sequencing fastq files, followed with sam to bam conversion using samtools view, creates statistics on bam files using samtools flagstat, peak calling with MACS, and finally creates high resolution bigwig files from bam files using a custom script bam2bigwig that invokes bedtools bamtobed and UCSC scripts, bedItemOverlapCount, bedGraphToBigWig and fetchChromSizes.
Teenage Motherhood and Sibling Outcomes.

Using annual longitudinal data, I show that all children in families with teen childbearing are on a downward trajectory several years before pregnancy begins. Compared to students on similar trajectories from families without teenage childbearing, siblings of teen mothers have lower test scores, higher high school dropout, and higher juvenile justice system exposure following the birth. The change in test score outcomes occurs after the baby is born, indicating that the child's arrival affects performance, rather than some unobserved occurrence leading to both teen pregnancy and poor outcomes. The test scores for teen mothers drop in the year of pregnancy.
Humanitarian Intervention as Neocolonialism

This chapter elaborates the practical challenge of implementing human rights through humanitarian intervention, that is, a military intervention without the consent of the targeted state. Its opponents view it as the contemporary form of colonialism. This claim is substantiated by retrieving the historical background of this practice in the just war theory, in order to examine whether there is a precedent of such practice, and looking at its legal basis in international law. The analysis reveals that it is not easy to found humanitarian intervention on the just war theory in general, because different authors hold different opinions, and it is the same case when considering international law. Be it before or during the human rights era, scholars do not agree that humanitarian intervention is an established practice legally founded. Even the new concept of Responsibility to Protect is not shielded from the same suspicion of furthering Western interests. That is why, for the critics, when one looks at the practice, its authors and the reasons offered, humanitarian intervention is a neocolonialism, understood as both an establishment of a local political bourgeoisie that protects the interest of former colonialists, and the repetition of the colonial project.
Tracking Using a Random Sampling Algorithm

Abstract A random sampling algorithm for nonlinear state estimation is formulated. Special cases of the algorithm are presented. A continuous Markov process is defined, along with a measurement distribution. From these, the posterior distribution on the states is derived. The sampling algorithm generates realizations from this distribution. A parallel implementation of the algorithm is presented. An application discussed is the problem of tracking radar targets using data from multiple sensors.
Effects of early combinatorial treatment of autologous split-thickness skin grafts in red duroc pig model using pulsed dye laser and fractional CO2 laser.

Background and objective The use of pulsed dye laser (PDL) and fractional CO2 (FX CO2 ) laser therapy to treat and/or prevent scarring following burn injury is becoming more widespread with a number of studies reporting reduction in scar erythema and pruritus following treatment with lasers. While the majority of studies report positive outcomes following PDL or FX CO2 therapy, a number of studies have reported no benefit or worsening of the scar following treatment. The objective of this study was to directly compare the efficacy of PDL, FX CO2 , and PDL + FX CO2 laser therapy in reducing scarring post burn injury and autografting in a standardized animal model. Materials and methods Eight female red Duroc pigs (FRDP) received 4 standardized, 1 in. x 1 in. third degree burns that were excised and autografted. Wound sites were treated with PDL, FX CO2 , or both at 4, 8, and 12 weeks post grafting. Grafts receiving no laser therapy served as controls. Scar appearance, morphology, size, and erythema were assessed and punch biopsies collected at weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16. At week 16, additional tissue was collected for biomechanical analyses and markers for inflammatory cytokines, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, re-epithelialization, pigmentation, and angiogenesis were quantified at all time points using qRT-PCR. Results Treatment with PDL, FX CO2 , or PDL + FX CO2 resulted in significantly less contraction versus skin graft only controls with no statistically significant difference among laser therapy groups. Scars treated with both PDL and FX CO2 were visually more erythematous than other groups with a significant increase in redness between two and three standard deviations above normal skin redness. Scars treated with FX CO2 were visually smoother and contained significantly fewer wrinkles. In addition, hyperpigmentation was significantly reduced in scars treated with FX CO2 . Conclusions The use of fractional carbon dioxide or pulsed dye laser therapy within 1 month of autografting significantly reduced scar contraction versus control, though no statistically significant difference was detected between laser modalities or use of both modalities. Overall, FX CO2 therapy appears to be modestly more effective at reducing erythema, and improving scar texture and biomechanics. The current data adds to prior studies supporting the role of laser therapy in the treatment of burn scars and indicates more study is needed to optimize delivery protocols for maximum efficacy. Lasers Surg. Med. 50:78-87, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Tree-Like Structures in Graphs: A Metric Point of View

Recent empirical and theoretical work has suggested that many real-life complex networks and graphs arising in Internet applications, in biological and social sciences, in chemistry and physics have tree-like structures from a metric point of view. A number of graph parameters trying to capture this phenomenon and to measure these tree-like structures were proposed; most notable ones being the tree-stretch, tree-distortion, tree-length, tree-breadth, Gromov’s hyperbolicity of a graph, and cluster-diameter and cluster-radius in a layering partition of a graph. If such a parameter is bounded by a constant on graphs then many optimization problems can be efficiently solved or approximated for such graphs. We discuss these parameters and recently established relationships between them for unweighted and undirected graphs; it turns out that all these parameters are at most constant or logarithmic factors apart from each other. We give inequalities describing their relationships and discuss consequences for some optimization problems.
Using a pipeline to improve de-identification performance.

Effective de-identification methods are needed to support reuse of electronic health record data for research and other purposes. We investigated using two different text-processing systems in tandem as a strategy for de-identification of clinical notes. We ran 100 outpatient notes through deid.pl, from MIT’s PhysioToolkit, followed by MedLEE, and we manually compared the output with original notes to determine the amount of protected health information (PHI) retained. Pipelining resulted in an overall error rate of 2%, with 2 personal names retained in output: one initial and a commonly used English term used in medicine. All retained PHI was transformed into standardized medical concepts, making re-identification less likely. Pipelining using deid.pl improved performance of MedLEE in excluding PHI from output and may be a useful strategy for de-identifying clinical data while providing computer-readable output.
Density Dependence of Transition Temperature of 4He Films in Vycor Glass

We present recent high resolution data on 4 He films in vycor glass. Vycor is a unique system in that the interconnectedness of the glass and the small size of the pores leads to the presence of 3DXY universality in thin films on the vycor. This allows us effectively to look at the 3D behavior of 4 He over a large range of densities by varying the coverage in the glass. Ranging in super fluid particle densities from 6 x 10 18 per cm 3 to 1.5 × 10 21 per cm 3 , these data show the crossover from weakly interacting BEC like behavior to that of a strongly interacting bose gas. Additionally, from the lowest coverages, an effective mass can be determined. A future cell is being designed which will allow access to densities approaching 1 × 10 18 per cm 3 .
Distal Clavicle Fracture Repair Using Cortical Button Fixation With Coracoclavicular Ligament Reconstruction

Management of distal clavicle fractures remains controversial. Various treatment options have been described including open reduction and internal fixation with hook plate fixation, tension band wiring, screw fixation, and distal locking plates. Many of these techniques are associated with a high perioperative complication rate. We describe a surgical technique that allows indirect fixation of distal clavicle fractures and reconstruction of the CC ligaments without the use of prominent hardware.
Insulin secretion and sensitivity in space flight: Diabetogenic effects

Nearly three decades of space flight research have suggested that there are subclinical diabetogenic changes that occur in microgravity. Alterations in insulin secretion, insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, and metabolism of protein and amino acids support the hypothesis that insulin plays an essential role in the maintenance of muscle mass in extended-duration space flight. Experiments in flight and after flight and ground-based bedrest studies have associated microgravity and its experimental paradigms with manifestations similar to those of diabetes, physical inactivity, and aging. We propose that these manifestations are characterized best by an etiology that falls into the clinical category of "other" causes of diabetes, including, but not restricted to, genetic beta-cell defects, insulin action defects, diseases of the endocrine pancreas, endocrinopathies, drug or chemically induced diabetes, infections, immune-mediated metabolic alteration, and a host of genetic related diseases. We present data showing alterations in tumor necrosis factor-alpha production, insulin secretion, and amino acid metabolism in pancreatic islets of Langerhans cultured in a ground-based cell culture bioreactor that mimics some of the effects of microgravity. Taken together, space flight research, ground-based studies, and bioreactor studies of pancreatic islets of Langerhans support the hypothesis that the pancreas is unable to overcome peripheral insulin resistance and amino acid dysregulation during space flight. We propose that measures of insulin secretion and insulin action will be necessary to design effective countermeasures against muscle loss, and we advance the "disposition index" as an essential model to be used in the clinical management of space flight-induced muscle loss.
Skin as a window to body-clock time

The nascent field of circadian medicine posits that timing of medical interventions, including the administration of drugs and surgical procedures, can be important for maximum therapeutic efficacy and minimum side effects. However, with today’s chaotic work schedules and light pollution, the phase of the body clock—the circadian time—varies between individuals within the same geographical time zone. Therefore, to fully deliver on its promise, the field needs practical and accurate diagnostic methods to determine the phase of an individual’s internal clock. In PNAS, Wu et al. (1) make two advances toward this goal by suggesting that ( i ) skin, an easily accessed tissue, is an ideal sample source for determining the phase of the body clock, and ( ii ) a single sample measuring the expression of 29 circadian biomarker genes may be sufficient to determine an individual’s body-clock phase. In an independent study in Journal of Clinical Investigation , Wittenbrink et al. (2) suggest that the same goal can be achieved with a single measurement of circadian biomarker genes in monocytes isolated from blood. Earth’s rotation around its axis creates the diverse environments of day and night. In response, organisms, from simple bacteria to humans, have evolved an intrinsic, autonomous timing system: the circadian (Latin for “around the day”) clock—a system thought to provide a survival advantage. In humans, the circadian clock facilitates the anticipation of, and adaptation to, the daytime environment of activity and feeding and the nighttime environment of sleep and fasting. Therefore, it is unsurprising that at an organismal level, the circadian clock is an important regulator of activity, sleep, and metabolism (3). Initially, it was thought that only the central clock (neurons comprising the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus) contained the timing mechanisms and that the clock’s effect on different organs was mediated indirectly by hormones and neurons. … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: bogi{at}uci.edu or plikus{at}uci.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Growth of SiGe epitaxial quantum dots on patterned Si (001) surfaces by in situ annealing of initially conformal layers

Ordered arrays of semiconductor quantum dots may provide new electronic, optical, or thermoelectric functionalities. In this work, we create ordered two-dimensional arrays of Si-Ge quantum dots by heteroepitaxial growth on Si (001) with pre-patterned pits. Instead of growing the dots directly at elevated temperatures, we first grow conformal alloy layers and then use post-growth annealing to promote directed self-assembly. Annealing provides monodisperse size distributions with excellent control over the quantum dot (QD) mean size and shape. Similar to QD formation during growth, intermixing with substrate Si occurs, despite the conformal layer, due to the presence of the pattern topography itself.
Monoclonal gammopathy of "ocular" significance.

Abstract Purpose Diagnostic criteria for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) do not currently include ocular phenotypic changes. Here, we offer a new diagnostic approach that is useful in patients with posteriorly located corneal depositions and present evidence to support the theory that the aqueous humor is a source for monoclonal proteins accumulated in the cornea. Observations A 77-year-old woman presented to the clinic with a gradual decrease in visual acuity over 6 months. Slit lamp examination revealed bilateral central guttae consistent with Fuchs corneal dystrophy, peripheral circular band-like corneal opacities in the deep stroma, and bilateral nuclear sclerotic and cortical cataracts. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography confirmed corneal opacities in the posterior stroma and Descemet membrane. Immunological studies revealed increased serum IgG levels of 3220 mg/dL and serum electrophoresis showed an abnormal monoclonal band of 2.4 g/dL identified as IgG lambda by immunofixation electrophoresis. The patient was referred to the hematology clinic where she underwent further systemic workup and was diagnosed with MGUS. Immunofixation electrophoresis of aqueous sampling, which was performed at the time of cataract surgery, confirmed the presence of the IgG lambda gammopathy in the anterior chamber. Conclusions and importance Monoclonal gammopathy, although rare, should be included in the differential diagnosis of corneal opacities, as the ocular finding can be the initial manifestation of a systemic disease that can potentially be life-threatening. When corneal biopsy is not feasible due to the location of corneal pathology, aqueous sampling may be an alternative approach towards a clinical diagnosis. We propose a new terminology, “monoclonal gammopathy of ocular significance,” for patients diagnosed with MGUS, however, their only significant clinical finding is ocular manifestation.
A numerical–experimental assessment of wall impingement models for spark-ignition direct-injection engines:

Liquid wall impingement in direct-injection engines can cause soot and hydrocarbon emissions as well as reduced combustion efficiency. This study focuses on detailed evaluations of numerical drople...
Unsupervised low-dimensional vector representations for words, phrases and text that are transparent, scalable, and produce similarity metrics that are not redundant with neural embeddings

Abstract Neural embeddings are a popular set of methods for representing words, phrases or text as a low dimensional vector (typically 50–500 dimensions). However, it is difficult to interpret these dimensions in a meaningful manner, and creating neural embeddings requires extensive training and tuning of multiple parameters and hyperparameters. We present here a simple unsupervised method for representing words, phrases or text as a low dimensional vector, in which the meaning and relative importance of dimensions is transparent to inspection. We have created a near-comprehensive vector representation of words, and selected bigrams, trigrams and abbreviations, using the set of titles and abstracts in PubMed as a corpus. This vector is used to create several novel implicit word-word and text-text similarity metrics. The implicit word-word similarity metrics correlate well with human judgement of word pair similarity and relatedness, and outperform or equal all other reported methods on a variety of biomedical benchmarks, including several implementations of neural embeddings trained on PubMed corpora. Our implicit word-word metrics capture different aspects of word-word relatedness than word2vec-based metrics and are only partially correlated (rho = 0.5–0.8 depending on task and corpus). The vector representations of words, bigrams, trigrams, abbreviations, and PubMed title + abstracts are all publicly available from http://arrowsmith.psych.uic.edu/arrowsmith_uic/word_similarity_metrics.html for release under CC-BY-NC license. Several public web query interfaces are also available at the same site, including one which allows the user to specify a given word and view its most closely related terms according to direct co-occurrence as well as different implicit similarity metrics.