cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A statistical method for biological shape comparisons

Biological shape data combine two sorts of information: genometric location and biological homology. The link between these two is the landmark, a set of biologically corresponding points located in all the forms of a series. Analysis of shapes as configurations of landmarks proceeds most effectively by D' Arcy Thompson's (1917, 1942) method of transformations. In this tradition, shape change is not the arithmetical difference of distances, angles, and ratios measured on shapes separately; rather, it is a mensurand in its own right, the geometrical deformation taking the Cartesian coordinate space of one form onto that of another in accord with biological homology. Such a deformation may be displayed, continuously or discretely, as a symmetric tensor field of principal crosses, pairs of directions which start and finish at 90 degrees. At any point, along one of these directions the dilatation, or dimensionless rate of change of length, is largest; along the other, smallest. These are the principal dilatations. All conventional scalar descriptions of the shape change may be deduced from the tensor presentation. This article reviews the statistical description of mean biological form-changes viewed in this way, and introduces linearized significance tests for mean shape change and mean size change. The tests, which make no reference to any set of size or shape variables, are based in a convenient parametric distribution for shape changes in triangles of landmarks. On a suitable null hypothesis, the ratio of the difference of the principal dilatations of the mean deformation to the sum of their standard errors goes as square root of pi/2 approximately 0.88 times an approximate t-ratio for shape change; the sum of the deviations of those dilatations from unity, divided by the sum of their standard errors, goes as square root of 2/2 approximately 0.71 times an approximate t-ratio for size change. The difference between these two constants reflects the divergent selection bias of the pair of principal dilatations. In matched studies, the difference of the principal dilatations of the mean change, divided by the mean difference of the principal dilatations case by case, is square root of 2/pi N times an approximate X2 for shape difference. Examples are presented that test cephalometric data in three scientific contexts: comparison of groups of biological shapes observed once each; characterization of mean difference in a matched design (namely, mean growth in one group observed twice); and description of mean differences in growth between groups of shapes each observed twice.
Data-Driven Synthesis of Spatially Inflected Verbs for American Sign Language Animation

We are studying techniques for producing realistic and understandable animations of American Sign Language (ASL); such animations have accessibility benefits for signers with lower levels of written language literacy. This article describes and evaluates a novel method for modeling and synthesizing ASL animations based on samples of ASL signs collected from native signers. We apply this technique to ASL inflecting verbs, common signs in which the location and orientation of the hands is influenced by the arrangement of locations in 3D space that represent entities under discussion. We train mathematical models of hand movement on animation data of signs produced by a native signer. In evaluation studies with native ASL signers, the verb animations synthesized from our model had similar subjective-rating and comprehension-question scores to animations produced by a human animator; they also achieved higher scores than baseline animations. Further, we examine a split modeling technique for accommodating certain verb signs with complex movement patterns, and we conduct an analysis of how robust our modeling techniques are to reductions in the size of their training data. The modeling techniques in this article are applicable to other types of ASL signs and to other sign languages used internationally. Our models’ parameterization of sign animations can increase the repertoire of generation systems and can partially automate the work of humans using sign language scripting systems.
In situ transmission Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy investigations of the surface chemistry of gettering common gases in vacuum systems with a common commercial flashed getter alloy as a function of temperature

Studies of gettering reactions of a commercial flashed metal alloy commonly used in vacuum electronics with common gases found in vacuum electronic systems (CO, CO2, CH4, and O2) have been carried out in situ using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) to better understand the nature of these reactions as a function of temperature. Flashed alloy was found to adsorb CO at temperatures greater than −5 ± 5 °C across a pressure range from 3 to 50 Torr of CO. Multivariate curve resolution (MCR) was needed to extract the pure component spectra and temperature profiles for signals having intensities 10–200 times less than the background. No spectral evidence for adsorbed CO2 or CH4 was observed but both CO and CO2 were found to react with the barium film at temperatures above 77 ± 5 °C forming what is likely a combination of Ba(OH)2, Sr(OH)2, and other trace metal oxides and hydroxides. Again MCR was needed to resolve the pure spectral components and temperature profiles of these highly overlapped components. The production of metal hydroxides is likely caused by the presence of H2 sorbed to the getter during the flash as low temperature, <−50 °C, experiments with O2 showed similar reaction products. In the case of CH4 no reaction is seen with the flashed alloy surface up to 120 °C. However, in the presence of what is NiO (Ni is a trace impurity in the getter) and potentially BaO, CH4 does react at temperatures greater than 55 °C to produce CO2 which in turn reacts with the alloy film as outlined above.
Jerry P. Eaton (1926-2004)

Jerry p. Eaton, the legendary pioneer of telemetered seismic networks for monitoring volcanoes a active earthquake faults, died 2 April 2004 after a long battle with cancer. His friends and colleagues knew Jerry as a dedicated scientist and resourceful inventor who was unfailingly generous in providing help and encouragement to younger scientists.⇓ ![][1] Jerry's impact on seismology, volcanology, and the programs of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was enormous. More than anyone else, his pioneering vision of instrumental networks advanced microearthquake seismology to the forefront in studies of earthquake tectonics and volcanology. Through his reading knowledge of French, German, Russian, and Spanish, he was familiar with seismological research published in these languages as well as that published in English. His knowledge of early seismology papers was encyclopedic, and he could recall details of observations he had made a half-century ago. Less than a week before his death, he was at his workstation in his office at the USGS, Menlo Park, timing earthquakes, as he had done virtually every day since his retirement in 1995. Jerry was born on 11 December 1926 on a Central Valley farm near Fresno, California. When Jerry was about five years old, his father responded to the bad economic times by building a well rig from salvaged materials and moving it and his family to Woodland, near Sacramento, where he eked out a living drilling water wells. Jerry's mother, a former school teacher, was the bookkeeper for the business. On occasion, Jerry would tell his colleagues of his early life in the farming area, a time when he and his brothers learned to be self-reliant in solving problems as they arose. Jerry attended the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.A. with honors in physics (1949) and a Ph.D. in geophysics (1953). An early indication … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
Of mice and men: Within gender variation in strategic behavior

We study behavioral differences across and within genders in a family of ultimatum and dictator games. We find these differences are due not only to altruistic preferences but also beliefs about the strategic behavior of others. The behavior of men in strategic situations is not significantly more aggressive than women on average. But this average masks wide variation in intra-gender behavior. In particular, a sizable minority of males are “mice,” behaving timidly in strategic environments. Our experimental design shows that the standard ultimatum game can mask significant inter- and intra-gender differences in strategic behavior. These behavioral patterns in strategic environments are shown to be correlated with preferences for altruism in non-strategic settings. Such gender differences could well manifest themselves in real-world large-stakes transactions, such as salary negotiations.
Road detection from aerial imagery

We present a fast, robust road detection algorithm for aerial images taken from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. A histogram-based adaptive threshold algorithm is used to detect possible road regions in an image. A probabilistic hough transform based line segment detection combined with a clustering method is implemented to further extract the road. The proposed algorithm has been extensively tested on desert and urban images obtained using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Our results indicate that we are able to successfully and accurately detect roads in 97% of the images. We experimentally validated our algorithm on over ten thousand (10,000) aerial images obtained using our UAV. These images consist of intersecting roads, bifurcating roads and roundabouts in various conditions with significant changes in lighting and intensity. Our algorithm is able to successfully detect single roads effectively in almost all the images. It is also able to detect at least one road in over 95% of the images containing bifurcating or intersecting roads.
Severe Occupational Pneumoconiosis Among West Virginian Coal Miners: One Hundred Thirty-eight Cases of Progressive Massive Fibrosis Compensated Between 2000 and 2009

Background Miners inhale dust at work and are at a risk for coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP), a preventable and potentially fatal lung disease. After regulations were implemented in the 1970s, declines were reported in both dust levels and the prevalence of simple and advanced CWP until about 2001, when despite stable reported dust levels, disease levels sharply increased. Methods A structured, retrospective chart review was performed to describe the demographics and disease progression for 138 coal miners with progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) whose claims were approved by the West Virginia State Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board between January 2000 and December 2009. Results PMF, a complication of CWP, developed in 138 West Virginian coal miners at a mean age of 52.6 years after an average of 30 years work tenure. The time of progression averaged 12.2 years from the last normal chest radiograph until PMF was detected. Lung function declined sharply in both smokers and nonsmokers, averaging 87 mL/y for FEV 1 and 74 mL/y for FVC. The board has confirmed 21 deaths in this group. The most common job activities were operating continuous-mining machines (41%) and roof bolting (19%). Virtually all of these miners' dust exposures occurred after the implementation of current federal dust regulations. Conclusions Contemporary occupational dust exposures have resulted over the past decade in rapidly progressive pneumoconiosis and massive fibrosis in relatively young West Virginian coal miners, leading to important lung dysfunction and premature death.
Opportunities for computing technologies to support healthy sleep behaviors

Getting the right amount of quality sleep is a key aspect of good health, along with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers have recently designed systems to support diet and exercise, but sleep has been relatively under-studied in the HCI community. We conducted a literature review and formative study aimed at uncovering opportunities for computing to support the important area of promoting healthy sleep. We present results from interviews with sleep experts, as well as a survey (N = 230) and interviews with potential users (N = 16) to indicate what people would find practical and useful for sleep. Based on these results, we identify a number of design considerations, challenges, and opportunities for using computing to support healthy sleep behaviors, as well as a design framework for mapping the design space of technologies for sleep.
Exploring terminologies and a case study to devise a new instrument that optimizes operational information systems sustainability

The pervasive use of modern infrastructure and collaborative frameworks have the potential to create sustainable multi-organisation, multi-institution, multi-linkage industry and research and development collectives to open up opportunities for the design and development of revolutionary products and services. This paper begins by defining a number of innovative new concepts including virtual organisations, living labs and digital ecosystems in an effort to identify practical answers to the paradox between the traditional disconnected organisation and operationally integrated information systems sustainability. The paper then introduces a framework and case study that is used to devise a new instrument designed to enable organisations in unleashing the power of their ICT infrastructure to maximise their competitive advantage.
Comparison of lidar water vapor measurements using Raman scatter at 266 nm and 532 nm

Raman lidar measurements at different wavelengths have become a well-established technique to obtain water vapor profiles. Measurements of the atmospheric distributions of water vapor have been made with the LAMP lidar (Laser Atmospheric Measurement Program) during the 1995 Case I measurement program on Wallops Island, VA. The simultaneous measurements obtained from the vibrational Raman technique at night using the visible signal ratio of 660/607 nm and the ultraviolet signal ratio of 295/285 nm were compared in order to validate the Raman technique for the UV channel. Correlations of the water vapor between the visible and UV channel were made, producing an overall average correlation of 0.94. Data sets with detailed vertical night time profiles from the surface to 4 km are presented. In addition, daytime vertical profiles from the surface to about 1 km are also shown.
Commercially Marketed Supplements for Bodybuilding Athletes

We conducted a survey of 624 commercially available supplements targeted towards body building athletes. Over 800 performance claims were made for these supplements. Supplements include amino acids, boron, carnitine, choline, chromium, dibencozide, ferulic acid, gamma oryzanol, medium chain triglycerides, weight gain powders, Smilax compounds and yohimbine.
Secondary use of clinical data

Graphical abstractDisplay Omitted We developed a secondary use data infrastructure to serve the Vanderbilt research community.The data layer consists of identified and de-identified resources.The utilization layer consists of tools and services that are researcher-centric.Secondary use of clinical data for research is a complex task but it benefits the entire medical center community. The last decade has seen an exponential growth in the quantity of clinical data collected nationwide, triggering an increase in opportunities to reuse the data for biomedical research. The Vanderbilt research data warehouse framework consists of identified and de-identified clinical data repositories, fee-for-service custom services, and tools built atop the data layer to assist researchers across the enterprise. Providing resources dedicated to research initiatives benefits not only the research community, but also clinicians, patients and institutional leadership. This work provides a summary of our approach in the secondary use of clinical data for research domain, including a description of key components and a list of lessons learned, designed to assist others assembling similar services and infrastructure.
Hyper-Erlang distributions and traffic modeling in wireless and mobile networks

This paper presents the study of the hyper-Erlang distribution model and its applications in wireless networks and mobile computing systems. We demonstrate that the hyper-Erlang models provides a very general model for users' mobility and may provide viable approximations to fat-tailed distributions which lead to the self-similar traffic. We apply the hyper-Erlang distribution to model the cell residence time (for users' mobility) and demonstrate the effect on channel holding time. This research opens a new avenue for traffic modeling and performance evaluation for wireless networks and mobile computing systems.
Role of C/A Polymorphism at −20 on the Expression of Human Angiotensinogen Gene

Abstract —Angiotensinogen is the glycoprotein precursor of 1 of the most potent vasoactive hormones, angiotensin II. Human angiotensinogen gene contains a C/A polymorphism at −20 located between the TATA box and transcriptional initiation site. We show here that when nucleoside A is present at −20, this sequence binds to the estrogen receptor. We also show that transcriptional activity of reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen gene promoter with nucleoside A at −20 is increased on cotransfection of an expression vector containing human estrogen receptor-α coding sequence in human hepatoma cells (HepG2) followed by estrogen treatment. On the other hand, adenoviral major late transcription factor binds preferentially to this region of the promoter when nucleoside C is present at −20. We also show that reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen gene promoter with nucleoside C at −20 have increased basal promoter activity on transient transfection in HepG2 cells as compared with reporter constructs with nucleoside A at −20. Our data suggest that C/A polymorphism at −20 may modulate the expression of human angiotensinogen gene in a sex-specific manner.
Stability of Zeno equilibria in Lagrangian hybrid systems

This paper presents both necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of Zeno equilibria in Lagrangian hybrid systems, i.e., hybrid systems that model mechanical systems undergoing impacts. These conditions for stability are motivated by the sufficient conditions for Zeno behavior in Lagrangian hybrid systems obtained in we show that the same conditions that imply the existence of Zeno behavior near Zeno equilibria imply the stability of the Zeno equilibria. This paper, therefore, not only presents conditions for the stability of Zeno equilibria, but directly relates the stability of Zeno equilibria to the existence of Zeno behavior.
Stabilization of Video from Miniature Air Vehicles for Target Localization

Miniature air vehicles equipped with lightweight, inexpensive cameras have recently been employed in a greater variety of missions owing to their increased capability and relatively low cost. Unfortunately, miniature air vehicle video is often difficult to watch owing to high-frequency jitter caused by environmental disturbances such as wind gusts. This paper describes a methodology for producing real-time stabilized video by eliminating jitter.Video stabilizationisenabledbyestimatingtheintendedvideomotionthroughthemethodicalselection and tracking of image features from one frame to the next.The effectiveness of the video stabilizationroutineisdemonstratedinareal-worldsurveillancetaskoflocalizingstationary and moving targets on a mobile ground station. The paper also describes the unique mobile platformthatisusedtocreateandrefinetheseminiature-air-vehicle-specificcomputervision technologies.
GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENTIATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AEDES SIERRENSIS (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) IN NATURE

The critical photoperiod for fourth instar diapause of the western treehole mosquito, Aedes sierrensis , varies among geographic populations. When reared together in the field at different latitudes, larvae from northern (ca. 45°N), central (ca. 39°N), and southern (ca. 33°N) populations all develop more rapidly through the early instars at more southerly latitudes. The order of pupation dates among the populations, however, depends on their critical photoperiods, and can be predicted from laboratory data on photoperiodism.
Delayed Role of Tumor Necrosis Factor—α in Overcoming the Effects of Pertussis Toxin

Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough, an endemic respiratory disease that is increasing in prevalence despite vaccination efforts. Although host immunity is modulated by virulence factors of this pathogen, it is unclear what host factors are required to overcome their effects. Here, we investigate an apparent relationship between the effects of pertussis toxin and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha . B. pertussis grew efficiently and caused moderate pathology in wild-type mice, whereas TNF- alpha (-/-) mice had higher numbers of bacteria and leukocytes in lungs, experienced more airway resistance, and died of the infection. Interestingly, an isogenic B. pertussis strain lacking pertussis toxin did not induce these effects in TNF- alpha (-/-) mice and behaved similarly in wild-type and TNF- alpha -deficient hosts. Together, these results indicate that TNF- alpha is essential for the host to overcome the effects of pertussis toxin, allowing both control of B. pertussis numbers and regulation of the inflammation induced by infection.
Tobacco Use, Quitting Behavior, and Health Characteristics Among Current Electronic Cigarette Users in a National Tri-Ethnic Adult Stable Smoker Sample

INTRODUCTION The present study characterizes the tobacco use, quitting behaviors, and health characteristics of cigarette smokers who did not change their smoking pattern over the past 6 months and have used electronic cigarettes (ECs) in the past 30 days. This is an important subpopulation to characterize if EC dual use with cigarettes continues to grow. METHODS Participants (N = 2,376) from a research survey panel completed an online cross-sectional survey between June and August 2012. Sampling was stratified to recruit equal numbers of cigarette smoking participants by race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian) and smoking frequency (nondaily and daily). All displayed a stable rate of smoking for the past 6 months and were not currently in treatment. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine correlates of current EC use (any use within the past 30 days). RESULTS Current EC use was reported by 9.2% (n = 219) of the total sample. Of current EC users, 44% reported having used ECs as a quit method. Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed that current EC use was significantly associated with greater nicotine dependence, concurrent poly-tobacco use, more past-year quit attempts, past use of multiple cessation methods, and more depressive symptoms. No demographic variables were significantly associated with current EC use. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that stable smokers who currently use ECs possess characteristics that are associated with difficulty in achieving smoking cessation. These characteristics should be considered when examining the effectiveness of ECs on cessation and in designing future cessation trials using ECs.
Wikireality: Augmenting reality with community driven websites

We present a system for making community driven websites easily accessible from the latest mobile devices. Many of these new devices contain an ensemble of sensors such as cameras, GPS and inertial sensors. We demonstrate how these new sensors can be used to bring the information contained in sites like Wikipedia to users in a much more immersive manner than text or maps. We have collected a large database of images and articles from Wikipedia and show how a user can query this database by simply snapping a photo. Our system uses the location sensors to assist with image matching and the inertial sensors to provide a unique and intuitive user interface for browsing results.
Exon 7 Ncol Restriction Site within CYP21B (Steroid 21-Hydroxylase) Is a Normal Polymorphism

A point mutation within exon 7 producing an amino acid coding change and a recognition site for the endonuclease Ncol has been reported in the HLA-Bw47-linked CYP21A pseudogene and some mutant CYP21B (steroid 21-hydroxylase) genes of patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Whether this mutation is deleterious was not demonstrated. We analyzed DNA from various subjects for the presence of the exon 7 Ncol site: group 1, 10 normal subjects; group 2, 11 patients with salt-losing CAH; and group 3, 18 members of an Amish pedigree in which 10 expressed HLA-Bw47 not linked to CAH. Southern blots of Ncol-digested genomic DNA which were hybridized with CYP21 cDNA showed that four subjects of group 1 had a heterozygous Ncol pattern. In group 2, seven patients had the Ncol site; two of them were homozygous for the site and had deletions of both CYP21B genes. The other five were heterozygous for the Ncol site, which was linked to a CYP21B deletion and a HLA-Bw47 haplotype. In group 3, no one exhibited the exon 7 Ncol site. To map the Ncol sites to CYP21A or CYP21B in the normal subjects, DNA from the four Ncol heterozygous subjects was double digested with Ncol and Mbol and hybridized with CYP21 cDNA. Ncol-Mbol fragments unique to CYP21A were identified in all four, but the smaller CYP21B-specific fragments were not detected. Their genomic DNA in the region of exon 7 (bases +1167 to +2058) was then amplified, cloned, and sequenced.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Resolving Uncertainty About the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale–12: Application of Modern Psychometric Strategies

abstractIn this study, we evaluated the factor structure, reliability estimates, item parameters, and differential correlates of the short form of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (Carleton, Norton, & Asmundson, 2007) in samples of undergraduate women (n = 387) and men (n = 276) ranging in age from 18 to 49 years (M = 20.20, SD = 3.91). This instrument was designed to measure 2 facets of intolerance of uncertainty—prospective anxiety and inhibitory anxiety—although total scores on the measure are often used. A major objective of this study was to determine the degree to which derivation of total versus subscale scores is empirically permissible. Comparison of a bifactor model to a unidimensional model and a 2-factor correlated traits model indicated that the bifactor model exhibited superior fit to the sample data. This model provided evidence of a strong general intolerance of uncertainty factor that was more reliable and accounted for significantly more common variance than either subscale factor. E...
On focusing beams of charged vortex rings

Abstract It is shown that standard types of electrostatic lenses should be suitable for focusing beams of charged vortex rings in liquid helium II. The converging power may be greater or less than for ordinary particles, depending on the type of lens.
The peptide pheromone-inducible conjugation system of Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pCF10: cell–cell signalling, gene transfer, complexity and evolution

Expression of a large set of gene products required for conjugative transfer of the antibiotic resistance plasmid pCF10 is controlled by cell–cell communication between plasmid-free recipient cells and plasmid-carrying donor cells using a peptide mating pheromone cCF10. Most of the recent experimental analysis of this system has focused on the molecular events involved in initiation of the pheromone response in the donor cells, and on the mechanisms by which the donor cells control self-induction by endogenously produced pheromone. Recently, studies of the molecular machinery of conjugation encoded by the pheromone-inducible genes have been initiated. In addition, the system may serve as a useful bacterial model for addressing the evolution of biological complexity.
SPADE: the system s declarative stream processing engine

In this paper, we present Spade - the System S declarative stream processing engine. System S is a large-scale, distributed data stream processing middleware under development at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. As a front-end for rapid application development for System S, Spade provides (1) an intermediate language for flexible composition of parallel and distributed data-flow graphs, (2) a toolkit of type-generic, built-in stream processing operators, that support scalar as well as vectorized processing and can seamlessly inter-operate with user-defined operators, and (3) a rich set of stream adapters to ingest/publish data from/to outside sources. More importantly, Spade automatically brings performance optimization and scalability to System S applications. To that end, Spade employs a code generation framework to create highly-optimized applications that run natively on the Stream Processing Core (SPC), the execution and communication substrate of System S, and take full advantage of other System S services. Spade allows developers to construct their applications with fine granular stream operators without worrying about the performance implications that might exist, even in a distributed system. Spade's optimizing compiler automatically maps applications into appropriately sized execution units in order to minimize communication overhead, while at the same time exploiting available parallelism. By virtue of the scalability of the System S runtime and Spade's effective code generation and optimization, we can scale applications to a large number of nodes. Currently, we can run Spade jobs on ≈ 500 processors within more than 100 physical nodes in a tightly connected cluster environment. Spade has been in use at IBM Research to create real-world streaming applications, ranging from monitoring financial market feeds to radio telescopes to semiconductor fabrication lines.
Anesthetic considerations for descending thoracic aortic surgery: part II.

URGICAL repair of the descending thoracic aorta (DTA) requires placement of an aortic cross-clamp &stal to the left subclavian artery or between the left subclavian and the left common carotid artery. The pathophysiology of aortic cross-clamping at this level is complex and incompletely defined, despite abundant experimental work examining both the mechamsm as well as the magnitude of the hemodynamic changes after cross-clamping. In both animal and clinical models, severe proximal arterial hypertension is the most consistent and dramatic response to proximal aortic occlusion) -7 The etiology of this hypertenswe response has traditionally been attributed to an increase m systemic vascular resistance and a sudden impedance to aortic outflow. 122 However, considerable experimental data suggest that other factors may contribute to the observed hypertension. During thoracic aortic occlusion, increased concentrations of catecholamines, anglotensin, and renin have been demonstrated. 7-9 These substances, as well as other humoral factors released from ischemic tissues below the cross-clamp, may influence the vascular tone m vessels proximal to the cross-clamp. 2,7-~° In addition, Gelman and others have noted a significant increase in blood volume in organs and tissues above the level of the aortic clamp, as well as increased upper body
Psychopathy, Academic Accountants’ Attitudes towards Unethical Research Practices, and Publication Success

Psychopathy is characterized by deficits of conscience and empathy, and is measurable in nonclinical populations. It is one of the “Dark Triad” of personality variables, but has received minimal attention in accounting literature, despite obvious implications for fraud. In the practice of empirical research, two sides of the “Fraud Triangle,” motive and opportunity, are in place, awaiting only rationalization. For one high on the psychopathy scale, rationalization of fraud is easy or moot. Widespread fraud exists in scientific research, and studies indicate that accounting is not exempt. I hypothesize and find a positive effect of psychopathy on article publication count in leading accounting journals, mediated by individuals’ greater acceptance of unethical acts in research and publication. Participants are 546 North American accounting faculty who have published in accounting research journals, who are lower on the psychopathy scale than previous samples from other populations. Policy and research implications are discussed.
Ultraviolet radiation as disinfection for fish surgical tools

Background: Transmitters used in telemetry studies are typically surgically implanted into the coelom of fish. When large numbers of fish are implanted consecutively, as in large telemetry studies, it is common for surgical tools (such as scalpels, forceps, needle holders and sutures) to be sterilized or, at minimum, disinfected between each use to minimize the transfer of pathogens. Chemicals are commonly used for disinfection but they can potentially harm fish and surgeons. UV radiation could provide a safe and more effective means for disinfection. The efficacy of UV radiation was determined for disinfecting surgical tools exposed to one of four aquatic organisms that typically lead to negative health issues for salmonids. The organisms include Aeromonas salmonicida, Flavobacterium psychrophilum, Renibacterium salmoninarum, and Saprolegnia parasitica, the causative agents of ulcer disease, coldwater disease, bacterial kidney disease, and saprolegniasis (water mold), respectively. Results: In the first experiment, forceps were exposed to three species of bacteria at three varying concentrations. After exposure, tools were placed into a mobile Millipore UV sterilization apparatus. The tools were then radiated for three different time periods – 2, 5 or 15 minutes. UV radiation exposures at all durations were effective at killing all three species of bacteria on forceps at the highest bacteria concentrations. In the second experiment, stab scalpels, sutures and needle holders were exposed to A. salmonicida using the same methodology as used in Experiment 1. UV radiation exposure at 5 and 15 minutes was effective at killing A. salmonicida on stab scalpels and sutures but not needle holders. In the third experiment, S. parasitica, a water mold, was tested using an agar plate-method and forceps-pinch method. UV radiation was effective at killing the water mold at all three exposure durations. Conclusions: Collectively, this study shows that UV radiation appears to be an effective disinfection method for some surgical tools. However, we do not recommend using this method for tools that have overlapping parts, such as needle holders, or other structures that cannot be exposed directly to UV radiation.
The Spatial Analysis of Yield Data

Yield data are now recorded automatically for a wide variety of crops including cereal grains, oilseeds, fiber, forage, biomass, fruits and vegetables. Yield monitors for grain crops were developed in the 1980s and commercialized by 1992 before global positioning systems (GPS) had become fully operational for civilian use. Since the initial agricultural use of GPS, farmers have made intensive use of yield monitors. This chapter describes how yield data from monitors must be calibrated and how measurement errors can be addressed. Yield data can be used to target crop and soil investigations, nutrient applications and for on-farm experiments. Challenges concerning the use of yield data for decision making are considered; important amongst these are the difficulties associated with spatially correlated data for traditional statistical analyses and the alignment of data in different spatial layers. This Chapter uses spatial statistics rather than only geostatistics; the latter comes within this broader category. Some links between the different approaches in spatial analysis are illustrated. Spatial statistics lends itself better to econometrics than does geostatistics, and the importance of the economics of precision agriculture is discussed. The methods described are applied to a case study of soya bean data.
Comparison of Obesity, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviors Between Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Without

Body mass index classification, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behaviors were compared in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to typically developing adolescents. Participants included 42,747 adolescents (ASD, n = 915) from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health. After controlling for covariates, adolescents were more likely to be overweight and obese, and less likely to engage in regular PA versus typically developing adolescents (p's < 0.05). Increased odds for overweight and obesity were attenuated after adjustment for PA. Higher autism severity was associated with increased odds of overweight and obesity and decreased odds of PA, sport, and club participation. These findings suggest adolescents with ASD are in need of targeted programs to decrease obesity and increase physical activity.
Comparison of Artificial Dissipation and Filtering Schemes for Time-Accurate Simulations

This study makes a comparison between artificial dissipation and filtering schemes as stabilization techniques for time-accurate fluid dynamics simulations. Specifically, we use von Neumann stability analysis to assess these alternatives in terms of their concurrent ability to maintain solution quality through proper preservation of low frequency content, while selectively damping high frequency errors. Our studies reveal the limitations of traditional artificial dissipation schemes as well as of explicit filtering procedures, while also providing a common framework to understand the relationship between these approaches. Importantly, we develop appropriate definitions of Pade-type (implicit) filtering procedures that have favorable properties for time-accurate computations over a wide range of time scales and Mach numbers.
Patient recruitment: Problems and soluti

The goal of this session is to illustrate not only some of the problems but also some of the solutions to patient recruitment. The rapporteur for this session is Barbara Hawkins of the Coordinating Center Models Project at the University of Maryland. It was Harold Roth of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases who first suggested the need for a rapporteur for these sessions. I misunderstood hirn, thinking he had said “raconteur,” and I invited Barbara to entertain us with some lively stories to lighten the program. Unfortunately, Barbara will not be telling us any stories today, but she did tell me one to pass on to you.
Meaning and interaction in Spanish independent si-clauses

Abstract This paper analyzes the coded meaning of the Spanish particle si ( si is argued instead to be epistemic in nature, marking the proposition that it accompanies as one that is obviously true to the speaker. This analysis allows for a unitary and unifying account of a number of diverse examples that are problematic for prior analyses. The analysis also permits a straightforward understanding of discourse patterns surrounding independent si -clauses, as well as their functional similarity to certain uses of conditional sentence structures.
The Public Asian Bloc

As in the North, the line between private and public in Asia has become blurred. This chapter maps out the connections whereby Asian public elites mesh with both Asian private elites and TNEs, thereby becoming integrated into the Global Establishment.
Twitter Taunts and Tirades: Negative Campaigning in the Age of Trump

What drives candidates to “go negative” and against which opponents? Using a unique dataset consisting of all inter-candidate tweets by the 17 Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 primaries, we assess predictors of negative affect online. Twitter is a free platform, and candidates therefore face no resource limitations when using it; this makes Twitter a wellspring of information about campaign messaging, given a level playing-field. Moreover, Twitter’s 140-character limit acts as a liberating constraint, leading candidates to issue sound bites ready for potential distribution not only online, but also through conventional media, as tweets become news. We find tweet negativity and overall rate of tweeting increases as the campaign season progresses. Unsurprisingly, the front-runner and eventual nominee, Donald Trump, sends and receives the most negative tweets and is more likely than his opponents to strike out against even those opponents who are polling poorly. However, candidates overwhelmingly “punch upwards” against those ahead of them in the polls, and this pattern goes beyond attacks against those near the top. Sixty of 136 dyads are characterized by lopsided negativity in one direction and only one of these 60 involves a clearly higher status candidate on the offensive.
Abstract 184: Sirt3 is a Critical Mediator of Diet-induced Vasomotor Dysfunction

Increases in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) can contribute to endothelial dysfunction in conduit arteries by reducing nitric oxide bioavailability. SIRT3 is a protein deacetylase localized to mitochondria and regulates activity of numerous electron transport chain enzymes, and can be inactivated by increases in mitochondrial ROS. Whether reductions in SIRT3 are an independent contributor to endothelial dysfunction, however, are unknown. Therefore, we hypothesized that SIRT3 null mice (SIRT3-/-) will have impaired relaxation to acetylcholine (MRAch) compared to wild-type littermates (SIRT3+/+), and that this difference will be exacerbated by Western diet feeding for 3 months (TD88137, 42% of kcal from fat, 0.2% cholesterol). Endothelial function was measured using isolated organ bath chambers, and endothelium-dependent (MRAch) and endothelium-independent (sodium nitroprusside, MRSNP) relaxation were measured. In contrast to our hypothesis, MRACH was virtually identical between SIRT3+/+ and SIRT3-/- fed a standard chow diet (MRACH= 68±2% and 69±3%; respectively), and MRSNP also remained unchanged between the two genotypes. In groups fed a Western diet, however, endothelium-dependent relaxation was significantly impaired in SIRT3-/- mice compared to SIRT3+/+ littermates (MRACH = 49±4% and 58±3%, respectively; p<0.05). MRSNP was not altered by either Western diet feeding or SIRT3 deficiency. Interestingly, impairments in MRAch in SIRT3-/- mice fed a Western diet were not rescued with acute incubation of apocynin (an NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor) or mito-tempol (a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant), suggesting that chronic antioxidant and/or acetyltransferase inhibition may be required to improve vasomotor function in this model. Collectively, our data suggest that SIRT3 plays a major role in regulating endothelial function with dietary stress, and may be a useful therapeutic target to reduce cardiovascular risk.
Stimulation with K562 Cells Transfected with 4-1BBL and IL-15 Expands and Activates Natural Killer (NK) Cells with Specific Cytotoxicity for Multiple Myeloma (MM).

Introduction: Although stem cell transplant (PBSCT) supported high dose chemotherapy can induce remission in MM patients with high risk features (e.g. high CKS1-B expression and abnormal cytogenetics) there is a high rate of relapse. Immunologic therapies can augment high dose chemotherapy by eradicating chemo-resistant disease. We have previously established that KIR-ligand mismatched NK cells from haplo-identical donors are cytotoxic to primary MM cells. In this study we investigate whether co-incubation of NK cells with irradiated K562 cells transfected with 41BBL and membrane-bound IL15 (K562-41BBL-mIL15) could expand NK cells and augment cytotoxicity to primary MM cells. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of normal donors were co-cultured with irradiated K562-41BBL -mIL15 at a 1.5:1 ratio with varying concentrations of IL2 and re-stimulated on day 7. The cultures were then analyzed for proliferation, expansion, immunophenotype and cytotoxicity. Results: By testing a range of IL2 concentrations (10–300 IU/ml) we first established that 100IU of IL2/ml induced optimal proliferation in H3 thymidine uptake assays and this concentration was used in all subsequent experiments. After two weeks PBMC co-cultured with K562-41BBL-mIL15 were enriched for NK cells (93%) and contained few T cells (0.8%) compared to PBMC cultured with IL2 alone (NK cells 11.9% and T cells 58.7% respectively). In absolute numbers there was as 60-fold (±0.6) expansion of NK cells in the K562-41BBL -IL15 cultures compared to only a 1.5-fold expansion of NK cells cultured with IL2 alone. NK cells were analyzed by flow cytometry for expression of KIR2DL1, KIR2DL2/3, and KIR3DL1 pre- and post-incubation with K562-41BBL-mIL15 and we observed no change in NK immunophenotype. 51Cr release assays of expanded NK cells showed specific killing of K562 cells (84±4%), the MM cell line U266 (88±3%), and primary MM cells (58±9%), without killing of non-myeloma patient cells (PHA-blasts) or autologous cells at a ratio of 7 NK effectors to 1 target cell. Expanded NK cells achieved much higher specific lysis and at lower E:T ratios of primary MM cells when compared side-by-side with non-expanded NK cells. Conclusion: K562-41BBL-mIL15 transfectants stimulated vigorous expansion of NK cells without expanding T lymphocytes. Analysis of the KIR repertoire showed that there was no change in NK cell subpopulations after expansion. The expanded NK cells were highly active and killed patient MM cells better than non-expanded NK cells without significant lysis of normal cells. Expanded/activated NK cells may prove especially helpful in treating patients with relapsed/refractory MM who have a high tumor burden.
Performance of feature-based texture classifiers versus Convolutional Neural Network under sparse training data

In this work, we compare the performance of three local-feature-based texture classifiers and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) at face recognition with sparse training data. The texture-based classifiers use Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG), Local Binary Patterns (LBP), and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), respectively. The CNN uses six convolutional layers, two pooling layers, two fully connected layers, and outputs a softmax probability distribution over the classes. The dataset contains 100 classes with five samples each, and is partitioned so there is only one training sample per class. Under these conditions, we find that all three feature-based approaches significantly outperform the CNN, with the HOG-based approach showing especially strong performance.
Indications for Oophorectomy and Adnexectomy

Oophorectomy is associated with decreased long-term health outcomes and ovarian conservation should be considered in many woman having pelvic surgery. Oophorectomy is indicated for women with an adnexal mass that is suspicious for malignancy or for a mass that increases in size or complexity when monitored with serial sonography. Adnexal torsion can usually be treated with de-torsion rather than adnexectomy. Oophorectomy decreases the likelihood of repeat surgery in women with severe, symptomatic endometriosis.