cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recent Clinical Trials of Acupuncture for Cancer Patients

Acupuncture is one of the most extensively studied complementary medicine modalities. The quality of acupuncture research has become increasingly better, due to refinement of research methodology and its dissemination among the researchers. In recent years, many randomized controlled trials have been reported on the application of acupuncture in cancer care. Here we review the studies deemed of high quality (Jadad scale 3 or above). The studies consist of randomized controlled trials of acupuncture on nausea, vomiting, hot flashes, xerostomia, pain, fatigue, mood-related symptoms and neutropenia. The most solid evidence came from studies of chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting. Acupuncture has been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce nausea and vomiting in both the post-operative setting and the chemotherapy setting. Less strong evidence with mixed results was demonstrated in trials on hot flashes, xerostomia and post-operative pain, where acupuncture has shown benefit in some but not in other trials. There are insufficient number of trials of reasonable quality to evaluate other indications for acupuncture in cancer care. Serious adverse events are rare or non-existent among those trials. It would help our understanding of acupuncture if future studies take a “whole system” approach, taking into consideration of efficacy and effectiveness questions, and further explore the mechanistic aspect of acupuncture.
Structural Characterization of Substrate Transport Selectivity of the SLC13 Family of Na+/Dicarboxylate Cotransporters

Members of the sodium dependent SLC13 transporter family mediate the transport of di and tricarboxylates of the citric acid cycle into cells. SLC13 transporters such as NaCT (SLC13A5) have been implicated in lifespan extension and resistance to high fat diets and are therefore emerging drug targets for aging and metabolic disorders. Here, we combine various computational and experimental methods to improve our understanding of the structural components that are important for substrate specificity in this physiologically important family. We first used homology modeling, site-directed mutagenesis and transport assays to characterize the human NaDC3 (SLC13A3) and identify key residues involved in substrate and Na+ binding. We then expanded our study and generated homology models for various SLC13 transporters from the human and mouse. Virtual screening of various small molecule libraries followed by experimental testing revealed nine previously unknown inhibitors of multiple members of the familly. Ligand optimization showed that differential ligand binding specificity among SLC13 family members is largely determined by the length of the carbon chain and the size of the ligands. Additionally, we identified two key positions that define a unique binding site for each SLC13 member. Our findings rationalize substrate specificity in the SLC13 family and provide a framework for the development of more potent inhibitors.
Immigrant Exclusion and Insecurity in Africa: Immigrant Exclusion from Host Societies

“Yorubas eat people.” My Accra taxi driver had inquired about my research on my commute home from work, and interrupted my account when I told him I was working with Yoruba and Hausa communities.He further explained that Yorubas areNigerians, that they are fraudsters, perform black magic, and cannot be trusted. Hausas, on the other hand, did not evoke the same agitation: “Hausas are Ghanaians,” he shrugged. Although blunt, my taxi driver expressed sentiments I had already heard in one form or another among Ghanaians in Accra. This chapter asks whether and why urban African immigrantswho share cultural similarities with their host societies face greater exclusion than those who share no such cultural similarities. The previous chapter showed that immigrants who share cultural traits with their host societies display greater attachment to their immigrant communities; in this chapter, I demonstrate that those immigrant groups also experience greater exclusion from their hosts. This is so because indigenous merchants are directly threatened by the implications of cultural overlap and increase their hostility toward groups who they perceive can more easily assimilate through the cultural networks they share with their host societies. In this chapter I first elaborate the argument that cultural overlap increases economic competition between immigrants and hosts, and thus elicits greater exclusionary attitudes among hosts. I then test the argument using survey data on a random sample of Ghanaians in Accra and Nigeriens in Niamey. I further test the argument with a comparative analysis of immigrant insecurity among Christian and Muslim Yorubas in Ghana at the time of Ghana’s Alien Compliance Order of 1969. Finally, I survey prominent alternative explanations for why Yorubas are more excluded in Accra while Hausas are more excluded in Niamey, and show that these do not pan out.
Diplomacy and Betrayal (1997–1999)

The Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan-Iran disputes had shown the volatility that came with operating in a legal half-vacuum. By the end of 1997, however, a gradual picture began to emerge about the eventual shape of a new Caspian regime. It had proven virtually impossible to get every country to agree at once to a new set of rules, so the next best option was to hammer at a gradual process of consensus building.
Osteoporosis Associated with Illnesses and Medications

Primary osteoporosis is a condition characterized by global skeletal fragility that develops in association with the usual processes of menopause and advancing age. Secondary osteoporoses are the consequence of specific clinical disorders and medications, including a variety of endocrine, gastrointestinal, rheumatologic, and genetic diseases that cause low bone mineral density (BMD), either by interfering with attainment of peak bone mass or by increasing rates of involutional bone loss. In addition, many drugs are associated with alterations in bone remodeling that may lead tobone loss and/or impairment of bone strength. The effects of these diseases and drugs may be superimposed upon the primary processes that cause osteoporosis, exacerbating age- and menopause-related bone loss in affected individuals. In this chapter, we consider certain disorders and drugs that are frequently associated with osteoporosis. Those addressed here are indicated in boldface type in Table 48.1, whereas the table refers the reader to those covered elsewhere in this book by indicating the appropriate chapter in which they are considered. Some topics previously considered in this chapter, such as diabetes mellitus and anticonvulsant medications, now appear as stand-alone chapters elsewhere in this book.
Associations between Electrophysiological Evidence of Reward and Punishment-Based Learning and Psychotic Experiences and Social Anhedonia in At-Risk Groups

Both positive psychotic symptoms and anhedonia are associated with striatal functioning, but few studies have linked risk for psychotic disorders to a neural measure evoked during a striatal dopamine-related reward and punishment-based learning task, such as a reversal learning task (RLT; Cools et al, 2009). The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a neural response that in part reflects striatal dopamine functioning. We recorded EEG during the RLT in three groups: (a) people with psychotic experiences (PE; n=20) at increased risk for psychotic disorders; (b) people with extremely elevated social anhedonia (SocAnh; n=22); and (c) controls (n=20). Behaviorally, consistent with increased striatal dopamine, the PE group exhibited better behavioral learning (ie, faster responses) after unexpected reward than after unexpected punishment. Moreover, although the control and SocAnh groups showed a larger FRN to punishment than reward, the PE group showed similar FRNs to punishment and reward, with a numerically larger FRN to reward than punishment (with similar results on these trials also found for a P3a component). These results are among the first to link a neural response evoked by a reward and punishment-based learning task specifically with elevated psychosis risk.
Virus Survival and Transport in Ground Water

Viruses are a significant cause of waterborne disease in the United States; it has been estimated that they may be responsible for as much as 50% of the reported outbreaks. This fact has led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to propose a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) for viruses in drinking water. Septic tanks, which contribute over one trillion gallons of waste to the subsurface every year, are a major source of viruses in soils and ground water. The purpose of this research was to develop a model which could be used to estimate safe distances between septic tanks, or other sources of contamination, and drinking-water wells. The model was based on ground-water flow characteristics and the length of time that viruses remain infective in the subsurface environment. Water samples were collected from 71 continuously pumping municipal drinking-water wells. Viruses were inoculated into the water samples, and the rate at which the viruses were inactivated was calculated for each sample. The inactivation rates were determined to be spatially correlated by calculating a semivariogram. Kriging, a geostatistical technique, was used to estimate virus inactivation rates at unsampled locations using the measured values at nearby locations. The measured and kriged virus inactivation rates were used in conjunction with the regional ground-water flow characteristics to calculate septic tank setback distances over a city-wide area. The setback distance was defined as the distance required for a 7-log reduction in virus number in the time that the water traveled from the source of contamination to a drinking-water well. The model has been extended to account for alterations in the flow field caused by the presence of pumping wells. Setback distances of less than 15 m to greater than 300 m have been calculated using these models. The results of this research may be useful for community planning purposes, because areas with higher potentials for viral contamination of ground water may be identified based on the maps generated by the model. In addition, the models may be useful in granting variances from the mandatory ground-water disinfection requirement under consideration by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Interaction of Ultrasonic Waves with Layered Media

A unified theoretical treatment is presented for the interaction of ultrasonic waves with multilayered media. The wave is supposed to be incident from water, at an arbitrary angle, upon a plate consisting of an arbitrary number of different material layers. The composite plate is supported from the bottom by a solid half-space. It is assumed that all solid interfaces are rigidly bonded. Reflection and transmission coefficients are derived for the total system. By examining the behavior of the reflection coefficient, all of the propagating modes are identified. Numerical results are given in order to delineate the influence of the plate material orderings on the propagation process.
Abstract 5054: Discerning the PARP-dependent AR cistrome/transcriptome in prostate cancer

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) is an abundant nuclear enzyme that modifies substrates by poly (ADP-ribose)-ylation. Although PARP-1 has a number of well-described roles in the response to and repair of DNA damage (especially as associated with base excision repair), significant studies have demonstrated that PARP-1 functions in transcriptional regulation in multiple contexts. In the context of prostatic adenocarcinoma (PCa), our group recently discovered that PARP-1 enzymatic activity is a critical effector of androgen receptor (AR) function, and is recruited to regulatory sites of select AR target genes. Pharmacological inhibition of PARP-1 enzymatic activity results in diminished AR and PARP-1 residency at AR target gene regulatory loci, reduced AR target gene expression, and reduced AR-driven, PCa-associated phenotypes, including castrate-resistant PCa (CRPC) AR function, tumor cell growth, and transition to CRPC. Accordingly, to gain further mechanistic insight in to the PARP-1-dependent AR cistrome/transcriptome, unbiased genome-wide analyses were undertaken in both hormone therapy-sensitive PCa and CRPC model systems. Data to be discussed provide essential insight into the mechanisms by which PARP-1 modulates gene regulation and AR function, but also identifies new and unexpected functions of PARP-1 in human malignancies. Citation Format: Matthew J. Schiewer, Sumin Han, Joseph Evans, Michael A. Augello, Lisa Berman-Booty, Theodore Parsons, Ruth Birbe, Adam P. Dicker, William Kevin Kelly, Leonard G. Gomella, Felix Feng, Karen E. Knudsen. Discerning the PARP-dependent AR cistrome/transcriptome in prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5054. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5054
Ischemic femoral head osteonecrosis in a piglet model causes three dimensional decrease in acetabular coverage.

Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCPD) is a childhood form of ischemic osteonecrosis marked by development of severe femoral head deformity and premature osteoarthritis. The pathogenesis of femoral head deformity has been studied extensively using a piglet model of ischemic osteonecrosis, however, accompanying acetabular changes have not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine if acetabular changes accompany femoral head deformity in a well-established piglet model of LCPD and to define the acetabular changes using three dimensional computed tomography (3-D CT) and modeling. Twenty-four piglets were surgically induced with ischemic osteonecrosis on the right side. The contralateral hip was used as control. At 8 weeks postoperative, pelvi were retrieved and imaged with CT. Custom software was used to measure acetabular morphologic parameters on 3-D CT images. Moderate to severe femoral head deformities were present in all animals. Acetabula with accompanying femoral head deformity had a significant decrease in acetabular version and tilt (p < 0.001) and in coverage angle in the superior, posterior, and inferior quadrants (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that the development of femoral head deformity following ischemic osteonecrosis produces specific and predictable changes to the shape of the acetabulum. Acetabular changes described in patients with LCPD were observed in the piglet model. This model may serve as a valuable tool to elucidate the relationship between femoral head and acetabular deformities. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1173-1177, 2018.
Spatial management in small-scale fisheries: A potential approach for climate change adaptation in Pacific Islands

Abstract Small-scale fisheries are undeniably important for livelihoods, food security and income around the globe. However, they face major challenges, including global market and demographic shifts, policy changes and climate variations that may threaten the wellbeing, health and safety of fishing communities. Over the years, various forms of spatial management have been implemented in small-scale fisheries as a potential solution to problems afflicting these systems. The benefits of such approaches can be numerous for both ecosystems and coastal communities. In addition to the persistent challenges influencing small-scale fisheries practices, the emerging effects of climate change pose serious risks to coastal ecosystems and fishing communities, especially in low-lying islands. Despite a growing recognition of both the benefits of spatial management and the adverse effects of climate change on small-scale fisheries, integration of these concepts in a consistent and comprehensive way has not yet occurred. Spatial management has the potential to foster small-scale fisheries adaptation to climate change, however, in the face of such a global and transboundary phenomenon, management strategies will need to be carefully designed and implemented. First, key considerations for climate-informed spatial management in small-scale fisheries were identified. Second, these key considerations were illustrated in two selected case studies in Pacific Island countries and territories (i.e. Fiji and Papua New Guinea). Finally, the challenges associated with spatial management in a changing climate are discussed and ways forward for advancing this type of management as a climate adaptation approach for small-scale fisheries in the Pacific and beyond are proposed.
Symmetries of shamrocks, Part I

Abstract Hexagons with four-lobed regions called shamrocks removed from their center were introduced in their 2013 paper by Ciucu and Krattenthaler, where product formulas for the number of their lozenge tilings were provided. In analogy with the plane partitions which they generalize, we consider the problem of enumerating the lozenge tilings which are invariant under some symmetries of the underlying region. This leads to six symmetry classes besides the base case of requiring no symmetry. In this paper we provide product formulas for two of these symmetry classes (namely, the ones generalizing cyclically symmetric, and cyclically symmetric and transpose complementary plane partitions).
Variational Principles, Geometry and Topology of Lagrangian-Averaged Fluid Dynamics

The Lagrangian average (LA) of the ideal fluid equations preserves their transport structure. This transport structure is responsible for the Kelvin circulation theorem of the LA flow and, hence, for its convection of potential vorticity and its conservation of helicity. Lagrangian averaging also preserves the Euler-Poincare (EP) variational framework that implies the LA fluid equations. This is expressed in the Lagrangian-averaged Euler- Poincare (LAEP) theorem proven here and illustrated for the Lagrangian average Euler (LAE) equations.
Predicting speaker recognition reliability by considering emotional content

Studies have shown that emotional variability in speech degrades the performance of speaker recognition tasks. Of particular interest is the error produced due to mismatch between training speaker recognition models with neutral speech and testing them with expressive speech. While previous studies have considered categorical emotions, expressive speech during human interaction conveys subtle behaviors that are better characterized with continuous descriptors (e.g., attributes such as arousal, valence, dominance). As the emotion becomes more intense, we expect the performance of speaker recognition tasks to drop. Can we define emotional regions for which the speaker recognition performance is expected to be reliable? This study focuses on automatically predicting reliable regions for speaker recognition by analyzing and predicting the emotional content. We collected a unique emotional database from 80 speakers. We estimate speaker recognition performance as a function of arousal and valence, creating regions in this space where we can reliably recognize the identity of a speaker. Then, we train speech emotion recognizers designed to predict whether the emotional content in a sentence is within the reliable region. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that sentences that are classified as reliable for speaker recognition tasks have lower equal error rate (EER) than sentences that are considered unreliable.
Disparities in Initiation of Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents for Hepatitis C Virus Infection in an Insured Population:

Objectives:The cost of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may contribute to treatment disparities. However, few data exist on factors associated with DAA in...
Coalitions and Catastrophic Climate Change

This chapter surveys the results in general equilibrium theory based on dynamical models, and emphasizes the role of structural stability. In this context it is natural to consider a preference field H for the society, combining economic fields, associated with the preferred changes wrought by agents in the economic market place, together with fields of preferred changes in the polity. A preference field specifies at each point \( x\in \) the space of states, X, a set of feasible vectors of change. A condition called half-openness of H is sufficient to guarantee existence of a local direction gradient, d, for the society, and thus of a social choice. when half openness fails then the dynamical system so defined can be chaotic. We apply some of these abstract ideas to the question of dealing with climate change.
Aesthetic Outcome of Breast Implant Removal

There have been significant postoperative problems following breast augmentation, including capsule contracture, infection, thinning of tissues over the implant, malposition, implant rupture, rippling, and fear of the silicone implant from the media scare and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. There are occasions when a patient will choose implant removal. Following removal there may be breast tissue loss, ptosis, loss of cleavage, loss of upper-pole fullness, and irregularities. The patient may then desire reconstruction, the type of which is determined by the defect or deficit. Implant reimplantation may be a solution, or autogenous tissue reconstruction may be necessary.
Modulation of Oscillation and Synchrony in the CNS by Exposure to Weak ELF Magnetic Fields

A growing body of evidence suggests that weak extremely low frequency (ELF; 1-100 Hz) electric and magnetic fields may affect the central nervous system (CNS). Exogenous ELF fields have been associated with effects involving reaction time,18,21 learning and memory,19,39 45Ca2+efflux from brain slices,3,10 and neuronal field potentials,6,7,8,9 Endogenous ELF fields have been implicated primarily in the initiation and propagation of oscillation and synchrony within the CNS.22,28,38 Such synchrony has been demonstrated in olfactory bulb,28 and in hippocampal slices maintained in Ca2+-depleted media,22,37 mediated by synchronization of subthreshold membrane potential oscillations (MPOs) among pyramidal neurons, thereby increasing the probability of coincident action potential generation within the ensemble.22,37,38
States of Exception: Gender-based Violence in the Global South

Gender-based violence in the Global South normally emerges in news coverage as exceptional eruptions of brutality. Comparing media coverage of sexual assaults in South Africa and India, this chapter maps the consequences of presenting gender-based violence as a state of exception. In addition, the chapter turns its attention to social media where feminist voices were able to give voice to alternative understandings of sexual violence. Through an analysis of the feedback and feed-forward loops of digital media circuits the chapter teases out the differential impact of feminists in South Africa and India. In the final analysis, race, caste, and class remain sticky vectors that continue to shape media and feminist responses to gender-based violence.
Macrocycle threading using solvatochromic squaraine dyes

ABSTRACTNon-covalent assembly is an attractive way to fabricate deep-red fluorescent probes for biological imaging. Four new solvatochromic squaraine dyes with unsymmetric structures are prepared a...
Epitaxial growth of Cr [001] on LiF [001]

We report X-ray diffraction and in-situ RHEED( Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction) measurements on Cr thin films deposited on LiF[001] single crystal substrates for thicknesses up to 300 nm and for substrate temperatures from 30 to 450°C. From these measurements we determine the range of deposition conditions necessary for epitaxial growth and the stress in these films as a function of film thickness.
A symmetrical quasi-classical windowing model for the molecular dynamics treatment of non-adiabatic processes involving many electronic states

In the previous work of Cotton and Miller [J. Chem. Phys. 145, 144108 (2016)], an improved symmetrical quasi-classical (SQC) windowing model for the molecular dynamics treatment of electronically non-adiabatic processes was developed in order to extend the original SQC approach to the regime of weak-coupling between the electronic states. The improved SQC model-based on triangular-shaped window functions-handled the weak-coupling limit as intended and, as a bonus, was shown to be universally superior to the original square/histogram SQC windowing model over all coupling regimes, but only for treating systems of two electronic states, as no higher-dimensional generalization was evident. This paper, therefore, provides a generalized version for treating an arbitrary number of electronic states. By construction, the benefits of the two-state triangle model-seamless treatment of weak-coupling and improved accuracy in all coupling regimes-carry over to the generalized version. Far more significant, however, is that the new model provides vastly improved windowing statistics in higher dimensions, enabling the SQC simulation of electronically non-adiabatic processes involving many more relevant electronic states than was previously practical. Capabilities are demonstrated with respect to a 24 pigment trimer model of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson light-harvesting complex, as well as treating similar 48- and 96-electronic state model problems, illustrating the scaling properties of the new method.
Communication-Aware Scheduling of Serial Tasks for Dispersed Computing

There is a growing interest in development of in-network dispersed computing paradigms that leverage the computing capabilities of heterogeneous resources dispersed across the network for processing massive amount of data is collected at the edge of the network. We consider the problem of task scheduling for such networks, in a dynamic setting in which arriving computation jobs are modeled as chains, with nodes representing tasks, and edges representing precedence constraints among tasks. In our proposed model, motivated by significant communication costs in dispersed computing environments, the communication times are taken into account. More specifically, we consider a network where servers are capable of serving all task types, and sending the results of processed tasks from one server to another server results in some communication delay that makes the design of optimal scheduling policy significantly more challenging than classical queueing networks. As the main contributions of the paper, we first characterize the capacity region of the network, then propose a novel virtual queueing network encoding the state of the network. Finally, we propose a Max- Weight type scheduling policy, and considering the virtual queueing network in the fluid limit, we use a Lyapunov argument to show that the policy is throughput-optimal.
Anatomic Considerations Relevant to Atrial and Ventricular Arrhythmias

Knowledge of relevant cardiac anatomy is crucial in understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of arrhythmias, and helps avoid potential complications in mapping and ablation. This article explores the anatomy, relevant to electrophysiologists, relating to atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia relating to the outflow tracts as well as endocardial structure, and also epicardial considerations for mapping and ablation.
Planar sparse array design for transmit beamforming (Conference Presentation)

This paper considers optimum sparse arrays for target detection and tracking. Sparse array optimization simplifies the receiver design and reduces both the hardware and computational cost. In this paper, we consider two-dimensional sparse array design for transmit beamforming in MIMO radar operation. We pursue a bi-objective design function that jointly focuses the maximum energy towards the target locations while ensuring minimum cross-correlations from the radar returns, enabling adaptive target tracking. This involves a joint design of sensor locations as well as the transmitted waveforms. We compare the performance of the proposed sparse array design with other commonly used sparse arrays.
Blocking Coronavirus 19 Infection via the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein: Initial Steps

Recent crystal structure data for protein-protein interactions featuring the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein will inevitably trigger a new wave of research in this area that was not possible before. This Viewpoint outlines a few of the ways that it is already happening.
DropSynth 2.0: high-fidelity multiplexed gene synthesis in emulsions

Multiplexed assays allow functional testing of large synthetic libraries of genetic elements, but are limited by the designability, length, fidelity and scale of the input DNA. Here, we improve DropSynth, a low-cost, multiplexed method that builds gene libraries by compartmentalizing and assembling microarray-derived oligonucleotides in vortexed emulsions. By optimizing enzyme choice, adding enzymatic error correction and increasing scale, we show that DropSynth can build thousands of gene-length fragments at >20% fidelity.
Incidental Finding of Asymptomatic Vaginal Cuff Dehiscence with Evisceration of Abdominal Content During Prolapse Repair

Background: Vaginal cuff dehiscence with abdominal content evisceration is typically a surgical emergency. Case: A 45-year-old woman with a history of vaginal hysterectomy, anterior/posterior repai...
So close yet so different: Neighborhood inequality and child maltreatment.

Abstract Background Extensive research has documented the importance of neighborhood contextual factors in shaping maltreatment risk. Evidence is limited about the role of economic inequality within neighborhoods, which has increased substantially in the US over the past decade. Objective This study examines the relationship between neighborhood-level inequality and child maltreatment risk, paying particular attention to the cross-level interactions between neighborhood inequality and family income. Participants and setting A population-based cohort of 4,898 children born in large US cities was sampled in 1998–2000 and followed up at ages 1, 3, 5, and 9. Method A set of regression models was analyzed to estimate the associations of family income, neighborhood inequality (operationalized as terciles of the Gini coefficient), and the interaction of these with child maltreatment risk, operationalized as physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, CPS involvement, and spanking. Results Low-income was associated with higher risks of neglect and CPS involvement, but not physical abuse, psychological abuse, or spanking. Among low-income families, higher neighborhood inequality was associated with lower likelihood of spanking. Among higher-income families, higher neighborhood inequality levels were associated with higher risks of physical abuse, yet lower risks of psychological abuse. Conclusion Our findings align with previous studies showing mixed results on the relationship between neighborhood inequality and health outcomes. Those results may suggest that the effect of low-income itself is more important than the neighborhood context. Further research is needed to identify the determinants of inequality at the neighborhood level and the underlying mechanisms of its association with child maltreatment risks.
Deep Neural Network Pipelines for Multivariate Time Series Classification in Smart Manufacturing

In smart manufacturing, multivariate time series (MTS) data from interconnected sensors and actuators have been collected to model the product quality. However, high dimensional MTS data associated with complex functional structures has posed significant challenges for classical machine learning and statistical learning methods. As alternatives, deep neural networks (DNN) with highly non-linear structures and various data augmentation, pre-processing, and tuning techniques have been investigated for MTS data modeling. The recent transformation of step-by-step offline data analytics to the fast end-to-end computation pipelines motivated us to investigate DNN pipelines for MTS classification problems. However, execution of all the candidate DNN pipelines is computationally expensive, which calls for an effective approach. Thus, the adaptive top-N linear generative-discriminative (AT-LinGD) method is proposed as a learning to rank method that learns top-N ranked pipelines by iteratively exploring a small subset of all possible pipelines. It generates latent variables to describe pipelines and explore them to update the exploration set in a sequential manner. Thus, the adaptively generated latent variables enable the efficient and accurate ranking of the top-N pipelines with limited execution. A real case study of aerosol® jet printing process demonstrates the merits of the AT-LinGD model.
Urinary melatonin and risk of ovarian cancer.

Purpose Melatonin has anti-carcinogenic properties, including modulation of estradiol production, cell cycle regulation, and promotion of apoptosis. Urinary melatonin has been inversely associated with breast cancer in some studies, but the association with ovarian cancer has not been investigated.
Interactive Motor Learning with the Autonomous Training Assistant: A Case Study

At-home exercise programs have met limited success in rehabilitation and training. A primary cause for this is the lack of a trainer’s presence for feedback and guidance in the home. To create such an environment, we have developed a model for the representation of motor learning tasks and training protocols. We designed a toolkit based on this model, the Autonomous Training Assistant, which uses avatar interaction and real-time multi-modal feedback to guide at-home exercise. As an initial case study, we evaluate a component of our system on a child with Cerebral Palsy and his martial arts trainer through three simple motion activities, demonstrating the effectiveness of the model in representing the trainer’s exercise program.
Neuroligation: building synapses around the neurexin-neuroligin link.

Serafini and colleagues provide evidence that neuroligin acts as a trans-neuronal signal to induce presynaptic differentiation at neuron–neuron connections in vitro.
Web-Based Student Assessment for Program Evaluation

As part of an overall evaluation of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, (GLOBE) program, we designed a Web-based assessment environment to measure students' environmental awareness and data analysis skill. It was expected that students who were identified as high implementers in the GLOBE program would outperform low implementers in their ability to construct environmental inferences and the degree to which they could analyze environmental data. Seven high and middle school classrooms were identified as either high or low GLOBE implementers depending on the amount of atmospheric data they had collected during the year. Within each classroom students were assigned into smaller learning groups of three students per group. A total of 32 groups participated in this study. Analysis of students' responses to the tasks revealed that the students differed in their performance. Overall, the results showed that students in the high implementing classrooms were more likely to construct higher-level environmental inferences than students in the low implementing classes. Contrary to expectations, middle school students were more likely than high school students to solve the data analysis problem correctly. However, upon further analyses, high school students constructed more data graphs and were more skilled in providing correct evidence to support their decision making than were middle school students in GLOBE. This study confirms the viability of using technology-based assessments for measuring students' environmental awareness and data analysis.
Current Updates on Choanal Atresia

Choanal atresia (CA) is a relatively uncommon but well-recognized condition characterized by the anatomical closure of the posterior choanae in the nasal cavity. Since the original description back in the early eighteenth century, there have been controversies regarding its exact pathogenesis, the optimal surgical approach, and the use of adjunct treatments such as post-surgical stenting and anti-neoplastic agents, despite of abundant literature available. The emergence and development of new technologies play a significant role in the management of this condition. This review provides a comprehensive clinical update on CA and identifies areas for future study based on the existing available literature.
Exploratory Behavior and Stress in the Lizard, Anolis carolinensis

and Summary Exploratory behavior and tongue-flicking in males of the small arboreal iguanid lizard, Anolis carolinensis, were examined under naturalistic environmental conditions (home or novel habitat, and air or foliage movement) and under stress. Two classes of exploratory behavior (site changes and active surveillance) and two types of tongue-flick (substrate tongue-touch and air-lick) occurred at low but consistent levels in home cages. These units of behavior were found to be differentially affected by various conditions associated with behavioral arousal including air movement, novelty, and restraint stress. Zusammenfassung 4 Komponenten des Erkundungsverhaltens der Eidechse Anolis carolinensis werden beschrieben. Vorstudien galten der Spontaneitat des Erkundungsverhaltens im Labor. Bei leichtem Wind in naturnaher Umgebung stieg die Luftleckrate merkbar an. Der Wind wirkte starker als der visuelle Reiz bewegten Laubes. Wurden die Versuchstiere in eine neuartige Umgebung gebracht, so nahm das Erkundungsverhalten in alien Komponenten deutlich zu; aber auch dann, wenn die Tiere angefast und in ihre Heimumgebung zuruckgebracht wurden. Ein Versuch schrankte die Beweglichkeit der Tiere beim Versetzen ein, um zu prufen, ob Nebennierenaktivierung (Stres) das Erkundungsverhalten in neuartiger Umgebung beeinflust. Bei diesen Tieren sanken die Raten aller Komponenten, nur das Luftlecken war entweder erhoht oder blieb gleich. Stres wirkt sich also verschieden auf die beschriebenen Verhaltenskomponenten aus.
On the impact angle of Hurricane Sandy's New Jersey landfall

Hurricane Sandy's track crossed the New Jersey coastline at an angle closer to perpendicular than any previous hurricane in the historic record, one of the factors contributing to recordsetting peak-water levels in parts of New Jersey and New York. To estimate the occurrence rate of Sandy-like tracks, we use a stochastic model built on historical hurricane data from the entire North Atlantic to generate a large sample of synthetic hurricanes. From this synthetic set we calculate that under long-term average climate conditions, a hurricane of Sandy's intensity or greater (category 1+) makes NJ landfall at an angle at least as close to perpendicular as Sandy's at an average annual rate of 0.0014 yr-1 (95% confidence range 0.0007 to 0.0023); i.e., a return period of 714 years (95% confidence range 435 to 1429).
Workspace Optimization of 3-Legged UPU and UPS Parallel Platforms With Joint Constraints

In this paper the workspace optimization of 3-legged translational UPU and orientational UPS parallel platforms under joint constraints is performed. The workspace of both platforms is parametrized using several design parameters that span a large range of values. In this paper both the unconstrained and the constrained workspaces (i.e., workspace with joint limits) are used. For the workspace of each design configuration three performance indices are calculated using a Monte Carlo method: a) the workspace volume; b) the average of the inverse of the condition number and c) a Global Condition Index which is a combination of the other indices. Plots of each performance index as a function of the design parameters are generated and optimal values for these design parameters are determined. For the optimal design, it is shown that by introducing joint limits, the global isotropy of the parallel platforms is improved at the cost of workspace reduction.
The Absorption of Extensive Showers in Water

The absorption of the particles in extensive showers in water has been measured at 2765 meters elevation by detecting coincidences between trays of Geiger counters located under water. Coincidence rates have been measured with counter tray separations up to 5 meters and at seven depths from 0 to 10 meters of water. A theoretical calculation is shown to predict coincidence rates lower than those experimentally observed and further improvements in the calculations are suggested that might remove this discrepancy. If multiple cores exist in extensive showers, this experiment shows that they cannot be separated by more than 50 cm. The density spectrum and the spectrum of the number of particles in a shower have been calculated from the experimental results for elevations of 50 and 2765 meters.
A least square extrapolation method for improving solution accuracy of PDE computations

Richardson extrapolation (RE) is based on a very simple and elegant mathematical idea that has been successful in several areas of numerical analysis such as quadrature or time integration of ODEs. In theory, RE can be used also on PDE approximations when the convergence order of a discrete solution is clearly known. But in practice, the order of a numerical method often depends on space location and is not accurately satisfied on different levels of grids used in the extrapolation formula. We propose in this paper a more robust and numerically efficient method based on the idea of finding automatically the order of a method as the solution of a least square minimization problem on the residual. We introduce a two-level and three-level least square extrapolation method that works on nonmatching embedded grid solutions via spline interpolation. Our least square extrapolation method is a post-processing of data produced by existing PDE codes, that is easy to implement and can be a better tool than RE for code verification. It can be also used to make a cascade of computation more numerically efficient. We can establish a consistent linear combination of coarser grid solutions to produce a better approximation of the PDE solution at a much lower cost than direct computation on a finer grid. To illustrate the performance of the method, examples including two-dimensional turning point problem with sharp transition layer and the Navier-Stokes flow inside a lid-driven cavity are adopted.
The influence of the mycorrhiza Glomus etunicatum on drought acclimation in safflower and wheat

A study was done to determine the effects of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) colonization on drought acclimation of host plants. Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L. cv. S555) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Anza) were grown under environmentally controlled conditions with or without the VAM fungus, Glomus etunicatum Becker and Gerd., and were either acclimated (by pre-exposing plants to a 10-11 day drought period) or unacclimated to drought. Plants from all treatments were then exposed to drought for 9 days, and plant water status and root water uptake were measured. To minimize interactions between drought and P uptake, growth periods were adjusted so that acclimated and unacclimated plants were similar in size when measurements were made. When wheat was acclimated to drought, osmotic adjustment occurred (leaf solute potentials of leaf tissue rehydrated to full turgor were approximately 0.5 MPa lower in acclimated than unacclimated plants); in safflower, osmotic adjustment was minimal when plants were acclimated. Consequently, acclimated wheat plants were able to tolerate drought better than unacclimated plants, and maintained higher leaf water potentials and relative water contents as soil water was depleted. For both safflower and wheat, acclimated plants had higher water use efficiency, and therefore produced more biomass when water availability was limited, than unacclimated plants. However, mycorrhizal colonization did not affect osmotic adjustment, plant water status, water use efficiency or water uptake in either plant species, and therefore had no effect on drought acclimation or resistance.
Adaptive equalization for TDMA digital mobile radio

Adaptive equalization for a TDMA (time-division multiple-access) digital cellular system is discussed. A survey of adaptive equalization techniques that includes their performance characteristics and limitations and their implementation complexity is presented. The design of adaptive equalization algorithms for a narrowband TDMA system is considered. It is concluded that, on the basis of implementation complexity and performance in the presence of multipath distortion and signal fading, MLSE (maximum-likelihood sequence estimation) and DFE (decision feedback equalization) are viable equalization methods for mobile radio. >
An electron microscope study of the tegument of Hunterella nodulosa Mackiewicz and McCrae, 1962 (Cestoidea: Caryophyllidea).

Abstract Ultrastructural observations using transmission and scanning electron microscopy reveal the tegument to be basically similar to that of other cestodes. The syncytial distal cytoplasm is devoid of organelles except for rod-shaped bodies, believed to be secretory vesicles, and lamellated bodies which probably contribute the raw material for new microtriches. There is evidence that these vesicles originate from the Golgi found in the sub-cuticular cells. Three types of microtriches are described: typical ones with well-developed spines, ones with short filaments instead of spines, and ones with no spines. Microtriches with spines are found only on the anterior part of the worm and may serve to anchor the worm. Microtriches on the posterior have no spines and are believed to be primarily involved in the absorption of nutrients. Between these two regions there is a transitional zone where all three types of microtriches can be found. In general the microtriches are quite uniformly distributed throughout the surface of the worm. The presence of cestodarian-like microtriches raises interesting evolutionary questions. Histochemical tests localized acid and alkaline phosphatase activity on various parts of the tegument, as well as on host intestine, while acian blue tests showed that acid mucopolysaccharide levels correspond with the concentration of the tegument vesicles.
Numerical Literacy for Physics Undergraduates [Book review]

This book should be seriously considered as a textbook by anyone teaching computational physics to upper-division physics students. It would be one of my top choices to teach an upper-division computational physics class. The book includes good coverage of the standard techniques usually covered in a numerical methods course: ordinary differential equations, root finding, partial differential equations, integration, Fourier transforms, linear algebra, and minimization with the addition of a few topics of special interest to physicists?chaos, neural networks, and Galerkin methods. Almost all of the techniques are couched in the context of physics examples from the areas of relativistic and classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and fluid dynamics.
Flush method for blood pressure determinations in newborn infants.

Summary A visual method of determination of blood pressures in newborn infants is presented. The cuff is placed around the ankle or wrist in the usual manner and a piece of rubber sheeting or old rubber glove is wrapped snugly around the foot or hand, so that the blood is pressed from the extremity. The cuff is then inflated to a pressure slightly above the suspected systolic pressure, the rubber bandage is then removed and the pressure is slowly released from the cuff. The approximate systolic pressure is the reading at which blood suddenly re-enters the foot or hand, causing a flush.