cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investment creation and diversion effects of the ASEAN–China free trade agreement

Abstract The ASEAN–China free trade agreement went into effect January 1, 2010 and became the world's third largest FTA by trade volume after the European Economic Area and the North American Free Trade Agreement. This paper focuses on highlighting the impacts of the reduction of barriers to trade on investment in a dynamic general computable equilibrium framework. We present and compare two alternative views/models of investment which yield different investment creation and diversion effects. As a first step, we adapt the dynamic GTAP model to take account of bilateral ownership of investment. Two versions of the model are considered. The first version is an example of applied models of investment demand, while the second is a model of investment supply. The two versions are based on different assumptions in their determination of cross-border investment. We simulate the implementation of ACFTA and we focus on the welfare impacts of investment creation and diversion.
Natriuretic peptides, novel biomarkers, and the prediction of future events

This editorial refers to ‘N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and the prediction of primary cardiovascular events: results from 15-year follow-up of WOSCOPS’, by P. Welsh et al. , doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehs239 Since their establishment as pillars of heart failure (HF) diagnosis, the role of natriuretic peptides (NPs) in clinical medicine has been growing impressively. This remarkable family of proteins includes B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP), and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). NPs are released by the ventricular myocardium in response to wall stress, and function as protective hormones that antagonize the pathophysiology of HF. Their functions include increasing the glomerular filtration rate, up-regulating sodium and water excretion, increasing vasodilation, preventing cardiac hypertrophy, and inhibiting the renin–aldosterone system.1 While Sudoh et al. first isolated BNP in 1988, its role as a HF biomarker was not fully recognized until 2002 by the multicentre Breathing Not Properly trial. This study set BNP's accuracy of HF diagnosis at 100 pg/mL to be 83.4%, with a negative predictive value of 96% at a cut-off of 50 pg/mL.2 Years later, Januzzi et al. solidified NT-proBNP in the acute setting in the PRIDE study.3 Since then, the repertoire of these biomarkers has expanded into areas of risk stratification and treatment guidance. The potential to risk stratify those with clinically evident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and perhaps even those who have yet to develop it is certainly an important task. Indeed, in the current phase of their clinical evolution, NPs are being actively researched as possible screening tools for asymptomatic people in the outpatient setting. If validated, these markers, perhaps in the company of other novel biomarkers, could allow those at risk for CVD without classic risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidaemia to be identified and treated before the appearance of full-on CVD⇓. Figure 1 Classic …
Production of F1 Interspecies Hybrid Offspring with Cryopreserved Sperm from a Live-Bearing Fish, the Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri

Despite study of sperm cryopreservation in more than 200 fish species, production of broods from cryopreserved sperm in live-bearing fish has not been demonstrated. This has not been due to a lack of effort, but instead is a result of the unique morphology, biology, and biochemistry of reproduction in viviparous fishes. For example, sperm of Xiphophorus helleri have a cylindrical nucleus, can swim for days after being activated, have glycolytic capabilities, and can reside in the female reproduction tract for months before fertilization. These traits are not found in fishes with external fertilization. The long-standing research use of the genus Xiphophorus has led to development of over 60 pedigreed lines among the 26 species maintained around the world. These species and lines serve as contemporary models in medical research, although they must be maintained as live populations. Previous attempts at establishing sperm cryopreservation protocols for Xiphophorus have not produced live young. To address this we have been studying the parameters surrounding cryobiology of Xiphophorus sperm and applying this information to an improved understanding of internal fertilization and reproduction. Here we report the first successful fertilization and offspring production by cryopreserved sperm in any live-bearing fish. This claim is supported by our use of artificial insemination between two species that yield distinct hybrid offspring to verify paternity via cryopreserved sperm. We provide a practical approach for preservation of valuable genetic resources from live-bearing fish species, a group that is rapidly being lost due to destruction of native habitats.
The Role of the Occupational Hygienist in Development-Oriented Public Health Engineering Projects

Organizations dedicated to applying engineering solutions to improve health in developing countries may lack sufficient expertise in the public health aspects of these efforts to ensure successful project design and implementation. The occupational hygienist is a valuable complement to the efforts needed for development-oriented public health engineering projects.
Reemergence, in Southwestern Alaska, of Invasive Haemophilus influenzae Type b Disease Due to Strains Indistinguishable from Those Isolated from Vaccinated Children

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) invasive disease and oropharyngeal carriage continue in rural Alaska despite widespread vaccination. This study investigated whether invasive-disease reemergence during 1996-1997 could be attributed to strains distinguishable from strains carried by vaccinated children. Twenty-four invasive and 42 carriage Hib isolates, collected during 1992-1997, were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, and biotyping. This Hib population was highly clonal, since only 2 strains, electrophoretic type (ET) 55/PFGE 1 and ET 56/PFGE 3, accounted for 62% of all isolates. The ET 55/PFGE 1 and ET 56/PFGE 3 strains were found in 74% of the carriers and caused 80% of the invasive Hib disease that occurred during April 1996-March 1997. Strains causing invasive disease could not be distinguished from strains carried by vaccinated children. Continued monitoring of Hib carriage may provide insights into the epidemiology of continued transmission in an era of widespread vaccination.
STUDY OF SEGREGATION IN PORCELAIN FILTER CAKE BY PETROGRAPHIC METHODS1

The segregation which takes place in a filter cake of a porcelain mixture has been studied in thin sections made from slices of the filter cake fired to cone 10. A lenticular segregation is illustrated by photomicrographs.
Successful Minimally Invasive Triple Coronary Bypass Through Bilateral Parasternal Incisions

A 58-year-old man with left main and right coronary artery disease requiring preoperative intraaortic balloon pumping underwent successful minimally invasive triple coronary bypass through bilateral parasternal incisions. Despite taking immunosuppressive drugs because of a previous liver transplantation, the patient had all-arterial grafts without sternotomy. He was discharged on the fourth postoperative day, returned to work in 4 weeks, and has a negative thallium stress test.
Individual Residues Contribute to Multiple Differences in Ligand Recognition between Vesicular Monoamine Transporters 1 and 2

Molecular cloning has identified two vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs), one expressed in non-neural cells of the periphery (VMAT1) and the other by multiple monoamine cell populations in the brain (VMAT2). Functional analysis has previously shown that VMAT2 has a higher affinity than VMAT1 for monoamine neurotransmitters as well as the inhibitor tetrabenazine. The analysis of chimeric transporters has also identified two major regions required for the high affinity interactions of VMAT2 with these ligands. We have now used site-directed mutagenesis to identify the individual residues responsible for these differences. Focusing on the region that spans transmembrane domains 9 through 12, we have replaced VMAT2 residues with the corresponding residues from VMAT1. Many residues in this region had no effect on the recognition of these ligands, but substitution of Tyr-434 with Phe and Asp-461 with Asn reduced the affinity for tetrabenazine, histamine, and serotonin. Although the ability to affect recognition of multiple ligands suggests a general structural role for these residues, the mutations did not affect dopamine recognition, indicating a more specific role, possibly in recognition of the ring nitrogen that occurs in tetrabenazine, histamine, and serotonin but not dopamine. The mutation K446Q reduced the affinity of VMAT2 for tetrabenazine and serotonin but not histamine, whereas F464Y reduced serotonin affinity and perhaps histamine recognition but not tetrabenazine sensitivity, providing more evidence for specificity. Interestingly, the Vmax of both VMATs for dopamine exceeded that for serotonin by 3-5-fold, indicating a difference in the speed of packaging of these two neurotransmitters. We also found that VMAT1 has a higher affinity for tryptamine than VMAT2. This mutually exclusive interaction with serotonin and tryptamine also suggests a physiological rationale for the existence of two VMATs. Surprisingly, the residue responsible for this difference, Tyr-434, also accounts for the higher affinity interaction of VMAT2 with tetrabenazine, histamine, and serotonin. Interestingly, replacement of Tyr-434 with alanine increases the affinity of VMAT2 for both serotonin and dopamine and reduces the rate of dopamine transport.
Canine distemper in an isolated population of fishers (Martes pennanti) from California.

Four fishers (Martes pennanti) from an insular population in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA died as a consequence of an infection with canine distemper virus (CDV) in 2009. Three fishers were found in close temporal and spatial relationship; the fourth fisher died 4 mo later at a 70 km distance from the initial group. Gross lesions were restricted to hyperkeratosis of periocular skin and ulcera- tion of footpads. All animals had necrotizing bronchitis and bronchiolitis with syncytia and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. Inclusion bodies were abundant in the epithelia of urinary bladder and epididymis but were infrequent in the renal pelvis and the female genital epithelia. No histopathologic or immu- nohistochemical evidence for virus spread to the central nervous system was found. One fisher had encephalitis caused by Sarcocystis neurona and another had severe head trauma as a consequence of predation. The H gene nucleo- tide sequence of the virus isolates from the first three fishers was identical and was 99.6% identical to the isolate from the fourth fisher. Phylogenetically, the isolates clustered with other North American isolates separate from classical European wildlife lineage strains. These data suggest that the European wildlife lineage might consist of two separate subgroups that are genetically distinct and endemic in different geographic regions. The source of infection as well as pertinent transmission routes remained unclear. This is the first report of CDV in fishers and underscores the significance of CDV as a pathogen of management concern.
Asynchronous partial overlay: a new algorithm for solving distributed constraint satisfaction problems

Distributed Constraint Satisfaction (DCSP) has long been considered an important problem in multi-agent systems research. This is because many real-world problems can be represented as constraint satisfaction and these problems often present themselves in a distributed form. In this article, we present a new complete, distributed algorithm called asynchronous partial overlay (APO) for solving DCSPs that is based on a cooperative mediation process. The primary ideas behind this algorithm are that agents, when acting as a mediator, centralize small, relevant portions of the DCSP, that these centralized subproblems overlap, and that agents increase the size of their subproblems along critical paths within the DCSP as the problem solving unfolds. We present empirical evidence that shows that APO outperforms other known, complete DCSP techniques.
Index-matched Boundary Techniques for the Elimination of Acoustical Resonances

We extend the principle of optical index of refraction to apply the concept of acoustical index for transverse acoustical wave propagation in strings. The relationship between acoustical index and mass density of the acoustic material is developed. With this theoretical link established, classic index-matching techniques are explored at acoustical boundaries. Proper selection of boundary interface segments leads to the elimination of resonant vibrational modes that occur in rigidly supported strings, while maintaining the nonresonant vibration response.
HTTP as the narrow waist of the future internet

Over the past decade a variety of network architectures have been proposed to address IP's limitations in terms of flexible forwarding, security, and data distribution. Meanwhile, fueled by the explosive growth of video traffic and HTTP infrastructure (e.g., CDNs, web caches), HTTP has became the de-facto protocol for deploying new services and applications. Given these developments, we argue that these architectures should be evaluated not only with respect to IP, but also with respect to HTTP, and that HTTP could be a fertile ground (more so than IP) for deploying the newly proposed functionalities. In this paper, we take a step in this direction, and find that HTTP already provides many of the desired properties for new Internet architectures. HTTP is a content centric protocol, provides middlebox support in the form of reverse and forward proxies, and leverages DNS to decouple names from addresses. We then investigate HTTP's limitations, and propose an extension, called S-GET that provides support for low-latency applications, such as VoIP and chat.
Field Evaluation of Seepage Meters in the Coastal Marine Environment

The response of seepage meters was evaluated in a nearshore marine environment where water motion effects are more pronounced than in lake settings, where these meters have been used traditionally. Temporal and spatial variations of seepage, as well as potential artifacts, were evaluated using empty and 1000-ml pre-filled bag measurements. Time-series measurements confirmed earlier observations that anomalously high fluxes occur during the early stages (≤10 min) of collection. As deployment times increased (30–60 min), measured flow rates stabilized at a level thought to represent the actual seepage flux. Pre-filling the plastic measurement bags effectively alleviated this anomalous, short-term influx. Reliable seepage measurements required deployment times sufficient to allow a net volume of at least 150 ml into the collection bag. Control experiments, designed by placing seepage meters inside sand-filled plastic swimming pools, served as indicators of external effects on these measurements, i.e. they served as seepage meter blanks. When winds were under 15 knots, little evidence was found that water motion caused artifacts in the seepage measurements. Tidal cycle influences on seepage rates were negligible in the present study area, but long-term temporal variations (weeks to months) proved substantial. Observed long-term changes in groundwater flux into the Gulf of Mexico correlated with water table elevation at a nearby monitoring well.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation for the Treatment of Depression and Other Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Vagus nerve stimulation is an interesting new approach to treating neuropsychiatric diseases within the class of brain-stimulation devices sometimes labeled ‘neuromodulators’. With vagus nerve stimulation, a battery-powered generator implanted in the chest wall connects to a wire wrapped around the vagus nerve in the neck, and sends intermittent pulses of electricity along the nerve directly into the brain. This mechanism takes advantage of the natural role of the vagus nerve in conveying information into the brain concerning homeostatic information (e.g., hunger, chest pain and respirations). Vagus nerve stimulation therapy is US FDA approved for the adjunctive treatment of epilepsy and has recently been FDA approved for the treatment of medication-resistant depression. Owing to its novel route into the brain, it has no drug–drug interactions or systemic side effects. This treatment also appears to have high long-term tolerability in patients, with low rates of patients relapsing on vagus nerve stimulati...
Sensing capacity for discrete sensor network applications

We bound the number of sensors required to achieve a desired level of sensing accuracy in a discrete sensor network application (e.g. distributed detection). We model the state of nature being sensed as a discrete vector, and the sensor network as an encoder. Our model assumes that each sensor observes only a subset of the state of nature, that sensor observations are localized and dependent, and that sensor network output across different states of nature is neither identical nor independently distributed. Using a random coding argument we prove a lower bound on the 'sensing capacity' of a sensor network, which characterizes the ability of a sensor network to distinguish among all states of nature. We compute this lower bound for sensors of varying range, noise models, and sensing functions. We compare this lower bound to the empirical performance of a belief propagation based sensor network decoder for a simple seismic sensor network scenario. The key contribution of this paper is to introduce the idea of a sharp cut-off function in the number of required sensors, to the sensor network community.
Computation-Efficient Multicast Key Distribution

Efficient key distribution is an important problem for secure group communications. The communication and storage complexity of multicast key distribution problem has been studied extensively. In this paper, we propose a new multicast key distribution scheme whose computation complexity is significantly reduced. Instead of using conventional encryption algorithms, the scheme employs MDS codes, a class of error control codes, to distribute multicast key dynamically. This scheme drastically reduces the computation load of each group member compared to existing schemes employing traditional encryption algorithms. Such a scheme is desirable for many wireless applications where portable devices or sensors need to reduce their computation as much as possible due to battery power limitations. Easily combined with any key-tree-based schemes, this scheme provides much lower computation complexity while maintaining low and balanced communication complexity and storage complexity for secure dynamic multicast key distribution.
Evaluation reactions of college students to dialect differences in the English of Mexican-Americans.

The English of Los Angeles Mexican-Americans ranges from the local standard to Chicano English, a non-standard ethnic dialect. Speech approaching Chicano English was negatively stereotyped by Anglo-American university students on scales related to success, ability, and social awareness. Forty-eight UCLA students rated 4 pairs of matched guise voices on 15 semantic differential scales. Dialect differences consistently affected their rating. But raters also attended to non-dialect voice differences, especially for more standard English voices. In rating standard English, students used a different, more complex procedure for judging personality.
A Note on Additive Separability and Latent Index Models of Binary Choice: Representation Results*

The standard binary choice model in econometrics has the choice determined by a latent index crossing a threshold. The latent index is almost always assumed to be additively separable in observable and unobservable regressors, and most commonly linear in all regressors. This note provides a class of non‐separable latent index functions which will have equivalent representations as additively separable or linear index functions. These results demonstrate that assuming a linear or additively separable latent index function is less restrictive than previously recognized.
Influence of iron on fatty acid and sterol composition of marine phytoplankton and copepod consumers

We conducted laboratory experiments to determine the influence of iron on the fatty acid (FA) and sterol composition of the diatom Thalassiosira oceanica, the cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina, the prymnesiophyte Isochrysis galbana, and the copepod Acartia tonsa that fed on these algae. Algal cells were cultured with no added Fe or with Fe added at 100 nmol L21. Fe-deficient culture medium resulted in lower growth rates, cell volumes, and photosynthetic efficiencies for all algal species. The total mass of FA per cell was 2.2–3.1 times as high in Fereplete cells as in Fe-deficient cells; on a carbon–normalized basis, the FA concentrations of Fe-replete algal cells were 1.4–1.5 times as high. Differences were noted between Fe treatments for specific saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated FAs within each algal species. Total C-normalized 20:5v3 + 22:6v3 concentrations declined 18% ,2 5%, and 35% in Fe-deficient T. oceanica, R. salina, and I. galbana, respectively. Across all species, another consistent difference in FA composition between Fe treatments was for 18:4v3, which had a C-normalized concentration that was , twofold higher in Fe-replete algae. No consistent pattern for all algal species was evident for Fe effects on algal sterol concentration and composition, and in response to Fe limitation sterols were conserved more than C and FAs in these cells. Copepods feeding on Fe-replete and Fedeficient algae displayed smaller differences in FA and sterol concentrations than in their algal diets. Differences in lipid concentration and composition between Fe-replete and Fe-deficient algae may partly explain the lower egg production rate of copepods fed Fe-deficient algae.
Venous Thromboembolic Disease

The risk of new or recurrent Venous Thromboembolism versus the risk of perioperative bleeding while on anticoagulation should always be discussed with the surgeon.
Making the absent subject present in organizational research

This study explores how researchers engage with research subjects. Specifically, it examines the struggle to account for the lived experience of subjects under study while producing knowledge about and for them. Drawing on psychoanalytic, specifically Lacanian, theorizing, the study suggests that such struggles are even more complex when real subjects are absent and impossible to account for. It advances the idea that by articulating the research subject through four different discourses, researchers may take different positions toward this absence. In the first, researchers produce research subjects and put them to work. In the second, subjects are subsumed through systematic knowledge production. In the third, the subject serves the production of knowledge as a function of the split subject’s enjoyment. In the fourth discourse the researcher becomes the object of desire so as to empower subjects in their becoming. It is suggested that each discourse allows researchers to take a different stance toward t...
Biomechanics of transvertebral screw fixation in the thoracic spine: an in vitro study.

OBJECTIVE Transvertebral screws provide stability in thoracic spinal fixation surgeries, with their use mainly limited to patients who require a pedicle screw salvage technique. However, the biomechanical impact of transvertebral screws alone, when they are inserted across 2 vertebral bodies, has not been studied. In this study, the authors assessed the stability offered by a transvertebral screw construct for posterior instrumentation and compared its biomechanical performance to that of standard bilateral pedicle screw and rod (PSR) fixation. METHODS Fourteen fresh human cadaveric thoracic spine segments from T-6 to T-11 were divided into 2 groups with similar ages and bone quality. Group 1 received transvertebral screws across 2 levels without rods and subsequently with interconnecting bilateral rods at 3 levels (T8–10). Group 2 received bilateral PSR fixation and were sequentially tested with interconnecting rods at T7–8 and T9–10, at T8–9, and at T8–10. Flexibility tests were performed on intact and ...
High Resolution Microscopy of Pd/InP Interfaces

Depositing Pd on InP at cryogenic substrate temperatures has previously been found to significantly increase the barrier height of the resulting Schottky diode. In this work, bulk samples of Pd/n-InP were fabricated using substrate temperatures of 300K (RT) and 77K (LT). The structural differences between the RT and LT samples were then studied using Cross-Sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (XTEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS). The XTEM and depth profiling results indicated that the RT samples had an amorphous interaction layer approximately 150A thick, while the LT samples had an interfacial layer less than 30A thick. Therefore, depositing Pd at low temperatures greatly reduced the interaction between Pd and InP. XRD lines corresponding to (111) and (200) Pd were obtained as well. The lines in the RT case had a greater integrated intensity than in the LT case, indicating that the RT Pd had a higher degree of crystallinity. AFM was used to compare the morphology of the LT and RT Pd surfaces as a function of metal thickness.
Innovation and Sustainability: An Exploratory Study of Intrapreneurship Among Human Service Organizations

ABSTRACTChanges in the social, economic, and political environment have led to an increasing focus on sustainability and innovation for human service organizations. Interviews with 23 human service leaders found that changes in the needs of target populations along with financial pressures were primary motivators for innovation. The interviewees’ reported that their orientation to sustainability guided them as they developed and implemented innovative programs, services to new populations, and improvements to existing services. The dynamic relationship between innovation and sustainability suggests the need for a recalibration of organizational effectiveness that includes capacities for redesigning programs and re-engineering organizational practices for innovation.
The properties of particulate phosphoprotein phosphatase.

The very high metabolic activity of protein-bound phosphorus was first discovered by Davidson et al. (1) in P32 uptake experiments and subsequently confirmed in other laboratories. A possible explanation of these findings is that the primary step in oxidative phosphorylation results in the formation of a phosphorylated protein with subsequent transfer of the high energy phosphate to adenosine triphosphate. The existence of a high energy phosphate complex before adenosine triphosphate has been suggested by a number of investigators (see (2) for review). An enzyme, phosphoprotein phosphatase, which liberates inorganic phosphate from phosphoproteins, was first found by Harris (3) in frog eggs. Some of the properties of the enzyme as it occurs in rat (4, 5) and ox (6) tissues were subsequently reported on. A study of this enzyme was undertaken to test the hypothesis that the activity of some uncoupling agents results from their ability to activate a mitochondrial phosphoprotein phosphatase. Although the enzyme was present in the cytoplasmic particles of liver,’ it was not activated by any of the uncoupling agents tested. In the course of this work, a number of additional properties of the enzyme were examined; the enzyme was found to be metal activated, and a study of the kinetics suggested a rather unusual role for the metal.
A Pooled Analysis of Biochemical Failure in Intermediate-risk Prostate Cancer Following Definitive Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) or High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy (HDR-B) Monotherapy.

Objectives: To investigate biochemical relapse-free survival (BRFS) in men with National Comprehensive Cancer Network-defined intermediate-risk prostate cancer (PC) treated with either stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) or high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-B) monotherapy. Materials and methods: A retrospective, multi-institutional analysis of 437 patients with intermediate-risk PC treated with SBRT (N=300) or HDR-B (N=137) was performed. Men who underwent SBRT were treated to 35 to 40 Gy in 4 to 5 fractions. A total of 95.6% who underwent HDR-B were treated to 42 Gy in 6 fractions. Baseline patient characteristics were compared using a T test for continuous variables and the Mantel-Haenszel χ metric or Fisher exact test for categorical variables. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated to estimate 5-year actuarial BRFS. Multivariate analysis using a Cox proportional-hazards model was used to evaluate factors associated with biochemical failure. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 68.4 (SD±7.8) years. T-category was T1 in 63.6% and T2 in 36.4%. Mean initial prostate-specific antigen was 7.4 (SD±3.4) ng/mL. Biopsy Gleason score was ≤3+4 in 82.8% and 4+3 in 17.2%. At a median of 4.1 years of follow-up, the BRFS rate (Phoenix definition) was 96.3%, with no difference when stratifying by treatment modality or biologically equivalent dose (BED1.5). On multivariate analysis, age (hazard ratio 1.08, P=0.04) and biopsy Gleason score (hazard ratio 2.48, P=0.03) were significant predictors of BRFS. Conclusions: With a median follow-up period of 4 years, SBRT and HDR-B monotherapy provide excellent BRFS in intermediate-risk PC. Longer-term follow-up is necessary to determine the ultimate efficacy of these hypofractionated approaches, but they appear promising relative to standard fractionation outcomes.
Physical Function in Older Adults With Multiple Sclerosis: An Application of the Short Physical Performance Battery.

Background and purpose There is a growing prevalence of older persons living with multiple sclerosis (MS), and this cohort likely undergoes changes in physical function associated with MS and its progression as well as those associated with normal aging. This cross-sectional study examined physical function in a community-dwelling sample of older adults with MS compared with matched controls using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Methods The sample (N = 40) included 20 older adults with MS and 20 older adults without MS who were matched on sex and age. All participants completed the SPPB. Results Statistically significant differences were observed between groups for the overall SPPB score (P = .013; d = 0.45) and the balance (P = .002; d = 0.46) and gait speed (P = .009; d = 0.30) component scores. The difference between groups in the lower extremity strength component approached significance (P = .056; d = 0.34). Of note, only 2 older adults without MS had SPPB scores below 10 (ie, 10%), whereas 8 older adults with MS had SPPB scores below 10 (ie, 40%); this represented a statistically significant difference in future risk for disability (P = .028). Discussion/conclusions We provide preliminary evidence for reduced physical function based on the SPPB as a valid, objective measure of lower extremity functional performance among older adults with MS.
A honeypot system for wearable networks

Securing any information exchanged within a Body Area Network (BAN) from unauthorized tampering is essential to ensure that such systems are safe, and thus do no harm, to the people using them. Solutions for enabling information security in BANs require extensive use of cryptographic primitives that involve considerable performance overhead. Consequently, information security is typically not available in wearable technologies. We need adaptive security solutions that increase the level of security in the event of threats but otherwise impose minimal security overhead in order for them to viable for BANs. The first step in building adaptive security for BANs is to detect the threats. In this paper we propose a solution for detecting adversaries attacking the communication channel of a BAN called a wearable honeypot system. It works by communicating fake user health information between the base station and a set of designated decoy nodes in the BAN. Any alteration of this traffic, in content or arrival time, is considered adversarial tampering. A preliminary implementation of this wearable honeypot system demonstrates that it is effective in detecting a variety of communication attacks on a BAN.
Overview of Earth Imagery Classification

This chapter overviews earth observation imagery big data and its general classification methods. We introduce different types of earth observation imagery big data and their societal applications. We also summarize some general classification algorithms. Open computational challenges are also identified in this area.
Factors affecting adherence to standard cisplatin (CDDP)-based chemotherapy regimen for locally advanced squamous cell head and neck (H&N) cancer in an inner city safety net hospital.

252Background: The non-operative standard of care for advanced, non-metastatic H&N cancer is high dose CDDP (100 mg/m2) given every 21 days for 3 cycles concurrent with radiation. Many patients are...
How Does Health Insurance Affect Firm Employment and Performance? Evidence from Obamacare

This paper studies how mandating employers to provide health insurance of a minimum quality and the associated increases in health insurance premia affect firm employment and performance. To do so, we use hand-collected firm-level employee health insurance data. We find that employers with greater exposure to the PPACA (“Obamacare”) reduce enrollments in their health insurance plans to a larger extent after the law was enacted. Employers achieve this reduction in enrollment by shifting employment composition from full-time to part-time employees. We further show that firms that are less likely to adjust their employment composition experience deterioration in performance.
Association of Adjuvant Chemotherapy With Overall Survival in Patients With Rectal Cancer and Pathologic Complete Response Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Resection

Importance Adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) in patients with rectal cancer with pathologic complete response following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and resection is recommended by treatment guidelines. However, its role in this setting is equivocal because data supporting benefits are lacking. Objective To compare the overall survival (OS) between AC and postoperative observation (OB) in patients with rectal cancer with pathologic complete response following nCRT and resection. Design, Setting, and Participants We identified a cohort of patients with rectal cancer and a complete pathological response (ypT0N0) after nCRT in the National Cancer Database between 2006 and 2012. Patients who received AC were compared with OB patients by propensity score matching. Overall survival was compared using the stratified log-rank test and stratified Cox regression model. The outcomes after AC vs OB were also evaluated in patient subgroups. The data analysis was completed in June 2017. Exposures Adjuvant chemotherapy and OB. Main Outcomes and Measures Overall survival. Results We identified 2764 patients (mean [SD] age, 60.0 [12.3] years; 40% female) with clinical stage II or III resected adenocarcinoma of the rectum who had received nCRT and were complete responders (ypT0N0M0). Of this cohort, 741 patients in the AC group were matched by propensity score to 741 patients who underwent OB. The AC cohort had better OS compared with the OB cohort (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.32-0.79). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 99.7%, 97.1%, and 94.7% for the AC group and 99.2%, 93.6%, and 88.4% for the OB group (P = .005). In subgroup analysis, patients with clinical stage T3/T4 and node-positive disease benefited most from AC (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.25-0.91). Conclusions and Relevance Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved OS in patients with pathologic complete response after nCRT for resected locally advanced rectal cancer. This study supports the use of AC in this setting where there is currently paucity of data.
Acquired Demyelinating Neuropathy Associated with Use of Brentuximab (P07.053)

OBJECTIVE: To report the occurrence of an acquired demyelinating neuropathy in a patient with Hodgkin9s lymphoma treated with Brentuximab. BACKGROUND: Brentuximab is a monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of refractory hematological malignancies. Monoclonal antibodies such as infliximab and adalimumab have been reported to be associated with demyelinating neuropathy. Demyelinating neuropathy associated with Brentuximab has not been reported. DESIGN/METHODS: Retrospective review of medical records, laboratory and EMG findings. RESULTS: A 64 year old male with stage IV Hodgkin9s lymphoma developed numbness in hands and feet 5 months after initiation of Brentuximab (after 7 th of planned 16 cycles). He was diagnosed in 2008 and treated with 6 cycles of adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine. He then underwent radiation to the left neck, 3 cycles of Ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide followed by autologous stem cell transplantation in December 2010 for persistent/ recurrent disease. He was found to have second recurrence in September 2011 and was started on Brentuximab in October 2011. He responded well to Brentuximab. Once sensory symptoms developed in February 2012, Brentuximab was discontinued but patient got progressively weaker. Physical examination showed symmetrical, predominantly distal weakness with areflexia. There was distal limb sensory loss. Electrophysiological study showed an acquired demyelinating neuropathy. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed albuminocytologic dissociation. He was treated with intravenous corticosteroids with significant improvement in muscle strength and electrophysiological abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: Brentuximab can potentially be associated with neurological complications, in this case, a demyelinating neuropathy. The neuropathy is potentially treatable with cessation of the agent and the use of intravenous corticosteroids. Further observational studies are required to estimate the true prevalence. Disclosure: Dr. Koneru has nothing to disclose. Dr. Schwarz has nothing to disclose. Dr. Thaisetthawatkul has nothing to disclose. Dr. Fernandes has nothing to disclose.
Pollination Of Some Trinidad Plants By Glossophagine Bats (Anoura And Glossophaga)

Little has been recorded on the role of bats in pollinating plant species in the New World tropics. It is of some interest, therefore, to add the following observations made on Trinidad between 1967 and 1970.
(p, γ) Cross Sections

Several ($p, \ensuremath{\gamma}$) cross sections were measured by activation with protons from 8 to 22 Mev. The dependences on incident energy and target mass are very slight, whereas a compound nucleus model would predict variations by many orders of magnitude. It seems probable, therefore, that the observed reactions are due to high-energy gamma transitions taking place prior to compound nucleus formation. The magnitudes involved indicate that these transitions have single-particle dipole matrix elements.
Governance Choice - A Simulation Model

An electrical engineer in training, Paul Baran joined the RAND Corporation in 1959. While working at RAND on a scheme for U.S. telecommunications infrastructure to survive a “first strike,” he conceived of the Internet and digital packet switching, the Internet’s underlying data communications technology. Using minicomputer technology of the day, Baran (1964) demonstrated in a simulation suite that a distributed packet switched communications network can better withstand massive destruction to individual components than centralized or decentralized networks. Baran’s conceptual drawings in Figure 14.1 serve as a vivid example of the distinctly different network patterns under centralized versus decentralized control.
Sparse Recovery via l1 and L1 Optimization

Abstract : A sparse signal is a signal that has very few nonzero elements or one that becomes so under a basis change or through a certain transform. Exploiting sparsity has become a common task in data sciences. Compressed sensing, regularized regression (e.g., LASSO), and regularized inverse problems (e.g., total variation image reconstruction) have made l1 optimization a central tool in data processing problems. As the name suggests, l1 optimization problems recover sparse solutions by solving an optimization problem involving an l1-norm. Today, the scope of l1 optimization is quickly expanding. The size, complexity, and diversity of instances have grown significantly. Beyond 1D signals and 2D images, high-dimensional quantities such as video, 4D CT, and multi-way tensors have become the data or unknown variables in models. New applications have motivated structured solutions to optimization problems that significantly generalize our notion of sparsity. Such applications look for low-rank matrices or tensors, sparse graphs, tree structured data representations, and sparse representations involving only a few dictionary atoms. This article gives self-contained introductions to l1 optimization for sparse vectors (Section 2), L1 optimization for finding functions with compact support (Section 3), and computing sparse solutions from measurements that are corrupted by unknown noisy (Section 4).
The Timeliness of Financial Reporting in Developing Countries: An Overview

Transparency is one of those terms that have many facets. It is used in different ways. It can refer to the openness of governmental functions. It can also refer to a country’s economy. Or it can refer to various aspects of corporate governance and financial reporting. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 1998) lists transparency as one element of good corporate governance. Kulzick (2004) and others (Blanchet, 2002; Prickett, 2002) view transparency from a user perspective. According to their view, transparency includes the following eight concepts: accuracy, consistency, appropriateness, completeness, clarity, timeliness, convenience, and governance and enforcement. This chapter focuses on just one aspect of transparency – timeliness. The International Accounting Standards Board considers timeliness to be an essential aspect of financial reporting. In Accounting Principles Board (APB) Statement No. 4, the APB (1970) in the USA listed timeliness as one of the qualitative objectives of financial reporting disclosure. APB Statement No. 4 was later superseded but the Financial Accounting Standards Board continued to recognize the importance of timeliness in its Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 2 (1980). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also recognizes the importance of timeliness and requires that listed companies file their annual 10-K reports by a certain deadline. The OECD (2004) lists timeliness as a principle of good corporate governance. The issue of timeliness has several facets. There is an inverse relationship between the quality of financial information and the timeliness with which it is reported (Kenley & Staubus, 1974). Accounting information becomes less relevant with the passage of time (Atiase, Bamber, & Tse, 1989; Hendriksen & van Breda, 1992; Lawrence & Glover, 1998).
Introduction: Self, Others, and Institutions

McCool provides a concise summary of the ways in which authentic politics and theatrical politics interact in the modern world. He connects this interaction to the malaise and authoritarian tendencies Americans feel in the age of Trump. While paying attention to the theoretical underpinnings of these models from Rousseau, Arendt, and Thoreau, McCool also gives a brief history of the ways in which extreme versions of self-expression in modern society have worked to threaten institutional laws and norms of governance, established by conservatives and counterrevolutionaries like Burke, Madison, and Lincoln. He provides ideological context, suggesting how the virtue of self-expression, originally a leftist phenomenon, has been co-opted by the right in recent years.
Inter-turn Short Circuit Ratio Estimation in IPMSM Based on a Fault Index Current and Magnet Flux Linkage Observer

This paper proposes a method to estimate an internal short circuit (ISC) on interior permanent magnet synchronous machines (IPMSM) that is robust to changes in the magnet flux linkage. The machine operation under ISC can be modeled using a key variable defined as the fault index current (FIC). In order to develop an FIC model, accurate machine parameters are required. It will be shown that an error in the magnet flux linkage estimation causes the observer output to deviate significantly and accurate FIC prediction is not feasible. A modified topology is proposed which can keep the estimation of the magnet flux linkage and hence estimate the FIC with minimum error. This modified topology is compared with finite element analysis and is shown to be in good agreement.
Pharmacokinetics of tulathromycin in fetal sheep and pregnant ewes

Macrolides are important antimicrobials frequently used in human and veterinary medicine in the treatment of pregnant women and pregnant livestock. They may be useful for the control of infectious ovine abortion, which has economic, animal health, and human health impacts. In this study, catheters were surgically placed in the fetal vasculature and amnion of pregnant ewes at 115 (±2) days of gestation. Ewes were given a single dose of 2.5 mg/kg tulathromycin subcutaneously, and drug concentrations were determined in fetal plasma, maternal plasma, and amniotic fluid at 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 144, and 288 hr after drug administration. Pharmacokinetic parameters in maternal plasma were estimated using noncompartmental analysis and were similar to those previously reported in nonpregnant ewes. Tulathromycin was present in fetal plasma and amniotic fluid, indicating therapeutic potential for use against organisms in these compartments, though concentrations were lower than those in maternal plasma. Time-course of drug concentrations in the fetus was quite different than that in the ewe, with plasma concentrations reaching a plateau at 4 hr and remaining at this concentration for the remainder of the sampling period (288 hr), raising questions about how tulathromycin may be transported into or metabolized and eliminated by the fetus.
Functional Properties of White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) By-Products Protein Recovered by Isoelectric Solubilization/Precipitation

ABSTRACTThe processing of fish in general entails quantities of by-products, such as exoskeleton and cephalothorax of shrimp, which may reach 70%. Protein recovered from by-products has been invest...
Addressing the challenge of carbon-free energy.

This century will witness a major transformation in how energy is acquired, stored, and utilized globally. The impetus for this change comes from the deep impacts that both developed and developing societies have had on our planet’s environment during the past century, and the projections going forward of what will happen if we do not act transformatively within the next 2 decades. This paper describes the basis for a meeting held in October 2018 on the need for decarbonization in our energy landscape, and specifically the status and challenges of the science that provides the foundation for such technology. Within the realm of decarbonization in energy generation lies the science of solar energy conversion using new or improved photovoltaic materials and artificial photosynthesis for water splitting and other energy-storing reactions. The intimately related issue of renewable energy storage is being addressed with new strategies, materials, and approaches under current investigation and development. The need to improve the interactions between scientists working on these connected but separately considered challenges and on the transition of scientific achievement to practical application was also addressed, with specific efforts enumerated.