cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Automatic Extraction of Highly Predictive Sequence Features that Incorporate Contiguity and Mutation

This paper investigates the problem of extracting sequence features that can be useful in the construction of prediction models. The method introduced in this paper generates such features by considering contiguous subsequences and their mutations, and by selecting those candidate features that have a strong association with the classification target according to the Gini index. Experimental results on three genetic data sets provide evidence of the superiority of this method over other sequence feature generation methods from the li-terature, especially in domains where presence, not specific location, of features within a sequence is pertinent for classification.
The perfect storm: Match-mismatch of bio-physical events drives larval reef fish connectivity between Pulley Ridge mesophotic reef and the Florida Keys

Abstract Mesophotic coral reef ecosystems are remote from coastal stressors, but are still vulnerable to over-exploitation, and remain mostly unprotected. They may be the key to coral reefs resilience, yet little is known about the pattern of larval subsidies from deeper to shallower coral reef habitats. Here we use a biophysical modeling approach to test the hypothesis that fishes from mesophotic coral reef ecosystems may replenish shallow reef populations. We aim at identifying the spatio-temporal patterns and underlying mechanisms of larval connections between Pulley Ridge, a mesophotic reef in the Gulf of Mexico hosting of a variety of shallow-water tropical fishes, and the Florida Keys reefs. A new three-dimensional (3D) polygon habitat module is developed for the open-source Connectivity Modeling System to simulate larval movement behavior of the bicolor damselfish, Stegastes partitus, in a realistic 3D representation of the coral reef habitat. Biological traits such as spawning periodicity, mortality, and vertical migration are also incorporated in the model. Virtual damselfish larvae are released daily from the Pulley Ridge at 80 m depth over 60 lunar spawning cycles and tracked until settlement within a fine resolution (~900 m) hydrodynamic model of the region. Such probabilistic simulations reveal mesophotic-shallow connections with large, yet sporadic pulses of larvae settling in the Florida Keys. Modal and spectral analyses on the spawning time of successful larvae, and on the position of the Florida Current front with respect to Pulley Ridge, demonstrate that specific physical-biological interactions modulate these “perfect storm” events. Indeed, the co-occurrence of (1) peak spawning with frontal features, and (2) cyclonic eddies with ontogenetic vertical migration, contribute to high settlement in the Florida Keys. This study demonstrates that mesophotic coral reef ecosystems can also serve as refugia for coral reef fish and suggests that they have a critical role in the resilience of shallow reef communities.
“The object in the mirror of genetic transcendentalism: Lacan’s objet petit a between visibility and invisibility,”

One of the more superficially perplexing features of Lacan’s notion of objet petit a is the fact that he simultaneously characterizes it as both non-specularizable (i.e., incapable of being captured in spatio-temporal representations) and specular (i.e., incarnated in visible avatars). This assignment of the apparently contradictory attributes of visibility and invisibility to object a is a reflection of this object’s strange position at the intersection of transcendental and empirical dimensions. Indeed, this object, which Lacan holds up as his central psychoanalytic discovery, raises important philosophical questions about the transcendental-empirical distinction, arguably short-circuiting in interesting, productive ways this dichotomy and many of its permutations. This article seeks to achieve two aims: one, to clarify how and why Lacan situates object a between the specular and the non-specular; and, two, to extract from the results of this clarification a preliminary sketch of a post-Lacanian transcendentalism that is also thoroughly materialist.
Intermediate Topics in Biostatistics

The following topics extend the statistical concepts presented in the previous sections, presenting more advanced topics in the areas of design and analysis of clinical trials. This chapter is written as several independent sections that can be read in any order, according to the interest of the reader. Section 1 considers special topics for study design, including interim monitoring, alpha spending, adaptive designs, equivalence and noninferiority trials, and sample size. Section 2 considers special topics in data analysis, including correlated data, microarray data and related issues of multiple comparisons and massive data sets. Section 3 examines a particularly important and tricky issue in data analysis, regression to the mean. Sections 4–7 provide more advanced discussion of complex topics such as statistical evaluation of diagnostic tests, further considerations for survival analysis, missing data, and causal inference. Section 8 concludes with a few summary remarks on the diverse set of topics considered in this chapter, which represent issues that arise frequently in clinical research, and further details can be found in the references.
Report of 3 Cases of Local Tissue Reaction in Association With a CoCr Modular Neck on a Conventional Titanium Alloy Stem

Introduction Adverse Local Tissue Reactions (ALTR) have been reported in association with both wear and corrosion. Tissue reactions have been reported in association with corrosion at CoCr head-CoCr neck, CoCr head-TiAl6V4 neck, and CoCr modular neck on beta-titanium (TMZF) stem junctions. The current abstract reports on 3 cases of ALTR in association with CoCr modular necks on convention titanium (TiAl6V4) stem junctions. Case 1. A 67 year old male (87 kg, 1.73 m, BMI 29.1) presented with new onset hip irritation 11 months after surgery. Radiographs show no abnormalities. Further investigation revealed the following: ESR = 95, CRP = 5, Cr level = 1.0, Co level = 4.1, leukocyte transformation testing = highly reactive to nickel. Hip aspiration was culture negative with 11,250 wbc. Metal artifact reduction MR showed cystic local reaction in the region of the greater trochanter. Case 2. A 52 year old male (89 kg, 1.83 m, BMI 26.5) presented with new onset hip irritation 30 months after surgery. Radiographs show no abnormalities. Further investigation revealed the following: ESR = 7, CRP = 5.4, Cr level = 2.1, Co level = 4.8, leukocyte transformation testing = reactive to nickel. Hip aspiration was culture negative with 3995 wbc. Metal artifact reduction MR showed cystic local reaction in the region of the iliopsoas. Case 3. A 52 year old male (104 kg, 1.85 m, BMI 30.1) presented with new onset hip irritation 26 months after surgery. Radiographs show no abnormalities. Further investigation revealed the following: ESR = 33, CRP = 34.9, Cr level = 1.0, Co level = 3.7, leukocyte transformation testing = no reactivity to any of the biomaterials. Hip aspiration was culture negative with 3,780 wbc. Metal artifact reduction MR showed cystic local reaction in the region of the iliopsoas. Discussion All three of these patients are scheduled for revision surgery. All three had ceramic-ceramic bearings. We have experience with 1029 ceramic-ceramic THA with fixed neck conventional titanium and modular titanium neck implants with minimum 2 yr f/u and have never diagnosed an adverse reaction in any of these patients. It is possible that corrosion at the CoCr neck on TiAl6V4 stem junction is the root cause of these reactions. Although the incidence of diagnosed reactions is roughly 1%, it appears that the use of CoCr at any junction under significant mechanical stress can result in adverse local tissue reaction and therefore should either be avoided or used with great caution and compelling indications.
Association of Filaggrin Loss of Function and Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin Variation With Treatment Use in Pediatric Atopic Dermatitis.

Importance Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common illness of childhood. Objective To determine whether variations in FLG and TSLP genotype corresponded to differences in treatment use over time. Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective cohort study recruited and followed a volunteer sample of 842 children enrolled in the Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry who provided saliva samples for DNA extraction for 10 years. Eligibility criteria included age 2 to 17 years, AD diagnosis without cancer, and prior pimecrolimus use. Participants were followed for an average of 7.6 years (approximately 6396 person-years); 138 patients (16.4%) had no missing data over 10 years of follow-up. Exposures Evaluation of FLG and TSLP genotypes. Main Outcomes and Measures Self-reported outcomes of whether a child’s AD required the use of topical steroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors, or other medications within the past 6 months at 6-month intervals. Results Overall, 842 children (mean [SD] age, 1.9 [2.7] years; 438 girls) were included in this study. Treatment use among patients with 0, 1, or 2 FLG loss of function (LOF) alleles was compared as well as those that were wildtype, heterozygous, or homozygous for the TSLP rs1898671single-nucleotide polymorphism. Patients with 2 FLG LOF alleles were less likely to report skin clearance (odds ratio [OR], 0.20; 95% CI, 0.07-0.55) and more likely to use steroids (OR, 5.04; 95% CI, 1.91-13.31). TSLP rs1898671homozygotes were less likely to report topical calcineurin inhibitor use (OR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.06-0.42), and among all patients that had discontinued topical calcineurin inhibitors, those with thers1898671single-nucleotide polymorphism were more likely to have stopped all other treatment as well (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.26-0.76). In all but 1 of our comparisons, no significant difference between wildtype and heterozygous patients were found. Conclusions and Relevance Treatment use and likely effectiveness was associated with genetic variation. Variation was limited to children with 2 FLG LOF alleles or TSLP rs1898671homozygotes, with no significant difference observed between wildtype and heterozygous patients in the majority of the outcomes studied. Therefore, the key differentiating factor in our analyses was the number of FLG LOF alleles or TSLP SNPs rather than the absolute presence or absence of these variants. This may be an important consideration for future studies.
Blocking the ZZ Domain of Sequestosome 1/p62 Suppress the Enhancement of Myeloma Cell Growth and Osteoclast Formation by Marrow Stromal Cells

Abstract 888 The marrow microenvironment enhances both tumor growth and bone destruction in multiple myeloma (MM) through MM cell-induced activation of multiple signaling pathways in bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) by TNFα. We reported that sequestosome-1 (p62) acts as a signaling hub for NF-kB, MAPK and PI3K activation in BMSC of MM patients and enhances MM growth and osteoclast (OCL) formation. p62 is composed of 5 domains that are involved in protein–protein interactions required for formation of these signaling complexes, but which domain of p62 mediates increase MM growth and OCL formation is unclear. Therefore, deletion constructs of p62 that lacked each of the 5 domains (PB1, ZZ, p38, TBS or UBA) were transfected into a p62−/− stromal cell line. We found that the ZZ domains mediated BMSC enhancement of MM cell growth, IL-6 production, VCAM-1 expression and OCL formation. Using virtual modeling of the ZZ domain, we identified 6 candidate p62-ZZ inhibitory molecules and tested them for their capacity to block enhanced MM cell growth, OCL formation, IL-6 production, and VCAM-1 expression on BMSC induced by TNFα. When MM1.S, RPMI8266, ANBL6 MM cell-lines or CD138+ primary MM cells were cultured in the absence of BMSC with p62-ZZ inhibitor #3 (10mM), this inhibitor directly induced cell death. The p62-ZZ inhibitor-induced cell death was characterized by an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by inhibiting NF-kB activation, and apoptotic cell death by triggering the activation of caspases 3, 7, and 9. This inhibitor had an IC50 of 4.6mM for MM1.S survival. In contrast, CFU-Blast formation by human CD34+ cells was not inhibited by p62-ZZ inhibitor #3 (10mM). p62-ZZ inhibitor #3 (10mM) treatment of human OCL precursors derived from CFU-GM, inhibited OCL formation by blocking precursor proliferation. To examine the specificity of the p62-ZZ inhibitor #3, we tested its effects on OCL formation by CD11b+ mononuclear cells from wild type (WT) and p62−/− mice cultured with TNFα for 7 days. p62-ZZ inhibitor #3 blocked WT OCL formation but did not block p62−/− OCL formation. The p62-ZZ inhibitor also blocked VCAM-1 expression and IL-6 production by normal and MM patient stromal cells induced by TNFα compared to vehicle. Importantly, the inhibitor (10mM) did not block stromal cell proliferation. Further, the inhibitor blocked TNFα induced PKCζ phosphorylation in stromal cells and MM1.S when the cells were pretreated with the p62-ZZ inhibitor for 3 hours. These results demonstrate that p62-ZZ inhibitor #3 specifically blocks both stromal cells independent and dependent MM cell growth and OCL formation but does not affect hematopoietic or stromal cell growth. These results support p62 as a potential novel therapeutic target for MM. Disclosures: Roodman:Amgen: Consultancy; Millennium: Consultancy.
Discriminative Stimulus Properties of S(-)-Nicotine: "A Drug for All Seasons".

S(−)-Nicotine is the major pharmacologically active substance in tobacco and can function as an effective discriminative stimulus in both experimental animals and humans. In this model, subjects must detect and communicate the nicotine drug state versus the non-drug state. This review describes the usefulness of the procedure to study nicotine, presents a general overview of the model, and provides some relevant methodological details for the establishment of this drug as a stimulus. Once established, the (−)-nicotine stimulus can be characterized for dose response and time course effects. Moreover, tests can be conducted to determine the similarity of effects produced by test drugs to those produced by the training dose of nicotine. Such tests have shown that the stimulus effects of nicotine are stereoselective [S(−)-nicotine >R(+)-nicotine] and that other “natural” tobacco alkaloids and (−)-nicotine metabolites can produce (−)-nicotine-like effects, but these drugs are much less potent than (−)-nicotine. Stimulus antagonism tests with mecamylamine and DHβE (dihydro-β-erythroidine) indicate that the (−)-nicotine stimulus is mediated via α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in brain; dopamine systems also are likely involved. Individuals who try to cease their use of nicotine-based products are often unsuccessful. Bupropion (Zyban®) and varenicline (Chantix®) may be somewhat effective as anti-smoking medications because they probably produce stimulus effects that serve as suitable substitutes for (−)-nicotine in the individual who is motivated to quit smoking. Finally, it is proposed that future drug discrimination studies should apply the model to the issue of maintenance of abstinence from (−)-nicotine-based products.
Educational Diversity in U.S. Law Schools

In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), Justice O'Connor's majority opinion held that the United States Constitution “does not prohibit [a] law school's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.” Educational diversity, including student body racial/ethnic diversity, is a key precondition for these educational benefits. We review existing legal and social science research on educational diversity, its conceptual and operational definitions, and its behavioral, interpersonal, and learning outcomes. Recent evidence linking race and educational diversity among incoming law students and later at graduation is reviewed.
Adult onset immunoglobulin A vasculitis (Henoch-Schonlein purpura) with alveolar hemorrhage.

S. pyogenes is the cause of many important human diseases, ranging from mild superficial skin infections to life-threatening systemic diseases. The post streptococcal syndromes are immune mediated phenomena including Immunoglobulin A Vasculitis (Henoch-Schonlein purpura). HSP is more common in children and usually self limited but it can cause skin, joint, renal, gastrointestinal and rarely respiratory involvement. We present a case with Streptococcus pyogenes pneumonia that presented with respiratory failure, pulmonary hemorrhage, extensive rash and renal failure.
Using a probabilistic model to predict bug fixes

Automatic Software Repair (APR) has significant potential to reduce software maintenance costs by reducing the human effort required to localize and fix bugs. State-of-the-art generate-and-validate APR techniques select between and instantiate various mutation operators to construct candidate patches, informed largely by heuristic probability distributions. This may reduce effectiveness in terms of both efficiency and output quality. In practice, human developers have many options in terms of how to edit code to fix bugs, some of which are far more common than others (e.g., deleting a line of code is more common than adding a new class). We mined the most recent 100 bug-fixing commits from each of the 500 most popular Java projects in GitHub (the largest dataset to date) to create a probabilistic model describing edit distributions. We categorize, compare and evaluate the different mutation operators used in state-of-the-art approaches. We find that a probabilistic modelbased APR approach patches bugs more quickly in the majority of bugs studied, and that the resulting patches are of higher quality than those produced by previous approaches. Finally, we mine association rules for multi-edit source code changes, an understudied but important problem. We validate the association rules by analyzing how much of our corpus can be built from them. Our evaluation indicates that 84.6% of the multi-edit patches from the corpus can be built from the association rules, while maintaining 90% confidence.
Vibration analysis of viscoelastic composite panels of engine cowling in propeller aircraft using analytical & numerical methods

In this work the vibration analysis of viscoelastic composite panels of engine in propeller aircraft has been carried out. Both analytical and numerical (Finite Element) analysis has been carried out. Engine Panels are similar to plates. So, analytical formulation of the plate has been carried out to find out the vibrational response for specially orthotropic composite panel. As the solution of equilibrium equations for general laminates with any stacking sequence cannot be obtained analytically. Therefore, numerical method technique (Finite Element Analysis) is then employed to find out the vibrational characteristics of the panel. By carrying out modal analysis it is found out that the natural frequencies of the composite panel became higher by the inclusion of viscoelastic layers. So, increase in the natural frequencies will be advantageous in engine cowling panels. It is also observed that for panels with and without viscoelastic laminas, the deflection patterns are quite similar. However, as the natural frequencies of the panel without viscous effects are lower, so therefore deflection of the central node occurred earlier. Furthermore, a very small decrease in the transverse deflection of the node is seen for viscoelastic panel. A phase shift is also observed. Transient analysis revealed that all composite panels exhibit damping characteristics to an impulse force. However, damping effect is prominent in panels with viscoelastic laminas.
The Nature and Design of Professional Development for Using Geospatial Technologies to Teach Science

Projects described in this book identify tensions and best practices in designing professional development for teaching science with geospatial technology. The projects in Section I were federally funded, primarily through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. These projects have common underlying requirements and emerged from the research literature. As a result, they share a number of common design characteristics, including (1) an intensive summer institute, (2) school-year workshops, (3) ongoing support throughout the academic year, and (4) use of technologies as tools for inquiry rather than as the primary focus of instruction. However, the projects do differ in disciplinary focus, geographical reach, theoretical frameworks, and evaluation approaches. For example, some include students directly while others involve only teachers. Looking across all of the highlighted projects, this final chapter summarizes insights into best practices in designing professional development in support of teaching science with geospatial technology.
Developing World Bioethics

This article reviews some of the ethical issues that arise in relationships between developed and developing nations. Topics addressed include the use of placebos in randomized, controlled trials, exploitation, fair sharing of benefits of research, barriers to effective informed consent in developing nations, community consultation, intellectual property, patents, and genetically modified crops and foods. This article also discusses international guidelines for research with human subjects, including the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration and the Council for the International Organization of Medical Science’s International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects.
Empirical Characterization of Convergence Properties for Kernel-based Visual Servoing

Visual servoing typically involves separate feature tracking and control processes. Feature tracking remains an art, and is generally treated as independent of the underlying controller. Kernel-based visual servoing (KBVS) is a categorically different approach that eliminates explicit feature tracking. This chapter presents an experimental assessment of the convergence properties (domain of attraction and steady-state error) of the proposed approach. Using smooth weighting functions (the kernels) and Lyapunov theory, we analyze the controllers as they act on images acquired in controlled environments. We ascertain the domain of attraction by finding the largest positive invariant set of the Lyapunov function, inside which its time derivative is negative definite. Our experiments show that KBVS attains a maximum pixel error of one pixel and is commonly on the order of one tenth of a pixel.
Dynamics and Control of Initialized Fractional-Order Systems

Due to the importance of historical effects in fractional-order systems,this paper presents a general fractional-order system and control theorythat includes the time-varying initialization response. Previous studieshave not properly accounted for these historical effects. Theinitialization response, along with the forced response, forfractional-order systems is determined. The scalar fractional-orderimpulse response is determined, and is a generalization of theexponential function. Stability properties of fractional-order systemsare presented in the complex w-plane, which is a transformation of thes-plane. Time responses are discussed with respect to pole positions inthe complex w-plane and frequency response behavior is included. Afractional-order vector space representation, which is a generalizationof the state space concept, is presented including the initializationresponse. Control methods for vector representations of initializedfractional-order systems are shown. Finally, the fractional-orderdifferintegral is generalized to continuous order-distributions whichhave the possibility of including all fractional orders in a transferfunction.
Metabolism of Elements by Bacteria, Fungi, Algae, and Plants

From a structural standpoint, single-celled bacteria, algae, and fungi can all be regarded as being essentially the same. They have cell walls with cytoplasmic membrane underneath them. The cell walls are made of a variety of compounds, including cellulose, chitin, and peptidoglycans. The walls seem to have no specific physiological functions with regard to the absorption of inorganic (or, for that matter, organic) substances except in the case of the outer cell wall (or outer membrane) of gram-negative bacteria. The specific absorptions are instead carried out by the cytoplasmic membrane. The cell wall can, however, adsorb cationic metallic elements, since it is composed of compounds with negatively charged groups (e.g., phosphate, uronate) or, in certain organisms, containing coordinating groups.
Current Questions in Brain and Behavior

When scientists meet at a symposium such as this one they exchange findings and ideas in an attempt to answer one or more current questions. In the formative stages of a scientific discipline, they leave such a meeting with more questions than answers. The formulation and reformulation of questions is very often evidence of progress and may include clues to the answers. That is, being able to state a problem is a first step towards its solution. New areas of science also characteristically bridge gaps from more organized areas of science. Very often, new terminologies are needed to discuss interdisciplinary topics. In the study of brain and behavior, the term “memory” has a different meaning for everyone. Although the origin of the word is clearly behavioral, “genetic memory” and “immunological memory” are presently better understood than behavioral memory.
Advanced radiation techniques for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: intensity-modulated radiation therapy and proton therapy

Radiation therapy (RT) represents an integral part of a multimodality treatment plan in the definitive, preoperative and postoperative management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Technological advances in RT have enabled a shift from two-dimensional radiotherapy to more conformal techniques. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), the current minimum technological standard for treating NSCLC, allows for more accurate delineation of tumor burden by using computed tomography-based treatment planning instead of two-dimensional radiographs. Intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) and proton therapy represent advancements over 3DCRT that aim to improve the conformity of RT and provide the possibility for dose escalation to the tumor by minimizing radiation dose to organs at risk. Both techniques likely confer benefits to certain anatomic subgroups of NSCLC requiring RT. This article reviews pertinent studies evaluating the use of IMRT and proton therapy in locally advanced NSCLC, and outlines challenges, indications for use, and areas for future research.
Examining cross-level effects in dyadic analysis: A structural equation modeling perspective

The actor-partner interdependence (APIM) and common-fate (CFM) models for dyadic data are well understood and widely applied. The actor and partner coefficients estimated in the APIM reflect the associations between individual-level variance components, whereas the CFM coefficient describes the association between dyad-level variance components. Additionally, both models assume that the theoretically relevant and/or empirically dominant component of variability resides at the same level (individual or dyad) across the predictor and outcome variables. The present work recasts the APIM and CFM in terms of dyadic nonindependence, or the extent to which a given variable reflects dyad- versus individual-level processes, and describes a pair of hybrid actor-partner and common-fate models that connect variance components residing at different levels. A series of didactic examples illustrate how the traditional APIM and CFM can be combined with the hybrid models to describe mediational processes that span the individual and dyad levels.
The synthesis and decay of histone fractions and of deoxyribonucleic acid in the developing avian brain.

1. The turnover of cerebral histones and DNA after injection of [4,5-3H]leucine or [methyl-3-3H]thymidine, respectively, was studied in the developing chick. 2. Chromatin was prepared from chick nuclei that had been purified by centrifugation through 1.9m-sucrose. 3. Nuclear proteins were fractionated into three major histone classes, F1 (lysine-rich), F2(b) (slightly lysine-rich) and [F3+F2(a)] (arginine-rich), and a non-histone protein residue. 4. The proportions of the histone classes remained constant throughout the period of development studied. 5. All histone fractions decayed at a similar rate, initially with a half-life of around 5 days, later with a half-life of 19 days. 6. Non-histone proteins from chromatin decayed in a heterogeneous manner with a wide range of half-lives. 7. Short-term labelling studies showed that all histone fractions were synthesized at the same rate. 8. Some non-histone proteins were very rapidly synthesized relative to histones. 9. DNA had a longer half-life than any histone fraction studied. A biphasic exponential decay curve with half-lives of 23 and 50 days was found. 10. It was concluded that the turnover of histones can occur independently of that of DNA and that different histone classes have similar rates of synthesis and decay.
Defining Tinkering Behavior in Open-ended Block-based Programming Assignments

Tinkering has been shown to have a positive influence on students in open-ended making activities. Open-ended programming assignments in block-based programming resemble making activities in that both of them encourage students to tinker with tools to create their own solutions to achieve a goal. However, previous studies of tinkering in programming discussed tinkering as a broad, ambiguous term, and investigated only self-reported data. To our knowledge, no research has studied student tinkering behaviors while solving problems in block-based programming environments. In this position paper, we propose a definition for tinkering in block-based programming environments as a kind of behavior that students exhibit when testing, exploring, and struggling during problem-solving. We introduce three general categories of tinkering behaviors (test-based, prototype-based, and construction-based tinkering) derived from student data, and use case studies to demonstrate how students exhibited these behaviors in problem-solving. We created the definitions using a mixed-methods research design combining a literature review with data-driven insights from submissions of two open-ended programming assignments in iSnap, a block-based programming environment. We discuss the implication of each type of tinkering behavior for learning. Our study and results are the first in this domain to define tinkering based on student behaviors in a block-based programming environment.
Rationale and Current Evidence for Testing Iron Chelators for Treating Stroke

To discuss the mechanisms of iron regulation in the brain and the pathophysiological role of deregulation of iron homeostasis following a stroke, and to review existing evidence supporting the potential role of iron chelators in the treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. In recent years, accumulating evidence has highlighted the role of neuroinflammation in neurological injury after ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, and that free iron is central to this process. Via the Fenton reaction, free iron catalyzes the conversion of superoxide ion and hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals, which promote oxidative stress. Advances in our understanding of changes in brain iron metabolism and its relationship to neuronal injury in stroke could provide new therapeutic strategies to improve the outcome of stroke patients. Pharmacological agents targeting brain iron regulation hold promise as potentially effective treatments in both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
Predicted diurnal variation of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in water at the surface of Mars caused by mass exchange with the regolith

Regolith on Mars exchanges water with the atmosphere on a diurnal basis and this process causes significant variation in the abundance of water vapor at the surface. While previous studies of regolith-atmosphere exchange focus on the abundance, recent in-situ experiments and remote sensing observations measure the isotopic composition of the atmospheric water. We are therefore motivated to investigate isotopic water exchange between the atmosphere and the regolith and determine its effect on the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) of the atmosphere. We model transport of water in the regolith and regolith-atmosphere exchange by solving a transport equation including regolith adsorption, condensation, and diffusion. The model calculates equilibrium fractionation between HDO and H_2O in each of these processes. The fractionation in adsorption is caused by the difference in the latent heat of adsorption, and that of condensation is caused by the difference in the vapor pressure. Together with a simple, bulk-aerodynamic boundary layer model, we simulate the diurnal variation of the D/H near the planetary surface. We find that the D/H can vary by 300–1400‰ diurnally in the equatorial and mid-latitude locations, and the magnitude is greater at a colder location or season. The variability is mainly driven by adsorption and desorption of regolith particles, and its diurnal trend features a drop in the early morning, a rise to the peak value during the daytime, and a second drop in the late afternoon and evening, tracing the water vapor flow into and out from the regolith. The predicted D/H variation can be tested with in-situ measurements. As such, our calculations suggest stable isotope analysis to be a powerful tool in pinpointing regolith-atmosphere exchange of water on Mars.
Czesław Miłosz and Jerzy Andrzejewski: The Holocaust as Catholic Moral Crisis

This article examines the wartime texts produced by two deeply believing Catholics – Jerzy Andrzejewski and Czeslaw Milosz. In 1942, at the time of the deportations to Treblinka, these young but already prominent Warsaw men of letters and believing Catholics engaged in a correspondence which examined the ethical crisis of the Jewish genocide and its impact on Christian humanism. Milosz and Andrzejewski followed their epistolary exchange with literary responses to the 1943 Ghetto Uprising. Whereas the letters conceptualized possibilities of moral restoration, the literary works – Milosz’s two poems, Campo di Fiori and Biedny Chrześjanin patrzy na getto (A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto) and Andrzejewski’s novella Wielki Tydzien (Holy Week) – focused on the devastating impact of the Jewish genocide on their Polish Catholic world. These literary works see the event of the Holocaust as an irrevocable failure of the Catholic dogmas of caritas and love for the Other.
Detection and prevention protocol for black hole attack in network-on-chip

Network-on-Chip (NoC) has become exposed to security threats. It can be infected with a Hardware Trojan (HT) to degrade the system performance and apply a denial of service attack. In this paper, we proposed a new HT-based threat model, known as Black Hole Router (BHR), where it deliberately drops packets from the NoC. We proposed a detection and prevention protocol to such BHR attack with reasonably low overhead. The results show 10.83%, 27.78%, and 21.31% overhead in area, power, and performance, respectively. However, our proposed protocol not only detects the BHR attack but also avoids it and assures packet-delivery.
Accuracy of the ACS NSQIP Online Risk Calculator Depends on How You Look at It: Results from the United States Gastric Cancer Collaborative:

The objective of this study is to assess the accuracy of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program online risk calculator for estimating risk after operation for gastric cancer using the United States Gastric Cancer Collaborative. Nine hundred and sixty-five patients who underwent resection of gastric adenocarcinoma between January 2000 and December 2012 at seven academic medical centers were included. Actual complication rates and outcomes for patients were compared. Most of the patients underwent total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction (404, 41.9%) and partial gastrectomy with gastrojejunostomy (239, 24.8%) or Roux-en-Y reconstruction (284, 29.4%). The C-statistic was highest for venous thromboembolism (0.690) and lowest for renal failure at (0.540). All C-statistics were less than 0.7. Brier scores ranged from 0.010 for venous thromboembolism to 0.238 for any complication. General estimates of risk for the cohort were variable in terms of accuracy. Improving the ability of surgeons to estimate preoperative risk for patients is critically important so that efforts at risk reduction can be personalized to each patient. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program risk calculator is a rapid and easy-to-use tool and validation of the calculator is important as its use becomes more common.
Common-mode Current Analysis and Cancellation Technique for Dual Active Bridge Converter based DC System

Isolated bi-directional DC-DC converter is required in many applications, such as solid-state transformer, DC distribution system for future grids, naval power systems, and electrical mobility. Dual Active Bridge (DAB) is a preferred candidate in these applications because of the soft-switching operation and bidirectional power flow capability. The conducted Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), due to high dv/dt and parasitic capacitance, of the DAB based isolated DC-DC system is analyzed. Isolated DC-DC systems based on single-phase and three-phase DAB are analyzed for different modulation schemes. Stray capacitance of the semiconductor device package and medium-frequency transformer is considered. Based on the analysis of the existing systems, an improved DC-DC converter architecture is proposed that can significantly reduce the conducted EMI. The proposed approach ensures synchronization and matching of the rising edge of the node voltage of one converter leg with the falling edge of node voltage of another converter leg to cancel the common-mode current.
Pattern Recognition Of Microscopic Objects

In using matched filtering techniques to recognize and count species of diatoms, the two basic problems are the sensitivity of the system to size and to orientational variations between individuals of a given species. Since diatoms seem to be randomly oriented on the slides one reasonable approach to overcoming these difficulties is to make the filter matched to some average nember of the species and then to use statistical information to estimate the actual size of the population. This technique is applied to two populations of diatoms. Experimental results are presented and discussed.© (1979) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Breast cancer screening implications of risk modeling among female relatives of ATM and CHEK2 carriers.

BACKGROUND With the increasing use of multigene panel tests, pathogenic and likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants are identified more frequently in the moderate-penetrance breast cancer genes ATM and CHEK2. Lifetime breast cancer risk among women with P/LP variants in these genes generally exceeds 20%, meeting the threshold at which high-risk breast cancer screening through breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is recommended. METHODS Among a registry-based sample of 56 ATM and 69 CHEK2 carriers, the authors sought to determine the percentage of relatives in whom a P/LP variant would impact breast cancer surveillance. Lifetime breast cancer risks for unaffected, female first-degree and second-degree relatives were estimated using the Breast and Ovarian Analysis of Disease Incidence and Carrier Estimation Algorithm (BOADICEA). RESULTS Among first-degree relatives of ATM and CHEK2 carriers, only 22.6% and 14.9%, respectively, were found to have lifetime breast cancer risks of ≥20% based on family cancer history alone; however, when including the proband's P/LP variant in the model, these percentages increased significantly to 56.6% and 55.3%, respectively (P < .0001 and P < .0001, respectively). Similar increases in lifetime breast cancer risks were found among second-degree relatives. CONCLUSIONS The results of the current study suggest that the majority of female first-degree and second-degree relatives of ATM and CHEK2 carriers do not qualify for breast MRI based on family cancer history alone. Therefore, testing for these genes, as well as awareness of positive moderate-penetrance breast cancer gene results in the family, may impact MRI eligibility. These findings highlight the potential usefulness of and need for breast cancer risk models that incorporate moderate-penetrance gene positivity to inform screening recommendations among at-risk family members.
Experimental Shareholder Activism: A novel approach for studying top management decision making and employee career issues

Abstract Decision making processes and consequent policy decisions of top management teams often have tremendous impact on employee careers and wellbeing, but the difficulty of accessing executive decision making has made studying such processes especially difficult. Whereas scholars have often relied on their own professional networks to gather small samples of executives or leveraged proxy measures compiled from publicly-available documents, we propose and demonstrate an alternative approach which we term Experimental Shareholder Activism (ESA). ESA allows researchers to directly study executive leadership via the shareholder proposal process—under Rule 14a-8—by purchasing relatively small amounts of stock in a company, and experimentally manipulating features of shareholder proposals to elicit responses from key stakeholders within the company. This approach allows for the direct examination of executive decision making with the benefit of quasi-experimental design. We describe the method, identify vocational and career-relevant areas of inquiry best suited to ESA, and discuss manipulations readily embedded in shareholder proposals. We then provide a toolkit for scholars interested in studying executive decision making on employee career and Human Resource-related outcomes, and demonstrate the viability of such an approach via a pilot experiment.
Defining Minimum Clinically Important Changes for the Patient Activity Scale II

OBJECTIVE To define the minimum clinically important improvement (MCII) and minimum clinically important worsening (MCIW) for the Patient Activity Scale II (PAS-II; range 0-10), a recommended patient-reported outcome measuring rheumatoid arthritis disease activity. METHODS Data were taken from Forward, The National Databank for Rheumatic Diseases, from four 6-month data collection periods. Both anchor-based and distribution-based methods were used to estimate the MCII and MCIW. Anchor-based analyses used comparisons of pain and general health to the previous 6 months. Distribution-based analyses used 0.5 and 0.35 SDs. We stratified analyses based on the PAS-II score (above/below 3.7), hypothesizing that the MCII and MCIW would depend on the baseline score. To assess construct validity, we evaluated the odds of achieving the MCII in patients receiving new therapies. RESULTS In the overall sample, for pain and general health anchor questions, the MCIW was 0.50 and 0.55, respectively. The MCII was defined as 0.39 and 0.45, respectively, for pain and general health. The MCIW for anchor-based methods among participants with low disease activity was 1.10 (1.09/1.11 [pain/general health]), while the MCII for those with moderate-to-high disease activity was 1.09 (1.15/1.02 [pain/general health]). Distribution-based methods for 0.5 and 0.35 SD were 1.08 and 0.76, respectively, for pain and general health. There was fair-to-excellent agreement with clinically important differences in assessments of pain and disability. Patients receiving new treatments had 30% greater odds of achieving the MCII. CONCLUSION The minimum important change in PAS-II score was approximately 0.5. Among participants with a moderate-to-high PAS-II score , the MCII was 1.1, and among participants with low disease activity, the MCIW was 1.1.
Incidence of Invasive Fungal Infections in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Without Antifungal Prophylaxis

Abstract Background Antifungal prophylaxis during induction for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) varies according to local rates of invasive fungal infections (IFIs). We evaluated fluconazole prophylaxis and no antifungal prophylaxis, as a natural interrupted time-series study to assess survival and infection complications. Patients and Methods We identified patients with AML ≥ 18 years old undergoing induction chemotherapy during 2 time periods: period 1, fluconazole prophylaxis from August 1, 2013 to September 30, 2015, and period 2, no prophylaxis from October 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017. The primary outcome was incidence of proven or probable IFI. Secondary outcomes included types of IFIs and 60-day overall survival (OS). IFI was defined by the 2002 European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group Consensus criteria. Results One hundred forty-four patients received induction chemotherapy over the 2 time periods. In the prophylaxis versus no-prophylaxis groups, the rate of proven or probable IFIs was 4 (5%) of 87 versus 12 (21%) of 57 (P = .01). The total number of proven IFIs was 3 (3%) of 87 versus 4 (7%) of 57 (P = .44), whereas probable IFIs were 1 (1%) of 87 versus 8 (14%) of 57 (P Conclusion Observed rates of proven or probable IFI were lower in the fluconazole prophylaxis group versus the no-prophylaxis group. Sixty-day OS was higher with fluconazole prophylaxis. Further study is required to evaluate how fluconazole may impart the differences in survival seen in this analysis.
The Role of Blood Products in Damage Control Resuscitation in Explosion-Related Trauma

Damage control resuscitation (DCR) of the massively bleeding trauma patient comprises early intervention with blood products to replete intravascular volume, restore tissue oxygenation, and correct coagulopathy until surgical hemostasis can be achieved. Blood product resuscitation in the emergency department (ED), and also in the prehospital setting, must be coordinated, prompt, multifaceted, and evidence-based and should incorporate the appropriate use of laboratory tests and adjunct therapies, which facilitate DCR and damage control surgery. Hemostatic resuscitation should also address the management of the acute and delayed complications of massive transfusion including electrolyte imbalances, interstitial edema, acidosis, and hypothermia.