cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
What Is Hip-Hop-Based Education Doing in "Nice" Fields Such as Early Childhood and Elementary Education?.

Hip-Hop-Based Education (HHBE) has resulted in many positive educational outcomes, ranging from teaching academic skills to teaching critical reflection at secondary levels. Given what HHBE initiatives have accomplished, it is troubling that there is an absence of attention to these methods in education programs for elementary and early childhood educators. For that reason, I intend to use theories of sociocultural learning to examine how young urban children’s Hip Hop communities of practice influence their early learning and identities. Through personal narratives, this work theorizes young urban children’s Hip Hop identities by utilizing children’s situated learning activities. The goal of the work is to begin a dialogue for the application of HHBE in early childhood and elementary education pre-service teacher programs.
Design, fabrication, and performance of integrated miniature SQUID susceptometers

The design, construction, and performance of miniature SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) susceptometers is discussed. Spins (in units of mu /sub beta /) per square root Hz has been identified as an important figure of merit. Simple expressions for S/sub n/ (spin sensitivity) in miniature SQUID susceptometers are developed and the implications of dimensional scaling explored. The details of several existing and proposed designs are reviewed, including versions that utilize commercial SQUIDs. With thin-film DC SQUIDs, S/sub n/ values of a few thousand spins/ square root Hz have already been obtained, and it is projected that values of a few hundred will be achieved soon. >
Streaming Media Congestion Control Using Bandwidth Estimation

The fundamental challenge in streaming media over the Internet is to transfer the highest possible quality, adhere to the media play out time constraint, and efficiently and fairly share the available bandwidth with TCP, UDP, and other traffic types. This work introduces the Streaming Media Congestion Control protocol (SMCC), a new adaptive media streaming congestion management protocol in which the connection's packet transmission rate is adjusted according to the dynamic bandwidth share of the connection. In SMCC, the bandwidth share of a connection is estimated using algorithms similar to those introduced in TCP Westwood. SMCC avoids the Slow Start phase in TCP. As a result, SMCC does not exhibit the pronounced rate oscillations characteristic of traditional TCP, thereby providing congestion control that is more suitable for streaming media applications. Furthermore, SMCC is fair, sharing the bandwidth equitably among a set of SMCC connections. An important advantage is robustness when packet losses are due to random errors, which is typical of wireless links and is becoming an increasing concern due to the emergence of wireless Internet access. In the presence of random errors, SMCC is also friendly to TCP New Reno. We provide simulation results using the ns2 simulator for our protocol running together with TCP New Reno.
Sleep Apnea and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence: Structural or Functional Effects?

A strong association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and atrial fibrillation has been consistently observed in both epidemiological and clinical cohorts, and multiple studies demonstrate that OSA is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation recurrence following chemical or
Human parental care: Universal goals, cultural strategies, individual behavior

Parents seek to promote the survival and success of their offspring, but their behavior is adapted to the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of agrarian and urban-industrial societies and further differentiated by local cultural traditions.
Robust resource allocations in parallel computing systems: model and heuristics

The resources in parallel computer systems (including heterogeneous clusters) should be allocated to the computational applications in a way that maximizes some system performance measure. However, allocation decisions and associated performance prediction are often based on estimated values of application and system parameters. The actual values of these parameters may differ from the estimates; for example, the estimates may represent only average values, the models used to generate the estimates may have limited accuracy, and there may be changes in the environment. Thus, an important research problem is the development of resource management strategies that can guarantee a particular system performance given such uncertainties. To address this problem, we have designed a model for deriving the degree of robustness of a resource allocation-the maximum amount of collective uncertainty in system parameters within which a user-specified level of system performance (QoS) can be guaranteed. The model is presented and we demonstrate its ability to select the most robust resource allocation from among those that otherwise perform similarly (based oh the primary performance criterion). The model's use in allocation heuristics is also demonstrated. This model is applicable to different types of computing and communication environments, including parallel, distributed, cluster; grid, Internet, embedded, and wireless.
Hierarchical Sparse Coding for Wireless Link Prediction in an Airborne Scenario

We build a data-driven hierarchical inference model to predict wireless link quality between a mobile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and ground nodes. Clustering, sparse feature extraction, and non-linear pooling are combined to improve Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification when a limited training set does not comprehensively characterize data variations. Our approach first learns two layers of dictionaries by clustering packet reception data. These dictionaries are used to perform sparse feature extraction, which expresses link state vectors first in terms of a few prominent local patterns, or features, and then in terms of co-occurring features along the flight path. In order to tolerate artifacts like small positional shifts in field-collected data, we pool large magnitude features among overlapping shifted patches within windows. Together, these techniques transform raw link measurements into stable feature vectors that capture environmental effects driven by radio range limitations, antenna pattern variations, line-of-sight occlusions, etc. Link outage prediction is implemented by an SVM that assigns a common label to feature vectors immediately preceding gaps of successive packet losses, predictions are then fed to an adaptive link layer protocol that adjusts forward error correction rates, or queues packets during outages to prevent TCP timeout. In our harsh target environment, links are unstable and temporary outages common, so baseline TCP connections achieve only minimal throughput. However, connections under our predictive protocol temporarily hold packets that would otherwise be lost on unavailable links, and react quickly when the UAV link is restored, increasing overall channel utilization.
Poor-quality studies suggest that vitamin B6 use is beneficial in premenstrual syndrome.

Studies were identified by searching MEDLINE (1966-1998), EMBASE (1988-1996), PsychLIT (1974-1997),CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and AlliedHealth) (1982-1997), and the Cochrane Controlled TrialsRegister with the terms premenstrual syndrome, pyridox-ine, premenstrual tension, late luteal phase dysphoric dis-order, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Bibliogra-phies of relevant articles were scanned, and pharmaceuticalcompanies were contacted.
Rapidly-exploring roadmaps: Weighing exploration vs. refinement in optimal motion planning

Computing globally optimal motion plans requires exploring the configuration space to identify reachable free space regions as well as refining understanding of already explored regions to find better paths. We present the rapidly-exploring roadmap (RRM), a new method for single-query optimal motion planning that allows the user to explicitly consider the trade-off between exploration and refinement. RRM initially explores the configuration space like a rapidly exploring random tree (RRT). Once a path is found, RRM uses a user-specified parameter to weigh whether to explore further or to refine the explored space by adding edges to the current roadmap to find higher quality paths in the explored space. Unlike prior methods, RRM does not focus solely on exploration or refine prematurely. We demonstrate the performance of RRM and the trade-off between exploration and refinement using two examples, a point robot moving in a plane and a concentric tube robot capable of following curved trajectories inside patient anatomy for minimally invasive medical procedures.
Caregivers' Psychosocial Factors Underlying Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Non-Hispanic Black Preschoolers: An Elicitation Study

The purpose of this study was to explore caregivers' beliefs and perceptions regarding serving sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to non-Hispanic black preschoolers. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) was used as the framework for conducting elicitation interviews among a sample of (n = 19) caregivers. Thematic coding of interview transcripts revealed that the decision to serve SSBs to preschoolers is driven by numerous individual, familial, cultural, and environmental factors. Salient factors associated with serving SSBs included convenience, cost, taste, potential health consequences, availability, and pressure from other parents. Population-specific interventions aimed at reducing SSB intake among non-Hispanic preschoolers are discussed.
Dose-dependent biodistribution of [99mTc]DTPA-mannosyl-dextran for breast cancer sentinel lymph node mapping

Abstract [ 99m Tc]DTPA-mannosyl-dextran is a receptor-binding radiopharmaceutical specifically designed for sentinel lymph node mapping. The purpose of this study was to test the biodistribution and safety of [ 99m Tc]DTPA-mannosyl-Dextran at different molar doses. Twenty-four female breast cancer patients participated in this study. Four groups of 6 patients received an injection of 0.2, 1.0, or 5.0 nmol of [ 99m Tc]DTPA-mannosyl-Dextran or filtered [ 99m Tc]sulfur colloid. The injection site clearance was monitored by dynamic imaging for three hours. Whole body scans were acquired at 2.5 and 12, and lymph nodes were assayed for radioactivity after gamma-guided sentinel lymph node biopsy. Injection site clearance of [ 99m Tc]DTPA-mannosyl-Dextran was not statistically different in a dose-dependent manner. Dose-dependent sentinel node uptake was observed (p = 0.03). There were no clinically significant alterations in laboratory parameters among all dose levels at 4 h or 24 h post injection compared to preoperative levels. Radiation absorbed doses did not differ among the three dose levels, but were lower than filtered [ 99m Tc]sulfur colloid.
Prevalence of Drug Use Among Pregnant Women in a Rural Area

Objective: To determine the prevalence of alcohol and illegal drug use among pregnant women in a rural Midwestern area. Design Descriptive, prospective study. Setting Private tertiary medical center in a rural midwestern area. Participants A nonprobability convenience sample of 202 women enrolling for prenatal care. Main Outcome Measures Hypothesized that the prevalence of alcohol and illegal drug use by pregnant women in a rural midwestern area may be similar to the prevalence in urban areas. Results The prevalence for perinatal drug use among the sample was 3.9%, with a 95% exact binomial confidence interval of 1.7% to 7.7%. Conclusions The 3.9% prevalence level is significantly lower than the 11% prevalence levels projected by urban studies (p = .0006). Additional studies need to be conducted on rural populations, however, with periodic testing performed throughout pregnancy. Further studies should examine, through self‐reporting, prevalence rates of tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy.
Fuzzy-decision neural networks

In a decision-based neural network (DBNN), the teacher only tells the correctness of the classification for each training pattern. In dealing with practical classification applications where significant overlap may exist between categories, special care is needed to cope with the marginal training patterns. For these situations, a soft decision is more appropriate. This motivates a fuzzy-decision neural network (FDNN) which incorporates a penalty criterion into the DBNNs. Following B. H. Juang and S. Katagiri, a penalty function is proposed which treats the errors with equal penalty once the magnitude of error exceeds a certain threshold. Theoretically, the FDNNs are less biased and they yield the minimum error rate when the number of the training patterns is very large. Simulation results confirm that the FDNN works more effectively than the DBNN when the training patterns are not separable. >
PDE9A is expressed in the inner retina and contributes to the normal shape of the photopic ERG waveform.

The ubiquitous second messenger cGMP is synthesized by guanylyl cyclase and hydrolyzed by phosphodiesterase (PDE). cGMP mediates numerous signaling pathways in multiple tissues. In the retina, cGMP regulates signaling in nearly every cell class including photoreceptors, bipolar cells, amacrine cells, and ganglion cells. In order to understand the specific role of cGMP and its regulating enzymes in different cell types, it is first necessary to localize these components and dissect their influence on the circuits. Here we tested the contribution of PDE9A to retinal processing by recording the electroretinograms (ERG) of PDE9A-/- (KO) mice and by localizing the enzyme. We found that while the scotopic ERG of KO was the same as that of wild type (WT) in both amplitude and kinetics, the photopic ERG was greatly affected. The greatest effect was on the recovery of the b-wave; the falling phase and the b-wave duration were significantly longer in the KO mice for all photopic stimuli (UV, green, or saturating white flashes). The rising phase was slower in KO than in WT for UV and green stimuli. For certain stimuli, amplitudes of both the a- and b-waves were smaller than in WT. Using Lac-Z expression in KO retinas as a reporter for PDE9A expression pattern, we found that PDE9A is localized to GABA-positive and GABA-negative amacrine cells, and likely also to certain types of ganglion cells. Our results indicate that PDE9A, by controlling the level of cGMP, modulates inhibitory processes within the cone pathway. We speculate that these circuits involve NO/cGMP signaling pathways.
Launch Pad Closeout Operations for the Mars Science Laboratory's Heat Rejection System

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover was launched on an Atlas V on November 26, 2011. Preparations were carried out prior to launch in order to closeout the spacecraft's complex heat rejection system (HRS), which consists of two mechanically pumped CFC-11 fluid loops. The first HRS loop, onboard the Curiosity rover, was fully integrated, filled with CFC-11, and successfully operated prior to launch pad operations; however, the second thermal loop, called the cruise HRS loop, required final mechanical and thermal integration activities to occur while on the launch pad in order to accommodate the last minute installation of the rover's Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) power source. In order to prevent overheating of propellant tanks and critical avionics equipment buried deep within the spacecraft's aeroshell, the MMRTG needed to be pre-cooled using a separate non-flight mechanically pumped fluid loop prior to and during the final closeout and subsequent startup of the flight loop. This paper outlines the various steps that took place to safely install the MMRTG while carefully transitioning from the pre-cooling operation to the final startup and operation of the flight cruise HRS loop. Temperature data of the launch pad thermal transition from the ground support loop activity to the final flight loop operation is presented. Some background development of the ground support loop and lessons learned are also discussed. This successful launch pad integration activity required a close-knit coordination between NASA KSC, JPL, the Department of Energy, Idaho National Labs, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Inc., Teledyne Technologies Inc., ULA, and Advanced Thermal Sciences Corp.
The Literature of Highway Finance

Early discussions, 590. — Report of the Conference on Rail and Road Transport, 592. — Comments, 593. — Recommendations of the Joint Committee of Railroads and Highway Users, 594.—The allocation of cost: Sandage and Nelson, 595. — The National Transportation Committee, 597. — Physical vs. economic road life, 598. — Owen's views, 599. — Motor transportation's share of the cost of general government, 600. — Inadequacy of available data, 601. — Surveys now being undertaken in cooperation with the Federal Government, 601. — Dangers in the use of these data: Fairbank's Toll Roads and Free Roads, 605. — Comments, conclusions, 609.
Theory of Electron Capture in H + -H Collisions

The theory of electron capture in ${\mathrm{H}}^{+}$-H collisions at kilovolt energies is developed. A strong coupling is assumed between the electron ground states in the target and scattered atoms. The method depends on an approximation which amounts to neglecting terms of order ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ compared to 1, where $K$ is the wave number in atomic units for the collision of the two protons. Calculations are made for lab energies from 0.6 to 50 keV and the results compare favorably with the experimental results of Lockwood and Everhart. The center-of-mass correction accounts for the damping of resonances and otherwise produces a considerable effect. The method is applied to developing a formula for the relative probability for capture into an excited state. It is estimated that this probability is small.
Drivers of spatial variability in urban plant and soil isotopic composition in the Los Angeles basin

Aims We explored drivers of the spatial variability of plant carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes in the Los Angeles Basin and the implications of such plant isotopes for alterations to urban environments.
Absorption spectra of chlorophyll a in aqueous carbitol solvents

Abstract The absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a in aqueous methyl and butyl carbitol has been measured. The red-absorption maximum of chlorophyll dissolved in methyl carbitol (665 mμ) shifts to the red as the solvent is made increasingly aqueous (672 mμ in 30% methyl carbitol). Concurrently, the extinction coefficient decreases and fluorescence is lost. It has also been shown that only the non-fluorescent form of chlorophyll can form a colloid absorbing at 685 mμ in the presence of 6% dioxane. Butyl carbitol is more effective than methyl carbitol in keeping chlorophyll in a fluorescent form at high water concentrations, some fluorescence persisting when the solvent is 70–80% aqueous. Dioxane colloids prepared in 10% butyl carbitol exhibit an absorption maximum at 690 mμ, with a subsidiary maximum at 695 mμ. The 695-mμ absorption is considerably strengthened on standing. Thus, in these two solvent systems it is possible to prepare colloidal states of chlorophyll absorbing maximally at 672, 685, 690, and 695 mμ.
Time scale separation techniques for adaptive filtering

Direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS/SS) and interpolation techniques are applied to adaptive digital signal processing. These techniques are shown to facilitate rapid convergence of adaptive algorithms with respect to the rate of the data being processed by providing more iterations of the adaptive algorithm between incoming data samples. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the ability of DS/SS and interpolation techniques to improve the rate of convergence of adaptive algorithms. >
Stalking Victimization, Labeling, and Reporting: Findings From the NCVS Stalking Victimization Supplement

Using the National Crime Victimization Survey 2006 Stalking Victimization Supplement (NCVS-SVS) and guided by Greenberg and Ruback's social influence model, this study examines the effects of individual (e.g., severity, sex, victim-offender relationship) and contextual (e.g., location) factors on stalking victimization risk, victim labeling and help seeking, and victim and third-party police contacts. Logistic regression results suggest individual and contextual characteristics matter. Consistent with prior research and the theoretical model, the positive effects of severity and sex (female) were significant across all dependent variables, whereas the interaction effect of victim-offender relationship and location held only for third-party police contacts.
Inference Patterns with Intensional Adjectives

In this paper we report on an ongoing multiinstitution effort to encode inferential patterns associated with adjective modification in English. We focus here on a subset of intensional adjectives typically referred to as “non-subsective” predicates. This class includes adjectives such as alleged, supposed, so-called, and related modally subordinating predicates. We discuss the initial results of corpus-based investigations to discriminate the patterns of inference associated with these adjectives. Based on these studies, we have created an initial annotation specification that we are using to create a corpus of adjectiverelated inferences in English.
Is Utilitarianism Risky? How the Same Antecedents and Mechanism Produce Both Utilitarian and Risky Choices.

Philosophers and psychologists have long been interested in identifying factors that influence moral judgment. In the current analysis, we compare the literatures on moral psychology and decision making under uncertainty to propose that utilitarian choices are driven by the same forces that lead to risky choices. Spanning from neurocognitive to hormonal to interpersonal levels of analysis, we identify six antecedents that increase both utilitarian and risky choices (ventromedial prefrontal cortex brain lesions, psychopathology, testosterone, incidental positive affect, power, and social connection) and one antecedent that reduces these choices (serotonin activity). We identify the regulation of negative affect as a common mechanism through which the effects of each antecedent on utilitarian and risky choices are explained. By demonstrating that the same forces and the same underlying mechanism that produce risky choices also promote utilitarian choices, we offer a deeper understanding of how basic psychological systems underlie moral judgment. Language: en
Lectures on Stochastic Programming: Modeling and Theory, Second Edition

Optimization problems involving stochastic models occur in almost all areas of science and engineering, such as telecommunications, medicine, and finance. Their existence compels a need for rigorous ways of formulating, analyzing, and solving such problems. This book focuses on optimization problems involving uncertain parameters and covers the theoretical foundations and recent advances in areas where stochastic models are available. In Lectures on Stochastic Programming: Modeling and Theory, Second Edition, the authors introduce new material to reflect recent developments in stochastic programming, including: an analytical description of the tangent and normal cones of chance constrained sets; analysis of optimality conditions applied to nonconvex problems; a discussion of the stochastic dual dynamic programming method; an extended discussion of law invariant coherent risk measures and their Kusuoka representations; and in-depth analysis of dynamic risk measures and concepts of time consistency, including several new results. Audience: This book is intended for researchers working on theory and applications of optimization. It also is suitable as a text for advanced graduate courses in optimization.
Theoretical Analysis of Sweep-Out Experiments in Doped Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films

We analyze the transient response of i/n/i and i/p/i semiconductor structures in terms of space-charge-limited and emission-limited currents. In this ‘sweep-out’ experiment, an initial space-charge-limited current governed by the i-layer characteristics gives way at later times to an emission-limited current from the doped layer. The emission-limited current response can be used as a new spectroscopy for determining the electronic density of states near the mobility edge of doped semiconductors. We summarize the published experimental sweep-out data and draw conclusions about the density of electronic states of both n-type and p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon.
LEFT VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE OUTFLOW KINKS ARE A POTENTIAL COMPLICATION OF SURGICAL PLACEMENT

Left ventricular assist device outflow kinks are a potential complication of surgical placement A 70-year-old man presented with dyspnea and recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. He has a history of ischemic end-stage heart failure status post HeartMate II LVAD implantation. Enteroscopy revealed
Epidemiological Aspects of Heart Failure

Epidemiologic data based on general population surveillance examining the prevalence, incidence, and outlook of cardiac failure are sparse. The Framingham Study has followed a cohort representative of the general population biennially for three decades and provides such information. Four hundred eighty-five men and women developed first evidence of overt cardiac failure over 30 years. Between the ages of 35 to 64, the annual incidence of heart failure was 3 per 1000 and increased to 10 per 1000 at ages 65 to 94 years. There was a slight male predominance attributed to their greater propensity to coronary heart disease. Most cardiac failure was associated with long-standing hypertension or the presence of coronary heart disease. Risk of cardiac failure was increased two- to six-fold in persons with coronary heart disease; angina conferred half the risk of myocardial infarction. Silent or unrecognized infarctions predisposed equally as typically symptomatic ones; valvular deformity was a less common cause of cardiac failure. Cardiac failure proved to be an extremely lethal condition with a prognosis little better than cancer. The 6-year mortality rate was 82 per cent for men and 67 per cent for women corresponding to a death rate four- to eight-fold greater than that of persons the same age. Cardiovascular mortality was increased six- to nine-fold, stroke four- to seven-fold in men and women, respectively. Approximately 55 per cent of deaths in men and 73 per cent in women were due to cardiovascular causes, and 43 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively, to coronary disease. Sudden death was a common mode of exitus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Methods for Coding Perspectives on a State Right to Invasion and Bombing Scenarios

The Group on International Perspectives on Governmental Aggression and Peace (GIPGAP) developed the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS; Malley-Morrison et al. 2006) to study ordinary people’s viewpoints on peace and several forms of governmental aggression. Respondents to this multimethod quantitative/qualitative survey were recruited through a number of different approaches, including personal networking and posting of the survey link on a number of sites. They completed either a paper copy of the survey or an online version. The resulting sample, which forms the basis for our exploratory analyses, was a nonrepresentative convenience sample; consequently, results have been interpreted cautiously and should not be assumed to be generalizable to the populations of all the regions. The sample was drawn from nine different regions from around the world: (a) Africa, (b) East Asia, (c) the Gulf States, (d) Latin America, (e) the Middle East, (f) Russia and the Balkans, (g) South and Southeast Asia, (h) the UK/Anglo region, and (i) Western Europe. The following nine chapters address issues of invasion in each of those regions, with detailed descriptions of each sample appearing in the individual chapters.
A Rational Solution to an Irrational Problem

We have shown how a unique minimal rational basis may be constructed to achieve degree k approximation over any well-set rational polypol. Alternative bases may be found if we permit functions that need not be rational.
Provider sexual health assessment of the aging adult

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that healthcare providers are not proactive in assessing and educating the aging adult population about sexual health. Barriers to discussing sexual issues by healthcare providers commonly cited in the literature include lack of time, lack of perceived knowledge, and personal embarrassment. Using an online survey collector, the survey was distributed to advanced practice registered nurses, doctors of osteopathy, medical doctors, and physician assistants in general practice in a mid-western state who care for patients 50 years and older. The results of this survey showed that only 28% of the respondents routinely assess the sexual health of aging adults. Nearly half of the providers that responded felt that they find it difficult to proactively assess the sexual health of an aging adult. Common barriers of patient discomfort, lack of time, and low medical importance reveal a need for interventions.
A Numerical Study of Gibbs u-Measures for Partially Hyperbolic Diffeomorphisms on T3

ABSTRACTWe consider a hyperbolic automorphism A:T3→T3 of the three-torus whose two-dimensional unstable distribution splits into weak and strong unstable subbundles. We unfold A into two one-parame...
Relation of Body Mass Index to Symptom Burden in Patients withAtrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and increased mortality. As body mass index (BMI) is increasingly recognized as an important risk factor for the development of AF, we tested the hypothesis that BMI modulates symptomatic AF burden. Cross-sectional data collected from 1,382 patients in the Vanderbilt AF Registry were analyzed. AF severity was assessed using the Toronto atrial fibrillation severity scale (AFSS). BMI was categorized according to World Health Organization guidelines and patients were grouped according to their present AF treatment regimen: no treatment (n = 185), rate control therapy with atrioventricular nodal blocking agents (n = 351), rhythm control with antiarrhythmic drugs (n = 636), and previous AF ablation (n = 210). Patients with BMI >35 kg/m2 had higher AFSS scores than those with BMI
Metastatic properties of the human prostatic cell line, PPC-1, in athymic nude mice.

AbstractLimitation in the number of human prostatic cell lines has created a gap in knowledge regarding the in-vivo progression of this common cancer. The recently isolated primary prostatic carcinoma cell line, PPC-1, has been shown to be tumorigenic in athymic nude mice. These cells are now shown to form metastases to secondary sites in 10 of 12 animals in this initial study. Metastases were localized to lung and lymph nodes, and the tumor histology closely resembled that of the undifferentiated, rapidly dividing primary tumors. This is the first report describing the metastatic properties of a primary prostatic cancer cell line. PPC-1 cells are therefore likely to represent a good model system for the study of human prostate cancer progression.
Graphical Data Mining

Data mining has grown to include many more data types than the “traditional” flat files with numeric or categorical attributes. Images, text, video, and the internet are now areas of burgeoning data mining research. Graphical data is also an area of interest, since data in many domains—such as engineering design, network intrusion detection, fraud detection, criminology, document analysis, pharmacology, and biochemistry—can be represented in this form. Graph mining algorithms and methods are fewer and less mature than those designed for numerical or categorical data. In addition, the distinction between graph matching and graph mining is not always clear. In graph mining, we often want to find all possible frequent subgraphs of all possible sizes that occur a specified minimum number of times. That goal involves iteratively matching incrementally larger subgraphs, while classical graph matching is a single search for a static subgraph. Also, graph mining is an unsupervised learning task. Instead of searching for a single match to a specific graph, we are looking for known or unknown graphs embedded in the data.
Multilevel Modeling Approaches to the Study of LGBT-Parent Families: Methods for Dyadic Data Analysis

While obtaining information from multiple members of a family can enhance researchers’ understanding of families, it can also present complications when trying to analyze the data, as most traditional statistical methods assume that data originate from independent sources. An additional problem arises when examining data from partners in same-sex couples, which are often “indistinguishable” as they cannot be distinguished on the basis of some characteristic (e.g., gender) meaningful to the analysis. This chapter introduces approaches to analyzing data from “indistinguishable” partners using multilevel modeling for both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. It also discusses ways to examine data from multiple informants—for instance, when both mothers in lesbian-parent families report on their child’s well-being. Examples are drawn from the authors’ recent projects to illustrate the statistical concepts and difficulties.
A Case Study on Risk Management: Lessons from the Collapse of Amaranth Advisors L.L.C.

The speculative activities of hedge funds are a hot topic among market agents and authorities. In September 2006, the activities of Amaranth Advisors, a large-sized Connecticut hedge fund sent menacing ripples through the natural gas market. By September 21, 2006, Amaranth had lost roughly $4.942 billion over a 3-week period or one half of its assets primarily due to its activities in natural gas futures and options in September. On September 14 alone, the fund lost $681 million from its natural gas exposures. Shortly thereafter, Amaranth funds were being liquidated. This paper uses data obtained by the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations through their subpoena of Amaranth, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and other sources to analyze exactly what caused this spectacular hedge fund failure. The paper also analyzes Amaranth s trading activities within a standard risk management framework to understand to what degree reasonable measures of risk measurement could have captured the potential for the dramatic declines that occurred in September. Even by very liberal measures, Amaranth was engaging in highly risky trades which (in addition to high levels of market risk) involved significant exposure to liquidity risk - a risk factor that is notoriously difficult to manage.
Introduction: Wang Chong and Philosophy in Early China

This book represents an attempt to think through aspects of the thought of Wang Chong of concern to and that may aid in the work in contemporary philosophy. Of necessity, I have left out a number of important issues, even ones of philosophical interest. I make no claims to be comprehensive here, and this is one of the reasons I don’t call this book a study of Wang Chong’s thought. I am focused on what I deem to be (which is, admittedly subjective) the most important or interesting of Wang Chong’s philosophical positions, and I attempt to recover, appraise, and develop these positions. This involves three different methods operative within each of the chapters, which I will try to be clear and keep distinct (even though, as with a lot of comparative and cross-boundary works, I suspect I will alienate numerous audiences).
Rational diagnostics of acute appendicitis

Die akute Appendizitis gehort zu den haufigsten abdominellen Notfallen. Die praoperative Diagnosestellung und die Festlegung auf die Diagnose „Appendizitis“ bleiben in vielen Fallen eine Herausforderung. Anamnese und Klinik sind nach wie vor von zentraler Bedeutung. Um die Zahl der Fehldiagnosen zu senken, werden aber weitere diagnostische Hilfsmittel benotigt. Dies sind in erster Linie Laborparameter und bildgebende Verfahren; Score-Systeme konnen verwendet werden, um eine Risikostratifizierung vorzunehmen. Unter den bildgebenden Verfahren hat sich vor allem in Nordamerika die Computertomographie vielerorts an erster Stelle etabliert und vermag die Zahl der negativen Appendektomien in den Bereich von unter 5 % zu senken. Aufgrund der hohen Strahlenbelastung wird ihre routinemasige Anwendung bei den oft jungen Patienten hierzulande weitgehend abgelehnt. Die Sonographie bietet sich als erstes bildgebendes Verfahren an und kann in erfahrener Hand ebenfalls sehr gute Ergebnisse erzielen. Bei unklaren Fallen stellt die stationare Uberwachung mit engmaschiger klinischer und laborchemischer Reevaluation eine geeignete Methode dar, die Zahl der negativen Explorationen zu verringern, ohne eine Steigerung der Perforationsrate oder der Morbiditat zu bedingen.
Anterior Subaxial Cervical Approach

There are a wide variety of disorders that can affect the subaxial cervical spine. Neoplasms are one such disorder: they may be either primary lesions or metastases and range from the histologically benign to the malignant. There has been significant increase of the knowledge and categorization/classification of these tumors and how they affect the spine. Several applicable treatment algorithms that can be tailored to each individual patient have been developed.
Investigation of Performance Enhancements for Air Brayton/ORC Combined Cycles for Small (~ 2 MWe) Power Systems and a Moderate Heat Source Temperature

Attractive power generation cycles from economic and sustainability considerations are highly efficient and require minimal cooling water. Air Brayton cycles (ABCs) require no cooling water; however, air Brayton combined cycles (ABCCs), which require a minimal water, are more efficient. Several ABCs and ABCCs designed to operate at 5 MWth (~ 2 MWe) were evaluated in temperate environments with a constant temperature heat source at 650°C. An Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) operating with r143a was selected for the bottoming cycle based on previous analyses. Efficiency can increase from 22.0% in the standard ABC to 39.8% in the ABCC. Various performance enhancements were explored, including air inlet cooling, ORC regeneration, and ORC reheat. For the recuperated ABCC with evaporative cooling, the capital cost is < US$17M and the payback period is < 13 years. The major exergy losses are 56.4% spent as work at the ABC turbine and 23.5% lost at the heat source.
Should We Do More to Police Medicaid Fraud? Evidence on the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Expanded Enforcement

Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) are state agencies that investigate and prosecute health care provider fraud, using billing data to decide who to investigate. In particular, providers that sub...
Calvin and the Resignification of the World: Creation, Incarnation, and the Problem of Political Theology in the 1559 ‘Institutes'

Calvin's 1559 Institutes is one of the most important works of theology that emerged at a pivotal time in Europe's history. As a movement, Calvinism has often been linked to the emerging features of modernity, especially to capitalism, rationalism, disenchantment, and the formation of the modern sovereign state. In this book, Michelle Sanchez argues that a closer reading of the 1559 Institutes recalls some of the tensions that marked Calvinism's emergence among refugees, and ultimately opens new ways to understand the more complex ethical and political legacy of Calvinism. In conversation with theorists of practice and signification, she advocates for reading the Institutes as a pedagogical text that places the reader in the world as the domain in which to actively pursue the 'knowledge of God and ourselves' through participatory uses of divine revelation. Through this lens, she reconceives Calvin's understanding of sovereignty and how it works in relation to the embodied reader. Sanchez also critically examines Calvin's teaching on providence and the incarnation in conversation with theorists of political theology and modernity who emphasize the importance of those very doctrines.
How does female labor force participation impact on housing values

Abstract Female labor force participation (FLFP) and household wealth are two main topics of interests to economists for long time. The objective of this study is to investigate the response of housing values, household wealth, to female labor force participation using panel level data in the U.S. states. We develop static and dynamic estimation models using state-level data in the U.S. from 2005 to 2013. The results show the FLFP rate and per capita income have a strong positive effect on housing values, while the number of units per capita has a negative effect on housing values in the state. We find that a 10% increase in FLFP will result in an increase of about 12.5% on housing values. Additionally, increasing per capita income by 10% on average will cause housing values to rise by 9%, however, a 10% rise in the number of units per capita will decrease housing values by 30%. The results assist economists and policy makers in assessing policies to optimize decisions in labor market and housing market.
Genetic and Epigenetic Alterations in Urothelial Carcinoma

Many genetic aberrations in significant cancer-related genes and pathways have been described in bladder cancer including recurrent somatic mutations and copy number alterations, some of which may represent druggable targets. In addition, many genes involved in epigenetic regulation are significantly mutated and result in inactivation of these genes, indicating a functional significance and a potential role in tumorigenesis in bladder cancer.
Synthesis of Year Two Outcomes in the Smart Energy Analytics Campaign

Author(s): Kramer, Hannah; Lin, Guanjing; Granderson, Jessica; Curtin, Claire; Crowe, Eliot
Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Focusing Designs for Integrated Optofluidic Detection Enhancement

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing promises to enhance detection capabilities of optofluidic sensors, enabling low concentration interrogation with higher confidence, critical for disease diagnosis. Novel 3DHDF designs with optofluidic channel diameters in the range of ten microns are evaluated, predicting detection enhancement of up to 3.54 times.
Open versus needle biopsy of the lung: How valuable to the patient?

Open or needle biopsy of the lung was performed in 31 patients with diffuse, undiagnosed pulmonary lesions. Although needle biopsy resulted in less morbidity and no deaths, an adequate specimen was obtained in only 67 per cent of the patients, compared to 100 per cent of those subjected to open biopsy. The preoperative diagnosis was changed in only 46 per cent of all patients, and the biopsy results altered therapy in a disappointing 29 per cent. Thus in 22 of the 31 cases (71 per cent), lung biopsy was of no therapeutic value to the patient and merely served physician curiosity.
Assessing the Costs of Screening for Ovarian Cancer in the United States: An Evolving Analysis.

The primary objective of this study is to provide an updated analysis of the cost of screening for ovarian cancer in the United States. Here, we use updated information from the University of Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial in conjunction with new modifying factors such as U.S. national estimates of the cost of care (Truven Health MarketScan Database), recently published estimates of earnings lost due to ovarian cancer death and estimates of federal income taxes paid on those earnings. In total, 326,998 screens were performed during the Kentucky trial from 1987 to 2019. At a cost of $56 per screen, we estimate that the total base cost to operate the program over the last 32 years is $18,311,888. When accounting for the surgical cost of 381 false-positive cases, the total cost of the screening program increases by $3,030,474. However, these costs are offset by the benefit of treating more early-stage ovarian cancer in the screened population, with a total cost advantage of $4,016,475 at our institution (Kentucky) or $1,525,050 ($725,700–$3,312,650) (U.S.) nationally. Additionally, program costs are offset by approximately $3,549,000 due to the potential earnings gained by the 26 women whose lives have been saved with screening. Furthermore, the cost of the program is offset by the federal tax dollars paid on the recovered earnings and amounts to $383,292. Ultimately, the net adjusted total cost of the Kentucky screening program is an estimated $13,393,595 at our institution or $15,885,020 ($13,978,068–$16,799,083) nationally. Thus, the adjusted cost per screen is an estimated $40.96 in Kentucky or $48.58 ($42.75–$51.37) nationally.
Minority participation in phase 1 gynecologic oncology clinical trials: Three decades of inequity.

Abstract Objectives It is important to develop effective therapies in minorities to ensure equity in cancer care. Underrepresentation of minorities in early phase trials may cause therapies that are effective only in majority populations. We evaluated minority participation in gynecologic oncology phase 1 clinical trials. Methods In peer-reviewed published articles of gynecologic oncology phase 1 clinical trials from years 1985 to 2018, we manually abstracted racial distribution of enrolled participants, cancer type, and year published. We calculated expected and observed ratios of racial participation on the basis of age-adjusted cancer incidence for race from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results We identified 357 articles of phase 1 trials (total, 9492 participants), including 213 articles on ovarian cancer (60%). Racial distribution of participants was available in 84 articles (23%) that included 2483 participants (26%): 1950 white (79%), 140 black (5%), and 393 other participants (16%). Other nonwhite races exceeded black enrollment in 46 of 84 trials (55%) that listed race. Enrollment of black participants was less than expected from disease incidence for ovarian (incidence-to-enrollment ratio, 18.5; P Conclusions Major racial underrepresentation exists in gynecologic oncology phase 1 clinical trials. Enrollment of more black participants is needed to achieve racial equity.
CCF: An efficient SpMV storage format for AVX512 platforms

Abstract We present a sparse matrix vector multiplication (SpMV) kernel that uses a novel sparse matrix storage format and delivers superior performance for unstructured matrices on Intel x86 processors. Our kernel exploits the properties of our storage format to enhance load balancing, SIMD efficiency, and data locality. We evaluate the performance of our kernel on a dual 24-core Skylake Xeon Platinum 8160 using 82 HPC and 36 scale-free unstructured matrices from 42 application areas. For HPC matrices, our kernel achieves a speed improvement of up to 19.5x over MKL Inspector–executor SpMV kernel (1.6x on average). For scale-free matrices, the speed improvement is up to 2.6x (1.3x on average).
DeepTKAClassifier: Brand Classification of Total Knee Arthroplasty Implants Using Explainable Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most successful surgical procedures worldwide. It improves quality of life, mobility, and functionality for the vast majority of patients. However, a TKA surgery may fail over time for several reasons, thus it requires a revision arthroplasty surgery. Identifying TKA implants is a critical consideration in preoperative planning of revision surgery. This study aims to develop, train, and validate deep convolutional neural network models to precisely classify four widely-used TKA implants based on only plain knee radiographs. Using 9,052 computationally annotated knee radiographs, we achieved weighted average precision, recall, and F1-score of 0.97, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively, with Cohen Kappa of 0.96.
Promises and perils of computational materials databases

Over the past decade, the materials science community has fostered the development of materials databases from high-performance computation. While these databases have achieved great success, there are still several challenges to be addressed for the community to realize the full potential of the materials-by-design era.