cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Towards Improving the Efficacy of Code-Based Verification in Internet Voting
Creators: name: Kulyk, Oksana
name: Volkamer, Melanie
name: Müller, Monika
name: Renaud, Karen
Publisher: name: Karlsruhe
Year: 2020

description: End-to-end verifiable Internet voting enables a high level of election integrity. Cast-as-intended verification, in particular, allows voters to verify that their vote has been correctly cast, even in the presence of malicious voting devices. One cast-as-intended verification approach is code-based verification, used since 2015 in legally-binding Swiss elections. We evaluated the Swiss paper-based polling sheet and voting interface, focusing on how well it supported voters in verifying their votes. We uncovered several potential issues related to manipulation detection. We improved the paper-based polling sheet and voting interface accordingly. Then, we carried out a between-subjects lab study with 128 participants to compare the original and improved sheet and interface wrt. usability and its effectiveness in supporting manipulation detection. Our improvements significantly enhanced detection. Our study delivered insights into participants’ somewhat ineffectual reactions to detected anomalies, i.e. starting over again and trying to cast the same vote again, or calling the telephone number provided by the interface. This problem is likely to manifest in any verifiable voting system and thus needs to be addressed as future work.
Predicting ecological outcomes of stream creation using fish community attributes
Creators: name: Meixler, Marcia S.
name: Bain, Mark B.
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 2011
Subjects: Species composition
Habitat classification
Water level
Population density
Fish biomass
Stream reconstruction

description: We demonstrated an approach for predicting a new stream environment and the fishes it can support in terms of species composition, population density, and biomass. The challenge was to depict the future of a flowing stream in a setting where no present stream existed. The habitat of the Peconic River was field–surveyed and digitally mapped for three water–level conditions: run, glide and pool. Biomass estimates, in g/m2, were calculated for species historically found in the river, and species percent biomass was used to determine the number of each species likely to occur in each habitat type. The total biomass for all sites in each habitat type was averaged to predict biomass per unit area by habitat type. Biomass was then linked to habitat type to enable an estimate of where each fish species would be located and in what proportions. Biomass was predicted to increase with the amount of water in the Peconic River system. Pools are expected to exist with greater frequency at low and mid water and runs are expected to be more prevalent at high water. Glides are only expected when water levels are low. The total predicted biomass for the Peconic River study section in low water is expected to be 7 kg for glides, 13 kg for runs and 11 kg for pools. In mid water, 34 kg of biomass is expected for runs and 88 kg for pools. In high water, 370 kg of biomass is expected for runs and 62 kg for pools. Chain pickerel (Esox niger) is expected to comprise the highest biomass in all habitat types at all water levels. The results from this study are important to decision makers seeking a solution to an environmental problem through creation of a waterway in a heavily populated and altered environmental setting.
Simulation of condensed gasses by variation of their coherent state expansions
Creators: name: Polkinghorne, Rodney E. S.
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Quantum mechanics has simple laws of motion, but it allows multiple worlds. Accounting for every possible world is hard work. To calculate quantum dynamics, we can randomly choose a world, calculate what happens, repeat, and average. This works when each world follows its own law of motion, but it fails in the really interesting case, where the motion of each world depends on what happens in the others. To do better, we can sample a several worlds, and calculate what happens when they interact in an approximately quantum way.
Activation Landscapes as a Topological Summary of Neural Network Performance
Creators: name: Wheeler, Matthew
name: Bouza, Jose
name: Bubenik, Peter
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Algebraic Topology (math.AT)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We use topological data analysis (TDA) to study how data transforms as it passes through successive layers of a deep neural network (DNN). We compute the persistent homology of the activation data for each layer of the network and summarize this information using persistence landscapes. The resulting feature map provides both an informative visual- ization of the network and a kernel for statistical analysis and machine learning. We observe that the topological complexity often increases with training and that the topological complexity does not decrease with each layer.
description: 4 pages, 5 figures
Schadstoffen auf der Spur mit Umweltcheminformatik
Creators: name: Schymanski, Emma
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: suspect screening
non-target screening
pesticides
Luxembourg

description: Presentation held at MWAS2020 Mülheim https://iww-online.de/veranstaltung/4-wasseranalytisches-seminar-mwas-2020/ Many thanks to the organisers for the opportunity and to all my colleagues and collaborators!
E-cigarette aerosol collection using converging and straight tubing sections: physical mechanisms
Creators: name: Hsu, Shao-Yiu
name: Hilpert, Markus
name: Ilievski, Vesna
name: Olmedo, Pablo
name: Drazer, German
name: Rule, Ana M.
Publisher: name: Elsevier Inc
Year: 2022
Subjects: Aerosol collection
Visualization experiments
Coalescence
Inertial impaction
E-cigarette

description: Hypothesis
description: Identification and quantification of harmful chemicals in e-cigarette aerosol requires collecting the aerosolized e-liquid for chemical analysis. In 2016, Olmedo at al. empirically developed a simple method for aerosol collection by directing the aerosol through a sequence of alternating straight and converging tubing sections, which drain the recovered e-liquid into a collection vial. The tubing system geometry and flow conditions promote inertial impaction of aerosolized e-liquid on tube walls, where it deposits and flows into the collection vial.
description: Experiments
description: We use high-speed optical imaging to visualize aerosol transport in proxies of the collection system. We also determined collection efficiencies of various configurations of the collection system.
description: Findings
description: A turbulent jet emerges from converging conical sections and impinges onto the wall of downstream tubing sections, resulting in inertial impaction and deposition of the aerosol. For inertial impaction to occur the tip radius of the converging section must be small enough for a jet to be formed and the sequence of tubing sections must be curved in a polygon-like manner such that the jet emerging from a converging section impinges on the downstream tube wall. The collection efficiency is significantly smaller without such curvature.
Fragment-Based Test Generation For Web Apps
Creators: name: Yandrapally, Rahulkrishna
name: Mesbah, Ali
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: D.2.5

description: Automated model-based test generation presents a viable alternative to the costly manual test creation currently employed for regression testing of web apps. However, existing model inference techniques rely on threshold-based whole-page comparison to establish state equivalence, which cannot reliably identify near-duplicate web pages in modern web apps. Consequently, existing techniques produce inadequate models for dynamic web apps, and fragile test oracles, rendering the generated regression test suites ineffective. We propose a model-based test generation technique, FRAGGEN, that eliminates the need for thresholds, by employing a novel state abstraction based on page fragmentation to establish state equivalence. FRAGGEN also uses fine-grained page fragment analysis to diversify state exploration and generate reliable test oracles. Our evaluation shows that FRAGGEN outperforms existing whole-page techniques by detecting more near-duplicates, inferring better web app models and generating test suites that are better suited for regression testing. On a dataset of 86,165 state-pairs, FRAGGEN detected 123% more near-duplicates on average compared to whole-page techniques. The crawl models inferred by FRAGGEN have 62% more precision and 70% more recall on average. FRAGGEN also generates reliable regression test suites with test actions that have nearly 100% success rate on the same version of the web app even if the execution environment is varied. The test oracles generated by FRAGGEN can detect 98.7% of the visible changes in web pages while being highly robust, making them suitable for regression testing.
description: 16 pages with 13 figures and 9 tables. Accepted at IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (IEEE TSE)
Economic Impacts of Rail Transit on Recreational Shore Communities: The Case of the North Jersey Coast Line
Creators: name: Deka, Devajyoti
name: Lahr, Michael L.
name: Marchwinski, Thomas
name: de la Calle, Maia
Publisher: name: National Academies (U.S.). Transportation Research Board
Year: 2015
Subjects: Case studies
Coasts
Communities
Economic benefits
Economic impact analysis
Rail transit
Recreational trips
Return on investment
Summer
Railroads
Rate of return
New Jersey

description: This study estimates the impacts of the North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) summer weekend riders’ spending on the economies of the Jersey shore communities known for beach-oriented recreational activities. The NJCL is a commuter rail line that provides access for a large number of workers to their work places on weekdays throughout the year. However, the line also provides direct access for a large number of recreational visitors from New York City and other parts of New Jersey to the Jersey shore communities on summer weekends. To estimate the economic benefits for the shore communities from the spending of the NJCL summer weekend riders, this study uses a regional input-output (I-O) model developed by the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) of Rutgers University. Visitor expenditure data from an onboard survey of NJCL riders were used as model inputs. The survey, conducted during the summer of 2013, was completed by a total of 2,241 riders who were returning from the shore area. The R/ECON™ I-O model provided estimates of economic benefits to the shore communities in terms of jobs, earnings, gross domestic product, state taxes, and local taxes. The model also generated return-on-investment multipliers for these variables. The study showed that the $14.8 million spent by the NJCL summer weekend riders in the shore communities generated approximately 225 annualized jobs, more than $9 million in earnings, and more than $1 million in state taxes. More than 80% of the economic benefits were generated from out-of-state visitors’ spending.
description: 94th
Tree codes for vortex dynamics: Application of a programming framework
Creators: name: Fernandez, Victor
name: Zabusky, Norman
name: Bhatt, Sandeep
name: Liu, Pangfeng
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 1995

description: This paper describes the implementation of a fast N-body algorithm for the study of multi-lament vortex simulations. The simulations involve distributions that are irregular and time-varying. We adapt our programming framework which was earlier used to develop high-performance implementations of the Barnes-Hut and Greengard-Rokhlin algorithms for gravitational elds. We describe how the additional subtleties involved in vortex lament simulations are accommodated eciently within the framework. We describe the ongoing experimental studies and report preliminary results with simulations of one million particles on the 128-node Connection Machine CM-5. The implementation sustains a rate of almost 30% of the peak machine rate. These simulations are more than an order of magnitude larger in size than previously studied using direct methods. We expect that the use of the fast algorithm will allow us to study the generation of small scales in the vortex collapse and reconnection problem with adequate resolution.
Recent Advances and Applications of Deep Learning Methods in Materials Science
Creators: name: Choudhary, Kamal
name: DeCost, Brian
name: Chen, Chi
name: Jain, Anubhav
name: Tavazza, Francesca
name: Cohn, Ryan
name: WooPark, Cheol
name: Choudhary, Alok
name: Agrawal, Ankit
name: Billinge, Simon J. L.
name: Holm, Elizabeth
name: Ong, Shyue Ping
name: Wolverton, Chris
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Deep learning (DL) is one of the fastest growing topics in materials data science, with rapidly emerging applications spanning atomistic, image-based, spectral, and textual data modalities. DL allows analysis of unstructured data and automated identification of features. Recent development of large materials databases has fueled the application of DL methods in atomistic prediction in particular. In contrast, advances in image and spectral data have largely leveraged synthetic data enabled by high quality forward models as well as by generative unsupervised DL methods. In this article, we present a high-level overview of deep-learning methods followed by a detailed discussion of recent developments of deep learning in atomistic simulation, materials imaging, spectral analysis, and natural language processing. For each modality we discuss applications involving both theoretical and experimental data, typical modeling approaches with their strengths and limitations, and relevant publicly available software and datasets. We conclude the review with a discussion of recent cross-cutting work related to uncertainty quantification in this field and a brief perspective on limitations, challenges, and potential growth areas for DL methods in materials science. The application of DL methods in materials science presents an exciting avenue for future materials discovery and design.
Collaborative management of global directories in P2P systems
Creators: name: Martin, Richard P.
name: Nyugen, Thu
name: Peery, Christopher
name: Matias Cuenca-Acuna, Francisco
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 2002

description: To date, much of the research in P2P information sharing has concentrated on methods for key-based or contentbased location of shared information. In this paper, we argue that in addition to these techniques, the provision of a global browsable structure is also a critical component since users do not always know the appropriate key or set of keywords to locate needed information. To give substance to our argument, we propose a framework that will provide P2P communities with global browsable directories. Our proposal focuses specifically on how to support the communal organization and management of such a shared global directory in order to provide a coherent structure for users in a community to locate information via browsing
“What We Want Is More Access…”: Experiences of Supportive Cancer Care and Strategies for Advancement in a Canadian Provincial Cancer Care Organization
Creators: name: Avery, Jonathan
name: Schulte, Hannah K.
name: Campbell, Kristin
name: Bates, Alan
name: McCune, Lisa
name: Howard, Fuchsia
Publisher: name: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Year: 2021

description: Objectives: Despite calls for better supportive care, patients and families still commonly bear significant responsibility for managing the physical and mental health and social challenges of being diagnosed with and treated for cancer. As such, there is increased advocacy for integrated supportive care to ease the burden of this responsibility. The purpose of this study was to understand patient and caregiver experiences with supportive care to advance its delivery at a large provincial cancer care organization in Canada. Method: We used a qualitative descriptive approach to analyze focus groups with patients and caregivers from seven sites across the large provincial cancer care organization. Results: Focus group participants (n = 69) included cancer patients (n = 57) and caregivers (n = 12). Participants highlighted positive and negative aspects of their experience and strategies for improvement. These are depicted in three themes: (1) improving patient and provider awareness of services; (2) increasing access; (3) enhancing coordination and integration. Participants’ specific suggestions included centralizing relevant information about services, implementing a coach or navigator to help advocate for access, and delivering care virtually. Conclusions: Participants highlighted barriers to access and made suggestions for improving supportive care that they believed would reduce the burden associated with trying to manage their cancer journey.
Improving reporting of usability defects in open source software projects
Creators: name: Mohamad Yusop, Nor Shahida
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Poor software usability is one of the major reasons why some software is less popular in the market than other. Early identification and reporting of usability issues is important so that they can be fixed earlier before being release to the customers. However, some users with limited technical knowledge found it is a challenge to report useful information for reporting usability issues. This research surveyed industrial software development practitioners and analysed real defect reports to investigate an ideal content for reporting usability issues and subsequently improved the existing defect reporting.
Magnetic properties of a capped kagome molecule with 60 quantum spins
Creators: name: Rausch, Roman
name: Peschke, Matthias
name: Plorin, Cassian
name: Karrasch, Christoph
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We compute ground-state properties of the isotropic, antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the sodalite cage geometry. This is a 60-spin spherical molecule with 24 vertex-sharing tetrahedra which can be regarded as a molecular analogue of a capped kagome lattice and which has been synthesized with high-spin rare-earth atoms. Here, we focus on the $S=1/2$ case where quantum effects are strongest. We employ the SU(2)-symmetric density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We find a threefold degenerate ground state that breaks the spatial symmetry and that splits up the molecule into three large parts which are almost decoupled from each other. This stands in sharp contrast to the behaviour of most known spherical molecules. On a methodological level, the disconnection leads to "glassy dynamics" within the DMRG that cannot be targeted via standard techniques. In the presence of finite magnetic fields, we find broad magnetization plateaus at 4/5, 3/5, and 1/5 of the saturation, which one can understand in terms of localized magnons, singlets, and doublets which are again nearly decoupled from each other. At the saturation field, the zero-point entropy is $S=\ln(182)\approx 5.2$ in units of the Boltzmann constant.
title: ReacNetGenerator
title: an automatic reaction network generator for reactive molecular dynamics simulations
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Zhu, Tong
name: Cao, Liqun
name: Chin, Chih-Hao
name: Ren, Haisheng
name: Zeng, Jinzhe
name: Zhang, John Z. H.
Publisher: name: Royal Society of Chemistry
Year: 2020
Subjects: Molecular Dynamics

description: Reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulation makes it possible to study the reaction mechanism of complex reaction systems at the atomic level. However, the analysis of MD trajectories which contain thousands of species and reaction pathways has become a major obstacle to the application of reactive MD simulation in large-scale systems. Here, we report the development and application of the Reaction Network Generator (ReacNetGenerator) method. It can automatically extract the reaction network from the reaction trajectory without any predefined reaction coordinates and elementary reaction steps. Molecular species can be automatically identified from the cartesian coordinates of atoms and the hidden Markov model is used to filter the trajectory noises which makes the analysis process easier and more accurate. The ReacNetGenerator has been successfully used to analyze the reactive MD trajectories of the combustion of methane and 4-component surrogate fuel for rocket propellant 3 (RP-3), and it has great advantages in terms of efficiency and accuracy compared to traditional manual analysis.
title: The Problem with Problem Identification in the Process of Educational Reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic
Creators: name: Kochorova, Gulzat
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Educational Reform
subject: Kyrgyz Republic
subject: Problem Identification
subject: Education
subject: Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
subject: Educational Administration and Supervision
subject: Educational Leadership
subject: Education Economics
subject: International and Comparative Education

description: The purpose of this paper is to expose issues that are being identified as ‘problems’ or ‘challenges’ of the Kyrgyz education in general, and of higher education in particular. Drawing on the specifics of the identified problems, this paper will also analyze theoretical assumptions upon which they are based. This is important because identified problems and their projected solutions are going to constitute further reform attempts, and ultimately shape the future of the educational system of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The engineering labor market: an overview of recent trends
Creators: name: Kuehn, Daniel
name: Salzman, Hal
Publisher: name: University of Chicago/NBER
Year: 2018
Subjects: Labor markets
STEM
Engineers
Engineering workforce
Engineering

description: This chapter sets the stage for the the book, U.S. Engineering in a Global Economy, with a review of the engineering labor force, focusing on the employment, salary, and career trajectories of graduates that obtain engineering degrees and work in the field. Lacking a single comprehensive data source on engineers, this chapter draws on a wide variety of longitudinal career data and establishment-based employment and earnings data available from different government surveys of scientists, engineers and employers and on education administrative data on the supply of engineers coming from U.S. universities to Census survey data on the numbers from overseas. It disaggregates engineering into major subfields, whose employment differs sufficiently to face different supply and demand conditions.
Irrelevant Operators and their Holographic Anomalies
Creators: name: Broccoli, Matteo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Irrelevant operators in a CFT modify the usual Weyl transformation of the metric. A metric beta-function turns on, which modifies the Weyl anomalies as well. In this paper, we study the relation between bulk diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformation at the boundary when a massive scalar field, which sources irrelevant operators at the boundary, is coupled to the bulk metric. Considering the effect of the backreaction generated by the scalar field, we provide a holographic description of the boundary metric beta-function and anomalies. Our results represent an additional test of the AdS/CFT correspondence.
description: 19 pages + appendices, matches published version; added references, more comments on the results and added appendix with the complete expression of the anomaly; Mathematica notebook with explicit results, including the anomaly, attached
Tetragonurus
Creators: name: Aluwihare, Yasmin C.
name: Fernando, Sara
name: Gunasinghe, Malsha S.
name: Ranasinghe, Cherika
name: Ranjula, M. A. S.
name: Weerakoon, Thiranya
name: Haputhantri, Sujeewa S. K.
name: Jayasinghe, Prabath K.
name: Lisher, Mark W.
name: Psomadakis, Peter N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Perciformes
Tetragonuridae
Tetragonurus

description: Key to the species of Tetragonurus (adapted from Anderson 2022)
1a. LL scales 72–95 to keels on peduncle; pelvic-fin origin beneath front third of pectoral fin; vertebrae 39–51.............. 2
1b. LL scales 97–114 to keels on peduncle; pelvic-fin origin beneath middle of pectoral fin; vertebrae 52–58......... T. cuvieri
2a. Dorsal fin 9–12 spines; LL scales 72–80; vertebrae 39–43; snout longer than eye diameter (in adults).......... T. pacificus
2b. Dorsal fin 13–17 spines; LL scales 83–95; vertebrae 44–51; snout subequal to eye diameter................. T. atlanticus
description: Published as part of Aluwihare, Yasmin C., Fernando, Sara, Gunasinghe, Malsha S., Ranasinghe, Cherika, Ranjula, M. A. S., Weerakoon, Thiranya, Haputhantri, Sujeewa S. K., Jayasinghe, Prabath K., Lisher, Mark W. & Psomadakis, Peter N., 2025, First confirmed record of adult Pacific squaretail, Tetragonurus pacificus (Teleostei: Perciformes: Stromateoidei) from the Indian Ocean, with an expanded description, pp. 41-51 in Zootaxa 5604 (1) on page 50, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5604.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/15012526
Identification of a Ruminococcaceae Species as the Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Degrading Bacterium in a Methanogenic Consortium
Creators: name: Liu, Tong
name: Ahn, Hyeri
name: Sun, Weimin
name: McGuinness, Lora R.
name: Kerkhof, Lee J.
name: Häggblom, Max M.
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Butyl methyl ether
MTBE (Chemical)
Butyl methyl ether--Biodegradation
Ruminococcaceae

description: The widespread use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has caused major contamination of groundwater sources and is a concern due to its taste and odor problems, as well as toxicity. MTBE can be degraded anaerobically which makes bioremediation of contaminated aquifers a potential solution. Nevertheless, the organisms and mechanisms that are responsible for anaerobic MTBE degradation are still unknown. The aim of our research was to identify the organisms actively degrading MTBE. For this purpose we characterized an anaerobic methanogenic culture enriched with MTBE as the sole carbon source from the New Jersey Arthur Kill intertidal strait sediment. The cultures were analyzed using stable isotope probing (SIP) combined with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), high-throughput sequencing and clone library analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The sequence data indicated that phylotypes belonging to the Ruminococcaceae in the Firmicutes were predominant in the methanogenic cultures. SIP experiments also showed sequential incorporation of the 13C labeled MTBE by the bacterial community with a bacterium most closely related to Saccharofermentans acetigenes identified as the bacterium active in O-demethylation of MTBE. Identification of the microorganisms responsible for the activity will help us better understand anaerobic MTBE degradation processes in the field and determine biomarkers for monitoring natural attenuation.
What is the optimal outcome after endoscopic sinus surgery in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis? A consultation of Canadian experts
Creators: name: Saydy, Nadim
name: Moubayed, Sami P.
name: Bussières, Marie
name: Janjua, Arif
name: Kilty, Shaun
name: Lavigne, François
name: Monteiro, Eric
name: Nayan, Smriti
name: Piché, Marilou
name: Smith, Kristine
name: Sommer, Doron
name: Sowerby, Leigh
name: Tewfik, Marc A.
name: Witterick, Ian J.
name: Wright, Erin
name: Desrosiers, Martin
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2021

description: Objectives Many experts feel that in the absence of well-defined goals for success, they have an easier time identifying failure. As success ought to not be defined only by absence of failure, we aimed to define optimal outcomes for endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) by obtaining expert surgeon perspectives. Methods A total of 12 surgeons participated in this targeted consultation. Face to face semi-structured interviews were performed with expert surgeons in the field of CRS and ESS. General impressions and personal definitions of acceptable operative success and optimal operative outcomes were compiled and summarized. Results According to an expert survey, patients’ main objectives are an improvement in their chief complain, a general improvement in quality of life (QoL), and a better overall symptomatic control. The most important aspects of endoscopy for defining a successful intervention were an adequate mucus circulation, a healthy mucosa, minimal edema, and patency of all explored cavities or ostia. In the assessment of surgical outcomes, it was determined that both objective and patient reported data must be carefully examined, with more attention given to subjective outcomes. Conclusions According to data gathered from a Canadian expert consultation, a definition of success must be based on both subjective data and nasal endoscopy. We propose to define an acceptable outcome as either a subjective improvement of at least the minimal clinically improvement difference of a validated patient reported outcome questionnaire, along with a satisfactory endoscopic result (1) or a complete subjective resolution with a sub-optimal endoscopy (2). Graphical abstract
Decreasing False Alarm Rates in ML-based Solar Flare Prediction using SDO/HMI Data
Creators: name: Deshmukh, Varad
name: Flyer, Natasha
name: Van Der Sande, Kiera
name: Berger, Thomas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A hybrid two-stage machine learning architecture that addresses the problem of excessive false positives (false alarms) in solar flare prediction systems is investigated. The first stage is a convolutional neural network (CNN) model based on the VGG-16 architecture that extracts features from a temporal stack of consecutive Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetogram images to produce a flaring probability. The probability of flaring is added to a feature vector derived from the magnetograms to train an extremely randomized trees (ERT) model in the second stage to produce a binary deterministic prediction (flare/no flare) in a 12-hour forecast window. To tune the hyperparameters of the architecture a new evaluation metric is introduced, the "scaled True Skill Statistic". It specifically addresses the large discrepancy between the true positive rate and the false positive rate in the highly unbalanced solar flare event training datasets. Through hyperparameter tuning to maximize this new metric, our two-stage architecture drastically reduces false positives by $\approx$ $48\%$ without significantly affecting the true positives (reduction by $\approx$ $12\%$), when compared with predictions from the first stage CNN alone. This, in turn, improves various traditional binary classification metrics sensitive to false positives such as the precision, F1 and the Heidke Skill Score. The end result is a more robust 12-hour flare prediction system that could be combined with current operational flare forecasting methods. Additionally, using the ERT-based feature ranking mechanism, we show that the CNN output probability is highly ranked in terms of flare prediction relevance.
E.M. Jellinek at 125: The past as prologue?
Creators: name: Babor, Thomas F.
name: Ward, Judit Hajnal
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Alcohol history
Jellinek, E. M. (Elvin Morton), 1890-1963
Yale Center of Alcohol Studies

description: This issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs contains several commemorative features that draw attention to E. M. Jellinek, one of the most influential personalities in the field of alcohol studies.
Effect of radiation-induced defects on the superfluid density and optical conductivity of overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$
Creators: name: Mahmood, Fahad
name: Ingram, David
name: He, Xi
name: Clayhold, J. A.
name: Bozovic, Ivan
name: Armitage, N. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Using a combination of time-domain THz spectroscopy (TDTS) and mutual inductance measurements, we have investigated the low-energy electrodynamic response of overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ films that have been exposed to ion irradiation. Films went through three rounds of irradiation (2, 4, and 6 $\times 10^{13}$ ions/cm$^2$) and mutual inductance and TDTS experiments were performed between each step. Together with the as-grown film, this gives four different levels of disorder. The transport scattering rate that is measured directly in the THz experiments is an approximately linear function of the radiation dose at all temperatures. This is consistent with a proportionate increase in elastic scattering. In the superconducting state we find that the relation between $T_c$, the superfluid density, and the scattering rates are quantitatively at odds with the predictions based on the extant theory of Abrikosov-Gorkov-like pair breaking in a dirty $d$-wave superconductor. Increasing disorder causes only a small change in the superconducting transition temperature for the overdoped films, but the changes to the $ω\sim 0$ superfluid density are much larger.
description: 9 pages, 5 figures
A Transformation System for Interactive Reformulation of Design Optimization Strategies
Creators: name: Schwabacher, Mark
name: Ellman, Thomas
name: Keane, John
name: Murata, Takahiro
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 1995

description: Numerical design optimization algorithms are highly sensitive to the particular formulation of the optimization problems they are given. The formulation of the search space, the objective function and the constraints will generally have a large impact on the duration of the optimization process as well as the quality of the resulting design. Furthermore, the best formulation will vary from one application domain to another, and from one problem to another within a given application domain. Unfortunately, a design engineer may not know the best formulation in advance of attempting to set up and run a design optimization process. In order to attack this problem, we have developed a software environment that supports interactive formulation, testing and reformulation of design optimization strategies. Our system represents optimization strategies in terms of second-order dataflow graphs. Reformulations of strategies are implemented as transformations between dataflow graphs. The system permits the user to interactively generate and search a space of design optimization strategies, and experimentally evaluate their performance on test problems, in order to nd a strategy that is suitable for his application domain. The system has been implemented in a domain-independent fashion and is being tested in the domain of racing yacht design.
Characterization of Void Space, Large-Scale Structure, and Transport Properties of Maximally Random Jammed Packings of Superballs
Creators: name: Maher, Charles Emmett
name: Stillinger, Frank H.
name: Torquato, Salvatore
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Dense, disordered packings of particles are useful models of low-temperature amorphous phases of matter, biological systems, granular media, and colloidal systems. The study of dense packings of nonspherical particles enables one to ascertain how rotational degrees of freedom affect packing behavior. Here, we study superballs, a large family of deformations of the sphere, defined in three dimensions by $|x_1|^{2p}+|x_2|^{2p}+|x_3|^{2p}\leq1$, where $p>0$ is a deformation parameter indicating to what extent the shape deviates from a sphere. As $p$ increases from the sphere point ($p=1$), the superball attains cubic symmetry, and attains octahedral symmetry when $p<1$. Previous characterization of superball packings has shown that they have a maximally random jammed (MRJ) state, whose properties (e.g., packing fraction $ϕ$) vary nonanalytically as $p$ diverges from unity. Here, we use an event-driven molecular dynamics algorithm to produce MRJ superball packings. We characterize their large-scale structure by examining the small-$Q$ behavior of their structure factors and spectral densities, which indicate these packings are effectively hyperuniform. We show that the mean width $\bar{w}$ is a useful length scale to make distances dimensionless in order to compare systematically superballs of different shape. We also compute the complementary cumulative pore-size distribution $F(δ)$ and find the pore sizes tend to decrease as $|1-p|$ increases. From $F(δ)$, we estimate the fluid permeability, mean survival time, and principal diffusion relaxation time of the packings. Additionally, we compute the diffusion spreadability and find the long-time power-law scaling indicates these packings are hyperuniform. Our results can be used to help inform the design of granular materials with targeted densities and transport properties.
description: 16 Pages, 17 Figures. SI: 4 Pages, 6 Figures
Using a GAN to Generate Adversarial Examples to Facial Image Recognition
Creators: name: Merrigan, Andrew
name: Smeaton, Alan F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Images posted online present a privacy concern in that they may be used as reference examples for a facial recognition system. Such abuse of images is in violation of privacy rights but is difficult to counter. It is well established that adversarial example images can be created for recognition systems which are based on deep neural networks. These adversarial examples can be used to disrupt the utility of the images as reference examples or training data. In this work we use a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to create adversarial examples to deceive facial recognition and we achieve an acceptable success rate in fooling the face recognition. Our results reduce the training time for the GAN by removing the discriminator component. Furthermore, our results show knowledge distillation can be employed to drastically reduce the size of the resulting model without impacting performance indicating that our contribution could run comfortably on a smartphone
description: 8 pages, to appear at the Media Watermarking, Security, and Forensics Conference at Electronic Imaging, January, 2022
Antibacterial Properties of Nanoparticles: A Comparative Review of Chemically Synthesized and Laser-Generated Particles
Creators: name: Naddeo, J. J.
name: Bubb, Daniel M.
name: Ratti, Matthew
name: O'Malley, Sean M.
name: Griepenburg, Julianne C.
name: Klein, Eric A.
Publisher: name: Rutgers University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Nanoparticles
Laser ablation in liquids
Antibacterial agents

description: Nanomaterials have recently received an enormous amount of attention from the scientific community due to their outstanding activity relative to bulk materials. This increase in activity relative to bulk materials can be attributed to the high surface area to volume ratio associated with nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have found applications in almost every field of science. Currently there is significant interest in the development of nanoparticles as antibacterial agents. This work is paramount due to the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Nanoparticles can be synthesized using various methods, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, and the method is often chosen based on the intended application. This review will cover the most prevalent method, chemical-based reduction of salts, and a fairly new laser-based method that holds tremendous promise in nanoparticle synthesis. We conclude with a comparison of the antimicrobial activities of materials made via each method.
Beyond the Power of Networks: Differentiating Network Structure from Social Media Affordances for Perceived Social Support
Creators: name: Lu, Weixu
name: Hampton, Keith N.
Publisher: name: Sage
Year: 2016
Subjects: Diversity
Cultural pluralism
Core network
Network size
Facebook (Electronic resource)
Pervasive
Persistence
Social capital (Sociology)
Audience problem

description: Existing research suggests that social media use is associated with higher levels of social capital – the resources contained within a person’s network of friends, family, and other acquaintances. However, in predicting access to these resources, it has been impossible to distinguish the affordances of social media from the underlying advantage of maintaining a favorable social network of relationships on- and offline. Based on data from a representative, national survey, we compare the relationship between social network structure and various activities on Facebook for one type of resource: informal support in the form of companionship, emotional support, and tangible aid. In addition to a positive association between number of close ties, overall network size and diversity and support, we find that Facebook status updates and private messaging are independently associated with perceived support. We argue that these affordances are an outcome of the “pervasive awareness” provided by social media.
Two Fusarium copper radical oxidases with high activity on aryl alcohols
Creators: name: Cleveland, Maria
name: Lafond, Mickael
name: Xia, Fan Roderick
name: Chung, Ryan
name: Mulyk, Paul
name: Hein, Jason
name: Brumer, Harry
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2021

description: Background Biomass valorization has been suggested as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based energy and commodities. In this context, the copper radical oxidases (CROs) from Auxiliary Activity Family 5/Subfamily 2 (AA5_2) are attractive biocatalysts for the selective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes. Originally defined by the archetypal galactose 6-oxidase from Fusarium graminearum, fungal AA5_2 members have recently been shown to comprise a wide range of specificities for aromatic, aliphatic and furan-based alcohols. This suggests a broader substrate scope of native CROs for applications. However, only 10% of the annotated AA5_2 members have been characterized to date. Results Here, we define two homologues from the filamentous fungi Fusarium graminearum and F. oxysporum as predominant aryl alcohol oxidases (AAOs) through recombinant production in Pichia pastoris, detailed kinetic characterization, and enzyme product analysis. Despite possessing generally similar active-site architectures to the archetypal FgrGalOx, FgrAAO and FoxAAO have weak activity on carbohydrates, but instead efficiently oxidize specific aryl alcohols. Notably, both FgrAAO and FoxAAO oxidize hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) directly to 5-formyl-2-furoic acid (FFCA), and desymmetrize the bioproduct glycerol to the uncommon L-isomer of glyceraldehyde. Conclusions This work expands understanding of the catalytic diversity of CRO from AA5_2 to include unique representatives from Fusarium species that depart from the well-known galactose 6-oxidase activity of this family. Detailed enzymological analysis highlights the potential biotechnological applications of these orthologs in the production of renewable plastic polymer precursors and other chemicals.
FLOODING IN NIGERIA: THE ACTIVITIES OF NEMA AND SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Creators: name: Obru-Egboro, Obaro Francis
name: Okwu-Delunzu, Ugoyibo
Publisher: name: AMERICA SERIEL JOURNAL
Year: 2025
Subjects: Flooding, Disaster management, relief materials, NEMA

description: Flooding is the overflow of water overwhelming normal flow paths or patterns on its naturally defined course/channel with attendant effects on the environment and human population so located. Flooding has orchestrated population relocation, loss of livelihood, deaths, destruction of biodiversity and arable lands, destabilization of urban infrastructure, and other devastations after its occurrence. Addressing these resultant effects of flooding in Nigeria gave birth to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as an emergency response agency to provide necessary relief as first aid. The key functions of NEMA include formulating policies relating to disaster management, monitoring the state of preparedness against disaster challenges, and provision of relief materials to disaster victims in Nigeria amongst others. A cursory look at these functions vis-à-vis the activities of NEMA and ancillary disaster response departments has offered more worries than solutions; suggesting the need to ascertain the justification of NEMA's existence or otherwise. The findings reveal that in the absence of adequate control/prevention strategies, Nigeria succumbs to the damages of flooding, resorting to the disbursement of relief items as its main response, thereby relegating proactive control/preventive measures that are long-term solutions. The recommendation therefore, is to expand NEMA’s statutory functions to accommodate physical developments aimed at minimizing flooding occurrences such as dams, embankments, channelization, and shoreline preservation amongst others; as against allowing it to occur perennially with the mindset being on the provision and distribution of relief materials to victims, which cannot assuage the dead and loss of properties. Hence, this paper proposed the expansion of NEMA functions and activities to accommodate prevention/control measures to create a new Agency called the National Emergency Management and Development Agency (NEMDA) for sustainable environmental management.
Blasphemy Estate: The ‘Deep State’ and Deepening Fundamentalism in Pakistan
Creators: name: K.M.Seethi Seethi
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology

description: The article brings out the issues related to blasphemy law in Pakistan and the continuing dilemma of negotiating between Islamic principles and international humanitarian obligations.
Dynamic determinants of innovation networks along the technology life cycle: Context, proximity and collaboration
Creators: name: Klein, Till Sebastian
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: This study explores an evolving collaboration network of inventors in the context of an emerging technology, focussing on the factors that drive collaboration along the technology lifecycle. Using patent data and a model for network evolution, the results show a different effect of geographic and social proximity on the creation of collaboration ties across locations, while organisational proximity matters equally across space and time. The nature of local institutions partly explains these differences. These insights enhance knowledge since prior studies lack explanations for conflicting empirical findings, plus they inform decision-makers who seek to influence the collaboration behaviour of inventors.
title: Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts – An Overview of the International Law Commission’s Ongoing Work
Creators: name: Jacobsson, Marie
name: Lehto, Marja
Publisher: name: Institute for International and European Law, University of Göttingen
Year: 2020

description: Goettingen Journal of International Law ; Vol. 10, no. 1, page 27-46
description: Special Issue: Enhancing the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts – the Draft Principles of the International Law Commission and Beyond