cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A guided performance interface for augmenting social experiences with an interactive animatronic character

Entertainment animatronics has traditionally been a discipline devoid of interactivity. Previously, we brought interactivity to this field by creating a suite of content authoring tools that allowed entertainment artists to easily develop fully autonomous believable experiences with an animatronic character. The recent development of a Guided Performance Interface (GPI) has allowed us to explore the advantages of non-autonomous control. Our new hybrid approach utilizes an autonomous AI system to control low-level behaviors and idle movements, which are augmented by high-level processes (such as complex conversation) issued by a human operator through the GPI. After observing thousands of interactions between human guests and our animatronic character at SIGGRAPH 2005's Emerging Technologies Exhibition, we strongly feel that both autonomy and guided performance have important roles in interactive, entertainment robotics. Together, the autonomous system and the new Guided Performance Interface allow guests to experience extremely rich, believable, social experiences with robots using technology available today.
Classification of Cyclic Invariant Subspaces of Jordan Operators

Let T be an operator of class C 0 and M a cyclic invariant subspace for T. We show that the weakly quasiaffine orbit of M is determined by the quasisimilarity classes of the restriction T∣M and of the compression T M ⊥ = (T*❘M ∣ )*.
Goniometric techniques for range-of-motion assessment.

This article promotes greater understanding of the methodology available for measuring and recording joint range-of-motion. It fosters movement towards the eventual adoption of a single integrated goniometric system for the evaluation and recording of musculoskeletal impairment and disability. Towards this end, the authors have focused on application of the neutral-zero measuring method and SFTR documentation and recording system and have highlighted the advantages of this system when compared with more conventional approaches. Examination and recording procedures have been briefly described, and examples of appropriate instruments and their applications have been illustrated.
Thermoregulation during Sleep and Sleep Deprivation

Interactions between the regulation of sleep and the regulation of body temperature are extensive. Major aspects of thermoregulatory control are altered by the sleep–waking state. Sleep in mammals is accompanied by reductions in metabolic rate, increased heat loss, and a fall in body temperature. Homeostatic responses to thermal stress are diminished during sleep. Sleep is suppressed in moderately warm or cold environments. Manipulation of body temperature (e.g., hot bath immersion prior to bedtime) can promote sleep in humans. Brain mechanisms that control sleep are anatomically and functionally coupled to thermoregulatory mechanisms. Understanding the thermoregulatory control of arousal states may suggest novel strategies for treating human sleep disorders.
The Influence of Depression on Health Care Expenditures Among Adults with Spondylosis, Intervertebral Disc Disorders, and Other Back Problems in the United States

BACKGROUND Back pain is a very prevalent complaint, affecting two-thirds of the US population, and it accounts for $100 billion annually in health care expenditures. The occurrence of depression has been reported in existing literature among patients with back pain, but there is limited information regarding health care expenditures among patients with back pain and concurrent depression. OBJECTIVE To assess excess total and subtypes of health care expenditures among adults with spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, and other back problems who reported having depression compared with those without depression in the United States. METHODS We utilized a cross-sectional design, pooling Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data from 2010-2012. The eligible study sample included adults (age ≥18 years) who reported positive health care expenditure. Total and subtypes of health care expenditures constituted the dependent variable. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions on logged expenditures were performed. Four models were developed to assess influence of demographics, functional ability, and concurrent diagnoses on health care expenditures. RESULTS A total of 6,739 adults with spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, and other back problems were assessed, 20.2% (N = 1,316) of whom had concurrent depression. Adults with concurrent depression had significantly higher total health care expenditures ($13,153) compared with the nondepression group ($7,477, P < 0.001). Outpatient and prescription expenditures showed similar findings. After adjusting for demographics, functional disabilities, and comorbidities, excess cost remained higher in the group reporting concurrent depression (46%). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the presence of depression in adults with spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, and other back problems is associated with greater economic burden. These findings remained consistent after adjusting for all independent sets of variables. The study's findings suggest that interventions resulting in better management of depression have the potential to significantly reduce the economic burden in this population.
Genetically improved ponderosa pine seedlings outgrow nursery-run seedlings with and without competition--early findings.

Three classes of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) seedlings (nursery-run, wind-pollinated, control-pollinated) were evaluated for stem height and diameter at the USDA Forest Service's Placerville Nursery and the Georgetown Range District in northern California. Pines in all three classes were grown with competing vegetation or maintained in a free-to-grow condition. Control-pollinated seedlings were statistically taller than nursery-run counterparts when outplanted, and after 1 and 2 growing seasons in the field with and without competition. They also had significantly larger diameters when outplanted and after 2 growing seasons in the field when free to grow. Wind-pollinated seedlings grew taller than nursery-run seedlings when free to grow. A large amount of competing vegetation [bearclover (Chamaebatia foliolosa)--29,490 plants per acre; herbaceous vegetation--11,500; hardwood sprouts--233; and whiteleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida) seedlings--100] ensure that future pine development will be tested rigorously.
IoD-Crypt: A Lightweight Cryptographic Framework for Internet of Drones.

Internet of Drones (IoD) is expected to play a central role in many civilian and military applications, that require sensitive and mission-critical information to be processed. It is therefore vital to ensure the security and privacy of IoD. However, unlike traditional networks, IoD has a broader attack surface and is highly energy-constrained, which hinder the direct adoption of standard cryptographic protocols for IoD. We propose an energy-efficient cryptographic framework (namely IoD-Crypt), which can potentially meet the requirements of battery-limited IoD. Specifically, IoD-Crypt utilizes special precomputation techniques and self-certified primitives to gain significant computation and communication efficiency over the standard public key cryptography (PKC) suites. Our integrations and optimizations are broadly applicable to key exchange, digital signature and public key encryption schemes that encompass generic applications of PKC in IoD. We prove that IoD-Crypt is secure in the random oracle model. We fully implemented IoD-Crypt on two common drone processors, namely 8-bit AVR and 32-bit ARM, and conducted an in-depth energy analysis. Our experiments (on both platforms) showed that IoD-Crypt offers up to 48x less energy consumption compared to standard techniques. We have open-sourced our implementations for wide adoption and public testing purposes.
Results of the Workplace Health in America Survey.

Purpose:To provide a nationally representative snapshot of workplace health promotion (WHP) and protection practices among United States worksites.Design:Cross-sectional, self-report Workplace Heal...
Establishing the role of SINE proteins in regulating stomatal dynamics in Arabidopsis thaliana

Stomatal movement, which regulates gas exchange in plants, is controlled by a variety of environmental factors, including biotic and abiotic stresses. The stress hormone ABA initiates a signaling cascade, which leads to increased H2O2 and Ca2+ levels and F-actin reorganization, but the mechanism of, and connection between, these events is unclear. SINE1, an outer nuclear envelope component of a plant Linker of Nucleoskeleton and Cytoskeleton (LINC) complex, associates with F-actin and is, along with its paralog SINE2, expressed in guard cells. Here, we have determined that Arabidopsis SINE1 and SINE2 play an important role in stomatal regulation. We show that SINE1 and SINE2 are required for stomatal opening and closing. Loss of SINE1 or SINE2 results in ABA hyposensitivity and impaired stomatal dynamics but does not affect stomatal closure induced by the bacterial elicitor flg22. The ABA-induced stomatal closure phenotype is, in part, attributed to impairments in Ca2+ and F-actin regulation. Together, the data suggest that SINE1 and SINE2 act downstream of ABA but upstream of Ca2+ and F-actin. While there is a large degree of functional overlap between the two proteins, there are also critical differences. Our study makes an unanticipated connection between stomatal regulation and a novel class of nuclear envelope proteins, and adds two new players to the increasingly complex system of guard cell regulation.
Second-Hand Smoke Exposure at Home in the United States; Minorities' Diminished Returns.

Introduction: Educational attainment and poverty status are two strong socioeconomic status (SES) indicators that protect individuals against exposure to second-hand smoke. Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs), however, refer to smaller protective effects of SES indicators among ethnic minority groups such as Hispanics and Blacks, compared to non-Hispanic Whites. This study explored ethnic differences in the effects of educational attainment and poverty status on second-hand smoke exposure in the homes of American adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 18,274 non-smoking adults who had participated in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH; 2013). The independent variables were educational attainment and poverty status. The dependent variable was second-hand smoke exposure at home. Age and region of residence were the covariates. Ethnicity was the moderator. Results: Overall, individuals with a higher educational attainment (odds ratio [OR] = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.74-0.79) and those who lived out of poverty (OR = 0.56, 95% CI =0.51-0.62) had lower odds of second-hand smoke exposure at home. Hispanic ethnicity showed significant interactions with both SES indicators, suggesting that the protective effects of education and poverty on second-hand smoke exposure at home are smaller for Hispanics (ORs for interaction with education and poverty status = 1.30 and 1.26, P < 0.05) than for Non-Hispanics. Conclusion: In the US, high SES Hispanics remain at high risk of exposure to second-hand smoke at home despite a high education and income. High SES better reduces environmental exposures for non-Hispanic than for Hispanic individuals.
Between Hype and Hope, on the Cutting Edge of Precision Cancer Medicine

The concept of precision cancer medicine emerged with a National Academics of Science report in 2011 describing the need and opportunity to classify human disease through a precision taxonomy. This new taxonomy would be based on the availability genomics data and other sources of big data to enable a more precise diagnosis and management of human disease. Since cancer is characterized by somatic and germline genetic changes, precision medicine has taken a natural direction that has included clinical oncology. This text includes contributions from leading researchers in the emerging and changing field of precision cancer medicine.
Physical Health Risk Factors across Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying Victim and Offender Groups

Objectives: This study highlighted the physical health differences, alongside differences in deviant lifestyle and psycho-social adjustment, among traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimizati...
The Distributional Justice of Oil Industry Social Development Projects and Oil Field Production Activities

Abstract In order to share the benefits of oil production with people living in extraction areas, the oil industry targets social development investments and projects to communities most affected by production activities. Yet, the effectiveness of industry-led community development projects remains unclear and under explored. In this study, we use a benefit-sharing, distributional justice framework to assess the efficacy of social development projects among 11 municipal governments and 114 local communities in the Tampico-Misantla Basin, a major oil extraction region in Mexico. To test for distributional justice, we use geospatial, rapid rural appraisal, and government data to compare the spatial overlap of oil production, pipelines, recent drilling activity, well counts, state-funded public works, and social marginalization indexes to social development infrastructure (e.g. paved roads, schools, bridges). We explain the uneven distribution of risks and benefits among some rural communities as the result of premature investments in social development projects, party politics, corruption, community capacity, and proximity to urban areas. This study contributes an empirical approach to evaluate distributional justice in oil extraction areas. It also provides insights into Mexico’s oil sector during a period of significant neoliberal restructuring, most recently with the 2014 Energy Reforms.
Reading Comprehension Instruction for Young Students with Autism: Forming Contextual Connections.

Central coherence is the ability to perceive and connect salient information in a context such as a narrative text. Individuals with autism exhibit a detail-focused cognitive style of processing information that overlooks connections and shows weak central coherence. A six-session instructional intervention to foster coherence processing was administered to first and second graders (N = 10) while a control group (N = 10) received an irrelevant treatment, mean age 7.06 years, 18 males and 2 females. Results showed that the instruction benefited children’s comprehension of narrative text. The intervention improved children’s ability to retell a narrative text and improved first graders’ use of sequence words to retell a story compared to control students. Findings carry implications for designing reading instruction for this special population.
Love Politics in The Syrian Uprising

This article explores the relationship between love and revolt in the context of the 2011 Syrian Uprising. It does this through analyzing the narratives of two Syrian women who were involved in the Uprising and had their relationships with loved ones dramatically affected by it.
Young Children’s Motivation for Learning Science

What accounts for the change between young children’s very early and incessant curiosity about the world around them and the consistent finding that middle- and high-school students are typically not highly motivated to learn about science? Children’s typical motivational trajectories during elementary school, and particularly the early grades, are largely unknown. Furthermore, research is sparse on how young children’s science instruction is related to their motivation to learn and understand science-related concepts and processes. In this chapter we provide an overview of the limited research findings about young children’s science motivation, and discuss why it is crucial that more research during this developmental period is generated. We review and critique the nature of the existing research in terms of both its theoretical underpinnings and the various methodological approaches used. We also outline our thoughts about the methodological and theoretical advancements we believe to be necessary for researchers to learn more about young children’s science motivation. Finally, we consider implications of science motivation research for teaching practices and curricular approaches used in preschool and the early elementary grades.
Impact of COVID-19 on Corporate Debt Structure: Cross Country Evidence

We exploit the quasi-experimental properties of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how national culture, trust in government, and response to the pandemic affect corporate borrowing and the structure of financial contracts. Using a cross-country analysis of 57 countries, we find that firms increase their bank and non-bank debt levels. Our findings show that firm-level characteristics such as financial flexibility, default risk, and size, in addition to national culture, government preparedness, and response to the pandemic, are crucial determinants of corporate borrowing.
DeepMerge – II. Building robust deep learning algorithms for merging galaxy identification across domains

In astronomy, neural networks are often trained on simulation data with the prospect of being used on telescope observations. Unfortunately, training a model on simulation data and then applying it to instrument data leads to a substantial and potentially even detrimental decrease in model accuracy on the new target dataset. Simulated and instrument data represent different data domains, and for an algorithm to work in both, domain-invariant learning is necessary. Here we employ domain adaptation techniques$-$ Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD) as an additional transfer loss and Domain Adversarial Neural Networks (DANNs)$-$ and demonstrate their viability to extract domain-invariant features within the astronomical context of classifying merging and non-merging galaxies. Additionally, we explore the use of Fisher loss and entropy minimization to enforce better in-domain class discriminability. We show that the addition of each domain adaptation technique improves the performance of a classifier when compared to conventional deep learning algorithms. We demonstrate this on two examples: between two Illustris-1 simulated datasets of distant merging galaxies, and between Illustris-1 simulated data of nearby merging galaxies and observed data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The use of domain adaptation techniques in our experiments leads to an increase of target domain classification accuracy of up to ${\sim}20\%$. With further development, these techniques will allow astronomers to successfully implement neural network models trained on simulation data to efficiently detect and study astrophysical objects in current and future large-scale astronomical surveys.
Pre-surgical Prediction of Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation Recurrence Using In Vivo Mitral Valve Leaflet Strains

Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) is a prevalent cardiac disease associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Contemporary surgical treatments continue to have limited long-term success, in part due to the complex and multi-factorial nature of IMR. There is thus a need to better understand IMR etiology to guide optimal patient specific treatments. Herein, we applied our finite element-based shape-matching technique to non-invasively estimate peak systolic leaflet strains in human mitral valves (MVs) from in-vivo 3D echocardiographic images taken immediately prior to and post-annuloplasty repair. From a total of 21 MVs, we found statistically significant differences in pre-surgical MV size, shape, and deformation patterns between the with and without IMR recurrence patient groups at 6 months post-surgery. Recurrent MVs had significantly less compressive circumferential strains in the anterior commissure region compared to the recurrent MVs (p = 0.0223) and were significantly larger. A logistic regression analysis revealed that average pre-surgical circumferential leaflet strain in the Carpentier A1 region independently predicted 6-month recurrence of IMR (optimal cutoff value − 18%, p = 0.0362). Collectively, these results suggest greater disease progression in the recurrent group and underscore the highly patient-specific nature of IMR. Importantly, the ability to identify such factors pre-surgically could be used to guide optimal treatment methods to reduce post-surgical IMR recurrence.
Cryogenic control system operational experience at SNS

The helium cryogenic system at Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) provides cooling to 81 superconducting radio frequency cavities. To support the operation of the cryogenic facility, a highly reliable control system consisting of software, hardware, and Human Machine Interface (HMI) has been developed and improved during the first fifteen years of operation. Integrating the cryogenic control system with other subsystems of the SNS complex is an important aspect to the success of the operation. The operating experience, lessons learned and recommendations to consider for future facilities will be detailed in this paper.
Customized Speech and the First Amendment

Customized Speech — speech targeted or tailored based on knowledge of one’s audience — is pervasive. It permeates our relationships, our culture, and, especially, our politics. Until recently, customization drew relatively little attention. Cambridge Analytica changed that. Since 2016, a consensus has decried Speech Customization as causing political manipulation, disunity, and destabilization. On this account, machine learning, social networks and Big Data make political Customized Speech a threat we constitutionally can, and normatively should, curtail. That view is mistaken. In this Article, I offer the first systematic analysis of Customized Speech and the First Amendment. I reach two provocative results: Doctrinally, the First Amendment robustly protects Speech Customization. And normatively, even amidst Big Data, this protection can help society and democracy. Doctrinally, the use of audience information to customize speech is, itself, core protected speech. Further, audience-information collection, while less protected, may still only be regulated by carefully drawn, content-neutral, generally applicable laws. And unless and until the state affirmatively enacts such laws (as, overwhelmingly, it has not), it may not curtail speakers’ otherwise-lawful use of such information in political Speech Customization. What does this mean for democratic government? Today, Customized Speech raises fears about democratic discourse, hyper-partisan factions, and citizen autonomy. But these are less daunting than the consensus suggests, and are offset by key benefits: modern Customized Speech activates the apathetic, empowers the marginalized, and checks government overreach. Accordingly, many current proposals to restrict such Customized Speech — from disclosure requirements to outright bans — are neither constitutionally viable nor normatively required.
Torticollis and Head Oscillations

Congenital anomalies of the optic disc underlie many cases of decreased vision, strabismus, and nystagmus in childhood [54, 151]. A comprehensive evaluation necessitates an understanding of the ophthalmoscopic features, associated neuro-ophthalmologic findings, pathogenesis, and appropriate ancillary studies for each anomaly [46]. The subclassification of different forms of colobomatous defects on the basis of their ocular and systemic associations has further refined our ability to predict the likelihood of associated central nervous system (CNS) anomalies solely on the basis of the appearance of the optic disc [46]. The widespread availability of modern neuroimaging has refined the ability to identify subtle associated CNS anomalies and to prognosticate neurodevelopmental and endocrinological problems [46]. Genetic analysis has now advanced the understanding of some anomalies. It has been recognized [194, 218, 333] that many of these disorders are accompanied by some degree of peripheral retinal nonperfusion.
Plutonium and Americium Separation Using Organophosphorus Extractant Absorbed onto Ferromagnetic Particles

Polymeric coated ferromagnetic particles with an absorbed layer of octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) diluted by tributyl phosphate (TBP) are being evaluated for application in the separation and the recovery of low concentrations of americium and plutonium from nuclear waste solutions. Due to their chemical nature, these extractants selectively complex americium and plutonium contaminants onto the particles, which can be recovered from the solution using a magnet. Physical and chemical characterization of the extractant-absorbed particles were performed by gamma and liquid scintillation counting, transmission electron microscopic (TEM) micrograph, and energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS). Plutonium and americium separations have been performed at various HNO3 concentrations. Parameters such as absorbed layer thickness and separation abilities were studied to determine the limitation and capacity of the process.
Nonlinearity and chaos in ecological dynamics revisited

Historically, both experimental and theoretical ecologists have sought to emulate the development of early theory in the physical sciences: the ideal that a few simple equations may accurately predict the complex movement of celestial bodies or interactions among molecules in mixing gasses. In the environmental sciences, such simple clockworks have rarely been found, and rather than predictable stable or recurring patterns, erratic patterns abound. The discovery in the late 1970s through mid-1980s of certain ecological models—such as the Ricker or discrete logistic maps—suggesting erratic fluctuations through dynamic chaos caused what cautionaries may characterize as ecology’s period of “rational exuberance” with respect to hoping that a small set of mathematical equations may explain the erratic dynamics of real-world ecological communities. Upon much discussion, the field as a whole grew skeptical of this idea. In PNAS, Beninca et al. (1) present evidence that the erratic fluctuations in an intertidal rock-pool ecosystem are caused by competitive interactions that cause chaotic dynamics. This important study sheds new light on a number of threads of discussion in contemporary ecology related to variability and predictability in ecology.
Neural Plasticity and Disorders of the Nervous System: Anatomical and physiological basis for neural plasticity

Introduction The nervous system is plastic and expression of neural plasticity can compensate for losses and adapt to changing demands, but the induced changes in the function of the nervous system can also cause symptoms and signs of disease. In fact, such functional change causes or contributes to the symptoms of many disorders of the nervous system. This chapter provides an overview of the mechanisms involved in expression of neural plasticity in general, its role in compensating for deficits and adapting to changing demands, and in creating signs and symptoms of disease. The mechanisms involved in expression of neural plasticity and the physiological and anatomical basis for expression of neural plasticity are discussed. In the following chapters of this book, we will discuss the pathophysiology of neurological disorders and the role of expression of neural plasticity. In these chapters we will discuss the different symptoms and signs that are caused by expression of neural plasticity while this chapter will provide an overview of the role of expression of neural plasticity and the physiological and anatomical basis for expression of neural plasticity. Advantages to the organism from neural plasticity The beneficial effects of expression of neural plasticity can be divided into three main groups: a. Necessary for normal postnatal development. b. It makes the nervous system adapt to changing demands. c. It can compensate for loss of function and reorganize the nervous system to replace lost functions. Postnatal development Perhaps the greatest advantage to humans from neural plasticity is the postnatal development of skills and adaptation to different tasks.
Low-frequency infection of F- bacteria by transducing particles of filamentous bacteriophages.

Filamentous particles containing single-stranded plasmid and bacteriophage DNA are able to infect F- Escherichia coli at frequencies of approximately 10(-6). This infection is dependent on an intact particle and requires the products of the tolQ, tolR, and tolA genes of the bacteria. The addition of CaCl2 can increase the frequency about 100-fold, presumably by increasing the concentration of particles at the bacterial surface. Images
Calibration and development of safety performance functions for Alabama

One critical component of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) statistical methods is the safety performance function (SPF). SPFs are essentially regression models that correlate quantitatively the expected number of crashes with traffic exposure and geometric characteristics of the road. As part of a project performed by the University of Alabama to facilitate implementation of the new HSM procedures in the state, this study aims to evaluate the applicability of HSM predictive methods to Alabama data and to develop state-specific statistical models for two facility types: two-lane, two-way rural roads and four-lane divided highways. This study first calibrates HSM base SPFs by using two approaches: the method recommended by the HSM and a newly proposed approach that treats the estimation of calibration factors as a special case of a negative binomial regression. In addition, new forms of state-specific SPFs are further investigated by using Poisson-gamma regression techniques. Four new functional forms are st...
An Analysis of Stephen Law’s Objection to Alvin Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism

The most controversial premise of Alvin Plantinga’s EAAN is the first: the probability of our cognitive faculties being reliable given naturalism and evolution is low. Stephen Law objects that this premise rests on the assumption that naturalists are committed to the view that beliefs cause behavior by virtue of their neurophysiological properties and independently of their content—a false assumption, according to Law. If the naturalist holds that belief content determines behavior, then the first premise of Plantinga’s argument is false because adaptive behavior suggests true beliefs. Here I defend Plantinga’s EAAN. I grant Law’s claim that the naturalist need not hold that beliefs cause behavior independently of content, but I argue that adaptive behavior does not suggest true beliefs since there are many false beliefs that cause adaptive behavior.
Calculation and accurate measurement of capacitance of electrically small axi-symmetric microstructures near a probe tip

An efficient calculation method that uses semi closed-form solutions of axisymmetric metallic sub-sections to numerically calculate the capacitance of a metallic probe over stratified dielectric substrates or metallic samples is developed and discussed. The current continuity equation was first used to obtain charge densities at the structure's surface. The capacitance matrix that uses gap and permittivity (CGP) as indexes for specific tip was then numerically estimated using this method. CCP matrix enabled noncontact simultaneous topography and permittivity mapping using a single microwave measurement. This method was subsequently used to calculate the capacitance of spherical and conical tips commonly used in local scanning probe microscopy. To evaluate the accuracy of the this method, the load impedance change of the above structures were measured and compared to their numerical values. The load impedance of the probe tip was experimentally determined from the input impedance of a λ/2 microstrip resonator at 1 GHz The model of the measurement apparatus and a calibration procedure were also developed. The experimental data agreed with the numerical results quite well. Moreover, the experiments also showed that the simple λ/2 microstrip resonator has an excellent capacitance resolution nearing 1.96x10-18 at 1 GHz using a BiCMOS I/Q detector.
Precise and automated contract-based reasoning for verification and certification of information flow properties of programs with arrays

Embedded information assurance applications that are critical to national and international infrastructures, must often adhere to certification regimes that require information flow properties to be specified and verified. SPARK, a subset of Ada for engineering safety critical systems, is being used to develop multiple certified information assurance systems. While SPARK provides information flow annotations and associated automated checking mechanisms, industrial experience has revealed that these annotations are not precise enough to specify many desired information flow policies. One key problem is that arrays are treated as indivisible entities – flows that involve only particular locations of an array have to be abstracted into flows on the whole array. This has substantial practical impact since SPARK does not allow dynamic allocation of memory, and hence makes heavy use of arrays to implement complex data structures. In this paper, we present a Hoare logic for information flow that enables precise compositional specification of information flow in programs with arrays, and automated deduction algorithms for checking and inferring contracts in an enhanced SPARK information flow contract language. We demonstrate the expressiveness of the enhanced contracts and effectiveness of the automated verification algorithm on realistic embedded applications.
The Indefensible Duty to Defend

Modern Justice Department opinions insist that the executive branch must enforce and defend laws. In the first article to systematically examine Department of Justice refusals to defend, we make four points. First, the duties to enforce and defend lack any sound basis in the Constitution. Hence, while President Obama is right to refuse to defend the DOMA, he is wrong to continue to enforce a law he believes is unconstitutional. Second, rather than being grounded in the Constitution, the duties are better explained by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) desire to enhance its independence and status. By currying favor with the courts and Congress, the Department helps preserve its near-monopoly on government litigation authority. Third, our analysis of refusals to defend shows that the duty to defend only lightly constrains the executive, posing no real barrier to decisions not to defend the constitutionality of laws. Finally, the duty to defend serves no constitutional purpose. Its supposed benefits arise from getting the courts to opine on the constitutionality of laws. But courts typically have that opportunity as a result of executive enforcement of a law it believes is unconstitutional. Nothing further is gained by having the executive voice insincere and halfhearted arguments when others sincerely can advance strong ones. Or, we should say, nothing except enhancing the DOJ in the eyes of Congress and the courts at the expense of the President’s constitutional vision, which is what the duty to defend is all about.
Design of a randomized controlled trial of disclosing genomic risk of coronary heart disease: the Myocardial Infarction Genes (MI-GENES) study

Whether disclosure of a genetic risk score (GRS) for a common disease influences relevant clinical outcomes is unknown. We describe design of the Myocardial Infarction Genes (MI-GENES) Study, a randomized clinical trial to assess whether disclosing a GRS for coronary heart disease (CHD) leads to lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. We performed an initial screening genotyping of 28 CHD susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are not associated with blood pressure or lipid levels, in 1000 individuals from Olmsted County, Minnesota who were participants in the Mayo Clinic BioBank and met eligibility criteria. We calculated GRS based on 28 SNPs and will enroll 110 patients each in two CHD genomic risk categories: high (GRS ≥1.1), and average/low (GRS <1.1). The study coordinator will obtain informed consent for the study that includes placing genetic testing results in the electronic health record. Participants will undergo a blood draw and return 6-10 weeks later (Visit 2) once genotyping is completed and a GRS calculated. At this visit, patients will be randomized (1:1) to receive CHD risk estimates from a genetic counselor based on a conventional risk score (CRS) vs. GRS, followed by shared decision making with a physician regarding statin use. Three and six months following the disclosure of CHD risk, participants will return for measurement of fasting lipid levels and assessment of changes in dietary fat intake and physical activity levels. Psychosocial measures will be assessed at baseline and after disclosure of CHD risk. The proposed trial will provide insights into the clinical utility of genetic testing for CHD risk assessment. ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT01936675 .
A Simple Journal Ranking Tactic to Address Coercive Citation and Discipline-Specific Citation Density in Academic Business Journals

This paper describes a flexible way to unify the many disparate citation-based journal ranking metrics commonly used to assess the relative merit of academic business journals. The guiding principle for the proposed approach is the simple and intuitively appealing idea that a journal in a given discipline should be judged relative to the prowess of the top journal(s) in its discipline. This ratio approach functions as a hybrid of the stated preference and revealed preference journal ranking ideologies, and accordingly offers several far reaching advantages, among them the ability to map all citation-based journal metrics to the zero-one interval, hence normalizing inter-metric and cross-disciplinary journal comparisons. The ratio approach also accounts for citation density across business fields and mitigates the effects of coercive citation, which can undermine cross-discipline journal comparisons if left unchecked.
Effect of epidermal growth factor on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced intestinal damage

Epidermal growth factor (EGF, 10 μg/kg po, ip, or sc, BID, and 20 μg/kg iv) had no protective activity in the indomethacin-induced intestinal lesion model (6 h model). In the ethanol-induced gastric lesion model, EGF (10 μg/kg sc) reduced lesions by 52% and reduced gastric acid secretion by 68% (5 μg/kg iv). In the 24 h indomethacin-induced intestinal lesion model, pretreatment with EGF (10 μg/kg sc, BID; 1 day before and during indomethacin treatment) had no beneficial effects. Therefore, EGF had no protective effects against non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced intestinal lesions at doses that protect against the necrotizing action of ethanol and that inhibit gastric acid secretion in the rat.
"One Transistor, Two Transistors, Three"

There are 24 hours in a day; and, then there?s the night!? This, I had just learned, was always going to be the answer to the question, ?How can we possibly finish this project by then??
Many-Body Forces and Nuclear Saturation

Nuclear saturation is studied with many-body interactions derived from pseudoscalar meson theory with pseudoscalar coupling. All parameters appearing in this calculation are fixed on the basis of the work of L\'evy, who has shown that leading terms in a perturbation deduction of the two-body interaction are well fitted to reproduce the experimental data. The leading term in the $n$-body potential depends only on the interparticle distances and is repulsive (attractive) for $n$ odd (even). The energy of the nucleus is calculated with potentials up through five-body interactions and with neglect of Coulomb and surface effects. Saturation properties derived from these considerations are in accord with experience. Antisymmetrization of the nuclear wave function reduces the many-body interaction energies considerably by inhibiting the close approach of many particles. Thus the Pauli exchange terms are found to reduce the five-body interaction energy by 76 percent and to give a rapid convergence for the expansion in $n$-body forces.
Profilin‐1 overexpression inhibits proliferation of MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells partly through p27kip1 upregulation

Profilin-1 (Pfn1), a ubiquitously expressed actin-binding protein, has gained interest in epithelial-derived cancer because of its downregulation in expression in various adenocarcinoma. Pfn1 overexpression impairs tumorigenic ability of human breast cancer xenografts thus suggesting that Pfn1 could be a tumor-suppressor protein. The objective of the present study was to determine how Pfn1 overexpression affects cell-cycle progression of breast cancer cells. We show that Pfn1 overexpression in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells causes cell-cycle arrest in G1 phase and dramatically reduced proliferation in culture. Pfn1 overexpression results in increased protein stability of p27(kip1) (p27-a major cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor) and marked elevation in the overall cellular level of p27. Proliferation defect of Pfn1 overexpressers can be partly rescued by silencing p27 expression thus suggesting a critical role of p27 in Pfn1-induced growth inhibition of MDA-MB-231 cells. Finally, Pfn1 overexpression was found to sensitize MDA-MB-231 cells to apoptosis in response to cytotoxic stimulus thus suggesting for the first time that survival of breast cancer cells can also be negatively influenced by Pfn1 upregulation. These findings may provide novel insights underlying Pfn1's tumor-suppressive action.
Training general users on the non-policy side of the IS program

Once an information security program is put in place in an organization, the program needs to be managed and formal training needs to take place in order to get everyone to comply with the policies resulting from the program. Most of the training and education is conducted on these policies, but there is also a need to train users on some general good security practices, password management practices, access control management, and violation reporting that may not be part of the policies laid out by the information security program. This paper will focus on this aspect of the information security program training.
Theoretical studies of macroscopic erosion mechanisms of melt layers developed on plasma facing components

Abstract During plasma instabilities in tokamak devices, metallic plasma facing components (PFC) undergo surface vaporization and melting. Macroscopic losses of melt layers are of a serious concern to the lifetime of PFC, the damage of nearby components, and potential core plasma contamination. A normal or inclined plasma stream flowing at the melt layer surface of PFC at very high velocities (∼10 5 m/s) can induce Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) instabilities. We present an extensive linear stability theory and capillary droplet ejection model adapted to the problem of melt layer erosion and splashing. Based on this linear analysis, the stability criterion is established accounting the influence of the thicknesses of both plasma stream and melt layer. The growth rate of the most unstable wave is investigated with respect to different parameters such as plasma density and velocity, material properties, and melt layer thickness. A capillary droplet ejection model is then developed and used to analytically estimate the erosion rate of the melt layer for tungsten and aluminum targets. The present work brings a detailed understanding of the onset of K–H instabilities developed in melt layers due to plasma stream impact and builds a theoretical basis to estimate a macroscopic erosion rate, material losses and lifetime for PFC.
How Should Egalitarians Cope with Market Risks

Individuals in capitalist societies are increasingly exposed to market risks. Luck egalitarian theories, which advocate neutralizing the influence of luck on distribution, fail to cope with this problem, because they focus on the wrong kinds of distributive constraints. Rules of distributive justice can specify (1) acceptable procedures for allocating goods, (2) the range of acceptable variations in distributive outcomes, or (3) which individuals should have which goods, according to individual characteristics such as desert or need. Desert-catering luck egalitarians offer rules of the third type. Their theories fail because considerations of market efficiency, freedom, and dignity undermine the claims of desert to inform standards of justice for society as a whole. Responsibility-catering luck egalitarians offer rules of the first type. Their theories fail because such rules don’t constrain the downside risks of market choices. To solve this problem, we need rules of the second type, which allow market forces, and hence luck, to influence distributive outcomes, but only within an acceptable egalitarian range. The ideal of equality in social relations helps us devise acceptable constraints at the top, bottom, and middle of the income range.
Renal Sympathetic Denervation for Blood Pressure Control: A Review of the Current Evidence and Ongoing Studies

Hypertensive heart disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Despite widespread availability of medical therapy, it remains a challenge to treat. Autonomic nervous system imbalance resulting in overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system is integral to the development of hypertension and ultimately the development of hypertensive heart disease. Although the results with renal sympathetic denervation so far have been encouraging, optimism has recently been tempered with the broadcast alert from Medtronic, the sponsor of Symplicity HTN-3, that the trial did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint. The principal focus of this article is to review the developments in renal sympathetic denervation for the treatment of resistant hypertension.
The Role of off-Diagonal Disorder on Alloy Phase Stability: An Application To The Ni-Pt System

The occurrence of ordering in the Ni-Pt alloy system seems to violate theoretical predictions based on a tight-binding description of the electronic structure. In these descriptions of transition metal alloys, ordering is predicted if the d-band is about half filled, and phase separation is predicted if the d-band is almost empty or almost full. This so-called bandfilling argument clearly fails in the case of Ni-Pt alloys, which order despite an almost filled d-band. The band filling rule is derived under the assumption that off-diagonal disorder (ODD), that is, the difference in d-bandwidths of the constituents, can be ignored. However, it has been argued that taking ODD into account would result in an even stronger phase separation tendency in the theoretical prediction. Magnetism is not a factor in equiatomic Ni-Pt alloys, and thus can not be invoked to correct the erroneous prediction. Other factors, such as spin orbit coupling in the relativistic description of Pt can change the prediction only if very large spin orbit splitting is assumed on the Pt atom. In this paper, the effect of ODD is examined and evaluated. It has been shown that when ODD is taken into account, ordering is indeed predicted although the order-disordermore » temperatures tend to be lower than those experimentally observed. The densities of states (DOE) computed with, and without ODD are contrasted and the energetic properties as defined by the Generalized Perturbation Method (GPM) are employed to determine the ground state of the alloy at three compositions, Ni{sub 3}Pt, NiPt, and NiPt{sub 3}, and to compute order-disorder temperatures.« less
ON THE INTEGRATION OF UNCERTAINTY THEORIES

Investigations pursued in this paper contribute to a research project introduced by Resconi, Klir, and St. Clair [1] whose purpose is to employ syntactic and semantic structures of modal logic as a unifying framework within which various uncertainty theories can be formalized, compared, and organized hierarchically. This paper focuses on the explicit use of modal logic semantics to formalize fuzzy sets, belief measures, plausibility measures, and Sugeno λ-measures.