cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sensorless Current Sharing Analysis and Scheme For Multiphase Converters

Current sharing control in multiphase converters is essential for stable and safe operation under variable conditions or applications. It is usually used to maintain equal or desired current sharing between converter phases. In conventional current sharing schemes, this requires the sensing and processing of each phase current through a current sharing/balancing controller, which adds complexity, size and cost to the converter design. In most cases, conventional schemes are usually based on achieving a preset current sharing ratio between phases (usually equal current value among different phases), assuming that the design of phases is known (or symmetric in the case of equal sharing ratio), which may not result in achieving the optimum efficiency. Moreover, the accuracy of achieving the preset current sharing ratio is sensitive to the current sensing accuracy in all phases, which requires careful and tedious calibration of sensing circuitries. Furthermore, when digital controller is used, in order to achieve equal current sharing or desired current distribution among different phases, more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are required to obtain digital information on equivalent phases' currents. In this paper, theoretical analysis results are presented to derive or prove a sensorless current sharing method. The analysis is further expanded to reveal the boundary conditions that result in not achieving the desired current sharing ratio. For example, it provides the conditions under which certain phases may carry negative current, resulting in overloading the other phases. The presented method is described and verified with experimental results from a proof of concept prototype based on digital controller implementation.
Constitutional Line Drawing at the Intersection of Childhood and Crime

Three cases have arisen in the first seven years of the Roberts Court in which concepts of childhood have played a key role. First came Graham v. Florida, a 2010 case in which the Court held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment's Clause prohibited sentencing of juveniles to life without parole for non-homicide offenses. Next was J.D.B. v. North Carolina, a 2011 case in which the Court held that a juvenile's age is a relevant consideration when determining whether a reasonable person would believe he was in custody for Miranda purposes. Finally, the Court decided Miller v. Alabama, a 2012 case in which the Court held that the mandatory imposition of life without parole in cases where juveniles were convicted of homicide was cruel and unusual punishment because it precluded consideration of age and its attendant consequences.Though at first glance these three cases appear consistent -- they each result in some degree of enhanced constitutional protection for juveniles -- a closer look reveals significant jurisprudential tension because the opinions are riddled with contradictions. This Article explores those tensions and the need to resolve them, focusing in particular on two major line-drawing problems that have emerged in the juvenile cases. The first is inherent to but largely ignored in the cases: whether and where to draw the line between childhood and adulthood. The second line is judicially manufactured: the line between homicide and non-homicide offenses. The Article describes and critiques the Court's line drawing and offers proposed solutions to remedy flaws in the Court's reasoning.
Exploring the Digital Humanities: An Interview with Mark Algee-Hewitt, Ph.D.

Mark Algee-Hewitt is an Assistant Professor in the department of English and the Co-Director of the Stanford Literary Lab. His work focuses on the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in England and Germany and seeks to combine literary criticism with digital and quantitative analyses of literary texts. In particular, he is interested in the history of aesthetic theory and the development and transmission of aesthetic and philosophic concepts during the Enlightenment and Romantic periods. He is also interested in the relationship between aesthetic theory and the poetry of the long eighteenth century. At the Literary Lab, Dr. Algee-Hewitt leads projects on suspense literature, the relationship between titles and texts in the long eighteenth century, and gender performance in the dialogue of novels written during the Romantic period. He is also a collaborator on the Canon/Archive project, Micromegas, the Transhistorical Poetry project, Modeling Dramatic Networks, and a project on the Supreme Court and Environmental Law. Outside of Stanford, Dr. Algee-Hewitt is a partner in the ongoing NovelTM partnership grant and is an associate principal investigator of the Stanford branch of the Global Currents Digging into Data project. Building on this work, he has ongoing collaborations with Andrew Piper at the .txt lab at McGill University in Montreal, and with the North American Concept Lab, based at New York University. He is also a member of the executive board of 18thConnect and is on the visualization advisory committee of the Digital Mitford project.
Inter- and Intra-Observer Variability Assessment of in Vivo Carotid Plaque Burden Quantification Using Multi-Contrast Dark Blood MR Images.

UNLABELLED The chapter presents the research to test the hypotheses that (1) vessel wall volume measurements from dark blood MR images with multiple contrast-weightings (T1W, T2W and PDW) are highly reproducible, and that (2) the intra-observer and inter-observer variability of carotid wall volume measurements will be less than those obtained with maximum wall area (MaxWA) measurements. METHODS Sixteen patients (aged 72 +/- 7years) with carotid stenosis documented by duplex ultrasound were recruited for the study. Dark blood T1W, PDW and T2W MR images were used to measure carotid wall volume and MaxWA by two independent observers for inter-observer and intra-observer variability assessment. RESULTS The intra-observer absolute difference of carotid wall volume for T1W, T2W and PDW images were 67.3 +/- 47.5 mm(3) (2.3 +/- 1.8%), 63.2 +/- 52.2 mm(3) (2.0 +/- 1.3%), and 69.8 +/- 45.2 mm(3) (2.4 +/- 1.7%) respectively. The inter-observer absolute difference of carotid wall volume for T1W, T2W and PDW images were 103.5 +/- 141.8 mm(3) (3.0 +/- 3.1%), 95.9 +/- 102.1 mm(3) (3.1 +/- 2.6%), and 132.1 +/- 87.8 mm(3) (4.3 +/- 2.7%) respectively. The intra-observer absolute difference of carotid MaxWA for T1W, T2W and PDW images were 6.9 +/- 5.0 mm(2) (4.2 +/- 2.9%), 5.1 +/- 4.2 mm(2) (3.1 +/- 2.3%) and 7.5 +/- 4.7 mm(2) (4.2 +/- 2.7%) respectively. The inter-observer absolute difference of carotid MaxWA for T1W, T2W and PDW images were 9.5 +/- 4.2 mm(2) (5.8 +/- 2.3%), 6.4 +/- 6.1 mm(2) (3.8 +/- 3.1%) and 10.8 +/- 7.3 mm(2) (6.1 +/- 3.7%) respectively. Both intra- and inter-observer variability in carotid volume measurement tend to be smaller than that in carotid MaxWA measurement with intraclass correlation coefficients ranged 0.932 to 0.987 for volume measurement and 0.822 to 0.946 for MaxWA measurement.
The Risk that Risk Will Change

Standard approaches to risk management focus on short-run risks, yet many positions are held for longer periods. Over such holding periods there is a risk that risks will change. In this note several easily implemented approaches to estimating the term structure of risk are proposed based on either statistical or economic criteria. It is argued that some portion of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 was due to the use of short-run risk measures to assess long-term risks.
La maurofilia en la poesía épica medieval

Maurophilia as a literary tradition was codified for the first time in 1938 in an article published by the French Hispanist Georges Cirot, who explored the idealized representation of Moors in sixteenth-century literature. Yet Ramon Menendez Pidal argued that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Castilians, far from feeling any repulsion toward the Muslims of Granada, felt attracted to their exotic civilization, the oriental luxury of dress, the splendid ornament in their buildings, and their mode of riding and fighting. Maurophilia, in sum, became fashionable. Years later, Francisco Marquez Villanueva pointed out that although literary maurophilia of the sixteenth century was influenced by a Christian humanism sensible to all sorts of realities marginalized by the official world, the roots of maurophilia could be found in the Romancero of the fifteenth century. In effect, the romances fronterizos are abundantly concerned with love as well as war, and often idealize relations between Moors and Christians. They are, for the most part, showcases for Moorish regalia and chivalric pomp. According to Maria Rosa Lida, the positive depiction of Moors appeared for the first time in works by Don Juan Manuel. In the Libro de los estados the Moors are shown as courageous warriors, and in the Conde Lucanor there are several Moorish kings who behave as magnanimous and discreet rulers. But the Arab as a wise man or an exemplary figure appeared already in one of the sources of the Conde Lucanor, the Disciplina clericalis composed at the beginning of the twelfth century by Pedro Alfonso. On the other hand, the earliest medieval epic texts, the Poema de mio Cid and the Siete infantes de Lara, evince a sympathetic view of an enemy with whom Christians frequently allied, and with whom they lived.
Abstract B90: Poly (lactide)-based nanoparticles by free-radical dispersion polymerization: Fabrication, characterization and in vitro studies

We have used the macromonomer method to prepare crosslinked, paclitaxel-loaded PLA-PEG (stealth) nanoparticles using free-radical dispersion polymerization. The nanoparticles were optimized using statistical D-optimal mixture design. Nanoparticle fabrication with poly(lactide) is mainly carried out by the dispersion of preformed polymers which makes it difficult to attach targeting moieties to the surface of the nanoparticle and to produce crosslinked networks; hence we designed a new approach based on dispersion polymerization. Confirmation of nanoparticle synthesis was by scanning electron microscopy. Particle size and size distribution and the zeta potential of the optimized formulation were determined using Zetasizer nano Zs. The release profile of paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles was determined by high performance liquid chromatography and encapsulated drug was released over 7 days. In vitro cytotoxicity studies were carried out using the CellTiter®glo luminescent cell viability assay in MCF7, MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer) and SK-OV-3 (ovarian cancer) cell lines. The cytotoxicity assay shows that the blank nanoparticle is biocompatible with no toxicity for the duration of the assay compared to medium-only treated controls. Further, the paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticle formulation exhibits similar cytotoxicity compared to free drug in solution against the cancer cell lines tested. In vitro intracellular localization of nanoparticle by confocal microscopy also demonstrated that the nanoparticles are rapidly internalized by MCF-7 cancer cells within one hour probably by nonspecific endocytosis. The stealth nanoparticles are suitable for the design of controlled delivery systems for bioactive agents. Citation Format: Simeon K. Adesina, Emmanuel O. Akala. Poly (lactide)-based nanoparticles by free-radical dispersion polymerization: Fabrication, characterization and in vitro studies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy: A New Chapter; December 1-4, 2014; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2015;3(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B90.
Monophyly of the Falconiformes Based on Syringeal Morphology

ABSTRACr.-The systematic relationships of the diurnal birds of prey (Falconiformes) are unresolved. The monophyly of the order has not been established, and the relationships of the families within the order and of genera within the three polytypic families are unclear. To derive a phylogeny for the order and to assess the usefulness of the syrinx for resolving the systematics of nonpasserines, I analyzed variation in syringeal morphology of genera within each of the currently recognized families in the order as well as among four orders of outgroups. The phylogeny derived from these syringeal data supports the monophyly of the Falconiformes. In addition, syringeal data provide strong support for the monophyly of three clades within the Falconiformes: the Cathartidae; the Falconidae; and an AccipitrinaeSagittariidae-Pandioninae cluster. The Cathartidae are positioned as basal to the other two clades. Overall results indicate that syringeal morphology is conservative, with most of the informative variation occurring at higher systematic levels. Received 10 May 1993, accepted 24 October 1993.
Finite element simulation for damage detection of surface rust in steel rebars using elastic waves

Steel rebar corrosion reduces the integrity and service life of reinforced concrete (RC) structures and causes their gradual and sudden failures. Early stage detection of steel rebar corrosion can improve the efficiency of routine maintenance and prevent sudden failures from happening. In this paper, detecting the presence of surface rust in steel rebars is investigated by the finite element method (FEM) using surface-generated elastic waves. Simulated wave propagation mimics the sensing scheme of a fiber optic acoustic generator mounted on the surface of steel rebars. Formation of surface rust in steel rebars is modeled by changing material's property at local elements. In this paper, various locations of a fiber optic acoustic transducer and a receiver were considered. Megahertz elastic waves were used and different sizes of surface rust were applied. Transient responses of surface displacement and pressure were studied. It is found that surface rust is most detectable when the rust location is between the transducer and the receiver. Displacement response of intact steel rebar is needed in order to obtain background-subtracted response with a better signal-to-noise ratio. When the size of surface rust increases, reduced amplitude in displacement was obtained by the receiver.
Combination Therapy for Rejuvenation of the Outer Thigh and Buttock: A Review and Our Experience.

BACKGROUNDCombination therapies are becoming more popular as a multifaceted approach to treating common aesthetic conditions.OBJECTIVEOften, the use of multiple techniques and modalities can lead to improved outcomes; however, there is a lack of current evidence on the use of combination therapies i
Experimental Design and Analysis for Process Improvement Part 2: Advanced Topics

The basic tools of experimental design and analysis provided in Chap. 5 form a foundation for effective multifactor experimentation. This chapter builds on that and provides some of the superstructure of statistical methods for process-improvement experiments.
Healthcare Provisions in an Aging Society: U.S. Perspective

The number of the people 65 years and older continues to increase rapidly, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population. The reasons are varied, including declining birth rates, improved life expectancy, and immigration. This is leading to significant demographic changes, changes in social structures, and economic stresses. However, the older population is a heterogeneous group, and a nuanced approach is required to deal with the challenges of this population. The old and very old patients are the major user group of medications and also the fastest growing population with the potential need for medicines [1]. The older population is frail, has different pharmacokinetics, experiences a greater number of side effects and has to deal with multiple medications with the potential for multiple drug interactions. No or inadequate medical insurance coverage, especially for medications, is compounded by decreased purchasing power due to lack of income, changing insurance rules, and increased out-of-pocket expenses for physician visits, hospitalizations, caregivers and care facilities. Developing drugs for this population is difficult, and is compounded by the lack of inclusion of this demographic in many drug trials for various reasons. Formulations of appropriate doses for the elderly, as well as appropriate packaging for ease of administration in this population with many physical challenges, are equally important. There is also a need for awareness, continuous training and sensitization of providers to these issues.
A corner preserving algorithm for realistic DEM soil particle generation

An efficient particle clump generation algorithm for use in discrete element methods (DEMs) was developed to simulate actual particles in a granular specimen. The algorithm requires many fewer circles than existing methods, particularly for angular particles. The procedure is a logical extension of a computational method for determining the classic Wadell particle roundness in which circles are fitted to the corners of particles. Hence, the new method perfectly preserves the location, size and shape of particle corners and is appropriately termed the corner preserving algorithm. The remaining perimeter of the particle, which includes concave and flat sections, is fitted with non-corner circles. Unlike earlier methods, the corner preserving algorithm requires only a single control parameter to generate the circles. This parameter is the ratio of the clump area to the original particle area, AR. An algorithm seeks a corresponding optimum clump roughness that achieves the user-prescribed AR. The method can easily be incorporated in existing soil particle characterization systems in which binary images or even images of particle assemblies are produced. Examples illustrate the simplicity and advantages of the corner preserving algorithm for DEM clump generation.
Coding for the deterministic network model

The capacity of multiuser networks has been a long-standing problem in information theory. Recently, Avestimehr et al. have proposed a deterministic network model to approximate wireless networks. For multicast, they have shown that the capacity for the deterministic model is equal to the minimal rank of the incidence matrix of a certain cut between the source and any of the sinks. Their proposed code construction, however, is not guaranteed to be efficient and may potentially involve an infinite block length. We propose an efficient linear code construction for the deterministic wireless multicast relay network model. Unlike several previous coding schemes, we do not attempt to find flows in the network. Instead, we maintain an invariant where it is required that at each stage of the code construction, certain sets of codewords are linearly independent.
Courtyard in conflict: the transformation of Beijing’s Siheyuan during revolution and gentrification

After Liang Sicheng’s effort to preserve ‘Old Beijing’ failed, vast areas of traditional hutong neighbourhoods were cleared to make way for socialist monuments and work-units. From the 1950s onward...
A constitutive model description of the in vivo material properties of lower birth canal tissue during the first stage of labor

Remarkable changes must occur in the pelvic floor muscles and tissues comprising the birth canal to allow vaginal delivery. Despite these preparatory adaptations, approximately 13% of women who deliver vaginally for the first time (nulliparas) sustain tears near the origin of the pubovisceral muscle (PVM) which can result in pelvic organ prolapse later in life. To investigate why these tears occur, it is necessary to quantify the viscoelastic behavior of the term pregnant human birth canal. The goal of this study was to quantify the in vivo material properties of the human birth canal, in situ, during the first stage of labor and compare them to published animal data. The results show that pregnant human, ovine and squirrel monkey birth canal tissue can be characterized by the same set of constitutive relations; the interspecies differences were primarily explained by the long time constant, τ2, with its values of 555s, 1110s, and 2777s, respectively. Quantification of these viscoelastic properties should allow for improved accuracy of computer models aimed at understanding birth-related injuries.
Correlates of Allowing Alternative Tobacco Product or Marijuana Use in the Homes of Young Adults

BACKGROUND: Given the increases in alternative tobacco product (ATP) and marijuana use, we examined self-reported likelihood of allowing ATP and marijuana use in the home among young adults. METHODS: We analyzed data from a study of students aged 18 to 25 years (n = 2865) at 7 Georgia colleges and universities. Variables included: personal, household members’, and friends’ tobacco (cigarettes, little cigars and cigarillos [LCCs], e-cigarettes, hookah) and marijuana use and the perceived harm to health, harm of byproducts, addictiveness, and social acceptability of each. Regression models were specified to examine correlates of the likelihood of allowing use of each product in the home. RESULTS: Personal use prevalence ranged from 5.5% for e-cigarettes to 12.5% for marijuana. E-cigarettes were most likely to be allowed in the home; cigarettes were least. Regression indicated that others’ use and the perceived social acceptability of using each product was correlated with greater likelihood of allowing the use of a product. A greater likelihood of allowing cigarette and LCC use in the home was only associated with cigarette or LCC use, respectively; a greater likelihood of allowing e-cigarette use was associated with current e-cigarette use; greater likelihood of allowing hookah use was associated with using any product except e-cigarettes; and greater likelihood of allowing marijuana use was associated with LCC and marijuana use. Perceived harm to health, byproduct harms, and addictiveness were differentially related to the likelihood of allowing use of different products. CONCLUSIONS: ATPs and marijuana may undermine efforts to protect against environmental toxins in the home, thus warranting interventions targeting young adults.
Reoperative Cardiac Surgery - Part II.

The preparation for a reoperative cardiac surgical case was covered in Part I of this two part review [Tribble 2018]. Part II will cover primarily intraoperative strategies and techniques. As noted in Part I, there has been surprisingly little written about the strategies and techniques of reoperative cardiac surgery. Thus, the goal of this two-part review is to collect and collate some of the lessons, abjurations, and tenets related to reoperative cardiac surgery that may be valuable to cardiac surgeons, especially those in training or early in their careers.Some time-honored admonitions that can apply to all complex operations, often enunciated by “old salts,” bear repeating:• Everything matters. Nothing is neutral.• Some say that a “life or death” decision is made, on average, every 10 seconds during cardiac surgery. • If something can go wrong, presume that it will.• If it seems absolutely impossible for something to go wrong, it will anyway, at least some of the time.• When something does go wrong, it generally does so all at once.• If what you are doing is working, keep on doing it. If it ain’t working, do something else.
Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with multiple simultaneous superficial vein thrombi

Abstract Background Although unprovoked superficial venous thrombosis (SVT) has traditionally been considered a local, benign disorder, recent studies demonstrate that patients with SVT are at significant risk for deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and other venous thromboembolism (VTE) events. Nevertheless, clinical management remains widely inconsistent. Moreover, patients with multiple, unprovoked SVTs of noncommunicating anatomic sites have not been previously described, and they may be at even increased risk for adverse outcomes. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with multiple, unprovoked SVTs to elucidate whether this subset of patients possesses a higher risk of thrombophilia, cancer, recurrent VTE, or death compared with patients with unprovoked SVT at a single location. Methods Twenty-four patients with multiple, unprovoked SVTs were enrolled. Blood tests and computed tomography scans were performed to detect thrombophilia and malignant disease. Patients were followed up with duplex ultrasound and clinical examination for at least 3 months. The prevalence of recurrent VTE and clinical outcomes were compared with a control group of 39 patients with unprovoked SVT in a single vein. Results Cancer was detected in five patients (20.8%) and thrombophilia in 10 patients (41.7%). During the follow-up period, nine patients (37.5%) exhibited recurrent VTEs, and five patients (16.2%) died. The VTE recurrence rate was significantly greater than in controls (P = .03). Patients with a coexisting thrombophilia or cancer had elevated thrombotic load (4.08 vs 2.27 separate vein segments; P = .0096) and an increase in VTE recurrence (P = .038) compared with patients without any such findings. Conclusions The results of this study warrant further investigation into this subset of patients through a larger multicenter design, as patients with multiple SVTs are at greater risk for thrombophilia, cancer, recurrent VTE events, and death compared with patients with isolated SVT.
Governing in the Name of Caring—the Nordic Model of Prostitution and its Punitive Consequences for Migrants Who Sell Sex

This article examines the so-called “Nordic model” in action. Using feminist argumentation, the model aims to abolish commercial sex by criminalizing the buying of sexual services while not criminalizing the selling, as the aim is to protect, rather than punish, women. Utilizing over 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork and 195 interviews in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, this article argues that in a situation where the majority of people who sell sex in the region are migrants, the regulation of commercial sex has shifted from prostitution to immigration policies, resulting in a double standard in the governance of national and foreign sellers of sexual services. Client criminalization has a minor role in the regulation of commercial sex in the area, and instead, migrants become targets of punitive regulation executed through immigration and third-party laws. Nationals are provided social welfare policies to assist exit from commercial sex such as therapeutic counseling, whereas foreigners are excluded from state services and targeted with punitive measures, like deportations and evictions. My fieldwork reveals a tension between the stated feminist-humanitarian aims of the model, to protect and save women, and the punitivist governance of commercial sex that in practice leads to control, deportations, and women’s conditions becoming more difficult. The article concludes that when examined in action, the Nordic model is a form of humanitarian governance that I call punitivist humanitarianism, or governing in the name of caring.
Confronting the Myth of 'State Court Class Action Abuses' Through an Understanding of Heuristics and a Plea for More Statistics

The Supreme Court heard six cases involving class actions this term. One of these cases, Standard Fire Insurance Company v. Knowles, brought the Class Action Fairness Act to the Court for the first time. Petitioner insurance company and its numerous business-interest amici repeatedly claimed before the Court that "state court class action abuses" justified removal of the case (which was based on state law and filed in state court) to federal court. The charge of a "flood" of "abusive state court class actions" echoed the same rhetoric that CAFA's supporters used a decade ago in their ultimately successful efforts to pass the legislation. Unfortunately for the quality of the debate, then and now, no current data and very little past data about class actions are readily and publicly available, for federal or state courts. In other words, courts in the United States offer no data on such basic questions as the number of cases filed as class actions, the percentage of cases designated as class actions that are eventually certified as such, or the ultimate disposition of such cases. To be sure, government-sponsored and private academic researchers have compiled a few databases that provided partial answers to some of these questions. But these limited efforts are well beyond the resources and skill available to the public, the press, and even to most policy-makers and the Court. What does the lack of baseline data on class actions mean? A wealth of psychological research has shown that human cognition and judgment are subject to a variety of heuristics and biases. For example, the mantra of "state court class action abuses" has a "priming effect" making it easier to see or imagine such "abuses." Further, the mind automatically attempts to create a coherent story out of the information it has, even if that information is incomplete or invalid. This manifests itself in the "anchoring effect," the "availability heuristic," and the "representativeness heuristic," which are exploited by those spreading the myth of "state court class action abuses." The Court may not have been able to resist the lure of class action mythology as it considered the six class action cases this term. In four of the six cases, the Court reversed the lower court and held against the plaintiff class.
Prophylaxis of Intravascular Infection

There is considerable debate concerning the indications for administering antibiotics with the goal of preventing IE. There is also uncertainty as to how much of which antibiotics should be administered in those instances where it is evident that prophylaxis should be given.
Models for the Hurricane Wave Field

Comprehensive information about the wave climate in hurricanes is needed for the design of ocean structures. Several wave hindcasting models, based on the significant wave height and period concept have been proposed for satisfying this need. It is shown in this paper, by means of a brief literature survey, that the wave fields in the high wind zone of hurricanes are likely to be multiple directional and the spectra are likely to be multiple nodal. There is little reason to believe that a comprehensive investigation based on the significant wave concept will be useful.
Vehicle Velocity State Estimation using Youla Controller Output Observer

Obtaining real time estimates of the true vehicle velocity can help improve the vehicle's traction and braking control performance. Vehicles using the AWD drivetrain architecture cannot utilize wheel speed measurements to estimate the vehicle velocity states since the drivetrain is applying torque on all four wheel at all times. This paper introduces a vehicle velocity state estimation strategy using the Youla Controller Output Observer (YCOO) estimation concept. The YCOO vehicle state estimation concept only relies on the vehicle's inertial measurement unit (IMU) signals (longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and yaw rate) to obtain estimates of the vehicle's longitudinal and lateral velocities. The YCOO estimation concept utilizes an internal feedback loop and a simple three state vehicle CG model to track the IMU signals. The resulting states of the vehicle estimation model are the vehicle velocity state estimates. It is shown through simulation with a high fidelity vehicle dynamics model that the YCOO estimation strategy is able to provide accurate estimates of the vehicle velocity states and is robust to noisy IMU signals and changes in vehicle mass. Finally, the resulting estimation strategy may be used on any vehicle with any type of drivetrain architecture since it does not require wheel speed measurements.
Role of fingerprint-inspired relief structures in elastomeric slabs for detecting frictional differences arising from surface monolayers

The perception of fine texture of an object is influenced by its microscopic topography and surface chemistry-i.e., the topmost layer of atoms and molecules responsible for its surface energy, adhesion, and friction generated when probed by a fingertip. Recently, it has been shown that human subjects can discriminate high-energy (i.e., hydrophilic), oxidized silicon from low-energy (i.e., hydrophobic), fluorinated alkylsilane-coated silicon. The basis of discrimination was consistent with differences between stick-slip friction frequencies generated when sliding the fingertip across the two surfaces. One aspect that was not examined was the presence of surface relief structures on the fingertip. Indeed, papillary ridges-fingerprints-may be involved in enhanced discrimination of fine textures arising from surface roughness, but how (or whether) fingerprints may also be involved in the discrimination of surface chemistry-through its effect on friction-is unknown. Here, using a mock finger made from a slab of silicone rubber shows that relief structures amplify differences in stick-slip friction when slid across either a hydrophilic oxide or a hydrophobic monolayer on silicon. We quantify the similarity between the friction traces of the mock fingers sliding across hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces under varying velocities and applied masses using a cross-correlation analysis. We then convert the cross-correlational data into convenient "discriminability matrices." These matrices identify combinations of downward forces and sliding velocities that enhance differences in friction between hydrophilic and hydrophobic monolayers. In addition, a computational model of macroscopic, "rate-and-state" friction confirms that frictional differences in chemistry are amplified when elastic slabs bear a patterned interface. This biomimetic approach to engineering sliding interfaces may inform the development of improved electronic skin and haptic devices and may contribute to understanding the role of relief structure in tactile perception.
69 Requirements Allocation

Design is information-processing activity resulting in the creation of an object. In the early conceptual design phase, design requirements are transformed into a functional and then into a physical description. This activity, called requirements allocation, is covered in this article.
Using Newspapers to Examine the Nature of Science

This paper describes the use of newspapers in a philosophy of science course.Using the newspaper as a required text facilitates student exploration of the nature of science by examining current scientific topics. Students in the course read The New York Times on a weekly basis. The articles from the Times support two pedagogical activities: newspaper journals and weekly discussions. The journals consist of free responses to published articles and serve as a means to encourage students to direct their own learning. The weekly discussions permit a free exchange of ideas about controversial topics while facilitating discourse about a multitude of topics concerning the nature of science. This paper describes the course design and provides several examples of how newspaper articles can be used as pedagogical resource.
On benefit-cost analysis with quality attributes

Lancaster's theory of consumer choice of quality attributes provides a foundation for benefit-cost analysis in a situation with quality changes. The traditional indices (Marshallian consumer surplus, the Hicksian variations, and the expenditure function index) were extended to incorporate quality attributes explicitly. In particular, the value of quality changes is captured in a simple additive term.
Single Muscle Fibre Contractility Testing in Rats to Quantify Ischaemic Muscle Damage During Reperfusion Injury.

OBJECTIVES In this study, the aim was to investigate the potential for single muscle fibre contractility (SMFC) testing to detect the extent of reperfusion injury following various reperfusion periods. The hypothesis was that force generated by muscle fibres will correlate inversely with the extent of reperfusion injury. METHODS Twenty-four Lewis rats were distributed among five groups. Group 1 served as normal muscle control. In all other groups, femoral artery flow was occluded for four hours. Muscle biopsies were obtained at 0 hour, six hours, day two, and day seven after reperfusion in Groups 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Samples then underwent ultrastructural analysis (H&E stain) and SMFC testing. RESULTS The maximum isometric force (mN) generated on Days two and seven after reperfusion decreased from baseline by 21% (p 0.05) and 31% decrease at Day 7 (p < .001). These results correlated inversely with the extent of quantitative injury on histology. CONCLUSIONS The study demonstrated an inverse relationship between single muscle fibre contractility testing and neutrophil infiltration during the reperfusion phase. Further clinical studies are needed to evaluate its potential in providing prognostic information for patient outcomes.
Understanding Nasal Emission During Speech Production: A Review of Types, Terminology, and Causality:

There are several different types of nasal emission that can occur during speech due to either velopharyngeal dysfunction or abnormal articulation in the pharynx. Nasal emission can be inaudible or very loud and distracting, depending on the size of the velopharyngeal opening and the physics of the flow. Nasal emission can be obligatory and/or compensatory (due to abnormal structure) or it can be caused by a misarticulation that results in a substitution of a pharyngeal sound for an oral sound, despite normal velopharyngeal structure. Nasal emission can occur on all pressure-sensitive phonemes or it can be phoneme-specific. Although it is generally recognized that the loud and distracting form of nasal emission (called nasal turbulence or nasal rustle) is due to a small velopharyngeal opening, the causality of the distracted sound is debated. This article provides a brief review of the types of nasal emission, the terms used to describe it, and the potential causes. This article also stresses the need for further research to clarify the causality of the sound generated by a small velopharyngeal opening.
Yields and Rabbit Holes: Medical Students’ Typologies of Sufficient Knowledge

Given the vastness of bioscientific knowledge and regular changes in evidence and protocol, how do individual clinicians make decisions about what to know and what to ignore? In this article I iden...
Low-Cost Livestock Global Positioning System Collar from Commercial Off-the-Shelf Parts

Abstract Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices are a fundamental technology for quantifying the distribution and movement of livestock across landscapes. Although costs of GPS devices have decreased, it is still cost prohibitive to implement a large number of collars per study. Our objective was to develop and test a low-cost GPS collar using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components to study livestock distribution and movement. Our COTS GPS tracker was built using the popular Arduino open-source microcontroller and a low-power timer board to cycle a GPS at defined intervals. Location data were saved to a data card in an open format for easy analysis. Total cost per COTS GPS device (including housing and collar) was $54.78. Average displacement from a known location and 95% circular error probability was 4.58 m, commensurate with other GPS collars. We tested durability and field performance of 25 COTS GPS collars against 24 existing GPS collars recording data at 5-min intervals in a southwest Idaho, United States study area. Our COTS GPS design and test showed that it is possible to manufacture low-cost location tracking devices, but the limitations of such devices must be considered relative to study objectives and duration. Low-cost location trackers will encourage collection of a higher density of location information to better understand patterns of livestock use in rangeland landscapes.
A comparative study of silver- and palladium-exchanged zeolites in propylene and nitrogen oxide adsorption and desorption for cold-start applications

Abstract Silver and palladium ion-exchanged BEA zeolites (Si/Al = 12.5) and silver ion-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites (Si/Al = 15) were studied for their ability to adsorb and desorb propylene and NO under simulated diesel exhaust conditions. The adsorption experiment results demonstrated the excellent ability of bare BEA zeolites to adsorb propylene, but only a small amount of NO. The presence of H2O inhibited the adsorption of both C3H6 and NO. Ion-exchanging BEA zeolites with Ag (1.2 and 5.1 wt.% Ag/BEA) attenuated the inhibiting effect of H2O on C3H6 adsorption, while NO storage remained inhibited. Adsorption experiments indicated that C3H6 and NO competed with each other for Pd sites with C3H6 showing stronger adsorption compared to NO, whereas Ag sites preferentially adsorbed C3H6. DRIFTS data indicated the formation of nitrate, formate and acetate species on Ag and Pd, while C3H6 and NO adsorption was also observed on the zeolite hydroxyl groups in the absence of H2O. However, the C3H6 and NO adsorption on the zeolite hydroxyl groups was significantly inhibited in the presence of H2O. Additionally, nitrosyl, acrolein and carbonate species were formed over 1.0 wt.% Pd/BEA. The effluent analysis during the temperature-programmed desorption in the DRIFTS reactor revealed that adsorbed C3H6 and NO reacted during the release to form oxidation reaction byproducts. The 1.0 wt.% Pd/BEA zeolite showed the greatest oxidation ability during desorption with the majority of stored C3H6 converted to CO2.
Spatially localized sparse representations for breast lesion characterization.

Abstract Rationale The topic of sparse representation of samples in high dimensional spaces has attracted growing interest during the past decade. In this work, we develop sparse representation-based methods for classification of radiological imaging patterns of breast lesions into benign and malignant states. Methods We propose a spatial block decomposition method to address irregularities of the approximation problem and to build an ensemble of classifiers (CL) that we expect to yield more accurate numerical solutions than conventional whole-region of interest (ROI) sparse analyses. We introduce two classification decision strategies based on maximum a posteriori probability (BBMAP-S), or a log likelihood function (BBLL-S). Results To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach we used cross-validation techniques on imaging datasets with disease class labels. We utilized the proposed approach for separation of breast lesions into benign and malignant categories in mammograms. The level of difficulty is high in this application and the accuracy may depend on the lesion size. Our results indicate that the proposed integrative sparse analysis addresses the ill-posedness of the approximation problem, producing AUC (area under the receiver operating curve) value of 89.1% for randomized 30-fold cross-validation. Conclusions Furthermore, our comparative experiments showed that the BBLL-S decision function may yield more accurate classification than BBMAP-S because BBLL-S accounts for possible estimation bias.
Gut Microbiota and Gender in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Gender dimorphism in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is well known; however, the reasons for gender differences in autism are poorly understood. There are several hypotheses that might explain male prevalence in ASD including increased levels of androgens, "extreme male brain," and a combination of elevated levels of prenatal testosterone in conjunction with prenatal stress. In this review, differences in the gut microbiome and metabolome in humans and animals are described to explain gender differences in individuals with ASD, effects on behavior and social interactions and the impact of antibiotics, probiotics and fecal transplants. The bidirectional relationship between sex hormones and intestinal microbiota could also be relevant. Such interactions have been described in autoimmune diseases, but thus far are not implicated in ASD. We hypothesize that similar cross-talk exists in ASD between gut microbiota and sex hormones. Since intestinal microbiota may affect behavior, it is possible that prevalence of ASD in boys may be associated with more significant changes in the intestinal microbiome than in affected girls.
CHAPTER 8 – SINGULAR INTEGRAL EQUATIONS

Publisher Summary An integral equation is called singular if either the range of integration is infinite or the kernel has singularities within the range of integration. Such equations occur rather frequently in mathematical physics and possess very unusual properties. This chapter discusses singular integral equations, Cauchy principal value for integrals, and the solution of the cauchy-type singular integral equation. A kernel of the form [K(s,t) = cot(t-s)/2], where s and t are real variables, is called the Hilbert kernel and is closely connected with the Cauchy kernel. The chapter also discusses how the Hilbert kernel is also related to the Poisson kernel.
Short-Term and Long-Term Educational Outcomes of Infants Born Moderately and Late Preterm.

Objective To assess the relationship of moderate and late preterm birth (320/7-366/7 weeks) to long-term educational outcomes. Study design We hypothesized that moderate and late preterm birth would be associated with adverse outcomes in elementary school. To test this, we linked vital statistics patient discharge data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development including birth outcomes, to the 2015-2016 school year administrative data of a large, urban school district (n = 72 316). We compared the relative risk of moderate and late preterm and term infants for later adverse neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten through the 12th grade. Results After adjusting for socioeconomic status, compared with term birth, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with an increased risk of low performance in mathematics and English language arts, chronic absenteeism, and suspension. These risks emerged in kindergarten through grade 2 and remained in grades 3-5, but seemed to wash out in later grades, with the exception of suspension, which remained through grades 9-12. Conclusions Confirming our hypothesis, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with adverse educational outcomes in late elementary school, indicating that it is a significant risk factor that school districts could leverage when targeting early intervention. Future studies will need to test these relations in geographically and socioeconomically diverse school districts, include a wider variety of outcomes, and consider how early interventions moderate associations between birth outcomes and educational outcomes.