cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative study of ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium versus piperacillin in the treatment of hospitalized patients with urinary tract infections

The efficacy and safety of ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium and piperacillin were compared in a clinical trial of 78 hospitalized patients with urinary tract infections. There were 37 evaluable patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and 39 in the piperacillin-treated group. The 43 infection sites in each group were primarily complicated pyelonephritis or complicated cystitis; six patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and four in the piperacillin-treated group also had septicemia. Both ticarcillin (3 g) plus clavulanate potassium (200 mg) and piperacillin (125 to 200 mg/kg per day) were administered intravenously. The 43 most common pathogens in each treatment group were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the urinary tract and E. coli from the blood. Eight pathogens in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and 11 in the piperacillin-treated group were resistant to ticarcillin in vitro. Eradication was achieved for 39 of the 43 (91 percent) pathogens in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium group, including all six organisms isolated from the blood and eight (89 percent) of the ticarcillin-resistant pathogens. In the piperacillin-treated group, 33 of the 43 (77 percent) pathogens were eradicated, including three of the four blood isolates but only eight (73 percent) of the ticarcillin-resistant pathogens. The rate of reinfection or relapse was similar in both groups. Clinical cure or improvement occurred in 97 percent of the patients in each group. Mild and transient increases in levels of liver enzymes or eosinophilia was reported for 11 patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and for seven in the piperacillin-treated group. In one patient in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group, a drug-related rash and nausea developed, and treatment was discontinued.
Redox properties of liver cytochrome P-450

Abstract The redox potential of phenobarbital-induced rabbit hepatocyte cytochrome P-450 in whole microsomes was determined by setting equilibrium potentials anaerobically with excess oxidation-reduction indicators, and determining the oxidized cytochrome P-450 remaining, using electron spin resonance. The titration curve had an anomalous shape; a portion of the cytochrome P-450 remained oxidized at potentials in the region of −0.44 V at pH 7.0, but was completely reduced at more positive potentials in the presence of CO. The measured midpoint potential lay between −0.34 V (reducible cytochrome P-450 only) and −0.40 V (total cytochrome P-450). More than one type of cytochrome P-450 redox couple appears to be present in hepatic microsomes.
A mathematical theory of the temperature distribution in water due to solar radiation, evaporation and convection

The distribution of heat, chemical properties, and substances dissolved in the water of reservoirs, lakes and oceans depends both upon external agencies and the internal processes of conduction, and diffusion. But the latter phenomena taking place in large bodies of water, are entirely different in kind from what controlled laboratory experiments reveal. The well-known laws of conduction and diffusion deduced from laboratory experiments can not be carried over into the field where the corresponding phenomena are of a large scale type peculiar to nature.
Spatial Distribution of Benthic Cysts of Alexandrium Catenella in Surface Sediments of Puget Sound, Washington, USA

Abstract Alexandrium catenella cyst distribution and abundance in the surface sediments throughout Puget Sound, Washington, were mapped for the first time in 2005. Cyst density varied from 0 to >12,000 cysts cm−3 surface sediment, with Quartermaster Harbor having the highest concentration of cysts. A higher resolution 2006 spatial survey of surface sediment cysts in two central Puget Sound bays, Quartermaster Harbor and Dyes Inlet, found cyst distribution to be patchy. Surface sediment properties were also determined for all samples. Given the diverse hydrographic conditions associated with the different basins in Puget Sound, no correlation was found between cyst abundance and grain size or total organic content (TOC) for the large scale Puget Sound wide survey, but cyst abundance was positively correlated with finer grained and higher TOC sediments within bays from the higher resolution survey. Sediment metal concentrations were also determined and cyst abundance was positively correlated only with Cd concentration. These results are consistent with previous studies in other locations.
Enhanced Inversion Mobility on 4H-SiC $(\hbox{11}\overline{\hbox{2}} \hbox{0})$ Using Phosphorus and Nitrogen Interface Passivation

Low interface trap density and high channel mobility on nonpolar faces of 4H-SiC, such as the (11[2]0) a-face, are of fundamental importance in the understanding of SiC MOS devices. It is also critical for high-voltage trench power MOSFET development. We report new results on the passivation of the SiO2/a-face 4H-SiC interface using phosphorus, yielding field effect mobility of ~125 cm2/V · s. We also revisit the conventional NO passivation, for which a mobility of ~85 cm2/V · s was achieved on the a-face. These results not only establish new levels of mobility in SiC MOSFETS but also lead to further insights into factors currently limiting SiC inversion layer mobility.
An extremal property for Chebyshev polynomials

Abstract In this article, it is proved that the Chebyshev polynomials are also the least deviation functions in the class F n := {ƒ∈C (n) [−1,1] :ƒ (n) (x)⩾1,x∈[−1,1]} with some norms.
Thrombus on indwelling central venous catheters: the histopathology of "Fibrin sheaths".

Purpose: Central venous catheters (CVC) may fail for many reasons, though “fibrin sheaths” blocking catheter ports are usually implicated. We examined the sheaths removed from dialysis catheters to determine their histopathology.
Rapid desensitization for needle phobia

Received Aug. 7, 2002; accepted Oct. 24, 2002. From the Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Science, Omaha VA Medical Center; and the Department of Psychiatry, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha. Address reprint requests to Dr. Fernandes, Mental Health Clinic, Omaha VA Medical Center—116A1, 4101 Woolworth Ave., Omaha, NE 68105; Praveen.Fernandes@med.va.gov (e-mail). Copyright 2003 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. Fear of needles, variously referred to in the literature as “needle phobia” or “blood-injury phobia,” is a curious type of specific phobia with distinct clinical features. For most phobias, exposure to phobic cues induces tachycardia. In contrast, patients with needle phobia typically experience a diphasic cardiovascular response of an initial tachycardia, followed by bradycardia, hypotension, shock, vertigo, syncope, diaphoresis, nausea, and, rarely, asystole and death. The vasovagal response and bradycardia, which may reflect a constitutional autonomic dysregulation, make needle phobia less responsive to strategies like relaxation exercises and sedatives, which can actually provoke fainting. While the incidence of needle phobia among the general U.S. population is estimated at around 3%– 4%, most patients do not present themselves to clinics or hospitals as part of the avoidance of the phobic stimulus. As a result, attention to health care is often neglected to a point where they seek treatment at a late stage in their physical illness. By then, management usually becomes urgent and often involves needle insertion for investigations or treatment. Behavioral techniques such as exposure and participant modeling have been successfully used to treat needle phobia. This report describes the management of severe needle phobia by using rapid desensitization in a patient who urgently needed regular vascular access for dialysis. Practical steps involving prolonged multimodal exposure and counter-response techniques are provided that are simple, easily replicable, and require minimal training.
Gypsum Rate Evaluation for Wild Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) Soils

Four rates of gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) were compared at two commercial wild lowbush blueberry fields (Addison and Belfast, ME) to determine the most suitable rate for increasing blueberry nutrient uptak...
Radial Coupling Method for Orthogonal Concentration within Planar Micro-Optic Solar Collectors

We present an orthogonal concentration method to further confine sunlight within planar solar collectors. Radial-oriented couplers create micro-optic solar concentrators with >375x geometric concentration and a 20% reduction in guiding loss.
Profiles of volatile metabolites in biological fluids using capillary columns

Nickel capillary columns coated with moderately polarstationary phases such as Witconol can be used for the separation of the organic volatile fraction from biological fluids. A “transevaporator” sampling technique for the collection of the organic volatiles on glass beads from as little as 5 to 500 μl of biological fluids (e.g. urine, serum, amniotic fluid, breast milk, saliva, etc.) is described. The organic volatiles are thermally desorbed from the glass beads into a short precolumn cooled in liquid nitrogen, which overcomes the problems associated with sample introduction onto narrow-bore capillary columns. The application of the full analytical technique to problems associated with the early detection of disease is illustrated.
Encouraging Compliance with Graduated Driver Licensing Restrictions

Abstract Problem Although graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs have reduced the high crash rates for 16-and 17-year-old drivers, research suggests that some teenagers fail to comply with restrictions on nighttime driving and carrying passengers. Method A program to encourage compliance with GDL restrictions and seat belt requirements was implemented in Guilford County, North Carolina. The program combined increased enforcement with a multi-faceted publicity campaign drawing attention to the enforcement activity. A comparison community was studied to assess whether changes over time could be reasonably attributed to the program. Results Several measures indicate that greater enforcement did occur in the intervention community and that teenagers perceived the increase. However, self-reported data and direct observations of young drivers in the intervention and comparison communities showed the program resulted in only modest changes in compliance with GDL restrictions. Discussion The program put in place the mechanisms known to produce changes in driver behavior, but these may have been insufficient to alter the behavior of the minority of teenagers (and parents) who were not already complying with restrictions. However, the modest changes in young driver behavior plus the clear changes in both actual and perceived enforcement suggest that high visibility enforcement programs merit further use and evaluation in other communities, particularly those where compliance with GDL provisions is lower than in Guilford County.
Compatibility of DAPI and silver staining for combined anterograde and retrograde tracing of neural connections

Abstract The geniculocortical and corticogeniculate pathways in hamster were used to test the compatibility of 4′6 diamidino-2 phenylindole 2HCl (DAPI) 6,10 and anterograde degeneration techniques 3 for tracing reciprocal connections in the brain. The two methods were compatible within a single brain and, with some loss of sensitivity in the retrograde labeling, within a single section.
Evidence for electron transfer from the nitrogenase iron protein to the molybdenum-iron protein without MgATP hydrolysis: characterization of a tight protein-protein complex.

MgATP hydrolysis has been proposed to be absolutely required for electron transfer from the nitrogenase iron (Fe) protein to the molybdenum−iron (MoFe) protein. This work presents evidence for primary electron transfer from the Azotobacter vinelandii nitrogenase Fe protein to the MoFe protein in the absence of MgATP hydrolysis. Deletion of an amino acid (Leu 127) in a signal transduction pathway in the Fe protein resulted in an Fe protein conformation resembling the MgATP-bound state. This altered Fe protein (L127Δ) was found to bind to the MoFe protein in the absence of MgATP, forming a tight protein complex. Both steady state and stopped-flow transient kinetic measurements suggest that two L127Δ Fe proteins bind to one MoFe protein with an extremely high affinity. From pre-steady state kinetic determinations of the rate of complex dissociation, the affinity was found to be at least 350 times tighter than that of the wild-type A. vinelandii nitrogenase complex and at least 20 times tighter than that of t...
Active learning of neural response functions with Gaussian processes

A sizeable literature has focused on the problem of estimating a low-dimensional feature space for a neuron's stimulus sensitivity. However, comparatively little work has addressed the problem of estimating the nonlinear function from feature space to spike rate. Here, we use a Gaussian process (GP) prior over the infinite-dimensional space of nonlinear functions to obtain Bayesian estimates of the "non-linearity" in the linear-nonlinear-Poisson (LNP) encoding model. This approach offers increased flexibility, robustness, and computational tractability compared to traditional methods (e.g., parametric forms, histograms, cubic splines). We then develop a framework for optimal experimental design under the GP-Poisson model using uncertainty sampling. This involves adaptively selecting stimuli according to an information-theoretic criterion, with the goal of characterizing the nonlinearity with as little experimental data as possible. Our framework relies on a method for rapidly updating hyperparameters under a Gaussian approximation to the posterior. We apply these methods to neural data from a color-tuned simple cell in macaque V1, characterizing its nonlinear response function in the 3D space of cone contrasts. We find that it combines cone inputs in a highly nonlinear manner. With simulated experiments, we show that optimal design substantially reduces the amount of data required to estimate these nonlinear combination rules.
A technique to measure trap characteristics in CCD's using X-rays

An important type of radiation damage in CCD's used for X-ray spectroscopy is the degradation of charge transfer efficiency (CTE). Traps associated with radiation-induced defects are the basic cause of the damage. Here, we describe a method to extract trap characteristics using small charge packets produced by individual X-ray photon interactions in rectangular imaging CCD's. The method applies the principles of trap occupancy to the framestore CCD configuration, and uses data from CCD's operating in their normal transfer mode. We have measured trap characteristics in radiation damaged CCD's in a range of operating temperatures from 170-200 K, and have found that these data compare well to the expected phosphorus-vacancy (P-V) trap characteristics. >
Lymphocyte migration and radiation lymphopenia

Abstract The dose received by suppressor and helper T lymphocyte subpopulations during a course of pelvic radiation therapy is calculated, taking into account variances in the migration pattern of the two cell types. It is found that the difference in the calculated dose may explain the apparent paradox that the cell type, which is found to be more radioresistant in vitro , is more depleted by the in vivo irradiation.
It's Beyond My Control: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Increasing Externality in Locus of Control, 1960-2002

Two meta-analyses found that young Americans increasingly believe their lives are controlled by outside forces rather than their own efforts. Locus of control scores became substantially more external (about .80 standard deviations) in college student and child samples between 1960 and 2002. The average college student in 2002 had a more external locus of control than 80% of college students in the early 1960s. Birth cohort/time period explains 14% of the variance in locus of control scores. The data included 97 samples of college students (n = 18,310) and 41 samples of children ages 9 to 14 (n = 6,554) gathered from dissertation research. The results are consistent with an alienation model positing increases in cynicism, individualism, and the self-serving bias. The implications are almost uniformly negative, as externality is correlated with poor school achievement, helplessness, ineffective stress management, decreased self-control, and depression.
Yield stress measurement of silicon nitride suspensions

Yield stress values of silicon nitride suspensions were measured via a novel slotted plate device and a constant stress rheometer and the results were compared. Test platform velocity, associated with the slotted plate method, was found to have a substantial effect on dynamic yield stress but not on static yield stress. The effects of suspension concentration and temperature on yield stress values were investigated. Yield stress measurements on mixtures of silicon nitride and alumina particles, as well as creep tests were performed. On a mesure les valeurs de seuils d'ecoulement dans des suspensions de nitrure au moyen d'un nouveau systeme a plateaux a fentes et d'un rheometre a contrainte imposee, puis les resultats ont ete compares. On a trouve que la vitesse de la plate-forme d'essai, associee a la methode a plateaux a fente, avait un effet substantiel sur la contrainte seuil dynamique mais pas sur le seuil de contrainte statique. Les effets de la concentration des suspensions et de la temperature sur les valeurs de contrainte seuils ont ete etudies. Des mesures de contrainte seuils sur des melanges de nitrure de silicium et de particules d'alumine et des essais de fluage ont ete effectues.
Nonmonetary Compensation in the Public Teacher Labor Market

Abstract Because of the rigid salary structure in the public teacher labor market, principals may have the incentive to align classes favorably for high-quality teachers as a form of nonmonetary compensation. This article tests whether higher-quality teachers, holding other characteristics constant, tend to be matched with more favorable assignments. The findings show that elementary teachers with higher licensure exam scores and greater observed classroom success tend to be matched to students with higher prior math ability, fewer students with learning disabilities, fewer students eligible for subsidized lunch, and more female students. Several tests indicate that matching patterns are not entirely driven by parental pressure or the technology of learning, providing evidence that principals use class assignments as a way to compensate teachers.
Facts and Interpretations of Personality Trait Stability A Reply to Quackenbush

The strong claim that the stability of personality is not falsifiable is wrong because it has been falsified under some conditions. The weaker claim that it is trivial because traits are defined as transcontextual consistencies does not hold because the transcontextual nature of traits has no implications for long-term stability. Traits are important both because of their pervasive influence on thoughts, feelings and actions, and because of their centrality in many people's identity. Nevertheless, there is more to personality than traits, and many other psychological phenomena also merit study by personality psychologists.
Extraordinary Rendition and U.S. Counterterrorism Policy

This article examines the United States Government policy of extraordinary rendition as a response to terrorism. The paper provides a working definition of the term, outlines why it has become controversial, and uses case studies to examine success and failures of extraordinary rendition in practice. The paper concludes with lessons learned—more specifically, policy amendments—that are necessary to keep extraordinary rendition as a viable tool for the Obama Administration and mitigate political fallout against the United States from both its allies and enemies. This paper argues that extraordinary rendition provides flexibility to policymakers to detain terrorists in cases where an attack may be forthcoming and when other approved legal processes are slow to react. Therefore, instead of ending extraordinary renditions altogether, the United States should reevaluate how it implements the policy on a tactical, operational, and strategic level and amend it based on the recommendations put forward in this article.
Women have substantial advantage in STEM faculty hiring, except when competing against more-accomplished men

Audits of tenure-track hiring reveal faculty prefer to hire female applicants over males. However, audit data do not control for applicant quality, allowing some to argue women are hired at higher rates because they are more qualified. To test this, Williams and Ceci (2015) conducted an experiment demonstrating a preference for hiring women over identically-qualified men. While their findings are consistent with audits, they raise the specter that faculty may prefer women over even more-qualified men, a claim made recently. We evaluated this claim in the present study: 158 faculty ranked two men and one woman for a tenure-track-assistant professorship, and 94 faculty ranked two women and one man. In the former condition, the female applicant was slightly weaker than her two male competitors, although still strong; in the other condition the male applicant was slightly weaker than his two female competitors, although still strong. Faculty of both genders and in all fields preferred the more-qualified men over the slightly-less-qualified women, and they also preferred the stronger women over the slightly-less-qualified man. This suggests that preference for women among identically-qualified applicants found in experimental studies and in audits does not extend to women whose credentials are even slightly weaker than male counterparts. Thus these data give no support to the twin claims that weaker males are chosen over stronger females or weaker females are hired over stronger males.
Recursive utility and the Ramsey problem

Abstract This paper examines existence, continuity, and characterization of optimal paths under “recursive” preferences. Current utility is a fixed (aggregator) function of current consumption and future utility. For suitable aggregators, a useful refinement of the Contraction Mapping Theorem generates the utility function, as in Lucas and Stokey ( J. Econ. Theory 32 (1984), 139–171). A broader class of aggregators is handled via a limiting argument analogous to partial summation. The Weierstrass theorem yields the existence of optimal paths. Under somewhat more stringent conditions on the aggregator and technology, optimal paths are continuous in initial capital stocks, and are characterized by generalized Euler equations and a transversality condition.
Mania and Intellectual Disability: The Course of Manic Symptoms in Persons With Intellectual Disability

Our aim was to extend the literature by examining the presence of manic symptoms in persons with intellectual deficits with and without bipolar disorder for 3 years. Three groups (bipolar, psychopathology other than bipolar disorder, and no Axis I diagnosis) were formed with 14 participants in each group. Initially, the presence of mania symptoms were examined across diagnostic groups. The bipolar group had significantly greater endorsements on the Parent Version of the Young Mania Rating Scale and the DASH-II Mania subscale item "decreased need for sleep" than did the other groups. A 3 (group) x 3 (year) ANOVA revealed that the item endorsements differed significantly over time for the bipolar group but not the other groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.
The Price of Growth in the Medical-Device Industry

Earlier this year, in one of the most dramatic corporate acquisitions in recent memory, Boston Scientific purchased Guidant Corporation. Dr. Alan Garber writes that consolidation in the medical-device industry has multiple and sometimes unpredictable effects.
Nanodot Systems Reliability Issues

Metal nanoparticle applications are proliferating in nanoelectronics, e.g. in single electron transistors, and in nanoelectronics packaging. Some applications will operate with only a single nanodot, others with a 1-D line of dots, more in regular or random 2-D discontinuous metal thin film (DMTF) arrays, or in the 3-D "cermet" variant, where the nanodots are encased in polymer or ceramic. DMTF fabrication relies upon weak substrate-absorbate adhesion to promote discrete island formation, which leads to long-term instability. A great deal of past experimental work on the stability of nanodot characteristics in DMTF applications is directly applicable to future nanoelectronics applications. The paper reviews known phenomena which can be expected to create reliability problems in nanodot-based nanoelectronic systems, places them in a packaging context, and outlines a research program to investigate reliable packaging needs for such structures.
Combustion Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Tin and Tin Oxide (SnOx, x= 0–2) Particles

Nanocrystalline SnOx particles (x= 0–2) were synthesized using tetramethyltin (Sn(CH3)4) vapor as the particle precursor reactant in hydrogen/oxygen/argon (H2/O2/Ar) flames. The particle composition and morphology were characterized using X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen (N2) surface adsorption. By controlling the concentration of oxygen in the reactant gases and the flame temperatures, metallic tin (Sn), tin monoxide (romarchite SnO), and/or tin dioxide (cassiterite SnO2) were generated. The crystalline powders consisted of both discrete primary particles and agglomerates, with average primary particle sizes of 23–24 nm for SnO2 and 69 nm for Sn (based on specific surface area measurements of bulk powders collected in the exhaust region of the flame). The compositional results were interpreted using equilibrium and detailed chemical kinetics models.
Population Encoding by Circadian Clock Neurons Organizes Circadian Behavior

Mammalian circadian rhythms are orchestrated by the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. The SCN are composed of circadian clock neurons, but the mechanisms by which these populations of neuronal oscillators encode rhythmic behavior are incompletely understood. We have used ex vivo real-time gene expression imaging of the neural correlates of circadian behavior, combined with genetic disruption of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, a key SCN signaling molecule, to examine the neural basis of circadian organization in the SCN. We show that the coherence and timing of clock neuron rhythms are correlated with the coherence and timing of behavioral rhythms within individual mice and that the degree of disruption of SCN neuronal organization correlates with the degree of behavioral disruption within individuals. Our results suggest that the SCN encode circadian phase as a temporal population vector of its constituent neurons; such that as the neuronal population becomes desynchronized, phase information becomes ambiguous.
Gene Transfer Mediated by Recombinant Baculovirus into Mouse Eye

PURPOSE. To determine the efficiency of baculoviruses (BVs) to transfer recombinant genes in vivo into murine ocular tissues. METHODS. Recombinant (r)BVs carrying fluorescent protein (FP) cDNA under the control of cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate early promoter were constructed. Initially, cultured HEK293 and ARPE19 cells were infected with these rBVs and analyzed for efficiency and stability of transgene expression. The rBV-CMV green (G)FP was also injected into the intravitreal and subretinal space of mouse eye. Mice were periodically analyzed to determine the efficiency and stability of expression by histologic examination under fluorescence microscopy. The effect of rBV-CMV-GFP on the physiology of the retina was analyzed by electroretinography. RESULTS. cDNAs encoding fluorescent proteins were efficiently transduced in HEK293 and ARPE19 cells in vitro. GFP expression in vivo was observed exclusively in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells after subretinal injections. Intravitreal injections of rBV resulted in GFP expression in the corneal endothelium, lens, RPE, and retina. GFP expression was observed for up to 14 days after injection. The infiltration of macrophages, observed 2 days after injection in the area of GFP transduction, had dissipated by day 8 after injection. No alteration in ERG responses was observed 6 weeks after injection of rBV-CMV-GFP. CONCLUSIONS. BV efficiently transduces cultured RPE cells and many cell types in vivo in the eye, including endothelial, epithelial, and neuronal cells. BV may be a useful vector for transferring genes in cultured cells and in vivo into ocular tissue. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2001;42:3294 ‐3300)
Preventive dental prosthesis for the patient with bulimia

Bulimia is a distinct diagnostic eating disorder with its most noted manifestation being the rapid ingestion of large quantities of food followed by its elimination through the mouth. Because of the dental implications of highly acidic stomach contents chronically being regurgitated, the dentist is in a unique position to help identify the patient with bulimia. Dental erosion is not only the most easily noted but also the most destructive of the many oral problems caused by bulimia. This report of case describes a preventive dental prosthesis that can be used by the patient with bulimia to protect those teeth that are most affected by dental erosion. The construction of the prosthesis is easily completed with materials in the dental office and provides a great service to the patient with bulimia.
WHY WILLIAMSON SHOULD BE A SCEPTIC

Timothy Williamson's epistemology leads to a fairly radical version of scepticism. According to him, all knowledge is evidence. It follows that if S knows p, the evidential probability for S that p is 1. I explain Williamson's infallibilist account of perceptual knowledge, contrasting it with Peter Klein's, and argue that Klein's account leads to a certain problem which Williamson's can avoid. Williamson can allow that perceptual knowledge is possible and that all knowledge is evidence, while at the same time avoiding Klein's problem. But while Williamson can allow that we know some things through experience, there are very many things he must say we cannot know. Given just how very many these are, he should be considered a sceptic.
Emotional intelligence and social functioning in persons with schizotypy

The present study is the first to examine emotional intelligence in persons with schizotypy. Over 2100 undergraduates were screened for schizotypy with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief Version. Forty participants identified as persons with high schizotypy and 56 participants identified as persons with low schizotypy completed assessments of emotional intelligence (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test), social functioning (Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report), verbal episodic (secondary) memory (California Verbal Learning Test), and executive functioning (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). Persons high in schizotypy were impaired in overall emotional intelligence and two aspects of emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive emotions and the ability to manage emotions. Persons high in schizotypy were also impaired in three aspects of social functioning: peer relationships, family relationships, and academic functioning. Group differences in verbal episodic (secondary) memory and executive functioning were not observed. For persons with high schizotypy, overall emotional intelligence and two aspects of emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive emotions and the ability to manage emotions, were associated with peer relationship functioning. Overall emotional intelligence was associated with verbal episodic (secondary) memory, but not executive functioning, in persons with high schizotypy. The current findings suggest that emotional intelligence is impaired in persons with schizotypy and that these impairments affect their social functioning.
Hedging Quantity Risks with Standard Power Options in a Competitive Wholesale Electricity Market

This paper addresses quantity risk in the electricity market and explores several ways of managing such risk. The paper also addresses the hedging problem of a load-serving entity, which provides electricity service at a regulated price in electricity markets with price and quantity risk. Exploiting the correlation between consumption volume and spot price of electricity, an optimal zero-cost hedging function characterized by payoff as a function of spot price is derived. It is then illustrated how such a hedging strategy can be implemented through a portfolio of forward contracts and call and put options. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 53: 697-712, 2006
Cross-layer fault tolerant data aggregation for improved network delay in healthcare management applications

The escalation of American health care costs compels a new approach to manage chronic diseases. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have been applied successfully in remote monitoring in military, aerospace, civil structure, and healthcare. However, existing wireless network framework cannot provide required quality of service (QoS) due to communication device failure, message loss caused by link error, collision, and hidden terminal for personalized disease management applications. In this paper, we present scalable network architecture and an operating mechanism that tolerates network structure changes caused by failure, with the application level data aggregation algorithm able to heal from the failure. We provide close form solutions that can achieve optimized network delay. Performance analysis was done to evaluate the significance of different nodes’ failure in both homogeneous and heterogeneous sensor network and the effects of sensing and communication speed on failure impact in heterogeneous sensor networks.
An autonomous earth-observing sensorWeb

We discuss the various features of the Earth-observing sensorWeb developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center, which provide the key science data about eruptions within hours for the volcanologists around the world. Onboard AI software evaluates the request, orients the spacecraft, and operates the science instruments to acquire high-resolution images with hyperspectral data for science analysis.
Experiments on Wedge-Shaped Deep Sea Sedimentary Deposits in Minibasins and/or on Channel Levees Emplaced by Turbidity Currents. Part I. Documentation of the Flow

Decelerating turbidity currents commonly emplace sedimentary wedges. Here "sedimentary wedge" is used as a generic term for a sediment deposit, the thickness of which gradually decreases in the downdip direction. Examples of sedimentary wedges relevant to the research reported here include a) deposits in submarine minibasins, b) deposits on zones of lower slopes of stepped profiles, and c) deposits on the levees of submarine channels. In the present work, a generic configuration is used to study the flows that emplace sedimentary wedges. These flows consisted of a succession of sustained saline density underflows, which were used as surrogates for turbidity currents driven by fine-grained material (mud) that does not easily settle out. Although the flow naturally decelerated in the downstream direction, deceleration was ensured by the presence of a barrier to the flow at the downstream end of the study reach. The density underflows carried a load of lightweight plastic particles, from which the depositional wedge was constructed. The experiments were not designed to model any specific field configuration. This notwithstanding, the experimental configuration provides an analog for a) decelerating flows into confined minibasins, as well as b) levee-constructing overflows from submarine channels. This paper documents the nature of the flows that emplaced the wedge. The sedimentary wedge itself is documented in a companion paper.
Echinoderms from the lower Silurian Brassfield Formation of east-central Kentucky

A new echinoderm fauna is reported from the Brassfield Formation (Rhuddanian, Silurian) of Bath County, Kentucky. The Brassfield Formation was the first extensive marine unit to be deposited following the end-Ordovician glaciation and extinctions and represents several shallow, open-marine facies. These facies supported a diverse pelmatozoan fauna. This report not only extends the geographic distribution of this fauna, but also the temporal range of the fauna back to Rhuddanian time. Six pelmatozoans are reported, including the crinoids Browerocrinus arthrikos n. gen. n. sp., Temnocrinus americanus n. sp., Stereoaster sp., and Dendrocrinus sp.; and the glyptocystitids Brockocystis nodosarius Foerste, 1919, and Anartiocystis whitei Sumrall, 2002. In addition, the asteroid Gordonaster brassfieldensis Blake and Ettensohn, 2009, was reported previously from this locality. Browerocrinus increases the diverse calceocrinid fauna from the Brassfield Formation; Temnocrinus was previously only known from the Homerian (Silurian) of England; and this is the first known occurrence of Stereoaster beyond the greater Dayton, Ohio, region. Furthermore, this is the first Brassfield locality known with two glyptocystitid taxa.
Corporate Governance in Chapter 11 Reorganizations: Reducing Costs

Throughout the past two years, Trans World Airlines, Midway Airlines, and R.H. Macy Company, as well as over 46,000 other corporations, have filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Of the firms that have filed Chapter 11 reorganization petitions, over eighty percent will never reorganize successfully and will not avoid a subsequent conversion to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding. The effects of these “misfilings” are enormous. Most fundamentally, an attempted reorganization, when liquidation is the more efficient solution, can unnecessarily increase the overall costs of bankruptcy significantly.In response to these costs, some scholars have called for the repeal of Chapter 11, while others have advocated merely a new approach to Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings. Still others defend the present Chapter 11 system. This Article contends that reducing bankruptcy costs requires a revised Chapter 11 reorganization structure. This Article posits a two-part revision to the present Chapter 11 system: (1) replacing corporate managers acting as debtors in possession with trustees; and (2) establishing a methodology to guide these new decision makers in determining whether a reorganization or a liquidation is the proper course of action in a given case.
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Penetrants Transport in Composite Poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) and Silica Nanoparticles

In industrial processes, membranes made of composite polymer material are widely employed to separate gas mixtures. These membranes have better performance than membranes consisting of polymer alone. To understand the mechanism and therefore aid membrane design, it is essential to explore the penetrant transport in the complex composites from the molecular level, but few researchers have done such research to our knowledge. Herein the penetrant transport in the composite poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) (PMP) and silica nanoparticle was explored with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations method. The complicated structure of the composite PMP and silica nanoparticle was modeled and with the structure the variation of the cavity size distribution was established due to the existence of nanoparticles. The diffusivity of different penetrants, including H2, O2, Ar, CH4, and n-C4H10, was determined through least-squares fit of the data of mean square displacement at different times in the Fickian diffusive regime. On the...
Scholarly Big Data Knowledge and Semantics

C. Lee Giles Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16803, USA giles@ist.psu.edu Abstract With collections of scholarly documents having many millions of metadata such as authors, citations, tables, figures, equations, formulae, etc., how can we make sense of what this data means and how it can be effectively utilized? What knowledge or semantics should be associated with such data and how will it connect to other knowledge resources? One approach is knowledge structures or vaults, but which will be the most effective, easiest to implement, and use?
Tectonic evolution of a Laramide transverse structural zone: Sweetwater Arch, south central Wyoming

Structural, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), and paleomagnetic data record patterns of layer-parallel shortening (LPS), vertical-axis rotation, and regional fault-fold evolution across the Sweetwater Arch, a major west to WNW trending, basement-cored Laramide uplift in Wyoming. The southern arch flank is bounded by a WNW striking reverse fault zone that imbricated basement and cover rocks, the northern flank is bounded by a west striking fault zone with a component of strike-slip and NW trending en echelon folds, and the eastern plunge transitions into an area of multiple-trending faults and folds. Synorogenic strata record major arch uplift from Maastrichtian to Early Eocene time, followed by arch collapse. LPS, with development of systematic minor fault sets and AMS lineations, preceded large-scale folding. LPS directions, estimated from both minor fault and AMS data, were oriented WSW along the northern flank, subparallel to Laramide regional shortening, but were refracted to the SSW along the southern flank, and to the west along the eastern arch plunge. Additional minor faults developed along steep fold limbs during continued shortening, with directions remaining SSW along the southern flank but becoming more variable along the eastern plunge where an increasingly heterogeneous stress field developed as additional faults were activated along basement heterogeneities. Vertical-axis rotation was limited along the arch flanks, whereas the eastern plunge underwent counterclockwise rotation. Deflections in shortening directions were partly related to basement heterogeneities, including weak supracrustal belts on the arch flanks, a strong granitic core, and local reactivation of Precambrian shear zones.
DFT+U Study of Chemical Impurities in PuO2

We employ density functional theory to explore the effects of impurities in the fluorite crystal structure of PuO2. The impurities that were considered are known impurities that exist in metallic δ-phase Pu, including H, C, Fe, and Ga. These impurities were placed at various high-symmetry sites within the PuO2 structure including an octahedral interstitial site, an interstitial site with coordination to two neighboring O atoms, an O substitutional site, and a Pu substitutional site. Incorporation energies were calculated to be energetically unfavorable for all sites except the Pu substitutional site. When impurities were placed in a Pu substitutional site, complexes incorporating the impurities and O formed within the PuO2 structure. The observed defect-oxygen structures were OH, CO3, FeO5, and GaO3. The presence of these defects led to distortion of the surrounding O atoms within the structure, producing long-range disorder of O atoms. In contrast, perturbations of Pu atoms had a relatively short-range e...
The burden of atopic dermatitis in US adults: results from the 2013 National Health and Wellness Survey

AbstractObjectives: To characterize comorbidities, health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), productivity, and healthcare resource use in adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) relative to those without AD, and to evaluate the impact of patient-reported AD severity on these outcomes.Methods: Data were from the 2013 National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), which collected self-reported information on demographics, comorbidities, HRQoL (SF-36v2 Health Survey), productivity (Work Productivity and Impairment questionnaire [WPAI]), and healthcare utilization, which were weighted to the US general population. The AD cohort consisted of subjects who reported that they experienced AD within the past 12 months (n = 428), and the non-AD cohort included all subjects who did not report experiencing AD (n = 74,572); 366 AD subjects self-reported mild (n = 182) or moderate/severe (n = 184) disease. Univariable and multivariable analyses compared characteristics and outcomes between cohorts and between AD severity levels.R...
Theology of Nostalgia

As previously suggested, the history of religions is a discipline that Eliade understands in a very broad sense. It is not only concerned with the interpretation of symbols, myths and various forms of religious behaviour, but also represents the occasion for philosophical reflection. According to Eliade, a hidden agenda of his conception of the history of religions is that it embodies a theology. This chapter examines what Eliade claims is a camouflaged theology within his work.
Epilepsy and Hemi Paretic Cerebral Palsy

The incidence of epilepsy, the IQ, and laterality of cerebral palsy were investigated in 51 children with hemiparetic CP at the Department of Neurology, Charles University, Katerinska, Praha, Czechoslovakia.
Reply to “Comment on ‘A Historical Review of Induced Earthquakes in Texas’ by Cliff Frohlich, Heather DeShon, Brian Stump, Chris Hayward, Matt Hornbach, and Jacob I. Walter” by Steve Everley

Our paper (Frohlich et al. , 2016) reviewed the literature concerning Texas earthquakes to reach four conclusions: (1) induced earthquakes have occurred in several geographic locations, including the east, northeast, west, and Gulf Coast of Texas; (2) induced earthquakes are not exclusively a recent phenomenon—there exist plausible, documented examples as early as 1925; (3) several different industry practices have caused induced earthquakes: these include not only injection disposal of fluid wastes but also production from shallow reservoirs and secondary recovery activities such as waterflooding; and (4) beginning in 2008 rates of Texas earthquakes having magnitudes of 3 and greater increased from about 2 per year to 12 per year, and this increase is attributable to induced earthquakes. The week following the online publication of our review in SRL , Everley (2016b) published his critique of our five‐question test in Energy In Depth , a blogsite “launched by the Independent Petroleum Association of America in 2009 [as] a research, education and public outreach campaign focused on getting the facts out about the promise and potential of responsibly developing America’s onshore energy resource base” (Energy In Depth, 2016). It is productive to the assessment of these important issues that critics frame their critiques of the science in the peer‐reviewed literature. We thus applaud Everley’s decision to publish a Comment on our paper in SRL (Everley, 2016a), as it is a step in this direction. Everley’s comment does not challenge the conclusions of our paper directly; rather, he criticizes two features of the question‐based test we apply to individual earthquakes to assess evidence suggesting an induced cause. His first and principal objection is that, unlike a previous test (Davis and Frohlich, 1993), our test no longer includes questions about fluid pressures at the well bottom and their mechanical effects at …