cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PRIVATE USES VERSUS PUBLIC INTERESTS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF VENETIAN VILLAS: A MULTICRITERIA APPROACH

Venetian villas, which make up one of the most typical systems of historical architectural goods in the Northern Italian countryside, are a clear example of the allocation problems of merit goods management. These problems derive from the differences between the limited financial resources available and both the actual distribution of the benefits received by the public at large and the preferences expressed by the majority. In fact, the Venetian villas are risking progressive degradation from abandonment or invasive transformations due to unsuitable management politics and scarce financial resources. For this reason, the management policies regarding these merit goods must be reexamined both theoretically and in practice. Furthermore, the legal constraints, whose purpose is to conserve the goods, must be accompanied by appropriate economic uses which offer the financial resources to conserve the goods. An exhaustive analysis of these historical architectural goods must be carried out by adopting a multidimensional approach to take into account technical, social, economic and political aspects. Therefore, a multi-criteria approach was developed in order to determine the best "feasible" compromise solution of the decision problem which policy makers have to solve. In this paper, a multiple criteria model to evaluate the aptitude of Venetian villas to sustainable economic use is illustrated. The results show that a compromise solution between sustainable economic use and conservation must be met in order to exploit the synergies between the cultural characteristics of Venetian villas and their aptitude to sustainable economic use.
A graphic method for single‐point determination of intrinsic viscosity

For a given polymer-good-solvent system at a fixed temperature, the product of intrinsic viscosity and concentration is a unique function of specific viscosity alone up to high values of specific viscosity. This permits a single parametric curve to be drawn from experimental data; thereafter, accurate calculation of intrinsic viscosity from the results of a single specific viscosity measurement becomes possible with the aid of a convenient equation.
Structure Data from Light Scattering Studies of Aerogel

This paper reports a recent advance in the understanding of the structure of microporous optical materials such as aerogel through the interpretation of light scattering data. The Fourier transform of the density-density correlation function is used to relate measurements of the angular dependence of scattered light to material structure parameters. The results of the approach fit the unusual dependence of the intensity of scattered light as a function of angle for two polarizations. The fit shows that light scattering from aerogels may be interpreted as having two origins; one from the small scale structure of linked particles that comprise the material, and the second due to weak fluctuations in the average density of the microporous structure over distances significantly larger than the pore size.
ON THE APPARENT FRACTAL DIMENSION OF SOUND BURSTS IN ACOUSTIC SIGNATURES OF TWO CRUNCHY FOODS

The jaggedness of the filtered and compressed acoustic signatures of cheese balls and croutons at various levels of water activity was determined in terms of an apparent fractal (Kolmogorov) dimension. The plot of the mean dimension vs water activity had a characteristic sigmoid shape that could be adequately described by a modified version of the Fermi equation. Regression analysis yielded that the apparent fractal dimension, D fK , of the cheese balls and croutons when dry was around 1.45 and 1.38, respectively. The inflection point, a wc , that is, the water activity level where half the drop in D fK occurred, was a wc = 0.50 and a wc = 0.55, respectively. The steepness of the jaggedness versus water activity relationship in terms of the a w range where about 90% of the drop of jaggedness occurred was 0.27 in the cheese balls and about 0.29 in the croutons.
Psychiatric consultation with medical evacuees of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract Objective.—To study the scope of clinical activities and the postoperational attitudes of mental health professionals responding emergently to a mass urban evacuation. Methods.—Eleven mental health care providers participating in a reception team for medical evacuees after Hurricane Katrina were asked to complete a survey seeking data regarding cases encountered, psychopharmacologic interventions, and mental health support for evacuated medical personnel. Participants rated their levels of agreement with statements characterizing various aspects of the clinical experience. Results.—Nine of 11 providers returned surveys, for a response rate of 82%. Among 35 evacuees requiring immediate psychiatric consultation, acute stress disorder and dementia, equally represented among these cases, accounted for half the diagnoses. Medication interventions were relatively uncommon. Consultants provided mental health support to 14 evacuated medical professionals. Although somewhat uncertain about their role, psy...
Relative biological effectiveness of simulated solar particle event proton radiation to induce acute hematological change in the porcine model

The present study was undertaken to determine relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values for simulated solar particle event (SPE) radiation on peripheral blood cells using Yucatan minipigs and electron-simulated SPE as the reference radiation. The results demonstrated a generally downward trend in the RBE values with increasing doses of simulated SPE radiation for leukocytes in the irradiated animals. The fitted RBE values for white blood cells (WBCs), lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils were above 1.0 in all three radiation dose groups at all time-points evaluated, and the lower limits of the 95% confidence intervals were > 1.0 in the majority of the dose groups at different time-points, which together suggest that proton-simulated SPE radiation is more effective than electron-simulated SPE radiation in reducing the number of peripheral WBCs, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils, especially at the low end of the 5–10 Gy dose range evaluated. Other than the RBE values, the responses of leukocytes to electron-simulated SPE radiation and proton-simulated SPE radiation exposure are highly similar with respect to the time-course, the most radiosensitive cell type (the lymphocytes), and the shape of the dose–response curves, which is generally log-linear. These findings provide additional evidence that electron-simulated SPE radiation is an appropriate reference radiation for determination of RBE values for the simulated SPE radiations, and the RBE estimations using electron-simulated SPE radiation as the reference radiation are not complicated by other characteristics of the leukocyte response to radiation exposure.
Guinea pigs: a suitable animal model to study lipoprotein metabolism, atherosclerosis and inflammation

Numerous animal models have been used to study diet effects on cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism. However, most of those models differ from humans in the plasma distribution of cholesterol and in the processing of lipoproteins in the plasma compartment. Although transgenic or knock-out mice have been used to study a specific pathway involved in cholesterol metabolism, these data are of limited use because other metabolic pathways and responses to interventions may differ from the human condition. Carbohydrate restricted diets have been shown to reduce plasma triglycerides, increase HDL cholesterol and promote the formation of larger, less atherogenic LDL. However, the mechanisms behind these responses and the relation to atherosclerotic events in the aorta have not been explored in detail due to the lack of an appropriate animal model. Guinea pigs carry the majority of the cholesterol in LDL and possess cholesterol ester transfer protein and lipoprotein lipase activities, which results in reverse cholesterol transport and delipidation cascades equivalent to the human situation. Further, carbohydrate restriction has been shown to alter the distribution of LDL subfractions, to decrease cholesterol accumulation in aortas and to decrease aortic cytokine expression. It is the purpose of this review to discuss the use of guinea pigs as useful models to evaluate diet effects on lipoprotein metabolism, atherosclerosis and inflammation with an emphasis on carbohydrate restricted diets.
Psychopathology: Differences among adults with intellectually disabled, comorbid autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy

The goal of this study was to systematically examine group differences among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), comorbid autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and epilepsy through a detailed exploration of the characteristics that these disorders present in the area of psychopathology. Previous studies indicating that individuals with ID have comorbid ASD and epilepsy tend to stop short of addressing these disorders' impact on the full range of psychosocial issues, particularly in adult samples. Assessment of psychopathology was made with the ASD-comorbidity-adult version (ASD-CA). One hundred participants, with ID held constant, were matched and compared across four equal groups comprising 25 participants with ID, 25 participants with epilepsy, 25 participants with ASD, and 25 participants with combined ASD and epilepsy. When controlling for age, gender, race, level of ID, and hearing and visual impairments, results of the MANOVA revealed significant differences among groups, Wilks's Lambda=.76, F(15, 254)=1.82, p<.05, eta(2)=.09. A one-way ANOVA was conducted for each of the five subscales of the ASD-CA as follow-up tests to the MANOVA. Groups differed significantly Anxiety/Repetitive Behavior subscale, F(3, 96)=2.93, p<.05, eta(2)=.08, Irritability/Behavior excess subscale, F(3, 96)=4.74, p<.01, eta(2)=.13, Attention/Hyperactivity subscale, F(3, 96)=5.18, p<.01, eta(2)=.14, and Depressive Symptoms subscale, F(3, 96)=3.73, p<.01, eta(2)=.10. Trend analysis demonstrated that individuals with ID expressing combined comorbid ASD and epilepsy were significantly more impaired than the control group (ID only) or groups containing only a single comorbid factor with ID (ASD or epilepsy only). Implications of these findings elucidate the nature of these disorders and their influence on patient care and management.
Vehicle identification using wireless sensor networks

We studied the possibility of using wireless sensor networks for vehicle identification. It is interesting because it is not only challenging but also practical. It is challenging to develop algorithms and/or protocols for sensor nodes to execute since each sensor node has limited computation and communication capabilities, and these limitations prohibit the use of algorithms and/or protocols developed for conventional computer and networks. It is practical since each sensor is dispensable and easily deployable, yet it can do meaningful works when it is collaborated as a networked cluster. Our goal is to identify vehicles in real time using acoustic signal sensors and wireless networks. Our contribution in this paper is two fold. First, we develop a simple vehicle sound identification algorithm enough to be implemented on capacity limited sensor nodes. Second, we propose architecture and protocols of wireless sensor networks for vehicle identification using this developed sound classification algorithm. Our preliminary results show the proposed architecture and protocols are promising.
The use of simulated annealing to solve the mobile manipulator path planning problem

The planning problem is considered for a mobile manipulator system which must perform a sequence of tasks defined by position, orientation, force, and moment vectors at the end effector. Each task can be performed in multiple configurations due to the redundancy introduced by mobility. The planning problem is formulated as an optimization problem in which the decision variables for mobility (base position) are separated from the manipulator joint angles in the cost function. The resulting numerical problem is nonlinear with nonconvex, unconnected feasible regions in the decision space. Simulated annealing is proposed as a general solution method for obtaining near-optimal results. The problem formulation and numerical solution by simulated annealing are illustrated for a positioning system with five degrees of freedom. These results are compared with results obtained by conventional nonlinear programming techniques customized for the particular example system. >
Degraded-Service-Aware Multipath Provisioning in Telecom Mesh Networks

We investigate multipath provisioning in telecom mesh networks. The objectives are to minimize link loads and support degraded service, namely guarantee a fraction of the requested bandwidth even in case of a link failure.
Improved resuscitation from cardiac arrest with open-chest massage.

A study was done to assess the effect of open-chest massage on resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Ten mongrel dogs weighing 20.3 ± 3.2 kg were fibrillated electrically. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was initiated and continued for 15 minutes. Half the dogs with coronary perfusion pressures less than 30 mm Hg underwent thoracotomy and internal cardiac massage for three minutes. Closed-chest massage was continued with the other dogs. All dogs were defibrillated at 19 minutes, and resuscitation was determined at 20 minutes after defibrillation. None of the dogs in the closed-chest massage group was resuscitated successfully. Four of the five dogs that underwent open cardiac massage were resuscitated. Significant differences in aortic pressures and coronary perfusion pressures were noted for the first two minutes of open-chest massage (P
Radiation Induced Bystander Effect in vivo

Radiation-induced bystander effect is defined as the induction of biological effects in cells that are not directly traversed by radiation, but merely in the presence of cells that are. Although radiation induced bystander effects have been well defined in a variety of in vitro models using a range of endpoints including clonogenic survival, mutations, neoplastic transformation, apoptosis, micronucleus, chromosomal aberrations and DNA double strand beaks, the mechanism(s) as well as the presence of such an effect in vivo are not well described. In this review, we summarize the evidence of radiation induced bystander effect in various in vivo systems including rodents, fish and plants. Many biological endpoints such as epigenetic changes, DNA damage, miRNA, apoptosis, cell proliferation, gene expression and tumorgenesis have been demonstrated in the non-targeted regions in vivo. Although the bystander effect is evolutionarily conserved in rodent systems, the bystander response depends on gender, tissue and strain. However, the studies about mechanism of radiation induced bystander effect in vivo are still limited.
Nearshore Wave Modeling with High-Order Boussinesq-Type Equations

The accuracy of using high-order Boussinesq-type models as compared to the typical order models is examined in this paper. The high-order model used is the two-layer model of Lynett and Liu in 2004, which captures both linear and nonlinear wave evolution up to kh≈6 . The physical situations examined all involve nearshore breaking, and an eddy-viscosity type breaking model is adopted for the two-layer model. One-horizontal dimension setups are the focus of this paper. It is shown that high-order models show significant benefit very near to the breaker line. For regular incident waves, the overshoaling seen in the one-layer (“fully nonlinear” extended Boussinesq) model is due to rapid increase of energy in the fifth and higher harmonics. These high-order nonlinear components are captured well in the two-layer model. The two-layer model also exhibits a noticeable accuracy increase for cnoidal waves breaking on a slope. For regular wave evolution over a bar, the high-order models are in good agreement with ex...
Procurement and distribution of medicines in government hospitals of Tamil Nadu – An overview

It is an established truth that the drug availability in the Indian public health system is always remaining as a problem. One can attribute many reasons like shortage of fund, inefficient indenting procedures, poor inventory management and others for the problem. Recognizing the shortage of medicines in government hospitals, many Indian states have introduced exclusive set ups for the purchase of medicines for the hospitals. They procure medicines through centralized pooled purchases. Kerala, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu governments were introduced such pooled procurement system for drug purchase. Tamil Nadu, a major state in India started a corporation styled as Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation (TNMSC) registered under the Companies Act 1956 in July 1994. With the help of a well-designed and scientifically planned scheme TNMSC could introduce many innovations and thereby revolutionize the public drug procurement system in the country. Articles about the drug purchase systems followed in hospitals are rare. In this article mainly focusing the procurements methods adopted by the Tamil Nadu State.
Introductory Essay for Lysander Spooner, 'The Deist’s Immortality' and 'An Essay on Man’s Accountability for His Belief' (1834) and 'The Deist’s Reply' (1836)

This essay is the introduction to the works appearing in Cobden Publishing's forthcoming volume reprinting the deism writings of the nineteenth century legal theorist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). The essay provides historical context for these writings (that were published in 1834 and 1836), and explains what motivated Spooner to write them. It also argues that these, the earliest of Spooner's works, are not written and argued with the care and rigorous logical reasoning that characterized his later pamphlets and legal treatises.
Plant-Pollinator Interactions in a Northwest Arum Related to Plant Traits but not Riparian Forest Management

Abstract Studies in Pacific Northwest riparian forests highlight the role of forest management in conserving target species, but rarely consider impacts on interspecies relationships such as pollination. We investigated plant-pollinator interactions among a native species of rove beetle, Pelecomalius testaceum, and a widespread native wetland plant species in the Pacific Northwest, Lysichiton americanus (western skunk cabbage), in an experimental framework comparing three riparian forest management regimes. Our study addressed the central question: what factors best predict pollinating beetle abundance on L. americanus in a managed Northwest landscape? We measured P. testaceum abundance on skunk cabbages in three riparian treatments in a managed forest: (1) an unlogged riparian zone, (2) a logged riparian zone with a limited buffer corridor, and (3) a clear-cut riparian zone with no remaining corridor. Across this diversity of forest treatments, we also measured inflorescence temperature, foliar damage, a...
Application of Remote Sensing Tunable Laser Technology for Measuring Transportation Related Air Pollution

This paper presents initial results of the air quality analysis project that is focused on remote sensing laser measurements of air pollutants and air quality impact of transportation systems. Tunable laser remote sensing technology is being used over a distance of several hundred meters for measuring Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone related to transportation. The laser is tuned between ultraviolet, visible, near infrared, and thermal infrared spectral regions. The difference in the absorption of light at these different wavelengths is used to determine concentration of air pollutants. The absorption band of Nitrogen Dioxide lies in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It absorbs blue color of sky, resulting in brown color smog. The laser measurement results of Nitrogen Dioxide concentration, measured near Mississippi Highway 6 in Oxford, showed nearly 25 times more concentration at 10 AM (daytime) compared to the measurement at 11 PM (nighttime) when the traffic was minimal. Higher Nitrogen Dioxide concentration is also associated with higher air temperature in the daytime measurement.
Low Crude Protein Diets for Late Finishing Barrows1

Abstract Two experiments were conducted with finishing barrows to determine the effect of low CP, amino acid (AA) supplemented diets on growth performance and carcass traits. In Exp. 1, 80 barrows (initial and final BW of 85.5 and 117.5 kg, respectively) were allotted to 4 treatments (5 replicates of 4 pigs per replicate). The dietary treatments were 1) corn-soybean meal diet (C-SBM) with 0.54% true ileal digestible Lys; 2) diet 1 but with crystalline Lys, Thr, and Trp to lower CP (LCP C-SBM); 3) corn-soy protein isolate diet (C-SPI) equal in Lys to diet 1; and 4) diet 3 but with crystalline Lys, Thr, and Trp to lower CP (LCP C-SPI). Daily gain was increased when CP was reduced in pigs fed the SPI diet but decreased in pigs fed the SBM diet (soy source x CP interaction, P
Low-Power Wearable Systems for Continuous Monitoring of Environment and Health for Chronic Respiratory Disease

We present our efforts toward enabling a wearable sensor system that allows for the correlation of individual environmental exposures with physiologic and subsequent adverse health responses. This system will permit a better understanding of the impact of increased ozone levels and other pollutants on chronic asthma conditions. We discuss the inefficiency of existing commercial off-the-shelf components to achieve continuous monitoring and our system-level and nano-enabled efforts toward improving the wearability and power consumption. Our system consists of a wristband, a chest patch, and a handheld spirometer. We describe our preliminary efforts to achieve a submilliwatt system ultimately powered by the energy harvested from thermal radiation and motion of the body with the primary contributions being an ultralow-power ozone sensor, an volatile organic compounds sensor, spirometer, and the integration of these and other sensors in a multimodal sensing platform. The measured environmental parameters include ambient ozone concentration, temperature, and relative humidity. Our array of sensors also assesses heart rate via photoplethysmography and electrocardiography, respiratory rate via photoplethysmography, skin impedance, three-axis acceleration, wheezing via a microphone, and expiratory airflow. The sensors on the wristband, chest patch, and spirometer consume 0.83, 0.96, and 0.01 mW, respectively. The data from each sensor are continually streamed to a peripheral data aggregation device and are subsequently transferred to a dedicated server for cloud storage. Future work includes reducing the power consumption of the system-on-chip including radio to reduce the entirety of each described system in the submilliwatt range.
Human fetal surgery.

The ability to "see" the fetus before birth with routine obstetrical sonography, has changed the management of many congenital anomalies. Although most correctable malformations diagnosed prenatally, are best cared for by appropriate medical or surgical therapy after planned delivery at term, fetal intervention in selected cases may be advantageous.
Heavy Industrial Giants: Steel, Machine Tools, and Automobiles

Japan is the world’s leading producer of steel, machine-tools, and automobiles. By the early 1950s, Tokyo had targeted all three for development as strategic industries, and over the next four decades nurtured them with a range of subsidies, cartels, technology infusions, cheap loans, import barriers, and export incentives. None of these industries would have survived had they been exposed to free-market forces — American and European producers held a comparative advantage in all three industries up through the mid-1960s and would have wiped out their struggling Japanese rivals. However, the success of these industrial policies varied widely, with those targeting steel and automobiles being remarkable successes while those promoting the machine-tool industry had a limited effect — machine-tools is one of Japan’s few industries whose success depended as much on entrepreneurship as cartels, government handouts, and import barriers.
Optimization-based, QoS-aware distributed traffic control laws for networks with time-varying link capacities

It is a challenge to design optimal, distributed traffic control mechanisms in a network where the link capacities and Class of Service (CoS) requirements may vary with time, such as a virtual network, an overlay network, or a wireless network. In this paper, we develop a family of optimization-based distributed traffic control laws to meet this challenge. This family of control laws enables Quality of Service (QoS), Traffic Engineering (TE), and Failure Recovery (FR) features simultaneously in a network where the link capacities and CoS requirement may vary with time. The approach taken relies on the concept of Sliding Modes to solve the resulting time-varying optimization problem. Running at the edge of a network, a set of control laws selected from this family enables class-of-service-based multi-path load balancing and/or rate adaptation to respond to network congestion, CoS requirement variation and link failures. The only nonlocal information needed as input to the control laws is the number of congested links along a forwarding path. This family of control laws is particularly viable to be implemented in a software-defined network (SDN) where the available underlying resources may not be accurately predictable and vary with time, due to, e.g., network virtualization.
From the Richmond Parkway to the Staten Island Greenbelt: The Rise of Ecological Zoning in New York City

In the mid-1960s, the Staten Island Citizens Planning Committee (SICPC) thwarted plans for the Richmond Parkway, seeking instead to weave dense, affordable housing options within a network of linea...
Territorial ‘Fix’? Tenure Insecurity in Titled Indigenous Territories

Indigenous territorial governments in Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region experience ongoing land and resource contests, in many cases building from longstanding disputes or problems, even after titling. I argue that it is naive to expect that granting titles – a supposed territorial fix – will resolve conflicts created across decades as a result of ineffective policies and economic pressures. As shown with three demarcated Miskitu territories, tenure insecurity arises from challenges with the state, private firms, non-indigenous colonists, and even from the activities of territorial leaders. These cases suggest the need to move beyond perceptions of Miskitu territories as simple bounded remnants of the past and acknowledge they are complex, porous, trans-local, and transgressed by processes such as migration, urbanisation, and neoliberal economic integration. Indeed, new territorial governments are encouraged by foreign donors and state laws to mirror government agencies and prioritise market linkages.
Investigation of optical knife edge sensor for low-cost, large-range and dual-axis nanopositioning stages

Abstract We analyzed the parameter effects of an optical knife-edge sensor (OKES) and the measurement uncertainty to achieve high linearity, long range, and high accuracy for nanopositioning stage applications. The OKES utilizes interference fringes produced from diffraction across the knife-edge. The total field at the detector was calculated from superposition of the incident field and the diffracted field at the knife-edge, and the edge diffraction effects on the sensor design parameters (distance between the knife-edge and detector, wavelength and beam diameter) were investigated by using a design of experiment (DOE), 3-Level L 9 matrix from the Taguchi Method. Multi-factor experiments were designed to determine the relationship between factors affecting the interferogram and the sensor linearity. It was found that a shorter knife edge-detector distance, shorter wavelength, and larger beam diameter show high signal-to-noise ratio for sensing linearity. The OKES was modeled by using the electromagnetic wave propagation principle, and it was experimentally verified by controlling the positioning of an XY nanopositioning stage by the OKES. The sensor noise level showed X 20.1 nm and Y 19.4 nm, and the fundamental sensing limits of the OKES were estimated to be X 0.19 nm/ Hz and Y 0.23 nm/ Hz for a ±1.0 mm working range. These results indicate that the OKES can be a good alternative to other precision metrology tools because of its large working range, positioning accuracy, resolution, linearity, and bandwidth, as well as its compact size and low cost.
Deep-RACE: Comprehensive Search for Novel ncRNAs Associated to a Specific Locus

Deep-RACE (or RACEseq) is a recently described method (Olivarius et al. BioTechniques 46(2):130-132, 2009) that applies next-generation sequencing to the Rapid Amplification of cDNA End (RACE) protocol to define the 5' and 3' ends of RNA transcripts. Conventional mapping of 5' and 3' ends is achieved by manually cloning the PCR product of RACE followed by Sanger sequencing; this process can become costly and time-consuming when investigating multiple transcripts. High-throughput sequencing of the RACE products streamlines this process by eliminating the need to manually cut bands from an agarose gel and to clone each product individually. Importantly, in addition to these advantages, next-generation sequencing can detect low abundance fragments that would be difficult to extract from gel and clone for Sanger sequencing. For these reasons, Deep-RACE is an ideal protocol for the comprehensive study of noncoding transcripts from both intergenic regions of the genome and from within the loci of protein coding genes.
Reliability of cold-formed steel framed shear walls as impacted by variability in fastener response

Abstract The objective of this paper is to examine the reliability of cold-formed steel framed shear walls with a particular emphasis on walls sheathed with wood structural panels. A sheathed cold-formed steel framed shear wall is a system consisting of studs, tracks, and sheathing often with bridging and/or blocking, connected with steel-to-steel and sheathing-to-steel fasteners. The shear walls may be integrally connected to foundations, floors, or other shear walls through a variety of means including hold downs, straps, diaphragm chords and collectors. Shear wall lateral resistance in cold-formed steel framed buildings varies because of the randomness in the components and connections that comprise the wall. The interaction between fasteners and sheathing is particularly important because (1) sheathing-to-steel fastener response is the main source of shear wall nonlinearity (2) there is high variability in this fastener response. Although the nominal strengths for different shear wall configurations are stated in current design specifications (e.g., AISI S400), variability of shear walls has not been explicitly considered. Existing resistance factors are extrapolations from steel diaphragm testing. To explore the impact of fastener response variability on shear wall reliability, Monte Carlo simulation of typical cold-formed steel framed wood sheathed shear walls with random fastener input was conducted. Variability in fasteners was determined based on existing physical fastener tests. Statistical properties of shear wall strength, demand capacity ratio of key fasteners, as well as relations between fastener strength and shear wall strength are all explored. Reliability evaluation is provided for four different design methods. The results indicate that shear wall strength benefits from a system effect whereby variability in fastener response is reduced through redistribution resulting in reduced variability in overall shear wall strength. Concomitant with this is a slight decrease, approximately 3%, in the mean system strength that also must be considered.
Open Professional Development as a Sociotechnical Design Challenge

It is increasingly common for individuals to seek to enter into and advance in a technical profession by acquiring knowledge and skills through open and independent online learning. Missing from the ecosystem of tools and platforms to provision free or low-cost learning opportunities at scale is an infrastructure to support the kinds of learning, development, and acculturation into a field of practice that are commonly afforded by participation in the social context of a profession; i.e., a professional community. This note introduces and conceptualizes Open Professional Development: A sociotechnical concept model for coupling open, online learning practices with acculturation into a field of practice through participation in a professional community. Challenges to the implementation of this vision are discussed, and a prototype model is presented for capturing participation data using trace data extracted from advertised descriptions of meetup.com events.
Weight gain in the first week of life predicts overweight at 2 years: A prospective cohort study.

In formula-fed infants, rapid weight gain during the first week of life is associated with later obesity. To examine the association between weight gain during the first week and overweight at age 2 among infants with various feeding practices and the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding in early infancy and overweight, we enrolled a prospective cohort of healthy mother-infant dyads and followed them for 2 years. We enrolled 450 mother/infant pairs and obtained information on 306 infants at year 2. Weight change during the first week of life and detailed feeding information were collected during the first month of life. Anthropometric measures were collected at 2 years. Overweight was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥85th percentile for age. At 2 years, 81% had normal weights and 19% were overweight. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI; infant birth weight; maternal education; and Women, Infants, and Children status were associated with the risk of overweight at age 2. Children who gained more than 100 g during the first week were 2.3 times as likely after adjustment (p = .02) to be overweight at age 2 compared to infants who lost weight. There was no association between feeding type and BMI, but feeding type was significantly associated with change in weight at week 1 and anthropometric measurements at age 2. Infant weight gain in the first week of life is related to overweight at age 2, and exclusively breastfed infants are least likely to gain ≥100 g.
The outcomes of the cancer outcomes research symposium

As such, rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive review of the field, we highlight the areas of consensus and controversy that are current in this field. Second, we describe what leaders of this field see for the future of cancer outcomes research, including its impact on research and patient care. The articles in this supplement represent a unique collection of work in the area of cancer outcomes
EmotionSensing: Predicting Mobile User Emotion

User emotions are important contextual features in building context-aware pervasive applications. In this paper, we explore the question of whether it is possible to predict user emotions from their smartphone activities. To get the ground truth data, we have built an Android app that collects user emotions along with a number of features including their current location, activity they are engaged in, and smartphones apps they are currently running. We deployed this app for over a period of three months and collected a large amount of useful user data. We describe the details of this data in terms of statistics and user behaviors, provide a detailed analysis in terms of correlations between user emotions and other features, and finally build classifiers to predict user emotions. Performance of these classifiers is quite promising with high accuracy. We describe the details of these classifiers along with the results.
Condomless Sex and Psychiatric Comorbidity in the Context of Constrained Survival Choices: A Longitudinal Study Among Homeless and Unstably Housed Women.

We sought to identify the prevalence and independent correlates of condomless sex within a cohort of community-recruited homeless and unstably housed cisgender adult women who were followed biannually for 3 years (N = 143 HIV+ , N = 139 HIV−). Nearly half (44%) of participants reported condomless sex in the 6 months before baseline, which increased to 65% throughout the study period. After adjusting for having a primary partner, longitudinal odds of condomless sex among women with HIV were significantly higher among those reporting < daily use of alcohol or cannabis (AOR = 2.09, p =.002, and 1.88, p =.005, respectively) and PTSD (AOR = 1.66, p =.034). Among women without HIV, adjusted longitudinal odds of condomless sex were significantly higher for those reporting < daily methamphetamine use (AOR = 2.02, p =.012), panic attack (AOR = 1.74, p =.029), and homelessness (AOR = 1.67, p = .006). Associations were slightly attenuated when adjusting for sex exchange. Targeted HIV/STI programs for unstably housed women should address anxiety and trauma disorders, infrequent substance use, and housing challenges.
It Takes a Village: Practical Guide for Authorized Encampments

An authorized encampment is a community of unhoused people lawfully living outdoors on another entity’s property. Several cities have implemented authorized encampments as interim options for people experiencing homelessness, but implementation has been haphazard due to a dearth of practical guidance. This brief summarizes the challenges and opportunities posed by encampments hosted by universities, operated by a third party, self-governed, and with compelled participation. Authorized encampments are proven to have many benefits, including improved service delivery and security, community, and the stability necessary for residents to access permanent housing. This guide summarizes the challenges and opportunities posed by various encampment models along the West Coast.
Sea level rise impacts on rural coastal social-ecological systems and the implications for decision making

Abstract Many rural coastal regions are distinctly vulnerable to sea level rise because of their remoteness, isolation from central planning agencies, and poverty. To better plan for future sea level changes in these regions, an interdisciplinary approach to assess the social and environmental impacts of sea level rise and their dynamic feedbacks is important. In this paper, we use a socio-ecological system framework to investigate sea level rise impacts to the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula, a rural, low-lying coastal region in eastern North Carolina. Specifically, we show that 42% of the region could be inundated and property losses of up to US $14 billion could be incurred with 100 cm of sea level rise. We also synthesize the impacts of sea level rise on the region’s social-ecological system and present strategies to strengthen the adaptive capacity of the ecosystem, markets and communities. We conclude with a discussion on the differing climate change risk perceptions amongst the stakeholders as well as implications for decision-making. Sea level rise will continue to threaten the functioning of this social-ecological system of rural, low-lying coastal communities. A socio-ecological system framework provides a lens through which the impacts of sea level rise can be evaluated for rural, low-lying coastal communities. The framework presented here necessitates interdisciplinary research and highlights the importance of mutual learning amongst stakeholders in other rural coastal regions.
Stability analysis and variable speed limit control of a traffic flow model

Abstract The cell transmission traffic flow model (CTM) has attracted considerable interest in the field of transportation due to its simplicity as well as the ability to capture most of the macroscopic traffic flow characteristics. The stability properties of the CTM under different demand and capacity constraints are not always obvious. In addition, the impact of microscopic phenomena such as forced lane changes at bottlenecks leading to capacity drop is not captured by the CTM. In this paper, we start with a single section and modify the CTM to account for capacity drop. We analyze the stability properties of the CTM under all possible demand and capacity constraints as well as all possible initial density conditions. The analysis is used to motivate the design of variable speed limit (VSL) control to overcome capacity drop and achieve the maximum possible flow under all feasible traffic situations. The results are extended to multiple sections, where the stability properties of the open-loop system are analyzed and a VSL control scheme is designed and shown to achieve the objective of maximizing the traffic flow under different demand and capacity constraints. Unlike the open loop system where an infinite number of equilibrium points exist under certain demand levels, the proposed nonlinear VSL scheme guarantees exponential convergence to a unique equilibrium point that corresponds to maximum possible flow and speed under all possible demand levels and capacity constraints.
Parallel programming of an ionic floating-gate memory array for scalable neuromorphic computing.

Neuromorphic computers could overcome efficiency bottlenecks inherent to conventional computing through parallel programming and readout of artificial neural network weights in a crossbar memory array. However, selective and linear weight updates and 1 billion write-read operations and support >1-megahertz write-read frequencies.
Endoscopy, Tissue Processing, Stains, and Special Tests

Endoscopic biopsy is the most important procedure to obtain gastrointestinal (GI) tissue for histological assessment. The advance of endoscopic technology has enabled us to better visualize and evaluate GI disorders. Carefully and properly handling the biopsy tissue to prepare the slides for staining is crucial for the subsequent histological examination. Besides routine hematoxylin and eosin staining, other special histochemical and immunohistochemical stains can provide valuable information to help the diagnosis.
SLC17A6/7/8 Vesicular Glutamate Transporter Homologs in Nematodes

Members of the superfamily of solute carrier (SLC) transmembrane proteins transport diverse substrates across distinct cellular membranes. Three SLC protein families transport distinct neurotransmitters into synaptic vesicles to enable synaptic transmission in the nervous system. Among them is the SLC17A6/7/8 family of vesicular glutamate transporters, which endows specific neuronal cell types with the ability to use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. The genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans encodes three SLC17A6/7/8 family members, one of which, eat-4/VGLUT, has been shown to be involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission. Here, we describe our analysis of the two remaining, previously uncharacterized SLC17A6/7/8 family members, vglu-2 and vglu-3. These two genes directly neighbor one another and are the result of a recent gene duplication event in C. elegans, but not in other Caenorhabditis species. Compared to EAT-4, the VGLU-2 and VGLU-3 protein sequences display a more distant similarity to canonical, vertebrate VGLUT proteins. We tagged both genomic loci with gfp and detected no expression of vglu-3 at any stage of development in any cell type of both C. elegans sexes. In contrast, vglu-2::gfp is dynamically expressed in a restricted set of distinct cell types. Within the nervous system, vglu-2::gfp is exclusively expressed in a single interneuron class, AIA, where it localizes to vesicular structures in the soma, but not along the axon, suggesting that VGLU-2 may not be involved in synaptic transport of glutamate. Nevertheless, vglu-2 mutants are partly defective in the function of the AIA neuron in olfactory behavior. Outside the nervous system, VGLU-2 is expressed in collagen secreting skin cells where VGLU-2 most prominently localizes to early endosomes, and to a lesser degree to apical clathrin-coated pits, the trans-Golgi network, and late endosomes. On early endosomes, VGLU-2 colocalizes most strongly with the recycling promoting factor SNX-1, a retromer component. Loss of vglu-2 affects the permeability of the collagen-containing cuticle of the worm, and based on the function of a vertebrate VGLUT1 protein in osteoclasts, we speculate that vglu-2 may have a role in collagen trafficking in the skin. We conclude that C. elegans SLC17A6/7/8 family members have diverse functions within and outside the nervous system.
Factor analysis of financial and operational performance measures of non-profit hospitals.

Objective To understand the important dimensions of the financial and operational performance of non-profit hospitals. Data source Secondary data for non-profit US hospitals between 1996 and 2004. Study design I use iterative principal factor analysis of hospitals' financial and operational ratios for each year of the study. For factor interpretation, I use oblique rotation. Data collection/extraction methods Financial ratios were created using cost report data from HCRIS 2552-96 available from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). Principal finding I identify five factors--capital structure, profitability, activity, liquidity, and an operational factor--that explain most of the variation in the performance of non-profit hospitals. I also find that capital structure is more important than profitability in determining the performance of these hospitals. Conclusion The importance of capital structure highlights a significant shift in the organization of the non-profit hospitals' finances.
Environmental Management and Performance of Hospitality Firms: Review and Research Agenda

This study presents a review of current development in the relationship between the environmental management and performance of hospitality firms. Drawing on 18 hospitality studies published in sch...
Satellite remote sensing and cloud modeling of St. Anthony, Minnesota storm clouds and dew point depression

Rawinsonde data and geosynchronous satellite imagery were used to investigate the life cycles of St. Anthony, Minnesota's severe convective storms. It is found that the fully developed storm clouds, with overshooting cloud tops penetrating above the tropopause, collapsed about three minutes before the touchdown of the tornadoes. Results indicate that the probability of producing an outbreak of tornadoes causing greater damage increases when there are higher values of potential energy storage per unit area for overshooting cloud tops penetrating the tropopause. It is also found that there is less chance for clouds with a lower moisture content to be outgrown as a storm cloud than clouds with a higher moisture content.
Review of preventing child trafficking: a public health approach (1st ed.): by Jonathan Todres and Angela Diaz, Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, 320 pp., $45 (hardcover), ISBN-13: 978-1421433011

Authors Todres and Diaz are well established within legal and public health disciplines with decades of practice experience and several academic publications between them focusing primarily on chil...