cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scientific Creationism: An Exegesis for a Religious Doctrine

An exegesis of the seminal works of Henry M. Morris, Director of the Institute for Creation Research, clearly reveals that scientific creationism is a religious doctrine. It is a necessary dogma of the conservative evangelical's particular form of Christianity, is premised upon a literal interpretation of the Bible, and has as its purpose the defense of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. [scientific creationism, religion, evolution]
“It Moves Me to Wonder”: Narrating Violence and Religion under the Roman Empire

My focus will be on ancient narratives that, contrary to expectations, use religion and violence to interrogate and confound oppositional thinking: Josephus's paraphrase of the book of Esther in the Jewish Antiquities; the Greek romance of Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon; and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. A close reading of these writings shows that the textual interlacing of violence, religion, and the production of the self in antiquity was not inevitably bound to a narrative of victimhood and retribution. Each story elevates sources of local religious authority at a time of growing confidence in ostensibly universal modes of knowledge disseminated in the political, judicial, and educational discourses of the Roman era. In this setting, the narrative elaboration of insider forms of knowledge forms a noteworthy interreligious pattern and suggests a common interest in thinking locally about "global" or universalizing claims. In my reading, these texts do not call for the overthrow of "global" political, judicial, and educational regimes of knowledge so much as enter into asymmetrical relations of power to appropriate and re-inscribe these claims of authority. In doing so, I contend, a measure of cultural permeability is instantiated in the narrative play between such global claims and the insider claims of some Jews, pagans, and Christians.
Re-engineering the design process

The paper describes how the Design Structure Method (DSM) can be used to analyze the information flow inherent in requirements to re-engineer the design process. DSM is used to develop a design plan showing how to organize design teams, the communication within and between teams, the order in which tasks can be done and which can be done simultaneously, where to use estimates, how design iteration is to occur, and where design reviews are needed and what to review. It is useful in coordinating collaborative design effort by showing who gets what information and when. It is valuable in planning for concurrent engineering by allowing one to go back to the requirements rather than being constrained by the task structure of the old process. While the focus is on the product development process, the author is also looking at using these techniques to re-engineer business systems. >
A GLRT detector for bursty targets in multiplicative noise

A robust generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detector is derived for targets in multiplicative noise with gamma-Weibull statistics. The target is assumed to have a spatial distribution (burstiness) modeled by the incomplete binomial distribution. The GLRT detector is found to be similar in performance to the optimized power law detector.
Black Women's Voices in the Women's Movement for Equal Rights: Pauli Murray and Patricia Williams

Black Women's Voices in the Women's Movement for Equal Rights: Pauli Murray and Patricia Williams
A high-fidelity statistical model of frequency hopping interference for fast simulation

Testing existing or developing new military waveforms requires computationally efficient simulations to allow for large scenarios that would not be feasible with hardware. However, fast running simulations have typically not represented wireless interference, especially frequency hopping interference, accurately. We develop the first major step toward a high-fidelity statistical model of frequency hopping interference that allows for much faster simulation times than high-fidelity deterministic models and even allows for real-time emulations of relatively large networks. We analyze the accuracy of our model by comparing it to the deterministic model it is based on, and we show some performance results by measuring computation times for a wide range of number of interferers.
A Simple Parrondo Paradox

The Parrondo Paradox is a counterintuitive probabilistic phenomenon in situations of repeated decision making with uncertainty. Simply stated, it is that given two games, each with a higher probability of losing than winning, it is possible to construct a winning strategy by playing the games alternately. The best-known and analyzed examples are somewhat involved, and may not be relevant to practical situations of repeated decision making, e.g. casino games and investment in securities markets. Here, we construct a very simply stated and analyzed example of the Parrondo Paradox, using a model of stylized Blackjack-type betting that is well-known in the gambling literature.
A piece of my mind. The NRA let me down

I was 15 years old, and after firing the shot, I could feel the kick of the rifle against my shoulder. Hearing the “pop” of the shot also gave me a thrill that echoed through my adolescent frontal lobe. I looked up, and the representative of the National Rifle Association who was running the session told us, “We are going to have some fun today, and we’ll do some more target practice, but we also are going to learn how to use that weapon safely and responsibly.” As our scoutmaster looked on, we continued to shoot rounds in the field at the back of his house, and the NRA representative proceeded with the NRA “Safe Hunter” course. For us, the fun of target practice was a given. The lesson we needed was the safety and responsibility part. While he continued with the instructions on using the weapon safely, with special emphasis on responsibility for our adolescent brains, one of my buddies, the scoutmaster's son, looked on proudly. “I’m a member of the NRA already,” he said.... Language: en
Suggested Programs for Demonstrations and Exhibitions

(1937). Suggested Programs for Demonstrations and Exhibitions. The Journal of Health and Physical Education: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 84-120.
Mercury Oxidation via Chlorine, Bromine, and Iodine under Atmospheric Conditions: Thermochemistry and Kinetics

Emissions of gaseous mercury from combustion sources are the major source of Hg in the atmosphere and in environmental waters and soils. Reactions of Hgo(g) with halogens are of interest because they relate to mercury and ozone depletion events in the Antarctic and Arctic early spring ozone hole events, and the formation of Hg-halides (HgX2) is a method for removal of mercury from power generation systems. Thermochemistry and kinetics from published theoretical and experimental studies in the literature and from computational chemistry are utilized to compile a mechanism of the reactions considered as contributors to the formation of HgX2 (X = Cl, Br, I) to understand the reaction paths and mechanisms under atmospheric conditions. Elementary reaction mechanisms are assembled and evaluated using thermochemistry for all species and microscopic reversibility for all reactions. Temperature and pressure dependence is determined with quantum Rice Ramsperger Kassel (RRK) analysis for k(E) and master equation ana...
BAD partly reverses paclitaxel resistance in human ovarian cancer cells

Although paclitaxel is an important chemotherapy agent for the treatment of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, its utility is significantly limited by the frequent development of drug resistance. Recent evidence suggests that resistance to chemotherapy may be partly related to defects in the apoptotic pathway. In this study we have investigated whether enhancement of apoptotic pathway function through stable expression of the BAD protein is capable of sensitizing human epithelial ovarian cancer cells to the effects of chemotherapy. Expression of HA-BAD in six separate clonal transfectants from two different ovarian cancer cell lines was found to significantly enhance the cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel, vincristine, and, to a lesser extent, etoposide. Enhancement of paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in HA-BAD-expressing clones was demonstrated by trypan blue exclusion, clonogenic cell assay, and flow cytometric evaluation. Importantly, this effect was associated with binding of HA-BAD to BCL-xL and concomitant disruption of BAX:BCL-xL interaction. Taken together, these data suggest that the development of small molecules which mimic the effects of BAD may represent a new class of drugs capable of preventing or reversing resistance to chemotherapy agents such as paclitaxel.
Formation of nanoporous aerogels from wheat starch

Abstract Biodegradable nanoporous aerogels were obtained from wheat starch using a simple and green method based on supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) drying. Effects of processing parameters (temperature, wheat starch concentration and mixing rate during gelatinization; temperature, pressure, and flow rate of CO2, during SC-CO2 drying) on the aerogel formation were investigated, and optimized for the highest surface area and smallest pore size of the aerogels. At the optimized conditions, wheat starch aerogels had surface areas between 52.6–59.7 m2/g and densities ranging between 0.05–0.29 g/cm3. The average pore size of the starch aerogels was 20 nm. Starch aerogels were stable up to 280 °C. Due to high surface area and nanoporous structure, wheat starch aerogels are promising carrier systems for bioactives and drugs in food and pharmaceutical industries.
Zombies and Refugees: Variations on the “Post-human” and the “Non-human” in Robin Campillo’s Les Revenants (2004) and Fabrice Gobert’s Les Revenants (2012–2015)

This article examines the use of the zombie (or the “returned,” the literal translation of the French term “revenant”) in Fabrice Gobert’s French series Les Revenants (2012–2015) as a narrative trope that evokes the recent wave of migration from Syria into Europe. In parallel, this article addresses Robin Campillo’s 2004 original feature Les Revenants as it served as an inspiration for Gobert’s work in 2012. Campillo’s work, like Gobert’s, is rooted in the treatment of refugees in France. Following the forceful closing of the Sangatte refugee camp in Calais in 2002, the Moroccan-born French filmmaker expressed his concern for the treatment of Others in France through the figure of the zombie, eventually initiating a new genre in French fiction that would serve to express and denounce the characterization of Others in France as “non-human.”
Spin Glasses: Irreversibility, Metastability and the Free Energy Surface

The subject of spin glasses has received a great deal of attention for over a decade [1,2]. Though enormous amounts of time and effort have gone into understanding these systems, for the most part, the effort has not been terribly successful. While a number of advances have been made, a basic, fundamental understanding of the problem is still lacking.
An approach for temperature and frequency control of a crystal oscillator

This paper presents a new architecture for precise temperature control and stabilization of a crystal oscillator using microcontroller based proportional control and circuit compensation. By precisely controlling the temperature of the frequency-determining element of an oscillator, a very stable signal in the frequency domain is obtained. Additionally, holding the temperature constant at the crystal ldquoturning pointrdquo will minimize the effect on output frequency even when there is a small change in the temperature. The proposed architecture utilizes a temperature control circuit for stabilization, a digital voltage controlled circuit for precise tuning and an output buffer for load balancing and isolation. Main advantage of the proposed architecture is in its ability to precisely track frequency drift and stabilize the temperature variations of the crystal. Simulation results and practical implementations are detailed in the paper.
Abstract IA11: Transient CDK4/6 inhibition protects hematopoietic progenitors from chemotherapy-induced exhaustion

Conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy is highly effective in certain cancers, but causes dose-limiting damage to normal proliferating cells, especially hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Serial exposure to cytotoxics causes a long-term hematopoietic compromise (“exhaustion”), which limits the use of chemotherapy and success of cancer therapy. I will discuss the use of small-molecule inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) contemporaneously with DNA damaging stimuli such as cytotoxic chemotherapy to protect HSPC from chemotherapy-induced exhaustion. Specifically, CDK4/6 inhibitors will reduce HSPC proliferation, leading to decreased damage from cytotoxic agents, resulting in preserved HSPC function acutely after bone marrow injury as well as late time points well after hematopoietic recovery. In particular, I will show this approach leads to enhanced long-term HSC function resulting in enhanced serial transplantation and reduced myeloid skewing. I will discuss similarities between chemotherapy-induced HSC dysfunction and HSC aging. Moreover, these finding suggest that the combination of CDK4/6 inhibitors with DNA damaging chemotherapy provides a means to prevent therapy-induced bone marrow exhaustion. Citation Format: Norman E. Sharpless. Transient CDK4/6 inhibition protects hematopoietic progenitors from chemotherapy-induced exhaustion. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Cancer Cell Cycle - Tumor Progression and Therapeutic Response; Feb 28-Mar 2, 2016; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(11_Suppl):Abstract nr IA11.
Microfluidic channel for characterizing normal and breast cancer cells

A microfluidic channel was designed and fabricated for the investigation of behaviors of normal and cancer cells in a narrow channel. A specific question addressed in this study was whether it is possible to distinguish normal versus cancer cells by detecting their stationary and passing behaviors through a narrow channel. We hypothesized that due to higher deformability, softer cancer cells will pass through the channel further and quicker than normal cells. Two cell lines, employed herein, were non-tumor breast epithelial cells (MCF-10A; 11.2 ± 2.4 µm in diameter) and triple negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231; 12.4 ± 2.1 µm in diameter). The microfluidic channel was 300 µm long and linearly tapered with a width of 30 µm at an inlet to 5 µm at an outlet. The result revealed that MDA-MB-231 cells entered and stuck further toward the outlet than MCF-10A cells in response to a slow flow (2 µl min−1). Further, in response to a fast flow (5 µl min−1), the passage time (mean ± s.d.) was 26.6 ± 43.9 s for normal cells (N = 158), and 1.9 ± 1.4 s for cancer cells (N = 128). The measurement of stiffness by atomic force microscopy as well as model-based predictions pointed out that MDA-MB-231 cells are significantly softer than MCF-10A cells. Collectively, the result in this study suggests that analysis of an individual cell's behavior through a narrow channel can characterize deformable cancer cells from normal ones, supporting the possibility of enriching circulating tumor cells using novel microfluidics-based analysis.
Computational Screening of Bimetal-Functionalized Zr6O8 MOF Nodes for Methane C-H Bond Activation.

Zr-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising supports for copper-based catalysts able to activate methane. Homo- and heterobimetal-functionalized NU-1000 MOF nodes were selected to computationally screen the effect of ancillary metals for C–H bond activation, allowing us to correlate activation free energies with chemical descriptors.
Microtopography and ecology of pit-mound structures in second-growth versus old-growth forests

Abstract Pit and mound microtopography is an important structural component of most forests, influencing soil processes and habitat diversity. These features have diminished greatly in northeastern U.S. forests since European settlement, as a result of the history of repeated logging, land-clearance followed by reforestation, and the smaller size of trees (and therefore windthrow features) comprising the prevailing second-growth forests. Despite the potential importance of this region-wide shift in forest microtopography on ecosystem structure and function, the differences in pit and mound size, distribution, and longevity between second-growth and old-growth forests are unexplored. Likewise, although many studies demonstrate that mounds and/or pits are hotspots for tree regeneration there is scant information about whether location on a mound or pit affects tree survival and growth beyond the seedling stage, or whether microtopographic regeneration patterns differ in old-growth and second-growth forests. We compare a simulated hurricane experiment initiated in 1990 in second-growth forest (the pulldown) and an old-growth forest that was blown down by a hurricane in 1938 (Pisgah) to examine differences in pit-mound microtopography and ecology between second-growth and old-growth forest. At Pisgah, fewer, larger mounds comprised a similar areal coverage as at the pulldown. Repeated measurements of individual pit-mound structures in the pulldown revealed that pit infill proceeded more rapidly than mound erosion. Mound area increased but height decreased over time as soil from the mound tops eroded and spread around the mound base. Although 40% of mounds in the pulldown were >1 m tall immediately after the manipulation (maximum of 2.9 m), after 25 years, maximum mound height was 0.9 m. In contrast, 11% of mounds at Pisgah remained >1 m tall in 1989, 50 years after blowdown. At both sites, trees, especially Betula spp., were disproportionately found on mounds. Fewer trees than expected grew in pits at Pisgah. Tree mortality was somewhat higher on mounds and pits than on other substrates. As a mechanism to increase stand-level tree diversity, windthrow may be more critical in old-growth forests, in which niches for early-mid successional species are few, than in second-growth forest, in which early-mid successional species already comprise the majority of the trees. Pit-mound structures are a diminished component of second-growth forest, and silvicultural techniques designed to restore old-growth characteristics could include measures to preserve and enhance pit-mound features, and to cultivate large-diameter trees that will eventually create the large, long-lasting pit-mounds of the future.
The power of submission: Self and community in Fijian Pentecostal discourse

Pentecostal Christianity can lead to moral tensions by advocating the impossible goal of freeing the interior self from social entanglements. But many Pentecostals see no tension between self and community. The Harvest Ministry, an independent Fijian Pentecostal church, encourages people to develop the interior self by submitting to a hierarchical church. This construction frees successful urban professionals from some social pressures and defines them as good Fijians committed to community above self with a special cultural ability to succeed in world Christianity and free enterprise. Constructing the self as embedded in a corporate community is a strategy most likely to appeal to those seeking access to a world community. [Pentecostalism, Christianity, individualism, dividuality, Fiji]
Dissolution of Cellulosic Fibers: Impact of Crystallinity and Fiber Diameter.

With the aim of informing the selection of biomass pretreatment options and to assist in interpreting experimental results from different biomass/solvent combinations, this study addresses the impact of crystallinity and size on the kinetics of semicrystalline cellulose fiber swelling and dissolution. To this end, a newly developed phenomenological model is utilized that accounts for the role of decrystallization and disentanglement as two rate-determinant steps in the cellulose dissolution process. Although fibers with lower crystallinity swell more and faster, the degree of crystallinity does not affect the dissolution rate. Fibers of smaller diameter swell more and become amorphous faster. When decrystallization is important, the solubility of thinner fibers increases more with a reduction in the crystallinity compared to the diameter. However, when the dissolution is controlled by chain disentanglement, or in the case of dissolution of fibers having larger diameters, milling the fibers to reduce the p...
High Resolution Holographic Contouring

Optical contouring techniques which incorporate holography have the potential for providing high resolution noncontacting topographic measurements of surface relief. In addition, holographic recording provides a means by which contour data may be archived indefinitely. Contouring may be applied to specular and optically rough surfaces and, through the use of pulsed holographic recording, may be applied where contour changes occur at very high speed.
HTLV-I Associated Leukemia/Lymphoma: Epidemiology, Biology, and Treatment

Adult T-cell leukemia,lymphoma (ATL) was first described in 1977 by Uchiyama et al., who detailed the clinical and hematologic features in 16 patients.’ They found that these patients had leukemic cells that were morphologically heterogeneous with deeply indented or lobulated nuclei. They frequently had involvement of the skin, lymph nodes, liver, and spleen. The most striking feature of this group was that 13 of them were born in the same region of Southern Japan, even though they eventually migrated from this region.Poiesz et al. isolated the retrovirus HTLV-I from a patient initially thought to have cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, but now believed to have had ATL.2It is now accepted that HTLV-I is the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia,lymphoma (ATL). HTLV-I causes several diseases, including tropical spastic paraparesis,HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (TSP,HAM), uveitis, and infective dermatitis.
Identifying sources of ozone to three rural locations in Nevada, USA, using ancillary gas pollutants, aerosol chemistry, and mercury

Abstract Ozone (O3) is a secondary air pollutant of long standing and increasing concern for environmental and human health, and as such, the US Environmental Protection Agency will revise the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 75 ppbv to ≤ 70 ppbv. Long term measurements at the Great Basin National Park (GBNP) indicate that O3 in remote areas of Nevada will exceed a revised standard. As part of the Nevada Rural Ozone Initiative, measurements of O3 and other air pollutants were made at 3 remote sites between February 2012 and March 2014, GBNP, Paradise Valley (PAVA), and Echo Peak (ECHO). Exceptionally high concentrations of each air pollutant were defined relative to each site as mixing ratios that exceeded the 90th percentile of all hourly data. Case studies were analyzed for all periods during which mean daily O3 exceeded the 90th percentile concurrently with a maximum 8-h average (MDA8) O3 that was “exceptionally high” for the site (65 ppbv at PAVA, 70 ppbv at ECHO and GBNP), and of potential regulatory significance. An MDA8 ≥ 65 ppbv occurred only five times at PAVA, whereas this occurred on 49 and 65 days at GBNP and ECHO, respectively. The overall correlation between O3 and other pollutants was poor, consistent with the large distance from significant primary emission sources. Mean CO at these locations exceeded concentrations reported for background sites in 2000. Trajectory residence time calculations and air pollutant concentrations indicate that exceedances at GBNP and ECHO were promoted by air masses originating from multiple sources, including wildfires, transport of pollution from southern California and the marine boundary layer, and transport of Asian pollution plumes. Results indicate that the State of Nevada will exceed a revised O3 standard due to sources that are beyond their control.
Game of Transparency: The Role of Local Communities in Corporate Environmental Disclosure Strategy

Why do firms respond to stakeholder pressures proactively in some local communities, but not in others? Why do some firms respond positively to stakeholder pressures, but some passively? We address...
Single session of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increased dual-task gait speed in chronic stroke: A pilot study.

Abstract Background Individuals with stroke often experience difficulty in dual-task walking and are prone to falling when walking and talking. Previous studies in other populations have suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation could enhance dual-task gait performance by stimulating dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or supplementary motor area (SMA). It was unclear if the benefits of brain stimulation would be observed in individuals with stroke. Research Question Would single-session 5 Hz rTMS applied to DLPFC or SMA improve dual-task gait performance in individuals with stroke? Methods This single group repeated measure study included fifteen individuals with left chronic stroke (mean age = 58 years). Participants received 5 Hz rTMS to either DLPFC, SMA, or M1 of the left lesioned hemisphere across three different sessions. Single- and dual-task gait speed was assessed before and after rTMS with the dualtask gait being walking and counting backward by 3 s. Results We observed that rTMS to left DLPFC resulted in a greater increase in dual-task gait speed, but not single-task gait speed, compared to the other two stimulation sites (M1 and SMA) but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). Five out of fifteen participants demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in dual-task gait speed (> 0.1 m/s) after rTMS to DLPFC. Significances The results suggest that DLPFC could be a potential treatment target to improve dual-task gait performance in persons with chronic stroke.
NEWS Scoring System: Use in Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics Patient Populations.

Background Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria can be overly sensitive in detecting clinical deterioration in hematologic malignancies and cellular therapeutics (HMCT) populations. This may create inconsistency in activation of a rapid response team (RRT) with patient decline. Objectives The aim is to evaluate the implementation and use of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) scoring system in the HMCT population. Methods Retrospective data collection from 2016 to 2017 was used. NEWS scores were calculated every 4 hours for the 24 hours prior to RRT activation. The difference between the time of the first NEWS score of 5 or greater and the RRT activation time mean and median values were calculated for the pre- and postimplementation time frames. Findings A statistically significant decrease in the mean time between patients meeting a NEWS score of 5 or greater and RRT activation was noted in the postimplementation group. An increase in frequency of escalation of care to the intensive care unit for patients with multiple RRT activations during admission was statistically significant.
The purpose of futility: writing World War I, Australian style

In The Purpose of Futility, Clare Rhoden treats a number of texts of Australian World War I fiction, engaging in a struggle to validate a canon that has been dismissed as unsophisticated because it...
Bankruptcy Spillover Effects on Oil and Gas Industry

This paper studies bankruptcy spillover effects onto portfolios of non-bankrupt firms in oil and gas industry. Using hand-collected data on bankruptcy filings in oil and gas industry from 2000 to 2017, I find that, on average, the value-weighted portfolios of non-bankrupt oil and gas firms experience a negative stock price reaction 4-day around a bankruptcy filing announcement in the industry. This negative stock price reaction is not only statistically significant at 1% but also economically significant as the 4-day cumulative abnormal losses are averagely calculated at $4.47 billion. Further analyses on oil and gas sub-industries lead to the findings that while the Oil & Gas Production Portfolio and Oil & Gas Field Machinery & Equipment Portfolio are the most affected, the Petroleum Refining Portfolio and Petroleum Products Wholesalers Portfolio show very little to no evidence of being affected by bankruptcy filing announcements within the industry wide. I also find that the magnitude of spillover effects is conditional on the size of bankrupt firms and the degree of competition of sub-industries but not on the chapters of the filing and the sub-industry leverage. These findings are robust after controlling for sub-industry-specific factors and market-wide factors.
Exploring the Role of Media Use Within an Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) Approach to Vote Likelihood

Political interest is a key predictor of likelihood to vote. We argue that the political interest–vote intention relationship can be explained by well-established theories that predict behavior acr...
Non-random acts of kindness: Joint music making increases preschoolers’ helping and sharing with an adult:

Research has shown that musical engagement promotes prosocial behavior in preschool-aged children under some conditions but not others. The current study tested whether an active musical interactio...
Better off This Way!: Ubiquitous Accessibility Digital Maps via Smartphone-based Crowdsourcing

Accessibility maps are key to support individuals with disabilities to actively participate in the society. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines minimum requirements for roads and other public accommodation spaces to be accessible. Yet, it is sufficient to have one accessible route in a place, and available digital-maps lack accessibility information to help finding that accessible route.In this paper, we present the AccessMap system to automatically extend road-maps with accessibility semantics. It enables indoor and outdoor spaces to be automatically marked as visually-impaired and/or wheel-chaired accessible/inaccessible. AccessMap passively crowdsources measurements from sensors available in the users' smartphones to detect accessibility semantics. It employs a probabilistic framework to build and update the map with the semantics. Evaluation of AccessMap in different countries shows that it can passively detect a wide-range of accessibility semantics with high precision and recall (on average around 89.8% and 86.3% respectively). Furthermore, its probabilistic crowdsourcing framework increases the generated map’s average precision and recall to 98.7% and 99% with as few as seven encounters per semantic.
GHz Plasmonic Broadband ITO MZI Modulator in Si Photonics

Here, we demonstrate a spectrally broadband, GHz-fast Mach-Zehnder-based modulator, showing a small VpL of 95 V-µm, utilizing a 1.4µm-short phase-shifter by heterogeneously integrating ITO films into silicon photonics.
The configuration protective model: Factors associated with adolescent behavioral and emotional problems

The current study examined the association between quantity, variety, and configuration of developmental assets with risk behaviors (tobacco and alcohol use) and developing emotional problems (depressive feelings and suicidal thoughts). A sample of 12,040 high school students completed surveys investigating youth health and risk behaviors, and developmental assets. Independent one-step logistic regression analyses showed that adolescents reporting a higher quantity of assets, and possessing them in multiple domains, tended to have a lower likelihood of experiencing behavioral and emotional problems. The negative association between developmental assets and negative outcomes was more consistent when quantity and variety were taken into account simultaneously, thus supporting the configuration protective model. A sufficient amount of strengths, in an adequate number of different domains, seems to provide the strongest protection against negative developmental outcomes. The research and clinical implications of findings are discussed.
Factors Contributing to Performance for Cyber Security Forensic Analysis

Previously, the current authors Hopkins et al. 2015 described research in which subjects provided a tool that facilitated their construction of a narrative account of events performed better in conducting cyber security forensic analysis. The narrative tool offered several distinct features. In the current paper, an analysis is reported that considered which features of the tool contributed to superior performance. This analysis revealed two features that accounted for a statistically significant portion of the variance in performance. The first feature provided a mechanism for subjects to identify suspected perpetrators of the crimes and their motives. The second feature involved the ability to create an annotated visuospatial diagram of clues regarding the crimes and their relationships to one another. Based on these results, guidance may be provided for the development of software tools meant to aid cyber security professionals in conducting forensic analysis.
Applying the theory of planned behavior to reporting of forced sex by African-American college women

Forced sex is a public health issue affecting many college women. Despite physical and mental health consequences, and multiple prevention programs on college campuses, most sexual violence goes unreported (Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Turner, 2003). The purpose of this research was to determine the significant attitudes and beliefs that are associated with reporting of forced sexual experiences. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study used a predictive exploratory design to explore the association of intention to report forced sex with attitudes and beliefs (Ajzen, 1991). A convenience sample of 144 African-American women who were attending a private college in the south completed a survey. Women who expressed more favorable attitudes towards reporting, perceived reporting as being supported by important referents, and perceived more control over reporting, reported stronger intentions to report forced sex. The analysis supported the utility of TPB in predicting the intention to report forced sex by African-American college women. Theoretically significant and clinically relevant prevention strategies should incorporate important referents, address salient beliefs, and determine ways to increase perceived behavioral control. Language: en
Using incentives to motivate women to seek prenatal care: an effective outreach strategy.

Expanded Medicaid eligibility and case-managed care have contributed to improved birth outcomes and reduced Medicaid expenditures in Alabama. In 1990, 26.5 percent of all women delayed entry to care until the fourth month of pregnancy or later. Additionally, more than 1,000 women in the state received no care at all. In many of these cases, women perceived prenatal care as unimportant or unnecessary until later in pregnancy. As a result, the Alabama Medicaid Agency developed Healthy Beginnings, an incentive and awareness program which utilizes coupons to motivate women to seek prenatal care. Pregnant women can recieve the coupon book (worth about $300) simply by dialing a toll-free number. To take advantage of the free gifts and discounts, expectant mothers must visit a private physician of health clinic and have their coupons validated monthly. The project was initiated in August, 1990, and already there is clear evidence that the use of incentives represents a viable outreach strategy to motivate poor a...
Fetal mortality in relation to labor

Abstract A series of 2,978 births in which the fetus weighed over 1,500 gm., was statistically analyzed to determine the relation of fetal mortality to certain obstetric conditions. The high mortality rate of babies under 2,500 gm., 57.75 per cent, is definitely a prematurity factor. The 2,500 to 3,000 gm. group showed a mortality of 11.66 per cent, 3,000 to 4,000 gm., 1.90 per cent, over 4,000, 1.84 per cent. The higher rate in the lower weight group was not accounted for by deaths within twenty-four hours, but in the later deaths indicating that the difference is probably not an obstetric factor. Labors under three hours showed a somewhat higher rate than labors of moderate length, but not enough to demonstrate as significant by probability determination. Labors over forty-two hours showed a definitely higher rate, 10.11 per cent for total cases but much less for spontaneous deliveries, 4.22 per cent. Although, the rate for labors of moderate length is lower than very short or very long labors in spontaneous cases only, the difference is not great enough to demonstrate as significant by probability determination. It would appear then, that length of labor alone is not sufficient justification for operative interference in the absence of other determining conditions. There was no significant difference in mortality rate in relation to the duration of the second stage of labor until three hours was exceeded, when the rate was much higher. This difference disappears when spontaneous deliveries alone are considered. The higher rate in long second-stage labors appears therefore to be due to the operative interference. Occiput anterior cases showed the lowest rate as has been commonly assumed. Occiput posteriors showed a definitely higher rate even in spontaneous deliveries. The higher rate is not markedly accounted for by early deaths but by deaths spread out over a longer period of days. Breech presentation is associated with a definitely higher mortality rate and the figures in the present series are in general agreement with those of other reported series. Face and brow presentations were associated with a high mortality rate when operative interference was necessary. The use of statistical principles, by determining the standard errors and probabilities has been shown in various instances to evaluate the significance of differences found and thus aided in making conclusions.
'It was caused by the carelessness of the parents': cultural models of child malnutrition in southern Malawi.

Parents’ conceptions of child growth, health and malnutrition are culturally bound, making information about local understandings of malnutrition and its causes necessary for designing effective nutrition programmes. This study used ethnographic methods to elucidate cultural models of child care and malnutrition among the Yao of southern Malawi. Data were collected in six rural villages from 28 key informant interviews with village chiefs and traditional healers among others and 18 focus group discussions with parents and grandmothers of young children. For the Yao, lack of parental care is a key cause of poor child health and can lead to thinness (kunyililika) or swelling (kuimbangana). Parents are said to be careless if they are not attentive to the child’s needs, are unable to provide adequate quality or quantity of food, or fail to follow sexual abstinence rules. Maintaining abstinence protects the family and failure to do so causes the transfer of ‘heat’ from a sexually active parent to a ‘cold’ child and results in child health problems, including signs and symptoms of malnutrition. These findings indicate that the Yao understanding of care is much broader than the concept of care during feeding described in the nutrition literature. In addition, the Yao note the importance of several key feeding practices supported by international agencies and understand the influence of illness on child nutritional status. These congruencies with the public health frame should be used together with information about the cultural context to design more socially and emotionally relevant care and nutrition programmes among the Yao.
Imputation-Based Local Ancestry Inference in Admixed Populations

Accurate inference of local ancestry from whole-genome genetic variation data is critical for understanding the history of admixed human populations and detecting SNPs associated with disease via admixture mapping. Although several existing methods achieve high accuracy when inferring local ancestry for individuals resulting from the admixture of genetically distant ancestral populations (e.g., African-Americans), ancestry inference in the case when ancestral populations are closely related remains challenging. Surprisingly, methods based on the analysis of allele frequencies at unlinked SNP loci currently outperform methods based on haplotype analysis, despite the latter methods seemingly receiving more detailed information about the genetic makeup of ancestral populations. In this paper we propose a novel method for imputation-based local ancestry inference that exploits ancestral haplotype information more effectively than previous haplotype-based methods. Our method uses the ancestral haplotypes to impute genotypes at all typed SNP loci (temporarily marking each SNP genotype as missing) under each possible local ancestry. We then assign to each locus the local ancestry that yields the highest imputation accuracy, as estimated within a neighborhood of the locus. Experiments on simulated data show that imputation-based ancestry assignment is competitive with best existing methods in the case of distant ancestral populations, and yields a significant improvement for closely related ancestral populations. Further demonstrating the synergy between imputation and ancestry inference, we also give results showing that the accuracy of untyped SNP genotype imputation in admixed individuals improves significantly when using estimates of local ancestry. The open source C++ code of our method, released under the GNU General Public Licence, is available for download at http://dna.engr.uconn.edu/software/GEDI-ADMX/.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated transformation of the legume Astragalus sinicus using kanamycin resistance selection and green fluorescent protein expression

To develop an efficient protocol for the transformation of the legume Astragalus sinicus (Chinese milk vetch), cotyledon segments were infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 harboring the binary vector pBINm-gfp5-ER which carries the gfp5 gene encoding green fluorescent protein and the kanamycin (Km) resistance gene nptII. The infected explants were cultured on shoot regeneration (SR) medium containing 1.0 mg l−1 α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 1.0 mg l−1 thidiazuron (TDZ). Putative transformed shoots were selected on SR medium containing 75 μg ml−1 Km, 200 μg ml−1 Timentin, and transformation was monitored by observation of GFP expression under a dissecting fluorescence microscope with appropriate filters. The identification of GFP-expressing shoots or callus in combination with Km selection allowed the visual selection of growing transgenic cells and shoots with no escapes. Plants were regenerated from seven independent transgenic events and five plants have set seed. GFP expression segregated in the T1 seedlings of the two lines tested in a 3 – 1 ratio. In addition to the GFP expression of the transgenic plants, the transgenic nature of individual plants was confirmed by Southern and Western blot analyses.
Multilevel Modeling of Item Position Effects

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. April 2012. Major: Educational Psychology. Advisor: Michael C. Rodriguez. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 169 pages, appendices A-C.
De Haas-Van Alphen effect in quenched platinum

Abstract The Dingle (scattering) temperature in Pt containing vacancies is reported for cyclotron orbits on the electron and open hole sheets of the Fermi surface (FS). The anisotropy of conduction electron scattering due to vacancies is discussed.
Genetics of Suicide: An Overview

Risk for suicide may have heritable contributions. Evidence supporting this hypothesis includes strong and consistent findings from more than 20 controlled family studies indicating nearly 5-fold greater relative risk of suicidal acts among relatives of index cases with suicidal behavior compared to relatives of nonsuicidal controls. Relative risk was greater for completed suicide than for attempts. Contributions of genetic instead of environmental factors are indicated by a higher average concordance for suicidal behavior among co-twins of suicidal identical twins compared to fraternal twins or to relatives of other suicidal subjects, in at least seven studies. Three studies indicate significantly greater suicidal risk, particularly for completed suicide, among biological versus adoptive relatives of suicidal or mentally ill persons adopted early in life. Molecular genetics studies have searched inconclusively for associations of suicidal behavior with genes mainly for proteins required for central serotonergic neurotransmission. Complex interactions of environmental with heritable risk and protective factors for suicide and psychiatric illnesses or vulnerability traits are suspected, but specific intervening mechanisms remain elusive. Familial or genetic risks for psychiatric factors strongly associated with suicide, such as major affective illnesses and alcohol abuse, as well as impulsive or aggressive traits, have not consistently been separated from suicidal risk itself.
Is presidential cycle in security returns merely a reflection of business conditions

Abstract We confirm previous findings that both large-cap and small-cap stock returns in the US exhibit a presidential cycle pattern, i.e. returns are significantly higher in the last 2 years than in the first 2 years of the presidential term. We attempt to examine if this presidential cycle pattern can be explained away by the traditional business cycle proxies, namely the term spread (TERM), dividend yield (D/P), and default spread (DEF). Our motivation arises from the political business cycle theory that monetary and fiscal measures undertaken by presidents are usually translated into the business cycle. We find that the presidential cycle has explanatory power beyond business conditions proxies shown to be important in explaining stock returns. Tests of slope parameters show that stock returns are less sensitive to only the D/P during the last 2 years of the presidential term. The presidential cycle effect prevails even after controlling for the party in power and the incumbent versus nonincumbent presidents.
PRODUCTION, METABOLISM OF FSH AND LH IN PUBERTY DISORDERS

The production rates (PR) (IU/24 hours), metabolic clearance (MCR) (mls/min.) disappearance (T 1/2) (hours) and excretion rates (% excretion) and Plasma testosterone (T) and Δ4 androstenedione concentrations (ng/100 ml) were measured in males with Precocious Puberty (PP), Delayed Puberty (DP), Hypopituitarism (HP), and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). We suggest that (1) in initiating puberty the LH PR rise precedes the plasma T rise and (2) precocious puberty might be a disorder of LH production.
The reaction of alkylidenetriphenylphosphoranes with chlorodifluoromethane. Synthesis of 1,1-difluoro-1-alkenes

Aus den Phosphoryliden (I) erhalt man mit Chlordifluormethan (II) zunachst die Phosphoniumsalze (III) neben Difluorcarben (IV), das mit (I) zu den Olefinen (V) neben (III) und Triphenylphosphin fuhrt.