cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cybercrime and Cybersecurity in the Middle East and North African Economies

There has been a rapid escalation and intensification of cybercrime activities originating in as well as targeting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Such activities are economically and financially as well as politically and ideologically motivated. During 2011 and 2012, for instance, an email account of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, was hacked, networks of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arab Bank on the Gaza Strip were attacked and credit card information of thousands of Saudi citizens were compromised (Enzer, 2012). According to a member of the Shoura Council and Deputy Chairman of the Transportation, Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee, Saudi Arabian banks lost US$1 billion to various forms of cybercrimes during 2010–2011 (Al-Hakim, 2012). Likewise, during the one-year period between mid-2009 and mid-2010, over 2 million computers were attacked in Turkey and 476 million spam emails were sent from the country (Hurriyet Daily News, 2010).
Linear-complexity direct finite-element solver based shape design of electromagnetic structures

In this work, we show how the shape synthesis of electromagnetic structures can be converted to an equivalent inverse problem, and subsequently solved by a linear-complexity direct finite-element solver without the need for an optimizer.
Nonpharmacological Interventions in Targeting Pain-Related Brain Plasticity

Chronic pain is a highly prevalent and debilitating condition that is frequently associated with multiple comorbid psychiatric conditions and functional, biochemical, and anatomical alterations in various brain centers. Due to its widespread and diverse manifestations, chronic pain is often resistant to classical pharmacological treatment paradigms, prompting the search for alternative treatment approaches that are safe and efficacious. The current review will focus on the following themes: attentional and cognitive interventions, the role of global environmental factors, and the effects of exercise and physical rehabilitation in both chronic pain patients and preclinical pain models. The manuscript will discuss not only the analgesic efficacy of these therapies, but also their ability to reverse pain-related brain neuroplasticity. Finally, we will discuss the potential mechanisms of action for each of the interventions.
A Monte Carlo Approach for Nested Model Comparisons in Structural Equation Modeling

This paper proposes a Monte Carlo approach for nested model comparisons. This approach allows for test of approximate equivalency in fit between nested models and customizing cutoff criteria for difference in a fit index. Different methods to account for trivial misspecification in the Monte Carlo approach are also discussed. A simulation study is conducted to compare the Monte Carlo approach with different methods of imposing trivial misspecification to chi-square difference test and change in comparative fit index (CFI) with suggested cutoffs. The simulation study shows that the Monte Carlo approach is superior to the chi-square difference test by correctly retaining the nested model with trivial misspecification. It is also superior to the change in CFI by offering higher power to detect severe misspecification.
Next-generation Sequencing of the DNA Virome from Fecal Samples

Herein we describe a detailed protocol for DNA virome analysis of low input human stool samples (Monaco et al., 2016). This protocol is divided into four main steps: 1) stool samples are pulverized to evenly distribute microbial matter; 2) stool is enriched for virus-like particles and DNA is extracted by phenol-chloroform; 3) purified DNA is multiple-strand displacement amplified (MDA) and fragmented; and 4) libraries are constructed and sequenced using Illumina Miseq. Subsequent sequence analysis for viral sequence identification should be sensitive but stringent.
Chapter 5 – Time-series Analysis Methods

Publisher Summary This chapter presents methodologies that examine data series in terms of their frequency content. Time-series analysis is aimed at separating deterministic periodic oscillations in the data from random and aperiodic fluctuations associated with unresolved background noise or with instrument error. Discrete or continuous random time series have a number of fundamental statistical properties that help characterize the variability of the series and make it easily possible to compare one time series against another. Time series can be viewed as linear combinations of periodic or quasi-periodic components that are superimposed on a long-term trend and random high-frequency noise. The periodic components are assumed to have fixed, or slowly varying amplitudes and phases over the length of the record. The trends might include a slow drift in the sensor characteristics or a long-term component of variability that cannot be resolved by the data series. Most oceanographic time or space series, whether they were collected in analog or digital form, are eventually converted to digital data that may then be expressed as series expansions. These expansions are then used to compute the Fourier transform (or periodogram) of the data series.
A Model of Dormant-Emergent Metastatic Breast Cancer Progression Enabling Exploration of Biomarker Signatures.

Breast cancer mortality predominantly results from dormant micrometastases that emerge as fatal outgrowths years after initial diagnosis. In order to gain insights concerning factors associated with emergence of liver metastases, we recreated spontaneous dormancy in an all-human ex vivo hepatic microphysiological system (MPS). Seeding this MPS with small numbers (
Force and activity monitoring system for scoliosis patients wearing back braces

Monitoring the effectiveness of brace treatment of scoliosis is an ongoing challenge that many physicians face today. Scoliosis is a medical condition which occurs in adolescents, where an individual's spine develops curvature. To successfully monitor compliance with brace treatment, a wearable multi-modal sensor solution is embedded into the patient's brace. The custom-designed hardware consists of a sensor board, a force sensor, an accelerometer and a gyroscope. The force sensor collects the force being exerted on the patient's back, while the accelerometer and gyroscope generate cues to determine the patient's activities and lifestyle. In this paper, we propose a novel data-mining method to identify patient activities and evaluate the effectiveness of the brace treatment pervasively. Our aim is to design a context-aware remote monitoring system for ubiquitous evaluation and enhancement of brace treatment compliance of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. Data is collected through the sensors and stored on a SD card and for longitudinal analysis. We investigated an experimental scenario in which, the patient performs a series of pre-defined activities at home during day-long segments of brace wear. Our experimental results demonstrated that we achieved an overall accuracy of a 100% for activity detection in a semi-supervised experimental setup. It was also observed that the duration of brace wear increased from 20% to 80% in 4 weeks.
Abstract 17302: Long-Term Association of Low-Risk Profile and White Blood Cell Count - The Chicago Healthy Aging Study (CHAS)

Background: Low CVD risk factor (RF) burden at younger ages is associated with substantially lower risk of future clinical CVD events. White blood cell (WBC) count, a measure of systemic inflammati...
11. Principles of Tissue Approximation

Tissue approximation and suturing are mandatory skills for those performing laparoscopic operations. The performance of laparoscopic suturing requires meticulous operative suite setup and design and a surgeon who is skilled in the art of intra- and extracorporeal knot tying. The recent advent of simulation devices has proven invaluable to surgeons who are learning laparoscopic suturing techniques.
Environmental Toxic Neuropathies

Toxic neuropathies include unintended or deliberate exposure to chemicals or heavy metals. These toxins often affect the peripheral nerves as well as the central nervous system, skin, hair, and gastrointestinal tract. This chapter discusses the diagnosis of peripheral neuropathies caused by toxins as well as the treatment and prognosis.
Neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade in lung cancer: we’re not in Kansas anymore

In the May 24 th , 2018 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine , Patrick Forde and colleagues published a pilot study which examined the safety and feasibility of immune therapy to block programmed death 1 (PD-1) proteins by administering neo-adjuvant PD-1 Inhibitor in the setting of resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (1). In addition to demonstrating a lack of serious adverse events or surgical delay, they were also able to reveal a major pathologic response in tumor burden and provide greater insight into the dynamics of any anti-tumor immune response.
Kosmic rhetoric: Reading democracy alongside Walt Whitman and the Bhagavad Gita*

ABSTRACTWalt Whitman’s poetry challenges how rhetorical scholars are accustomed to studying democracy. Adopting an ontology similar to, and a vocabulary inspired by, the Bhagavad Gita, Whitman root...
A COMPARISON OF CHARACTERISTICS OF US MEDICAL GRADUATES VERSUS INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES WHO SUCCESSFULLY MATCHED TO CARDIOVASCULAR FELLOWSHIP DURING THE 2017 INTERVIEW CYCLE

The purpose of this study was to gather data on applicant factors that correlate with a successful match into cardiovascular fellowship and determine the differences between such factors in applicants from US medical schools (AMGs) versus international medical graduates (IMGs). The purpose of this
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PROMOTER OF THE T4 tRNA OPERON

ABSTRACT Bacteriophage T4 possesses a cluster of tRNA genes which are expressed as immediate early functions of phage infection. In vitro the tRNAs appear transcribed polycistronically from a single promoter. Transcription from this site is made resistant to rifampicin inactivation by the addition with rifampicin of ATP, UTP and CTP. This stabilization, which is a common characteristic of several of the T4 early promoters, allows one to separate the initiation and elongation steps of gene expression and facilitates the study of promoter function. The tRNA genes appear to be preferentially transcribed among those operons initiated in the presence of ATP, UTP and CTP. We have studied initiation using a multistep procedure in which we assume only 1 polymerase per ATP initiated operon becomes rifampicin resistant. We find that the RNA polymerase concentration needed to support a half-maximal tRNA synthesis is 5 fold lower than that needed to support half-maximal total RNA synthesis. This difference appears to be due to differences in the affinities of the promoters for polymerase. The temperature of activation of the tRNA promoter is similar to or only slightly lower than that of other ATP initiated promoters, that is, about 12° at 0.05 M KC1 concentration. This suggests that the difference does not lie in the ease in which the open complex is formed, but rather in the recognition of the promoter site itself.
Management of bone complications in patients with genitourinary malignancies.

Abstract Skeletal metastases are common in genitourinary malignancies—including prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and urothelial cancer—and portend significant morbidity and poor prognosis. The presence of skeletal metastases can result in decreased quality of life and increased morbidity. Strategies can be employed to prevent bone-related complications including lifestyle modifications and dietary supplementation. Additionally, pharmacologic agents exist to prevent bone loss and may be appropriate for patients at high risk of fragility-related or skeletal complications, such as pathologic fracture related to bone metastases. Finally, advancement in effective systemic treatments, particularly novel hormone-targeted agents and immunotherapies, may limit the morbidity of advanced disease and delay the onset of skeletal-related complications.
Complex variability of Kepler AGN revealed by recurrence analysis

The advent of new time domain surveys and the imminent increase in astronomical data expose the shortcomings in traditional time series analysis (such as power spectra analysis) in characterising the abundantly varied, complex and stochastic light curves of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Recent applications of novel methods from non-linear dynamics have shown promise in characterising higher modes of variability and time-scales in AGN. Recurrence analysis in particular can provide complementary information about characteristic time-scales revealed by other methods, as well as probe the nature of the underlying physics in these objects. Recurrence analysis was developed to study the recurrences of dynamical trajectories in phase space, which can be constructed from one-dimensional time series such as light curves. We apply the methods of recurrence analysis to two optical light curves of Kepler-monitored AGN. We confirm the detection and period of an optical quasi-periodic oscillation in one AGN, and confirm multiple other time-scales recovered from other methods ranging from 5 days to 60 days in both objects. We detect regions in the light curves that deviate from regularity, provide evidence of determinism and non-linearity in the mechanisms underlying one light curve (KIC 9650712), and determine a linear stochastic process recovers the dominant variability in the other light curve (Zwicky 229--015). We discuss possible underlying processes driving the dynamics of the light curves and their diverse classes of variability.
WiHF: Enable User Identified Gesture Recognition with WiFi

User identified gesture recognition is a fundamental step towards ubiquitous device-free sensing. We propose WiHF, which first simultaneously enables cross-domain gesture recognition and user identification using WiFi in a real-time manner. The basic idea of WiHF is to derive a cross-domain motion change pattern of arm gestures from WiFi signals, rendering both unique gesture characteristics and the personalized user performing styles. To extract the motion change pattern in realtime, we develop an efficient method based on the seam carving algorithm. Moreover, taking as input the motion change pattern, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) is adopted for both gesture recognition and user identification tasks. In DNN, we apply splitting and splicing schemes to optimize collaborative learning for dual tasks. We implement WiHF and extensively evaluate its performance on a public dataset including 6 users and 6 gestures performed across 5 locations and 5 orientations in 3 environments. Experimental results show that WiHF achieves 97.65% and 96.74% for in-domain gesture recognition and user identification accuracy, respectively. The cross-domain gesture recognition accuracy is comparable with the state-of-the-art methods, but the processing time is reduced by 30×.
Weight Loss and Serum Lipids in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background Excess adipose tissue is associated with an abnormal lipid profile that may improve with weight reduction. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to estimate the magnitude of change in lipid parameters associated with weight loss in adults who are overweight or obese. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus from 2013 to September, 2018. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated interventions to treat adult obesity (lifestyle, pharmacologic and surgical) with follow-up of 6 months or more. Results We included 73 RCTs with moderate-to-low risk of bias, enrolling 32 496 patients (mean age, 48.1 years; weight, 101.6 kg; and body mass index [BMI], 36.3 kg/m2). Lifestyle interventions (diet, exercise, or both), pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery were associated with reduced triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) at 6 and 12 months. The following data are for changes in lipid parameters after 12 months of the intervention with 95% CI. Following lifestyle interventions, per 1 kg of weight lost, TGs were reduced by -4.0 mg/dL (95% CI, -5.24 to -2.77 mg/dL), LDL-C was reduced by -1.28 mg/dL (95% CI, -2.19 to -0.37 mg/dL), and HDL-C increased by 0.46 mg/dL (95% CI, 0.20 to 0.71 mg/dL). Following pharmacologic interventions, per 1 kg of weight lost, TGs were reduced by -1.25 mg/dL (95% CI, -2.94 to 0.43 mg/dL), LDL-C was reduced by -1.67 mg/dL (95% CI, -2.28 to -1.06 mg/dL), and HDL-C increased by 0.37 mg/dL (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.52 mg/dL). Following bariatric surgery, per 1 kg of weight lost, TGs were reduced by -2.47 mg/dL (95% CI, -3.14 to -1.80 mg/dL), LDL-C was reduced by -0.33 mg/dL (95% CI, -0.77 to 0.10 mg/dL), and HDL-C increased by 0.42 mg/dL (95% CI, 0.37 to 0.47 mg/dL). Low-carbohydrate diets resulted in reductions in TGs and increases in HDL-C, whereas low-fat diets resulted in reductions in TGs and LDL-C and increases in HDL-C. Results were consistent across malabsorptive and restrictive surgery. Conclusions Weight loss in adults is associated with statistically significant changes in serum lipids. The reported magnitude of improvement can help in setting expectations, inform shared decision making, and facilitate counseling.
Predicting Economic Growth by Region Embedding: A Multigraph Convolutional Network Approach

With the rapid progress of global urbanization and function division among different geographical regions, it is of urgent need to develop methods that can find regions of desired future function distributions in applications. For example, a company tends to open a new branch in a region where the growth trend of industrial sectors fits its strategic goals, or is similar to that of an existing company location; while a job hunter tends to search regions where his/her expertise aligns with the industrial growth trend providing sufficient job opportunities to sustain future employment and job-hopping. Our solution is to learn a distribution (aka. embedding) of the growth of various industrial sectors for each region, so that the embeddings of different regions can be searched, or compared for similarity querying. We consider the fine granularity of ZIP code areas as they are usually representative of the regional functions. By effectively utilizing open data on the Internet such as government data (e.g., from US Census Bureau) and third-party data for supervised learning, we propose to first construct a multigraph that captures the various relationships between regions such as direct flight connections and shared school districts, and then learn region embeddings using a novel graph convolutional network architecture. Our multigraph convnet (MGCN) differentiates various feature types such as demographic, social, economic and housing features, and learns different weights on different features and spatial relationships for effective data-driven feature aggregation. While deep learning is known to require large amounts of data to train, our weighted MGCN (WMGCN) is designed to minimize the number of parameters so that it does not underfit on the limited amount of open data. Extensive experiments are conducted to compare our WMGCN model with several competitive baselines to demonstrate the superiority of our WMGCN design.
Pushing ROS towards the Dark Side: A ROS-based Co-Simulation Architecture for Mixed-Reality Test Systems for Autonomous Vehicles

Validation and verification of autonomous vehicles is still an unsolved problem. Although virtual approaches promise a cost efficient and reproducible solution, a most comprehensive and realistic representation of the real world traffic domain is required in order to make valuable statements about the performance of a highly automated driving (HAD) function. Models from different domain experts offer a repository of such representations. However, these models must be linked together for an extensive and uniform mapping of real world traffic domain for HAD performance assessment.Hereby, we propose the concept of a co-simulation architecture built upon the Robot Operating System (ROS) for both coupling and for integration of different domain expert models, immersion and stimulation of real pedestrians as well as AD systems into a common test system. This enables a unified way of generating ground truth for the performance assessment of multi-sensorial AD systems. We demonstrate the applicability of the ROS powered co-simulation by coupling behavior models in our mixed reality environment.
An FPGA-based Application-Specific Processor for Implementing the Exponential Function

In this paper, we present a pipelined, high throughput single precision floating point implementation of the exponential function with a latency of 19 cycles. We also present the Application Specific Processor (ASP), a multiple memory architecture that increases memory bandwidth and overall performance of a computationally intensive application. The exponential function hardware unit is used as a function core or arithmetic unit of the ASP. Our experimental results show that executing a hardware implementation of the exponential function on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is significantly faster than executing a software implementation on a multi-core processor. While the maximum clock rate of our FPGA board (200 MHz) is an order-of-magnitude slower than our multi-core processor (3.4 GHz), the FPGA-based hardware implementation of the exponential function is 29X and 8X faster than the multi-core processor-based software implementation and OpenMP implementation respectively.
Real-space density functional theory adapted to cyclic and helical symmetry: Application to torsional deformation of carbon nanotubes

We present a cyclic and helical symmetry-adapted formulation and large-scale parallel implementation of real-space Kohn-Sham density functional theory for one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, with application to the mechanical and electronic response of carbon nanotubes subject to torsional deformations. Specifically, employing a semilocal exchange correlation and a local formulation of the electrostatics, we derive symmetry-adapted variants for the energy functional, variational problem governing the electronic ground state, Kohn-Sham equations, atomic forces, and axial stress, all posed on the fundamental domain. In addition, we develop a representation for twisted nanotubes of arbitrary chirality within this framework. We also develop a high-order finite-difference parallel implementation capable of performing accurate cyclic and helical symmetry-adapted Kohn-Sham calculations in both the static and dynamic settings, and verify it through numerical tests and comparisons with established codes. We use this implementation to perform twist-controlled simulations for a representative set of achiral and chiral carbon nanotubes, in both the small and large deformation regimes. In the linear regime, we find that the torsional moduli are proportional to the cube of the diameter; metallic nanotubes undergo metal-insulator transitions; and both the band gap as well as effective mass of charge carriers are proportional to the shear strain and sine of three times the chiral angle. In the nonlinear regime, we find that there is significant Poynting effect, particularly at the ultimate strain, the value of which is determined by the chiral angle; torsional deformations provide a possible mechanism for the irreversible phase transformation from armchair to zigzag nanotubes; and both the band gap as well as effective mass have an oscillatory behavior, with the period for metal-insulator transitions being inversely proportional to the square of the diameter and sine of three times the chiral angle. Wherever available, the results are in good agreement with experimental observations and measurements. Overall, this opens an avenue for the highly accurate and efficient first-principles study of 1D nanostructures that have cyclic and/or helical symmetry, as well as their response to torsional deformations.
Broadband Monopole Array With Reduced Half-Power Beamwidth Variation

This paper reports on the design and practical validation of monopole antenna arrays with reduced half-power beamwidth (HPBW) variation in a bandwidth (BW) greater than one octave of the RF spectrum. The HPBW variation is reduced by feeding the antenna elements with frequency-dependent feed networks. The feed networks are designed in such a way that the element power is gradually shifted from the outer elements at low frequencies to the inner elements at high frequencies. The operating principles of the proposed concept are explored through simulated examples of four-element arrays made of isotropic elements and then realistic monopole elements. Scalability of the concept to eight-element arrays is also explored using ideal simulations. For practical validation purposes, a four-element monopole antenna array and its corresponding feed network are designed and measured. The prototype resulted in a HPBW variation of 78% in a 2.6:1 BW, which is significantly reduced compared to the uniformly fed array, having a 216% variation.
Climatizing the internal medicine residency curriculum: A practical guide for integrating the topic of climate and health into resident education

Abstract The climate crisis is a threat to human health. Resident physicians in internal medicine need training that addresses the clinical implications of climate change and its effect on health. However, internal medicine residency curricula are already saturated with essential topics in clinical medicine, and often have limited space for additional material. In this guide, we describe how to integrate climate and health training into an internal medicine residency curriculum. Evidence-based topics in climate and health are organized by medical subspecialty and are integrated into pre-existing lectures in the longitudinal, outpatient lecture series. Addition of material to these recurring presentations limits workload by presenters, ensures longevity and adaptability of the course material, and allows exposure of these core topics to the entire residency. Below we highlight learning objectives for these lectures and review pertinent topics in climate and health by medical subspecialty, specifically: pulmonology, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, mental health, and women's health. We believe that by “training the trainer,” resident physicians will be better equipped to care for patients affected by climate-mediated disease and advocate for solutions to the climate crisis.
The Dry Tortugas

These are the words that young Jim Hawkins used to describe the old sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow Inn. They were written in 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson, of course, and are from the classic book, Treasure Island. Prior to writing Treasure Island, Stevenson had made two transatlantic crossings. One can assume that while on board he heard many stories of the danger and adventure of the seafaring way of life from the old sea-dogs who were sailing with him. It is not surprising that sailors used stories of the Dry Tortugas to conjure up images of wild storms and shipwrecks, because the myths and legends that surrounded them were well founded in fact and the Dry Tortugas have been synonymous with shipwreck for centuries.
Assesment of the Littoral Macrophyte Community in Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Following Reconstruction of the Jackson Lake Dam

Beginning in 1978, the water level of Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, was lowered first from 2064.5m (normal pool) to between 2060.3m-2061.8m, and then in 1985 to 2057.2m. The purpose of these drawdowns was to facilitate repair and modification of the Jackson Lake dam. In 1989, repair was completed and the reservoir was allowed to fill back to the normal pool elevation of 2064.5m Because of impacts to the littoral habitat in Jackson Lake caused by restoration of the dam at the Snake River outlet, the status of the aquatic plant community was assessed in August, 1989, to follow up to investigations conducted in 1983 (prior to reconstruction) and 1985 (immediately following drawdown to 2055.4m) by Brewer (1986). This report summarizes findings from the 1989 study on impacts to the littoral macrophyte community caused by the repair-related drawdowns. A detailed report assessing current physical and biological conditions in Jackson Lake was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October (Brewer, 1989).
On Largest Lyapunov Exponent Assignment and Almost Sure Stabilization of Hybrid Systems

This paper develops techniques for the analysis, control and stabilization of hybrid systems. These systems switch among a finite set of linear time-invariant models with switching behavior governed by a Finite State Markov Chain. The relationship of these techniques to standard methodologies for linear time-invariant systems is also considered.
Gender Differences in the Organization of Guilt and Shame

Lewis [(1971) Shame in Guilt in Neurosis, New York: International Universities Press] argues that guilt and shame represent distinct modes of perceiving and experiencing information about the self that are congruent with gender-linked differences in socialization. We tested predictions from Lewis' model that shame-proneness in adult White females (n = 102), but guilt-proneness in adult White males (n = 99), would account for a substantial proportion of the variance in measures assessing their characteristic use of defense mechanisms and endorsement of gender roles. Certain results confirmed Lewis' broader claim that guilt for men, but shame for women, were predominant modes of organizing information about the self. Other results did not support certain specific predictions made by Lewis or they provided only equivocal support (e.g., in men, the joint positive relationship of guilt-proneness to communal orientations but its negative relationship to externalization). Similar discrepant findings emerged for females' construal of guilt, which also related positively to internalization. Although shame-proneness did emerge as the principal emotion variable for females, it was linked to both internalization and externalization. Lewis' model is reconsidered in light of recent empirical findings and the need to conduct more on-line investigations of transgression-emotion induction-emotion reduction cycles.
Better public policy through natural language information access

Federal agencies implement laws passed by the Congress by creating rules and regulations that can be applied in practice. During this process, staffs at the various agencies may review past and current regulations and receive comments from stakeholders and the public regarding the proposed regulations.Putting rulemaking online can increase the public's awareness of the proposed rules and its participation in the process. It can also facilitate staff work. A key factor in realizing these benefits will be the availability of simple, intuitive, and timely access to the empowering legislation, the proposed rules and information regarding them. We propose to provide such access through an information architecture that allows members of the public as well as staff and stakeholders to obtain the texts and information they desire by using everyday language. Over the past decade, we have developed the START and Omnibase systems for natural language question answering and have applied them in a variety of domains. We plan to use these systems and our experience to support online rule making.We note that besides providing information access, these systems can function more proactively, by soliciting feedback from targeted parties or by sending out notifications and information in response to standing queries submitted by the users.
Retail Contracting and Organizational Form: Alternatives to Chain Affiliation

Most of the existing empirical literature on franchising investigates the share of company-owned versus franchised establishments within large retail firms. This literature ignores a third organizational option: establishments may be operated as unaffiliated, independently owned businesses. This paper empirically analyses what determines whether independent ownership is observed, using data on the affiliation status of nearly 2,300 motel establishments located throughout the United States. Heterogeneity in the underlying economic environment helps explain affiliation choices at the establishment level. The results also suggest that failure to consider independent establishments may explain the puzzling negative correlation between risk and vertical integration commonly found in the empirical franchising literature.
New World, New Global Education Review

Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Bruce S. Cooper (2014). New world, new Global Education Review. Global Education Review, 1 (1). 3-7. New World, New Global Education Review
DISCUSSION OF: Workplace Culture Mediates Performance Appraisal Effectiveness and Employee Outcomes: A Study in a Retail Setting

T he dual purpose of performance evaluation is to motivate future effort and to assess past performance. There is considerable accounting research on performance evaluation. Accounting researchers have investigated performance measurement tools such as budgets (e.g., Fisher, Frederickson, and Peffer 2000), budgetary slack (e.g., Fisher, Maines, Peffer, and Sprinkle 2002), and balanced scorecards (e.g., Ittner, Larker, and Meyer 2003; Lipe and Salterio 2000). It is within this extensive domain of literature that Cravens, Oliver, Oishi, and Stewart (2015) set their investigation of performance evaluation and positive work environment. Cravens et al. (2015) investigate an inconsistent result in the literature regarding the impact of performance evaluation on different work performance metrics—specifically, that in some instances, ‘‘a seemingly well designed performance measurement system is not effective’’ (Cravens et al. 2015). They explore a potential missing link—that a positive workplace culture mediates the relationship between performance evaluation and positive outcomes associated with the system. Their results indicate that perceptions of workplace culture influence the effectiveness of the performance appraisal process: the more positively employees view their workplace, the more effective the performance review process is in improving work performance outcomes. The effectiveness of performance evaluation systems is a timely and important topic. As we move into a more automated and knowledge-based economy, it is increasingly true that organizations are only as effective as their employees. This implies that a high-quality performance measurement and feedback system, i.e., one that can actually motivate employee effort and improve future performance, will become increasingly valuable. Given that the performance review process can also have adverse effects, it is important to understand the circumstances under which the performance review process is more effective than less. Examination of workplace culture using positive psychology theory provides a useful lens through which to better understand the performance appraisal process.
Effects on turkey poults of rations containing corn invaded by Fusarium tricinctum (Cda.) Sny. & Hans.

Abstract Consumption of an otherwise balanced ration containing 1% of corn invaded by Fusarium tricinctum isolate 2061-C resulted in the death of 13% of turkey poults within 35 days, in decreased feed efficiency and weight gain, and moderate development of bilateral necrotic lesions at angles of the mouth, especially in those that succumbed. Consumption of a ration with 2% of corn invaded by F. tricinctum resulted in death of 60 to 83% of the birds, in greatly reduced growth and feed efficiency in the survivors, and in development of severe mouth lesions. Consumption of rations containing 5, 10, and 20% of corn invaded by the fungus resulted in death of all birds in 5 to 15 days.
Two chromosomal genes required for killing expression in killer strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The killer character of yeast is determined by a 1.4 x 106 molecular weight double-stranded RNA plasmid and at least 12 chromosomal genes. Wild-type strains of yeast that carry this plasmid (killers) secrete a toxin which is lethal only to strains not carrying this plasmid (sensitives). ——— We have isolated 28 independent recessive chromosomal mutants of a killer strain that have lost the ability to secrete an active toxin but remain resistant to the effects of the toxin and continue to carry the complete cytoplasmic killer genome. These mutants define two complementation groups, kex1 and kex2. Kex1 is located on chromosome VII between ade5 and lys5. Kex2 is located on chromosome XIV, but it does not show meiotic linkage to any gene previously located on this chromosome. ——— When the killer plasmid of kex1 or kex2 strains is eliminated by curing with heat or cycloheximide, the strains become sensitive to killing. The mutant phenotype reappears among the meiotic segregants in a cross with a normal killer. Thus, the kex phenotype does not require an alteration of the killer plasmid. ——— Kex1 and kex2 strains each contain near-normal levels of the 1.4 x 106 molecular weight double-stranded RNA, whose presence is correlated with the presence of the killer genome.
GeoGebra: Vom Autodesign zur Computerschriftart

Wie werden eigentlich Computerschriftarten in verschiedenen Formen und Grosen erstellt und gespeichert?
Design survey of x-ray/XUV projection lithography systems

Several configurations of two- to four-multilayer mirror systems that have been proposed for use in soft-X-ray projection lithography are examined. The performance capabilities of spherical and aspherical two-mirror projection systems are compared, and a two-spherical-mirror four-reflection system that can resolve 0.1-micron features over a 10 x 10 mm field is described. It is emphasized that three-mirror systems show promise of high resolution in telescope applications, but have not been fully analyzed for projection lithography applications. It has been shown that a four-mirror aspheric system can be designed to meet the resolution requirements, but a trade-off must be made between reducing distortion below 10 microns over the field of view and increasing the modulation transfer function greater than 50 percent at spatial frequency of 5000 cycles/mm.
Liver resections for embolic metastases from cancer of the colon and rectum.

Two patients, who underwent resections of the left lobe of the liver for embolic metastases from primary cancers of the colon and rectum, are reported.
Cultural Competence in Nursing Homes: Issues and Implications for Education.

A research and intervention project to enhance cultural competence (CC) within nursing home staff is described, with particular emphasis on the qualitative findings generated during baseline assessments of 10 participating facilities. These findings, developed from an analysis of transcripts of 56 focus groups, suggest the importance of five CC concerns in the nursing home setting: (1) uneven staff awareness of cultural differences among residents; (2) challenges in both verbal and non-verbal communication; (3) minimization/generalization of recognized differences; (4) overtly discriminatory actions/comments; and (5) inadequate organizational response to such actions. Educational approaches to and implications of these concerns for staff development within the nursing home setting are explored.
An Overview of Contemporary Steelmaking Processes

Modern steelmaking processes are described. Recent evolution and development of pneumatic, open hearth, and electric furnace steelmaking processes are briefly reviewed, and their current status is outlined in terms of production of various types of steel, flexibility in raw materials consumed, variations in operating practices, energy conservation, and process control. Recent developments and innovations in steel production are described including bottom injection of gases and gas-solid mixtures. Improvements in control of pneumatic steelmaking are considered. Electric furnace steelmaking improvements via increased power input and productivity are described, along with recently developed water cooling systems for shell, walls, and roofs.
Individual and organizational consequences of CEO claimed handicapping: What's good for the CEO may not be so good for the firm

Previous research on organizational impression management has focused on verbal accounts proffered by leaders in response to organizational-threatening events. The present studies examined the effectiveness of an anticipatory verbal tactic, claimed handicapping, in which CEOs warn stakeholders of factors that may adversely affect future firm performance. We studied the effect of two types of claimed handicapping on CEO compensation and firm value. One claimed handicap consisted of factors external to the firm whereas the other claimed handicap consisted of factors internal to the firm. In two very different research venues (an experiment and archival study), we found that, under certain conditions, claimed external handicapping had diametrically opposed effects on CEO compensation and firm value. Specifically, when prior firm performance was favorable, external claimed handicaps had a positive effect on CEO pay but a negative impact on firm value. Moreover, the results of both studies highlighted the need to distinguish between external claimed handicaps and internal claimed handicaps, in that all significant effects were produced by external rather than internal claimed handicaps. Contributions to theory and research on organization impression management, self-handicapping, and executive compensation, as well as cross-disciplinary implications, are discussed.
Nonlinear continuous integrable Hamiltonian couplings

Based on a kind of special non-semisimple Lie algebras, a scheme is presented for constructing nonlinear continuous integrable couplings. Variational identities over the corresponding loop algebras are used to furnish Hamiltonian structures for the resulting continuous integrable couplings. The application of the scheme is illustrated by an example of nonlinear continuous integrable Hamiltonian couplings of the AKNS hierarchy of soliton equations.
Geographic and stratigraphic distributions of the Caribbean species of Cladocora (Scleractinia, Faviidae)

A complete account of the faviid genus Cladocora within the Caribbean is presented. In the Caribbean this genus represents an extant group that had its earliest occurrence during the Campanian-Maastrichtian of Jamaica. Recent forms have been reported throughout the Caribbean. The following forms were found (with stratigraphic ranges in the Caribbean): C. arbuscula (Pliocene-Recent), C. debilis (Pleistocene-Recent), C. gracilis (Middle-Upper Maastrichtian), C. jamaicaensis (Campanian-Maastrichtian and Eocene), C. johnsoni (Pliocene), and C. recrescens (Middle-Upper Oligocene). The occurrence of the genus Cladocora in the Caribbean is largely continuous from the Campanian to Recent, during the majority of the Caribbean species show affinities to European assemblages. For the time intervals Paleocene, Lower Oligocene, and Miocene the taxon has not been reported from the Caribbean.
Strongly Emissive ss-DNA-encapsulated Ag Nanoclusters as New Single Molecule Fluorophores

Highly emissive ssDNA-encapsulated Ag dimers and trimers have been created and studied in polymeric and biological systems. Fluorescence intensities and photostabilities greatly exceed those of existing organic dyes. Full photophysical characterization will be reported.
Nitrogen abundance in comet Halley

Data on the nitrogen-containing compounds that observed spectroscopically in the coma of Comet Halley are summarized, and the elemental abundance of nitrogen in the Comet Halley nucleus is derived. It is found that 90 percent of elemental nitrogen is in the dust fraction of the coma, while in the gas fraction, most of the nitrogen is contained in NH3 and CN. The elemental nitrogen abundance in the ice component of the nucleus was found to be deficient by a factor of about 75, relative to the solar photosphere, indicating that the chemical partitioning of N2 into NH3 and other nitrogen compounds during the evolution of the solar nebula cannot account completely for the low abundance ratio N2/NH3 = 0.1, observed in the comet. It is suggested that the low N2/NH3 ratio in Comet Halley may be explained simply by physical fractionation and/or thermal diffusion.
Discrepancy in Results Between Spine and Hip Scans of a Woman with End Stage Renal Disease

Abstract Conditions and artifacts such as aortic calcifications, osteophytes, hip prostheses, and metallic objects can affect the results of dual X-ray absorptionometry scans of the spine and hip. Abdominal surgery often entails the use of metal sutures causing subtle artifacts near or over the lumbar spine resulting in inaccurate bone mineral density (BMD) measurements. We herein report a case of a woman whose spine BMD appeared normal while her hip BMD was
Proanthocyanidins Rapidly Stabilize the Demineralized Dentin Layer

While proanthocyanidins (PA) are effective in improving collagen’s resistance to collagenolytic degradation, the direct incorporation of PA into an adhesive system is detrimental to the light-curing thereof. Conversely, the use of PA as a primer could circumvent this issue, but little is known about the efficacy of PA in stabilizing collagen when applied in a clinically relevant manner. This study investigated the pre- and post-digestion morphology of an acid-etched dentin collagen layer that underwent PA treatment for time periods on a scale of seconds. The null hypothesis, that there is no difference between the PA-treated and untreated control group, had to be rejected, since it was revealed that the untreated control could not survive 1 hr of exogenous collagenase digestion, while the PA-treated collagen could sustain at least 16 hrs of digestion with no perceptible changes in collagen structure. In addition, the stabilizing effect of the gold-standard cross-linker glutaraldehyde at comparable experimental conditions was found to be almost non-existent within the 5, 15, or 30 sec of cross-linking permitted. Therefore, PA have been proven to be extraordinarily efficient in stabilizing demineralized dentin collagen against enzymatic challenges in a clinically relevant setting, likely due to the non-covalent nature of their interaction with collagen molecules.
RNA secondary structure, permutations, and statistics

We construct a permutation representation for RNA secondary structure. We also introduce some basic combinatorial statistics for RNA secondary structure and relate them to permutation statistics when appropriate. These statistics allow us to quantify some structural phenomena in RNA secondary structure.
An Empirical Investigation of the Correlates of Satisfaction in Public Schools

Parents’ satisfaction with their children's school has become an important area in research, practice, and policy. Correlates of parent satisfaction were examined using an online survey. Six school districts in West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina were randomly selected to participate in the study. Parents were asked to read the consent form and agree to participate in the study. A total of 475 completed the survey. Results suggested that the data were distributed normally. Pearson correlation tests were conducted among parent satisfaction and several independent variables, such as parent empowerment, parent involvement, school service quality, school ethical climate, school climate, parent loyalty, parent voice, and parent exit. Parent satisfaction was significantly and positively correlated with school climate, school ethical climate, school service quality, parent empowerment, and parent loyalty. Parent loyalty was significantly and negatively correlated with parent exit and parent voice...