cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design methodolgy for HD Photo compression algorithm targeting a FPGA

This paper presents a design methodology for implementing the HD photo compression algorithm within a FPGA. The HD photo compression algorithm is comprised of five pipelined functional stages; (transformation, quantization, prediction, scanning, and encoding) some of which can be manipulated to obtain a lower cost and/or higher performance solution. This flexibility enables tailored solutions to be developed for a broader spectrum of applications. An Altera Stratix III FPGA can compress a 56 megapixel image in hundreds of microseconds.
Mobility of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 1995–2000: The Role of Gateway States:

This study uses the 2000 PUMS to examine mobility among the foreign-born population and the role of the gateway states. Between 1995 and 2000, net domestic migration of the foreign-born population to gateway states was negative. Yet the rate of out-migration from gateway states was lower than that from non-gateway states. Overall, the findings do not support the idea that gateway states are “losing their hold” on their foreign-born population. Yet trends in international and domestic migration are increasing the foreign-born population of non-gateway states relative to gateway states, and reducing differences in their characteristics.
Use of real-time polymerase chain reaction and molecular beacons for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7.

Molecular beacons (MBs) are oligonucleotide probes that fluoresce upon hybridization. In this paper, we described the development of a real-time PCR assay to detect the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 using these fluorogenic reporter molecules. MBs were designed to recognize a 26-bp region of the rfbE gene, coding for an enzyme necessary for O-antigen biosynthesis. The specificity of the MB-based PCR assay was evaluated using various enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) and Shiga-like toxin-producing (STEC) E. coli strains as well as bacteria species that cross-react with the O157 antisera. All E. coli serotype O157 tested was positively identified while all other species, including the closely related O55 were not detected by the assay. Positive detection of E. coli O157:H7 was demonstrated when >10(2) CFU/ml was present in the samples. The capability of the assay to detect E. coli O157:H7 in raw milk and apple juice was demonstrated. As few as 1 CFU/ml was detected after 6 h of enrichment. These assays could be carried out entirely in sealed PCR tubes, enabling rapid and semiautomated detection of E. coli O157:H7 in food and environmental samples.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Diabetic Retinopathy in a Multi-Racial Underserved Population

Purpose: To describe the prevalence, severity, and associated risk factors of diabetic retinopathy among different racial groups (whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) within an urban, underserved population. Methods: 2-field non-mydriatic retinal photographs of each eye were reviewed for 1073 patients referred to the San Francisco General Hospital mobile eye service, the Eye Van, for diabetic retinopathy screening. Presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy was determined based on a modification of the Airlie House classification system. Results: The prevalence of any retinopathy among all diabetics was 15.7%. There was no statistical difference in the prevalence of retinopathy among the racial groups. Significant independent predictors of presence and severity of retinopathy were longer duration of diabetes, and use of oral hypoglycemic medication or insulin (P < 0.05). Gender, age, primary language, income, and co-diagnosis of hypertension were not correlated. Conclusions: In this population of sim...
Runaway sexual selection when female preferences are directly selected

We introduce models for the runaway coevolution of female mating preferences and male display traits. The models generalize earlier results by allowing for direct natural selection on the preference, arbitrary forms of mate choice, and fairly general assumptions about the underlying genetics. Results show that a runaway is less likely when there is direct selection on the preference, but that it is still possible if there is a sufficiently large phenotypic correlation between the female's preference and the male's trait among mated pairs. Comparison of three preference functions introduced by Lande (1981) shows that open-ended preferences are particularly prone to a runaway, and that absolute preferences require very large differences between females in their preferences. We analyze the causes of the runaway seen in a model developed by Iwasa and Pomiankowski (1995).
Energy dissipation and constitutive modeling for a mechanistic description of pad scratching in chemical–mechanical planarization

A thermomechanical model to describe the mechanisms of polishing pad scratching in chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) has been formulated and investigated. CMP is a necessary process in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication to planarize wafers with nanoscale features after patterned layer deposition. Polishing pad asperities can produce microscale scratches on the wafer surface during CMP, reducing IC manufacturing yields. The constructed thermomechanical model accounts for stresses of the pad and wafer contact and also provides the means to track input energy dissipation during CMP. Tracking energy dissipation offers information about processes that may influence scratch production. This knowledge ultimately produces a greater physical understanding of CMP for the prevention of pad scratching. Polishing pad stress relaxation experiments demonstrate the importance of viscoelastic and plastic strain energy dissipation with its effects on the wafer stress field. Scratch producing ability of the polishing pad is found to decrease with use in CMP, with slurry soaking and increasing polishing time. Mechanical behavior of the polishing pad is demonstrated to differ when in compression and in tension. Compressibility of the pad material is shown to be significant in stress modeling through experimental measurement of polishing pad volume change. Differential scanning calorimetry of used polishing pad samples revealed energy dissipation into the polishing pad surface with increasing polishing time of CMP. Energy dissipation processes influence pad scratching in CMP. Analytical wafer stress field modeling unveils that the scratching ability of a polishing pad decreases when it is less stiff or has a smoother surface.
The MUSE Experiment: Studying the Proton Radius Puzzle with muon-proton Elastic Scattering

The Proton Radius Puzzle refers to the disagreement between the proton charge radius determined from muonic hydrogen and the radius determined from atomic hydrogen level transitions and ep elastic scattering form factor data. The discrepancy of 7 s is not yet explained, and though numerous resolutions have been proposed there is no generally accepted resolution to the puzzle. The MUon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) Collaboration will simultaneously measure elastic ep and m p scattering at the Paul Scherrer Institute, testing the interesting possibility that electrons and muons behave differently. The experiment will also measure scattering with both polarities of e and m , directly disentangling two-photon exchange effects. We plan to measure in the kinematic region of Q 2 = 0 : 002 ...
Nuclear resonance fluorescence in Ba-136

The resonant scattering of electron bremsstrahlung by an enriched sample of /sup 136/Ba has been studied for photon energies of up to 5 MeV. It provided estimates of the radiative widths for 10 levels. Based on the relative yields at scattering angles of 96/sup 0/ and 126/sup 0/, unambiguous spin assignments were made to 5 of these levels. Where feasible, the yield measurements were supplemented by self-absorption data and by linear polarization studies. For the strongest excitation in /sup 136/Ba, at 3.436 MeV, the resonance fluorescence experiments led to a 1/sup -/ assignment and a value GAMMA/sub 0/ = 88 +- 22 meV for the partial width of the ground state transition. The corresponding E1 strength is approximately 1/3 of the E1 strengths observed for the strongest low-lying E1 transitions in the even-even N = 82 nuclei. When combined with previous observations for N > 82, the result obtained for /sup 136/Ba (N = 80) indicates that the strengths of the ground state transitions from the lowest 1/sup -/ states peak at N = 82. Yield information on a few levels in /sup 137/Ba and /sup 138/Ba was also obtained.
Analysis of biofilters using synthetic macroporous foam media.

Abstract The removal efficiency of a pollutant being treated in a biofilter packed with macroporous units as biofilm media carriers can be maximized provided that more fouled air flows inside of the unit pieces of the media rather than around it, because the internal specific area of the carrier is several orders of magnitude higher than outside of it. A new model that accounts for the hydrodynamic distribution of a gas stream flowing inside of a macroporous packed bed, more specifically open-pore foams, is proposed. The model allows for the design of the carrier (pore size, media internal porosity, bed porosity, and external bed resistance coefficient) in the presence or absence of outer layers such as a biofilm and a liquid film so that a given pollutant removal efficiency can be attained or increased based on the amount of fouled gas flowing inside of the media rather than around it, whereas the clogging effects typically observed in the field can be avoided. The model can also be used for the special ...
INTRASPECIFIC LIFE HISTORY VARIATION IN A POND SNAIL: THE ROLES OF POPULATION DIVERGENCE AND PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY.

Two approaches were used to determine the degree of divergence in life histories among populations of the pond snail, Lymnaea elodes. Juvenile snails were reciprocally transferred between ponds differing in permanence and productivity, and the resulting variation in life history traits was recorded. In a second experiment, parents and their offspring from both a vernal and a permanent pond population were reared in the same pond. Proximal factors had by far the greatest effects on life history traits in the transfer experiment, with snails reared in a more productive pond showing earlier reproduction at a larger size, higher fecundity, and longer life cycle length. Snails from the more uncertain pond in terms of drying date did reproduce at an earlier age and smaller size and grew less in each pond. However, these population differences, for the most part, disappeared when snails were reared for two generations in the same environment. Much of the intraspecific variation in life histories seen in this species must therefore be considered the result of phenotypic plasticity. I argue that the plasticity in life histories itself may be adaptive to this inhabitant of unpredictable, vernal ponds.
On Being a Happy Surgeon

This article is adapted from an address that Dr. McQuarrie delivered to the Minnesota Surgical Residents Society on June 15, 1999, as he was honored as the society's Surgical Alumnus of the Year. A...
Dose and timing in neurorehabilitation: prescribing motor therapy after stroke.

Purpose of reviewPrescribing the most appropriate dose of motor therapy for individual patients is a challenge because minimal data are available and a large number of factors are unknown. This review explores the concept of dose and reviews the most recent findings in the field of neurorehabilitati
From chip to cloud: Optical interconnects in engineered systems for the enterprise

The server compute landscape is changing. The traditional model of building general-purpose enterprise compute boxes, that end-users can use in various combinations with storage and networking to assemble their desired compute environments, has evolved to purpose-built systems optimized for specific applications. This tight integration of hardware and software components allows for unprecedented levels of switching and compute efficiencies and has fueled the penetration of optical interconnects deep "inside the box", particularly for switch scale-up. We present an 8.2Tb/s Infiniband packet switch with 41 ports running 100Gb/s per port interconnected by 12-channel mid-board optical transceivers with 25Gb/s per channel per direction of optical I/O. These components enable systems with up to 49Tb/s bandwidth in a 2U standard rack mount configuration.
How the Creation of Appellate Courts in England and the United States Limited Judicial Comment on Evidence to the Jury

The practice of judicial comment on the evidence has traditionally been the main form of jury control. Previous scholarly work has focused on the loss of the power in state courts, and has attributed the decline of judicial comment to a strict separation of functions between judge and jury and to regional differences in legal culture. This article examines two jurisdictions in which the power of comment long remained strong, at least in theory: the High Court of England, with its predecessors, and the federal courts in the United States. In both jurisdictions, judicial power to comment has been limited and in practice reduced, in the federal courts severely. The article reveals that this limitation developed with the advent of courts of appeal with separate personnel and especially of appeals in criminal cases.Lack of appeal, or limited appeal, has been a distinctive trait of common law systems, particularly in criminal cases. There was no appeal as of right in criminal cases until 1907 in England, and 1889 in the federal courts. In the federal system, the early movements to allow appeals in criminal cases and to limit judicial comment on evidence focused on controlling a particular judge: Isaac Parker, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas, who presided over more than 100 trials for capital crimes occurring in the Indian Territory from 1875 to 1896.
Native Point Defects in GaN: A Hybrid-Functional Study

Gallium nitride is an attractive, important system for high-power electronics, but device performance is limited by the presence of intrinsic point defects, which are present even in material of the highest purity. Over the past 20 years, many contradictory results about these defects have emerged from both experiment and theory. The authors use a state-of-the-art approach to calculate electronic and optical properties of all common, native defects in GaN, and compare the results to experiment. They also show the likelihood of native defects to be radiative or nonradiative, which is important for improving device fabrication.
Lipidic ionic liquid stationary phases for the separation of aliphatic hydrocarbons by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

Abstract Lipidic ionic liquids (ILs) possessing long alkyl chains as well as low melting points have the potential to provide unique selectivity as well as wide operating ranges when used as stationary phases in gas chromatography. In this study, a total of eleven lipidic ILs containing various structural features (i.e., double bonds, linear thioether chains, and cyclopropanyl groups) were examined as stationary phases in comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) for the separation of nonpolar analytes in kerosene. N-alkyl-N′-methyl-imidazolium-based ILs containing different alkyl side chains were used as model structures to investigate the effects of alkyl moieties with different structural features on the selectivities and operating temperature ranges of the IL-based stationary phases. Compared to a homologous series of ILs containing saturated side chains, lipidic ILs exhibit improved selectivity toward the aliphatic hydrocarbons in kerosene. The palmitoleyl IL provided the highest selectivity compared to all other lipidic ILs as well as the commercial SUPELCOWAX 10 column. The linoleyl IL containing two double bonds within the alkyl side chain showed the lowest chromatographic selectivity. The lipidic IL possessing a cyclopropanyl group within the alkyl moiety exhibited the highest thermal stability. The Abraham solvation parameter model was used to evaluate the solvation properties of the lipidic ILs. This study provides the first comprehensive examination into the relation between lipidic IL structure and the resulting solvation characteristics. Furthermore, these results establish a basis for applying lipidic ILs as stationary phases for solute specific separations in GC × GC.
Length of Interdialytic Intervals Affects Morbidity and Mortality in Chronic Haemodialysis Patients.

Background: Chronic in-center hemodialysis (HD) patients may experience more morbidity and mortality after the weekend. Since our Veterans Administration Hospital HD unit is closed on the weekend, non-traditional HD schedules were created. Some schedules contained a 4-day weekend compared to the usual 3-day weekend. We hypothesized that there are more frequent cardiovascular events (CVEs) and higher mortality after longer interdialytic intervals. Methods: Patients (n=85) were placed on HD schedules as they became available. The usual interdialytic interval group consisted of patients dialyzing on Mon-Wed-Fri or Mon-Tue- Fri (longest interdialytic gap 3 days, n=29), and the long interdialytic interval group consisted of patients dialyzing on Mon-Wed-Thu, Mon-Tue-Thu, Tue-Wed-Fri, or Tue-Thu-Fri (longest interdialytic gap 4 days, n=56). Results: All-cause mortality was not different between groups, and CVEs occurred more frequently in the usual interdialytic interval group (maybe due to higher mean potassium and phosphorus concentrations). However, within each group, a similar pattern of CVE occurrence as a function of time after dialysis was observed. Compared to CVEs occurring during the 2 days after HD (the lowest frequency), CVEs occurred 2-3 times more frequently during and immediately after HD and 5-7 times more frequently during the third and fourth days after HD. The greatest risk of CVE occurred during the fourth day after HD, which exists only in the long interdialytic interval group. Conclusion: In chronic HD patients, CVEs are most likely to occur after the longest interdialytic intervals.
Peutz–Jeghers Syndrome

Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome is an autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by hamartomatous gastrointestinal polyps and mucocutaneous melanin pigmentation. Patients are also at risk for extraintestinal neoplasms. In this chapter, the clinicopathologic characteristics of the syndrome, its management and surveillance recommendations will be discussed.
Mechanisms of Flame Stabilization in Subsonic And Supersonic Flows

Current understanding on the fundamental physico-chemical mechanisms governing the structure and stabilization of premixed and diffusion flames in subsonic and supersonic laminar and turbulent flows are classified and discussed, with emphasis on possible applications in supersonic propulsion. Specific topics discussed include the design concepts of supersonic engine operation and fuel injection, the ignition of combustibles in homogeneous and diffusive media, the extinction of premixed and diffusion flames through reactant leakage, heat loss, and aerodynamic stretching, the stabilization and liftoff of inverted, burner-stabilized, and rim-stabilized flames, and the various proposed mechanisms for the stabilization and blowout of jet diffusion flames. The fundamental similarities and differences between the various critical phenomena are indicated. Research topics of potential importance to supersonic combustion are suggested.
Model prediction of dynamic performance response of DMFC using artificial neural networks

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) uses liquid methanol as fuel to generate electricity at low operating temperatures as well as to mainly produce water and carbon dioxide. Since DMFC performance characteristics are inherently complex, it can be postulated that artificial neural networks (ANN) represent a marked improvement in prediction capabilities. However, very little investigation has been done to develop dynamic ANN to predict transient behavior of DMFCs. This paper predicts the dynamic performance of a DMFC stack under changes in operating conditions including step change in current. Input variables for the analysis consist of methanol concentration, temperature and current. The performances of the ANN models of four different approaches are judged based on stack voltage, which was shown to be predicted. The results show promise of ANN modeling approaches for optimal control strategy development in DMFC system applications.
Thermal air oxidation changes surface and adsorptive properties of black carbon (char/biochar)

In this study, we systematically investigated the effects of thermal air oxidation on the properties of biomass-derived black carbon (BC) made at carbonization temperatures (HTTs) of 300-700°C. BC produced by including air in the carbonization step was found to have a low surface area and underdeveloped pore structure. Substantial changes of BC were observed after post-pyrolysis thermal air oxidation (PPAO). Well-carbonized BC samples made anoxically at relatively high HTTs (600 and 700°C) showed, after PPAO, significant increases in N2 BET surface area (SA) (up to 700 times), porosity (<60A) (up to 95 times), and adsorptivity (up to 120 times) of neutral organic species including two triazine herbicides and one natural estrogen. Partially carbonized BC made at a lower HTT (300 or 400°C) showed moderate increases in these properties after PPAO, but a large increase in the intensity of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy bands corresponding to various oxygen-containing functional groups. Well-carbonized BC samples, on the other hand, were deficient in surface oxygen functionality even after the PPAO treatment. Adsorption of the test organic compounds on BC generally trended with BET SA when it was less than 300m2/g, but BET SA was poorly predictive of adsorption when it was greater than 300m2/g. Overall, our results suggest that thermal reactions between molecular oxygen and BC 1) increase surface oxygen functionality more effectively for low-HTT than for high-HTT BC samples; 2) increase SA and porosity (<60A) especially for high-HTT BC samples; and 3) create new adsorption sites and/or relieve steric restriction of organic molecules to micropores, thereby enhancing the adsorptivity of BC. These results will prove useful not only for understanding the fate of environmental BC but also in devising strategies for improving the practical performance of the engineered form of BC (i.e., biochar).
Behavior and Structure

Philosophers and scientists frequently distinguish between the behavior and the structure of an organism. In automata theory the distinction can be made quite exactly, and provides for a concept of level of structure; at the low end is the material structure and at the high the abstract rule structure. Having developed the idea of various levels in relatively sharp form we go on to distinguish between rules that somehow guide and those that just describe a system, and also between models and theories. Finally I defend a realistic thesis: embodied automata rules are really in, or constitute, the mind.
Prediction of Chloride Ingress in Saturated Concrete Using Formation Factor and Chloride Binding Isotherm

This article describes an approach to predict chloride ingress in saturated concrete using the formation factor and chloride binding isotherm. The formation factor is calculated as the ratio of the measured electrical resistivity of concrete and the electrical resistivity of the pore solution. The chloride binding isotherms are determined experimentally by placing ground concrete powder in sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions of varying concentrations and using titration to quantify the bound chloride contents. The Nernst-Plank equation is used to predict the chloride ingress with the ionic diffusion coefficients (calculated from the formation factor) and the fitted (Freundlich) chloride binding isotherm. The simulation results correspond well with experimentally obtained chloride profiles of saturated concrete after being ponded in NaCl solution. It is found that 70 % of simulated values for total chloride contents have a relative error of less than 30 % when compared to the experimental data. The approach presented in this article can be considered as an alternative for mixture qualification and quality control, though further work is needed to benchmark this against existing procedures.
Liposomes formed from photo-cleavable phospholipids: in situ formation and photo-induced enhancement in permeability

Photocleavable liposomes were formed in situ through the coupling of an o-nitrobenzyl-containing azide tail precursor and an alkyne-functionalized lysolipid by the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. Inclusion of the photolabile o-nitrobenzyl-structure enables control over the permeability and morphology of the liposomes. Photolysis of the o-nitrobenzyl group changes the molecular structure of the photolabile phospholipids, inducing phase transitions and permeability increases in the bilayer membrane, ultimately disrupting the liposome entity.
Enhancing stem cell therapy through genetic modification.

Recent promising experimental results have suggested the possibility of regenerating damaged myocardium using adult bone marrow-derived stem cells ([1–4][1]). The biologic phenomenon of tissue regeneration and its potential clinical application have captivated the enthusiasm of scientists and
Rethinking the Physician’s Duty in Disaster Care

Amidst discussions of how to maximize physician contributions in high-risk disaster situations, the author asks if doctors are actually duty-bound to contribute at all. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Making the turn: The political roots of Lenin's theory of the party press

It is weU known that the March, 1902 publication of Lenin's What is to Be Done! laid many of the ideological foundations of Bolshevism, foundations which began to assume a definite organizational form at the Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party in the Summer of the foUowing year. The distinction between consciousness and spontaneity, the conception of a centralized vanguard party, the emphasis on consistent political activity based on agitation and propaganda, the 'plan for an aU-Russian political newspaper' aU these insistently repeated themes of Lenin's most influential work would provide much of the material around which Russian revolutiona ries would organize, argue, and divide in the coming years.1 Although What is to Be Donel expressed these motifs in a particularly sharp and polemical fashion, the foundation on which Lenin's pamphlet was based was largely in place before 1902.2 It was centered around his insistence that the 'party of a new type', whose construction he considered to be the 'chief task' facing Russian Social-Democracy, be organized around the regular printing, distribution, and use of a poUtical paper. I propose to examine the ideological and poUtical foundations of Lenin's theory of the party press, taking as my starting-point his often-repeated assertion that the press was the center around which his thinking revolved prior to the pubUcation of What is to Be Donel Several analysts have devoted considerable attention to Lenin's thoughts concerning the press and have tried to connect them to his concern with party-bu?ding.3 Others consider the role of the press in a relatively brief, superficial and unrevealing manner.4 But almost aU existing accounts tend to treat the press either as a strict organizational question related to specific tactics in the struggle against tsarism5 or as a function of Lenin's personal, poUtical drive for leadership, domination and power.6 The result is that the ideological and poUtical roots of his concerns tend to be obscured or ignored, and this examination represents an attempt to clarify both the reasoning behind his projections and the role he assigned to the paper. Wh?e his thinking was partly taUored to the specific problems facing Russian Social-Democracy,
The sleep and sex survey: Relationships between sexual function and sleep

Abstract Objective Distress and dysfunction in sleep and sex are both very common, and have been found to be separately related to anxiety, depression, and stress. Even so, and despite evidence linking obstructive sleep apnea and erectile disfunction, the connections between sleep and sex are largely understudied. Method A large (N = 703) survey of people in the United States between 18 and 65 years old was conducted using Mechanical Turk, an on-line crowd-sourcing platform. Approximately 30% of participants were Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American, 8% identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and the sampling structure ensured an even gender distribution in each of 5 age strata. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) assessed sleep and sexual dysfunction; the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and General Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) measured stress, depression, and anxiety to measure variance. Results We found a significant connection between insomnia severity and sexual function. The relationship remained significant after accounting for the shared variability associated with depressive and anxious symptoms, and perceived stress. Conclusion Given this relationship, clinicians observing dysfunction in one area should routinely assess for dysfunction in the other. Further research will be required to determine (a) if treatment of one has an effect on the other, and (b) if this connection is related to a common psychopathological factor and/or is a conditioned association related to the commonly shared context of bed.
Beyond Cultural Explanations: Understanding the Gendered Division of Household Labor in Mexican American Families:

While the vast literature on gendered divisions of household labor has rarely examined the experiences of Latino families, the limited research in this area has failed to account for structural con...
An investigation of effects of instructional videos in an undergraduate physics course

This mixed methods study focuses on the use of instructional videos in an undergraduate physics classroom. Previous research has explored the effects of videos on student performance however, limit...
Mega-Projects, Contentious Politics, and Institutional and Policy Change: Chile, 1994-2017

We think of social movements as forces for change, which frequently passes through policy and institutional reform. Yet just how they affect change all is frequently not addressed. This paper tackles the question in the context of the Chilean environmental movement’s effects on environmental governance and energy policy reforms. Building on work in political sociology it argues that Chilean environmental movement organizations had direct, indirect, and mediated effects on different phases of the policy process. It argues further that a political economy approach to environmental policymaking explains the politics by which they had such effects. Resumen: Mega-proyectos, politica contenciosa y cambio politico e institucional: Chile, 1994-2017 Pensamos en los movimientos sociales como fuerzas para el cambio, que con frecuencia pasan por reformas politicas e institucionales. Sin embargo, a menudo no se aborda como afectan al cambio. Este documento aborda la cuestion en el contexto de los efectos del movimiento ambiental chileno en la gobernanza ambiental y las reformas de la politica energetica. Sobre la base del trabajo en sociologia politica, argumenta que las organizaciones chilenas del movimiento ecologista tuvieron efectos directos, indirectos y mediados en diferentes fases del proceso politico. Argumenta ademas que un enfoque de economia politica en la formulacion de politicas ambientales explica la politica por la cual tuvieron tales efectos. Palabras clave: movimientos sociales, mega-proyectos, politica contenciosa, cambio politico, Chile.
Changes to an Active Learning Curriculum in Osteopathic Medical Education: Effects on Exam Outcomes and Board Scores

With the introduction of McMaster University’s problem-based, self-directed learning and cognitive integration in the medical school curriculum, learning in small groups has been gaining popularity with medical schools worldwide. Problem-based learning (PBL) places emphasis on the value of basic medical sciences as the basis of learning medicine using clinical problems. For a successful outcome, a PBL curriculum needs to have a student-centered learning environment, problem-based design and facilitation, and assessment of learning in PBL domains. We describe a PBL program that has been used for undergraduate medical education, including changes made to learning resources and assessment. The changes required input from both faculty educators and students, and success depended on buy-in into the process. One of the changes included implementing the use of standard textbooks, which students use as the primary source of information during self-directed learning. Another change was the use of several reliable, valid, and cost-effective high-stakes written exams from internal and external sources, to promote spaced retrieval of biomedical facts and clinical contexts. By making these and other changes, we have been able to achieve pass rates and board scores which are consistently above the national average for 12 years. We conclude that in order to ensure sustainable successful outcomes, it is important to keep our program dynamic by making improvements in the PBL domains and assessment methods, taking into consideration students’ course evaluations of the learning environment.
Responses of Cochlear Nucleus Neurons to Speech Signals: Neural Encoding of Pitch, Intensity and other Parameters

Investigations of responses of neurons in the auditory system to human speech stimuli are believed to be significant both from a basic and from an application point of view. In the former, the spectrally and temporally complex speech signals may be well suited to reveal complex nonlinear signal processing characteristics of the auditory system. In the latter, neural data may provide a useful reference for an ideal auditory prosthesis. Responses of primary auditory nerve fibers to elementary human speech stimuli have been relatively well documented (e.g., Sachs and Young, 1979; Carlson and Grandstrom, 1982; Delgutte and Kiang, 1984). In contrast, much less is known about responses to speech stimuli at the level of the cochlear nucleus although there have been several reports on this subject (e.g., Moore and Cashin, 1974; Kiang, 1975; Caspary et al., 1977; Rupert et al., 1976). Recently, Palmer et al. (1986) and Blackburn et al. (1986) investigated “primarylike” neurons in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) using vowel stimulation. The present paper reports results from our studies focused on the posteroventral and dorsal cochlear nuclei (PVCN and DCN) under stimulation with vowels and consonant-vowel syllables.
RESIDENTIAL BURIAL ALONG THE SOUTHERN STREET OF THE DEAD: SKELETONS AND ISOTOPES

Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggest that, overall, diets were analogous across compounds, but Compounds 17 and 18 were able to supplement their diet with a greater variety of plant resources. There were no clear dietary differences between higher and lower status individuals, however. Finally, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates indicate that residential living may have occurred later at Compound 18 than at Compound 17 and Tlajinga 33.
Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on Flexibility and Stiffness: A Literature Review

The effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on flexibility and muscle stiffness are focused areas of research. Many studies have been performed over a large range of vibratory conditions and have reported varied results on effectiveness. When reviewing the published literature, it is difficult to track the vibration parameters that have positive effects and which have negative or no effects. In writing this paper, over 80 articles were evaluated, 24 of which met the inclusion requirements. The data gathered in the articles were used to develop charts that illustrate the vibration conditions that elicit helpful, harmful, and no effects on flexibility and muscle stiffness. A combination of published data shows that acceleration is the best metric to predict the effectiveness of WBV for improving flexibility and muscle stiffness. This review shows that acceleration in the range of 5g to 10g was most effective in increasing flexibility. Published data on muscle and tendon stiffness are limited, but shows that although WBV is generally significantly less effective in increasing stiffness than increasing flexibility, accelerations below 6.4g were the most effective.
Prostate cancer in sexual minorities and the influence of HIV status

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men in the USA, but the effect of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment on men in a sexual minority group, including men who have sex with men and transgender women, is poorly understood. Efforts to study this population are complicated, as cancer registries do not routinely collect information on sexual orientation. As a result, epidemiological data regarding this population have come from small studies that have included disparate rates of prostate cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. Qualitative studies indicate that prostate cancer is experienced differently by sexual minorities, with distinct health-care needs that arise owing to differences in sexual practices, social support systems and relationships with the medical community. Notably, sexual minorities have been reported to experience poorer health-related quality of life outcomes than heterosexual men, and tend to have less robust social support systems, experience increased psychological distress caused by sexual dysfunction (areas of which are unmeasured after treatment), experience isolation within the health-care system and express increased levels of dissatisfaction with treatment. The incidence of prostate cancer actually seems to be decreased in men from sexual minorities living with HIV, despite there being no differences in screening and treatment, with poor cancer-specific mortality. Although the literature on patients with prostate cancer in men from sexual minority groups has historically been sparse, peer-reviewed research in this area has grown considerably during the past decade and has become an important field of study. In this Review, Amarasekera and colleagues consider the effect of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment on men in sexual minority groups, including men who have sex with men and transgender women as well as men with HIV, and discuss how and why efforts to study this population are complicated and evolving.
IMPACT OF END-OF-LIFE PLANNING ON SURROGATE DECISION-MAKER ANXIETY

At the end of life, adults with advanced illness frequently rely on surrogate decision makers to make health care decisions. Surrogate decision makers often have anxiety related to the difficulty and complexity of making end of life decisions. This project evaluated whether an educational intervention focused on creating a specific plan of care for hospice patients would reduce anxiety among their surrogate decision makers. The Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS), the State Trait Anxiety Inventory–State Anxiety Scale (STAI-S), and a single question about decision-making anxiety were used to measure surrogate decision maker anxiety before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and 2 weeks following the intervention. After completing an informed consent, 12 patients (age 80 ± 14.7 years) and 18 surrogate decision makers (age 60 ± 12.9 years) from a Southern California hospice organization participated in the educational intervention. Immediately following the intervention surrogate decision maker anxiety decreased. Mean GAS anxiety scores decreased (p = 0.003) from 21.3 ± 9.8 to 16.6 ± 7.6 and STAI-S scores decreased (p = 0.003) from 43.3 ± 11.5 to 38.1 ± 9.9. However, when surrogate decision maker anxiety was measured 2 weeks post-intervention, anxiety had increased again, so that it was no longer significantly different from pre-intervention levels. Qualitative analyses showed high satisfaction, with 85% of decision makers reporting that the education was very or extremely helpful This project demonstrated that an educational intervention in the hospice setting can be effective in creating a short-term decrease in surrogate decision maker anxiety levels.
Managing soils for negative feedback to climate change and positive impact on food and nutritional security

The increase in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide from 278 ppm in the pre-industrial era to 405 ppm in 2018, along with the enrichment of other greenhouse gases, has already caused a glob...
A level-set method for moving contact lines with contact angle hysteresis

Abstract We develop a level-set method in the finite-element framework. The contact line singularity is removed by the slip boundary condition proposed by Ren and E (2007) [6] , which has two friction coefficients: β N that controls the slip between the bulk fluids and the solid wall and β C L that controls the deviation of the microscopic dynamic contact angle from the static one. The predicted contact line dynamics from our method matches the Cox theory very well. We further find that the same slip length in the Cox theory can be reproduced by different combinations of ( β N , β C L ) , based on which we come up with a computational strategy for mesh-independent results that can match the experiments. There is no need to impose the contact angle condition geometrically, and the dynamic contact angle automatically emerges as part of the numerical solution. With a little modification, our method can also be used to compute contact angle hysteresis, where the tendency of contact line motion is readily available from the level-set function. Different test cases, including code validation and mesh-convergence study, are provided to demonstrate the efficiency and capability of our method.
Improved Peak Detection for Mass Spectrometry via Augmented Dominant Peak Removal

In several common measurement modes of mass spectrometry systems, the measurements produced are an ordered pair of abundance (an amplitude) versus mass to charge ratio (m/z). This mass spectrum can be viewed as delta functions comprising actual abundance of the ions with that m/z value convolved with a a smearing function due to the measurement process. Peak detection refers to the method of extracting estimates of these precise delta functions (mass locations) and amplitudes from this smeared response. Current peak detection and centroiding in mass spectrometry is particularly susceptible to errors when there is significant overlap between peaks. This paper explains the issues with current methods and presents a set of algorithms inspired by curve fitting and system ID methods in control [1] that dramatically reduce these issues. The algorithms are computationally simple, suitable for implementation in the embedded system of an analytical instrument, and produce dramatically improved results in the peak center estimates, particularly when there is significant peak overlap in the measured peak spectrum.
Deep Neural Network Inverse-Design for Long Wave Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging

This paper presents deep learning approaches for the inverse-design of metal-insulator-metal metasurfaces for hyperspectral imaging applications. Generative adversarial networks are able to compensate for the complex interactions between electromagnetic waves and metastructures to efficiently produce multiple design solutions that would be difficult to obtain using other methods.
Analysis of Continuously Varying Kinematics for Prosthetic Leg Control Applications

Powered prosthetic legs can improve the quality of life for people with transfemoral amputations by providing net positive work at the knee and ankle, reducing the effort required from the wearer, and making more tasks possible. However, the controllers for these devices use finite state machines that limit their use to a small set of pre-defined tasks that require many hours of tuning for each user. In previous work, we demonstrated that a continuous parameterization of joint kinematics over walking speeds and inclines provides more accurate predictions of reference kinematics for control than a finite state machine. However, our previous work did not account for measurement errors in gait phase, walking speed, and ground incline, nor subject-specific differences in reference kinematics, which occur in practice. In this work, we conduct a pilot experiment to characterize the accuracy of speed and incline measurements using sensors onboard our prototype prosthetic leg and simulate phase measurements on ten able-bodied subjects using archived motion capture data. Our analysis shows that given demonstrated accuracy for speed, incline, and phase estimation, a continuous parameterization provides statistically significantly better predictions of knee and ankle kinematics than a comparable finite state machine, but both methods’ primary source of predictive error is subject deviation from average kinematics.
Increased LRRK2 kinase activity alters neuronal autophagy by disrupting the axonal transport of autophagosomes

Parkinson's disease-causing mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene hyperactivate LRRK2 kinase activity and cause increased phosphorylation of Rab GTPases, important regulators of intracellular trafficking. We found that the most common LRRK2 mutation, LRRK2-G2019S, dramatically reduces the processivity of autophagosome transport in neurons in a kinase-dependent manner. This effect was consistent across an overexpression model, neurons from a G2019S knockin mouse, and human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons gene edited to express the G2019S mutation, and the effect was reversed by genetic or pharmacological inhibition of LRRK2. Furthermore, LRRK2 hyperactivation induced by overexpression of Rab29, a known activator of LRRK2 kinase, disrupted autophagosome transport to a similar extent. Mechanistically, we found that hyperactive LRRK2 recruits the motor adaptor JNK-interacting protein 4 (JIP4) to the autophagosomal membrane, inducing abnormal activation of kinesin that we propose leads to an unproductive tug of war between anterograde and retrograde motors. Disruption of autophagosome transport correlated with a significant defect in autophagosome acidification, suggesting that the observed transport deficit impairs effective degradation of autophagosomal cargo in neurons. Our results robustly link increased LRRK2 kinase activity to defects in autophagosome transport and maturation, further implicating defective autophagy in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.