cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exercise, lipids, and obesity in adolescents with parental history of coronary disease.

Abstract Purpose. The purpose of this study is to determine 1) if adolescents of parents with clinically manifest premature coronary artery disease (CAD) are less physically fit and habitually active, and have less favorable lipid profiles and more obesity than children of nonaffected parents, and 2) if aerobic fitness and activity are related to obesity and lipids in adolescents. Setting. Patients were identified in the Coronary Care Unit or out-patient clinic. Adolescents were evaluated in the cardiovascular laboratories at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center. Design. Comparisons between groups were tested with ANOVA. Univariate and multivariate regression were used to assess relationships among study variables. Subjects. Thirty-six children of affected parents, ages 12 to 19 years, and 29 comparison subjects participated in the study. Measures. Fitness was determined by treadmill testing, fasting blood was analyzed for lipoprotein lipids, habitual physical activity was measured by self-report, and the...
Racial Socialization, Color-Blind Racial Ideology, and Mental Health Among Black College Students An Examination of an Ecological Model

The ecological model of racial socialization (EMRS) was tested among a sample of 207 Black college students from a predominately White Midwestern university. The EMRS explored the relations between the racial composition of participants’ social contexts and racial socialization provided by both parent and peer sources. In addition, the model addressed the relations among racial socialization provided by multiple sources, color-blind racial ideology (CBRI), and mental health. Findings from hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated partial support of the EMRS. Specifically, the racial composition of participants’ neighborhood and friend group accounted for a unique amount of variance in messages about cultural pride and alertness to racism participants received from both parents and peers. Additionally, peer alertness to racism messages accounted for a significant amount of variance in both CBRI and mental health. Finally, CBRI moderated the relation between parental mainstream racial socializatio...
Inflammation depresses electrical conduction in normal heart tissue

Up to 40% of patients that undergo cardiac surgery will experience atrial fibrillation. Because it has been shown that there is an inflammatory response after open-heart surgery associated with elevated levels of arachidonic acid (AA), we postulated that inflammation leads to abnormal conduction and atrial fibrillation. We studied AA effects on conduction properties of canine atrial tissue. A piece of the right atrial free wall was placed in a tissue bath and a bipolar recording electrode was placed a known distance from a point stimulator. Control recordings revealed two groups, one with high conduction velocity (CV) (63.39/spl plusmn/3.06 cm/sec) and one with low CV (36.48/spl plusmn/0.34 cm/sec, p<0.05 vs. high CV). AA (80 /spl mu/M) was superfused for 15 minutes, and then washed out. AA caused a significant and reversible decrease of 44% in the slow CV group (n=3) whereas in the other group (n=3), there was little observed change (12%). The group with slower baseline CV responded to AA, whereas the group with higher CV was unaffected by AA. We postulate that the group with higher CV demonstrated conduction properties along the fiber long axis, whereas the group with slower velocities indicated conduction transverse to the long axis.
3-D Antenna Structures Using Novel Direct-Write Additive Manufacturing Method

Sub-mm wavelength 3-D antennas are emerging as critical elements for ultrafast data transfer for various applications. The inherent 2-D nature of lithographic processes severely limits the available manufacturing routes to fabricate such antennas. In this work, we demonstrate a novel additive manufacturing method to fabricate 3-D metal-dielectric antenna structures at sub-mm length scale. A UV curable dielectric is dispensed from an Aerosol Jet system and instantaneously cured to form complex 3-D shapes. A metal nano particle ink is then dispensed over the 3-D dielectric, also by the Aerosol Jet technique, followed by thermal sintering. This novel method opens up the possibility of fabricating an entirely new class of 3-D antenna structures at sub-mm length scales.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Intermediation and Pricing in Tri-Party Repo Market

We investigate how tri-party repo transactions are intermediated and priced in the post-crisis period using proprietary transaction-level data of all tri-party trades. Computing the daily average repo rate and borrowing amount, we show that the non-primary dealers that are less active in general tri-party market pay higher borrowing rate than U.S. and foreign primary dealers that are more active. The repo volume of foreign primary dealers decrease sharply at quarter ends because of regulation-induced balance sheet reductions, which may constrain their intermediation capacity between general tri-party repo market and GCF market. The repo volume of U.S. primary dealers increase at quarter ends, but the associated repo rate shoots higher, which may hinder their intermediation capacity henceforth.
Monogamy, Licentiousness, Desuetude and Mere Tolerance: The Multiple Misinterpretations of Lawrence v. Texas

Some commentators read Lawrence v. Texas to celebrate licentiousness, whereas others argue that it only protects same-sex marriage-like relationships. Neither view captures Lawrence, which offers constitutional protection for both relations and relationships. Professor Sunstein argues that the decision is best understood in terms of the Court's unwillingness to let laws stand that have fallen into desuetude, and Professor Eskridge suggests that Lawrence is best understood as reflecting minimal tolerance of the LGBT community. Neither interpretation captures the force or the promise of the decision. This article explains why many of the current interpretations of Lawrence are in error and how that decision is best understood.
'Done By a Tradesman': Franklin's Educational Proposals and the Culture of Eighteenth-Century Pennsylvania

In November 1750, Samuel Johnson, the New York clergyman who would distinguish himself as one of colonial Americas leading educa tors, responded to Benjamin Franklins plans for a public school in Philadelphia. Franklin had sent Johnson a draft of Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania, which proposed the curriculum for an academy in Philadelphia, along with a note of explanation that he was "indeed very unfit, having neither been educated myself (except as a Tradesman) nor ever concerne! in educating others." But Johnson, impressed by the "Tradesman's" work, responded with what he consid ered to be a compliment: "Nobody would imagine that the draught you have made for an English education was done by a Tradesman. But so it sometimes is, a True Genius will not content itself without entering more or less into almost everything, and of mastering many things more in spite of Fate it self."1 Johnson's compliment was, however, somewhat misleading. Indeed, the reader might see that the Academy plan was "done by a Tradesman," because it broke from so many of the traditional assumptions that accompanied ideas of formal education in early eighteenth-century
Multisensory piano rehabilitation system

Hand function may become impaired due to many factors. Physical therapy may help to improve hand motor function. Multisensory feedback combined with the task of generating music on a keyboard may result in enhanced recovery. This project designed and assembled a prototype system for instructor led training of pressing notes on a keyboard. The keyboard was segmented, such that the lower half of the keys were the instructor side, and the upper half of the keys were the student side. As the instructor played a key, an LED on the corresponding key on the student side would light up to give a visual indicator of what note to play. The auditory tone resulting from the key press would also reflect what note the instructor pressed, and if the student pressed the correct corresponding note, the same tone would be generated. Otherwise, no tone would be generated, indicating an incorrect key press. Both the instructor and student wore gloves with the purpose of detecting what finger the instructor was using to press the key, so that the corresponding finger in the glove of the student would vibrate. This vibration would provide haptic feedback to help the student know what finger to use to press the target key. The system provided visual, audio and haptic feedback to the student to aid instructor led playing of one or of a sequence of keys on a piano keyboard. The next steps of the project are to test the system with instructors and students. If the system works sufficiently, the system could be used to test the effects of the multisensory feedback on any improvements in motor learning and motor function.
Head turning in the human neonate: spontaneous patterns.

(1965). Head Turning in the Human Neonate: Spontaneous Patterns. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 143-158.
The influence of Sir Andrew Clark (1826-93) on William Osler (1849-1919).

Three lines of evidence suggest that Sir Andrew Clark had a significant influence on William Osler's postgraduate training: (1) numerous references to Clark in Osler's textbook of medicine; (2) the similarity of Clark's and Osler's aphoristic messages for students; and (3) personal encounters, including Clark's reminiscence that he ‘had striven ten years for bread, ten years for bread and butter, and twenty years for cakes and ale’. Clark's meticulous approach to clinical problems, his work ethic and his enthusiasm for bedside teaching may have fostered or reinforced these same attributes in Osler. Osler honoured Clark's memory by helping Sir John MacAlister and others realize Clark's ambition to unite various London medical societies into a single organization, which, in 1907, became the Royal Society of Medicine.
Evaluation of the working quality of tuberculosis control prevention with Close- value Method

Objective To explore the indices and method for the comprehensive evaluation on tuberculosis control among all counties in Anqing City. Methods A comprehensive evaluation on tuberculosis control of 9 counties in Anqing in 2010 was carried out using Close- value method. Results According to the Close- value method,the most excellent three counties were Wangjiang,Yuexi,Taihu,while the worst three counties were Tongcheng,Municipal districts,Susong, matching the objective and actual work. Conclusion Close- value method is a relatively accurate and practical method for comprehensive evaluation. It is more objective than one index,deserves to proceed the study the application in tuberculosis and other infectious diseases control work.
Research on the Earnings Management of the Listed Companies in terms of the New accounting standards

Through the elaboration of the suitable earnings management and the abuse of earnings management,this article enumerates the methods of the abuse of the earnings management,and finally analyzes the important influence of the new accounting standards on the earnings management of the listed companies,with the purpose of forming the correct understanding to the earnings management under the new accounting environment,to raise the ability of the investors to distinguish the improper earnings management and carry on correct policy-making.
Impacts of Short-Rotation Early-Growing Season Prescribed Fire on a Ground Nesting Bird in the Central Hardwoods Region of North America

Landscape-scale short-rotation early-growing season prescribed fire, hereafter prescribed fire, in upland hardwood forests represents a recent shift in management strategies across eastern upland forests. Not only does this strategy depart from dormant season to growing season prescriptions, but the strategy also moves from stand-scale to landscape-scale implementation (>1,000 ha). This being so, agencies are making considerable commitments in terms of time and resources to this management strategy, but the effects on wildlife in upland forests, especially those dominated by hardwood canopy species, are relatively unknown. We initiated our study to assess whether this management strategy affects eastern wild turkey reproductive ecology on the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest. We marked 67 wild turkey hens with Global Positioning System (GPS) Platform Transmitting Terminals in 2012 and 2013 to document exposure to prescribed fire, and estimate daily nest survival, nest success, and nest-site selection. We estimated these reproductive parameters in forest units managed with prescribed fire (treated) and units absent of prescribed fire (untreated). Of 60 initial nest attempts monitored, none were destroyed or exposed to prescribed fire because a majority of fires occurred early than a majority of the nesting activity. We found nest success was greater in untreated units than treated units (36.4% versus 14.6%). We did not find any habitat characteristic differences between successful and unsuccessful nest-sites. We found that nest-site selection criteria differed between treated and untreated units. Visual concealment and woody ground cover were common selection criteria in both treated and untreated units. However, in treated units wild turkey selected nest-sites with fewer small shrubs ( 20 cm DBH) but not in untreated units. In untreated units wild turkey selected nest-sites with more large shrubs (≥5cm ground diameter) but did not select for small shrubs or large trees. Our findings suggest that wild turkey have not benefited from the reintroduction of prescribed fire to the WRERA.
Diffusion Based Protein Separation in Microfluidic Devices

Preliminary results show separation of Cel9A and Cel5A cellulases in a diffusion based microfluidic device and they are in agreement with the model that we present. These proteins are difficult to separate with conventional separation techniques.
Chapter 12 – CO2 Mineralization in Artificial Seawater

Various carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies have been developed to address the issues concerning climate changes associated with anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. In the present work, the possibilities of mineralizing CO 2 with the reactive species, such as Mg 2+ ions present in nature in seawater and produced water, have been explored. Laboratory tests conducted with solutions containing 1400 ppm Mg 2+ ions showed that nesquehonite (Mg(OH)(HCO 3 )⋅2H 2 O) is formed upon CO 2 injection to the solution at atmospheric pressure. The results showed that for the mineralization to occur, the pH should be raised above 6.8 as predicted from thermodynamics. Kinetic studies conducted at different temperatures showed that the nesquehonite formation involves activation energy of 66.7 kJ/mol, which can be overcome by increasing the mass- and heat-transfer efficiency as well as the operative temperature. Based on the kinetics data obtained at a low agitation speed, the number and volume of the mineralization reactors required to capture the CO 2 emitted from a 600 MW coal power plant have been determined. In addition, the amounts of alkalis needed to raise the pH for precipitation and subsequently to the natural pH of seawater have been estimated.
Mathematics Teaching and Learning: Equality ≠ Equity

This chapter explores the idea of making mathematics learning accessible to all students. Five sections present these topics: (1) Commitment in mathematics education community to equity and accessibility are shared; (2) Historical threads that create the characteristics of mathematics education around issues of diversity and social justice are presented; (3) A framework for the pragmatic understanding of diversity within the classroom is proposed; (4) Eight productive beliefs about equity in the teaching and learning of mathematics are introduced; (5) Strategies and practices are suggested as ways of incorporating the productive beliefs into classroom practices.
Axin2-expressing cells execute regeneration after skeletal injury

The mammalian skeleton performs a diverse range of vital functions, requiring mechanisms of regeneration that restore functional skeletal cell populations after injury. We hypothesized that the Wnt pathway specifies distinct functional subsets of skeletal cell types, and that lineage tracing of Wnt-responding cells (WRCs) using the Axin2 gene in mice identifies a population of long-lived skeletal cells on the periosteum of long bone. Ablation of these WRCs disrupts healing after injury, and three-dimensional finite element modeling of the regenerate delineates their essential role in functional bone regeneration. These progenitor cells in the periosteum are activated upon injury and give rise to both cartilage and bone. Indeed, our findings suggest that WRCs may serve as a therapeutic target in the setting of impaired skeletal regeneration.
Cancer Mortality in Hispanic Ethnic Groups

Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics. The burden of cancer mortality within Hispanic groups has not been well quantified.Methods: Cancer mortality rates for 2008-2012 in Florida were computed on the basis of race, ethnicity, and birthplace, specifically focusing on major Hispanic groups-Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central Americans, South Americans, and Dominicans. Age-adjusted mortality rate ratios derived from negative binomial regression were used to compare Hispanics, aggregated and by group, to nonHispanic whites (NHW).Results: A total of 205,369 cancer deaths from 2008-2012 were analyzed, of which 22,042 occurred in Hispanics. Overall cancer mortality rates were lower for Hispanics, 159 and 100 per 100,000 in males and females, respectively, compared with 204 and 145 per 100,000 in NHWs, largely driven by relatively low rates of lung and breast cancers among Hispanics. However, Hispanics had a higher risk of death from stomach and liver cancers, both infection-related. Of all Hispanic groups, Mexicans had the lowest mortality, whereas Cubans had the highest, with significantly higher mortality for colorectal, endometrial, and prostate cancers.Conclusions: Compared with other Hispanic groups, Cubans and Puerto Ricans had significantly higher rates. For these longer-established populations in the United States, increases in diet and obesity-related cancers are evident. Some groups show excesses that clearly fall out of the common Hispanic patterns, with implications for public health: Cubans for colorectal cancer, Puerto Ricans for liver cancer, and Dominicans for prostate cancer.Impact: Cancer mortality outcomes in Hispanics vary between ethnic groups. Research and public health strategies should consider this heterogeneity. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(3); 376-82. ©2017 AACR.
Abstract 4573: Characteristics and outcomes of patients with advanced sarcoma enrolled in early phase immunotherapy trials

Background: Immunotherapies, specifically those based on immune checkpoint inhibitors, have shown promising activity in multiple tumor types. Other than the drug mifamurtide for osteosarcoma, there are currently no approved immunotherapies for sarcomas. We analyzed the outcome of patients with advanced sarcomas treated in immunotherapy phase 1 trials. Methods: We analyzed the medical records of patients with advanced sarcoma who were referred to Phase 1 trials and had received at least one dose of an immunotherapy including checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, or cytokine based therapies. Clinical parameters reviewed were age, histology, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin, metastatic sites, performance status, prior therapies, toxicity and response on imaging. Progression free survival (PFS) was measured from the date of the first dose to the date of progression on imaging. Results: Among 50 patients enrolled in immunotherapy trials we found 14 different subtypes of sarcomas (Bone 10; Soft tissue 40). Patients were 42% male and 58% female. The median age was 53.5 years (18-84) and Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) prognostic score was
SEPIC converter with wide bandgap semiconductor for PV battery charger

Photovoltaic (PV) charger systems are implemented in power electronic converters for battery charging applications. In order to achieve high efficiency, the choice of the component plays a major role. At the same time, such systems require high performance in terms of faster switching, high-power, and high-temperature operation capability. Converters with conventional silicon-based power switching devices may not accomplish all these requirements effectively. This paper presents the design of a single-ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) using silicon carbide (SiC) and conventional silicon power switching devices to compare the performance in terms of the efficiency. The designed converter was first validated in PSIM simulation software to assess the effectiveness of using SiC power devices to charge a 48 V battery from a 250 Wp PV panel with a voltage of 30.7 V. Furthermore, a hardware prototype of the converter was developed and tested on a resistive load. The use of SiC-based switches increased the efficiency of the SEPIC converter by 3.6% at full load and at a switching frequency of 100 kHz.
Status Games: Market driving through social influence in the U.S. Wine industry

AbstractResearch on market orientation finds that market-driven firms succeed by identifying and appealing to consumer needs. Yet many technologically innovative firms achieve remarkable success by taking a market-driving approach. The ways that firms drive markets without disruptive innovation, however, remain unclear. Adopting a market-systems perspective, the authors conduct an ethnographic analysis of producers, distributors, retailers, critics, and consumers in the U.S. wine market. They find that firms drive the market by playing a status game. Firms pursue a vision and advance that vision among influencers inside and outside the industry to gain recognition. Winners of the status game influence and drive social consensus by setting benchmarks and shaping consumer preferences to the firm’s advantage. High status is difficult to imitate, creating an advantage that can endure for years or decades.
Reward and Learning

The experience of reward, defined most broadly as any condition or object that an organism seeks to attain or obtain access to, triggers multiple forms of associative learning, including associations among environmental stimuli, responses, and rewards themselves. Certain brain circuits seem to be specialized to process certain of these kinds of associations. These include the amygdala and the interconnected orbitofrontal cortex, the dorsal striatum, and the medial prefrontal cortex. Across these regions, the neurotransmitter dopamine may play an important role in facilitating the formation of such associations.
For-Profit and Traditional Colleges: Institutional Control and Financial Aid Allocation

I examine differences in the competitive behavior between for-profit and traditional universities by modeling how these institutions allocate financial aid packages and set net cost according to differing objective functions. I test the implications of the model using data from the 2003-2004 and 2007-2008 waves of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey. I use an exponential regression model and correct for self-selection of students into institutions to estimate differences in pricing behavior. For-profit universities annually offer $819.69 less in institutional aid, while their students take on $1,978.45 more in unsubsidized student loans and pay a higher net price of $3,713.58.
Large-Scale Distributed Control for MVDC Ship Power Systems

In this paper, we report on the utilization of advanced distributed control algorithms, deployed on physical controllers, for an Integrated Power and Energy System (IPES) energy management system. In addition, we provide an evaluation of the management system. Results from a hardware-in-the-Ioop experiment will be analyzed to show the effectiveness of the realtime control system. The goal of this paper is to provide valuable insights from a practical system controls the application of reasonable size and system complexity.
Dynamic Channel Selection for Real-Time Safety Message Communication in Vehicular Networks

Ensuring the real-time delivery of safety messages is an important research problem for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication. Unfortunately, existing work relies only on one or two pre-selected control channels for safety message communication, which can result in poor packet delivery and potential accident when the vehicle density is high. If all the available channels can be dynamically utilized when the control channel is having severe contention, safety messages can have a much better chance to meet their real-time deadlines. In this paper, we propose MC-Safe, a multi-channel V2V communication framework that monitors all the available channels and dynamically selects the best one for safety message transmission. MC-Safe features a novel channel negotiation scheme that allows all the vehicles involved in a potential accident to work collaboratively, in a distributed manner, for identifying a communication channel that meets the delay requirement. Our evaluation results both in simulation and on a hardware testbed with scaled cars show that MC-Safe outperforms existing single-channel solutions and other well-designed multi-channel baselines by having a 12.31% lower deadline miss ratio and an 8.21% higher packet delivery ratio on average.
Resection of the Rectal Primary Tumor in the Setting of Metastatic Disease

Approximately 15–25% of patients diagnosed with rectal cancer are found to have metastatic disease. Historically these patients faced a dismal prognosis. Recently, survival has improved with advancements in systemic chemotherapy and surgical techniques. However, questions remain about the appropriate timing and sequence of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. A multidisciplinary approach is critical given the variety of options available, variation in presentation and patient’s medical status.
Customization: The Path to a Better and More Accessible Web Experience

The ever-increasing prevalence of electronic information online has provided a medium that allows for greater access to a wider range of users. It is important that user groups such as older adults, or individuals with visual impairments or disabilities, have an equal level of access to electronic information as do individuals without visual impairments or disabilities. This study examined whether allowing older adults the ability to customize various aspects of text would improve their reading performance and subjective usability ratings, while reducing the level of reported visual fatigue for online reading. Data from 16 older adult participants (age range 49 to 69) and 16 younger adult participants (age range 18 to 22) were analyzed. Participants were asked to read text passages using a big or small screen size, and answer reading comprehension questions under conditions where they were able to customize text or not able to customize text. Reading performance and ratings of usability and visual fatigue were obtained. Results showed an interaction between customization condition and age group. In the customized reading conditions, younger adults were more accurate than older adults in answering reading comprehension questions, but their performance did not differ significantly in the non-customized reading conditions. There was no effect of screen size on any of the dependent measures. Implications of these findings are discussed.
PrEP Stigma, HIV Stigma, and Intention to Use PrEP among Women in New York City and Philadelphia.

Background Stigma is an important contributor to the continued HIV epidemic in the United States (US). In 2016, women made up nearly one in five of all new infections. Pre-exposure HIV Prophylaxis or PrEP is a medication that can be taken to prevent HIV acquisition; however, PrEP is significantly underutilized by women at risk for infection. How PrEP stigma relates to PrEP initiation among women is not well understood. Methods Surveys were completed by 160 PrEP-eligible women aged 18-55 in Philadelphia, PA and New York City, NY. Associations between PrEP stigma, HIV stigma, and PrEP initiation intention were modeled using multinomial logistic regression, controlling for sociodemographic and theoretically-relevant variables. Results Participants ranged in age from 18 to 55 years (M = 40.2; SD = 11.78). Most (79%) identified as Black or African-American and/or Latina and 36% had completed high-school or less. Higher PrEP stigma was significantly associated with lower PrEP initiation intention, while controlling for other theoretically-relevant and sociodemographic variables. HIV stigma was not related to PrEP initiation intention. Conclusions HIV prevention interventions seeking to increase PrEP initiation among PrEP-eligible, urban women need to address the role that PrEP stigma plays in PrEP uptake.
The Comparison of Two Input Statistics for Heuristic Cognitive Diagnosis

Cognitive diagnosis models of educational test performance decompose ability in a domain into a set of specific binary skills called attributes. (Non-)mastery of attributes documents an examinee’s strengths and weaknesses in the domain as a profile of mental aptitude. Distinct attribute profiles define classes of intellectual proficiency to which examinees can be assigned. Nonparametric, model-free classification methods have been proposed as heuristic or approximate alternatives to maximum likelihood estimation procedures for assigning examinees to proficiency classes. These classification techniques use as input a statistic obtained by aggregating each examinee’s test item scores into a profile of attribute sum-scores. This study demonstrates that clustering examinees into proficiency classes based on their item scores rather than on their attribute sum-score profiles results in a more accurate classification of examinees.
Automatic detection and quantification of hand movements toward development of an objective assessment of tremor and bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.

Abstract Background Classification of parkinsonian symptoms, including tremor and bradykinesia, require the application of validated clinical rating scales which are inherently subjective. In this study, we assessed an objective measure of parkinsonian symptomology using automated analysis of hand gestures. New method We constructed and evaluated a hand and finger motion capture apparatus and analysis pipeline that recorded hand/finger motion of control subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease. The detailed three-dimensional (3D) motion features of each finger joint was extracted by using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The severity of tremor for each finger joint was quantitated by analyzing the motion changes in the frequency domain on four types of motion from five patients and twenty-two control subjects. Results The proposed approach could distinguish the behavior of patients with Parkinson's disease and control subjects by analyzing the detailed motion features of their hands/fingers. Comparison with existing methods Previously established methods to quantitate finger movement dynamics focus on speed and amplitude. In contrast, our approach measures unsupervised motion features, in real-time, using wavelet analysis, of each individual finger joint during active free movement. Conclusions The proposed study provides an objective assessment of tremor and bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease. Accordingly, this may help movement disorder clinicians to detect, diagnose and monitor treatment efficacy in Parkinson's disease.
Microbial growth rates and local external mass transfer coefficients in a porous bed biofilm system measured by 19 F magnetic resonance imaging of structure, oxygen concentration, and flow velocity.

19 F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) oximetry and 1 H NMR velocimetry were used to noninvasively map oxygen concentrations and hydrodynamics in space and time in a model packed bed biofilm system in the presence and absence of flow. The development of a local oxygen sink associated with a single gel bead inoculated with respiring Escherichia coli was analyzed with a phenomenological model to determine the specific growth rate of the bacteria in situ, returning a value (0.66 hr-1 ) that was close to that measured independently in planktonic culture (0.62 hr-1 ). The decay of oxygen concentration in and around the microbiologically active bead was delayed and slower in experiments conducted under continuous flow in comparison to no-flow experiments. Concentration boundary layer thicknesses were determined and Sherwood numbers calculated to quantify external mass transfer resistance. Boundary layers were thicker in no-flow experiments compared to experiments with flow. Whereas the oxygen concentration profile across a reactive biofilm particle was symmetric in no-flow experiments, it was asymmetric with respect to flow direction in flow experiments with Sherwood numbers on the leading edge (Sh = 7) being larger than the trailing edge (Sh = 3.5). The magnitude of the experimental Sh was comparable to values predicted by a variety of correlations. These spatially resolved measurements of oxygen distribution in a geometrically complex model reveal in innovative detail the local coupling between microbial growth, oxygen consumption, and external mass transfer.
Ten Years (or so) After Gilmer: Arbitration of Employment Law Claims Under the Federal Arbitration Act and the Role of Rhode Island Law

Using Rhode Island law as an example, this paper explores the interaction of 1) the Federal Arbitration Act and its presumption in favor of enforcement of arbitration agreements, 2) inconsistent state law that is specific to arbitration agreements, which the FAA preempts, and 3) generally applicable state law that might render certain arbitration agreements unenforceable, which is specifically saved from preemption by the Supreme Court's interpretation of the FAA.
Attachment Anxiety Mitigates the Well-Being Costs of Object Attachment

Abstract. Clinical and personality research consistently demonstrates that people can form unhealthy and problematic attachments to material possessions. To better understand this tendency, the cur...
Noise Patterns in GPS Trajectories

As any other type of data, GPS traces contain noise, anomaly, and sometimes unexpected values. Normally, researchers and data engineers analysts would start dealing with GPS data by removing those noises and outliers. However, in this work, we take the opposite direction. We focus on analyzing those unexpected values rather than discarding them. Interestingly, we discovered useful findings from an insight look at the noise in GPS trajectories. The intuition behind those discoveries is that when unexpected GPS readings are observed several times around a specific location, we study the nature of that location rather than thrown away those reading. By doing so, we are able to tell the type of area around those readings. For example, we can infer that a driver is passing by a tall building or through a forest based on the pattern of noise in the GPS readings. We are also able to question the quality of the underlying road map. Our findings and discoveries are based on the analysis of real GPS data for the Microsoft shuttles.
Abstract TMP31: A Novel Shift of Notch Ligand, Dll4, Expression From Endothelial to Glial Cells in the Post-Stroke Brain May Contribute to Reparative Angiogenesis and Improved Functional Outcome

Delta-like 4 (Dll4) is a Notch receptor ligand classically thought to be expressed exclusively in endothelial cells. However, little is known about the cellular expression or functional role of Dll...
Atmospheric Precipitable Water and its Correlation with Clear Sky Infrared Temperature Observations

Abstract. Total precipitable water (TPW) in the atmosphere is the vertically integrated amount of atmospheric water in all of its phases. TPW is a valuable predictor for weather forecasting, and it is routinely measured using radiosondes, ground-based global positioning systems (GPS), sun photometers, or microwave radiometers. The use of these sophisticated instruments limits the number of TPW measurement sites, which affects the accuracy of forecast models in regards to storm formation, strength, and the potential for precipitation. We have analyzed this relationship for the much drier climate zone found in the Desert Southwest, specifically over Socorro, New Mexico (34° N, 107° W). Daily measurements of the ground and zenith sky temperatures have been made at Socorro for two complete annual cycles using infrared thermal sensors. Radiosonde TPW measurements from National Weather Service stations located in nearby Albuquerque, and Santa Theresa, New Mexico, are input into our dataset and analysed via a newly developed computational tool. Our results show that an exponential relationship between TPW and zenith sky temperature also holds for the Desert Southwest, but with parameters that are different than those obtained for the Gulf Coast. Model simulations can accurately reproduce the observed relationship between TPW and temperature, and the results suggest that half of the signal in temperature is directly related to direct changes in opacity due to changes in TPW, while the other half is due to changes in air temperature that usually accompany changes in TPW.
Estimation of Multiple Motions from Two Views

So far we have been concerned with single rigid-body motions. Consequently, the algorithms described can be applied to a camera moving within a static scene, or to a single rigid object moving relative to a camera. In practice, this assumption is rather restrictive: interaction with real-world scenes requires negotiating physical space with multiple objects. In this chapter we consider the case of scenes populated with multiple rigid objects moving independently.
Biased and inadequate citation of prior research in reports of cardiovascular trials is a continuing source of waste in research

Abstract Objectives We assessed citation of prior research over time and the association of citation with the agreement of results between the trial being reported and the prior trial. Study Design and Setting Groups of pharmacologic trials in cardiovascular disease were created using meta-analyses, and we assessed citation within these groups. We calculated the proportion of prior trials cited, the proportion of study participants captured in citations, and agreement of results between citing and cited trials. Results Analysis included 86 meta-analyses with 580 trials published between 1982 and 2011. Reports of trials cited 25% (median; 95% confidence interval [CI], 23–27%) of prior trials, capturing 31% (95% CI, 25–36%) of trial participants. Neither measure differed by publication of the citing trial before vs. after 2005. Prior trials with results that agreed with the reports of trials (supportive trials) were significantly more likely to be cited than nonsupportive trials (relative risk 1.45; 95% CI, 1.30–1.61, P Conclusion Selective undercitation of prior research continues; three quarters of existing evidence is ignored. This source of waste may result in unnecessary, unethical, and unscientific studies.
Finite element model based temperature consensus control for material microstructure

This paper considers the active control of the microstructure evolution in a thin film of copper by regulating the temperature distribution using a heater array. A nonlinear finite element model based on heat conduction is used to analyze the system dynamics. As in traditional heat treatment of metal, the control objective is specified as a desired temperature profile. In addition, to avoid excessive temperature gradient which could cause microstructure defects, the temperature gradient in the transient phase should also be minimized. The overall system is a multi-input/multi-output control system. We verify numerically that the system is open loop stable and locally strictly passive. Hence a passive feedback control law would ensure local closed loop stability. The feedback gain is motivated from consensus control, with a graph structure chosen to restrict the temperature spread in the transient phase. With the selected feedback structure, repeated simulation is needed to optimize the feedback gain. To reduce the computation time, we apply the proper orthogonal decomposition technique to obtain a reduced order model, which is then used for the gain optimization process. We demonstrated about 30% computation time reduction in each iteration. We present simulation results comparing fully decentralized independent proportional-integral control, decentralized control augmented by consensus feedback, and consensus feedback together with inverse problem feedforward control. In all cases, close setpoint regulation is achieved, with the consensus control resulting in much smaller temperature gradients in the transient phase.
Interactive session-surviving distance teaching: mistakes to avoid, bullets to bite, and opportunities to make the most of

This session will provide FIE participants at all levels of experience with distance learning-specifically, internet-based distance learning-an opportunity to focus on the opportunities and pitfalls common to teaching in this medium. This session will focus on three areas: 1) common mistakes of both novices and experienced practitioners and how to avoid them, 2) the unavoidable challenges unique to distance learning and strategies for meeting them, and 3) opportunities for applying distance learning approaches, techniques, and experiences to enhancing research efforts, developing 'multiple-duty' instructional materials, and envisioning engineering education significantly ahead of the 'cutting edge'.
Collective Search by Mobile Robots using Alpha-Beta Coordination

One important application of mobile robots is searching a geographical region to locate the origin of a specific sensible phenomenon. Mapping mine fields, extraterrestrial and undersea exploration, the location of chemical and biological weapons, and the location of explosive devices are just a few potential applications. Teams of “robotic bloodhounds” have a simple common goal; to converge on the location of the source phenomenon, confirm its intensity, and to remain aggregated around it until directed to take some other action. In cases where human intervention through teleoperation is not possible, the robot team must be deployed in a territory without supervision, requiring an autonomous decentralized coordination strategy. This paper presents the alpha-beta coordination strategy, a family of collective search algorithms that are based on dynamic partitioning of the robotic team into two complementary social roles according to a sensor-based status measure. Robots in the alpha role are risk-takers, motivated to improve their status by exploring new regions of the search space. Robots in the beta role are motivated to improve but are conservative, and tend to remain aggregated and stationary until the alpha robots have identified better regions of the search space. Roles are determined dynamically by each member of the team based on the status of the individual robot relative to the current state of the collective. Partitioning the robot team into alpha and beta roles results in a balance between exploration and exploitation, and can yield collective energy savings and improved resistance to sensor noise and defectors. Alpha robots waste energy exploring new territory, and are more sensitive to the effects of ambient noise and to defectors reporting inflated status. Hypothetically, beta robots conserve energy by moving in a direct path to regions of confirmed high status. Beta robots also resist the effects of noise and defectors by averaging status data, but must rely on alpha robots to improve their performance. Alpha-beta is a reactive strategy that requires directed communication of instantaneous sensor data among team members, but does not rely on a domain model. Alpha-beta coordination is a new and ongoing research effort. We present the basic concepts behind the alpha-beta strategy and exhibit preliminary simulation data that illustrate the collective search modes in an idealized search domain.
Experiments for establishing pedestrian-impact lower limb injury criteria

This paper discusses lower limb injury impacts to pedestrians. Previous lateral knee bending and shear tests have reported knee joint failure moments close to failure bending moments for the tibia and femur. Eight tibias, eight femurs and three knee joints were tested in lateral bending and two knee joints were tested in lateral shear. Seven previous studies on femur bending, five previous studies on tibia bending, two previous studies on knee joint bending, and one on shear were reviewed and compared with the current tests. All knee joint failures in the current study were either epiphysis fractures of the femur or soft tissue failures. The current study reports an average lateral failure bending moment for the knee joint (134 Nm SD 7) that is dramatically lower than that reported in the literature (284-351 Nm), that reported in the current study for the tibia (291 Nm SD 69) and for femur (382 Nm SD 103). While this research has demonstrated the importance of realistic boundary conditions, more research is necessary to determine a statistically valid impact threshold for the knee joint.
Brief announcement: bridging the theory-practice gap in multi-commodity flow routing

In the concurrent multi-commodity flow problem, we are given a capacitated network G = (V,E) of switches V connected by links E, and a set of commodities \({\cal K} = \{(s_i,t_i,d_i)\}\). The objective is to maximize the minimum fraction λ of any demand d i that is routed from source s i to target t i . This problem has been studied extensively by the theoretical computer science community in the sequential model (e.g., [4]) and in distributed models (e.g., [2,3]). Solutions in the networking systems community also fall into these models (e.g., [1,6,5]), yet none of them use the state-of-the-art algorithms above. Why the gap between theory and practice? This work seeks to answer and resolve this question. We argue that existing theoretical models are ill-suited for real networks (§2) and propose a new distributed model that better captures their requirements (§3). We have developed optimal algorithms in this model for data center networks (§4); making these algorithms practical requires a novel use of programmable hardware switches. A solution for general networks poses an intriguing open problem.
An Auditable Metering Scheme for Web Advertisement Applications

This paper proposes a cryptographic scheme for metering the duration and/or the number of instances of running a process. This scheme has the following property: knowing a secret, one can validate a piece of metering evidence in constant units of time while without the secret the job of generating a valid piece of evidence requires time indicated by the evidence. Because the scheme utilises a well-known computational complexity problem, the meter based on it can be implemented in software yet is tamper-resistant.We will address the use of this scheme in building an auditable metering scheme for finding the popularity of web sites. The scheme is suitable for rapidly increasing web advertisement applications. We will also discuss the related security issues.
Anchimerically assisted redox reactions : Crystal structure of an alkoxysulfonium salt intermediate: 9-oxa-1-thioniabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane triiodide

Abstract A bicyclic alkoxysulfonium salt, 9-oxa-1-thioniabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane triiodide, formed by transannular-OH participation during the I 2 oxidation of 5-hydroxy-1-thiacyclooctane, has been isolated and its crystal structure determined.