cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hybrid start-up strategy for low voltage electromagnetic energy harvesting systems

In this paper, a new strategy to provide start-up energy for low voltage energy harvesting systems is presented. There has been a lot of interest in electromagnetic microgenerators due to their high energy density for low power harvesting. However, they exhibit extremely low voltages of the order of few hundred millivolts AC. In recent years, a number of converters have been presented that can boost such low voltages to satisfy the load end requirements (1.8–3.3V DC). A key limiting factor has been a lack of proper start-up strategy for such systems. The present work involves the use of a hybrid set-up consisting of a piezo-strip to provide sufficient voltage for the start-up operation of the converter. An auxiliary DC supply is designed for the boost converter. The operation of this circuit is verified first using a battery and then, using the hybrid set-up. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the proposed system.
Design and optimization of networked wireless information systems

As entire systems are being integrated on a single chip, the chip designers are in effect becoming the system designers. However, it is an open question whether the board-level system architecture design and optimization methodologies are also well-suited for such system-chips. Our experience with the networked wireless multimedia nodes and devices being designed under UCLA's MERLIN project shows that the system-chip design problem is not just one of complexity and scalability arising from a large number of transistors. Instead, the primary problem and opportunity is in managing the diversity in a system, and exploiting it to optimize the system architecture. Indeed, the ability to do design tradeoffs and optimizations across diverse system layers and functions being integrated on a die is crucial. Facilitating such system level optimization ought to be the focus of design automation tools, and not the mere integration of cores encapsulating intellectual property. Supporting "tall and thin" chip designers is no longer adequate. The tools for system-chip design have to support "tall and fat" designers who, for example, need to optimize across the radio, protocol, DSP, and microcontroller functions in a wireless system-chip.
Long-term regulation of renal Na-dependent cotransporters and ENaC: response to altered acid-base intake.

Increased systemic acid intake is associated with an increase in apical Na/H exchange in the renal proximal tubule mediated by the type 3 Na/H exchanger (NHE3). Because NHE3 mediates both proton se...
Transition-cost issues for US electricity utilities

▪ Abstract The US electric-utility industry is in the midst of major changes. These changes include deintegration of the industry and substantial increases in competition. A major consequence of these changes is the exposure of transition costs. These costs, which amount to $100–$200 billion nationwide, reflect the differences between regulated prices for electricity generation and the prices that might occur in fully competitive power markets. The large financial stakes, equivalent to nearly the total value of US electric-utility common stock, guarantee controversy. Debates occur over transition-cost amounts; analytical and market methods to estimate these costs; the assets and liabilities to include in such calculations; the assumptions used in developing these estimates; approaches that can be used to offset some of these costs; the allocation of the remaining costs among utility shareholders, different classes of retail customers, independent power producers and other wholesale suppliers, and taxpayer...
Assessing and understanding U.S. and Chinese students' mathematical thinking

If the main goal of educational research and refinement of instructional program is to improve students' learning, it is necessary to assess students' emerging understandings and to see how they arise. The purpose of this paper is to address issues related to assessments of students' mathematical thinking in cross-national studies and then to discuss the lessons we may learn from these studies to assess and improve students' learning. In particular, the issues related to assessing U.S. and Chinese students' mathematical thinking were discussed. Then, this paper discussed the findings from two studies examining the impact of early algebra learning and teachers' beliefs on U.S. and Chinese students' mathematical thinking. Lastly, the issues related to interpreting and understanding the differences between U.S. and Chinese students' thinking were discussed.
Determination of Drift, Extended State Mobility and Recombination Lifetime in Compensated a-Si:H by Photomixing

Mobilities of a series of compensated a-Si:H samples, measured earlier by the time-of-flight technique [1], were determined by the technique of photomixing. We have found that both the extended state and the drift mobilities decrease as the compensation increases. Modelling these transport processes in the context of the photomixing technique, it is shown that long-range potential fluctuations can account for the decrease in the extended state mobility in compensated samples.
Repetition and the Compulsion to Repeat: Psychodynamic Challenges in Organizational Learning and Change

While individuals productively use repetition to learn and develop new skills and competencies, they also engage in compulsive and counterproductive repetitions. This article makes a contribution t...
Attempts to Transmit Epidemic Poliomyelitis to Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Mice,Chickens and Ferrets with and without Depression by X-Rays

Undoubtedly experimental work in epidemic poliomyelitis would be greatly facilitated if the virus were capable of reproducing the disease in some animal other than the monkey. Some controversy has arisen with regard to the susceptibility of the young rabbit although with other laboratory or domestic animals the results have been clearly negative insofar at least as the production of spinal cord lesions are concerned.' Unfortunately, no one has as yet discovered pathognomonic lesions in other tissues or organs with the possibility of establishing the existence of infection in the absence of paralysis and the typical spinal cord changes. For many years it was thought that Treponema pallidum was infectious only for rabbits, monkeys and apes until it was discovered that clinically atypical lesions could be produced in mice and guinea pigs and the former have proven useful for chemotherapeutic investigations bearing upon syphilitic infection of the central nervous system with special reference to the brain. Our own studies along such lines with the virus of poliomyelitis will be reported later but at present we wish to briefly record efforts made during the past two years in transmitting the virus to young rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, chickens and ferrets with and without depression of the marrow and lymphoid tissues by x-rays. Special interest was placed in the possibility of transmission to ferrets, since these animals have been found susceptible to infection with some of the viruses and do not appear to have been hitherto employed for the transmission of the virus of poliomyelitis. We may state at the outset, however, that all of our experiments have yielded completely negative results insofar at least as the reproduction of the paralytic type of the human disease is concerned.
Thank You for Being a Friends Group: An Assessment of Friends Group Characteristics and Best Practices

A friends group is a distinct type of nonprofit organization that is created by public agencies or communities in partnerships with public agencies to contribute supplementary financial support, labor, and resources to public institutions. Notable friends groups are associated with libraries and parks. Since the 1980s, the United States has seen a proliferation of friends groups and friends group–like organizations at local, regional, state, and national scales. Friends groups and public–nonprofit partnerships are a ubiquitous nonprofit type, but scholarly research on friends groups remains limited. The purpose of this study is to contribute to this research gap by providing an assessment of friends groups in the United States. In this study, I illuminate friends group organizational development, missions, structures, and best practices. By highlighting friends group characteristics and best practices, I aim to better equip nonprofits, public agencies, communities, and practitioners with a foundational understanding of friends groups and their potential benefits.
174 COMPARISON OF INTRA- AND INTEROBSERVER RELIABILITY WITH COMPUTED AND CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY FOR SPINAL DEFORMITY.

Children suffering from scoliosis are routinely monitored with spinal radiographs every 4 to 6 months. This radiation exposure represents a concern in the treatment and observation of children with spinal deformity as increased radiation exposure in childhood is known to correlate with increased incidence of both childhood and adult malignancy. Although the examination of spinal deformity is still studied largely by means of conventional radiography, technologic advances have made computed radiography (CR) and digital radiography (DR) more accessible. It has recently been shown that a significant reduction in radiation exposure can be achieved with both CR and DR compared with conventional radiography in the evaluation of children with scoliosis. Although this reduction in radiation exposure does degrade image quality, the interobserver variability in Cobb-angle measurements is not statistically significant. Our institution uses CR in the outpatient evaluation of scoliosis patients. Shriners Hospital for Children, located in Sacramento, uses conventional plain-film radiography. Per the current protocols, both studies result in an essentially equivalent radiation dose to the patient with similar image quality. Because the primary indication for serial studies in scoliosis patients is to follow curve progression, it may be possible to accept a compromised image quality with CR or DR while lowering the radiation dose and maintaining accurate radiologic measurements. The purpose of our study is to compare the intra- and interobserver reliability of clinical measurements made using CR and conventional radiography in the evaluation of children with idiopathic scoliosis, as well as comparing the radiation exposure of each study. Our study involves 25 patients with idiopathic scoliosis between the ages of 8 and 17 seen at Shriners Hospital. The patients are having conventional films taken at Shriners Hospital, followed by CR scoliosis films taken at UC Davis 4 to 6 months later. Four sets of films will then be examined 2 weeks apart by two orthopedic surgeons and two pediatric radiologists. The four film sets are CR films on PACS, CR hardcopy films, conventional films loaded on PACS, and hardcopy conventional films. A variety of clinical measurements will be made and analyzed. The study is currently ongoing. The objective of the study is to measure the accuracy of measurements made using CR compared with conventional radiography. With this established, it may then be possible to lower radiation exposure while maintaining accurate clinical measurements. Ultimately, this would result in improved care of children with scoliosis.
Detection of Rice Shape Based on Machine Vision

Artificial detection of rice kernels takes a lot of time and energy and its accuracy is hard to be controlled.To seek a convenient method for detection of rice shape,a real-time vision-based detection approach was developed,which used an improved Ostu algorithm to segmentate the image,eliminated the noise of image by open operation,and calculated rice shape characteristic values by the minimum enclosing rectangle method.Comparing with the methods by ruler and microparticle,the new detection method was of higher accuracy,stronger robustness and better efficiency and could be applied to practical measurement.
Measurements of Intrahost Viral Diversity Are Extremely Sensitive to Systematic Errors in Variant Calling

ABSTRACT With next-generation sequencing technologies, it is now feasible to efficiently sequence patient-derived virus populations at a depth of coverage sufficient to detect rare variants. However, each sequencing platform has characteristic error profiles, and sample collection, target amplification, and library preparation are additional processes whereby errors are introduced and propagated. Many studies account for these errors by using ad hoc quality thresholds and/or previously published statistical algorithms. Despite common usage, the majority of these approaches have not been validated under conditions that characterize many studies of intrahost diversity. Here, we use defined populations of influenza virus to mimic the diversity and titer typically found in patient-derived samples. We identified single-nucleotide variants using two commonly employed variant callers, DeepSNV and LoFreq. We found that the accuracy of these variant callers was lower than expected and exquisitely sensitive to the input titer. Small reductions in specificity had a significant impact on the number of minority variants identified and subsequent measures of diversity. We were able to increase the specificity of DeepSNV to >99.95% by applying an empirically validated set of quality thresholds. When applied to a set of influenza virus samples from a household-based cohort study, these changes resulted in a 10-fold reduction in measurements of viral diversity. We have made our sequence data and analysis code available so that others may improve on our work and use our data set to benchmark their own bioinformatics pipelines. Our work demonstrates that inadequate quality control and validation can lead to significant overestimation of intrahost diversity. IMPORTANCE Advances in sequencing technology have made it feasible to sequence patient-derived viral samples at a level sufficient for detection of rare mutations. These high-throughput, cost-effective methods are revolutionizing the study of within-host viral diversity. However, the techniques are error prone, and the methods commonly used to control for these errors have not been validated under the conditions that characterize patient-derived samples. Here, we show that these conditions affect measurements of viral diversity. We found that the accuracy of previously benchmarked analysis pipelines was greatly reduced under patient-derived conditions. By carefully validating our sequencing analysis using known control samples, we were able to identify biases in our method and to improve our accuracy to acceptable levels. Application of our modified pipeline to a set of influenza virus samples from a cohort study provided a realistic picture of intrahost diversity and suggested the need for rigorous quality control in such studies.
Smoothing via Adaptive Shrinkage (smash): denoising Poisson and heteroskedastic Gaussian signals

We describe the idea of adaptive shrinkage (ash), a general purpose Empirical Bayes (EB) method for shrinkage estimation, and demonstrate its application to several signal denoising problems. The ash method takes as input a set of estimates and their corresponding standard errors, and outputs shrinkage estimates of the underlying quantities (“effects”). Compared with existing EB shrinkage methods, a key feature of ash is its use of a flexible family of unimodal distributions to model the distribution of the effects. The approach is not only flexible and self-tuning, but also computationally convenient because it results in a convex optimization problem that can be solved quickly and reliably. Here we demonstrate the effectiveness and convenience of ash by applying it to several signal denoising applications, ∗The authors gratefully acknowledge please remember to list all relevant funding sources in the unblinded version 1 ar X iv :1 60 5. 07 78 7v 1 [ st at .M E ] 2 5 M ay 2 01 6 including smoothing of Poisson and heteroskedastic Gaussian data. In both cases ash consistently produces estimates that are as accurate – and often more accurate – than other shrinkage methods, including both simple thresholding rules and purpose-built EB procedures. We illustrate the potential for Poisson smoothing to provide an alternative to “peak finding” algorithms for sequencing assays such as Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq). The methods are implemented in an R package, smashr (SMoothing by Adaptive SHrinkage in R), available from http://www.github.com/stephenslab/smashr.
SARVAVID: A Domain Specific Language for Developing Scalable Computational Genomics Applications

Breakthroughs in gene sequencing technologies have led to an exponential increase in the amount of genomic data. Efficient tools to rapidly process such large quantities of data are critical in the study of gene functions, diseases, evolution, and population variation. These tools are designed in an ad-hoc manner, and require extensive programmer effort to develop and optimize them. Often, such tools are written with the currently available data sizes in mind, and soon start to under perform due to the exponential growth in data. Furthermore, to obtain high-performance, these tools require parallel implementations, adding to the development complexity.This paper makes an observation that most such tools contain a recurring set of software modules, or kernels. The availability of efficient implementations of such kernels can improve programmer productivity, and provide effective scalability with growing data. To achieve this goal, the paper presents a domain-specific language, called Sarvavid, which provides these kernels as language constructs. Sarvavid comes with a compiler that performs domain-specific optimizations, which are beyond the scope of libraries and generic compilers. Furthermore, Sarvavid inherently supports exploitation of parallelism across multiple nodes.To demonstrate the efficacy of Sarvavid, we implement five well-known genomics applications---BLAST, MUMmer, E-MEM, SPAdes, and SGA---using Sarvavid. Our versions of BLAST, MUMmer, and E-MEM show a speedup of 2.4X, 2.5X, and 2.1X respectively compared to hand-optimized implementations when run on a single node, while SPAdes and SGA show the same performance as hand-written code. Moreover, Sarvavid applications scale to 1024 cores using a Hadoop backend.
SU-F-T-555: Accurate Stereotactic Cone TMRs Converted from PDDs Scanned with Ray Trace

Purpose: To investigate whether the accuracy of TMRs for stereotactic cones converted from PDDs scanned with Ray Trace can be improved, when compared against the TMRs converted from the traditional PDDs. Methods: Ray Trace measurement in Sun Nuclear 3D Scanner is for accurate scan of small field PDDs. The system detects the center of field at two depths, for example, at 3 and 20 cm in our study, and then performs scan along the line passing the two centers. With both Ray Trace and the traditional method, PDDs for conical cones of 4, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, and 17.5 mm diameter (jaws set to 5×5 cm) were obtained for 6X FFF and 10X FFF energies on a Varian Edge linac, using Edge detectors. The formalism of converting PDD to TMR given in Khan's book (4th Edition, p.161) was applied. Sp values at dmax were obtained by measuring cone Scp and Sc. Continuous direct measurement of TMR by filling/draining water to/from the tank and spot measurement by moving the tank and detector were also performed with the same equipment, using 100 cm SDD. Results: For 6XFFF energy and all the cones, TMRs converted from Ray Trace were very close to the continuous and spot measurement, while TMRs converted from traditional PDDs had larger deviation. Along the central axis beyond dmax, 1.7% of TMR data points calculated from Ray Trace had more 3% deviation from measurement, with maximal deviation of 5.2%. Whereas, 34% of TMR points calculated from traditional PDDs had more than 3% deviation, with maximum of 5.7%. In this initial study, Ray Trace scans for 10XFFF beam were noisy, further measurement is warranted. Conclusion: The Ray Trace could improve the accuracy of PDDs measurement and the calculated TMRs for stereotactic cones, which was within 3% of the measured TMRs.
Make and Learn: A CS Principles Course Based on the Arduino Platform

We present preliminary experiences in designing a Computer Science Principles undergraduate course for all majors that is based on physical computing with the Arduino microprocessor platform. The course goal is to introduce students to fundamental computing concepts in the context of developing concrete products. This physical computing approach is different from other existing CS Principles courses. Students use the Arduino platform to design tangible interactive systems that are personally and socially relevant to them, while learning computing concepts and reflecting on their experiences. In a previous publication [1], we reported on assessment results of using the Arduino platform in an Introduction to Digital Design course. We have introduced this platform in an introductory computing course at the University of Hartford in the past year as well as in a Systems Fundamentals Discovery Course at the University of New Hampshire to satisfy the general education requirements in the Environment, Technology, and Society category. Our goal is to align the current curriculum with the CS Principles framework to design a course that engages a broader audience through a creative making and contextualized learning experience.
Gastro-esophageal reflux disease: How effective are antacids?

Eine gastroosophageale Refluxkrankheit liegt vor, wenn die Rate des normalerweise als physiologisch akzeptierten Refluxes uberschritten wird und es zu endoskopisch nachweisbaren Veranderungen oder Entzundungen des Epitheliums kommt. Diese Symptome konnen auf eine Schwache des Osophagussphinkters zuruckgefuhrt werden, die ihrerseits durch exzessiven Reflux verstarkt wird. Neuere Untersuchungen haben gezeigt, das Antacida die Symptome ebenso bessern konnen wie H2-Rezeptorantagonisten. Inwieweit diese Verbesserung auf einer Reinigung durch das Schlucken der Antacida oder auf der Veranderung des pH-Wertes im Magen beruht, ist noch nicht bekannt, da viele Patienten Antacida nur nach Bedarf einnehmen und bisher wenige systematische Untersuchungen durchgefuhrt worden sind.
Adjustment of Lens-Like Stratified Axisymmetric Vortices to Pulsons

A Lagrangian approach is formulated for rotating stratified axisymmetric flows. The moment of inertia for compact flows with finite energy is shown to oscillate with inertial frequency. In particular, any steady axisymmetric solution for a finite volume inviscid anticyclonic vortex with outcropping isopycnals corresponds to a set of self-similar analytical time-periodic pulson solutions with linear profile of radial velocity which is not affected by horizontal friction. The amplitude of pulsations with inertial frequency can be within a range limited by the intensity of the stationary vortex. If the initial conditions deviate from the pulson solution, inertiagravity waves propagate inside the vortex and may form shocks at the vortex edge calculated by a Lagrangian numerical model. After shocks dissipate due to small friction added near the edge, the solution tends to the pulson solution with linear radial velocity.
Teacher Education Partnerships and the Role of Ideology and Aims

In this chapter, I turn to the broader realm of partnerships in teacher preparation. Specifically, I explore the ways in which LEE Residency’s partners—Partner University and Leaders for Equity in Education (LEE)—brought different visions for teacher preparation to their partnership. Using interviews from people involved in both Partner University and LEE (i.e., deans, professors, supervisors, and partnership directors), I show how Partner University’s larger aim of flourishing was in direct conflict with LEE’s aim of achieving. Moreover, I illustrate how this “flourish versus achieve” tension shaped on-the-ground decisions and practices for the novice teachers enrolled in the LEE Residency.
Interactions and Policy-Making: Civil Society Perspectives on the Multistakeholder Internet Governance Process in India

This paper examines India’s experience in developing national Internet policy by focusing on interactions among stakeholders in the Internet governance process. The paper begins by tracing the history of telecom policies in India along with the development of its IT sector as well as its civil society. It identifies the tensions, opportunities and threats that India has experienced in its Internet policy-making. It then reviews India’s legislative and policy history from the IT Act of 2000 onward, noting the intentions and limitations of India’s framework of Internet governance. A notable aspect of the paper involves a series of interviews with civil society stakeholders involved in India’s Internet governance debates. These interviews are used to identify patterns of interaction among different stakeholders, and to understand the underlying power dynamics in India’s policy-making process.
Rheumatoid nodule presenting as a buccal submucosal nodule: A rare presentation of a common disease

Background Rheumatoid nodules are a common manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis but buccal rheumatoid nodules are extremely rare. The purpose of this study was to report a rare case of a rheumatoid buccal nodule and a review of the literature. Methods and Results This case is about a 79-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who was taking methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine, presenting with an enlarging left buccal submucosal mass. An incisional biopsy showed features consistent with that of a rheumatoid nodule. The mass was managed expectantly and the patient was taken off methotrexate with a marked reduction in the size of the nodule. Conclusion Submucosal rheumatoid nodules of the oral cavity are an extremely rare manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis but should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with a history of rheumatoid arthritis presenting with submucosal masses. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Head Neck 2016
Characterization of Glial Proteins Transferred into the Squid Giant Axon

Together, glial cells and neurons form interactive units that behave quite differently than when they are kept apart. The titles in this volume reflect the many different ways in which that interaction may occur. One type of glia-neuron interaction especially intriguing to this investigator is the exchange of proteins and other relatively large molecules. The trophic effects of soluble factors from cultured glia on neurons have been well-documented and remain an area of active study (cf.1 – 4 and in this volume: 5 – 7). However, those studies must separate neurons and glia to demonstrate the presence of the trophic substances. What kinds of substances are exchanged between glia and neurons in the intact nervous system where they are very intimately associated with one another? That question is very difficult to investigate in most nervous systems because of the small size of the cells, but the large neurons of many invertebrates, the squid in particular, allow direct and detailed study of the transfer of material from glia to the axon.
A catalog of 0.2 Å resolution far-ultraviolet stellar spectra measured with Copernicus.

Spectra between 1000 and 1450 A for 60 O- and B-type stars observed by Copernicus at 0.2-A resolution are presented in three forms: tables containing the numerical data, plots showing renormalized spectra, and synthetic photographic spectra. The data have been corrected for all instrument effects of importance for the photometric accuracy except fluctuations in continuum level caused by small variations in spacecraft guidance. Spectrometer sensitivity curves are provided for use in converting to absolute fluxes. It is expected that this catalog will be of use for research on many aspects of stellar UV spectra, including spectral classification, line identification, abundance determinations, spectrum synthesis, model atmosphere calculations, flux distributions, bolometric corrections, stellar winds, and mass loss.
Building safer societies: Crime prevention in developed countries

Crime and crime prevention are too important to the social health of European countries to be ignored. Law enforcement has a central and important role to play, but by itself will not be enough. As economic pressures resulting from the restructuring of global markets and the move toward a single currency in Europe create greater uncertainties and stress for Europeans, the possibilities of rising crime rates and rising anti-minority sentiments are substantial. No European country can afford not to invest in crime prevention programmes and to create national strategies incorporating law enforcement, developmental, situational, and community components.
Vector solitons in harmonically mode-locked Tm/Ho doped fiber laser

Vector solitons and the evolution of their polarization evolution frequency are studied in harmonically mode-locked Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser states.
Therapist reporting of suspected child abuse and maltreatment: factors associated with outcome.

A mail survey of 176 mental health professionals (e.g., psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) known to have reported a case of suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the New York Stat...
Assessing the impact of extreme storms on barrier beaches along the Atlantic coastline: Application to the southern Rhode Island coast

Abstract In this work, we use the 2D model XBeach to dynamically simulate coastal erosion due to a synthetic 100-year storm impacting a typical North Atlantic barrier beach located in southern RI. This storm was extracted from the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) database, based on results of an extreme value analysis of more than 1000 NACCS storms. XBeach parameters are first calibrated/validated by simulating Hurricane Irene (August 2011), for which both nearshore wave data and pre- and post-storm beach profiles were available in the study area. Comparing results to observations allowed calibration of the wave asymmetry and skewness parameter ( γ u a = 0.3 ) in the model, resulting in a 6% mean relative error between the simulated and measured subaerial eroded volumes along 4 transects. In the 100-year storm XBeach simulations that include overwash, effects of land cover on beach erosion, in particular vegetation, are assessed by specifying a spatially varying bed friction function of high-resolution land cover. Results show that healthy back-dune vegetation is essential to prevent the dune crest from being fully eroded down to its toe level. The predicted median 100-year eroded volume is 46 m3/m for the entire barrier beach, in good agreement with FEMA's empirical value of 50 m3/m at the two “official 1D transects” within the study area; mean post-storm reductions in dune crest elevations are in similar agreement. The model, however, predicts very large alongshore variations of these parameters, with eroded volumes over 1000 m3/m where breaching and the opening of surge channels occurs. Overall, dune segmentation simulated in the model for the 100-year storm appears to be realistic and consistent with dune topography and land cover. XBeach thus provides an improved 2D methodology for assessing the impact of extreme storms on Atlantic barrier beaches, predicting changes in dune morphology, and quantifying the protective role of vegetation, and effects of land cover in general.
Server-Based Manipulation Attacks Against Machine Learning Models

Machine learning approaches have been increasingly applied to various applications for data analytics (e.g. spam filtering, image classification). Further, with the growing adoption of cloud computing, various cloud services have provided an efficient way for users to train, store or deploy machine learning algorithms in an easy-to-use manner. However, the models deployed in the cloud may be exposed to potential malicious attacks launched at the server side. Attackers with access to the server can stealthily manipulate a machine learning model so as to enable misclassification or introduce bias. In this work, we study the problem of manipulation attacks as they occur at the server side. We consider not only traditional supervised learning models but also state-of-the-art deep learning models. In particular, a simple but effective gradient descent based approach is presented to exploit Logistic Regression (LR) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) [16] models. We evaluate manipulation attacks against machine learning or deep learning systems using both Enron email text and MINIST image dataset [17]. Experimental results have demonstrated such attacks can manipulate the model that allows malicious samples to evade detection easily without compromising the overall performance of the systems.
From Germany to Britton

From the title of this discussion, you can see that I consider Germany the cradle of oxygen measurement, even though I was not there when in 1897 Danneel1 at the University of Gottingen devised the first platinum oxygen electrode. However, I did work in Gottingen (1962-1963) with Kurt Kramer. My acquaintanceship with Kramer began in 1946 while I was a medical student. James Elam, an investigator at Washington University, and I, with advice from Earl Wood, Professor of Physiology at the Mayo Clinic, were trying to develop an improved ear oximeter. Efforts to develop a good war time oximeter were triggered by the fact that the Luftwaffe was equipped with oximeters long before the allied air forces, and with a hypoxia warning device, their pilots were able to fly safely at higher altitudes. One of the first things we did was to obtain, with some difficulty, a reprint of the original paper on oximetry by Kramer and Matthes in Zeitschrift Fur Biologie in 1935.2 Illustrations of his original work can be seen in Figures 1 and 2. Based on Glen Millikan’s3 ear oximeter (Figure 3) we developed a twin beam oximeter using selenium photo cells and Wratten Filters with some, but not notable success. In the midst of our work we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Army was sending us Kramer. He had been “rescued” from Russian hands by the U.S. Army who had dressed him as an American soldier in order to bring him back through the Russian lines. With his help we were able to gain new insights into the principles of oximetry.4 While I was working on the ear oximeter, I worked also as a research technician in a laboratory which measured oxygen content in arterial blood, pre and post pneumonectomy. This was done by obtaining arterial samples, considered a highly dangerous procedure, and analyzing them in the Van Slyke apparatus.5 (Figure 4) The analyses were performed by transferring a sample of blood into the closed end of a mercury manometer along with a reagent to free any bound oxygen and then observing the nanometric change that occurred as a result of the free gas.
Graft Copolymerization onto Cellulose Acetate and Wood Using Anionic Polymerization

The grafting of synthetic polymers to natural polymers from renewable resources offers the potential of preparing newer varieties of engineering materials with specific and improved properties for a wide range of applications. The properties of this molecular composite would be substantially better than the properties of either homopolymer alone. If the individual polymer segments in copolymers have opposite properties such as polar and nonpolar and/or flexible and rigid natures, many interesting properties are conceivable. For example, if an amorphous polymer like polystyrene is grafted onto cellulose, a molecular composite will be produced, where the stiff cellulose chain is a reinforcing fiber in a polystyrene matrix. The mechanical properties of this molecular composite would be substantially better than the properties of either homopolymer alone. The stiffness of the cellulose chain can be controlled by chemical modification prior to grafting, and the mechanical properties of the grafted polymer can be engineered by controlling the chemical composition and molecular weight of the graft. Thus, we can make materials with fibers of controlled stiffness covalently bound in a polymer matrix, where the matrix mechanical properties can be varied from a rubber to a hard glassy polymer. However, it is impossible to predict exactly what the mechanical properties of these polymers will be until these systems are synthesized and tested.
Skeletal Muscle Transplantation in Cats With and Without Nerve Repair

The regeneration of skeletal muscle fibers following free, whole muscle auto-transplantation has been well documented in rats (Carlson and Gutmann, 1975a und b). Neither vascular nor nerve repair was made, so revascularization and reinnervation occurred spontaneously or not at all. The time course of regeneration and the degree to which control values are restored have been described (Carlson et al., 1979). A limited number of studies have focused on the regeneration of skeletal muscle fibers following transplantation of skeletal muscles in larger species. Successful transplantations have been reported in cats (Hakelius et al., 1975; Faulkner et al., 1976; Maxwell et al., 1978; Faulkner et al., 1980) and monkeys (Markley et al., 1978; Markley and Faulkner, 1980; Maxwell et al., 1979). In dogs, Thompson (1971) has reported successful grafts whereas Lavine and Cochran (1976) and Watson and Muir (1976) described unsuccessful transplantations.
DD10: Platons grotesker Irrtum (Oktober 2005)

Die Welt blickt in die falsche Richtung. In das Dunkle von Platons Hohle. Sie orientiert sich an den Schatten, die im fahlen Lichte das ganze Abbild der Menschen und Dinge bilden. Warum drehen sich die Menschen nicht um? Sind sie angekettet? Ach Platon, du irrtest. An der Wurzel der Weltphilosophie ist etwas faul. Und alle Philosophen haben sich angesteckt.
Enhancing HIV-1 Specific Immunity as a Therapeutic Strategy in Aids

Over the past several years it has become apparent that HIV-1 infection is characterized by a prolonged struggle between a lymphotropic retrovirus and a vigorous humoral and cellular immune response. Following initial infection, HIV-1 replicates to high titers in the peripheral blood, and other lymphoid tissues. 1,2 During this explosive phase of viral replication, HIV-1 RNA copy numbers in plasma approach or exceed those seen in late stage disease.3 Over an 8–12 week period, viral titres in plasma drop precipitously as a vigorous cellular and humoral immune response develops.4 The precipitous decline in viral load which results from the immune response to HIV is several orders of magnitude greater than the reduction which occurs following therapy with nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors,5 and lasts an average of 6–9 years. The profound and prolonged decline in viral load which is attributable to the virus-specific immune response during primary infection has suggested that augmenting this immune response in infected individuals may prolong both the asymptomatic period of HIV infection and survival.
Multi-channel cross-correlation used to estimate time delays

Many marine mammal localization techniques rely on estimating the time of arrival delays of a call between the hydrophones of an array. This is commonly achieved by cross-correlating (some version of) received signals between hydrophone pairs. This process is complicated in cases with noise, multiple animals, and multipath arrivals. In this talk, I explore and demonstrate the potential of a multi-channel cross-correlation technique to help establish time delay estimates. Possible extensions to signal enhancement for detection and classification purposes are also discussed. [This work was supported by ONR Award No. N00014-16-1-2598.]
Genes and environment in chronic kidney disease hotspots

Purpose of review Chronic kidney disease (CKD) can cluster in geographic locations or in people of particular genetic ancestries. We explore APOL1 nephropathy and Balkan nephropathy as examples of CKD clustering that illustrate genetics and environment conspiring to cause high rates of kidney disease. Unexplained hotspots of kidney disease in Asia and Central America are then considered from the perspective of potential gene × environment interactions. Recent findings We report on evidence supporting both genes and environment in these CKD hotspots. Differing genetic susceptibility between populations and within populations may explain why causal environmental risk factors have been so hard to identify conclusively. Similarly, one cannot explain why these epidemics of kidney disease are happening now without invoking environmental changes. Summary Approaches to these CKD hotspots are of necessity becoming more holistic. Genetic studies may help us identify the environmental triggers by teaching us about disease biology and may empower environmental risk factor studies by allowing for stratification of study participants by genetic susceptibility.
Stored System Inherent Availability Optimization from a System of Systems Physics of Failure Perspective

Stored systems of systems (SoS) such as weapons systems in magazines and storage depots, spare equipment for nuclear power plants, and other stored SoS can sit in storage for decades before use. Failures that impact inherent availability can result from diurnal temperature cycles and other storage issues. Individual storage locations within a storage facility can undergo different diurnal temperature cycles which can impact time to failure of specific systems within the SoS due to physics of failure mechanisms (e.g.: transistor failure from repeated thermal cycles). Other issues such as test and maintenance cycles; certain stored systems being the favored extended test system or in the case of weapons systems used on aircraft, favored sortie systems; and other SoS-specific issues can contribute to reduced inherent availability. This paper presents a method of optimizing contributors to inherent availability from a SoS perspective, and using both individual system failure data and SoS cost information. The result is a stored SoS that is optimized to either meet service life requirements, or a stored SoS that is optimized to extend service life beyond the design basis, or a stored SoS that is optimized to increase inherent availability while meeting service life requirements. A case study of a stored SoS weapons system for aircraft is presented to illustrate the method.
Prevention of Peri-Implant Problems: Patient Selection

Patient selection is a key factor for the success of dental implant therapy. Appropriate pretreatment screening of candidates can help prevent complications. Exhaustive medical and dental history should be obtained and risk factors evaluated and discussed with patient. Manageable conditions should be addressed and chronic conditions controlled. Risk factors should be discussed with the patient prior to implant surgery to educate the patient and allow informed consent. The critical role of compliance must be discussed.
The determination of 1,4-dioxane in cosmetic products by gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract 1,4-dioxane is a potential human carcinogen and contaminant produced during the manufacturing process from specific cosmetic ingredients, such as certain detergents and emulsifiers. As such, 1,4-dioxane is not identified on product ingredient labels. To assess the concentration of 1,4-dioxane in cosmetic products, a gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) method using pulsed split injection and electron ionization was developed and validated. For liquid cosmetic products such as shampoo and lotion, test portions were extracted using fast ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) procedure without sample cleanup. For solid products (e.g. beauty bars), a C18 solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure was optimized to reduce potential interferences. The corresponding stable isotopically labeled analogue (1,4-dioxane-d8) was selected as an internal standard to compensate for matrix effects and sample recovery. Method recovery experiments were performed in lotion, oil gel, hair detangler, bubble bath and beauty bar (solid) sample matrices with recoveries of 84–108% and relative standard deviations less than 5% at three spike concentrations. Method limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) for 1,4-dioxane were determined at 0.2 μg/g and 0.5 μg/g, respectively. The method was successfully used to determine 1,4-dioxane in 82 leave-on and rinse-off cosmetic products marketed toward children including bath products, hair treatment, lotions, beauty bars, washes, shampoos, and other products. 1,4-dioxane was detected in 47 of the 82 products with an average concentration of 1.54 μg/g (range: 0.23–15.3 μg/g). The method can increase sample throughput and reduce matrix-induced interferences.
Synthesis Gas Conversion Over Molybdenum-Based Catalysts Promoted by Transition Metals

Catalysts consisting of transition metals (Ni, Co, Cu, and Ru) supported on molybdenum oxide synthesized by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on silica were studied for synthesis gas conversion at 523 ...
Associations between Serum Levels of Cholesterol and Survival to Age 90 in Postmenopausal Women.

Objectives Although elevated lipid levels predict increased risk of coronary heart disease and death in middle-aged women and men, evidence is mixed if lipid levels measured in later life predict survival to very old ages. We examined lipid levels and survival to age 90 with or without intact mobility in a large cohort of older women. Design Prospective cohort. Setting Laboratory collection at a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) center and longitudinal follow-up via mail. Participants Women aged 68 to 81 years at baseline. Measurements Serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were collected at baseline. Participant survival status and self-reported mobility was compared across lipid levels. Results HDL and LDL levels were not associated with survival to age 90 after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors (HDL: quartile (Q) 2: odds ratio [OR] = 1.14 [95% confidence interval [CI] = .94-1.38]; Q3 OR = 1.08 [95% CI = .88-1.33]; Q4 OR = 1.09 [95% CI = .88-1.35]; LDL: Q2 OR = 1.07 [95% CI = .88-1.31]; Q3 OR = 1.27 [95% CI = 1.04-1.55]; Q4 OR = 1.07 [95% CI = .88-1.31]). Similarly, no associations were observed between HDL and LDL levels and survival to age 90 with mobility disability. High HDL was not associated with survival to age 90 with intact mobility after adjustment for other cardiovascular risk factors. Compared with the lowest LDL quartile, the three upper LDL quartiles were associated with greater odds of survival to age 90 with intact mobility (LDL: Q2 OR = 1.31 [95% CI = .99-1.74]; Q3 OR = 1.43 [95% CI = 1.07-1.92]; Q4 OR = 1.35 [95% CI = 1.01-1.80]; P = .05). Conclusion Neither higher HDL nor lower LDL levels predicted survival to age 90, but higher LDL predicted healthy survival. These findings suggest the need for reevaluation of healthy LDL levels in older women. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:288-296, 2020.
Time Well Spent: Misery, Meaning, and the Opportunity of Incarceration

People often leave prison worse than when they arrived; sometimes, they leave the same. People could leave prison better than when they arrived through a reimagined response to crime. They could be set up to live sustainable, fulfilling, and meaningful lives after prison. This approach could be informed by research on what makes for a meaningful life – regardless of whether a person has come into contact with the criminal justice system. A reimagined corrections could view time spent in prison as an opportunity rather than solely as a punishment; an opportunity to repair harm, empower people, and promote public safety.
Locally advanced scrotal squamous cell carcinoma: Does chemotherapy affect survival?

3Background: Scrotal squamous cell carcinoma (SSCC)thoughrare, represents the most common forms of scrotal malignancies.40-50% of patients present with locally advanced disease, and treatment is ex...