cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interaction, Mediation, and Ties: An Analytic Hierarchy for Socio-Technical Systems

To understand how technological designs encourage synergistic encounters between people and ideas within socio-technical systems, techniques are needed to bridge between levels of description from process traces such as log data, through individual trajectories of activity that interact with each other, to dynamic networks of associations that are both created by and further shape these interactions. Towards this end, we have developed an analytic hierarchy and associated representations. Process traces are abstracted to contingency and uptake graphs: directed graphs that record observed relationships (contingencies) between events that offer evidence for interaction and other influences between actors (uptake). Contingency graphs are further abstracted to associograms: two-mode directed graphs that record how associations between actors are mediated by digital artifacts. Patterns in associograms summarize sequential patterns of interaction. Transitive closure of associograms yields sociograms, to which existing network analytic techniques may be applied. We discuss how the hierarchy bridges between theoretical levels of analysis.
Effect of a neuropeptide gene on behavioral states in Caenorhabditis elegans egg-laying

Egg-laying behavior in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves fluctuation between alternative behavioral states: an inactive state, during which eggs are retained in the uterus, and an active state, during which eggs are laid in bursts. We have found that the flp-1 gene, which encodes a group of structurally related neuropeptides, functions specifically to promote the switch from the inactive to the active egg-laying state. Recessive mutations in flp-1 caused a significant increase in the duration of the inactive phase, yet egg-laying within the active phase was normal. This pattern resembled that previously observed in mutants defective in the biosynthesis of serotonin, a neuromodulator implicated in induction of the active phase. Although flp-1 mutants were sensitive to stimulation of egg-laying by serotonin, the magnitude of their serotonin response was abnormally low. Thus, the flp-1-encoded peptides and serotonin function most likely function in concert to facilitate the onset of the active egg-laying phase. Interestingly, we observed that flp-1 is necessary for animals to down-regulate their rate of egg-laying in the absence of food. Because flp-1 is known to be expressed in interneurons that are postsynaptic to a variety of chemosensory cells, the FLP-1 peptides may function to regulate the activity of the egg-laying circuitry in response to sensory cues.
A reconfigurable, analog system for efficient stochastic biological computation

Motivated by the many stochastic processes found in biology that allow for ultra-efficient computing, this paper explores circuit implementations for stochastic computation in hardware. Several novel contributions are presented in this paper, namely a dynamically controllable system of random number generators that produces Bernoulli random variables, exponentially distributed random variables, and allows for random variables of an arbitrary distribution to be generated. This system is implemented on a reconfigurable analog chipset allowing for the first time ever a hardware stochastic process with a user input to control the probability distribution. The utility of this system is demonstrated by implementing the well-known Gillespie algorithm for simulating an arbitrary biological system trajectory of sufficiently small molecules where over a 127times performance improvement over current software approaches is shown.
Target identification based on state space analysis

A signal reflected from a radar target is modified according to the impulse response function of the target. This interaction may be thought of as a linear filter acting on the incident signal. Filters are not exactly invertible, which means that there is no continuous function between the filter output and its input. Likewise, there is no invertible function between the outputs of 2 different filters driven by the same signal, so there is no function between the responses of 2 different targets illuminated by the same incident signal. We apply a statistic from nonlinear dynamics that describes the probability that there is a function between 2 signals embedded in state space to develop a similarity statistic between 2 signals reflected from different targets. The similarity statistic describes how similar the targets are to each other. We have tested this similarity statistic with numerical simulations and acoustic experiments.
Effects of long wave ultraviolet radiation on photosensitizing and related compounds. I. The effects on the fluorescence of topically applied compounds.

SUMMARY The effects of long wave ultraviolet radiation (320–400 nm) on the binding of twenty-five fluorescent photosensitizing and related compounds to the major saline soluble guinea-pig epidermal proteins were studied. Binding before or after irradiation was detected on polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis by correlating the fluorescent migration pattern with the amido black counterstained pattern. Effects were seen only on photo-allergic and structurally related compounds (phenothiazines and halogenated salicylanilides). The binding of five phenothiazine derivatives was detected only after irradiation. Ten of twelve halogenated salicylanilides were bound without irradiation, and eleven were bound following it. Ultraviolet exposure appeared to increase the amount of each halogenated salicylanilide that was bound and/or to alter the existing complex.
The Effect of Noncardiac and Genetic Abnormalities on Outcomes Following Neonatal Congenital Heart Surgery

Significant noncardiac and genetic abnormalities (NC and GA) are common in neonates with congenital heart defects. We sought to examine current-era effect of those abnormalities on early and late outcomes following cardiac surgery. The method from 2002-2012, 1538 neonates underwent repair (n = 860, 56%) or palliation (n = 678, 44%) of congenital heart defects. Regression models examined the effect of NC and GA on operative results, resource utilization, and late outcomes. Neonates with NC and GA (n = 312, 20%) had higher incidence of prematurity (21% vs 13%; P
Future Possibilities for (n,p) Studies at Intermediate Energies

The study of giant resonances in nuclei via inelastic electron and hadron scattering is currently of great interest.1,2 These resonances are outstanding manifestations of nuclear vibrational motion in which an appreciable number of nucleons participate. Charge exchange reactions such as (p,n) and (n,p) offer powerful options for studying isovector excitations without interference from isoscalars. In general, if the target has isospin T then an isovector transition leaves the residual nucleus with isospin T-1, T, or T+1. (Refer to fig. 1.) The T-1 excitation requires charge exchange, as in (p,n), so that the 3-component T3=T (the charge-component) of isospin is also changed to T-1. Only for N=Z (T=0) nuclei are all isovector transitions to states of isospin T+l. In such reactions as (p,p’) and (e,e’) the isoscalar mode can also be excited and, indeed, these tend to be the strongest transitions at medium energies (≲ 100 MeV).
Lacan on madness: madness, yes you can’t, edited by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler, and Culture/clinic 1: applied lacanian psychoanalysis – ‘We’re all Mad Here’, edited by Jacques-Alain Miller and Marie Januus

Two recently published collections in the area of Lacanian psychoanalysis – Lacan on Madness and Culture/Clinic 1: ‘We’re all Mad Here’ – are devoted to the topic of psychosis. This is an important...
Construction of time-relaxed c -broadcast networks

C-broadcasting is an information dissemination task where a message, originated at any node in a network, is transmitted to all other nodes with the restriction that each node having the message can transmit it to almost c neighbors simultaneously. If the transmission time of the message is set to be one time unit, a minimal c-broadcast network (c-MBN) is a communication network in which c-broadcasting from any node can be accomplished in [logc+1n] time units, where n is the number of nodes and [logc+1n] is the fastest possible broadcast time. If networks are sparse, additional time units may be required to perform c-broadcasting. A time-relaxed c-broadcast network, denoted as (t, c)-RBN, is a network where c-broadcasting from any node can be completed in [logc+1n]+t time units. In this paper, a network compounding algorithm is proposed to construct large sparse (t, c)-RBNs by linking multiple copies of a time-relaxed network of small size using the structure of another time-relaxed network. Computational results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Technique for measuring reproductions of visual stimuli. II. Adult reproductions of the Bender-Gestalt.

An objective measurement technique developed for hand-drawn reproductions of two-dimensional visual stimuli was applied to reproductions of the Bender-Gestalt taken from brain-damaged, psychiatric, and normal Ss. This technique was found to be highly reliable with respect to interjudge agreement, and it discriminated significantly between the reproductions of neurologically damaged and non-damaged groups.
Protection of Critical Infrastructures: A Methodology for Facilitating Modeling and Simulation of Notional Scenarios

The fear of terrorist attacks whether it be at a small or large scale keeps increasing and people struggle to find a way to protect civil vital assets, population areas, land and coastal sites, as well as strategic sites and critical infrastructures. The use of sophisticated methods, and advanced technologies by individuals engaged in criminal activities, pose an extreme challenge to the detection of potential malevolent systems, especially in the case of aerial systems flying at low or very low altitude. Therefore, enhancing the capabilities of detection of aerial systems that could be a threat to the nations’ critical infrastructures and key assets is a necessity. This involves identifying the best positioning of detection systems enabling the protection of a particular asset in a timely fashion. However, this is hindered by the complex nature of the system of systems required to provide an efficient protection. Moreover, it is difficult to fully protect a densely populated area where the detection of suspicious and potentially harmful activities is highly compromised. Therefore, current systems used for the protection of critical infrastructures and key assets are generally not adapted to and not optimized for the problem at hand. Besides, the assets requiring efficient protection against potential malevolent systems are highly heterogeneous in nature, as are the potential threats to these assets. The complexity and challenges associated to this problem may explain why a methodology enabling the definition of detection systems of systems able to provide accurate scanning of the low altitude air domain, in a specific geographic and climatic environment, is currently lacking. Finally, the combinatorial aspect of the problem usually hinders the conduct of a thorough study of all available possibilities of protection. That may be one reason why, to date, a structured methodology for the design of network-enabled systems does not exist. This paper thus proposes a methodology aimed at addressing the aforementioned gaps and challenges. This methodology particularly reformulates the problem in clear terms so as to facilitate the subsequent modeling and simulation of potential threat scenarios. This paper describes the steps involved in the implementation of the proposed approach, as well as the modeling and simulation of a notional scenario, using an agent-based modeling and simulation tool. The results of the simulation help gain insight into the reality of the problem.
Analysis on Blackout of 220kV Caoqiao Substation of Beijing Power Network in China on March 21,2008

In this paper the process of blackout occurred in 220kV Caoqiao substation of Beijing power network in China on March 21, 2008 is presented. By means of detailed investigation and analysis on the configuration and operation condition of the power equipments relative to the fault, the conclusion is drawn that in the gas chamber of cable terminal the incorrect connection of the noumenon of gas insulated switchgear (GIS) with cable terminal which touches off destruction of insulation is the main reason leading to this accident. In view of the vital function of high voltage switchgears in power network, the field installation of high voltage switchgears is an important link to ensure the overall performance of GIS, thus strict quality control should be applied to this link. Finally some suggestions and reform measures to prevent this kind of accidents are proposed.
A Systematic Review to Assess Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Interventions for Children and Adolescents across the Socioecological Model

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption among children and adolescents is a determinant of childhood obesity. Many programs to reduce consumption across the socioecological model report significant positive results; however, the generalizability of the results, including whether reporting differences exist among socioecological strategy levels, is unknown. This systematic review aimed to examine the extent to which studies reported internal and external validity indicators defined by the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) model and assess reporting differences by socioecological level: Intrapersonal/interpersonal (Level 1), environmental/policy (Level 2), and multilevel (Combined Level). A systematic literature review was conducted in six major databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl, CAB Abstracts, Education Research Information Center, and Arcola) to identify studies from 2004-2015 meeting inclusion criteria (children aged 3 to 12 years, adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, and young adults aged 18 years, experimental or quasiexperimental, and substantial SSB component). Interventions were categorized by socioecological level, and data were extracted using a validated RE-AIM protocol. One-way analysis of variance assessed differences between levels. There were 55 eligible studies accepted, including 21 Level 1, 18 Level 2, and 16 Combined Level studies. Thirty-six studies (65%) were conducted in the United States, 19 studies (35%) were conducted internationally, and 39 studies (71%) were implemented in schools. Across levels, reporting averages were low for all RE-AIM dimensions (reach=29%, efficacy or effectiveness=45%, adoption=26%, implementation=27%, and maintenance=14%). Level 2 studies had significantly lower reporting on reach and effectiveness (10% and 26%, respectively) compared with Level 1 (44% and 57%, respectively) or Combined Level studies (31% and 52%, respectively) (P<0.001). Adoption, implementation, and maintenance reporting did not vary among levels. Interventions to reduce SSB consumption in children and adolescents across the socioecological spectrum do not provide the necessary information for dissemination and implementation in community nutrition settings. Future interventions should address both internal and external validity to maximize population influence.
Villagizing the city: turning rural ethnic heritage into urban modernity in southwest China

AbstractThis paper examines the rural ethnic heritage-inspired transformation of the built environment of a relatively small county town in China. The paper explores the ways village-based ethnic heritage is being repositioned by local leaders as a resource for tourism-oriented revenue generation and for ‘improving’ the ‘quality’ and behaviour of town residents. Viewing heritage as a ‘technology of government,’ the paper provides an analysis based on three interrelated themes: the discourses by which town leaders and planners have conceived the heritage development project as one of improvement, the spatial practices by which those discourses have been realised in the built environment, and the ways residents themselves have appropriated and ‘inhabited’ this new ‘villagized’ city as they go about their everyday urban lives. Based on ethnographic field work, a survey, and extended interviews over a period of four years, the paper finds the town leadership’s faith in the ability of the built environment to ...
Rituximab Not Effective for Hearing Loss in Cogan’s Syndrome

Importance. Rituximab was not effective in ameliorating the hearing loss in a patient with atypical Cogan’s syndrome. Observations. We report the case of a patient who developed acute bilateral uveitis and sensorineural hearing loss. A diagnosis of atypical Cogan’s syndrome was made. The patient’s hearing loss did not improve despite high dose steroids and azathioprine. Rituximab was administered given a recent report of its efficacy in a patient with refractory disease; however, our patient’s hearing loss did not improve. Conclusion. Hearing loss in Cogan’s syndrome is difficult to treat. Though rituximab was ineffective in our case, earlier administration in the disease course could be effective for future patients.
Bioenergy Sorghum Crop Model Predicts VPD-Limited Transpiration Traits Enhance Biomass Yield in Water-Limited Environments.

Bioenergy sorghum is targeted for production in water-limited annual cropland therefore traits that improve plant water capture, water use efficiency, and resilience to water deficit are necessary to maximize productivity. A crop modeling framework, APSIM was adapted to predict the growth and biomass yield of energy sorghum and to identify potentially useful traits for crop improvement. APSIM simulations of energy sorghum development and biomass accumulation replicated results from field experiments across multiple years, patterns of rainfall, and irrigation schemes. Modeling showed that energy sorghum’s long duration of vegetative growth increased water capture and biomass yield by ~30% compared to short season crops in a water-limited production region. Additionally, APSIM was extended to enable modeling of VPD-limited transpiration traits that reduce crop water use under high vapor pressure deficits (VPDs). The response of transpiration rate to increasing VPD was modeled as a linear response until a VPD threshold was reached, at which the slope of the response decreases, representing a range of responses to VPD observed in sorghum germplasm. Simulation results indicated that the VPD-limited transpiration trait is most beneficial in hot and dry regions of production where crops are exposed to extended periods without rainfall during the season or to a terminal drought. In these environments, slower but more efficient transpiration increases biomass yield and prevents or delays the exhaustion of soil water and onset of leaf senescence. The VPD-limited transpiration responses observed in sorghum germplasm increased biomass accumulation by 20% in years with lower summer rainfall, and the ability to drastically reduce transpiration under high VPD conditions could increase biomass by 6% on average across all years. This work indicates that the productivity and resilience of bioenergy sorghum grown in water-limited environments could be further enhanced by development of genotypes with optimized VPD-limited transpiration traits and deployment of these crops in water limited growing environments. The energy sorghum model and VPD-limited transpiration trait implementation are made available to simulate performance in other target environments.
Fixed Interval Performance as Related to Subjects’ Verbalizations of the Reinforcement Contingency

80 female Ss earned points on a counter for button pressing on a FI 20, 40, 60 and 80 sec. schedule of reinforcement. The Ss were uninformed of the reinforcement schedule. The Ss’ final performance and verbalization of the reinforcement contingency were related to initial rate of responding and presence of a shift in rate during training, but unrelated to interval duration.
Seeking a Just and Humane World: Motivation for Continuity and Change

Mission statements often give direction to faculty and students to chart a course that willachieve the institution’s goals. Preparing students to lead in a just and humane world is amission that requires a teaching approach that motivates learning and a learning style thatrealizes the institutional mission. In subfields of political science such as internationalrelations and comparative politics, blending the vicarious with the experiential in activelearning exercises can be very satisfying to the innovative instructor. Important to thedevelopment of a unique learning design is the instructor’s insight into what motivatesthe active learner and what challenges that learner to adopt useful learning strategies.This paper discusses student motivations for learning and teaching strategies thatfacilitate such learning. Utilizing the focal theme of Global Justice, the study offers aglimpse into what students learn when they switch citizenship roles with persons of theother world.
AirWorks: Indian Aviation Services Taking Off

Since 1951, AirWorks has been the largest privately owned aviation services company in India. It remains family owned by the Menons. In 2010, a new professionally trained CEO, Vivek N Gour, was brought in to embark on a transformation and growth strategy. AirWorks acquired a majority share in Air Livery, a UK based aircraft painting and maintenance company. Through joint ventures and partnerships AirWorks grew its revenue several-fold by 2012. A new hanger was built at Hosur near Bangaluru. In 2012, AirWorks made a major investment in Empire Aviation of UAE. Vivek led the transformation from physical cleanup and upgrading of hangers, to new processes and systems to document and track work, and obtained world-class certifications from global regulators. He arranged financial training for management and hired new team to support him, and shifted the business from ‘sell to customers for relationship’ to ‘sell to make money with relationship’. AirWorks was led by clearly posted values, clear performance relat...
Patterns of change in permanganate oxidizable soil organic matter from semiarid drylands reflected by absorbance spectroscopy and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Abstract Organic matter (OM) oxidized by slightly alkaline KMnO4, termed permanganate-oxidizable carbon (POXC), has recently emerged as a standardized indicator of active, labile carbon within soil quality frameworks. Yet, qualitative information on POXC, particularly in semiarid drylands, is very scarce. The aim of this study was to characterize POXC within three long-term field experiments in Montana, USA: (i) across a wide range of edaphic (e.g., % clay) and management conditions (e.g., cropping intensity) (n = 148); and (ii) to identify the molecular composition of soil OM before and after KMnO4 treatment using electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI FT-ICR MS). The content of POXC was significantly greater under perennial (382–685 mg/kg) or annual cropping (404–607 mg/kg) than fallow-wheat (359–543 mg/kg) systems. Soil OM changes, however, were equally or better expressed when considering soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration. The occurrence of POXC paralleled SOC (R = 0.87; P 0.67) and hydrogen saturation (aliphatic composition; H/C > 1.5) across all heterogeneous groups (CcHhNnOoSs). Although POXC is a rapid assay widely used for characterizing soil OM dynamics, it may not provide a clear advantage over SOC concentration in semiarid drylands. The view of POXC as a merely labile, simple biodegradable OM fraction needs to be reconsidered.
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the evaluation of patients with occupational asthma and reactive airways dysfunction syndrome.

BACKGROUND Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a well recognized tool for the functional assessment of patients with cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders. The exercise response of asthmatics has been well characterized but the exercise response of patients with occupational asthma is less well understood. In this report we describe the clinical utility of CPET by characterizing the cardiovascular and pulmonary responses to exercise in patients with occupational asthma (OA) and a closely related entity, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS). METHODS We evaluated clinical and cardiopulmonary exercise data (mean +/- SD) from patients with OA (n = 22, age = 40.1 +/- 8.9 years, 14 males) and RADS (n = 23, age = 37.7 +/- 9.7 years, 18 males) who exhibited comparable pulmonary function. Oxygen uptake, CO2 output, ventilatory parameters, cardiac hemodynamics, O2 delivery, 12 lead EKG, systemic BP, and O2 saturation were monitored at rest and during cycle ergometer exercise. RESULTS Compared with the RADS group, OA patients demonstrated higher resting dead-space ventilation (41 +/- 8 vs 35 +/- 9%, p = 0.04), reduced exercise capacity (94 +/- 32 vs 122 +/- 47 W, p = 0.01), higher respiratory quotients at 50 W (0.98 +/- 0.14 vs 0.91 +/- 0.08, p = 0.04), decreased power output past attainment of the anaerobic threshold (28.1 +/- 17.1 vs 44.7 +/- 15.1 W, p = 0.002) and a strong tendency for lower anaerobic thresholds (53 +/- 9 vs 60 +/- 14% pred VO2max, p = 0.06). CONCLUSION In the 2 groups with occupational bronchial hyperreactivity, each with mild disease severity, OA patients exhibited greater decrements in cardiovascular conditioning when compared with the RADS group, perhaps because of the more prolonged, chronic respiratory insult experienced by the OA group. These data indicate that CPET in patients with work-related bronchial hyperreactivity is of significant utility in the impairment evaluation process.
Dimensions Underlying Sixteen Models of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Numerous models of interpersonal forgiveness and reconciliation have proliferated, while the number of constructs common to these models and how these constructs interrelate has gone untested. Sixt...
Scalable Overlay Multicast Tree Construction for Media Streaming.

Overlay networks have become popular in recent times for content distribution and end-system multicasting of media streams. In the latter case, the motivation is based on the lack of widespread deployment of IP multicast and the ability to perform end-host processing. However, constructing routes between various end-hosts, so that data can be streamed from content publishers to many thousands of subscribers is still a challenging problem. First, any routes between end-hosts using trees built on top of overlay networks can increase stress on the underlying physical network, due to multiple instances of the same data traversing a given physical link. Second, because overlay routes between endhosts may traverse physical network links more than once, they increase the end-to-end latency compared to IP-level routing. Third, algorithms for constructing efficient, largescale trees that reduce link stress and latency are typically more complex. This paper therefore compares various methods to construct multicast trees between end-systems, that vary in terms of implementation costs and their quality of mapping from logical overlay to physical network. We describe several algorithms that make trade-offs between algorithmic complexity, physical link stress and latency. While no algorithm is best in all three cases we show how it is possible to efficiently build trees for several thousand subscribers with latencies within a factor of two of the optimal, and link stresses comparable to, or better than, existing technolo-
Recent Advances in IEC Physics and Technology at the University of Wisconsin

AbstractThe University of Wisconsin-Madison has conducted research on gridded inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) devices for the past 18 years. There are currently 4 experimental devices operating at voltages up to 180 kV and 60 mA. These devices have uncovered several new phenomena that have greatly improved our understanding of IEC devices. Recent advances include the discovery of a significant negative ion component of DD plasmas and spatial profiles of fusion reactions that did not conform to our prior understanding of these devices. The use of this technology has also contributed to our understanding of surface damage to high temperature in-vessel W components after even low exposures to energetic He ion fluences. Expansion of the voltage-ion current parameter space to 300 kV-200 mA in the near future will help our understanding of advanced fusion fuel cycles.
Overview of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota

The community of microbes that inhabits the mammalian intestinal tract exists in a symbiosis with their host. The structure of this community represents the combined effects of selection pressure on the part of the host and on the part of the microbes themselves. Through recent advances in the field of microbial ecology we are beginning to understand the forces that shape this complex community. We will review what is known about the interaction between the host and the indigenous microbial community. Following this dicussion we will introduce methods that have been used to study the structure, function and dynamics of this community.
Low Incidence Disabilities and Personnel Preparation for Rural Areas: Current Status and Future Trends:

The shortages of special education personnel are nowhere more severe than in low incidence disabilities in rural schools. This article presents the results of a national study that identified shortage estimates, state certification patterns, personnel preparation programs, and distance delivery mechanisms and examined relationships among these data to assess the state of shortages of special educators in the areas of vision impairments, hearing impairments, severe disabilities, and early intervention. The authors outline current issues and future trends in preparing personnel in low incidence disabilities for rural areas.
An economic evaluation of immediate vs non-immediate activation of emergency medical services after epinephrine use for peanut-induced anaphylaxis.

Abstract Background Layperson food allergy management plans commonly stipulate that if epinephrine is used to immediately call 911 and seek care in the nearest medical facility for observation. Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this strategy, vs a watchful waiting approach before activating emergency medical services (EMS). Methods We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis using Markov modeling simulated over a 20-year horizon comparing activating EMS immediately after epinephrine use for allergic reactions to peanut vs a “wait and see” approach in which EMS was only activated if symptoms of the reaction did not promptly resolve after treatment. The base-case model assumed a 10-fold increased fatality risk with delayed EMS activation. Results The fatality risk associated with early EMS use was minimal, with a per-patient fatality rate over a 20-year horizon of 1.2 × 10−6, vs 1.9 × 10−6 for a wait and see approach. The incremental cost per life-year saved was $142,943,447 for early EMS vs wait and see, with the cost per death prevented reaching $1,349,335,651 as the simulation concluded. Cost of early EMS activation rose to $321,625,534 per life-year saved ($3,035,454,848 per death prevented) if a 5-fold increase in fatality risk was assumed, and was $12,997,173 per life-year saved ($122,689,936 per death prevented) if a 100-fold increase in fatality risk was assumed. Conclusion Medical observation of a treated and promptly resolved peanut allergic reaction has minimal benefit and excessive costs. Immediately activating EMS after using epinephrine for a peanut allergic reaction in this context is not cost-effective.
Programmable Triangulation Light Curtains

A vehicle on a road or a robot in the field does not need a full-featured 3D depth sensor to detect potential collisions or monitor its blind spot. Instead, it needs to only monitor if any object comes within its near proximity which is an easier task than full depth scanning. We introduce a novel device that monitors the presence of objects on a virtual shell near the device, which we refer to as a light curtain. Light curtains offer a light-weight, resource-efficient and programmable approach to proximity awareness for obstacle avoidance and navigation. They also have additional benefits in terms of improving visibility in fog as well as flexibility in handling light fall-off. Our prototype for generating light curtains works by rapidly rotating a line sensor and a line laser, in synchrony. The device is capable of generating light curtains of various shapes with a range of 20–30 m in sunlight (40 m under cloudy skies and 50 m indoors) and adapts dynamically to the demands of the task. We analyze properties of light curtains and various approaches to optimize their thickness as well as power requirements. We showcase the potential of light curtains using a range of real-world scenarios.
Verification: Accuracy Evaluation of WiFi Fine Time Measurements on an Open Platform

Academic and industry research has argued for supporting WiFi time-of-flight measurements to improve WiFi localization. The IEEE 802.11-2016 now includes a Fine Time Measurement (FTM) protocol for WiFi ranging, and several WiFi chipsets offer hardware support albeit without fully functional open software. This paper introduces an open platform for experimenting with fine time measurements and a general, repeatable, and accurate measurement framework for evaluating time-based ranging systems. We analyze the key factors and parameters that affect the ranging performance and revisit standard error correction techniques for WiFi time-based ranging system. The results confirm that meter-level ranging accuracy is possible as promised, but the measurements also show that this can only be consistently achieved in low-multipath environments such as open outdoor spaces or with denser access point deployments to enable ranging at or above 80 MHz bandwidth.
Perioperative Mortality Does Not Explain Racial Disparities in Gastrointestinal Cancer

Racial minorities with gastrointestinal cancer suffer disproportionately poor overall and disease-specific survival. We used a nationally representative sample to examine the relationship between race/ethnicity and mortality and determine whether these disparities were observed in the perioperative period. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was used to examine patients undergoing surgery for cancers of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, colon and rectum (“GI cancer”) between 2008 and 2012. Logistic regression was used to evaluate whether race/ethnicity was associated with perioperative mortality after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, perioperative factors and presentation (ER vs elective). A total of 110,044 subjects were identified, including 75.8% Whites, 10.5% Black patients, 7.2% Hispanic patients, and 3.1% Asian/Pacific Islanders (API). Whites were generally older than minorities. In adjusted multivariable generalized linear mixed logistic models, no increase in perioperative mortality was seen for minorities. Worse outcomes were observed for those with higher Elixhauser comorbidity score (OR 6.90, CI 5.96–7.99), lower income region (OR 1.24, CI 1.10–1.40), males (OR 1.54, CI 1.42–1.68), and those without private insurance (Medicare OR 1.34, CI 1.16–1.55; Medicaid OR 1.27, CI 1.02–1.58; self-pay OR 1.64, CI 1.24–2.17). Differences in mortality were predominantly driven by comorbidities (pseudo %ΔR2 = 38.56%) and only minimally by race (pseudo %ΔR2 = 0.49%). Minority groups do not suffer higher rates of perioperative mortality for GI cancer surgeries after controlling for clinical and demographic factors. Future work to address cancer disparities should focus on areas in the cancer care trajectory such as cancer screening, surveillance, socioeconomic factors, and access.
I don’t remember vs. I don’t know: Phenomenological states associated with retrieval failures

Abstract When retrieval fails, what is the phenomenology of that experience? We explored different states of experience associated with retrieval failures that vary in intensity. Specifically, we examined the difference between not knowing and not remembering and the ways in which these states are described. Naive and expert participants defined “I don’t know” (DK) and “I don’t remember” (DR). DR was associated with lack of accessibility and forgetting, whereas DK was associated with never having learned the information. To examine whether these states map onto distinct behavioral outcomes, in two experiments, younger and older adult participants were asked general knowledge questions with the option of responding DK or DR after a retrieval failure. On a final multiple-choice test (Exp. 2) or cued recall test following correct answer feedback (Exp. 3), when an initial DK response was given, performance was generally lower than following initial DR responses, suggesting that not remembering reflects a failure in accessibility, whereas not knowing reflects the experience of not having information in the knowledge base. The effect was large and robust across ages and tests.
The content of their coverage: contrasting racially conservative and liberal elite rhetoric

Theoretical and empirical evidence suggest that how elites talk about race may shape mass racial attitudes. But current work limits understanding this possibility by not systematically characterizi...
Joint Optimization of MapReduce Scheduling and Network Policy in Hierarchical Data Centers

As large-scale data analytic becomes norm in various industries, using MapReduce frameworks to analyze ever-increasing volumes of data will keep growing. In turn, this trend drives up the intention to move MapReduce into multi-tenant clouds. However, the application performance of MapReduce can be significantly affected by the time-varying network bandwidth in a shared cluster. Although many recent studies improve MapReduce performance by dynamic scheduling to reduce the shuffle traffic, most of them do not consider the impact by widely existing hierarchical network architectures in data centers. In this paper, we propose and design a Hierarchical topology (Hit) aware MapReduce scheduler to minimize overall data traffic cost and hence to reduce job execution time. We first formulate the problem as a Topology Aware Assignment (TAA) optimization problem while considering dynamic computing and communication resources in the cloud with hierarchical network architecture. We further develop a synergistic strategy to solve the TAA problem by using the stable matching theory, which ensures the preference of both individual tasks and hosting machines. Finally, we implement the proposed scheduler as a pluggable module on Hadoop YARN and evaluate its performance by testbed experiments and simulations. The testbed experimental results show Hit-scheduler can improve job completion time by 28% and 11% compared to Capacity Scheduler and Probabilistic Network-Aware scheduler, respectively. Our simulations further demonstrate that Hit-scheduler can reduce the traffic cost by 38% at most and the average shuffle flow traffic time by 32% compared to Capacity scheduler. In this manuscript, we have extended Hit-scheduler to a decentralized heuristic scheme to perform the policy-aware allocation in data center environments. Many existing centralized approximation approaches are too complex and infeasible to implement over a data center, which typically include large amounts of servers, containers, switches and traffic flows. In the extension, we have designed a decentralized heuristic scheme to perform the Policy-Aware Task (PAT) allocation by using existing centralize algorithm to approximately maximize the total gained utility. Finally, the simulation based experimental results show that the proposed PAT policy reduces the communication cost by 33.6% compared with the default scheduler in data centers.
A Genealogical Exploration of the Reher Family, Jewish Bakers in Kingston, New York, 1880-1960

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many Jewish people left Eastern Europe for America to escape anti-Semitism and search for a new life. Frank Reher was one of these immigrants. He opened up a successful Jewish bakery in Kingston, New York, where there was a growing Jewish population. His story provides a case study of one family that developed an American identity, largely through socializing events in their synagogues, who also never lost touch with their Jewish identity. Using primary sources from the Reher family bakery archive along with primary sources from newspapers such as The Daily Freeman, it was feasible to construct a clear timeline of the family’s history along with shifts in their identity within the context of a newly developed Jewish immigrant settlement.
ROUNDING UP THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS.

The results of analysis of CCD photometric observations for seven Hungaria asteroids are reported: 3873 Roddy, 7187 Isobe, (7247) 1991 TD1, 8348 Bhattacharyya, (25332) 1999 KK6, (30311) 2000 JS10, and (67175) 2000 BA19. Of this group, 3873 Roddy and 7187 Isobe, are considered to be new discoveries of small binary (D P < 10 km) systems. This brings the total of known Hungaria binaries to 16. (7247) 1991 TD1 also resembles a binary object, but there are concerns with this conclusion because the second period is almost commensurate with an Earth day. It is a low-amplitude object with ambiguous period solutions. 8348 Bhattacharyya may be an example of an asteroid with a spin axis nearly in the ecliptic plane, which results in low amplitude lightcurves that are difficult to analyze. (25332) 1999 KK6 showed some evidence of a binary nature but it is more likely due to a trait of Fourier analysis. (30311) 2000 JS10 is another example where the Fourier analysis may have been led astray. (67175) 2000 BA19 also shows signs of a secondary period, but of 275 h. This would make it one of small number of objects that show two periods, one of ~2.2-2.5 h, and the other of 200 h or more.
Postoperative bracing practices after elective lumbar spine surgery: A questionnaire study of U.S. spine surgeons

Abstract Background There is limited data available on the use of orthoses across varying elective spine surgeries. When previously studied in 2009, inconsistent lumbar postoperative bracing practices were reported. The present study aimed to provide a ten-year update regarding postoperative bracing practices after elective lumbar surgery among United States (U.S.) spine surgeons. Methods A questionnaire was distributed to attendees of the Lumbar Spine Research Society Annual Meeting (April 2019). The questionnaire collected demographic information, and asked surgeons to identify if they used orthoses postoperatively after ten elective lumbar surgeries. Information regarding type of brace, duration of use, and reason for bracing was also collected. Chi-square tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for comparisons. Results Seventy-three of 88 U.S. attending surgeons completed the questionnaire (response rate: 83%). The majority of respondents were orthopaedic surgery-trained (78%), fellowship-trained (84%), and academic surgeons (73%). The majority of respondents (60%) did not use orthoses after any lumbar surgery. Among the surgeons who braced, the overall bracing frequency was 26%. This rate was significantly lower than that reported in the literature ten years earlier (p Conclusion Most surgeon respondents did not prescribe orthoses after varying elective lumbar surgeries, and the frequency overall was lower than a similar study conducted in 2009. There continues to be inconsistencies in postoperative bracing practices. In an era striving for evidence-based practices, this is an area needing more attention.
Federal Corporate Law and the Business of Banking

The only profit-seeking business enterprises chartered by a federal government agency are banks. Yet, there is barely any scholarship justifying this exception to state primacy in American corporate law. This Article addresses that gap. It reinterprets the National Bank Act (NBA)—the organic statute governing national banks, the heavyweights of the financial sector—as a corporation law and recovers the reasons why Congress wrote this law: not to catalyze private wealth creation or to regulate an existing industry, but to solve an economic governance problem. National banks are federal instrumentalities charged with augmenting the money supply—a delegated sovereign privilege. Congress recruited private shareholders and managers to run these instrumentalities as a check on monetary overissue and to prevent politicized asset allocation by government officials—a form of premodern agency independence. Viewing the NBA as a corporation law yields surprising dividends. First, it exposes a major flaw at the heart of U.S. banking jurisprudence. In recent decades, the Supreme Court and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the chartering authority for national banks, have interpreted national banks’ corporate powers expansively, allowing them to enter a vast range of new business lines. But the corporate powers provision of the NBA is not a “regulatory” statute to which courts should apply Chevron deference, nor is it part of the OCC’s enabling act. It is part of the corporate charters of national banks. Accordingly, the opposite, settled rule of construction applies; ambiguity is construed strictly against the corporation. Second, it reveals that the OCC’s current campaign to unhitch national bank charters from the deposit business lacks a statutory basis and threatens an unprecedented colonization of American enterprise law by a federal government agency that is ill-suited to this mission and was never congressionally tasked with it.
Employee Health Codes of Conduct: What Would They Look Like and Who Would Accept Them?

Purpose: Most workplace health promotion efforts have failed to consistently and sustainably encourage employees to take responsibility for their health. This paper explores a potentially high impact solution – Health Codes of Conduct – for engaging and motivating employees to assume responsibility for their health.Design: This mixed methods study draws on interview and survey methodology with a sample of 149 working adults to examine the feasibility of Health Codes of Conduct. Descriptive and inferential statistics are calculated to understand reactions, characteristics of the companies likely to support the idea, and components of a Health Code of Conduct.Findings: All employees offered moderate to high support for Health Codes of Conduct; this included overweight but not obese employees. Additionally, all demographic groups either moderately or strongly supported the policy when they included either monetary incentives (such as prescription discounts) or often overlooked nonmonetary incentives (such as employee recognition). Some of the more popular features of Health Codes of Conduct included annual physical exams, exercise routines, and simply encouraging employees to stay home when ill.Research implications: Health Codes of Conduct offer a surprisingly well-supported potential solution for engaging employees in wellness. Favorable reactions were observed across all examined segments of workers, including overweight (but not obese) employees. Using the specific features of Health Codes identified here, visionary companies can tailor their own company’s Health Code of Conduct with the appropriate monetary and nonmonetary incentives and disincentives.Social implications: What if the workplace could be a positive source of health and empowerment for valued employees? We show employee Health Codes of Conduct could be this empowering, engaging solution that has been missing.Originality: This paper is the first to propose the concept Health Codes of Conduct and solicit feedback from employees on this novel idea and show the specific features that are most attractive in such a code. Furthermore, we identify both the monetary and nonmonetary incentives and disincentives that employees believe would be most compelling.