cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The association between perceived interpersonal social support and physical and mental health: results from the national epidemiological survey on alcohol and related conditions

Background Low social support has been associated with several disorders. We test the relationship between perceived interpersonal social support (ISS) and aspects of mental and physical health. Methods We used data from National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions in which 34 653 individuals aged 20–99 years were interviewed twice (2001–02 and 2004–05), with the second interview including the interpersonal support evaluation list. The association of perceived ISS with lifetime DSM-IV psychopathology and physical health from the past 12 months was investigated. We also tested whether this association changes as a function of number of traumatic events in accordance with the buffering hypothesis. Results Low perceived ISS correlated with increased prevalence of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, social phobia and several physical health problems. There was a strong association between excellent self-perceived physical health and high social support. Conclusions There was evidence for both the main, beneficial effects of high perceived ISS and buffering, whereby increased perceived ISS ameliorated the pathogenic influence of exposure to traumatic life events on psychopathology. Current findings highlight the importance of perceived ISS in individuals’ general mental and physical well-being, both in daily life and upon exposure to negative life events.
Accessing Nearby Copies of Replicated Objects in a Distributed Environment

Consider a set of shared objects in a distributed network, where several copies of each object may exist at any given time. To ensure both fast access to the objects as well as efficient utilization of network resources, it is desirable that each access request be satisfied by a copy ``close'' to the requesting node. Unfortunately, it is not clear how to achieve this goal efficiently in a dynamic, distributed environment in which large numbers of objects are continuously being created, replicated, and destroyed. In this paper we design a simple randomized algorithm for accessing shared objects that tends to satisfy each access request with a nearby copy. The algorithm is based on a novel mechanism to maintain and distribute information about object locations, and requires only a small amount of additional memory at each node. We analyze our access scheme for a class of cost functions that captures the hierarchical nature of wide-area networks. We show that under the particular cost model considered (i) the expected cost of an individual access is asymptotically optimal, and (ii) if objects are sufficiently large, the memory used for objects dominates the additional memory used by our algorithm with high probability. We also address dynamic changes in both the network and the set of object copies.
A linearization of a backward Euler scheme for a class of degenerate nonlinear advection–diffusion equations

Abstract In this paper we propose a linearization of a backward scheme for a class of degenerate nonlinear advection–diffusion equations, modeling a two-phase flow through a porous medium. This is done using a Taylor expansion of the fractional flow function, and of the inverse function of an antiderivative of the diffusion coefficient. The coercivity of the matrix obtained in the linearization is shown for a sufficiently small time step.
Culture and Reproduction

The material conditions of everyday life include more than just food and drink. Human reproduction is more than a strictly biological affair, and the social and cultural characteristics of Mississippian reproduction have to be addressed, even if they are obscured by the mists of antiquity. What can be said about control of reproduction in these societies? What likely kinds of social units were there? How a society reproduces itself depends on the reproduction of the culture nearly as much as on biological reproduction. Unfortunately, the forms and character of cultural reproduction are difficult to address from archaeological evidence.
Fuzzy information system for condition based maintenance of gearbox

Gearbox is an inseparable part of any rotating machinery today. Gearbox transfers speed and torque from one shaft to another. Hence, correct diagnosis of gearbox faults is an important and critical task for maintenance operators. But, due to nonlinear, time-varying behavior and imprecise measurement information of the systems it is difficult to deal with gearbox failures with precise mathematical equations. Human operators with the aid of their practical experience can handle these complex situations, with only a set of imprecise linguistic if-then rules and imprecise system state. The purpose of this study is to provide a correct and timely diagnosis of gearbox failures in the context of condition based maintenance. The diagnosis is performed by knowledge acquisition through a fuzzy rule-based inference system which could approximate human reasoning. The proposed approach is tested and applied to an experimental data emanating from a gearbox system.
Changes in pupil size to visually presented words

The pupil response of 15 male and female Ss was recorded to four visually presented words. Sex differences were found in the pupil response, particularly in regard to response magnitude. Analysis of the individual response showed wide differences, from extreme dilation (34.5%) to constriction (15.3%) to a particular stimulus with a particular S.
Commodification and Resistance: Theoretical Implications Drawn from a Mobile Recreational Community:

Drawing on interview, survey, and long-term participant observational research in the BMW motorcycling community, we analyze issues related to the commodification of riding. We use Hill-Collins's (1999) "both/and" approach in our data analysis. Specifically, we draw on Adorno's (1991) and Marcuse's (1964) theories of the commodification of popular culture and the power of the "culture industry" to market non-essential products. We find that Marx's (Marx and Engels 1988) theory of ways to attain "species-being" have the potential to be expanded via serious leisure activities (e.g., motorcycling) even as some are caught up in the discursive power of the culture industry. Language: en
Ordered Fractional Split Approach for Aggregate Injury Severity Modeling

In crash frequency models, frequency by severity level is examined with multivariate count models. In these multivariate approaches the impact of exogenous variables is quantified through the propensity component of count models. The main interaction between variables across severity levels is sought through unobserved effects; that is, there is no interaction of observed effects across the multiple count models. Although this is not necessarily a limitation, it could be beneficial to evaluate the impact of exogenous variables in a framework that directly relates a single exogenous variable to all severity count variables simultaneously. An alternative approach to examining crash frequency by severity is proposed. Specifically, instead of modeling the number of crashes, a fractional split modeling approach is used to study the fraction of crashes by each severity level on a road segment. Given the ordered nature of injury severity, an ordered probit fractional split model is used to study crash proportion by severity levels. The model is estimated for roadway segment data for single-vehicle and multivehicle crashes in Florida for 2009 through 2011. The model estimation results highlight the effect of traffic volume, lane width, shoulder width, proportion of divided segments, and speed limit on crash proportion by severity. The model results are used to predict hot spots for various crash types. The results highlight how the ordered probit fractional split models can be used for highway safety screening.
Ludwig Von Mises, On the Manipulation of Money and Credit: Three Treatises on Trade-Cycle Theory, Transl. by Bettina Bien Greaves, Ed. by Percy L. Greaves, Indianapolis (Book Review)

During the interwar years in the first half of the twentieth century, Ludwig von Mises emerged as one of the leading economic thinkers in Continental Europe. Though a general economic theorist, Mises’s main contributions early in his career were in the field of monetary theory, monetary policy, and the business cycle. Prior to World War I, Mises had already published his treatise in the field, The Theory of Money and Credit (1912), which sought to integrate the teachings from value and price theory into monetary theory. In doing so, Mises built on the work of Swedish economist Knut Wicksell to construct a price theoretic explanation of the disturbances within an economic system that can result from the manipulation of money and credit.
Effect of gender, body composition, and equilibration time on the 2H-to-18O dilution space ratio.

Physiological sources of variation in the 2H-to-18O dilution space ratio (DSR) were examined in 34 males and 20 females (4-78 yr; 14.7-143.2 kg; 1.8-61.0% body fat). Dilution spaces were obtained b...
Parathyroid hormone stimulation of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 production in antiestrogen-treated Japanese quail.

In vivo administration of estradiol benzoate (E2B) or parathyroid hormone (PTH) stimulates in vitro renal conversion of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25-(OH)D3] to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] in birds. In the present investigation, the effect of PTH on 1,25-(OH)2D3 production was studied in female Japanese quail pretreated with the antiestrogen, tamoxifen citrate (30 mg/kg) daily for 7 days. PTH was injected at two different doses (92 and 275 U.S.P. units/kg) every 8 hours during the last two days of tamoxifen treatment. E2B (0.1 and 1.0 mg/kg) was injected 24 hours before sacrifice. Control groups received vehicle only. All injections were given intramuscularly. Kidney homogenates were prepared and incubated with tritiated 25-(OH)D3. E2B-induced stimulation of 1,25-(OH)2D3 production was completely blocked by prior treatment with tamoxifen, but PTH-induced stimulation of 1,25-(OH)2D3 production was unaffected by antiestrogen treatment. When PTH and E2B were injected together, no additive effects on either 1,25-(OH)2D3 production or hypercalcemia were observed. The data indicate that estrogen receptors are not an essential link in the chain of events mediating the PTH-induced stimulation of 1,25-(OH)2D3 production.
Threshold Conditions for Synaptically Evoking Ca2+Waves in Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons

Regenerative Ca2+ release from inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-sensitive intracellular stores in the form of Ca2+ waves leads to large-amplitude [Ca2+]iincreases in the apical dendrites of hippo...
THE ACCURACY OF BODY MASS INDEX AND GALLAGHER’S CLASSIFICATION IN DETECTING OBESITY AMONG IRANIANS

Background: The study was conducted to examine the comparability of the BMI and Gallagher’s classification in diagnosing obesity based on the cutoff points of the gold standards and to estimate suitable cutoff points for detecting obesity among Iranians.Methods: The cross-sectional study was comparative in nature. The sample consisted of 20,163 adults. The bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was used to measure the variables of interest. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power (PPV), and negative predictive power (NPV) were used to evaluate the comparability of the two classification methods in detecting obesity.Results: The BMI wrongly classified 29% of the obese persons as overweight. In both classifications, as age increased, the accuracy of detecting obesity decreased. The Gallagher’s classification is better than MBI in detecting obesity in men with the exception of those older than 59 years. In females, the BMI was better in determining sensitivity. In both classifications, either female or male, an increase in age was associated with a decrease in sensitivity and NPV with the exception of the BMI for the 18 year olds. Gallagher can correctly classify males and females who are less than 40 and 19 years old, respectively. Conclusion: Gallagher’s classification is recommended for non-obese in both sexes and in obese males younger than 40 years old. The BMI is recommended for obese females. The suitable cutoff points for the BMI to detect obesity are 27.70 kg/m2 for females and males, 27.70 kg/m2 for females, and 27.30 kg/m2 for males.
Abstract 405: Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (VSMCs) from Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) Avidly Take Up Oxidized Cholesterol (oxChol) with Unique Responses Compared with VSMCs from Nonaneurysmal Aorta (NAA)

Objective: We sought to determine if VSMCs from AAA respond to oxChol exposure in a manner which may promote aortic matrix damage. Methods: Early passage VSMCs (5x105) from human AAA, Carotid plaques (CP) and nAA were compared after exposure to media with oxChol for 72 hours. Cells were counted and stained with Oil Red O, and staining was graded on a 0-4 scale, by 5 blinded experts. Conditioned media (CM) was assayed by ELISA for MMP-2, and corrected for cell number (mean±SE). Results: The average grade of Oil Red O stain (Fig 1) of VSMCs from AAA was 2.89 +/- 0.225, CEA plaques was 3.14 +/- 0.151 and nAA was 1.76 +/- 0.258. Cholesterol uptake was significantly different for AAA vs. nAA (p=.015) and CEA vs. nAA (p=.0002), but not between the unstained controls. Cell number (x103) at harvest after oxChol exposure was significantly greater than media alone for CP (562±48 vs 338±79, P<0.02) and nAA (343±49 vs 250±31), but there was no effect on AAA (339±49 vs 313±43). With exposure to OxChol, MMP-2 concentration in CM from AAA cells was similar to that from CP cells (224±51ng/ml vs. 352±46ng/ml), but production from nAA cells was significantly less than CP (178±61ng/ml, P<0.05) but not compared to AAA. Conclusion: VSMCs from human AAA exposed to oxChol had significantly increased cholesterol uptake, with MMP-2 production comparable to CP cells. Exposure to oxChol resulted in a mitogenic response in the CEA and nAA cells not seen in the AAA cells. Hypercholesterolemia may promote AAA due to pathologic cellular responses of increased cholesterol uptake, decreased growth and increased protease production. Additional studies are needed to clarify these responses. ![Graphic][1] [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif
The Renin-Angiotensin and fibrinolytic systems co-conspirators in the pathogenesis of ischemic cardiovascular disease.

In vitro and in vivo data provide evidence for an interaction between the renin-angiotensin and fibrinolytic systems. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is strategically poised to regulate this interaction. ACE catalyzes the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II (Ang), and Ang II stimulates release of PAI-1, the major inhibitor of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and urokinase in the vasculature. Conversely, ACE catalyzes the breakdown of bradykinin, a potent stimulus of t-PA secretion. This interaction between the renin-angiotensin and fibrinolytic systems may partially explain the clinical observation that stimulation or suppression of the renin-angiotensin system can alter the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events. © 1996, Elsevier Science Inc. (Trends Cardiovasc Med 1996;6:239-243).
Learning the Geometric Structure of Manifolds with Singularities Using the Tensor Voting Graph

We present a general framework that addresses manifolds with singularities and multiple intersecting manifolds, which is also robust against a large number of outliers. We suggest a hybrid local---global method that leverages the algorithmic capabilities of the tensor voting framework and, unlike tensor voting, is capable of reliably inferring the global structure of complex manifolds by using a unique graph construction, called the tensor voting graph (TVG). Moreover, we propose to explicitly and directly resolve the ambiguities near the intersections with a novel algorithm, which uses the TVG and the positions of the points near the manifold intersections. Experimental results in estimating geodesic distances and clustering demonstrate that our framework outperforms the state of the art, especially on geometric complex settings such as when the tangent spaces at the intersections points are not orthogonal and in the presence of a large amount of outliers.
The data analysis computing hierarchy

With the dramatic increases in simulation complexity and resolution comes an equally dramatic challenge for resources, both computational and storage, needed to facilitate analysis and understanding of the results. Traditionally these needs have been met by powerful workstations equipped with sophisticated analysis tools and special purpose visualization hardware. More and more these personal computing resources are unable to manage the so-called data deluge without significant support from additional high-end resources. The response to this crisis is taking shape in the form of an additional layer in the analysis pipeline: the visual and data analysis cluster. This High Performance Computing resource stands somewhere between the source of the data deluge (a supercomputer simulation or a large data collection experiment) and the user's personal computer. In this paper we discuss (1) the scale and character of a few current large-data enterprises, (2) a descriptive hierarchical model of the computation and analysis pipeline, and (3) some of the capabilities that will need to be developed in order for such an architecture to meet the challenges of efficient analysis in the face of huge datasets, I/O bottlenecks, and remote users.
The International Financial Centers: Developing the Competitive Edge

The evolution of major international financial markets represents a captivating study in politics and economics. Some international financial markets assumed prominent roles in the world economy by careful designs capitalizing on some natural advantages which were political, geographic and/or economic. Other financial centers achieved prominence slowly over time without identifiable, explicit policy measures to which the realized success can be, on the whole, directly attributed. Historical developments and sheer economic and political weight brought prominence to certain financial centers.
Erziehungs- und Bildungspartnerschaften in der Schule: zum Forschungsstand

PISA-Begleituntersuchungen zeigten, dass der Einfluss der Familien auf den Schulerfolg der Kinder reichlich doppelt so stark ist wie der von Schule, Lehrkraften und Unterricht zusammen (OECD 2001, S. 356 f.) – ein Ergebnis, zu dem ubrigens die erziehungswissenschaftliche Forschung seit einem halben Jahrhundert immer und immer wieder gelangte (vgl. Krumm 1996, S. 257). Dieser Einfluss der Familien ist allerdings nicht ohne Weiteres identisch mit dem Effekt einer gut funktionierenden Erziehungs- und Bildungspartnerschaft zwischen Schule und Elternhaus. Vielmehr ist zu prufen, ob und wie durch eine solche Partnerschaft dieses Potenzial mobilisiert werden kann und ob der fur beide Seiten damit verbundene Zeit- und Kraftaufwand gerechtfertigt ist.
Pre-Assault Personality Predicts the Nature of Adverse Outcomes Among Sexual Assault Victims.

Objective:Exposure to sexual assault results in ongoing harms for women. After an assault, some women engage in higher levels of externalizing behaviors, such as problem drinking, and others experi...
Assessment of Cognitive Deficit in the Brain-Injured Patient

The cognitive abilities of the individual after brain injury are a consequence of a complex interaction between the premorbid anatomical organization of cerebral functions and the site or sites of damage to the brain, and are reflected by the strategies which the patient brings to bear on the tasks that we employ to probe these abilities. With respect to the first of these factors, some of the abilities which we conceptualize are readily defined in terms of a specific high-order sensory or motor function (e.g., “the ability to recognize faces”), and their loss corresponds to damage to well-defined structures (in the case cited, to bilateral damage in the visual association cortex). Other functions (e.g., new learning, abstract thinking) are not clearly localized, and their degree of deficit is more a function of lesion size than location, although increasing size of lesions may be more damaging in some zones than others. Moreover, the range of cognitive aftereffects of brain injury includes not only deficits in definable capacities but also “positive” symptoms (e.g., perseveration, confabulation, unilateral neglect). To ascribe these symptoms to a deficit in a preexisting capacity requires that we generate ad hoc normal processes whose disruption by brain damage is postulated.
Assuring Child Support: A Re-assessment in Honor of Alfred Kahn

The American system of assuring child support directly affects most parents and children and indirectly affects all Americans. By child support we mean transfers to custodial parents (mostly mothers)1 from either nonresident parents or taxpayers. More than one half of American children now spend part of their childhood living apart from one of their parents. The system indirectly affects all Americans because of its impact on transfers and taxes and on future generations.
Intra-nest relatedness in the social wasp Polistes metricus - A genetic analysis

1. It was determined that (a) the workers do not produce maledestined egges when foundresses are present, (b) the α foundress shares reproduction with the β foundress; the α foundress produces 78% of the colony's females and 87% of the males, (c) foundresses mate at least twice, using these sperm in a 9:1 ratio, and (d) when the nest's foundresses are dead and the nest successful, two workers lay male-destined eggs, one producing 19 times as many as the other worker. 2. Six nest classes were defined on the basis of combinations of foundress mortality for successful nets which had been derived from one or two foundresses. Using the results summarized above and the time of foundress deaths, a set of intercaste relatedness values was calculated uniquely defining these six nest classes.
Active fault mapping and reconnaissance paleoseismic investigations in the La Pine graben, Oregon Cascades, USA

Abstract Despite geologic and geodetic evidence of ongoing extension across the Oregon Cascades, the late Quaternary structural expression of this deformation is not well constrained. High resolution airborne lidar-derived bare earth topography enables examination of densely forested portions of the Cascade Range to test for the presence of late Quaternary fault-related deformation. We target a portion of this extensional system by mapping evidence for recent faulting across the La Pine graben on the eastern flank of the central Oregon High Cascades. Our mapping documents >20 new Quaternary fault traces across the graben, illustrating that late Quaternary deformation is distributed across a wide zone. Paleoseismic investigations on the Twin Lakes maars fault within the La Pine graben provide evidence for a mid-late Holocene earthquake based on the offset of the 7.6 ka Mazama tephra. Potential temporal and genetic relationships between faulting and volcanic activity remain unclear because of limited age control, but this research provides a critical foundation for future paleoseismic efforts, targeted geochronologic studies, and basin structure and development investigations.
Bottom-Up Copper Filling of Large Scale Through Silicon Vias for MEMS Technology

An electrodeposition process for void-free bottom-up filling of sub-millimeter scale through silicon vias (TSVs) with Cu is detailed. The 600 μm deep and nominally 125 μm diameter metallized vias were filled with Cu in less than 7 hours under potentiostatic control. The electrolyte is comprised of 1.25 mol/L CuSO4 -0.25 mol/L CH3SO3H with polyether and halide additions that selectively suppress metal deposition on the free surface and side walls. A brief qualitative discussion of the procedures used to identify and optimize the bottom-up void-free feature filling is presented.
Context-Aware Intelligence in Resource-Constrained IoT Nodes: Opportunities and Challenges

Editor’s note: This article provides an academic perspective of the problem, starting with a survey of recent advances in intelligent sensing, computation, communication, and energy management for resource-constrained IoT sensor nodes and leading to a future outlook and needs. —Shreyas Sen, Purdue University
“The FEMEN body can do everything”: Generating the agentic bodies of social movement through internal and external rhetorics

ABSTRACTRecent theorizing recognizes the body’s importance in resistant performances characterizing the streets and screens of contemporary activism. In this essay, we examine how the transnational...
Platelet Counts and Outcomes in Acute General Pediatric Patients

Background: Platelets are a component of blood with multiple functions including primary hemostasis, immunity, cancer metastasis, and others. Thrombocytopenia is defined as platelet counts less than 150,000 platelets/μl. There are numerous causes of thrombocytopenia but regardless of cause, multiple studies of thrombocytopenia in infants, children, and adolescents admitted to critical care units (neonatal or pediatric) document significant prognostic value for disease severity. However, there is a paucity of information regarding outcomes in children and adolescents with thrombocytopenia admitted to general pediatric floors. Objective: Better understand the significance of platelet counts and thrombocytopenia in our acute general pediatric patients. Methods: Retrospective study conducted on pediatric patients (infants, children, and adolescents up to 19 years of age) admitted to the general pediatric floors at OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital between July 2010 to July 2018. Patients' demographics, source of admission, primary diagnosis, length of stay, initial platelet count, and transfer to higher levels of care were analyzed. Platelet counts were grouped into mean platelet count +/- 2 SD and 450/nL for data analysis. Those previously diagnosed with hematological or oncological diagnoses as well as those directly admitted to the NICU or PICU were excluded. A T-test and multivariate model were used to deem statistical significance. Results: 10,858 charts were included in the study after exclusion criteria were met. Of the patients, 48.2% were female and 51.8% male. The mean age was 4.7 (±5.2) years of age. The majority of our general pediatric admissions came from our emergency department followed by outside hospital transfers and then physician offices. The average length of stay was 3.2 days. The mean platelet count was 332.7/nL with a SD of 127.3. We found significance with regards to transfer to higher levels of care in both the mean platelet count with SD and in the grouped platelet counts. Patients with platelet counts 450/nL (p Conclusion: Previous studies done in the NICU and PICU show that thrombocytopenia is associated with poorer outcomes. Our study suggests that this also holds true in the acute general pediatric patient population. Additionally it gives us insight into common diagnosis categories and admission sources which may have more negative outcomes. Our data supports the concept that providers should be aware of the potential negative impact of thrombocytopenia in the acute pediatric patient and pay them closer attention. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Intention to Screen for Alzheimer’s Disease by Residential Locale

A random digit dialing sample from Missouri (USA) was used to compare associations between psychosocial factors and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) screening intention based on residential locale. Linear regression associations between demographics and five psychosocial constructs (dementia knowledge, perceived screening benefits, preventive health behaviors, perceived susceptibility, and self-efficacy) and screening intention were compared by residential locale. Participants (n = 932) had a mean age of 62 years (urban: n = 375; suburban: n = 319, rural: n = 238). African Americans more often lived in urban than suburban/rural neighborhoods, and more urban than suburban/rural residents reported insufficient income. Preventative health behaviors (e.g., dentist visits) were higher in urban and suburban versus rural participants. AD screening intention did not differ by residential locale. Among urban participants, self-efficacy to get screened was associated with screening intention. Among rural participants, dementia knowledge was associated with screening intention. Perceived screening benefits and perceived susceptibility to AD were associated with screening intention regardless of locale. Unlike urban participants, rural participants demonstrated greater screening intention with greater dementia knowledge. Our findings suggest that psychosocial factors associated with AD screening intention differ depending on residential locale. Strategies to increase dementia screening may need to account for regional variations to be maximally effective.
The effect of health insurance coverage on personal bankruptcy: evidence from the Medicaid expansion

This paper investigates the effects of health insurance coverage among low-income people on personal bankruptcies at the county level and the state level, based on the hypothesis that having health insurance reduces the risk of medical out-of-pocket spending and consequently decreases the likelihood of financial distress. In order to estimate the causal effects of health insurance coverage on personal bankruptcy, I exploit the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act as a source of exogenous variation in health insurance coverage and use it as an instrumental variable. Using bankruptcy filings from the US Court, I find that an increase in the share of low-income people with health insurance reduces Chapter 7 bankruptcy rates both at the county level and state level. The implied magnitudes of my estimated impacts are quantitatively important.
Signaling Trust: Cues from Instagram Posts

Abstract Integrating the psychological theories of 'cue utilization' and 'trust online', this study identifies the cues in Instagram posts that build trust, in turn mediating consumers' positive attitudinal responses toward the branded products. The survey data from 260 Instagram users support the hypotheses that the 'popularity' and 'quality of the argument' of posts positively influence consumer trust toward a post, which builds positive attitudinal responses toward the branded products. The study supports the conclusion that consumers rely on the cues of popularity and quality of the argument of a post when they make use of cues for reducing uncertainty in purchasing apparel online. Two theoretical orientations are useful for explicating consumer attitudinal behaviors toward Instagram posts. Practical implications for enhancing the quality of Instagram posts by means of cues that create trust in posts are discussed.
Improving the efficiency of same-day ill calls.

56Background: Burnout is a syndrome whose manifestations include pervasive emotional and physical exhaustion, depersonalization, a lack of motivation and an inability to complete tasks efficiently....
Intermittent and continuous energy restriction result in similar weight loss, weight loss maintenance, and body composition changes in a 6 month randomized pilot study.

Poor adherence is a barrier to successful weight control. Intermittent energy restriction (IER) provides an alternative approach to those for whom daily energy restriction is not ideal. This study assessed changes in weight, body composition, and macronutrient intake for an IER and a continuous energy restriction (CONT) approach within a multicomponent weight management intervention. We randomized 35 adults with overweight/obesity (BMI = 31.2 ± 2.4 kg/m2 ) to CONT or IER for 24 weeks (12-week weight loss intervention and 12 weeks of weight loss maintenance). Diets were delivered within a multimodal weight management program including weekly group meetings with a registered dietitian, increased physical activity, and a comprehensive lifestyle change program. Retention and adherence were similar for CONT and IER. Weight, BMI, fat mass, percentage body fat, waist circumference, hip circumference, blood pressure, and heart rate all decreased after 24 weeks (all, P .27). Weight loss was clinically relevant in both CONT (11.38 ± 7.9%) and IER (9.37 ± 9.7%), and the proportion of each group achieving 5% weight loss was 82 and 61% (P = .16), respectively. Participant satisfaction was high in both groups. The results from this study (a) support the feasibility of IER as an alternative for weight loss and weight loss maintenance, (b) indicate that IER is an effective alternative to CONT for weight control and improvements in body composition, and (c) emphasize the importance of intensive lifestyle interventions with ongoing support for effective behaviour modification.
Malware Behavior Through Network Trace Analysis

Malware continues to be a major threat to information security. To avoid being detected and analyzed, modern malware is continuously improving its stealthiness. A high number of unique malware samples detected daily suggests a likely high degree of code reuse and obfuscation to avoid detection. Traditional malware detection techniques relying on binary code signatures are greatly hindered by encryption, packing, code polymorphism, and similar other obfuscation techniques. Although obfuscation greatly changes a malware’s binary, its functionalities remain intact.
Improving Deep Learning Performance for Predicting Large-Scale Porous-Media Flow through Feature Coarsening.

Physics-based simulation for fluid flow in porous media is a computational technology to predict the temporal-spatial evolution of state variables (e.g. pressure) in porous media, and usually requires high computational expense due to its nonlinearity and the scale of the study domain. This letter describes a deep learning (DL) workflow to predict the pressure evolution as fluid flows in large-scale 3D heterogeneous porous media. In particular, we apply feature coarsening technique to extract the most representative information and perform the training and prediction of DL at the coarse scale, and further recover the resolution at the fine scale by 2D piecewise cubic interpolation. We validate the DL approach that is trained from physics-based simulation data to predict pressure field in a field-scale 3D geologic CO_2 storage reservoir. We evaluate the impact of feature coarsening on DL performance, and observe that the feature coarsening can not only decrease training time by >74% and reduce memory consumption by >75%, but also maintains temporal error <1.5%. Besides, the DL workflow provides predictive efficiency with ~1400 times speedup compared to physics-based simulation.
Origin: Enabling On-Device Intelligence for Human Activity Recognition Using Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks

There is an increasing demand for performing machine learning tasks, such as human activity recognition (HAR) on emerging ultra-low-power internet of things (IoT) platforms. Recent works show substantial efficiency boosts from performing inference tasks directly on the IoT nodes rather than merely transmitting raw sensor data. However, the computation and power demands of deep neural network (DNN) based inference pose significant challenges when executed on the nodes of an energy-harvesting wireless sensor network (EH-WSN). Moreover, managing inferences requiring responses from multiple energy-harvesting nodes imposes challenges at the system level in addition to the constraints at each node. This paper presents a novel scheduling policy along with an adaptive ensemble learner to efficiently perform HAR on a distributed energy-harvesting body area network. Our proposed policy, Origin, strategically ensures efficient and accurate individual inference execution at each sensor node by using a novel activity-aware scheduling approach. It also leverages the continuous nature of human activity when coordinating and aggregating results from all the sensor nodes to improve final classification accuracy. Further, Origin proposes an adaptive ensemble learner to personalize the optimizations based on each individual user. Experimental results using two different HAR data-sets show Origin, while running on harvested energy, to be at least 2.5% more accurate than a classical battery-powered energy aware HAR classifier continuously operating at the same average power.
Brief of Trademark Scholars As Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party

Amici take no position on whether BOOKING.COM is generic, but write to encourage the Court to be cautious in resolving this case, which involves a generic term combined with a common top-level domain name identifier (.com). Trademark applications raise almost infinitely varied scenarios, including generic terms combined with other elements, and the top-level domain name identifier has some specific features that make it analogous to functional matter. Whatever rule the Court adopts should be highly attentive to the risks to competition of overassertion of registered marks that are largely or entirely comprised of generic elements. Because courts deciding infringement cases are often unfamiliar with the context of a trademark registration, they may miss limitations on the scope of the registered mark that the Trademark Office believed existed and, as a result, enforce broader rights than the registrants should actually have. Ordinary businesses receiving cease and desist letters are even more unlikely to have the expertise to understand the limits on a registration. This practical reality should guide the Court’s standards for registrations with generic components. Relatedly, the Court should reaffirm the basic principle that “de facto secondary meaning” does not give rise to protectability as a trademark. Courts have long distinguished between “de facto secondary meaning” and secondary meaning “to which courts will attach legal consequences.” De facto secondary meaning refers to an association between a generic term and a particular producer that is usually the result of an extended period of market dominance, whether achieved through advertising or through lack of competition. Because of the need to protect potential and future competition, a generic term cannot be appropriated as a trademark even if it has de facto secondary meaning The practical exclusivity afforded by domain name registration means that there may often be de facto secondary meaning in domain names, which can be difficult to distinguish from true trademark secondary meaning. This easily elided distinction affects how the Court should evaluate Booking.com’s survey, which purports to show secondary meaning. But the fact that de facto secondary meaning does not lead to trademark status does not mean it is irrelevant to the law. Even when a term is not protectable as a trademark, narrower unfair competition remedies may be available to prevent true passing off. When a term is generic or a product shape is functional, neither can be protected as a trademark and others may not be enjoined from competing using the term or shape.. Those competitors, however, may be required to distinguish themselves in the market by adding identifiers or otherwise differentiating their use, if the competitors’ use might deceive consumers. Thus, a rule that strongly protects competition by denying registration to generic terms does not leave consumers exposed to clever bad actors.
Chapter 26: Chronopharmacology - Its Implication for Clinical Medicine

Publisher Summary Oscillation is a fundamental property of all animal and plant life: it also characterizes all levels of organization from the molecular to that of the whole organism. This chapter focuses on the circadian rhythms or those with a frequency of about a day. It should be kept in mind that rhythms of higher (ultradian) or lower (infradian) frequency may be superimposed on the circadian frequency. The frequency spectrum of rhythms is broad, ranging from fractions of a minute to days or months or even a year. The chapter describes some generalizations about mammalian chronobiology, then introduces several descriptive terms and cites examples of biological rhythms. The attention then gets focused on chronopharmacological implications. Because the biological system is rhythmically changing, it follows that the organism is biochemically a different entity at different circadian phases; therefore it reacts differently to an identical stimulus at different times. Researchers have been exploring rhythms in various organs in both the tumor-bearing and normal animal. High-amplitude circadian rhythms have been reported for the DNA synthesis in liver, bone marrow, gut, thymus, and spleen of normal rodents; the presence of a tumor may dramatically alter the rhythm.
Dynamic control and power management algorithm for continuous wireless monitoring in sensor networks

We discuss a novel control methodology for power management in heterogeneous distributed sensor networks. We present an event based control optimization formulation of the resource management problem and discuss a method to adaptively change the desired system performance of the sensor network in response to events. This functionality is critical in field-deployable sensor networks where continuous operation is expensive and system adaptation is critical for extended operation in the face of dynamic external events. We show results on various synthetic heterogeneous sensor networks where only partially accurate information about the sensing system is available and illustrate the efficacy of the control algorithm in handling such incorrect models with a negligible increase in transmission of the optimal control settings. We show that the run-time performance of the control algorithm scales quadratically with increasing number of sensors.
The design and implementation of a heterogeneous computer networking laboratory

This paper presents the experiences gained by the authors in the design and implementation of a heterogeneous computer networking laboratory. Hopefully, this laboratory model would better prepare any computer science department's curriculum to meet the challenges presented by the rapid advancement of telecommunication technology.
Drag Optimization Of Light Trucks Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract : There are 80 million light trucks on the road today with suboptimal aerodynamic forms. Previous research has found that several miles per gallon can be saved by specifically tailoring truck bodies for reduced aerodynamic drag. Even greater savings can be obtained if the shape of the trucks is numerically optimized. This could reduce fuel consumption in the United States by billions of gallons per year. The purpose of this research is to develop and quantify optimal light truck canopy designs using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional models are used to do this. Initially, this research focuses on quantifying and generalizing the effects of traditional automotive aerodynamic accessories, such as canopies and air dams. Once the effects of various form factors are quantified an optimization of the canopy is performed. This thesis demonstrates a method for drag reduction using CFD and traditional numerical optimization techniques. Lastly, the optimized forms are physically constructed and their effects on fuel economy are compared to the CFD prediction. The results indicate that the CFD formulation provides an accurate predictor for improving fuel economy and drag characteristics. The prototype air dam and optimally shaped canopy generated a 21.23% savings in terms of fuel economy.
The shape of SAR histograms

Abstract It is customary to model the shape of amplitude histograms from synthetic aperture radar imagery by a Rayleigh distribution with a fixed mode. Frequently histograms emerge whose shape shows non-Rayleigh behavior, especially in the “tail.” A more acceptable model for histograms of this type is to allow the mode of the Rayleigh distribution to possess a distribution of values all its own.
Regulation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and transcription factor activities during the promotion of liver carcinogenesis by polychlorinated biphenyls

Abstract Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are environmental pollutants that are complete carcinogens and tumor promoters in the liver. The mechanisms of their promoting activities are not clear, but one possible mechanism is the induction of oxidative stress. In the present study we evaluated the ability of two PCB congeners to activate the oxidative stress-responsive transcription factors nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1), as well as hepatocyte cell proliferation and apoptosis, which are influenced by activation of these transcription factors, in rat liver. Two transcription factors not activated by oxidative stress, signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 and 5 (STAT3 and STAT5), were also examined. All the animals in this study received a single dose of diethylnitrosamine (150 mg/kg) followed by four biweekly injections of 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB-77) or 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB-153) (100 or 300 μmol/kg), or both PCBs (100 μmol/kg each). Ten days after the last PCB injection, all animals were euthanized; 3 days before euthanasia all animals were implanted with Alzet osmotic pumps containing 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU). The number of placental glutathione S-transferase (PGST)-positive foci were increased in rats administered PCBs, with the highest increase seen in rats administered PCB-77. The number of foci in rats administered both PCBs was intermediate between the numbers seen with either PCB-77 or PCB-153, indicating that a synergistic effect did not occur. There was a significant increase in NF-κB and AP-1 binding activities in hepatic nuclear extracts from rats receiving the high dose of PCB-77 or PCB-153 and in rats receiving both PCBs. In contrast, the DNA binding activities of STAT3 and STAT5 were decreased in rats administered PCBs. Cell proliferation in both focal and nonfocal hepatocytes was increased by PCB-77 but was not affected by PCB-153. Apoptotic indexes, as quantified by the TUNEL method, were increased in both focal and nonfocal hepatocytes by PCB-77 but were decreased in focal hepatocytes by PCB-153. This study shows that both PCBs alone or in combination can increase the DNA binding activities of NF-κB and AP-1, whereas the DNA binding activities of STAT3 and STAT5 are decreased. The induction of altered hepatic foci appears to be related to compensatory cell proliferation in PCB-77-treated rats, whereas the inhibition of apoptosis appears to be important in PCB-153-treated rats.
Endothelium-Dependent Regulation of the Mechanical Properties of Aortic Valve Cusps

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of valve endothelium in regulating the mechanical properties of aortic valve cusps. Background Mechanical properties of valve cusps are key to their function and durability; however, little is known about the regulation of valve biomechanics. Methods Mechanical properties of porcine aortic valve leaflets were evaluated in response to serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]), with and without N-nitro- l -arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME) or endothelial denudation, and endothelin (ET)-1, with and without cytochalasin-B. Results Under physiological loading conditions, 5-HT induced a decrease in the areal stiffness of the cusp (−25.0 ± 4.0%; p Conclusions These data highlight the role of the endothelium in regulating the mechanical properties of aortic valve cusps and underline the importance of valve cellular integrity for optimal valve function.