cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Professional and Scholarly Writing: Advice for Information Professionals and Academics

There has been an explosion of new research and writing about all aspects of the information disciplines. Nevertheless, both academics and practitioners often find it difficult to engage in successful writing strategies. Indeed, writing is hard work, and doing it in a way that leads to publication is an even harder task. Since reading is essential to good writing, the challenges of learning to write are obvious. In this essay, I am drawing on many years of experience in writing and publishing, as well as considerable reading of writers’ memoirs, advice books on writing, literary studies, and other perspectives on the experience of writing in order to offer a set of approaches that can be pursued over a lifetime of scholarship and practice. Writing is a craft or art to be learned, and learning demands paying attention to the audience, having clear objectives, being an avid reader, and possessing the ability to accept and learn from criticism. While information professionals and scholars incessantly write for each other, there are large segments of the public and other disciplines who they ignore. Fortunately, the tools and resources for improving one’s writing are both broad and deep; discipline and realistic strategies are all that are required to improve one’s writing and, ultimately, to achieve success in publishing.
State of the Community: Students as Political Consultants

Political Science departments across the country offer (and often require) a Senior Capstone course as part of the major. The Wahlke Report recommended including such a course almost twenty years ago and the AAC&U considers it a “high-impact practice.” Colleges and Universities are also advocating broad efforts at civic engagement — an approach to academic work for which political science majors are uniquely qualified. This paper describes the successes and failures of partnering a senior capstone course with seven public agencies in a small city. By developing a multi-stage process for interacting with agencies, city officials, and the public, this State of the Community project provides students with a real-world opportunity to serve as political consultants. By emphasizing the importance of timeliness, teamwork, community engagement, presentation skills, and professionalism, this project can be a turning point for political science students who must soon transition from being students in the undergraduate world to being citizens in the community around them.
Technical Appendix to Long-Term Shareholders and Time-Phased Voting

This document is a technical appendix containing supplemental information for the regressions that appear in Lynne L. Dallas & Jordan M. Barry, Long-Term Shareholders and Time-Phased Voting, 40 Del. J. Corp. L. 541 (2016), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2625926.
Not-so-simple setae.

I write to express my serious reservations concerning some of the scientific conclusions and statements of attribution made in a recently published account by Monteclaro et al. in The Journal of Experimental Biology , entitled ‘Response properties of crayfish antennules to hydrodynamic stimuli:
Communal Violence: The Armenians and the Copts as Case Studies

Historically, communal conflict seems to have occurred in four environments—during the evolution of the major European states, in post-independence colonies, during the disintegration of polyglot empires, and in post-industrialized societies. Within these environments, six conditions serve to heighten the possibility of the use of violence. These conditions include: (i) the presence of communal cleavages based on religion, race, or language, combinations of these cleavages being more volatile than their occurrence singly; (2) the absence of a common value or identity; (3) the concurrent development of antagonistic nationalisms; (4) the possession of an economic or cultural elite status by a subordinate communal group; (5) differential rates of modernization; and (6) the displacement of anticolonial feelings upon a communal group perceived as associated with a colonial power. The examples of the Copts in Egypt and the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire are presented as illustrations of the interaction of these conditions in two different environments and the use or absence of violence in communal conflict.
Green Cloverworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Populations in Conventional and Double-Crop, No-Till Soybeans

Plathypena scabra (F.) populations were monitored for 3 years in conventionally tilled soybeans planted on different dates and in soybeans planted without tillage into the stubble left after wheat harvest to determine if egg or larval populations were affected by these different planting practices. Oviposition by moths occurred at the study site throughout the soybean growing season; however, peaks in egg numbers and resultant larval populations were asynchronous in soybeans planted on different dates. Larval populations usually increased rapidly as the soybeans began to flower, peaked during full bloom to late pod-set, and began to decline during early pod-fill. A higher level of egg or larval mortality was observed in double-crop, no-till soybeans than in conventionally planted soybeans; however, no consistent relationship was detected between this higher level of mortality and the incidence of parasites or pathogens.
Can a low carrying capacity and a highly stochastic environment induce a predator pit in elk populations

Due to concern over declining elk populations and the unknown effects of wolf predation, Idaho Department of Fish and Game initiated a survival study of elk in north-central Idaho. A total of 82 adult and 80 calves (~6 months old) were captured and fitted with GPS radio-collars from the winter of 2009 – winter 2014. Adult survival rates averaged 86% (range 76% 97%). Calf survival rates averaged 44% but varied dramatically from year to year. We used a stochastic model of elk-wolf dynamics to investigate the implications of a highly stochastic growth rates indicative of the observed survival rates. In particular, we were interested in the interaction between elk density-dependent growth, carrying capacity and the amount of stochasticity in predation rates. We found that when predation rates were highly stochastic and carrying capacities were low, populations behave as if they were in a predator pit but if carrying capacity was high or stochasticy low, populations grew out of the predator pit. These results suggest that in a stochastic environment, populations may actually be influenced by both bottom-up and top-down forcing simultaneously as opposed to being governed by one or the other. Jon Horne Background Jon is a Senior Research Biologist with Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG). Jon has worked for IDFG since 2013 on research projects related to understanding elk population dynamics, especially in relation to predation. Other projects include improved approaches for abundance estimation and modeling wildlife space use. Jon obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Idaho in 2005 where he developed new approaches for studying animal space use. After obtaining his Ph.D., Jon continued working for the University of Idaho as a Post-doc and later a Research Scientist on several projects related to modeling space use and population dynamics of wildlife. PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1933v1 | CC-BY 4.0 Open Access | rec: 7 Apr 2016, publ: 7 Apr 2016
Models and algorithms for privacy-preserving data mining

As computing technologies continue to advance there has been a rapid growth in the amount of digitally available personal information, bringing the privacy concerns of individuals to a forefront. This thesis explores modeling and algorithmic problems that arise from the need to protect the privacy of individuals in a variety of different settings. Specifically, we study three different problems. The first problem we consider is that of online query auditing . The focus here is on an interactive scenario wherein users pose aggregate queries over a statistical database containing private data. The privacy task is to deny queries when answers to the current and past queries may be stitched together by a malicious user to infer private information. We demonstrate an efficient scheme for auditing bags of max and min queries to protect against a certain kind of privacy breach. Additionally, we study, for the first time, the utility of auditing algorithms and provide initial results for the utility of an existing algorithm for auditing sum queries. The second problem we study is that of anonymizing unstructured data. We consider datasets in which each individual is associated with a set of items that constitute private information about the individual. Illustrative datasets include market-basket datasets and search engine query logs. We formalize the notion of k-anonymity for set-valued data as a variant of the k-anonymity model for traditional relational datasets. We define an optimization problem that arises from this definition of anonymity and provide a constant factor approximation algorithm for the same. We experimentally evaluate our algorithms on the America Online query log dataset. In the last problem, we examine privacy concerns in online social networks where the private information to be protected is the profile information of a user or the set of individuals in the network that a user interacts with. We identify limits on the amount of lookahead that a social network should provide each user to protect the privacy of its users from hijacking attacks. The lookahead of a network is essentially the amount of neighborhood visibility a network provides each user. And a hijacking attack is one in which an attacker strategically subverts (hijacks) user accounts in the network to gain access to different local neighborhoods of the network. The goal of the attacker is to piece together these local neighborhoods to build a complete picture of the social network. By analyzing both experimentally and theoretically the feasibility of such attacks as a function of the lookahead of the social network, we make recommendations for what the default lookahead settings of a privacy-conscious social network should be.
Decision Model and its Application of the Development of Water Environment Carrying Capacity and Economy Coordination

The paper studies the relationship between carrying capacity of water environment and economy through analyzing the main factors and gives a quantitative description of the index of the water environment carrying capacity.It then constructs the decision model to promote the development of water environment carrying capacity and economy coordination.At last,it takes the city of Jinan as a case study and gets economic efficiency decision table and decision table of water environment carrying capacity in the year 2010—2030.With the two tables,decision-makers can make different decisions corresponding to different goals of water environment carrying capacity and economic efficiency in Jinan to promote the development of water environment carrying capacity and economy coordination.
Epidemiological Characteristics of Hand-foot-mouth Disease in Weicheng District,2011

objective To understand the characteristics of Hand-foot-and-mouth disease in Weicheng district,and to provide basis for control measures.Methods Epidemiological analysis was carried out on 840 HFMD cases from Direct Registration System Network in 2011.Results A total of 840 HFMD cases were reported in 2011 with an incidence rate of 237.43/105;all the 9 street agencies(development zones and administrative zones) were prevalent.The disease had obvious seasonal distribution: began to rise in May,reached to peak in July and declined in September.Most of the patients were under 5 years,especially within 1-4 years,which accounted for 92.5%.Most of the patients were scattered children,with a sex ratio of 1.67:1.00(boys to girls).Fifteen severe cases were found,accounted for 1.78%,among which EV71 infection accounted for 46.67% and CoxA16 accounted for 33.33%.Conclusion The prevalence of the disease showed age and season differences,indicating prevention and control measures in the future should put much effort on children under 5 years and on period of May to September in the year.
Frequently asked questions of prospective humanitarian health professionals.

It is common for students and professionals considering a career in humanitarian health to have questions regarding the scope and nature of humanitarian work as well as the avenues by which one can enter the field. Because the profession is emerging and complex, answers to these questions may be difficult to find. This paper addresses several frequently asked questions of prospective humanitarian health professionals with information, experience and advice from current experts in the field. Special thanks to the distinguished contributors.
Foot and Ankle Stress Fractures in Athletes

The incidence of stress fractures in the general athletic population is less than 1%, but may be as high as 15% in runners. Stress fractures of the foot and ankle account for almost half of bone stress injuries in athletes. These injuries occur because of repetitive submaximal stresses on the bone resulting in microfractures, which may coalesce to form complete fractures. Advanced imaging such as MRI and triple-phase bone scans is used to evaluate patients with suspected stress fracture. Low-risk stress fractures are typically treated with rest and protected weight bearing. High-stress fractures more often require surgical treatment.
Security Assurance Using Face Recognition a Detection System Based On Neural Networks

In this paper, we have proposed a new method of implementing an assurance system using the facial information of the people, this is a different approach to the conventional security system which uses biometric information or cryptography for assurance, here we use an efficient self-scaling face recognition system supported with a face detection system, the system is capable enough to extract the human faces from a real time video and to recognize the people using a face recognition system, we are designing the framework for face recognition system with a hybrid RBF neural network, the real advantage of the system lies in its capability to inculcate some basic features of the self organizing map (SOM) so that the system can scale on its own and it doesn't get outdated with time, for the face detection system we use a content based face detection algorithm, the facial feature so detected is inputted into the face recognition system, if the person's information is already present in the system, authentication can be accomplished, this system can be used in public places like airports and supermarkets, the information of criminals can be stored in the system and in case any of the criminals are detected by the system, the security personnel can be signaled, this system can also be implemented in robotics, the system can help the computer to identify individual users distinctly, our facial recognition system has been tested and found to be persistent in recognizing the individual even if the input facial image is of different gesture or holds some extra lineament like beard, moustache or spectacles so we can definitely state that the system is reliable and efficient
No detectable role for predators mediating effects of aquatic habitat size and permanence on populations and communities of container-dwelling mosquitoes.

General theory from aquatic ecology predicts that smaller aquatic habitats have shorter hydroperiods favouring species that are better resource competitors and complete development quickly. Larger habitats are predicted to have longer hydroperiods enabling longer-lived predators to persist. Habitats with long hydroperiods and predators are predicted to favour slower-developing, predator resistant species, rather than competitive species.In a field experiment, we manipulated independently habitat size and hydroperiod in water-filled containers, to test these hypotheses about processes structuring aquatic communities. We used human-made containers that are dominated by mosquitoes that vary in desiccation resistance, competitive ability, and predation resistance.Habitat size and drying had significant effects on abundances of larvae of the common species in these communities. There was sorting of species by habitat size and by drying, with species that are better competitors relatively more abundant in smaller, more ephemeral habitats, and predator resistant, slower-developing species relatively more abundant in larger or permanently flooded habitats. There were no detectable effects of habitat size or drying on the dominant predator.Habitat size and its interaction with drying affected inputs of eggs to containers. Habitat size also affected relative abundances of the two dominant species in the egg population.Although habitat size and hydroperiod significantly affected composition of these communities, these impacts did not appear to be mediated through effects on predator abundance. Species specific differences in habitat size and drying regime preferences, and habitat-dependent larval performance appear to be the main forces shaping these communities.
Antitumor effect of IMGN289, an anti-EGFR antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), in preclinical models of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC).

e17046 Background: IMGN289 is a novel ADC consisting of the humanized anti-EGFR antibody, J2898A, covalently linked to the potent cytotoxic maytansinoid, DM1. Methods: Effects of IMGN289 on clonoge...
Science and applications of electrochromics and chromogenics

TO ELECTROCHROMIC AND CHROMOGENIC TECHNOLOGIES The basic property of a chromogenic material is that it exhibits a large change in optical properties upon a change in either electrical field, charge, light intensity, spectral composition, or temperature. This optical change results in a transformation from a highly transmitting state to a partly reflecting or absorbing state, either totally or partly over the visible and solar spectrum. The physical phenomena of interest for optical switching processes can be classified in one of two categories: electrically activated or non-electrically activated. These types are shown in Table 1:
“You not die yet”: Karenni refugee children's language socialization in a video gaming community

Abstract Based on an ethnographic study of recently-arrived refugee children and their participation in a video-gaming community, this study explores second language socialization among three children (6–9 years old) in relation to multimodally-mediated activities. The children in this study played video games on a daily basis and they were encouraged to make sense of digital modes via video game genres and interactions with other gamers who lived in the same neighborhood. The data analysis contributes to an understanding of second language socialization that is shaped and promoted by access to technology advancement, multimodality, and the desire for social engagement. This study has implication for pedagogy that creates educational and social opportunities for refugee and immigrant children, who live with scarce resources and might feel or be marginalized in their new host communities.
Potential Herbivory on the Wintergreen Orchids Aplectrum hyemale and Tipularia discolor by the Spur-Throated Grasshopper Melanoplus acrophilus

Abstract Aplectrum hyemale (Puttyroot) and Tipularia discolor (Cranefly Orchid) are wintergreen orchids native to the eastern and central United States. Plants of both species produce leaves in the fall, photosynthesize during the winter, and persist as underground corms during the summer. Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed Deer) are implicated as the main predator of both orchids, although little information is available regarding herbivory of these or other wintergreen species. We observed early emerging overwintering nymphs of the spur-throated grasshopper Melanoplus acrophilus on leaves of Puttyroot and Cranefly Orchids in a forested site in western North Carolina. This is the first account of potential insect herbivory on these winter green orchids.
Mobile Real-time Tracking of Acute Stroke Patients and Instant, Secure Inter-team Communication - the Join App

Purpose The primary correlate to survival and preservation of neurologic function in patients suffering from an acute ischemic stroke is time from symptom onset to initiation of therapy and reperfusion. Communication and coordination among members of the stroke team are essential to maximizing efficiency and subsequently early reperfusion. In this work, we aim to describe our preliminary experience using the Join mobile application as a means to improve interdisciplinary team communication and efficiency. Materials and methods We describe our pilot experience with the initiation of the Join mobile application between July 2015 and July 2016. With this application, a mobile beacon is transported with the patient on the ambulance. Transportation milestone timestamps and geographic coordinates are transmitted to the treating facility and instantly communicated to all treatment team members. The transport team / patient can be tracked en route to the treating facility. Results During our pilot study, 62 patients were triaged and managed using the Join application. Automated time-stamping of critical events, geographic tracking of patient transport and summary documents were obtained for all patients. Treatment team members had an overall favorable impression of the Join application and recommended its continued use. Conclusion The Join application is one of several components of a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary effort to improve the treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke. The ability of the treatment team to track patient transport and communicate with the transporting team may improve reperfusion time and, therefore, improve neurologic outcomes.
IMF Control of Alfvénic Energy Transport and Deposition at High Latitudes

We investigate the influence of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle ϕIMF on high-latitude inertial Alfven wave (IAW) activity in the magnetosphere-ionosphere transition region using Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) satellite observations. We find evidence that negative IMF Bz coincides with nightside IAW power generation and enhanced rates of IAW-associated electron energy deposition, while positive IMF Bz coincides with enhanced dayside wave and electron energy deposition. Large ( ≳5 nT) negative IMF By coincides with enhanced postnoon IAW power, while large positive IMF By coincides with enhanced but relatively weaker prenoon IAW power. For each ϕIMF orientation we compare IAW Poynting flux and IAW-associated electron energy flux distributions with previously published distributions of Alfvenic Poynting flux over ∼2–22 mHz, as well as corresponding wave-driven electron energy deposition derived from Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global MHD simulations. We also compare IAW Poynting flux distributions with distributions of broad and diffuse electron number flux, categorized using an adaptation of the Newell et al. (2009) precipitation scheme for FAST. Under negative IMF Bz in the vicinity of the cusp (9.5–14.5 magnetic local time), regions of intense dayside IAW power correspond to enhanced diffuse electron number flux but relatively weaker broadband electron precipitation. Differences between cusp region IAW activity and broadband precipitation illustrate the need for additional information, such as fields or pitch angle measurements, to identify the physical mechanisms associated with electron precipitation in the vicinity of the cusp.
Mobile Documentation with Smartphone and Cloud in an Emergent Curriculum

ABSTRACTThe goal of this study was to explore the lived experience of kindergarten teachers with mobile documentation designed to support their tracking of children's learning activities in an emergent curriculum. A structure for mobile documentation was created with the smartphone and cloud system. The phenomenological approach used in this study showed that mobile documentation supported teachers' documentation processes and cultivated the mobile learning community. In particular, less experienced teachers gained more benefits than experienced teachers because the former understood the emergent curriculum by viewing photos from and observing activities in other classrooms. In addition, the teachers' supervisor benefited from understanding the activities and projects occurring in each classroom and could provide specific mentoring to less experienced teachers. Suggestions were provided to cultivate a positive mobile learning community in an emergent curriculum.
Minions for the rich? Financial status changes how consumers see products with anthropomorphic features

The present research explores how financial status, which influences consumers’ expectations about how companies will treat them, affects consumers’ perceptions and assessments of products that have been given anthropomorphic features by companies. Studies 1 and 2 showed that participants with higher financial status expect more favorable treatment from a humanized entity (e.g., “a self-driving car would prioritize the well-being of the rich over others”). The results of study 3 indicate that participants with higher perceived financial status both afforded greater agency to humanized products and liked these products better than did participants with lower perceived financial status. These effects were mediated by commercial treatment expectations, when we controlled for perceived control and self-efficacy. Further confirming the role of treatment expectations, when participants believed people with low financial status would be treated better than those with high financial status, we observed the reverse pattern (study 4). Lastly, study 5 replicated the effect using a measured, not manipulated, variable of financial status. Findings support the view that effective anthropomorphism requires marketers to take into account consumers’ motivation to interpret a target with humanlike features as having positive agency, which results from treatment expectations.
Freedom of Contract and the Securities Laws: Opting Out of Securities Regulation by Private Agreement

This article considers whether parties should be permitted to waive coverage of the securities laws. Several securities law scholars have called for selective securities law deregulation. The article examines these proposals from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The thesis of this article is that the reform initiatives present more than a choice of rules over standards, certainty over flexibility, and law over facts--they present a choice of values. The article also challenges the premise that bright-line rules, such as opting out by entity type or waiver, promote fairness, equity, equality, predictability, efficiency, and utility better than the current regulatory regime. Finally the article questions whether we should permit parties to waive their rights and bargain away their statutory protections. Particularly, since the reform initiatives would result in the adoption of industry-protective terms that indivdual investors would have little or no power to change.
Teaching About Organized Racism

It can be easy to engage college and university students in the topic of organized racism, at least on a surface level, as the vile propaganda and violent actions of racist groups and movements are sensational and provocative. However, students’ understandings of organized racism often are very shallow and based largely on caricatured depictions of racist activists in films and on television. This essay describes four common obstacles that instructors face when they teach students about modern U.S. organized racism. These are the problem of the grotesque; the overshadowing of everyday racism; the slide to overly macro or micro explanations; and the paucity of good data. As a remedy to these obstacles, the authors present two alternatives to teaching about organized racism—a sociological approach and a trans-national approach—that may move students toward deeper and more complex interpretations of organized racism.
Parametrically homogenized constitutive models (PHCMs) from micromechanical crystal plasticity FE simulations, part I: Sensitivity analysis and parameter identification for Titanium alloys

Abstract This is the first of a two part paper that systematically develops a finite deformation elasto-plastic, parametrically homogenized constitutive model (PHCM) for structural-scale macroscopic simulations of Titanium alloy Ti6242S. The PHCMs are thermodynamically consistent, reduced-order continuum models that incorporate functional forms of representative aggregated microstructural parameters (RAMPs) in their constitutive coefficients. These models are designed to represent all characteristics of macroscopic response such as anisotropy, tension-compression asymmetry, strain-rate and temperature dependence, and are consistent with microscopic crystal plasticity relations. An image-based size and rate-dependent crystal plasticity FE (CPFE) model is developed for creating a data-base needed for deriving functional forms of PHCM coefficients using machine learning methods. The first part of this sequence summarizes the generation of microstructure-based statistically equivalent representative volume elements (M-SERVEs) and the image-based CPFE model. Extensive sensitivity analysis is conducted to unravel the effect of specific RAMPs on the overall material response, and hence the PHCM constitutive coefficients. Sobol sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the sensitivities of constitutive coefficients in PHCM with respect to RAMPs to examine their suitability for representation. In the second part (Kotha et al., 2019), machine learning will be used with the database to create functional forms of the constitutive coefficients in the PHCMs.
Parades, Picketing, and Demonstrations

This is a draft chapter written for the Oxford Handbook on Freedom of Speech. It focuses on collective modes of expression, including parades, pickets, and demonstrations. The chapter situates these activities within First Amendment jurisprudence and examines their importance to American democracy, both historically and in the modern era. It discusses the various legal, political, and social impediments to collective expression in the U.S. These include First Amendment precedents and doctrines, a gradual erosion of the public and private space needed to facilitate collective forms of expression, and general methods of policing public contention. The chapter contends that despite these limitations, traditional modes of collective expression remain critically important to democratic discourse, political mobilization, and the communication of dissent. It acknowledges the ubiquity of digital communication and its importance to these same interests. However, the chapter contends that while the internet and social media may represent the new town square, they have not displaced more traditional forums. Rather, technology has facilitated new forms of collective expression and enhanced collective displays in more traditional forums. In order to preserve the robust tradition of collective expression, the chapter suggests that we focus on incorporating collective activity such as assembly, petition, and picketing into the First Amendment, rehabilitating the expressive topography, and improving policing methods.
Out of the frying pan into the fire: IFN-γ in post-sepsis immunosuppression

Secretion of IFN-γ in sepsis contributes to post-sepsis immunosuppression and secondary candidemia.
Slice-Based Cognitive Complexity Metrics for Defect Prediction

Researchers have identified several quality metrics to predict defects, relying on different information however, these approaches lack metrics to estimate the effort of program understandability of system artifacts. In this paper, novel metrics to compute the cognitive complexity based on program slicing are introduced. These metrics help identify code that is more likely to have defects due to being challenging to comprehension. The metrics include such measures as the total number of slices in a file, the size, the average number of identifiers, and the average spatial distance of a slice. A scalable lightweight slicing tool is used to compute the necessary slicing data. A thorough empirical investigation into how cognitive complexity correlates with and predicts defects in the version histories of 10 datasets of 7 open source systems is performed. The results show that the increase of cognitive complexity significantly increases the number of defects in 94% of the cases. In a comparison study to metrics that have been shown to correlate with understandability and with defects, the addition of cognitive complexity metrics shows better prediction by up to 14% in F1, 16% in AUC, and 35% in R2.
Mass spectrometry imaging and LC/MS reveal decreased cerebellar phosphoinositides in Niemann-Pick type C1-null mice.

Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC1) is a lipid storage disorder in which cholesterol and glycosphingolipids accumulate in late endosomal/lysosomal compartments because of mutations in the NPC1 gene. A hallmark of NPC1 is progressive neurodegeneration of the cerebellum as well as visceral organ damage; however, the mechanisms driving this disease pathology are not fully understood. Phosphoinositides are phospholipids that play distinct roles in signal transduction and vesicle trafficking. Here, we utilized a consensus spectra analysis of MS imaging data sets and orthogonal LC/MS analyses to evaluate the spatial distribution of phosphoinositides and quantify them in cerebellar tissue from Npc1-null mice. Our results suggest significant depletion of multiple phosphoinositide species, including PI, PIP, and PIP2, in the cerebellum of the Npc1-null mice in both whole-tissue lysates and myelin-enriched fractions. Additionally, we observed altered levels of the regulatory enzyme phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type 2α in Npc1-null mice. In contrast, the levels of related kinases, phosphatases, and transfer proteins were unaltered in the Npc1-null mouse model, as observed by Western blot analysis. Our discovery of phosphoinositide lipid biomarkers for NPC1 opens new perspectives on the pathophysiology underlying this fatal neurodegenerative disease.­
Effectiveness of community chronic disease self-management program in Nanjing

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a chronic disease self-management program (CDSMP) in the Nanjing community. Methods From April to June 2016, the volunteer patients with chronic diseases from National Basic Public Health Services Plan were recruited and agreed to enter the CDSMP. A total of 42 self-management groups were established. The Nanjing CDSMP was based on the model of the Shanghai CDSMP developed by Stanford University. Questionnaire surveys, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory examinations were collected at 3 measurement moments (baseline, after 6 months, and after 12 months). Qualitative data were obtained from 1-2 participants in each self-management group. Paired t-tests, paired Chi-square tests, generalized estimating equation, and content analysis were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the CDSMP. Results Among 562 eligible patients, 548 completed 3 questionnaire surveys, physical measurements, and laboratory examinations. Sixty-six interviewees completed qualitative evaluations. Compared with baseline, the time of stretching or strengthening exercise and aerobic exercise; the scores on communication with the medical doctor; self-efficacy to manage symptoms and manage disease in general; quality of life in physical component summary and mental component summary; and rate of glucose control were all higher after 6 months and after 12 months interventions, whereas the score of fatigue; pain, health distress; social/role activities limitation; and the value of body weight, systolic blood pressure, and triglyceride were all decreased (all P values<0.01). The satisfaction rate of CDSMP in general, and content were 87.9%, 90.9%, and 83.3%, respectively. Conclusion Overall, the Nanjing CDSMP was successful in improving knowledge and self-management skills, increasing self-management behaviors, self-efficacy, health status, and quality of life, and decreasing body weight, blood pressures, and lipids. It is suggested that CDSMP may be widely used in Nanjing communities. Key words: Community health centers; Chronic disease; Self-assessment
Performance of the S-χ2 Statistic for the Multidimensional Graded Response Model.

S−χ2 is a popular item fit index that is available in commercial software packages such as flexMIRT. However, no research has systematically examined the performance of S−χ2 for detecting item misf...
Physics-Informed Machine Learning with Conditional Karhunen-Loève Expansions

Abstract We present a new physics-informed machine learning approach for the inversion of partial differential equation (PDE) models with heterogeneous parameters. In our approach, the space-dependent partially observed parameters and states are approximated via Karhunen-Loeve expansions (KLEs). Each of these KLEs is then conditioned on their corresponding measurements, resulting in low-dimensional models of the parameters and states that resolve observed data. Finally, the coefficients of the KLEs are estimated by minimizing the norm of the residual of the PDE model evaluated at a finite set of points in the computational domain, ensuring that the reconstructed parameters and states are consistent with both the observations and the PDE model to an arbitrary level of accuracy. In our approach, KLEs are constructed using the eigendecomposition of covariance models of spatial variability. For the model parameters, we employ a parameterized covariance model calibrated on parameter observations; for the model states, the covariance is estimated from a number of forward simulations of the PDE model corresponding to realizations of the parameters drawn from their KLE. We apply the proposed approach to identify heterogeneous diffusion coefficients in diffusion equations from sparse measurements of the diffusion coefficient and the solution of the diffusion equation. We find that the proposed approach compares favorably against state-of-the-art point estimates such as maximum a posteriori estimation and physics-informed neural networks.
Novel agents to target treatment resistance in ovarian cancer

Abstract Chemotherapy resistance is a common occurrence in women who have undergone treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer. Combination chemotherapy, while helpful in delaying the development of resistance, carries increased toxicity and a poorer safety profile. As a result, numerous studies are investigating additional pharmacological targets, combination therapies, and repurposed agents for ovarian cancer treatment. This chapter summarizes clinical studies investigating novel combination therapies and targeted treatments that may hold promise in future clinical applications.
Book Review of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press 2015)

This timely new book, International Environmental Law and the Global South, fills a major gap in the scholarly literature and makes an important contribution to the fields of international and comparative environmental law. The book ambitiously sets out to transform the very framework within which global environmental questions are raised, debated, and addressed. By training a scholarly lens on the contested space inherent in key terms, like “sustainable development,” “common but differentiated responsibility,” and “intergenerational equity,” this book surfaces the power and justice questions inherent in international environmental governance — questions that too often pass sub rosa. In particular, in a wide-ranging set of contexts, the authors document how existing international environmental governance mechanisms systematically neglect or marginalize the poorest and most vulnerable populations, states and regions (the “South”) in favor of the concerns and interests of developed, wealthy states, populations and regions (the “North”). This interrogation is a vital contribution because these unspoken and unaddressed justice concerns too often thwart the international cooperation so vital for addressing global threats.
Ethics, Adverse Selection, Target Method of Sale Strategies, and Akerlof’s “Lemons” Problem

This study examines the acquisition dynamics associated with the target management’s choice to initiate the sale of the firm using the auction method. Specifically, we examine opportunistic merger and acquisition (M&A) dynamics related to the target-initiated method-of-sale decision (auctions vs. one-on-one negotiations), as a noteworthy example of Akerlof’s (1970) theory of the market for lemons. While we find a strong positive relationship between proxies of adverse selection risk and the likelihood of target initiation, robustness tests suggest target initiation itself is a unique indicator of information asymmetry in an acquisition environment. We also find that most target-initiated transactions follow an auction as the method of sale, which increases target information asymmetry advantages. While wealth accrued to both bidders and targets increases in non-target-initiated auctions, this benefit disappears when the target initiates the acquisition, causing both bidders and targets to suffer wealth losses. According to Akerlof’s theory, these wealth losses represent the cost of perceived dishonesty due to enhanced adverse section risk, which provides noteworthy implications for both business and society.
Summary of Induction Detectors and Techniques

I summarize the present experimental limits from induction searches for both free and trapped monopoles. Other topics which were discussed in the induction topical sessions at MONOPOLE’ 83 are the sources of spurious steps in SQUID outputs, the feasibility of room temperature induction detectors, and superconducting shielding. A discussion of the possibility of large area superconducting induction detectors ends the summary.
Development profile of neuron-specific enolase in human gut and its implications in Hirschsprung's disease

The most widely held view on the pathogenesis of Hirschsprung's disease as an arrest of neuroblast migration in the gut was based on the hypothesis of a single craniocaudal gradient of development of enteric neurons. Recent experimental studies in animals, however, have revived a contradictory hypothesis of a dual gradient of neuronal development; such data are not available in humans. To test these hypotheses in humans, we studied the pylorus, ileum, and colon of 28 fetuses with gestational ages of 9-21 wk, using immunohistochemical localization of neuron-specific enolase, a specific neuronal marker indicative of differentiation. Development of the enteric nervous system was shown to be most advanced in the pylorus, less so in the colon, and least so in the ileum. The findings support the hypothesis of a dual gradient of neuronal development proceeding from both ends to the middle of the gut in midtrimester human fetuses and suggest that the pathogenesis of Hirschsprung's disease needs to be reconsidered.
A Study of Jackknife Stability of Class VIII Vehicles with Multiple Trailers with ABS Disc/Drum Brakes

This paper presents the development of a antilock brake system (ABS) model for a double tractor-trailer combination vehicle in order to investigate the jackknife stability of these vehicles with mixed braking configurations between the tractor (disc brakes) and trailers and dolly (pneumatic drum brakes). Simulation software was used to model the ABS behavior of the vehicle and vehicle dynamics. Brake-in-turn maneuvers were performed with varying vehicle loads and surface conditions. Conditions with ABS ON for the entire vehicle (and select-high control algorithm on the trailers and dolly) found that instabilities (i.e., lane excursions and/or jackknifes) were exhibited under conditions when the surface friction coefficient was 0.3. It was demonstrated that these instabilities could be avoided while using a select-low control algorithm on the trailers and dolly. Simulation results with the ABS OFF for the tractor showed that a tractor equipped with disc brakes had greater jackknife stability. However, the vehicle left the intended path at an earlier moment in the maneuver than a vehicle equipped with drum brakes under the same simulated conditions. A comparison showed that the tractor was the least stable unit with the ABS OFF conditions, while the dolly was the least stable unit with the ABS ON conditions.
Differentially private and strategy-proof spectrum auction with approximate revenue maximization

The rapid growth of wireless mobile users and applications has led to high demand of spectrum. Auction is a powerful tool to improve the utilization of spectrum resource, and many auction mechanisms have been proposed thus far. However, none of them has considered both the privacy of bidders and the revenue gain of the auctioneer together. In this paper, we study the design of privacy-preserving auction mechanisms. We first propose a differentially private auction mechanism which can achieve strategy-proofness and a near optimal expected revenue based on the concept of virtual valuation. Assuming the knowledge of the bidders' valuation distributions, the near optimal differentially private and strategy-proof auction mechanism uses the generalized Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction payment scheme to achieve high revenue with a high probability. To tackle its high computational complexity, we also propose an approximate differentially PrivAte, Strategy-proof, and polynomially tractable Spectrum (PASS) auction mechanism that can achieve a suboptimal revenue. PASS uses a monotone allocation algorithm and the critical payment scheme to achieve strategy-proofness. We also evaluate PASS extensively via simulation, showing that it can generate more revenue than existing mechanisms in the spectrum auction markets.
What are little ghouls made of? The Supernatural family, fandom, and the problem of Adam

An exploration of family in Supernatural through the episode "Jump the Shark" and the character Adam Milligan.
Initiation of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis After Thymine Starvation of Bacillus subtilis

Evidence for premature initiation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication after thymine starvation of Bacillus subtilis W23T− is presented, based on (i) increase in the number of ade+ relative to met+ transformants yielded by the DNA isolated from cultures after starvation (the ade− marker being near the origin of replication, whereas met− is close to the terminus), and (ii) increase in both the initial rate and final level of tritiated thymine incorporation in the presence of chloramphenicol after release from starvation. The marker ratio data agree quantitatively with the hypothesis that the initiation is induced only on one arm of each chromosome which was replicating prior to starvation.