cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
BLINK: Making the case for Bluetooth open source stack

Bluetooth is the de facto for IoT communication and the most prominent communication technology for smart homes and smart cities. Despite its design for small devices, e.g., computer mice, it evolved to support a wide range of applications. However, it still carries limitations like low data rate, inefficient device discovery, limited range, and interference. Addressing these aspects is impossible for the research community as Bluetooth core specifications are locked on hardware chips. In this work, we propose BLINK, a modified version on Bluetooth v4.0 that supports multicast communication elevating the data rate within a Bluetooth piconet. First, we provide an open source Bluetooth stack implementation to the research community. Second, we introduce multicasting to Bluetooth piconets through extending the set of packet formats. Third, we customize the Bluetooth timing to schedule an interference free communication of multicast streams between piconet devices. Fourth, we evaluate BLINK on a testbed of 4 devices and show that data exchange rate was enhanced by 1.5–3 folds.
Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy-Related Microhemorrhages in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of Investigative Animal Models

There is a growing understanding of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), which accounts for the majority of primary lobal intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) among the elderly [1] and is cited as the cause of 20% of spontaneous ICHs in patients over 70 years of age [2]. The basis for this disease process is the deposition and formation of eventually destructive amyloid plaques in the walls of brain vessels, predominantly arterial but not excluding venules and capillaries [3]. Investigation of the pathophysiology and therapies for CAA-associated hemorrhages have been made possible through animal models utilizing species that develop CAA in a similar fashion to humans, such as the squirrel monkey, rhesus monkey, dog and mutant and transgenic mouse strains, which exhibit the age-related development of amyloid plaques, progressive neurodegeneration and CAA-associated hemorrhages. The disease course in these animal models resembles that seen in the clinical setting for patients with CAA. Rodent studies have been able to demonstrate the strong role of CAA and CAA-associated microhemorrhages in the pathogenesis and progression of CAA with and without AD [4]. This review will present the existing understanding of CAA-associated microhemorrhages frequently observed in AD, different animal models, involved imaging and the role of animal models in the development of therapeutics including immunotherapies such as anti-Aβ antibodies for the treatment of CAA and its associated microhemorrhages.
Essay on EU Involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Consistency and Cohesiveness from 1967 to the Emergence of the Arab Spring

This essay assesses the involvement of the European Union (EU) in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from its origins to the emergence of the Arab Spring. Unlike the United States – where foreign policy is an area attributed to the federal executive since independence – Member States of the EU have a ‘multilevel foreign policy,’ in which they cooperate amongst each other by way of their Union, while simultaneously pursuing independent policies. The conclusion of this essay is that as the EU evolved to become an important player in regional power configurations and local political dynamics, EU policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been inconsistent and incoherent,. The following elements lie at the basis of this conclusion: incoherence amongst Member States; inconsistency between economic objectives and foreign policy; the failure to understand and focus on mental structures, in particular religion; and a problematic Transatlantic "Partnership". These inconsistencies have had a significant impact on certain crucial elements in Palestinian state- and nation-building, notably nationalism and Islamism, political liberalization and authoritarianism.
Quantifying water and CO2 fluxes and water use efficiencies across irrigated C3 and C4 crops in a humid climate.

Abstract Underground aquifers that took millions of years to fill are being depleted due to unsustainable water withdrawals for crop irrigation. Concurrently, atmospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases is enhancing demands for water inputs in agriculture. Accurate information on crop-ecosystem water use efficiencies [EWUE, amount of CO2 removed from the soil-crop-air system per unit of water used in evapotranspiration (ET)] is essential for developing environmentally and economically sustainable water management practices that also help account for CO2, the most abundant of the greenhouse gases, exchange rates from cropping systems. We quantified EWUE of corn (a C4 crop) and soybean and cotton (C3 crops) in a predominantly clay soil under humid climate in the Lower Mississippi (MS) Delta, USA. Crop-ecosystem level exchanges of CO2 and water from these three cropping systems were measured in 2017 using the eddy covariance method. Ancillary micrometeorological data were also collected. On a seasonal basis, all three crops were net sinks for CO2 in the atmosphere: corn, soybean, and cotton fixed −31,331, −23,563, and −8856 kg ha−1 of CO2 in exchange for 483, 552, and 367 mm of ET, respectively (negative values show that CO2 is fixed in the plant or removed from the air). The seasonal NEE estimated for cotton was 72% less than corn and 62% less than soybean. Half-hourly averaged maximum net ecosystem exchange (NEE) from these cropping systems were −33.6, −27.2, and −14.2 kg CO2 ha−1, respectively. Average daily NEE were −258, −169, and −65 kg CO2 ha−1, respectively. The EWUE in these three cropping systems were 53, 43, and 24 kg CO2 ha−1 mm−1 of water. Results of this investigation can help in adopting crop mixtures that are environmentally and economically sustainable, conserving limited water resources in the region.
This too shall pass: Standardized Gastrografin protocol for partial small bowel obstruction.

Abstract Background One of the most common reasons for admission to a surgical service is for a partial small bowel obstruction. There is considerable variation in management. Several studies suggest that the use of diatrizoate (Gastrografin), a hyperosmolar contrast agent, can be helpful as a diagnostic agent as well as possibly therapeutic, reducing the need for operative intervention. There is a paucity of data on the use of Gastrografin in the community setting. We hypothesized that this standardized algorithm of Gastrografin administration would decrease the need for surgery and shorten a patient's length of stay, even outside the confines of a regulated clinical trial. Methods We performed a retrospective review of all patients admitted to two major hospitals in our network with the diagnosis of partial small bowel obstruction. Patients were excluded if they were admitted within thirty days of bowel surgery or if they were Results A total of 1302 patients with partial small bowel obstruction were identified (103 on-protocol and 1199 off-protocol at our sister hospital). On-protocol patients had a shorter duration of hospitalization (mean, 4.9 days vs. 6.0 days, p Conclusion A protocol utilizing Gastrografin for the management of partial small bowel obstruction decreases the need for surgery and shortens a patient's length of stay in a diverse community setting.
Tell me a story: The role of narrative transportation and the C-suite in B2B advertising

Abstract This research investigates stories about buyer-seller experiences in B2B advertising. In two studies, the authors explore the impact of stories and narrative transportation in advertising on decision makers’ attitudinal responses. In Study 1, findings from a Fortune 100 company’s buyer panel indicate that stories told using narrative advertising were positively related to the decision maker’s trust in the supplier, ability to form personal connections with the supplier and the tendency to advocate for the supplier. Moreover, the organizational status of the decision maker (C-suite versus non-C-suite executives) was examined. Results demonstrate that the effect of these relationships were stronger for C-level decision makers than non-C-level decision makers. In Study 2, depth interviews were conducted with C-level decision makers. Findings reinforce results from Study 1 and provide additional insight into C-level decision makers’ perspectives on stories and narrative transportation. Implications for how stories about buyer-seller relationships can benefit organizational decision making are discussed.
Demystifying Transceiver and Line Characterization Metrics

Introduction OSNR Definition and problems with multibaud rate signals OSNR vs SNR Definition OSNR Scaling for Different Baud Rates How do we determine the SNR of a system Link SNR and GOSNR Adding the noise contributions BER and Q GOSNR Measurement – One Technique Back to Back Noise Loading GOSNR Measurement – One Technique Power Hunt RSNR Spectral Efficiency The Relationship between RSNR and Spectral Efficiency Shannon Capacity and the Relationship between SNR and SE The Problem with Q What we want is SNR reported at the receiver MER and EVM Probability Primer Mutual Information Discrete Variables Mutual Information of Discrete Variables and Entropy Mutual Information of Discrete Variables and Entropy An Example: Binary Symmetric Channel Mutual Information of Discrete Variables and Entropy An Example: Binary Symmetric Channel Mutual Information Continuous and Hybrid Variables. GMI: A Graphical Representation GMI and NGMI Conclusion
Beyond Transition: Personal and Social Transformation Through Co-Inquiry Among Military-Connected Students:

Social reintegration of veterans following military service is a complex, nonlinear, and highly individualized phenomenon, yet much of the existing literature on transition of veterans represents a...
Combining LIDAR, Passive Infrared, and Markov Chain Prediction for Flexible, Portable Occupancy Monitoring

In this paper, we create a highly accurate and portable occupancy monitoring system leveraging LIDAR and PIR sensors. Using data gathered from this system, we develop a Markov Chain model to predict transitions and further improve accuracy. The system is able to with near 100% accuracy detect occupant movements through an area. Compared to more permanently installed sensors, the proposed approach offers a more flexible, portable sensing solution. This system can be readily deployed with minimal training data, benefiting applications such as building scheduling, usage design, security, and retail analytics.
Smart meters data for modeling and forecasting water demand at the user-level

Abstract Smart meters installed at the user-level provide a new data source for managing water infrastructure. This research explores the use of machine learning methods, including Random Forests (RFs), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and Support Vector Regression (SVR) to forecast hourly water demand at 90 accounts using smart-metered data. Demands are predicted using lagged demand, seasonality, weather, and household characteristics. Time-series clustering is applied to delineate data based on the time of day and day of the week, which improves model performance. Two modeling approaches are compared. Individual models are developed separately for each meter, and a Group model is trained using a data set of multiple meters. Individual models predict demands at meters in the original data set with lower error than Group models, while the Group model predicts demands at new meters with lower error than Individual models. Results demonstrate that RF and ANN perform better than SVR across all scenarios.
Enhancing Research Quality through Analytical Memo Writing in a Mixed Methods Grounded Theory Study Implemented by a Multi-Institution Research Team

In this Full Research Category paper, we will provide a detailed description of how we are using analytical memo-writing within a mixed methods grounded theory study. The goal of our work is to identify key elements from undergraduate research experiences (UREs) that can be translated into the classroom by exploring the connections between engineering students’ researcher identities, perceptions of research, and epistemic thinking within the context of UREs. The qualitative phase of our study which is the focus on this paper takes a grounded theory approach as we explore our research questions using in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted by researcher pairs, transcribed, and cleaned. Preliminary analysis, which included initial coding, was conducted by researcher pairs to increase the validity of the analysis and facilitate analytical discussions between researchers. After initial coding, the researcher pairs constructed analytical memos with three parts: (1) summary of the participant (factual representation), (2) summary of salient themes/codes/analysis, and (3) connections of themes/analysis to other participants. We are using these memos to facilitate a constant comparative approach across participants, communicate and understand complex relationships between concepts, and enhance the development of our grounded theory model. As part of our description of our analytical memos, we provide details and examples from our study for each part of the memo. We also discuss the ways in which we have found the analytical memos to be helpful in our analysis. In particular, we discuss our use of the theoretical coding (three-part coding where you identify context, mechanism, and outcome) and magnitude coding (quantify qualitative data by creating Likert-type Scales for specific concepts) of our memos, which allow us to explore relationships between concepts and produce empirical support for the connections within our grounded theory model.
CONTAMINATION OF MILK WITH AIRBORNE MICROORGANISMS THROUGH THE VACUUM DEFOAMER

Serratia marcescens aerosols were generated under a hood covering the filler end of a model EPCF Pure Pak milk packaging machine. When water was packaged with the machine, contamination by the test...
Mental health and sleep disparities in an urban college sample: A longitudinal examination of White and Black students.

Objective Racial disparities in sleep may be consequential among college students given high rates of dysfunctional sleep among this population. The present study sought to investigate whether disparities in sleep explain existing mental health disparities. Method Data included secondary analysis of a college risk behaviors and health study (n = 1242, mean age = 18.5). Race was dichotomized as White or Black, excluding all others, with participants completing measures of sleep at baseline and measures of depression and anxiety at follow-up 1 to 2 years later. Results Compared to White students, Black students were more likely to report lower rates of depression and anxiety, but poorer sleep outcomes. Mediation analyses revealed that sleep partially mediated (suppressed) the association between race and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Conclusions Results indicate that disparities in sleep may play an important role in the association between race and mental health symptoms among college students. Future health disparity research would benefit from exploring the potentially bidirectional relationship between sleep and mental health symptoms among college students.
Aquifer deformation and active faulting in Salt Lake Valley, Utah, USA

Abstract Aquifers and fault zones may interact through groundwater flow and stress redistribution, yet their spatiotemporal relationship remains enigmatic. Here we quantify changes in water storage and associated stress along the Wasatch Fault Zone in Salt Lake Valley, recently shaken by a M5.7 earthquake on March 18th, 2020. Ground deformation mapped by Sentinel-1 SAR imagery (2014-2019) reveals an elongated area with ∼50-mm seasonal uplift corresponding to 0.03-0.06-km3 water storage cycles. Phase shifts across active faults in both water level and deformation suggest control by the low-permeability structures. The seasonal stress changes on the adjoining faults from poroelastic volume strain are two orders of magnitude larger than those from hydrological surface loading, but both are small compared to the annual increase of tectonic loading at seismogenic depths. Historic seismic events, limited in number, do not exhibit statistically significant annual periodicity and hydrological modulation of microseismicity or triggering of the recent M5.7 event is not evident.
Rats exposed to chronic alcohol display protracted insomnia and daytime sleepiness-like behavior during alcohol withdrawal✰

ABSTRACT Introduction Alcohol use disorder (AUD), a chronic brain disorder, is characterized by a multitude of symptoms, including insomnia, during withdrawal. Previously, we have shown that rats exposed to chronic alcohol displayed insomnia-like symptoms during acute withdrawal. Since insomnia lasts for several years and is a major risk factor of relapse to alcoholism, the present study is designed to investigate the long-term effects of alcohol withdrawal on sleep-wakefulness. Methods Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, instrumented with sleep recording electrodes, were divided into two groups: Alcohol and Control. Rats were either administered alcohol (35% v/v), mixed with infant formula (Alcohol group) or control mixture containing water and infant formula (Controls; 10 mL/kg) every 8 h for 4 days using Majchrowicz's chronic binge drinking protocol. Electrographic recordings of sleep-wakefulness were performed until withdrawal day 7, however, the data was analyzed for withdrawal days 3, 5 and 7 in both Control and Alcohol groups. Results As compared to the controls, alcohol-exposed rats displayed insomnia-like symptoms as revealed by a) significant reduction in the quantity and quality of sleep during the light (inactive) period and b) a significant increase in NREM sleep with a concomitant reduction in the amount of time spent in the wakefulness during the dark (active) period of alcohol withdrawal. Conclusion Our results suggest that the chronic binge model of alcohol dependence mimics clinical symptoms of AUD especially protracted insomnia and is suitable for understanding the mechanisms associated with alcohol withdrawal-induced behaviors.
Translational Approaches to Electrical Stimulation for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

BackgroundAchieving functional repair after peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains problematic despite considerable advances in surgical technique. Therein, questions lie regarding the variable capa...
Evaluating a Prototype Nasolaryngoscopy Hood During Aerosol-Generating Procedures in Otolaryngology

ObjectiveDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been considerable interest in identifying aerosol- and droplet-generating procedures, as well as efforts to mitigate the spread of these potentially...
"You spent how much?" Toward an understanding of how romantic partners respond to each other's financial decisions.

Abstract How people choose to spend money is often observable to others (e.g. based on their clothes, accessories, and social media pages), but there is a whole universe of financial decisions that are essentially unobservable (e.g. how people handle their debts, taxes, and retirement planning). We explore one context where people have an up-close-and-personal view of someone else's financial decision-making process: romantic relationships. We discuss how the endless opportunities for financial observation in romantic relationships influence a range of behaviors, including spending habits, decisions about bank account structure, and financial infidelity. Our review highlights the need for more research on the ways in which financial decisions are made, communicated, and observed within romantic relationships.
Automated tracking reveals the social network of beach mice and their burrows

Evolutionary biologists have long sought to understand the selective pressures driving phenotypic evolution. While most experimental data come from the study of morphological evolution, we know much less about the ultimate drivers of behavioral variation. Among the most striking examples of behavioral evolution are the long, complex burrows constructed by oldfield mice ( Peromyscus polionotus ssp.). Yet how these mice use burrows in the wild, and whether burrow length may affect fitness, remains unknown. A major barrier to studying behavior in the wild has been the lack of technologies to continuously monitor — in this case, nocturnal and underground — behavior. Here, we designed and implemented a novel radio frequency identification (RFID) system to track patterns of burrow use in a natural population of beach mice. We combine RFID monitoring with burrow measurements, genetic data, and social network analysis to uncover how these monogamous mice use burrows under fully natural ecological and social conditions. We first found that long burrows provide a more stable thermal environment and have higher juvenile activity than short burrows, underscoring the likely importance of long burrows for rearing young. We also find that adult mice consistently use multiple burrows throughout their home range and tend to use the same burrows at the same time as their genetic relatives, suggesting that inclusive fitness benefits may accrue for individuals that construct and maintain multiple burrows. Our study highlights how new automated tracking approaches can provide novel insights into animal behavior in the wild.
Insights into the Genetic Variations of Human Cytochrome P450 2C9: Structural Analysis, Characterization and Comparison

Cytochromes P450 (CYP) are one of the major xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes with increasing importance in pharmacogenetics. The CYP2C9 enzyme is responsible for the metabolism of a wide range of clinical drugs. More than sixty genetic variations have been identified in CYP2C9 with many demonstrating reduced activity compared to the wild-type (WT) enzyme. The CYP2C9*8 allele is predominantly found in persons of African ancestry and results in altered clearance of several drug substrates of CYP2C9. The X-ray crystal structure of CYP2C9*8, which represents an amino acid variation from arginine to histidine at position 150 (R150H), was solved in complex with losartan. The overall conformation of the CYP2C9*8-losartan complex was similar to the previously solved complex with wild type (WT) protein, but it differs in the occupancy of losartan. One molecule of losartan was bound in the active site and another on the surface in an identical orientation to that observed in the WT complex. However, unlike the WT structure, the losartan in the access channel was not observed in the *8 complex. Furthermore, isothermal titration calorimetry studies illustrated weaker binding of losartan to *8 compared to WT. Interestingly, the CYP2C9*8 interaction with losartan was not as weak as the CYP2C9*3 variant, which showed up to three-fold weaker average dissociation constant compared to the WT. Taken together, the structural and solution characterization yields insights into the similarities and differences of losartan binding to CYP2C9 variants and provides a useful framework for probing the role of amino acid substitution and substrate dependent activity.
Joint Unsupervised and Supervised Training for Multilingual ASR.

Self-supervised training has shown promising gains in pretraining models and facilitating the downstream finetuning for speech recognition, like multilingual ASR. Most existing methods adopt a 2-stage scheme where the self-supervised loss is optimized in the first pretraining stage, and the standard supervised finetuning resumes in the second stage. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end (E2E) Joint Unsupervised and Supervised Training (JUST) method to combine the supervised RNN-T loss and the self-supervised contrastive and masked language modeling (MLM) losses. We validate its performance on the public dataset Multilingual LibriSpeech (MLS), which includes 8 languages and is extremely imbalanced. On MLS, we explore (1) JUST trained from scratch, and (2) JUST finetuned from a pretrained checkpoint. Experiments show that JUST can consistently outperform other existing state-of-the-art methods, and beat the monolingual baseline by a significant margin, demonstrating JUST's capability of handling low-resource languages in multilingual ASR. Our average WER of all languages outperforms average monolingual baseline by 33.3%, and the state-of-the-art 2-stage XLSR by 32%. On low-resource languages like Polish, our WER is less than half of the monolingual baseline and even beats the supervised transfer learning method which uses external supervision.
An Experiential Approach: A Mentoring Program to Promote Hands-On Experience in Professional Selling

A concern of business executives is the lack of practical experience among today's college graduates. A number of pedagogical approaches such as role play exercises, discussion of current events, and in-class sales presentations introduce realism into the classroom, but these are only simulations of realworld experiences. The Sales Mentorship approach summarized below however, provides actual real-world experience. This is especially useful at institutions where many undergraduates have not had business experience.
Adult Progenitor Cells as a Potential Treatment for Diabetes

As stated in more detail in Chapter 84 of this handbook, the need to control blood glucose levels in diabetes is essential to prevent the development of devastating complications. Treatment with insulin and oral agents has markedly improved in the past few decades, but true normoglycemia continues to be an elusive treatment target. To prevent complications, β-cell replacement therapy in the form of transplantation remains a major hope for the future, and a few people are already benefiting from this approach. More than 12,000 pancreas transplants have been performed since 1978, and more than 1000 are now done yearly. Because whole-organ transplantation requires major surgery, it would be preferable to transplant only the pancreatic islet cells that comprise only about 1% of the pancreas. After decades of hard work and frustration, some success is being achieved, spurred partly by the success of the Edmonton protocol first reported in 2000.
Welfare Reform and Economic Freedom: Low-Income Mothers' Decisions about Work at Home and in the Market

While many working professional mothers have the opportunity to “opt out” of the workforce, poor women do not. The primary goal of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is to move mothers from welfare to the paid workforce. Welfare reform eliminated the federal guarantee of a basic income support for all families and replaced it with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a state-run program combining work requirements and sanctions for nonconforming behavior. This article examines the impact of welfare reform on lowincome women’s ability to make decisions about caregiving and paid employment, which the author calls “economic freedom.” Roberts provides a historical context by exploring both welfare policy and feminist theorizing on mothers’ work at home and in the market. She suggests as an alternative approach the welfare rights movement’s rejection of the care/work dichotomy and its advocacy of poor mothers’ freedom to choose between the two. Roberts demonstrates how welfare reform denies economic freedom to low-income women, and how welfare reform’s incentives are lopsided: They devalue and penalize poor mothers’ care work. She concludes that poor mothers require a guaranteed income, education, and subsidized child care to achieve their economic freedom. Welfare Reform and Economic Freedom: Low-Income Mothers’ Decisions About Work at Home and in the Market Dorothy E. Roberts
The Competitive Position of Southern Commodities: Some Trends and Underlying Forces

wsfit this session is to help understand the forces mulated Three examples would suffice to that have determined the patterns of agri- illustrate this dificulty. First, whenJones cultural production and trade in the South. extended the doctrine of comparative ad- If the papers are to be useful, they must help vantage to a classical model with many explain what is likely to happen in the future goods and countries, he was forced to and even what might be done to affect these restate the concept of comparative costs patterns. But again, this task is far too large in a form that lacked most of the sim- for a few academic papers. plicity and intuitive appeal of the origi- One of the purposes of this paper, in the nal. Second, in the context of the context of the others in the session, is to Heckscher-Ohlin model, Melvin showed provide some of the basic economic back- that if there are more goods than primary ground useful to discussing trading patterns. factors ofproduction, then the indeter- One may view the other papers as elaborating minacy of the structure of production, on reasons for deviations from the patterns that had been noted previously by Sam- of trade that might be predicted by theory uelson, implies that any good may be and evidence on costs and demand condi- exported by any country. This, it would tions. seem destroys altogether any determinate Not being a trade theorist, I hesitate even relationship between the pattern of trade to mention the technical term "comparative and anything else. And third, Travis has advantage." I have not used the term in my argued that the introduction of impedi- title; a few remarks may be useful to clarify ments to trade, andparticularly of tariffs, why. can alter the pattern of trade, causing A loose definition of comparative advantage goods that would appear to have been may be stated in terms of autarky prices. A exported to be imported, and vice versa. region has a comparative advantage in a good, Thus, it appears that if the two-commod- y, if in absence of trade the price of y is ity, two-country, free-trade model is ex- lower than the price of y elsewhere. Com- tended or modified in plausible ways, it plications arise in precisely defining "price" then ceases to be possible to explain the (relative to what?) and "elsewhere" (see, for pattern of trade by simple comparisons example, Chacholiades, Paarlberg et al., and of autarky prices. Most recently, this im-
Understanding peasant revolution : From concept to theory and case

Ce qui semble relever d'explications concurrentes en matiere de revolution paysanne tient generalement a des differences sur ce que recouvre le terme paysan. Bien des differences peuvent etre conciliees si l'on s'attache a relier la conceptualisation, la construction de la theorie et la selection des cas etudies. C'est ce a quoi s'emploie cet article en degageant et confrontant cinq traditions de conceptualisation de la paysannerie (weberienne, marxienne, anthropologique, de l'economie morale, et minimaliste) reposant sur un ou la combinaison d'au moins deux des quatre concepts cles suivants : statut de cultivateur rural, (concept commun a toutes les approches) ; presence d'une subordination sociale ; distinction culturelle des communautes ; propriete ou controle de la terre agricole
From nonlinear waves to spiral and speckle patterns:: Nonequilibrium phenomena in geological and biological systems

Abstract Patterns and waves in nonlinear biological and geological systems have certain universal properties but also some mathematically interesting differences. Models of a variety of these phenomena are reviewed and compared. Applications to developmental biology (early Fucus egg self-organization and Ca 2+ fertilization waves in Medaka eggs) and geological phase transition kinetic patterns (Liesegang bands, metamorphic layering and stylolites) are presented.
Stock Options, Restricted Stock, and Incentives

Prior work has suggested that options represent an inefficient form of compensation because the value placed on an option by a risk-averse employee is much less than the cost of the option from the perspective of the firm. However, much of this work ignores or fails to properly incorporate the incentive effect of option-based contracts into their analysis. We use agency theory to model the optimal mix of options and stock in the compensation contract. In contrast to prior work, we show that restricted stock is generally not the optimal contract form. We present comparative static results to show how the mix between options and stock and the optimal exercise price of the options varies as a function of the exogenous parameters.
Tunable and switchable resonators and filters based on ferroelectric BST thin films for wireless communications

BAW resonators and filters with BST thin film are attracting the attention of many investigators because of their tunability and ability to switch with the applied bias voltage. In this paper, we will present our work on solidly mounted bulk acoustic resonators, filters and duplexers with spin-on metal organic solution deposited (MOSD) Barium Strontium Titanate(BST) films. Our recent research has shown that, the composite BST BAW fabricated with central floating electrode shows multiple modes of operation (low frequency mode and high frequency mode). Therefore, these composite resonators can be used to fabricate multiband resonators and filters.
Complement System and Its Role in Immune Responses

The complement system is a network of more than 50 plasma proteins and receptors, which have the role of mediating innate and adaptive host defence mechanisms, whereas they also participate in various (patho)physiological processes. The primary functions mediated by complement proteins include phagocytosis of foreign elements (bacteria, viruses, particles etc.), cell lysis, inflammation, solubilisation of immune complexes, apoptotic cell clearance and enhancement of humoral immune responses. Dysregulation of complement activity has, therefore, been connected to various diseases, including autoimmune conditions, thrombotic pathologies and infections. Key Concepts: Complement is a multiprotein network of plasma proteins and cell surface receptors. Complement is an evolutionary conserved system. Complement participates in innate and adaptive immunity. Complement dysregulation and deficiencies are connected to disease. Keywords: Anaphylatoxins; complement; inflammation; innate immunity; opsonins; infection
The IBM image adapter/A

The image-processing system developed for the IBM PS/2 series of personal computers is described. The adapter is a single PS/2 card that occupies the video feature bus slot and is designed to extend the video function supplied as part of the base PS/2 machine by providing support for large screen displays up to 1600 by 1200 pixels. Image-processing and display functions are performed by an on-card high-performance microprocessor which has a throughput of 8.5 million instructions per second. However, for image operations, several additional mechanisms boost the effective processor performance to several times this figure. The card supports the attachment of an optical daughter card that allows the image adapter to drive an image scanner and printer directly while requiring only a single PS/2 card slot. >
The Lewy body variant of Alzheimer disease

The Lewy body variant of Alzheimer disease (LBV) occupies a messy middle ground between Alzheimer disease (AD) on the one hand, and pure Lewy body diseases (Parkinson’s disease or diffuse Lewy body disease), on the other. In addition to brainstem and neocortical Lewy bodies, LBV brains have enough neocortical neuritic plaques to meet diagnostic criteria for AD. However, neurofibrillary pathology in LBV is modest, since tangle densities in LBV are typically intermediate between AD and age-matched controls or pure Lewy body disease brains. Apolipoprotein E-4 is overrepresented in LBV, as it is in AD but is not in PD or diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD). Neurologically, LBV patients often display sufficient parkinsonian signs to separate them from AD, but these findings are usually too subtle to warrant clinical diagnoses of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Neuropsychological deficits in LBV include a subcortical dementia pattern similar to DLBD, and more severe global cognitive impairment reminiscent of AD.
Effects of Chronic Pelvic Pain on Heart Rate Variability in Women

Purpose: Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and myofascial pelvic pain are frequently comorbid chronic pelvic pain disorders. Differences in bladder function between interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and myofascial pelvic pain suggest that efferent autonomic function may differentiate these syndromes. Heart rate variability, defined as the difference in duration of successive heartbeats, serves as an index of autonomic function by measuring its ability to modify heart rate in response to neurophysiological changes. High frequency heart rate variability was used as a reflection of more rapid vagally mediated (parasympathetic) changes. Low frequency heart rate variability signified slower fluctuations related to the baroreflex and sympathetic outflow.Materials and Methods: Heart rate variability was derived by autoregressive frequency analysis of the continuous electrocardiogram recording of heart rate with the subject supine for 10 minutes, tilted 70 degrees with the head up for 30 minut...
Pandemic Recovery Analysis Using the Dynamic Inoperability Input‐Output Model

Economists have long conceptualized and modeled the inherent interdependent relationships among different sectors of the economy. This concept paved the way for input-output modeling, a methodology that accounts for sector interdependencies governing the magnitude and extent of ripple effects due to changes in the economic structure of a region or nation. Recent extensions to input-output modeling have enhanced the model's capabilities to account for the impact of an economic perturbation; two such examples are the inoperability input-output model((1,2)) and the dynamic inoperability input-output model (DIIM).((3)) These models introduced sector inoperability, or the inability to satisfy as-planned production levels, into input-output modeling. While these models provide insights for understanding the impacts of inoperability, there are several aspects of the current formulation that do not account for complexities associated with certain disasters, such as a pandemic. This article proposes further enhancements to the DIIM to account for economic productivity losses resulting primarily from workforce disruptions. A pandemic is a unique disaster because the majority of its direct impacts are workforce related. The article develops a modeling framework to account for workforce inoperability and recovery factors. The proposed workforce-explicit enhancements to the DIIM are demonstrated in a case study to simulate a pandemic scenario in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Thermal Conductivity of Carbon-filled Polypropylene-based Resins

Varying amounts of three different carbons (carbon black, synthetic graphite particles, and carbon nanotubes) were added to polypropylene, and the resulting single-filler composites were tested for thermal conductivity using the nanoflash test method. In addition, the effects of single fillers and combinations of different carbon fillers were studied via a factorial design. Each single filler caused a statistically significant increase in through-plane thermal conductivity at the 95% confidence level, with synthetic graphite causing the largest increase, followed by carbon nanotubes, and then carbon black. The synthetic graphite/carbon nanotube formulations, followed by the carbon black/synthetic graphite formulations also caused a statistically significant increase in composite through-plane thermal conductivity. Composites containing 75 and 80 wt% synthetic graphite in polypropylene had an in-plane thermal conductivity of 24 and 34 W/m·K, respectively. This meets the thermal conductivity target of >20 W...
Multi-Agent System algorithm for preventing cascading failures in smart grid systems

In this work, a technique based on an adaptive Multi- Agent System algorithm is implemented to solve the complex problem of cascading failure events which lead to total blackout. This method proposes a solution to a variant of cascading failure events and is unique as previous literature focuses on identifying the possibility of occurrence of the cascading failures and then mitigates the failures. The proposed solution which utilizes pre- stated mathematical combinations that aim to redispatch the power from the generators is dynamically and experimentally applied in real-time, therefore it considers all the active factors and constraints involved as it halts the occurrence of cascading failures after an N-1 contingency. The distributed and intelligent algorithm is modeled to suit power system applications and then implemented on an experimental set up of the generation and transmission side of the IEEE 30-bus system utilizing a reconfigurable Smart Grid Laboratory hardware developed for testing distributed algorithms requiring two way communication capabilities.
The modulation of learning state in a biological associative memory: an in vitro, in vivo, and in computo study of object recognition in mammalian olfactory cortex

During learning of overlapping input patterns in an associative memory, recall of previously stored patterns can interfere with the learning of new patterns. Most associative memory models avoid this difficulty by ignoring the effect of previously modified connections during learning, by clamping network activity to the patterns to be learned. Through the interaction of experimental and modeling techniques, we now have evidence to suggest that a somewhat analogous approach may have been taken by biology within the olfactory cerebral cortex. Specifically we have recently discovered that the naturally occurring neuromodulator acetylcholine produces a variety of effects on cortical cells and circuits which, when taken together, can prevent memory interference in a biologically realistic memory model. Further, it has been demonstrated that these biological mechanisms can actually improve the memory storage performance of previously published abstract “neural network” associative memory models.
Field observations of cooling rates of galapagos land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus)

Abstract 1. 1. Cooling constants and thermal conductances are calculated from the rates of cooling of three Conolophus subcristatus , the Galapagos land iguana. 2. 2. The observed conductances are lower than those of comparably large lizards including the Galapagos marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus . Possible reasons for this difference are considered, especially the effect of air speed on cooling rates. 3. 3. The advantage of low conductance for extended foraging and/or digestion in ectotherms employing temperature-dependent metabolic processes is discussed.
Boundary layers of hierarchical beam and plate models

The boundary behavior of a family of hierarchical models of linearly elastic, isotropic plates is studied. The hierarchical models are obtained by spectral semidiscretization of the displacement fields in the transverse direction and strain energy projection. The well known Reissner-Mindlin model is contained in the hierarchy as a special case. A decomposition of the boundary layers of any model in the hierarchy into a bending and a torsion layer, both of which are model dependent, is given. It is shown further that the bending and torsion layers arise as Galerkin approximations of certain (nonlinear) eigenvalue problems in the plate cross section with the subspaces used to derive the hierarchical model. It is shown that the bending layers converge, as the order of the plate model tends to infinity, to the so-called Papkovich functions on an elastic strip. The regularity of the solution on polygonal plates is investigated for the whole hierarchy of plate models and shown to equal the regularity of the plane elasticity problem.
A Note on Height Pairings, Tamagawa Numbers, and the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture.

Let G be an algebraic group defined over a number field k. By choosing a lifting of G to a group scheme over 6' s c k, the ring of S-integers for some finite set of places S of k, we may define G(C,~), where (5~, c k~ is the ring of integers in the vadic completion of k for all non-archimedean places vr In this way, we can define the adelic points G(Ak). Since different choices of lifting will change G(C,,) for only a finite number of v, G(Ak) is intrinsically defined independent of the choice of Cs-scheme structure. It may happen that G(k)cG(Ak) is discrete. This will be the case, for example, if G is affine. If so, we may try to compute the volume of G(Ak)/G(k ). Writing I F = residue field at v, q,,= ~IF,,, N,,= ,t~ GOF,,), the natural volume form gives Vol(G(C~))=N~q~_ ~ for all v6S. It can happen that [IN,,q~71 does not
Regeneration of radiation-damaged digestive tissues in juvenile Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas)☆

Abstract Juvenile Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas , were irradiated with 16 and 40 krad and their tissues examined histologically. Degenerative syndromes and tissue regeneration processes were determined for the stomach, gut, collecting ducts, and digestive tubules. Following degeneration, tissue regeneration was observed in the digestive tissues of most oysters exposed to 16 krad and in a limited number exposed to 40 krad. Regeneration was first observed in the digestive tubules and subsequently in the stomach, gut, and collecting ducts. Cellular repopulation of the digestive tubules involved epithelialization with large, undifferentiated crypt cells which then differentiated into functional secretory and absorptive cells. Regeneration in the stomach, gut, and collecting ducts was initiated by proliferative islands of small basophilic cells. Mitotic division of those cells and their subsequent differentiation into functional epithelial cells resulted in the rapid restoration and apparent recovery of the affected tissues. The results of these studies indicate that radioresistance of juvenile C. gigas may in part be due to the remarkably efficient regenerative mechanisms involved in replacing injured or lost digestive tissues.
Sexual dimorphism and temporomandibular disorders (TMD)

Numerous studies suggest a sexual predilection for temporomandibular disorders. The purpose of this article is to review and summarize patient-oriented and basic science studies that address the topic of a female predilection for temporomandibular disorders. The information presented provides oral and maxillofacial surgery practitioners with evidence-based data to suggest a female predilection for temporomandibular disorders based on biologic, genetic, and behavioral/psychosocial factors.