cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Population Dynamics of Websites: [Extended Abstract]

Websites derive revenue by advertising or charging fees for services and so their profit depends on their user base -- the number of users visiting the website. But how should websites control their user base? This paper is the first to address and answer this question. It builds a model in which, starting from an initial user base, the website controls the growth of the population by choosing the intensity of referrals and targeted ads to potential users. A larger population provides more profit to the website, but building a larger population through referrals and targeted ads is costly; the optimal policy must therefore balance the marginal benefit of adding users against the marginal cost of referrals and targeted ads. The nature of the optimal policy depends on a number of factors. Most obvious is the initial user base; websites starting with a small initial population should offer many referrals and targeted ads at the beginning, but then decrease referrals and targeted ads over time. Less obvious factors are the type of website and the typical length of time users remain on the site: the optimal policy for a website that generates most of its revenue from a core group of users who remain on the site for a long time -- e.g., mobile and online gaming sites -- should be more aggressive and protective of its user base than that of a website whose revenue is more uniformly distributed across users who remain on the site only briefly. When arrivals and exits are stochastic, the optimal policy is more aggressive -- offering more referrals and targeted ads.
Thresholds of schizophrenics to sinusoidal electrical vestibular stimulation

The mean electrical vestibular threshold of schizophrenics was significantly higher at 0.50 cps than that of normals. Individual electrical vestibulograms could be divided into three groups, those with peaks at 0.50, at 0.20, and at 0.50 and 2.0 cps, including 12, 4, and 2 patients, respectively. The first two patterns appear specifically schizophrenic.
Paroxysmal Tonic Upgaze: Age of Onset and Prognosis

Six children who developed paroxysmal tonic upgaze (PTU) at 2.6 to 7.4 years of age were examined at least once per year for a 10 year period of follow-up at the Departments of Paediatrics and Ophthalmology, University of Chieti, Italy.
Local Media Analysis through Marketing Considerations

Advertisers are constantly confronted with the problem of budget distribution. Although much progress has been made in the measurement of both marketing data and advertising weight, little has been...
The Role of Parents

Having a child with a chronic illness places a substantial burden on parents. In early and middle childhood, the parent must shoulder complete responsibility for illness management; as the child enters adolescence, responsibility begins to be shared, and parenting gradually shifts from efforts to gain child compliance to efforts to support the youth’s increasing autonomy. This is a delicate dance, often fraught with the danger of descending into a cycle of parent-child conflict. Yet the research literature is very clear—maintaining positive parent involvement from childhood through even late adolescence is strongly associated with better adherence, better illness control, and better child quality of life. how to maintain involvement in a positive way without devolving into conflict is the focus of this chapter. We discuss important aspects of effective, positive parenting, and the ways parenting can go wrong despite only intending to do well.
Application and Prospect of the Programmed Operation of 12 kV Central Withdrawable Metal-enclosed Switchgear in Guangdong Power Grid

Programmed operation is a new kind of switching operation mode in substation,which can greatly improve the efficiency of switching operation and reduce fast restoration time.This paper focuses on the programmed operation of 12 kV central withdrawlable metal-enclosed switchgear to analyze the principles and characteristics of the operation.In view of practical application to Guangdong Power Grid,this paper also analyzes the applications of the programmed operation in modern intelligent substations by considering the programmed operation's procedure,realization principle and characteristics,and the current application status in Guangdong Power Grid.Some solutions to the problems existing in the programmed operation procedure are offered according to the practical situation,such as increasing motor and changing underpan,to promote the programmed operation procedure for modern intelligent substation.
Does Land Degradation Increase Poverty in Developing Countries

Land degradation is a global problem that particularly impacts the poor rural inhabitants of low and middle-income countries. We improve upon existing literature by estimating the extent of rural populations in 2000 and 2010 globally on degrading and improving agricultural land, taking into account the role of market access, and analyzing the resulting impacts on poverty. Using a variety of spatially referenced datasets, we estimate that 1.33 billion people worldwide in 2000 were located on degrading agricultural land (DAL), of which 1.26 billion were in developing countries. Almost all the world’s 200 million people on remote DAL were in developing countries, which is about 6% of their rural population. There were also 1.54 billion rural people on improving agricultural land (IAL), with 1.34 billion in developing countries. We find that a lower share of people in 2000 on DAL, or a higher share on IAL, lowers significantly how much overall economic growth reduces poverty from 2000 to 2012 across 83 developing countries. As the population on DAL and IAL in developing countries grew by 13% and 15% respectively from 2000 to 2010, these changing spatial distributions of rural populations could impact significantly future poverty in developing countries.
Observations of Sub-Poisson and Poisson Photon Statistics from the Fluorescence of Individual Barium Atoms

The observation of time correlations in light emitted by a laser driven two-level atom can provide a direct look at the quantum mechanical nature of the interaction between light and matter. In 1982 Short and Mandel[l] observed sub-Poisson statistics in the resonantly scattered light from single atoms. In the experiments described here the time intervals between successive spontaneously emitted photons from individual two-level atoms were recorded and the statistics evaluated. Both the frequency and the intensity of the incident radiation were varied, and the results are compared with theory.
Leisure activities are linked to mental health benefits by providing time structure: comparing employed, unemployed and homemakers

Background Unemployment has consistently been linked to negative mental health outcomes, emphasising the need to characterise the underlying mechanisms. The current study aimed at testing whether compared with other employment groups, fewer leisure activities observed in unemployment may contribute to elevated risk for negative mental health via loss of time structure. Methods Depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression), leisure activities (exercise, self-focused, social), and time structure (Time Structure Questionnaire (TSQ)) were assessed cross-sectionally in 406 participants (unemployed=155, employed=140, homemakers=111) recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results Controlling for gender and age, structural equation modelling revealed time structure partially (employed, homemakers) and fully (unemployed) mediated the relationship between leisure activities and depressive symptoms. With the exception of differential effects for structured routines, all other TSQ factors (sense of purpose, present orientation, effective organisation and persistence) contributed significantly to all models. Conclusions These findings support the idea that especially for the unemployed, leisure activities impose their mental health benefits through increasing individuals9 perception of spending their time effectively. Social leisure activities that provide a sense of daily structure may thereby be a particularly promising low-cost intervention to improve mental health in this population.
Spectral analysis of low rate of denial of service attacks detection based on fisher and Siegel tests

We focus on the detection of Low Rate Denial of Service Attacks (LR DoS) based on their spectral properties. We revised the Fisher g-statistic test and Siegel test for detection of LR DoS attacks such as Shrew and New Shrew attacks. Our results reveal that these attacks can be effectively identified by using Fisher g-statistic test for one dominant periodicity as in the case of Shrew attacks. When multiple (compound) dominant periodicities exist in the case of New Shrew attacks, Siegel test can identify the attack better than Fisher g-statistic test. Our contribution consists in developing a new methodology for rejecting the null hypothesis or identifying LR DoS attacks. Numerical examples for a confidence interval at significance level of α = 0.01 and α = 0.05 are given for Shrew and New Shrew attacks.
Opposing FlnA and FlnB interactions regulate RhoA activation in guiding dynamic actin stress fiber formation and cell spreading

Filamins are a family of actin-binding proteins responsible for diverse biological functions in the context of regulating actin dynamics and vesicle trafficking. Disruption of these proteins has been implicated in multiple human developmental disorders. To investigate the roles of different filamin isoforms, we focused on FlnA and FlnB interactions in the cartilage growth plate, since mutations in both molecules cause chondrodysplasias. Current studies show that FlnA and FlnB share a common function in stabilizing the actin cytoskeleton, they physically interact in the cytoplasm of chondrocytes, and loss of FlnA enhances FlnB expression of chondrocytes in the growth plate (and vice versa), suggesting compensation. Prolonged FlnB loss, however, promotes actin-stress fiber formation following plating onto an integrin activating substrate whereas FlnA inhibition leads to decreased actin formation. FlnA more strongly binds RhoA, although both filamins overlap with RhoA expression in the cell cytoplasm. FlnA promotes RhoA activation whereas FlnB indirectly inhibits this pathway. Moreover, FlnA loss leads to diminished expression of β1-integrin, whereas FlnB loss promotes integrin expression. Finally, fibronectin mediated integrin activation has been shown to activate RhoA and activated RhoA leads to stress fiber formation and cell spreading. Fibronectin stimulation in null FlnA cells impairs enhanced spreading whereas FlnB inhibited cells show enhanced spreading. While filamins serve a primary static function in stabilization of the actin cytoskeleton, these studies are the first to demonstrate a dynamic and antagonistic relationship between different filamin isoforms in the dynamic regulation of integrin expression, RhoGTPase activity and actin stress fiber remodeling.
Online Charging and Routing of Electric Vehicles in Stochastic Time-Varying Networks:

This paper formulates the problem of online charging and routing of a single electric vehicle in a network with stochastic and time-varying travel times. Public charging stations, with nonidentical electricity prices and charging rates, exist through the network. Upon arrival at each node, the traveler learns the travel time on all downstream arcs and the waiting time at the charging station, if one is available. The traveler aims to minimize the expected generalized cost—formulated as a weighted sum of travel time and charging cost—by considering the current state of the vehicle and availability of information in the future. The paper also discusses an offline algorithm by which all routing and charging decisions are made a priori. The numerical results demonstrate that cost savings of the online policy, compared with that for the offline algorithm, is more significant in larger networks and that the number of charging stations and vehicle efficiency rate have a significant impact on those savings.
Workplace Experiences and Turnover Intention Among Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer

The purpose of this study was to investigate workplace experiences and turnover intention (consideration of leaving or changing a job) and to examine factors associated with turnover intention among survivors. Adult survivors of childhood cancer with a history of employment (n = 289) completed measures of workplace experiences (n = 50, 18–29 years; n = 183, 30–44 years; n = 56; > 45 years of age at follow-up). Turnover intention was assessed using three items from the Job Satisfaction Scale. Responses were dichotomized as reflecting high vs. low turnover intention. Path analysis was used to estimate the influence of demographic characteristics, treatment exposures (cranial radiation therapy [CRT]), and workplace experiences on turnover intention. Thirty percent of survivors reported high turnover intention (95% CL, 25 to 36%). Exposure to CRT (P = 0.003), older attained age (P < 0.001), experiencing formal workplace discrimination (P = 0.008), and having lower continuance (P < 0.001) or affective commitment (P < 0.001) were associated with high turnover intention among survivors. Informal discrimination, mediated through job satisfaction, also influenced survivors’ reported intent to leave their jobs. One third of adult survivors of childhood cancer report turnover intention, which is related to their cancer treatment, but more temporally proximal, workplace discrimination. Additional research is needed to understand the consequences of turnover intention among survivors. Survivors and their health care providers should be aware of legislative policies related to workplace discrimination (e.g., American with Disabilities Act) and related implications for job turnover.
Meaning Relations, Possible Objects, and Possible Worlds

Our aims are threefold. First we shall present our philosophical approach to meaning and modality, and outline the formal semantics which it provides for modal logics (Sections I and II). Secondly, we shall show that for certain philosophical reasoning concerning truths ex vi terminorum, the logic of possible objects provides an explication where the logic of modal operators does not (Section III). Finally, we shall explore the extension of our theory to names and definite descriptions (Section IV).
Development of Instinctive Behavior

In 1966, the comparative psychologist T. C. Schneirla wrote that “behavioral ontogenesis is the backbone of comparative psychology” (p. 284). An accurate comprehension of other aspects of behavior (e.g., behavioral evolution, behavioral genetics, and social psychology) depends on understanding how behavior develops within the individual organism. According to Schneirla, shortcomings in the study of behavioral development will inevitably handicap other lines of investigation. Thus, if Schneirla was correct (and I shall adopt the position that he was), we must appreciate how behavior develops and must also be able to assess the soundness of the developmental data base, both conceptually and methodologically.
THE ROLE OF THE I-REGION IN THE CONTROL OF MACROPHAGE-T CELL AND T CELL-B CELL INTERACTIONS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of the I-region in the control of macrophage-T cell and T cell-B cell interactions. The role of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been studied in the interaction of antigen-pulsed macrophages and the primed T cell that proliferates on exposure to antigen in vitro and in the interaction of the primed T helper cell and B cell in the generation of an antibody response. It is accepted that the helper T cell is activated by the nominal antigen in association with I-region associated (Ia) antigens on macrophages and that the helper T cell then activates B cells that bear the same Ia antigens and the nominal antigen bound to immunoglobulin receptors on their surface. The chapter explores the helper cell activity of primed guinea pig T cells that were selected by culture with antigen-pulsed macrophages for 7 days. T cells selected by culture with syngeneic, but not allogenic macrophages, are highly efficient T helper cells that will only collaborate with syngeneic, but not allogenic, hapten-primed B cells.
ITV-Based Robust Optimization for VMAT Planning of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy of Lung Cancer.

Abstract Purpose Using planning target volume (PTV) to account for setup uncertainties in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung cancer has been questioned because a significant portion of the PTV contains low-density lung tissue. The purpose of this study is to (1) investigate the feasibility of using robust optimization to account for setup uncertainties in volumetric modulated arc therapy plan for lung SBRT and (2) evaluate the potential normal tissue–sparing benefit of a robust optimized plan compared with a conventional PTV-based optimized plan. Methods and materials The study was conducted with both phantom and patient cases. For each patient or phantom, 2 SBRT lung volumetric modulated arc therapy plans were generated, including an optimized plan based on the PTV (PTV-based plan) with a 5-mm internal target volume (ITV)-to-PTV margin and a second plan based on robust optimization of ITV (ITV-based plan) with ±5-mm setup uncertainties. The target coverage was evaluated on ITV D99 in 15 scenarios that simulated a 5-mm setup error. Dose-volume information on normal lung tissue, intermediate-to-high dose spillage, and integral dose was evaluated. Results Compared with PTV-based plans, ITV-based robust optimized plans resulted in lower normal lung tissue dose, lower intermediate-to-high dose spillage to the body, and lower integral dose, while preserving the dose coverage under setup error scenarios for both phantom and patient cases. Conclusions Using ITV-based robust optimization, we have shown that accounting for setup uncertainty in SBRT planning is feasible. Further clinical studies are warranted to confirm the clinical effectiveness of this novel approach.
Principal component analysis and brain-based predictors of emotion regulation in anxiety and depression.

BackgroundReappraisal, an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, is associated with frontal engagement. In internalizing psychopathologies (IPs) such as anxiety and depression frontal activity is atypically reduced suggesting impaired regulation capacity. Yet, successful reappraisal is often demonstrated at the behavioral level. A data-driven approach was used to clarify brain and behavioral relationships in IPs.MethodsDuring functional magnetic resonance imaging, anxious [general anxiety disorder (n = 43), social anxiety disorder (n = 72)] and depressed (n = 47) patients reappraised negative images to reduce negative affect (‘ReappNeg’) and viewed negative images (‘LookNeg’). After each trial, the affective state was reported. A cut-point (i.e. values <0 based on ΔReappNeg-LookNeg) demarcated successful reappraisers. Neural activity for ReappNeg-LookNeg, derived from 37 regions of interest, was submitted to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify unique components of reappraisal-related brain response. PCA factors, symptom severity, and self-reported habitual reappraisal were submitted to discriminant function analysis and linear regression to examine whether these data predicted successful reappraisal (yes/no) and variance in reappraisal ability.ResultsMost patients (63%) were successful reappraisers according to the behavioral criterion (values<0; ΔReappNeg-LookNeg). Discriminant function analysis was not significant for PCA factors, symptoms, or habitual reappraisal. For regression, more activation in a factor with high loadings for frontal regions predicted better reappraisal facility. Results were not significant for other variables.ConclusionsAt the individual level, more activation in a ‘frontal’ factor corresponded with better reappraisal facility. However, neither brain nor behavioral variables classified successful reappraisal (yes/no). Findings suggest individual differences in regions strongly implicated in reappraisal play a role in on-line reappraisal capability.
Creating Digital Fashion Brands: The Effect of Emerging Entrepreneurial Practice

New disruptive Internet technologies create a profound change in the cultural practice of branding. To incumbent brands in some creative industries where the physical component plays significant ro...
Changing the Guard Without Guardrails: The Law and Ethics of Presidential Transitions

Presidents-elect and presidential transition teams wield enormous power. During the two-and-a-half months between Election Day and inauguration, the incoming President nominates cabinet secretaries and interacts with foreign leaders, while the presidential transition team prepares executive orders and drafts the budget the next President will send to Congress. The decisions they make, and the ideas and culture they build during the transition period, follow them into the White House after inauguration. Presidential transitions lay the foundation for four (or eight) years of executive-branch governance. Despite their importance, presidential transitions have received almost no attention in the legal literature. This Note seeks to remedy that neglect by explicating the law of presidential transitions. And that law is sparse. Despite their similarities to the White House, presidential transitions are essentially ungoverned; the rules are largely left to the discretion of those bound by them. The asymmetry between thick presidential law and thin transition law creates significant governance and ethics risks, from conflicts of interest and foreign influence that infect policy-making to practices that strain the Constitution’s allocation of executive power. These risks are not just hypothetical: many of them were realized during the 2016 transition, and their effects continue to be felt years after the fact. After cataloging these problems, this Note concludes by suggesting several potential solutions to reform presidential transitions and create a body of law up to the task of governing this critical component of American government.
The space between us: considering online media for interreligious dialogue

The internet has been conceptualized as a public sphere in which constructive dialogues – such as inter-religious dialogues – can occur. Public spheres, however, require reason, reflectivity and si...
18F-FDG PET/MRI Primary Staging of Cervical Cancer: A Pilot Study with PET/CT Comparison.

We report our PET/MRI experience from a pilot study that compared the diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/MRI versus PET/CT in staging of cervical cancer. Methods: Six adults with newly diagnosed cervical cancer underwent a single 18F-FDG injection with a dual-imaging protocol: standard-of-care PET/CT followed by research PET/MRI. The diagnostic interpretation and SUVmax for the 2 modalities were compared. Results: Both modalities detected all primary tumors (median size, 3.9 cm) and all 4 metastases present in 2 of the 6 patients (median size, 0.9 cm). PET/MRI provided greater diagnostic confidence than PET/CT and upstaged the disease in 4 patients. On the basis of the imaging findings alone, the additional information from PET/MRI would have led to a change in clinical management in 3 of 6 patients. The primary lesion showed a median SUV of 12.8 on PET/CT and 18.2 on PET/MRI (P = 0.03). SUVs, however, correlated strongly between the 2 modalities (ρ = 0.96, P
Pupil diameter as a biomarker of effort in goal-directed gait.

Subjects’ eye movement behavior related to cognitive effort during gait was measured as subjects walked to perform low and high cognitive load tasks. We found that all pupil diameter measures, fixation durations, and the proportion of blink duration changed significantly during gait as a function of task load. In contrast, the number of fixations, saccade durations and travel time did not change significantly as a function of task load. Findings showed that pupil diameter was the best predictor of task load during one’s gait preceding the performance of the task. While other studies have demonstrated the importance of eye fixation characteristics during gait, our findings showed that eye measures related to pupil diameter were better at detecting cognitive load while walking to perform a task compared to eye fixation data. We also found that cognitive effort was not limited to just the performance of the task, but that it was also exerted during one’s gait preceding the performance of the task. Therefore, the additional attention demand caused by an increase in task complexity may result in less attentional resources being available to adequately handle distractions (such as obstacle avoidance) while walking to perform the task. Consequently, this may increase the likelihood of falls in those individuals with lower attentional capacity.
COVID-19 disrupts battery materials and manufacture supply chains, but outlook remains strong

The effects of the coronavirus global pandemic have rippled through many lives and have upended aspects of health care, transportation, and the economy in virtually every country. The energy materials and renewable generation and conversion market, which includes battery-powered electric vehicles, grid storage, and personal electronic devices, is no exception.
Prevalence and Subgroup Comparisons of Obesity and Severe Obesity Among Mississippi Public School Students

Abstract This study examined the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity among Mississippi K-12 public school students and the obesity rate differences within subgroups categorized by sex, race, and grade level. Anthropometric data from a weighted, representative sample of Mississippi public school students were collected through the biennial Child and Youth Prevalence of Obesity Survey (CAYPOS). Overall prevalence rates and those of the subgroups were calculated and compared. The 2017 data indicated that overall 23.7% of Mississippi public schools students met the criterion of class I obesity, 9.1% met the criterion of class II obesity, and 3.2% met the criterion of class III obesity. Among those with severe obesity, the prevalence was significantly higher among black students (10.9%) when compared to their white counterparts (7.3%) (p
PriGen: Towards Automated Translation of Android Applications’ Code to Privacy Captions

Mobile applications are required to give privacy notices to the users when they collect or share personal information. Creating consistent and concise privacy notices can be a challenging task for developers. Previous work has attempted to help developers create privacy notices through a questionnaire or predefined templates. In this paper, we propose a novel approach and a framework, called PriGen, that extends these prior work. PriGen uses static analysis to identify Android applications’ code segments which process personal information (i.e. permission-requiring code segments) and then leverages a Neural Machine Translation model to translate them into privacy captions. We present the initial analysis of our translation task for \(\sim \)300,000 code segments.
Finite element simulation of quasi-static tensile fracture in nonlinear strain-limiting solids with the phase-field approach

Abstract We investigate a quasi-static tensile fracture in nonlinear strain-limiting solids by coupling with the phase-field approach. A classical model for the growth of fractures in an elastic material is formulated in the framework of linear elasticity for deformation systems. This linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) model is derived based on the assumption of small strain. However, the boundary value problem formulated within the LEFM and under traction-free boundary conditions predicts large singular crack-tip strains. Fundamentally, this result is directly in contradiction with the underlying assumption of small strain. In this work, we study a theoretical framework of nonlinear strain-limiting models, which are algebraic nonlinear relations between stress and strain. These models are consistent with the basic assumption of small strain. The advantage of such framework over the LEFM is that the strain remains bounded even if the crack-tip stress tends to the infinity. Then, employing the phase-field approach, the distinct predictions for tensile crack growth can be governed by the model. Several numerical examples to evaluate the efficacy and the performance of the model and numerical algorithms structured on finite element method are presented. Detailed comparisons of the strain, fracture energy with corresponding discrete propagation speed between the nonlinear strain-limiting model and the LEFM for the quasi-static tensile fracture are discussed.
LED alternating between blue and red-orange light improved the biomass and lipid productivity of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Abstract Light management is important for improving algae cultivation, specifically by enhancing the productivity of biomass and valued bioproducts. In this study, we present evidence that alternating blue and red-orange light can improve the algal growth kinetics and lipid production in a photobioreactor. Blue (430–445, 460–470 nm) and red-orange light (580–660 nm) from a LED were set at the light saturation point (B: 65 μmol/m2s; RO: 155 μmol/m2s) and alternated for the cultivation of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Growth kinetics, lipid, carbohydrate, and protein content were measured as a function of alternating illumination time. Results reveal that the first illumination light and illumination time had a significant impact on the growth kinetics and nutrient composition. When the red-orange light illumination was used at the beginning of cultivation (RO/B alternation), the biomass concentration and productivity increased 8% and 18% on average, respectively; lipid mass fraction and concentration increased 21–27% and 24–26% when 0.25–0.50 h per day of blue light illumination was used; no significant change of carbohydrate and protein content were observed. Relative to blue light alone, the improvement of growth kinetics, lipid mass fraction and concentration, and the carbohydrate concentration was significant. Under B/RO alternation (when the blue light was used first), on average, the protein content was significantly higher than RO/B alternation.
A First Amendment Right to Burning Bush: Empowering the Free Exercise Clause to Protect Religious use of Psychedelic Drugs

If the right to freely exercise one’s religion only exists within the confines of all other enacted law, then it is hardly a right at all. This article argues that strict scrutiny should be the test for adjudicating free exercise claims, which would then allow for the religious use of psychedelic drugs. First, this article explores developments in Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence during the twentieth century by analyzing how the Supreme Court gradually weakened the free exercise right, particularly in cases relating to Native American religions, and culminating in Employment Division v. Smith. This article lays out reasons for overturning Smith and returning to the pre-Smith strict scrutiny test for free exercise claims. Finally, this article contends that, under strict scrutiny, no court could reasonably find a compelling government interest to justify a prohibition of religious psychedelic drug use. This argument is substantiated with support from modern RFRA cases, as well as prevailing research regarding the positive impact psychedelics have on mental health, which would undermine a state’s purported compelling interest in forbidding its use.
Correlates of Insulin Selection as a First-Line Pharmacological Treatment for Gestational Diabetes.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate prenatal factors associated with insulin prescription as a first-line pharmacotherapy for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM; compared with oral antidiabetic medication) after failed medical nutrition therapy. METHODS This is a retrospective cohort study of 437 women with a singleton pregnancy and diagnosis of A2GDM (GDM requiring pharmacotherapy), delivering in a university hospital between 2015 and 2019. Maternal sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, as well as GDM-related factors, including provider type that manages GDM, were compared between women who received insulin versus oral antidiabetic medication (metformin or glyburide) as the first-line pharmacotherapy using univariable and multivariable analyses. RESULTS In univariable analysis, maternal age, race and ethnicity, insurance, chronic hypertension, gestational age at GDM diagnosis, glucose level after 50-g glucose loading test, and provider type were associated with insulin prescription. In multivariable analysis, after adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical maternal factors, GDM characteristics and provider type, Hispanic ethnicity (0.26, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.09-0.73), and lack of insurance (0.34, 95% CI: 0.13-0.89) remained associated with lower odds of insulin prescription, whereas endocrinology management of GDM (compared with obstetrics and gynecology [OBGYN]) (8.07, 95% CI: 3.27-19.90) remained associated with higher odds of insulin prescription. CONCLUSION Women of Hispanic ethnicity and women with no insurance were less likely to receive insulin and more likely to receive oral antidiabetic medication for GDM pharmacotherapy, while management by endocrinology was associated with higher odds of insulin prescription.This finding deserves more investigation to understand if differences are due to patient choice or a health disparity in the choice of pharmacologic agent for A2GDM. KEY POINTS · Insulin is recommended as a first-line pharmacotherapy for gestational diabetes.. · Women of Hispanic ethnicity were less likely to receive insulin as first line.. · Lack of insurance was also associated with lower odds of insulin prescription..
Macromodeling an analog frequency-to-voltage converter

A macromodel for an analog frequency-to-voltage converter is described. The output voltage is linearly dependent on its input frequency. The maximum delay of the output voltage is one period of the input frequency. The input signal can have any amplitude or wave shape (square, sinusoidal or triangular), but the duty cycle must be 50% and its DC level must be 50%. This macromodel must be used with circuit simulation software which has models for switches. The operation of the macromodel is described, and the results of several examples are presented. >
Applying Agroecology to Enhance the Productivity of Peasant Farming Systems in Latin America

The great majority of farmers in Latin America are peasants who still farm small plots of land, usually in marginal environments utilizing traditional and subsistence methods. The contribution of the 16 million peasant units to regional food security is, however, substantial. Research has shown that peasant systems, which mostly rely on local resources and complex cropping patterns, are reasonably productive despite their land endowments and low use of external inputs. Moreover analysis of NGO-led agroecological initiatives show that traditional crop and animal systems can be adapted to increase productivity by biologically re-structuring peasant farms which in turn leads to optimization of key agroecosystem processes (nutrient cycling, organic matter accumulation, biological pest regulation, etc.) and efficient use of labor and local resources. Examples of such grassroots projects are herein described to show that agroecological approaches can offer opportunities to substantially increase food production while preserving the natural resource base and empowering rural communities.
Small Gain, Circle, Positivity, and Popov Analysis of a Maximaum Entropy Controller for a Benchmark Problem

This paper analyses the stability robustness of a Maximum Entropy controller designed for a benchmark problem. Four robustness tests are used: small gain analysis, circle analysis, positive real analysis, and Popov analysis, each of which is guaranteed to give a less conservative result than the previous test. The analysis here is performed graphically although recent research has developed equivalent tests based on Lyapunov theory. The Popov test is seen for this example to yield extremely nonconservative robust stability bounds. The results here illuminate the conservatism of analysis based on traditional small-gain type tests and reveal the importance of analysis tests based on Popov analysis and related parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions.
The Eighteenth‐Century Print: Tracing the Contours of a Field

This essay examines new developments and trends in the study of eighteenth-century prints, with a particular focus on reproductive engraving, book illustration, fine art etching, and caricature. Recent studies demonstrate an increasingly theoretical engagement with the production and reception of prints and assert the centrality of prints and printmaking to the field of art history. Digital scanning and database technology have dramatically expanded scholarly access to the printed page, posing both opportunities and challenges to the conceptualization of the Enlightenment print.
Myosin Light Chain Phosphatase (Myosin Phosphatase)

This article has no abstract. Keywords: myosin light chain phosphatase (myosin phosphatase)
POST-MOULT CALCIFICATION IN THE BLUE CRAB, CALLINECTES SAPIDUS: TIMING AND MECHANISM

A series of experiments was conducted to elucidate the events immediately preceding and following moulting (ecdysis) in the blue crab, Callinectes sapldus Rathbun. The crabs gain weight (mostly water) to a level more than twice the premoult value excluding the shed carapace. The gain begins about 4 h before ecdysis, accelerates rapidly to a maximum rate at about the time of ecdysis, and is essentially complete by 2h after ecdysis. Both calcification and net H + excretion remain at control (intermoult) levels until 1–2 h post-moult, whereupon a very rapid increase in both begins, with the same time course for both processes. The ratio of internal to external calcium concentration drops from 1.4:1 during intermoult to 0.85:1 by 2 days after the moult, reversing the electrochemical gradient during the post-moult period. Calcification is strongly inhibited by the protein synthesis inhibitors actinomycin D and cycloheximide. Isolated whole gills and gill slices do not show significant changes in rates of calcium uptake related to moult stage, indicating that the uptake of calcium across the gills may be largely passive. A low-affinity Ca 2+ -activated ATPase is present in both gills and epithelium, but only the epithelial activity shows a substantial (fivefold) increase in the hours after ecdysis. The control mechanisms for stimulation of the transport processes remain elusive. Eyestalkless crabs progress normally through moult and post-moult calcification. Peptide profiles from blood and from suspected neurohormone- producing tissues differ markedly with moult stage, but several different approaches to developing a bioassay using peptides from crab tissues and vertebrate sources have been unsuccessful. The physiological events in the hours surrounding ecdysis suggest a complex and precisely timed series of control signals.
Optimal determination of simulated annealing parameters using TOPSIS

Efficiency of a Meta heuristic approach depends effectively on the right and suitable choice of its parameters. Meta heuristics are used to develop qualified feasible solutions. They are used while common commercial soft wares can't find exact solutions in a logical computational time. They are random approaches as different target values might be gained during consecutive repetitions of the algorithm. An appropriate set of parameters avoids the problem to produce sporadic target values and controls the time to get coherent solutions. TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal) is one of Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) approaches used in defining the best alternative in a complicated decision making problem which is used here to set the parameters of a simulated annealing algorithm in their suitable levels. This helps the algorithm to find good solutions besides controlling the time spent to get these values.
Animal models for the study of the effects of spaceflight on the immune system.

Animal models have been used to determine the effects of spaceflight on the immune system. Rats and rhesus monkeys have been the primary animals used for actual space flight studies, but mice have also been utilized for studies in ground-based models. The primary ground based model used has been hindlimb unloading of rodents, which is similar to the chronic bed-rest model for humans. A variety of immune responses have been shown to be modified when animals are hindlimb unloaded. These results parallel those observed when animals are flown in space. In general, immune responses are depressed in animals maintained in the hindlimb unloading model or flown in space. These results raise the possibility that spaceflight could result in decreased resistance to infection in animals.
Young Children's Negative Stereotyping of Peers from Divorced Families

Abstract Five to 7-year-olds assigned the negative item, on 6 of 7 bipolar pairs of items representing divorce stereotypes in simplified form, more frequently to a child stimulus presented as from a divorced family than to a child described as from an intact family. Negative stereotyping of young children from divorced families was evidenced most clearly by female participants. Gender effects were indicated for participants, child stimulus pairs, and for treatment conditions where participants responded to children from single-mother or single-father versus intact families.
Effects of Transmitter Tuning on Attitude Change Persistence: An Examination of Alternative Explanations

Lassiter, Pezzo, and Apple (this issue) replicated the effect of transmitter tuning on attitude change persistence (Boninger, Brock, Cook, Gruder, & Romer, 1990) and included an additional condition as the basis for an alternative explanation. Although their independent replication is an important contribution that provides significant empirical corroboration, a superficial rendering of the interrupted-task literature (Zeigarnik, 192711938) and ambiguity in the operationalization of the additional condition appear to weaken their proposed interruption-perseveration explanation. We also summarize ancillary data from our earlier work (Boninger et at., 1990) that shed further doubt on this alternative explanation.
Dynamic measurement of the viscoelastic properties of skin.

Abstract A wave propagation technique was used to measure the dynamic viscoelastic properties of excised skin when subjected to a low incremental strain. The propagation velocity, attenuation, and storage and loss moduli were determined from measured characteristics of a pulse propagating along a strip of skin. Experiments were conducted with the skin subjected to static stresses of 1500 Pa and 20,000 Pa. At low static stresses the skin response was viscoelastic with a loss tangent of approximately 0.6. In the frequency range of 0–1000 Hz, the wave velocity was relatively constant while the attenuation increased roughly linearly with frequency. However, results depended on the static stress. At the higher stress level the velocity was greater and the attenuation less than at the lower stress. At low stresses both the storage and loss moduli were relatively constant over the frequency range tested. The strong viscoelastic behavior of the tissue at higher frequencies is not predicted from models of the tissue determined from quasi-static test methods. In selecting a model to describe the behavior of skin, the test methods used for establishing the model must be consistent with its intended application.
High-Resolution Real Time Laser Absorption Spectroscopy CIO A2Π-X2Π

Abstract Chlorine monoxide has been produced by photolysis of ozone in the presence of chlorine at a total pressure of 3.5 Torr. The absorption spectrum has been determined with a spectral resolution of 0.002 nm for all 35ClO (A2Π3/2v′-X2Π3/2v″ = 0) subbands from v′ = 7 up to the convergence limit (293-262 nm). The experimental absorption spectra for each subband have been reproduced closely by spectral simulation employing approximate treatments of the spin-orbit and isotopic dependencies of the spectroscopic constants. Lorentzian linewidths reported for 35ClO (A2Π3/2-X23/2) subbands clarify several discrepancies in previous reports. The region of spectral convergence is presented and values of D0 for the A and X states of ClO are reported as 6335 ± 7 and 22,049 ± 7 cm−1 respectively, in good agreement with previous reports (J. A. Coxon and D. A. Ramsay, Can. I. Phys.54, 1034-1042, 1976).
Looking Backward at Feasible Socialism: Using Bellamy to Teach Schumpeter

This article demonstrates the parallels between Bellamy's fictional society in Looking Backward and Schumpeter's socialist blueprint Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. The socialist system Joseph Schumpeter describes is nearly identical to that in Edward Bellamy's utopia. Because Bellamy's society is a concrete one set within the readable confines of a novel, it provides a useful benchmark for students analyzing Schumpeter.
Mobile and wireless networks and applications [Education & Training]

The author describes an introductory graduate course on mobile and wireless networks and applications at Stanford University. This course has achieved notable success in combining research and education. The course focuses on how the mobility of users and devices affects networks, systems, and applications. The course considers mobility's influence on multiple layers of the protocol stack, from medium access control to applications. The course also considers systems issues such as security and privacy, file systems, resource discovery, resource management including energy, and personal online identities.
Decision-making from a risk assessment perspective for Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions

Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions (M $$ { \& }$$ As) are notoriously complex, and risk management is one of the essential aspects of the analysis process for decision-making on M $$ { \& }$$ A deals. Empirically, we see that some M $$ { \& }$$ A transactions are not successful in part because of the increased exposure to correlated sectors, suggesting that the merged entity possesses increased risk in the market. This motivates our research on risk evaluation processes for corporate M $$ { \& }$$ A deals. In this paper, a decision making scheme using a reasonable risk measure is introduced and surveyed. Numerical examples are presented.
A note on free subgroups in linear groups

Free subgroups in linear groups have been studied by Tits in [7]. In this note, we make two remarks which extend slightly some of the results in [7]. Recall the beautiful theorem of Jordan on finite linear groups. There is an integer function A.(n) defined on the set of positive integers such that every finite subgroup G of GL(n, C) contains a normal abelian subgroup A with index [G: A] < A(n). The following theorem asserts that [7, Theorem 11 can be put in an analogous form to Jordan’s theorem.
Probabilistic diagnosis in linkage analysis of bipolar disorder: putting weights on the fringe.

We explored the utility of probabilistic weighting of fringe phenotypes in linkage analysis of bipolar disorder for the GAW10 chromosome 18 data. Four liability classes were assigned probabilistic weights based on the estimated probability that the case was a true bipolar. The weights were incorporated in parametric and non-parametric, single and multipoint analyses. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.