cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Decentralized design with localized objective in formation control

Formation control deals with the design of decentralized feedback laws that stabilize agents around a target configuration. In this context, the target configuration is a global design variable for the system. We call decentralized design with localized objective the design of control laws in which agents have an incomplete knowledge of the global design variable. We explain how objective localization allows us to address privacy and modularity issues in decentralized systems. Our goal is to develop a systematic approach to establish lower bounds on the amount of information about the global design variable agents need in order to cooperate successfully. To this end, we study a simple four agents formation and show that exponential stabilization is possible with a decentralized execution and non-localized objective but impossible with a decentralized execution and localized objective.
Assessment of myocardial viability: an effective gatekeeper for coronary revascularization?

Heart failure is an emerging worldwide epidemic. In the USA alone, there are an estimated 4.8 million Americans with heart failure, 10% of persons aged 70 years or greater and 400,000 new cases annually [1]. Heart failure is the most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients aged 65 years and older. There is an exceedingly high mortality rate associated with heart failure; approximately 50% of patients diagnosed with heart failure will be dead within 5 years. As the population ages, with more cardiac patients living longer with their disease, the opportunity for developing heart failure increases. The economic costs of heart failure are substantial with an estimated US$23.2 billion society costs per year in the USA. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common cause of left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction leading to heart failure [2]. It was previously thought that loss of myocardial contractility after myocardial infarction was caused by the destruction of myocardium and the development of irreversible scarring. With the subsequent development of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), clinical observations showed that in some individuals, the function of hypo or akinetic segments could improve following revascularization [3]. The contractile regional dysfunction seen in patients may be either transient (stunning) or prolonged (hibernation). In reality, the spectrum of myocardial dysfunction is probably a continuum extending from myocardial ischemia to programmed cell death and apoptosis. A proportion of patients with heart failure will confer viability by symptomatic angina or ischemia demonstrated by myocardial perfusion imaging [4]. However, most patients with LV systolic dysfunction due to CAD have a heterogeneous mixture of stunned, hibernating and scarred myocardium in various proportions. Given many considerations, it is clear that patients with heart failure due to CAD should pursue treatment options to prevent future coronary events. These therapies include treatment of heart failure, myocardial ischemia, and myocardial stunning and hibernation. Standard treatment of patients with heart failure due to LV systolic dysfunction include angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensinreceptor blockers, β-blockers and aldosterone antagonists [5–8]. Many cardiologists, and some guidelines [9], recommend evaluating patients with CAD and heart failure to identify patients suitable for coronary revascularization, although this strategy is not evidence based. It is often believed that the presence of viable but dysfunctional myocardium is an indication for revascularization, although very few patients with heart failure undergo viability testing.
Explaining Campaign Intensity

This article develops and tests a causal model of campaign intensity in U.S. Senate elections. Although campaign intensity has received a considerable amount of scholarly attention in recent years, no study has explicitly attempted to model the factors contributing to varying levels of intensity across campaigns. This article draws on data from the NES 1988-1992 Pooled Senate Election Study, a content analysis of newspaper coverage of Senate races, and a data set of candidates' positions across a wide variety of issue dimensions to develop and test a model of intensity. Results indicate that aspects of incumbent vulnerability, challenger quality, and the political environment all significantly influence intensity levels.
Instability of internal waves near a critical level

Abstract The three-dimensional stability problem is investigated for a family of velocity and density profiles similar in form to those expected for large-amplitude internal gravity waves near a critical level. These profiles exhibit regions of high shear and stable stratification alternating with regions of weak shear and unstable stratification. Analytical solutions are given for inviscid, neutral modes that are similar to those found under neutral conditions with stable stratification. Neutral modes form closed streamline patterns centered at locations of maximal shear, and are not strongly influenced by nearby regions of unstable stratification. Unstable modes are computed numerically. It is shown that the instability mechanism for these wave-like flows fundamentally three-dimensional in character and exhibits both shear and convective dynamics. For flows with parameter values below the neutral curves, unstable modes oriented in the streamwise direction undergo shear instability, while modes oriented orthogonally are convectively unstable. In addition to their intrinsic physical relevance, the results of this study have important implications for the physics and the numerical modeling of breaking internal gravity waves. Two-dimensional models will bias the breaking dynamics by eliminating the possibility for convection oriented in the transverse plane.
Model networks of end‐linked polydimethylsiloxane chains. XIV. Stress‐strain, thermoelastic, and birefringence measurements on the bimodal networks at very low temperatures

Bimodal networks consisting of very short and relatively long poiydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chains were studied from 30 to −52°C in an attempt to elucidate the anomalous increases in modulus [f*] exhibited by such elastomeric materials at high elongations. Temperature was found to have very little effect on (i) the elongation at which the upturn in [f*] becomes discernible, (ii) the elongation at which rupture occurs, and (iii) the total increase in [f*] up to the rupture point. The standard force-temperature (“thermoelastic”) plots were linear, but gave values of the energetic contribution to the total force which were significantly smaller than those universally obtained on unimodal, long-chain PDMS networks. Birefringence-temperature relations were also found to be linear, and yielded values of the optical-configuration parameter and its temperature coefficient which were in satisfactory agreement with the corresponding values reported for unimodal PDMS networks. These results indicate that even at very low temperatures the observed increases in modulus (and consequent improvements in ultimate strength) are due to non-Gaussian effects arising from limited chain extensibility, rather than from intermolecular reinforcing effects such as strain-induced crystallization.
The regulation of porphyrin-heme biosynthesis: the effects of certain steroids and other porphyrin-inducing agents in different in vitro systems.

Abstract The effects of certain steroids, sedormid, and a barbiturate on the biosynthesis of porphyrins were studied in several in vitr systems using either avian erythrocytes, rat liver homogenates, or bovine liver acetone powder as the porphyrin-synthesizing system. No direct stimulatory or inhibitory effect was observed under the conditions employed. The present results thus show that in vitro systems lacking (avian erythrocytes) or having limited capacity (livers of adult animals) for the induction of δ-aminolevulinic acid synthetase exhibit little or no response to the in vivo porphyria-inducing agents studied. In contrast, in vitro systems having the ability of ALAS induction (bone marrow cells, embryonic liver cells) show increased porphyrin formation upon treatment with these same chemical agents. The present results are in accord with the current concept that the effect of these substances on porphyrinogenesis is indirect apparently by way of the induction of the key enzyme of the porphyrin biosynthetic pathway, δ-aminolevulinic acid synthetase. Impairment of terminal cellular oxidation by the inhibition of NADH oxidase activity, resulting in lower cellular ATP levels, may be a common, primary factor involved in inducing the biosynthesis of ALAS by the chemical agents employed.
An Argument for 'Generalized' Mean-Coefficient of Variation (MCV) Analysis

The article discusses the coefficient variation (CV) in investment returns. The mean-coefficient of variation (MCV) efficiency criterion is presented as an alternative to the mean-standard deviation (MSD) definition of efficiency. The differences in MCV and MSD definitions of efficiency are examined in this article on the basis of investors' risk preferences. Corporate decision makers, though they do not know the range of risk aversion coefficients for stockholders, they assume there is a finite range and this enables MCV to evaluate alternative risky ventures.
Agricultural Activity and the General Economy: Some Macromodel Experiments

Spectacular growth in the size and complexity of econometric models has undoubtedly aided economists in understanding relationships within the macroeconomy. These models are not wholly satisfactory in the view of agricultural economists because they have no agricultural sector that allows an investigation of the interaction between the macroeconomy and agriculture. This is unfortunately true, despite the fact that a number of agricultural sector models have been developed specifically for inclusion within a large macromodel (e.g., Cromarty, Fox). Macromodel builders have adopted one of two strategies to capture the effects of agriculture on the macroeconomy. They either structure agriculture as a satellite model or consider the important behavioral variables in the agricultural sector as being determined outside of the macroeconomic model. A sat-
Bipedal locomotion: effects of speed, size and limb posture in birds and humans

Seven species of ground-dwelling birds (body mass range: 0.045-90 kg) were filmed while walking and running on a treadmill. High-speed light films were also taken of humans to compare kinematic patterns of avian with human bipedalism. Consistent patterns of stride frequency, stride length, step length, duty factor and limb excursion were observed in all species, with most of the variation among species being due to differences in body size. In general, smaller bipeds have higher stride frequencies (αM−0.18), shorter stride lengths (αM0.38) and more limited ranges of speed within each gait than large bipeds. After normalizing for size (based on Froude number, after Alexander, 1977), remaining kinematic variation is largely due to interspecific differences in posture and relative limb segment lengths. For their size, smaller bipeds have greater step lengths, limb excursion angles and duty factors than large bipeds because of their more crouched posture and greater effective limb length. The most notable differences in limb kinematics between birds and humans occur at the walk-run transition and are maintained as running speed increases. Change of gait is smooth and difficult to discern in birds, but distinct in humans, involving abrupt decreases in step length and duty factor (time of contact) and a corresponding increase in limb swing time. These differences appear to reflect a spring-like run that is stiff in humans (favouring elastic energy recovery) but more compliant in birds (increasing time of ground contact). Differences between birds and humans in balance of the body's centre of mass not only affect femoral orientation and motion, but also affect pattern of limb excursion with speed.
Green Space and Mortality Following Ischemic Stroke

Background Residential proximity to green space has been associated with physical and mental health benefits, but whether green space is associated with post-stroke survival has not been studied.
Metal ion participation in binding of daunomycinone, daunomycin, and adriamycin to nucleic acids

Abstract Daunomycinone forms chelate complexes with cupric, nickelous, and cobaltous ions that bind nucleic acids when analyzed in a filter-retention assay. The ferric-ion complex is not effective. Daunomycin and adriamycin are able to bind nucleic acids in the filter-retention assay and a centrifugation assay without purposefully added metal ions. The participation of metal ions in the binding is indicated by the ability of ethylenediamine tetraacetate preaddition to block it. The addition of cupric or ferrous ions, but not ferric ions, to the EDTA-treated samples results in the regeneration of the nucleic-acid binding activity of the drugs. Maximal nucleic-acid binding in these assays occurs at 1:2 to 1:4 nucleotide:drug ratios. A 3-μM daunomycin concentration binds DNA and polyriboadenylate preferentially; when 7 μM daunomycin is used, polyribouridylate, polyriboinosinate, and polyribocytidylate are effectively bound so that no base preference is evident. Daunomycin inhibits the Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (deoxynucleoside triphosphate:DNA nucleotidyl transferase; IUBEC 2.7.7.7) reaction at nucleotide:drug ratios similar to those that cause DNA pelleting in the centrifugation assay.
Mechanisms of mindfulness: Emotion regulation following a focused breathing induction

The current study investigated whether a 15 min recorded focused breathing induction in a normal, primarily undergraduate population would decrease the intensity and negativity of emotional responses to affectively valenced picture slides and increase willingness to remain in contact with aversive picture slides. The effects of the focused breathing induction were compared with the effects of 15 min recorded inductions of unfocused attention and worrying. The focused breathing group maintained consistent, moderately positive responses to the neutral slides before and after the induction, whereas the unfocused attention and worry groups responded significantly more negatively to the neutral slides after the induction than before it. The focusing breathing group also reported lower negative affect and overall emotional volatility in response to the post-induction slides than the worry group, and greater willingness to view highly negative slides than the unfocused attention group. The lower-reported negative and overall affect in response to the final slide blocks, and greater willingness to view optional negative slides by the focused breathing group may be viewed as more adaptive responding to negative stimuli. The results are discussed as being consistent with emotional regulatory properties of mindfulness.
In situ Formation of a Monodispersed Spherical Mesoporous Nanosilica-Torlon Hollow-Fiber Composite for Carbon Dioxide Capture.

We describe a new template-free method for the in situ formation of a monodispersed spherical mesoporous nanosilica-Torlon hollow-fiber composite. A thin layer of Torlon hollow fiber that comprises silica nanoparticles was created by the in situ extrusion of a tetraethyl orthosilicate/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solution in a sheath layer and a Torlon polymer dope in a core support layer. This new method can be integrated easily into current hollow-fiber composite fabrication processes. The hollow-fiber composites were then functionalized with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxy silane (APS) and evaluated for their CO2 -capture performance. The resulting APS-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles/Torlon hollow fibers exhibited a high CO2 equilibrium capacity of 1.5 and 1.9 mmol g(-1) at 35 and 60 °C, respectively, which is significantly higher than values for fiber sorbents without nanoparticles reported previously.
Women's Hostility Toward Women and Rape and Sexual Harassment Myths

Women can contribute to the perpetuation of sexual violence when they support victim-blame. Participants were 155 college women who completed a questionnaire assessing hostility toward women; the beliefs that rape is caused by victim precipitation, male sexual needs, and male pathology; and victim-blaming sexual harassment beliefs. Significant relations were found for hostility toward women and the other measures, controlling for general hostility. The tendency of some women to support rape and sexual harassment myths may be based on the level of hostility toward women as a group.
An Intent-Driven Planner for Multi-Agent Story Generation

The ability to generate narrative is of importance to computer systems that wish to use story effectively for entertainment, training, or education. We identify two properties of story - plot coherence and character believability - which play a role in the success of a story. Plot coherence is the perception by audience members that character actions have relevance to the outcome of the story. Character believability is the perception that character actions are motivated by agents' internal beliefs and desires. Unlike conventional planning in which plan goals represent an agent's intended world state, multiagent story planning involves goals that represent the outcome of a story. In order for the plans' actions to appear believable, multi-agent story planners must determine not only how agents' actions achieve a story's goal state, but must also ensure that each agent appears to be acting intentionally. We present a narrative generation planning system for multi-agent stories that is capable of generating narratives with both strong plot coherence and strong character believability. The planning algorithm uses causal reasoning and a simulated intention recognition process to drive plan creation.
Risk-Aware RBAC Sessions

Role Based Access Control (RBAC) has received considerable attention as a model of choice for simplified access control over the past decade. More recently, risk awareness in access control has emerged as an important research theme to mitigate risks involved when users exercise their privileges to access resources under different contexts such as accessing a sensitive file from work versus doing the same from home. In this paper, we investigate how to incorporate “risk” in RBAC—in particular, in RBAC sessions. To this end, we propose an extension to the core RBAC model by incorporating risk awareness in sessions where the risk is bounded by a session-based “risk-threshold.” We develop a framework of models for role activation and deactivation in a session based on this threshold. Finally, we provide formal specification of one of these models by enhancing the NIST core RBAC model.
Laser diode to fiber coupling using anamorphic gradient-index lenses

A lens design approach using anamorphic gradient-index components is used to examine the problem of coupling light from a laser diode to a multimode fiber.
The spectrum of density perturbations in an expanding universe

Perhaps the most challenging problem confronting a cosmologist is to reconcile the observed large-scale structure of the Universe with the Friedmann-Lemaitre cosmological models that have gained such widespread acceptance in recent years (cf. however the alternative viewpoint, as exemplified in this Symposium by Arp and others). In this review, I shall look anew at the spectrum of density inhomogeneities that survive decoupling of matter and radiation at z~1000 and provide the primordial fluctuations that can eventually generate galaxies. A closely related matter, that of the associated fluctuations in the background radiation, is discussed elsewhere in this volume by Doroshkevich, Sunyaev and Zel’dovich.
Technology and learning-centered education: Research-based support for how the tablet PC embodies the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

Student learning improves when faculty use learning-centered teaching practices, and a symbiotic relationship exists between technology and learning-centered education. One technological tool, the tablet PC, offers university faculty a powerful way to enhance student learning. The seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education offer a framework for learning-centered education, and this paper illustrates the seven principles through research data focused on innovative and pedagogically appropriate uses of tablet PCs. Examples include assessment research data from MIT, DePauw, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Pace University, University of Michigan and Virginia Tech.
Flexible analog front ends of reconfigurable radios based on sampling and reconstruction with internal filtering

Bandpass sampling, reconstruction, and antialiasing filtering in analog front ends potentially provide the best performance of software defined radios. However, conventional techniques used for these procedures limit reconfigurability and adaptivity of the radios, complicate integrated circuit implementation, and preclude achieving potential performance. Novel sampling and reconstruction techniques with internal filtering eliminate these drawbacks and provide many additional advantages. Several ways to overcome the challenges of practical realization and implementation of these techniques are proposed and analyzed. The impact of sampling and reconstruction with internal filtering on the analog front end architectures and capabilities of software defined radios is discussed.
All in the Family: Comparing Siblings to Test Causal Hypotheses Regarding Environmental Influences on Behavior:

Psychologists in both basic and applied fields are keenly interested in the environmental influences that shape our lives. Therefore, researchers test causal hypotheses to construct models of environmental influences that can withstand attempts at refutation. Randomized experiments provide the strongest tests of causal hypotheses, but are not always feasible and their assumptions cannot always be met. In such cases, a number of quasi-experimental research designs can be used to substantially reduce confounding in tests of causal hypotheses. Sibling-comparison designs provide robust quasi-experimental tests of causal environmental hypotheses, but they are underused in psychology in spite of their power, feasibility, and convenience.
Good vibrations: Asymmetric vibrations for directional haptic cues

In this paper we present a new concept for haptic guidance in multiple dimensions, in the form of asymmetric vibrations. We show that by adding asymmetry, vibrations from a single source can, like continuous forces, provide effective, high-resolution directional haptic cues in multiple dimensions. Unlike feedback via continuous forces, vibrations can be generated in an almost arbitrarily small workspace. After describing the concept in detail, we describe a user study that assesses the effects of such vibrations - applied to subjects' hands - on their ability to distinguish between different directions. The results indicate that asymmetric vibrations can provide accurate directional haptic feedback.
T-cell receptor structure and TCR complexes

The first crystal structures of intact T-cell receptors (TCRs) and their complexes with MHC peptide antigens (pMHC) were reported during the past year, along with those of a single-chain TCR Fv fragment and a beta-chain complexed with two different bacterial superantigens. These structures have shown the similarities and differences in the architecture of the antigen-binding regions of TCRs and antibodies, and how the TCR interacts with pMHC ligands as well as with superantigens.
Innovative polymer processing in carbon dioxide

Abstract Carbon dioxide was used as the solvent in two innovative polymer processes, the preparation of energetic polymers and a Viton based pyrotechnic. The energetic polymer prepared was poly-3-nitratomethyl-3-methyl oxetane and the pyrotechnic was a magnesium, Teflon and Viton (MTV) crumb. Liquid carbon dioxide (LCO 2 ) at 140 atm and 0°C replaces methylene chloride as the solvent in the two step energetic polymers preparation. The monomer, 3,3-(methanol) methyl oxetane, was nitrated with nitrogen pentoxide (N 2 O 5 ) and subsequently polymerized using gaseous boron trifluoride (BF 3 ). Polymerizations in LCO 2 simplifies solvent removal and purification. The LCO 2 solvent evaporates on release of the pressure. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2 ) was used for oligomer extraction and fractionation of the polymers. To our knowledge, this was the first time carbon dioxide was used as the processing fluid for N 2 O 5 nitration and for polymerization using gaseous BF 3 . Various batches of MTV up to 200 grams were prepared using a new method designated the Super-Shock Process. The MTV prepared by this new process meets the requirements of a class 1.3 explosive. In this process the Viton was precipitated from an acetone/magnesium/Teflon/Viton paste with carbon dioxide, thus coating the magnesium and Teflon with Viton. Virtually no hazardous waste was generated in this process. The processing fluids, acetone and carbon dioxide were recovered and recycled. Since the starting materials were not chemically or physically altered during processing, any off specification MTV was mixed with acetone and the proper amounts of starting materials and added to the next batch. In the old process over 10 pounds of hazardous waste are produced per pound of MTV.
Optimization of the PCR for Detection of Staphylococcus aureus nuc Gene in Bovine Milk

Staphylococcus aureus is an economically important and a major mastitis-causing pathogen that also poses food safety and antimicrobial resistance threats. Substances in mastitic milk inhibit the Taq DNA polymerase reaction (Taq PCR) making it of limited use for detecting S. aureus mastitis. In the study reported here, a set of oligonucleotide primers of 21 and 24 bases was used in Taq-PCR to amplify DNA from S. aureus (isolates from bovine mastitis). A specific amplicon of 270 bp was generated as predicted. Replacing Taq DNA polymerase with Thermus thermophilus (Tth) DNA polymerase alone (Tth-PCR) raised the sensitivity of S. aureus detection in milk from experimentally infected cows from 65 to 80%. Combining the use of Tth DNA polymerase and the purification of crude DNA extract using Chelex-100 before PCR raised the sensitivity to 100%. In a random survey involving 100 milk samples from cattle not infected with S. aureus, the test was 100% specific. With milk samples from clinical cases of bovine mastitis, 100% sensitivity and specificity were also observed. It is concluded that Tth-PCR on milk samples with the purification of crude DNA extracts using Chelex-100 is as sensitive as but faster than conventional milk bacteriological culture techniques and is highly specific. The modified PCR correlates with elevated somatic cell counts, detects evidence of chronic and resolving infection based on S. aureus-specific DNA and circumvents the endogenous inhibitory effects of milk.
Towards an energy complexity of computation

Abstract Energy consumption is becoming a critical complexity parameter along with time (delay) in the design and optimization of algorithms at both the hardware and software levels. This paper proposes that a new complexity measure including energy E and time t in the form of the expression E×t 2 be used as the measure of the efficiency of a computation. We prove that the metric is optimal. As an example, a new result concerning the optimal length of a pipeline is derived.
Technology Education: Essential for a Balanced Education.

In its broadest sense, technology is all the knowledge and actions that people use to create the human-built world. The products of technology can be as simple as a paper clip or as complex as a spaceship; as essential as a dwelling or as frivolous as a firecracker.
Subcortical consciousness: Implications for fetal anesthesia and analgesia

In this commentary we discuss the possibility of subcortical consciousness and its implications for fetal anesthesia and analgesia. We review the neural development of structural and functional elements that may participate in conscious representation, with a particular focus on the experience of pain.
Replacing the Promoter of the Murine Gene Encoding P-selectin with the Human Promoter Confers Human-like Basal and Inducible Expression in Mice *

In humans and mice, megakaryocytes/platelets and endothelial cells constitutively synthesize P-selectin and mobilize it to the plasma membrane to mediate leukocyte rolling during inflammation. TNF-α, interleukin 1β, and LPS markedly increase P-selectin mRNA in mice but decrease P-selectin mRNA in humans. Transgenic mice bearing the entire human SELP gene recapitulate basal and inducible expression of human P-selectin and reveal human-specific differences in P-selectin function. Differences in the human SELP and murine Selp promoters account for divergent expression in vitro, but their significance in vivo is not known. Here we generated knockin mice that replace the 1.4-kb proximal Selp promoter with the corresponding SELP sequence (Selp(KI)). Selp(KI) (/) (KI) mice constitutively expressed more P-selectin on platelets and more P-selectin mRNA in tissues but only slightly increased P-selectin mRNA after injection of TNF-α or LPS. Consistent with higher basal expression, leukocytes rolled more slowly on P-selectin in trauma-stimulated venules of Selp(KI) (/) (KI) mice. However, TNF-α did not further reduce P-selectin-dependent rolling velocities. Blunted up-regulation of P-selectin mRNA during contact hypersensitivity reduced P-selectin-dependent inflammation in Selp(KI) (/-) mice. Higher basal P-selectin in Selp(KI) (/) (KI) mice compensated for this defect. Therefore, divergent sequences in a short promoter mediate most of the functionally significant differences in expression of human and murine P-selectin in vivo.
Reforming Preference Law

This article responds to Brook Gotberg's proposal to do away with preference liability in certain Chapter 11 cases and provides empirical evidence of preferential transfers in consumer Chapter 7 cases.
Chemo-selection of patients (pts) for organ preservation in advanced laryngeal cancer: Failure of chemotherapy (CT) as the sole treatment for complete histologic responders (CHR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy

5560 Background: We conducted a phase II organ preservation trial for stage III/IV laryngeal cancer pts in an attempt to identify pts, who were CHR after 1 cycle of induction CT, who might be curab...
Televising Supreme Court Oral Argument

This article analyzes the cogency of claims about the purported benefits and risks associated with televising oral argument. It considers two purported benefits of broadcasts (civic education for the sake of greater public understanding of the Court as an institution and for the sake of holding the Court responsible for its policies) and three purported risks (distorted public perceptions of the Court’s work, interfering with the Court’s work, and undermining the Court’s cultural status). The central thesis is that the cogency of claims about these benefits and risks is so beset by uncertainties and ambiguities that justifying claims is thoroughly problematic.
The Nicotine-Evoked Locomotor Response: A Behavioral Paradigm for Toxicity Screening in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos and Eleutheroembryos Exposed to Methylmercury

This study is an adaptation of the nicotine-evoked locomotor response (NLR) assay, which was originally utilized for phenotype-based neurotoxicity screening in zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish embryos do not exhibit spontaneous swimming until roughly 4 days post-fertilization (dpf), however, a robust swimming response can be induced as early as 36 hours post-fertilization (hpf) by means of acute nicotine exposure (30–240μM). Here, the NLR was tested as a tool for early detection of locomotor phenotypes in 36, 48 and 72 hpf mutant zebrafish embryos of the non-touch-responsive maco strain; this assay successfully discriminated mutant embryos from their non-mutant siblings. Then, methylmercury (MeHg) was used as a proof-of-concept neurotoxicant to test the effectiveness of the NLR assay as a screening tool in toxicology. The locomotor effects of MeHg were evaluated in 6 dpf wild type eleutheroembryos exposed to waterborne MeHg (0, 0.01, 0.03 and 0.1μM). Afterwards, the NLR assay was tested in 48 hpf embryos subjected to the same MeHg exposure regimes. Embryos exposed to 0.01 and 0.03μM of MeHg exhibited significant increases in locomotion in both scenarios. These findings suggest that similar locomotor phenotypes observed in free swimming fish can be detected as early as 48 hpf, when locomotion is induced with nicotine.
Optimum Seeking of Sci-tech Periodicals Manuscript Based on Rough Set

Accordingwith the principlesofmulti-index synthetic evaluation,settingup the optimizingindex system of sci-tech periodicals,using rough set theoryto determine the weight set and using experienced experts to determine the reviews set,then give the optimizing method of sci-tech periodicals manuscript based on rough set.The results show that determining weight set is more rational when using this method to optimize articles.This method can objectively and comprehensivelyevaluate the qualityofarticles,and can give referencesfor articlesoptimized。
Mass Data Processing Applications of Grid Technology

Data Grid is the third revolution of the information technology after Internet and Web,and based on current data management technologies,Data Grid aims to integrate all kinds of resources in the network,such as storage resources,data resources,computing resources, etc.,and establish a unified architecture for data access,store,transfer and management,which offers a new way for mass data management.
Comparison of the effects of different analgesia methods after cesarean section

Objective: To compare the analgesia degree and the analgesia duration of three different analgesia methods with different compatibility of drugs and different routes of administration in positive-cesarean section.Methods: 300 puerperas with lower uterine segment cesarean section,aged from 19 years old to 40 years old,were randomly and averagely devided into RS group(Ropivacaine 178.8mg,Sufentanil 0.1 mg),MD_1 group(0.5%Bupivacaine 1.3～1.7 ml plus Morphine 0.4 mg and Droperidol 0.8 mg injected into the subarachnoid space) and MD_2 group(0.5% Bupivacaine 1.5ml injected the subarachnoid space and Morphine 2 mg plus Droperidol 1mg injected into the epidural space immediately).After operation,HR,SBp,DBp,RR,SpO_2 of puerperas were monitored at point 2 h,4 h,12 h,24 h and static pain visual simulation score(VASr),motion pain visual simulation score(VASm),alertness/ conscious sedation(OAA/S)were recorded.And postoperative nausea、vomiting、respiratory depression,itching and actual analgesia duration were recorded.Results: At 24 h,48 h,VASr and VASm were significantly depressed in group RS than in MD_2(P0.01).At 24 h,48 h,VASr and VASm were significantly depressed in group MD_1 than in MD_2(P0.05),analgesia duration were significantly shorter in MD_2 than in RS and MD_1(P0.01),vital signs were stable in postoperative analgesia,and OAA/S.Respiratory depres-sionincidence was not statistically difference.Conclusion: Three different analgesia methods with different compatibility of drugs and different routes of administration were all safe and effective in positive-cesarean section analgesia,and ropivacaine plus sufentanil is more effective.
Resisting Assimilation: Deliberate Acculturation by the American English Language Learner.

Education policy has historically been viewed as having an influential part in crafting the roles of immigrants in American society. However, while policy makers continue to push their own agendas on English language learners (ELLs), ELLs continue to push back to create their own sense of what it means be an American. This article analyzes how formal and informal language policies have historically driven the instruction of ELLs and argues that despite attempts to enculturate and/or assimilate ELLs into American schools through strict English instruction, students employ a variety of cultural resources to act agentically in their acculturation.
Clinical risk prediction by exploring high-order feature correlations.

Clinical risk prediction is one important problem in medical informatics, and logistic regression is one of the most widely used approaches for clinical risk prediction. In many cases, the number of potential risk factors is fairly large and the actual set of factors that contribute to the risk is small. Therefore sparse logistic regression is proposed, which can not only predict the clinical risk but also identify the set of relevant risk factors. The inputs of logistic regression and sparse logistic regression are required to be in vector form. This limits the applicability of these models in the problems when the data cannot be naturally represented vectors (e.g., medical images are two-dimensional matrices). To handle the cases when the data are in the form of multi-dimensional arrays, we propose HOSLR: High-Order Sparse Logistic Regression, which can be viewed as a high order extension of sparse logistic regression. Instead of solving one classification vector as in conventional logistic regression, we solve for K classification vectors in HOSLR (K is the number of modes in the data). A block proximal descent approach is proposed to solve the problem and its convergence is guaranteed. Finally we validate the effectiveness of HOSLR on predicting the onset risk of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and heart failure.
Complement activation in pemphigus vulgaris blister fluid.

Total haemolytic complement was reduced in blister fluids of four pemphigus vulgaris patients when compared to serum complement levels and other serum and blister fluid proteins. Complement levels in most control blister fluids, on the other hand, more closely approached their corresponding serum levels. Haemolytic C1, C4, C2, C3 and C5, measured in two pemphigus sera and blister fluids, were not measurable in one blister fluid and were extremely low in the second patient. C3 proactivator (C3PA) was absent from both of these blister fluids. Three of the blister fluids exhibited anti-complementary activity when tested with normal human serum. By adding one blister fluid to normal human serum, inhibition of haemolytic C1, C2, C3 and C5 with conversion of C3 and C3PA occurred. Activation of complement locally in pemphigus blister fluids would suggest a pathogenetic role for complement in this disease.
Roots of Family: Family Life Education

Family and parent coaches do best with an understanding of family science to ground their work in helping families change. This chapter covers family science theory and how those theories can be applied to family coaching. The primary focus on this chapter is of Family Life Education (FLE). FLE is one professional area of family science, and family life coaching draws heavily from the theoretical and practical applications of family life education. Theories reviewed include family systems, human growth and development, parent education, and interpersonal relationships. The goal of this chapter is to help illustrate the importance of understanding family science while working with families by including insights from industry professionals, as well as a recap of recent research on the opinions of use of family coaching in family life. Readers will complete this chapter with an understanding of family science theories, evidence based practices of FLE, and how those concepts apply to coaching families.
Dense Deuterium and Deuterium-Muon Systems

The states of dense deuterium are treated starting with the fundamental highly symmetric Hamiltonian where all interactions are entirely Coulombic. Such a system is known to be unstable to deuteron pairing and crystalline ordering at low densities; experimentally it has been probed to densities an order of magnitude higher than normal solid density. At densities somewhat higher than this deuterium is predicted to undergo a dynamic instability to a monatomic metallic state passing on its way through a paired band-overlap phase. Some of the pairing characteristics are immediately transferable to the states formed when positive or negative muons are introduced into dense deuterium.
The Relationship between Pain, Disability, and Sex in African Americans.

Older African Americans consistently report diminished capacities to perform activities of daily living (ADL) compared with other racial groups. The extent to which bodily pain is related to declining abilities to perform ADL/ADL disability in African Americans remains unclear, as does whether this relationship exists to the same degree in African American men and women. For nurses to provide optimal care for older African Americans, a better understanding of the relationship between bodily pain and ADL disability and how it may differ by sex is needed. The aim of this study was to examine whether pain, age, education, income, marital status and/or comorbid conditions were associated with ADL disabilities in older African American women and men. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The sample included 598 participants (446 women, 152 men) from the first wave of the Baltimore Study on Black Aging. African American women (odds ratio [OR] = 4.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.63-6.26) and African American men (OR = 6.44; 95% CI = 2.84-14.57) who reported bodily pain had greater ADL disability than those who did not report bodily pain. Having two or more comorbid conditions also was significantly associated with ADL disability in African American women (OR = 3.95; 95% CI: 2.09-7.47). Further work is needed to understand pain differences between older African American women and men to develop interventions that can be tailored to meet the individual pain needs of both groups.
Continuing Versus New Prescriptions for Sedative-Hypnotic Medications: United States, 2005–2012

Objectives. To assess trends in continuing and new prescriptions for sedative-hypnotic medications, including benzodiazepines (BZDs) and non-BZD receptor agonists (nBZRAs).Methods. Data came from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and comprised 287 288 randomly sampled patient visits. Physicians reported medications prescribed and whether they were “continuing” or “new” prescriptions. We assessed trends in continuing BZD, new BZD, continuing nBZRA, and new nBZRA prescriptions from 2005 to 2012.Results. Proportions of visits with continuing prescriptions increased from 3.4% in 2005 to 4.7% in 2012 (P < .01) for BZDs, and from 1.0% to 1.7% (P < .01) for nBZRAs. We noted no changes in new prescriptions. We observed the same patterns across patient age and physician specialties, except psychiatry. Despite no growth over time, the prevalence of visits involving continuing and new BZD and nBZRA prescriptions was much higher in psychiatry than in primary care and other specialties.Conclusions. Increased...
An EEPROM model for low power circuit design and simulation

A CAD EEPROM circuit model is essential to the design/optimization of low power non-volatile memory products. This paper presents a new FETMOS EEPROM circuit model that includes both Fowler-Nordheim and band-to-band tunneling. A DC model for FETMOS operation is derived and then extended to transient device operation. The model has been implemented into SPICE and applied to simulate the program/erase of a FETMOS bitcell and threshold voltage shifts under various bias conditions. >
Governing, Exchanging, Securing: Big Data and the Production of Digital Knowledge

The emergence of Big Data challenges the conventional boundaries between governing, exchange, and security. It ambiguates the lines between commerce and surveillance, between governing and exchanging, between democracy and the police state. The new digital knowledge reproduces consuming subjects who wittingly or unwittingly allow themselves to be watched, tracked, linked and predicted in a blurred amalgam of commercial and governmental projects. Linking back and forth from consumer data to government information to social media, these new webs of information become available to anyone who can purchase the information. How is it that governmental, commercial and security interests have converged, coincided, and also diverged in ways, in the production of Big Data? Which sectors have stimulated the production and mining of this information? How have the various projects aligned or contradicted each other? In this paper, I begin to explore these questions along two dimensions. First, I sketch in broad strokes the historical development and growth of the digital realm. I offer some categories to understand the mass of data that surrounds us today, and lay some foundation for the notion of a digital knowledge. Then, I investigate the new political economy of data that has emerged, as a way to suggest some of the larger forces that are at play in our new digital age.
MedCare: Leveraging Medication Similarity for Disease Prediction

The emergence of electronic health records (EHRs) has made medical history including past and current diseases, and prescribed medications easily available. This has facilitated development of personalized and population health care management systems. Contemporary disease prediction systems leverage data such as disease diagnoses codes to compute patients' similarity and predict the possible future disease risks of an individual. However, we posit that not all diseases (such as pre-existing conditions) may be represented in an EHR as a disease diagnosis code. It is likely that a patient is already taking a medication but does not have a corresponding disease in the EHR. To that end, we posit that the medication history can serve as a proxy for disease diagnoses, and ask the question whether medication and disease diagnoses combined together can improve the predictability of such systems. Building on our prior work in predicting disease risks (CARE), we develop two disease prediction systems: one using medication-based similarity (medCARE) and the other using both disease and medication-based similarity (combinedCARE). We show that combinedCARE provided a greater coverage and a higher average rank.
Direct Spectroscopic Measurement of Interfacial Electric Fields near an Electrode under Polarizing or Current-Carrying Conditions

Interfacial electric fields and the related molecular polarization are the central quantities that govern charge transfer between an electrode and a molecule. The presence of the interfacial field is often inferred indirectly through transport and capacitance measurements. It is desirable to measure such fields directly via the Stark shift that they induce on molecular vibrations. We report the Stark shift of a well-known vibrational chromophore tethered near an electrochemical interface measured using vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy. We have two important findings. First, we observe that the measured local field scales with respect to the ionic concentration in the electrolyte according to a model that combines the Gouy–Chapman theory with the capacitive response of a molecular layer. This behavior holds over 3 orders of magnitude in ionic concentration, therefore lending support to the validity of the model. Our results along with this model allow for estimation of the electric field n...