cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A best-features based digital rotoscope

The paper presents a best-features based digital rotoscope to animate a video sequence. Our thesis is that corners in an image are viable feature points for animation because they move appreciably across frames. Our proposed rotoscope processes a video sequence one frame at a time and comprises four image processing stages namely, the background subtraction stage, two-phase Shi-Tomasi feature extraction stage, watershed segmentation stage, and the color palette stage. The background subtraction stage subtracts the background from the input image, thereby isolating the foreground colors and producing an inverted image. The two-phase Shi-Tomasi feature extraction stage performs two passes of corner detection on the inverted image to identify a user-defined number of best-features. The watershed segmentation stage uses the best-features as markers to segment the input frame. Finally, the color palette stage colors each one of the segments with the average of the input frame's color values in that segment, thereby creating a rotoscoped frame. After processing all of the frames in a video sequence, the digital rotoscope produces an animated movie. We study the impact of choosing different numbers of best-features on the quality of animation. Our empirical study reveals that for a frame-size of 480 × 640 × 3, 1000 features or more produce effective animation. Our four-stage digital rotoscope provides opportunities for parallel implementations on high-performance architectures, thereby creating avenues for fast analysis.
Models of Multifunctional Central Pattern Generators: Polyrhythmic Bursting

We demonstrate a motif of three reciprocally inhibitory cells that is able to produce multiple patterns of bursting rhythms. Through the examination of the qualitative geometric structure of two-dimensional maps for phase lag between the cells we reveal the organizing centers of emergent polyrhythmic patterns and their bifurcations, as the asymmetry of the synaptic coupling is varied. The presence of multistability and the types of attractors in the network are shown to be determined by the duty cycle of bursting. This analysis does not require knowledge of the equations that model the system, and so provides a powerful new approach to studying regulatory networks. Thus, the approach is applicable to a variety of biological phenomena beyond motor control.
Laser-Lathe Lithography—a Novel Method for Manufacturing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microcoils

A novel 3-dimensional laser-lathe process for manufacturing magnetic resonance microcoils is presented. The process has been used to print coils on a variety of materials, including glass and Teflon. The dimensions of these coils can be varied easily to allow any number of different coil designs, including solenoids and saddle coils. In our fabrication process, capillary tubes sputter-coated with a thin titanium-copper multilayer are plated with a positive electrodeposited photoresist. The resist is exposed with a computer-controlled laser-lathe apparatus consisting of an argon-ion laser, an acousto-optic modulator, a movable aperture, a lead screw stage and a spindle stage. After exposure and development, copper is electrolytically deposited through the resist mask. Following copper deposition the resist mask is removed and the sputtered copper and titanium are etched away, leaving a microcoil firmly adhered to the capillary. The resistivity of the laser-lathe copper windings is 7.6% higher than the resistivity of hand-wound coils (1.85 μΩ-cm for laser-lathe copper compared with 1.72 μΩ-cm for bulk annealed copper). For laser-lathe and hand-wound microcoils of similar size and geometry, the coil quality factor, Q, of the laser patterned coils would be 7.6% lower than the hand-wound coils. Examples of 13C NMR spectra obtained using laser-lathe coils are shown, and a relative improvement of 68 in the NMR sensitivity is calculated for a laser-lathe microcoil compared with a conventional 5 mm NMR sample tube.
The Next Generation of Energy Landscapes

The next generation of energy megaprojects can follow two paths. One path will be lead toward increasing our supply of oil. It will include oil shale and oil sands. The other path will lead toward increasing our supply of electricity, which will include wind and solar power. We are just beginning our journey down both of these paths, but they will lead to very different destinations. Oil sands in Alberta, already commercial, provide a glimpse of the massive impacts such types of development will produce. The oil shale of the Intermountain West is an even larger resource, not yet commercial, and it will cause even greater disruptions to air, land, water, and lifestyle. Wind and solar power have the potential to change large areas of landscape too. Two of the largest of the proposed wind developments are in Scotland and Mexico, and both have produced substantial public controversy. Such is also the case for the proposed solar projects in the southwestern U.S. While the areal extent from wind and solar developments might also be large, the intensity of their impact will be much less than for oil shale and oil sand. We are at a fork in the road, and we are equivocating. There seems to be more momentum and investment money for the alternative oil supplies than for the alternative electricity supplies. We want both, but the wind and solar megaprojects have a more sustainable and viable future. We cannot judge our options by scale alone.
Ethanol potentiates the stimulatory effects of insulin and phosphocholine on mitogenesis by a zinc-dependent and rapamycin-sensitive mechanism in fibroblasts and JB6 cells

In most cellular systems ethanol inhibits growth factor-induced cell growth. Here we examined the effects of ethanol on DNA synthesis and cell proliferation induced by insulin and phosphocholine (PCho) in NIH3T3 fibroblasts, Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts and mouse epidermal JB6 cells. In serum-starved low (12-18) passage NIH3T3 fibroblasts, 60 mM ethanol enhanced the mitogenic effect of insulin in the absence or presence of 25 microM zinc about 2- or 12-fold, respectively. In contrast, in serum-starved high (30-47) passage NIH3T3 cells 60 mM ethanol had large (20-40-fold) potentiating effects on insulin-induced DNA synthesis even in the absence of zinc. Furthermore, ethanol also enhanced the effects of PCho on DNA synthesis in both the absence and presence of insulin. The potentiating effects of ethanol on insulin- and PCho-induced DNA synthesis were associated with 1.2-1.3-fold stimulation of cell proliferation. Rapamycin, an inhibitor of p70 S6 kinase action, strongly inhibited the potentiating effects of ethanol on insulin- and PCho-induced mitogenesis. Unexpectedly, ethanol inhibited synergistic activation of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinases by insulin and PCho. In both Swiss 3T3 and JB6 cells, ethanol potentiated insulin-induced DNA synthesis only in the presence of zinc. In these cells, ethanol also increased the effects of PCho on both DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in the co-presence of either insulin or ATP. The results indicate that in various cell lines physiologically relevant concentrations of ethanol can increase the ability of insulin and PCho to induce DNA synthesis and, to smaller extents, cell proliferation. In low passage NIH3T3 cells as well as in Swiss 3T3 and JB6 cells potentiation of insulin-induced DNA synthesis by ethanol requires the presence of zinc.
A Family of Genes for Phytoalexin Detoxification in the Plant Pathogen Nectria Haematococca

Among microorganisms that cause disease on plants, fungi are the most prevalent. Some fungi are pathogenic to only a single host species and spend their whole life cycles, except for resting structures, on that plant. Others have broad host ranges and may even be able to grow as saprophytes separate from a host plant. In either case plant pathogenic fungi must have unique traits that distinguish them from strict saprophytes and allow for their intimate association with higher plants.
Reading in rhyme

Explore the work of Giles Andreae and tap into rhyme as a source of fun and creativity. Use it to develop early listening and and attention skills, which will become the bedrock for literacy.
Influence of land use and rainfall variability on nutrient concentrations in Florida Lakes

Xiong C, Hoyer MV. Influence of land use and rainfall variability on nutrient concentrations in Florida lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 35:25–37.This research examined impacts of regional differences (t...
Discrete spectral-temporal encoded LiDAR

We propose the discrete spectro-temporal LiDAR that realizes non-mechanical scanning in one dimension at 0.342MHz line rate with a single laser and a single-pixel detector. Our implementation is based on an externally modulated FDML MOPA laser. © 2019 The Author(s)
Operational Conditions of Silicon Pixel Arrays for X-Ray Spectroscopy

Arrays of silicon sensors can be used in those spectroscopic applications where a high event throughput is needed, for example, in synchrotron-based experiments. However, in such arrays, several noise contributions, beyond the well-known leakage, thermal, and flicker noises, can be present, which are absent in single-channel detectors. Additional noise is generated ultimately by the condition at the silicon/silicon-oxide interface, which in turn depends on the parameters of the silicon oxide over the not-implanted gaps. We discuss how to control this region to obtain the best spectroscopic performances.
Broadcast-Based Hybrid Wired-Wireless NoC for Efficient Data Transfer in GPU of CE Systems

Conventional network-on-chips (NoCs) architectures have been adopted as the interconnect network backbone to handle the traffic between many cores and a few memory controllers (MCs) in the graphical processing units (GPUs). Due to the many-to-few/few-to-many traffic pattern, the performance of GPU NoCs is constrained by limited terminal bandwidth at MC routers and traffic hotspots generated in the regions close to MCs. In addition, many GPU applications have redundant data sent from an MC to different cores and this leads to inefficient utilization of limited bandwidth at MCs, which are in fact the network bottleneck. We present a hybrid wired-wireless NoC architecture based on wireless broadcasting through low-power high-bandwidth antennas for redundant and long distant data transmission while employing wired network for local packet delivery.
The Role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α in Pancreatic Cancer and Diabetes Mellitus

Hypoxia inducible factor-1α, abbreviated as HIF-1α, is a protein which is encoded by the HIF1A gene and is primarily responsible for the modulation of cellular feedback regarding hypoxia, which results from the lack of proper delivery of oxygen to cells. When HIF-1α is unregulated or over-expressed due to hypoxia, it can lead to irregular cellular metabolism and pancreatic cancer (PC) progression. There seems to be a strong, positive correlation between up regulation of HIF-1α and cancers, specifically PC. Understanding the regulation, expression, and interaction of HIF-1α will allows us to further understand the role this pathway can play in deadly diseases such as PC. In this chapter we will explore the role of the HIF-1α pathway in PC, and in metabolic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, and studies that have been conducted in order to further holistically understand the role of HIF-1α.
Review and Bandwidth Measurement of Coaxial Shunt Resistors for Wide-Bandgap Devices Dynamic Characterization

Coaxial shunt resistors are very useful for measuring the ultra-fast current in wide-bandgap device switching transients. One of their major drawbacks is the relatively large parasitic inductance. The traditional coaxial shunt resistors are reviewed and the relationship between energy rating and parasitic inductance is determined. The parasitic inductance can be greatly reduced with a lower energy rating. A measurement method for characterizing their up to GHz bandwidth is also reported. Lower than expected bandwidth was observed and a fix using measured transfer characteristics is therefore described.
Adaptive cascaded Delayed Signal Cancellation PLL for three-phase grid under unbalanced and distorted condition

Abstract Grid synchronization is an important part in monitoring, accessing, and automatically controlling the grid-connected generators and other power electronic converters. The phase of fundamental frequency needs to be tracked in real-time to control energy delivery. However during normal operation the waveforms’ frequency, magnitude, and symmetry are varying due to load change, distortions generated by certain electrical power devices and the occurrence of faults. In this paper, an efficient and fast synchronization scheme based on Delayed Signal Cancellation (DSC) for harmonics rejection purposes has been proposed for extracting the fundamental signal. Also, a detailed α β -frame Cascade DSC ( α β CDSC) analysis is presented and an α β CDSC-PLL scheme with fast dynamic response under transients is proposed. Based on the proposed PLL, an adaptive control loop is also developed to improve disturbance resistance during faults. Both simulation and real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) experiments are used to verify the unbalance resistance, distortion rejection as well as performance improvement of the two proposed α β CDSC-PLL schemes.
Immediate and Neighborhood Contextual Effects on Intentional, Accidental, and Fatal Drug Overdoses in a Non-Urban Jurisdiction

Drug overdoses in the United States have been dramatically increasing since the late 1990 s. Research has been successful in identifying individual-level correlates of overdoses, but often fails to...
Mitigation Ponds Offer Drought Resiliency for Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) Populations

Synergistic effects of habitat loss, drought, and climate change exacerbate amphibian declines. In southern California urbanization continues to convert natural habitat, while prolonged drought reduces surface water availability. Protection of biodiversity may be provided through mitigation; however, the long-term effectiveness of different strategies is often unreported. As a mitigation measure for building a new development within occupied Spea hammondii (western spadefoot) habitat in Orange County, California, artificial breeding pools were constructed at two off-site locations. Spea hammondii tadpoles were translocated from the pools at the development site to two off-site locations in 2005–2006. We conducted surveys a decade later (2016) to determine if S. hammondii were persisting and breeding successfully at either the original development site or the human-made pools at the two mitigation sites. We also verified hydroperiods of any existing pools at all three locations to see if any held water long enough for successful S. hammondii recruitment through metamorphosis.During our study, no pooling water was detected at two of three main sites surveyed, and no S. hammondii were observed at these locations. Twelve of the 14 pools created at only one of the two mitigation sites held water for over 30 d, and we detected successful breeding at seven of these pools. Recruitment in some mitigation ponds indicated that S. hammondii habitat can be created and maintained over 10+ yr, even during the fifth year of a catastrophic drought. Therefore, this may also serve as a conservation strategy to mitigate climate change and habitat loss.
Proceedings of the Americas Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Diseases (AASOG) 2017 annual meeting

On April 7th and 8th, 2017; the Americas Association for Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Diseases (AASOG) held its annual scientific conference titled "Combining Transformative Sarcoidosis Research and Outreach to Improve Health Disparities" at the Penn State Health, Hershey Campus Conference Center. Participants came from geographically diverse areas of the United States. The demographics of meeting speakers and attendees reflected the gender, racial and ethnic diversity of those who are engaged in the treatment of the disease. The AASOG meeting was held in conjunction with an FSR-sponsored sarcoidosis patient-physician conference, providing a unique forum to enhance communication between patients, providers and researchers. Cutting edge topics at the meeting included immunology, microbiome, genomics, and challenges in diagnosis and treatment of vulnerable populations. The meeting's clinical foci were neurosarcoidosis, fatigue, and small fiber neuropathy. (Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis 2018; 35: 91-94).
Micro Air-Pulse Spatial Deformation Spreading Characterizes Degree of Anisotropy in Tissues

In optical coherence elastography (OCE), air-pulse stimulation has been widely used to produce propagation of mechanical waves for elastic characterization of tissues. In this paper, we propose the use of spatial deformation spreading (SDS) on the surface of samples produced by air-pulse stimulation for the OCE of transverse isotropic tissues. Experiments in isotropic tissue-mimicking phantoms and anisotropic chicken tibialis muscle were conducted using a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography system synchronized with a confocal air-pulse stimulation. SDS measurements were compared with wave speeds values calculated at different propagation angles. We found an approximately linear relationship between shear wave speed and SDS in isotropic phantoms, which was confirmed with predictions made by the numerical integration of a wave propagation model. Experimental measurements in chicken muscle show a good agreement between SDS and surface wave speed taken along and across the axis of symmetry of the tissues, also called degree of anisotropy. In summary, these results demonstrated the capabilities of SDS produced by the air-pulse technique in measuring the shear elastic anisotropy of transverse isotropic tissues.
Barrier Layers in a High‐Resolution Model in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

This study examines salinity barrier layers (BLs) in the eastern tropical North Pacific (ETP) in the region of the SPURS-2 (Salinity Processes in the Upper ocean Regional Studies – 2) field campaig...
Avoidance Behaviors of Exporters and Importers: Evidence from the U.S.-China Trade Data Discrepancy

Since the late 1990s, reported U.S. imports from China and Hong Kong have regularly and increasingly exceeded reported exports of China and Hong Kong to the United States. This discrepancy, which is not caused by re-exporting through Hong Kong, varies by product categories, and in some cases takes the opposite sign. In this paper, we focus on China's direct exports to the United States, and find strong statistical evidence of underreporting exports at Chinese border to avoid paying value-added tax (VAT). There is also indirect evidence of transfer pricing (i.e. overreporting at U.S. border to avoid higher U.S. corporate income tax for U.S. based multi-nationals) and avoidance of Chinese capital controls (i.e. money-laundering). We also provide evidence that tariff evasion at the U.S. border tends to take the form of underreporting unit values for differentiated products.
The double burden of malnutrition in Peru: An update with a focus on social inequities

BACKGROUND The decrease in stunting in Peru is seen as a "success story" in the fight against malnutrition; however, the parallel increase in obesity has often been ignored. OBJECTIVE To investigate trends in the double burden of malnutrition (i.e., the coexistence of stunting and overweight/obesity) in Peru compared with trends in household food expenditures by family socioeconomic status and urban/rural residency. METHODS Using Peruvian nationally representative surveys, we analyzed stunting (children aged 0-5 y) and overweight/obesity (women aged 18-49 y) trends between 1992 and 2017, as well as trends in household energy consumption from healthy and unhealthy foods between 2001 and 2017 by education, income, participation in the Juntos cash-transfer program, and urban/rural residency. Joinpoint software was used for all trends analyses. RESULTS Overall, stunting decreased and obesity increased among all social groups between 1992 and 2017. Inequities in stunting by income and urban/rural residency widened over time. From 1992 to 2017, urban stunting prevalence decreased at an average annual percent change (AAPC) of -4.5% (SE = 0.27%, P < 0.0001), whereas rural stunting prevalence decreased at a lower AAPC of -2.6% (SE = 0.30%, P < 0.0001). On the contrary, inequities in obesity narrowed as obesity prevalence among women from the extremely poor group and those living in rural areas increased at a faster rate than that of their counterparts. Rural obesity prevalence increased at an AAPC of 8.5% (SE = 1.14%, P < 0.0001), whereas urban obesity prevalence increased at an AAPC of 2.0% (SE = 0.25%, P < 0.0001). Increases in energy consumption from unhealthy foods were observed along with decreases in energy consumption from healthy foods in most social groups. CONCLUSION The prevalence of stunting and obesity is high in Peru. The need for multisectoral interventions addressing both ends of the malnutrition spectrum, particularly among disadvantaged groups to avoid further widening of social inequities, is warranted.
X-Band Miniature Filters Using Lithium Niobate Acoustic Resonators and Bandwidth Widening Technique

This work presents a class of micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-driven radio frequency filters in the X-band. The X-band center frequencies are achieved by resorting to the third-order antisymmetric Lamb wave mode (A3) in a 650-nm-thick Z-cut lithium niobate thin film. A novel bandwidth (BW) widening technique based on using the self-inductance of the top interdigital transducers and bus lines is proposed to overcome the limitations set by the electromechanical coupling ( ${k} _{t}^{2}$ ) and satisfy the demands in miniaturization and wide BW. Four different designs of the filters are designed and fabricated to show the trade-off among BW, insertions loss (IL), out-of-band rejections, and footprint. Due to the spurious-free and high- ${Q}$ performance of the A3 lithium niobate resonators, the fabricated A3 lithium niobate filters have demonstrated small in-band ripples and sharp roll-offs. One of these fabricated has demonstrated a 3-dB BW of 190 MHz, an IL of 1.5 dB, and a compact footprint of 0.56 mm2. Another design is fabricated to demonstrate a 3-dB BW of 170 MHz, an IL of 2.5 dB, an out-of-band rejection of 28 dB, and a compact footprint of 1 mm2.
Chromatin remodeling by the histone methyltransferase EZH2 drives lung pre-malignancy and is a target for cancer prevention

Trimethylation of lysine 27 and dimethylation of lysine 9 of histone-H3 catalyzed by the histone methyltransferases EZH2 and G9a impede gene transcription in cancer. Our human bronchial epithelial (HBEC) pre-malignancy model studied the role of these histone modifications in transformation. Tobacco carcinogen transformed HBEC lines were characterized for cytosine DNA methylation, transcriptome reprogramming, and the effect of inhibiting EZH2 and G9a on the transformed phenotype. The effects of targeting EZH2 and G9a on lung cancer prevention was assessed in the A/J mouse lung tumor model. Carcinogen exposure induced transformation and DNA methylation of 12–96 genes in the four HBEC transformed (T) lines that was perpetuated in malignant tumors. In contrast, 506 unmethylated genes showed reduced expression in one or more HBECTs with many becoming methylated in tumors. ChIP-on-chip for HBEC2T identified 327 and 143 genes enriched for H3K27me3 and H3K9me2. Treatment of HBEC2T and HBEC13T with DZNep, a lysine methyltransferase inhibitor depleted EZH2, reversed transformation, and induced transcriptional reprogramming. The EZH2 small molecule inhibitor EPZ6438 also affected transformation and expression in HBEC2T, while a G9a inhibitor, UNC0642 was ineffective. Genetic knock down of EZH2 dramatically reduced carcinogen-induced transformation of HBEC2. Only DZNep treatment prevented progression of hyperplasia to adenomas in the NNK mouse lung tumor model through reducing EZH2 and affecting the expression of genes regulating cell growth and invasion. These studies demonstrate a critical role for EZH2 catalyzed histone modifications for premalignancy and its potential as a target for chemoprevention of lung carcinogenesis.
Deconstructing the Covid Vaccination Shell Game

This paper contrasts the smooth distribution of vaccinations for the annual flu against the contentious and clumsy distribution for vaccinations against Covid-19. I use this comparison to gain insight into the properties of markets and politics as vehicles for organizing human activity. The differing experiences with flu and Covid emerge as a straightforward implication of some sharp differences between market and political processes. In short, market processes promote rectitude among the participants and their transactions because those processes require agreement between buyers and sellers. In contrast, political processes are accompanied by rampant prevarication because those processes operate through forming coalitions, which leads those processes to resemble carnival shell games.
k-Wiener index of a k-plex

A k-plex is a hypergraph with the property that each subset of a hyperedge is also a hyperedge and each hyperedge contains at most $$k+1$$ vertices. We introduce a new concept called the k-Wiener index of a k-plex as the summation of k-distances between every two hyperedges of cardinality k of the k-plex. The concept is different from the Wiener index of a hypergraph which is the sum of distances between every two vertices of the hypergraph. We provide basic properties for the k-Wiener index of a k-plex. Similarly to the fact that trees are the fundamental 1-dimensional graphs, k-trees form an important class of k-plexes and have many properties parallel to those of trees. We provide a recursive formula for the k-Wiener index of a k-tree using its property of a perfect elimination ordering. We show that the k-Wiener index of a k-tree of order n is bounded below by $$2 {1+(n-k)k \atopwithdelims ()2} - (n-k) {k+1 \atopwithdelims ()2} $$ and above by $$k^2 {n-k+2 \atopwithdelims ()3} - (n-k){k \atopwithdelims ()2}$$ . The bounds are attained only when the k-tree is a k-star and a k-th power of path, respectively. Our results generalize the well-known results that the Wiener index of a tree of order n is bounded between $$(n-1)^2$$ and $${n+1 \atopwithdelims ()3}$$ , and the lower bound (resp., the upper bound) is attained only when the tree is a star (resp., a path) from 1-dimensional trees to k-dimensional trees.
Is Kissing a Bellwether of Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

In this study we explored how the amount of kissing during the most recent sexual experience (specific kissing) and amount of kissing during the last year (global kissing) were both associated with the quality of the sexual relationship and overall relationship satisfaction and dissatisfaction. To understand these associations, we obtained surveys from a national sample of 878 participants who had been in a romantic relationship for at least two years. We evaluated their results through a structural equation model and found that for women the rates of specific kissing were associated with their ability to orgasm, sexual frequency, and indirectly to sexual satisfaction. For both men and women, measures of global kissing were associated with both sexual and relationship satisfaction but more strongly with measures of sexual and relationship dissatisfaction. These findings suggest that measures of kissing could be used as a bellwether of both the quality of the sexual relationship for women and of feelings of dissatisfaction about both the sexual and overall relationship for both sexes.
The Influence of Moral Intuitions on Americans' Divergent Reactions to Reports of Sexual Assault and Harassment.

Drawing on insights from moral psychology, we examine the influence of moral intuitions on Americans’ divergent reactions to reports of sexual assault and harassment. We hypothesize that Americans ...
Content Management System - Intelligent Machine Translation through Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Mechanism

Machine translation – being an emerging innovation, has brought a change in the area of overall translation. Mainly, MT has evolved through three phases that include dictionary-based machine translation to computer-aided translation, and finally to neural machine translation supported by AI as its main technology lately. Albeit, NMT in the era of AI has made a significant leap forwards in machine translation. Various translation issues are a long way from being totally solved. Language continues to be varying and changing with respect to context and dialect. In the time of artificial intelligence, systems with adaptive mechanisms working simultaneously with humans will deliver translation content with high proficiency and better quality. There is a discussion that it’s about time that the present human translation got unessential or redundant. All things considered; human defects are consistently taken care of by their own developments. With the utilization of neural networks in machine translation, it’s been ensured that adaptive frameworks would now be able to understand at standard with human translators. In any case, AI is still not without issues related to the training of a language, leave alone the intricacies and difficulties of translation. Given the variety of language patterns and societies they address, their handling by smart machines, even with artificial intelligence abilities, with human productivity looks deeply far-fetched. Machine translation is a significant sub-field of NLP that intends to understand normal dialects utilizing computers and adaptive systems. Lately, neural machine translation (NMT) has turned out to be extraordinarily progressive and emerged as the new standard in real-world MT frameworks. In this paper, we initially give an expansive survey of the strategies for NMT and highlight the techniques related to structures, decoding, and data analysis to support efficient content translation. After that, we sum up the major resources and tools that are valuable for experts. At last, we finish up with a conclusion and discussion of potential future pathways.
ITSIM: A Nonlinear 2D — 1D Thermal Simulator

iTSIM1 is a nonlinear thermal simulator initially designed to study the power profile sensitivity to major IC thermal parameters. The program is contained in 15 source files written in the C language and is provided with a makefile to compile it and install the executable binary that runs under a UNIX operating system.
Hamlet, as Wittgenstein, in Iceland

Snails are the Braille word for grandfather clock If an Autumnambulist wobbles, holes are drilled into the earth until comets boil out Tulip bulbs are set in box-traps to bait sunlight There are no trains in Iceland Umlauts can be used as currency or to embellish cows The winter dead are fed into the blowholes of walking whales In Thermidor, blooming codes are carved into seeds Vicepers swallow sleepers feet first, when their fangs reach a chin, day begins Highways are rerouted to avoid disturbing rocks where stones breed
Long-Term Performance of a Constructed Wetland for Metal Removal

Constructed wetlands have the ability to economically remove pollutants from water and retain them in sediment. This paper describes the long-term performance of a constructed wetland for metal removal, including the efficiency of metal removal, and the retention of metals in the wetland sediment. It is based on four years of data collected from the A-01 wetland treatment system, a surface flow wetland planted with Schoenoplectus californicus (giant bulrush). The system is designed to remove Cu and other metals from the A-01 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) outfall effluent at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, SC. Copper, Zn, and Pb concentrations in water were usually reduced 60 to 80% during passage through the A-01 treatment system. Most of the metal removed by the wetland cells was accumulated in the two top layers of the substrate; i.e., the floc and organic layers. This gradient was strongly correlated with percent organic matter, pH, and the concentration of all metals. The...
Navigating the Path of the Supreme Appointment

Nominees to the Supreme Court historically boasted political backgrounds as congressmen, governors, cabinet members, presidential advisors, and even a former president. But over the last four decades, the successful nominees all were sitting judges or held posts with a close institutional relationship to the Supreme Court. Scholars have described this new norm, but have had difficulty explaining the cause for the shift. This article provides that explanation.The answer lies in the steady expansion of public participation in the confirmation process and the public's present conception of the judicial role. Confirmation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was a partisan political affair, with little opportunity for public input. But after the Seventeenth Amendment made senators accountable to citizens, the Senate began to open the process to public scrutiny and debate. As a result, the public became an important institutional actor in the confirmation process, with senators ignoring constituent opinion at their peril.As the Supreme Court's decisions in the mid-twentieth century impacted daily life and resolved social identity issues more frequently, public involvement expanded. While the public has minimal familiarity with the outcomes of the judicial process, there is a shared conception of the background experience and qualifications necessary to ensure that the judicial craft is distinct from the ugly game of politics. This ideal views jurists as fair, open-minded, impartial, and nonpartisan decisionmakers owing allegiance to the Constitution and the rule of law, not their own personal values or political or jurisprudential beliefs. Appropriate background experience in judging or similar decisionmaking aids the public legitimacy of both the nominee and the role of the Court in interpreting the Constitution. This conclusion is confirmed by both public opinion surveys and case studies of the Kagan, Sotomayor, Alito, Miers, Roberts, Breyer, Ginsburg, Thomas, and Bork nominations.
Policy Management and the Sharing of Data

This chapter describes the need to provide a common representation of information. It emphasizes the fact that an information model is a powerful means to express objects, their semantics, and the interaction that an object has with other objects, in a common way. The model is organized as a set of layered models; each aimed at a particular abstraction layer as defined by a policy continuum. This ensures that all users of policy can deal with common terminology and concepts and can relate their definitions and data to other information in the managed environment. As with models, a continuum of languages is required to enable different users of the policy continuum to define objects and policies at appropriate levels of abstraction. A data dictionary is defined, which ensures that all of the metadata and semantics of each entity are appropriately captured. It can also be used to map among different synonyms or aliases that different users of the policy continuum give to the same entity in the policy continuum. This combination of models, languages, and a data dictionary enables a policy-based network management (PBNM) system to cope with difficult problems.
Nexus between financial and technology inclusion, remittances and trade openness vis - à - vis growth: a study of Nepal

Using the ARDL Bounds approach to cointegration, we explore the role of financial services, information and communications technology, remittance inflows and export liberalisation in Nepal over the periods 1975-2010 (36 years). The results show that financial development, ICT, remittance inflows and openness are instrumental in improving income level both in the longrun. Positive outcomes are also noted in the short-run with exception of negative lagged effects. Consequently, besides the need for stable macroeconomic policies and effective institutional structures, policies need to be focused on: greater financial and technology integration, investment in and integration of technology and innovation across sectors, encouraging greater remittance inflows through with proper labour mobility schemes, export promotion strategies not only addressing supply side constraints but also strengthening trade partnership at regional and international level. The Economic Journal of Nepal, Vol. 34, No. 1, January - March 2011 (Issue N0. 133) Uploaded date: 3/27/2014
Changing Intellectual Property and Corporate Legal Structures to Promote the U.S. Environmental Management and Technology Systems Industry

This Article posits that for the U.S. environmental management and technology industry to enjoy success comparable to that of the biotechnology and semiconductor industries requires critical examination of current law to enable market-based and regulatory incentives, which would position U.S. industry to compete with equal strength against global competitors in global markets. This Article explains that the legal community, along with the environmental science and engineering disciplines, must guide both growth and market dominance of this industry in the global marketplace. The Article examines three areas of the law critical to the U.S. Environmental Technology Management System (EMTS) industry - intellectual property, tax, and corporate law - and provides examples of how corporate and governmental lawyers can employ current law, absent any new major legislative initiatives, to promote the U.S. EMTS industry to global success and predominance on par with the commercial success of the U.S. semiconductor and biotechnology industries.
Modeling Linear Trends in Audit Fees

This study uses repeated-measures ANOVA design to examine linear trends in audit fees of US companies. Audit fee trends are analyzed across the effects of regulatory oversight, accelerated or non-accelerated SOX filing status, and time (2002–2009). Accelerated filers showed stronger positive linear trends than did non-accelerated filers for the entire eight-year period. However, non-accelerated companies showed stronger positive linear trends than did accelerated companies during the latter four-year period (2006–2009). We attribute this result to additional audit work required in the earlier four-year period (2002–2005) by accelerated companies to meet the requirements of SOX 404 during the earlier period. We attribute the slowing trend in the latter four-year period to the increasing maturity of the internal control systems for accelerated companies as well as changes in auditing standards that allowed auditors to more efficiently allocate auditing resources based on audit risk for these accelerated firms.
Large grains of InP and CdTe on recrystallized CdS substrates

Thin films (∼1 mm) of large‐grained (∼40 mm×∼40 mm) InP were epitaxially deposited on low‐cost recrystallized CdS substrates at 280 °C by planar reactive deposition. Large grains of CdTe (∼40 mm) were also deposited on similar substrates at 460 °C by physical vapor deposition. Typically, the recrystallized CdS grain size is about 40 mm. However, grains with dimensions up to 300 mm were observed.
"We don't make widgets here". Voices of chief nurse executives.

In a rapidly changing healthcare environment, the leadership behavior of chief nurse executives is essential to the organizations they manage. The author describes the leadership behavior of a group of female nurse executives who share perspectives on their life/career development. Themes discussed are progressive leadership and power, transformational leadership, cyclic mentorship, macro-organizational perspective, and competition and achievement.
Identification and analysis of conserved sequence motifs in cytochrome P450 family 2. Functional and structural role of a motif 187RFDYKD192 in CYP2B enzymes.

Using a multiple alignment of 175 cytochrome P450 (CYP) family 2 sequences, 20 conserved sequence motifs (CSMs) were identified with the program PCPMer. Functional importance of the CSM in CYP2B enzymes was assessed from available data on site-directed mutants and genetic variants. These analyses suggested an important role of the CSM 8, which corresponds to187RFDYKD192 in CYP2B4. Further analysis showed that residues 187, 188, 190, and 192 have a very high rank order of conservation compared with 189 and 191. Therefore, eight mutants (R187A, R187K, F188A, D189A, Y190A, K191A, D192A, and a negative control K186A) were made in an N-terminal truncated and modified form of CYP2B4 with an internal mutation, which is termed 2B4dH/H226Y. Function was examined with the substrates 7-methoxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin (7-MFC), 7-ethoxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin (7-EFC), 7-benzyloxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin (7-BFC), and testosterone and with the inhibitors 4-(4-chlorophenyl)imidazole (4-CPI) and bifonazole (BIF). Compared with the template and K186A, the mutants R187A, R187K, F188A, Y190A, and D192A showed ≥2-fold altered substrate specificity, kcat, Km, and/or kcat/Km for 7-MFC and 7-EFC and 3- to 6-fold decreases in differential inhibition (IC50,BIF/IC50,4-CPI). Subsequently, these mutants displayed 5-12 °C decreases in thermal stability (Tm) and 2-8 °C decreases in catalytic tolerance to temperature (T50) compared with the template and K186A. Furthermore, when R187A and D192A were introduced in CYP2B1dH, the P450 expression and thermal stability were decreased. In addition, R187A showed increased activity with 7-EFC and decreased IC50,BIF/IC50,4-CPI compared with 2B1dH. Analysis of long range residue-residue interactions in the CYP2B4 crystal structures indicated strong hydrogen bonds involving Glu149-Asn177-Arg187-Tyr190 and Asp192-Val194, which were significantly-reduced/abolished by the Arg187→Ala and Asp192→Alasubstitutions, respectively.
Independent paths and K5-subdivisions

A well-known theorem of Kuratowski states that a graph is planar iff it contains no subdivision of K"5 or K"3","3. Seymour conjectured in 1977 that every 5-connected nonplanar graph contains a subdivision of K"5. In this paper, we prove several results about independent paths (no vertex of a path is internal to another), which are then used to prove Seymour's conjecture for two classes of graphs. These results will be used in a subsequent paper to prove Seymour's conjecture for graphs containing K"4^-, which is a step in a program to approach Seymour's conjecture.
PLoS Pathogens at three years.

As PLoS Pathogens turns three, we are pleased to say that the publication is flourishing. A journal's overall health can be measured in numerous ways: high quality and breadth of the research; high citation counts of individual papers; solid submission numbers; rising impact factor; wide influence and robust discussion within the community; strong editorial leadership; rapid publishing speed; accessibility of research; and, in our case especially, an unwavering commitment to creativity and new facets of open-access (OA) publishing. In all of these areas, the journal has grown and gained strength in the past three years through the collaborative effort of the community, editorial board, and PLoS staff to produce a publication that is both innovative and integrative.
Impact of food processing on the glycemic index (GI) of potato products

Potatoes are one of the most popular carbohydrate foods in industrialized and some developing countries. However, contradicting arguments and misconceptions on potatoes as a high glycemic index (GI) food is directly affecting potato consumption during the past years. Potato varieties, maturity level, starch structure, food processing techniques and composition of the meal contribute to the GI of potatoes. Domestic boiling, baking, microwave cooking, oven cooking, extrusion and frying result in different degrees of gelatinization, and the crystallinity of starch in potato. French fried potatoes contain more resistant starch whereas boiled and mashed potatoes contribute to significant digestible starch. Extrusion processing conditions could affect the starch physicochemical structure and resulting nutritional value. Extrusion cooking makes more gelatinized starch than conventional cooking methods. Cooling or storing after processing of potatoes significantly reduces the GI due to retrogradation of starch molecules. This review provides a brief idea about the glycemic index, glycemic load, and their importance to human diseases, and detail information on the effect of food cooking methods on the glycemic index of potatoes.
Role of CD14 in hemorrhagic shock-induced alterations of the monocyte tumor necrosis factor response to endotoxin.

Objective : To determine if the shock-induced alterations in whole blood monocyte tumor necrosis factor (TNF) response are mediated by the CD14 receptor. Design : Prospective controlled animal experiments. Materials and Methods : New Zealand White rabbits (n = 15) were subjected to hemorrhage and resuscitation. Blood samples obtained before shock and 24, 72, and 120 hours after shock were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in the presence or absence of the anti-CD14 monoclonal antibody, 63D3. Tumor necrosis factor was assayed using L929 cells. Measurements and Main Results : There was no detectable TNF activity in unstimulated blood. The CD14 inhibition resulted in a 55% reduction in baseline TNF activity. After shock, there was a marked increase in TNF activity with lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Addition of 63D3 resulted in a dose-dependent 95% reduction in TNF activity at 24 and 72 hours after shock, (p < 0.05). Conclusion : The enhanced whole blood monocyte TNF response after hemorrhage is CD14 dependent.
Equilibrium Geometry and Properties Of Cyclo[(Gly-d-Ala)4] and {Cyclo[(Gly-d-Ala)4]}2 from Density Functional Theory

Cyclic peptides containing even numbers of alternating d- and l-amino acids adopt a symmetric ring structure with NH and CO amide functions approximately perpendicular to the average plane of the ring. This results in hydrogen-bonded, β-sheet like tubular ensembles by coaxial stacking of rings in which adjacent strands are oriented antiparallel to one another. Starting from a molecular mechanics minimum energy configuration having the C4 symmetry reported for similar structures, an optimized monomer geometry which retained that symmetry was obtained using density functional theory (DFT). The geometry of the monomer is quite similar to that of stable polypeptides and proteins and the calculated gas-phase harmonic vibrational frequencies are quantitatively reasonable. Two monomers were then brought together coaxially, with adjacent strands arranged antiparallel, creating a dimer of D4 symmetry. Dimer energy was then minimized with respect to ring separation along, and relative rotation of one ring with resp...
Fast development tools considered harmful

This article lays out an intentionally provocative case against modern fast software development tools. Modern compilers run in at most a few seconds when presented with programs of the size students typically encounter. Might this speed encourage programmers to program too much by trial and error? This article will argue that this may in fact be the case.
EARLY ANTECEDENTS OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVENESS AND REACTIVITY CONTROL

The antecedents of the degree of emotional responsiveness and reactivity control which characterize the child at successive periods of childhood and adolescence are sought in factors present between birth and age 4. Both the family milieu and the behavior of the very young child are investigated. The results indicate that there is considerable linkage between early factors and the child's later behavior. Different patterns of associations are found for the 2 sexes and at different developmental periods, suggesting that the meaning of the later behaviors varies as a function of developmental stresses and demands characteristic of the time of assessment.