cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PHENANTHRENE SORPTION TO NONHYDROLYZABLE ORGANIC CARBONS (NHC) ISOLATED FROM SOILS AND SEDIMENTS

Three contaminated soils and six sediments were collected from the industrialized suburban areas of Guangzhou and the Pearl river estuary, South China, respectively. The nonhydrolyzable organic carbon(NHC)and black carbon(BC)in the samples were characterized by elemental analysis,and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(13C-NMR). The 13C-NMR spectrum for the isolated NHC consisted mainly of aliphatic and aromatic carbon. All the sorption isotherms for phenanthrene were nonlinear and were well fitted to the Freundlich model. The single-point organic carbon-normalized distribution coefficients(Koc)for the isolated NHC and BC fraction were significantly higher than those for the bulk samples at the same aqueous concentration of phenanthrene.The NHC fractions including BC played a dominant role to the overall sorption in the bulk samples.The bulk soils and their NHC fractions had lower sorption capacity than the bulk sediments and their NHC fractions, relating to the different source of organic matter between soils and sediments.
Structural reliability-based optimization design with confidence level

Based on Bayesian statistics theory and structural reliability-based optimization design,the paper presents a new reliability-based optimization design approach with confidence level that solves the form of finite test samples.The structural reliability was considered as a random variable,according to prior information and sample information,and the method adopted a Bayesian inference technique to get probability distribution of reliability,which gave point estimation and confidence level of Bayesian reliability.Structural reliability-based optimization model with confidence level was established and the structural reliability-based optimization approach with confidence level was proposed.The new research approach and new direction for structure reliabilitybased design in small-sample situation are provided.The numerical results illustrate the method presented is an efficient and accurate structural reliability-based optimization approach with confidence level.
Impaired Ca2+ handling is an early manifestation of pressure-overload hypertrophy in rat hearts

Both cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) decline and myocardial relaxation are slowed in severe hypertrophy and heart failure. However, it is not certain whether this occurs in mild to moderate hypertrophy. Therefore, we tested the hypotheses that slowing of [Ca2+]i decline 1) occurs in mild to moderate hypertrophy, 2) occurs in the absence of slowed relaxation, and 3) is related to the degree of hypertrophy. Experiments were performed on isolated rat hearts subjected to pressure overload. Indo 1 fluorescence was used as an index of [Ca2+]i. [Ca2+]i decline and myocardial relaxation were assessed by the time constant of exponential [Ca2+]i decline (tau Ca) and left ventricular (LV) pressure decline (tau p), respectively. Mean tau Ca was significantly increased in hearts from banded rats compared with sham-operated rats (59 +/- 13 vs. 45 +/- 5 ms, P = 0.03). In contrast, there was no difference in mean tau p (28 +/- 3 vs. 29 +/- 5 ms, P = not significant). There was a linear relationship between tau Ca and LV dry weight (r = 0.79). In summary, slowing of the [Ca2+]i transient decline occurred in mild to moderate hypertrophy. However, LV relaxation was unaffected. Furthermore, slowing of the [Ca2+]i transient decline was closely related to the degree of LV hypertrophy. These data suggest that slowing of [Ca2+]i decline is an early manifestation of pressure-overload hypertrophy that precedes slowing of relaxation.
Marramao’s Kairós : The Space of “Our” Time in the Time of Cosmic Disorientation

Giacomo Marramao, Kairos: Towards an Ontology of ‘‘Due Time.’’ Trans. Philip Larrey and Silvia Cattaneo. The Davies Group Publishers, Aurora, CO, 2007, 90 pp + xii Time represents, ‘‘from time immemorial, one of the main themes of Western metaphysics and philosophical speculation’’ (p. 39)—thus claims Italian philosopher Giacomo Marramao in a book that, because of the interdisciplinary approach it takes, the variety of interlocutors it addresses, the ground it covers, and the meditations it develops, should actually be of great interest to a larger public than a uniquely philosophical readership. In this sense, not only philosophers but also anthropologists, social scientist, cultural critics, literary theorists, scholars of rhetoric, theologians, and even physicists and evolutionary biologists among others are sure to find reasons for excitement in the translation of this work. More fundamentally, though, the intrigue of time, its nature and meaning are questions that, at least once in their life (normally at times of birth or death) puzzle the mind of all human beings. In this sense, Marramao’s book can be of interest to everyone. Yet, despite the universal encounter with time, there seems to be a fundamental discrepancy, or at least an ambiguity, between the daily experience of time and its representations. ‘‘What is ... time? If nobody asks me, I know; if I must explain it to those who question me, I do not know.’’ Thus writes Augustine in the Confessions (Bk. IX, chapter 14), identifying with incredible clarity the paradox of time to which Marramao’s short but important book is devoted. What constitutes the ‘‘temporal paradox’’ (p. 39) that Augustine first articulates so poignantly? According to Marramao’s formulation, the paradox is given by ‘‘the intertwinement of natural and enigmatic, obvious and inexplicable’’ so that, in the end, time can be properly described as ‘‘a familiar stranger’’ (p. 39). It is such a familiar stranger that Kairos
Road to Senior Management

The journeys of our lives offer many opportunities for us to pause a while, look back and ask ourselves what are the factors, both within us and without, which have affected our progress and given rise to unmistakeable outcomes. This book is the record of a search for certain keys to making sense of the jigsaw puzzle of our life stories, a record to help readers take control in planning their own itinerary, although we must never forget that it will be the details of their own lives which will set the final pieces of that puzzle in place.
Introduction: If Elián Were Black?

This chapter is designed to draw the reader into the conceptual origins of the book using firsthand experience. As the son of “white” Cuban exiles, the conventional narrative about Cuban immigration to the USA has often been written in my favor (or from a white, privileged perspective), with romantic, rose-colored glasses void of any critical intra-group race-centered perspectives. Here I invoke a reflexive approach, taking the reader to my short time in Cuba as a visiting Master’s degree student in early 2000 amidst the Elian Gonzalez international custody debacle, when a revealing bus stop conversation inspired me to explore how racial identities have been constructed in the Miami Cuban ethnic enclave and as to how they are related to disparate economic realities of Cubans based on race. I briefly explain the salience of this book, its overall contribution to the vast immigration literature, and describe the methodology and the organizational path (chapter summaries) for the rest of the book.
Measurement of Field Strength Attenuation in the Near Field

The problem of predicting the relationship of the electric and magnetic field components i n the near field t o those i n the far field i s of particular interest in RFI investigations. The authors have recently had the opportunity to make experimental measurements of the rate of attenuation of electric and magnetic fields from the near to the far field at a number of different frequencies. The resulting data are presented herein together with a comparison to the theoretical attenuation of the field of an elementary radiator. The data have application in RFI work a s a n aid for evaluating interference problems and estimating the effectiveness of radiation suppression measures.
Quality through design: A Six Sigma approach

The terms Lean and Six Sigma are often heard within an organization in regards to improving the quality of products coming off the manufacturing floor. Changes in company culture that embrace continuous improvement are necessary for Lean and Six Sigma to work properly.
Children's Stories & the Quantum Administrator

This article examines the analogous relation between children's literature and the complex (quantum and chaotic) world of public administration. Public policy and public administration interact with every aspect in our lives and leave their mark on how we perceive reality. One of the formats that express these realities is children's literature. Through the narratives of children's literature, we reflect our experiences and conscious outlooks toward life. Children's literature is a fertile arena for our interactions with the world, and it bridges our past, present and future by extending itself beyond time and place, enabling us to understand and reflect on the complex world in which we live. By understanding children's literature through the complexity lenses of chaos and quantun theories, we are able to liberate ourselves from the artificial constraints imposed on us by the mundane adulthood, and return once again with the same energy and curiosity to questioning the world.
A Kinetic Model to Describe the Bidirectional Motility of Dimeric Molecular Motors

Highly processive molecular motors travel long distances on cytoskeletal filaments by consistently moving in one direction without detaching and frequently dimerize to reduce their rate of dissociation. Gating: the mechanism by which the two heads coordinate stepping can be either biochemical, kinetic differences between the leading and trailing head, or mechanical, increased likelihood of rebinding forward. We present a kinetic model which relates step size, run length, velocity, and fraction of backwards steps to the relevant reaction rates including both biochemical and mechanical gating parameters.
Shifting Discourses in Teacher Education: Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher.

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the co-construction of the Bilingual teacher as advocate among preservice Bilingual teachers, through the use of narratives drawn from actual stories of Bilingual teachers, by means of drama-based pedagogy inspired by Theater of the Oppressed techniques. This study uses critical discourse analysis and Bakhtinian intertextuality to analyze how preservice Bilingual teachers shifted the discourse, moving from discussing issues pertaining to Bilingual education, such as race and immigration, from the outside to from the middle, situating themselves as protagonists of the conflict. The improvisational nature of the performances, owing to the use of drama-based techniques, allowed the participants to explore critical issues, develop their stance toward issues of immigration and racism, and rehearse their identities as advocates.
On the Necessity of Fine-Tuned Convolutional Neural Networks for Medical Imaging

This study aims to address two central questions. First, are fine-tuned convolutional neural networks (CNNs) necessary for medical imaging applications? In response, we considered four medical vision tasks from three different medical imaging modalities, and studied the necessity of fine-tuned CNNs under varying amounts of training data. Second, to what extent the knowledge is to be transferred? In response, we proposed a layer-wise fine-tuning scheme to examine how the extent or depth of fine-tuning contributes to the success of knowledge transfer. Our experiments consistently showed that the use of a pre-trained CNN with adequate fine-tuning outperformed or, in the worst case, performed as well as a CNN trained from scratch. The performance gap widened when reduced training sets were used for training and fine-tuning. Our results further revealed that the required level of fine-tuning differed from one application to another, suggesting that neither shallow tuning nor deep tuning may be the optimal choice for a particular application. Layer-wise fine-tuning may offer a practical way to reach the best performance for the application at hand based on the amount of available data. We conclude that knowledge transfer from natural images is necessary and that the level of tuning should be chosen experimentally.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Two Kingdoms, and Protestant Social Thought Today

Last century's Protestant consensus on the rejection of natural law has been questioned in recent decades, but Protestant social thought still has much work to do in order to articulate a coherent and cogent witness to contemporary realities. The doctrine of the two kingdoms has been put forward as a model for advancing the discussion, and while there is much to be learned from such a doctrine, its excesses ought to be avoided, just as the excesses of a transformationlist ethic ought to be avoided as well. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor and theologian, is put forward as an example of a modern Protestant thinker with much to offer towards the advancement of Protestant social thought today, particularly with regard to his perspectives on the two kingdoms, natural law, and the divine ethical mandates (marriage, work, government, and church).
Overexpression of SOX11 and TFE3 in Solid-Pseudopapillary Neoplasms of the Pancreas.

Objectives To characterize the expression of SOX11 and TFE3 proteins in solid-pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) and their histologic mimickers. Methods Immunohistochemistry for SOX11, TFE3, and β-catenin was performed on 31 cases of surgically resected SPNs. Neuroendocrine tumors, acinar cell carcinomas, and pancreatoblastomas served as controls. Results Nuclear immunoreactivity for SOX11 was detected in all SPNs and five of 31 control tumors. Nuclear immunoreactivity for TFE3 was detected in 30 SPNs and three control tumors. Nuclear immunoreactivity for β-catenin was detected in all SPNs and four control tumors. The combination of three markers as immunohistochemical panels resulted in optimal sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions Both SOX11 and TFE3 were overexpressed in SPNs and may be involved in the pathogenesis. Clinically, SOX11 and TFE3 can be potentially used as diagnostic markers in distinguishing indeterminate SPNs from their histologic mimickers.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Contaminated Ice Machines Are a Potential Source for Dissemination of Gram-Negative Bacteria and Candida Species in Healthcare Facilities

BACKGROUND Contaminated ice machines have been linked to transmission of pathogens in healthcare facilities. OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and sites of contamination of ice machines in multiple healthcare facilities and to investigate potential mechanisms of microorganism dispersal from contaminated ice machines to patients. DESIGN Multicenter culture survey and simulation study. SETTING The study took place in 5 hospitals and 2 nursing homes in northeastern Ohio. METHODS We cultured multiple sites on ice machines from patient care areas. To investigate potential mechanisms of microbial dispersal from contaminated ice machines, we observed the use of ice machines and conducted simulations using a fluorescent tracer and cultures. RESULTS Samples from 64 ice machines in the 5 hospitals and 2 nursing homes (range, 3-16 per facility) were cultured. Gram-negative bacilli and/or Candida spp were recovered from 100% of drain pans, 52% of ice and/or water chutes, and 72% of drain-pan grilles. During the operation of ice machines, ice often fell through the grille, resulting in splattering, with dispersal of contaminated water from the drain pan to the drain-pan grille, cups, and the hands of those using the ice machine. Contamination of the inner surface of the ice chute resulted in contamination of ice cubes exiting the chute. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrate that ice machines in healthcare facilities are often contaminated with gram-negative bacilli and Candida species, and provide a potential mechanism by which these organisms may be dispersed. Effective interventions are needed to reduce the risk of dissemination of pathogenic organisms from ice machines. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:253-258.
An Analysis and Empirical Study of Container Networks

Containers, a form of lightweight virtualization, provide an alternative means to partition hardware resources among users and expedite application deployment. Compared to virtual machines (VMs), containers incur less overhead and allow a much higher consolidation ratio. Container networking, a vital component in container-based virtualization, is still not well understood. Many techniques have been developed to provide connectivity between containers on a single host or across multiple machines. However, there lacks an in-depth analysis of their respective advantages, limitations, and performance in a cloud environment. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study of representative container networks. We first conduct a qualitative comparison of their applicable scenarios, levels of security isolation, and overhead. Then we quantitatively evaluate the throughput, latency, scalability, and startup cost of various container networks in a realistic cloud environment. We find that virtualized network in containers incurs non-negligible overhead compared to physical networks. Performance degradation varies depending on the type of network protocol and packet size. Our experiments show that there is no clear winner in performance and users need to select an appropriate container network based on the requirements and characteristics of their workloads.
Assessing psychological inflexibility in university students: Development and validation of the acceptance and action questionnaire for university students (AAQ-US)

Abstract This study sought to develop and validate a domain-specific measure of psychological inflexibility for university students, the acceptance and action questionnaire for university students (AAQ-US). Generic versions of the AAQ tend to not be as sensitive to changes in campus-specific functioning —a key outcome of interest in this population. An online survey was conducted with 425 undergraduate students. Psychometric analyses led to the refinement of a 12-item, single factor scale with strong internal consistency. Evidence for convergent validity was found with moderate to large correlations between the AAQ-US and measures of academic outcomes, mental health, and psychological inflexibility. The AAQ-US was a stronger predictor of academic outcomes than the AAQ-II (a general measure of psychological inflexibility) whereas the AAQ-II was more strongly related to mental health outcomes than the AAQ-US. Incremental validity for the AAQ-US was found for predicting both academic and mental health outcomes while controlling for the AAQ-II, though effects were stronger for academic outcomes. Overall, results indicate that the AAQ-US is a reliable and valid measure of psychological inflexibility among university students and may be particularly relevant in the context of academic outcomes.
Dual regulation of decorin by androgen and Hedgehog signaling during prostate morphogenesis

Background Prostate ductal branching morphogenesis involves a complex spatiotemporal regulation of cellular proliferation and remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) around the developing ducts. Decorin (Dcn) is a small leucine-rich proteoglycan known to sequester several growth factors and to act as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer. Results Dcn expression in the developing prostate paralleled branching morphogenesis and was dynamically regulated by androgen and Hedgehog (Hh) signaling. DCN colocalized with collagen in the periductal stroma and acellular interstitium. Exogenous DCN decreased epithelial proliferation in ex vivo organ cultures of developing prostate, whereas genetic ablation of Dcn resulted in increased epithelial proliferation in the developing prostate. Conclusions Dcn expression and localization in the developing prostate is consistent with a primary role in organizing collagen around the developing ducts. Regulation of Dcn expression appears to be complex, involving both androgen and Hh signaling. The growth inhibitory effect of Dcn suggests a unique linkage between a structural proteoglycan and epithelial growth regulation. This may serve to coordinate two elements of the morphogenetic process: ductal growth and organization of the collagen matrix around the nascent duct. Developmental Dynamics 247:679-685, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
“I think I sound stupid if I try to use those words”: The role of metapragmatic awareness in the study abroad language classroom

This study investigates the instructional treatment of Argentine Spanish vernacular (i.e., lunfardo), metapragmatic information about its use provided by instructors, and participants’ metapragmatic awareness of vernacular use in a second language (L2) Spanish study abroad (SA) classroom. The participants were 12 American undergraduate students taking Spanish courses at an SA institute in Argentina. The educators were eight university‐level instructors who were native speakers of Argentine Spanish. The analysis triangulates data from classroom observations, classroom materials, a language awareness test, and semi‐structured interviews with the participants. The results indicate that although the L2 instructors provided instruction on the use of vernacular, they appeared to do so without providing sufficient metapragmatic information for the students to understand and use vernacular competently in interactions with locals. The significance of a pedagogical focus on vernacular that begins predeparture and encourages active student participation is discussed.
Biolistic Transformation of Brugia Malayi

Biolistics has become a versatile tool for direct gene transfer to various cell and tissue types. Following its successful use on the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum, we developed and evaluated biolistics in the transfection of the model filarial parasite Brugia malayi. Biolistics was proven to be an efficient strategy for transfection of all life stages of the parasite and paved the way for studies on elements essential for promoter function and gene regulation of filarial parasites. Here we present a biolistics protocol for the transfection of B. malayi based on the Biolistics PDS 1000/He system and gold microcarriers.
Abstract 1193: Racial Differences in Coronary Artery Calcification Are Not Attributed to Differences in Lipoprotein Particle Sizes: The Heart Strategies Concentrating On Risk Evaluation (Heart SCORE) Study

Introduction: Lipoprotein particle levels and size distributions differ by race. As a group, blacks have less coronary artery calcification (CAC) than whites. However, the contribution of race-related differences in lipoprotein profiles to race-related differences in CAC is uncertain. Hypothesis: We evaluated whether racial differences in CAC are explained by differences in lipoprotein levels and particle sizes. Methods: 721 blacks and 988 whites underwent measurement of fasting lipoprotein levels and particle sizes. 608 subjects had CAC quantified by electron beam computed tomography. Distributions and interrelationships among lipoprotein levels, particle sizes, and CAC were evaluated by race and gender. Results: Blacks had modestly higher HDL cholesterol levels (males: 50.9 vs. 49.7 mg/dl; females: 62.7 vs. 61.2 mg/dl, p=0.05), lower IDL levels (females only: 16.9 vs. 18.3 mg/dl, p=0.02), and significantly lower triglyceride levels (males: 116.4 vs. 138.4 mg/dl; females: 102.7 vs. 135.7 mg/dl, p= 0.0001) than whites. Small dense LDL3 particle levels were significantly lower (p Conclusions: Blacks have less CAC and more favorable lipoprotein profiles than whites. Racial differences in CAC are not attributable to differences in lipoprotein particle sizes. Future studies of mechanisms of race-related differences in CAC may enhance understanding of the pathophysiology of racial differences in cardiovascular disease.
Educational Design Research to Support System-Wide Instructional Improvement

In this chapter, we describe a methodology for conducting educational design research to support system-wide instructional improvement in mathematics and draw on one of the few design studies that does this as an illustrative case. Design studies conducted at the level of an educational system are interventionist in nature, and can address both the complexity of educational settings and the problems that educational system leaders, school leaders, and teachers encounter as they work to improve the quality of classroom instruction, school instructional leadership, and ultimately, students’ mathematics learning. This chapter describes the theoretical background for this approach, in which the issue of what it takes to support instructional improvement on a large scale is framed as an explicit focus of empirical investigation.
Failure Analyses of Surgical Implants from the Human Body Can Improve Product and Performance Reliability

A relatively high measure of success is experienced today in the use of metal implants in the body. This success can be attributed to advanced metallurgical technology coupled with improved medical and surgical techniques. Ludwigson [1,2] has followed the history of metal implants and assigned several development periods: ancient times to 1875 when pure metals, copper, silver, and gold were used; from 1875 to 1925 when surgery and implantation became more successful; and finally the relatively current period from 1925 when more satisfactory results have been experienced with metals and alloys appropriately developed for such service. There are approximately 2,000,000 metal implants used in the United States today if we consider each pin and screw separately. The number of hip implants, the major joint replacement, is 50,000 per year in the United States alone [3].
Abstract # 3197 Stressful life events and inflammatory gene expression in the third trimester of pregnancy

Objectives. To test whether preconception and prenatal stress predicts inflammatory gene expression in a manner consistent with risk for inflammation-linked pregnancy complications, particularly preterm birth. Methods. Stressful life events that occurred over the previous year were assessed at 6 months preconception and during the third trimester of pregnancy in 116 women recruited from 5 US sites by the Community Child and Health Network. Third trimester dried blood spots were assayed for genome-wide transcriptional profiles using RNAseq. Bioinformatics analyses assessed activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factors adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, pre-pregnancy BMI and prenatal infection. Results. Women who had more than two prenatal stressful life events (high stress) had higher expression of a 19-gene pro-inflammatory composite score, b=.204 log2 mRNA ± SE.058, corresponding to 15% elevation, p=.003, compared to women with two or fewer (low stress). Bioinformatic analyses of 387 gene transcripts showing >1.5-fold difference in expression between high vs. low prenatal stress women implicated increased activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factors, NF-kB (2.28-fold ± .15-fold, p .073. Conclusions. Prenatal stress was associated with up-regulated inflammatory gene expression in the third trimester of pregnancy, but preconception stress was not. Such effects may represent one pathway by which stress might contribute to increased risk for inflammation-linked, adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth.
Highlights from the ATLAS Experiment

This report provides an overview of the new results obtained by the ATLAS Collaboration at the LHC, which were presented at the Quark Matter 2018 conference. These measurements were covered in 12 p ...
The Role of Community Data in Helping Public Libraries Reach and Serve Underserved Communities

Public libraries have recognized that children and families in underserved communities, who often need their services the most, are not coming into the library due to a variety of barriers. To reach and serve these children and families, libraries have been taking their programs and services out into community locations to meet families where they are. To do this effectively libraries need to collect data on these community groups to better understand their needs. Project LOCAL, an IMLS-funded grant that explored how libraries are going out into their communities to reach and serve families in underserved communities, found that libraries are collecting community data from a variety of sources to understand the needs of their communities. Furthermore, the libraries are using this community need data in the planning and development of their programs and services offered to these families.
Qualitative Quotes: The Prevalence and Effects of Survey Respondent Exemplars in Political News Coverage:

National newspapers regularly report on public opinion as part of their political coverage. In addition to covering aggregate survey trends, journalists occasionally conduct follow-up interviews wi...
2-[4-(2,6-Dimeth-oxy-phen-yl)but-yl]-1,3-dimeth-oxy-benzene.

The title compound, C20H26O4, crystallizes such that the alkyl chain adopts an all-anti conformation. The crystal packing displays edge-to-face arene–arene inter­actions with a dihedral angle of 87°. The complete molecule is generated by inversion symmetry.
Other Potential Functional Roles of ENOX Proteins

The principal functional roles of ENOX proteins are in plasma membrane electron transport, growth and cellular time keeping. Also implicated are involvements in cell cycle control, endomembrane function (membrane displacements and vesicle budding, endocytosis), lipid oxidation and atherogenesis, pH control, gametogenesis, life extension, calorie restriction, apoptosis and cell survival. Parallels between properties of prions and related amyloid-forming proteins and ENOX proteins raise the possibility of some relationship of ENOX proteins to neurodegenerative disorders and primitive forms of learning and memory. The potential involvement of protein disulfide-thiol interchange (protein disulfide isomerase) activities of ENOX or ENOX-like proteins in viral infection has been reported as well.
Stem cells: will they cure pediatric heart failure?

Purpose of reviewThe purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the state of cardiac regenerative medicine, including the unique opportunities and challenges in its application to pediatric patients.Recent findingsThere has been a rapid proliferation of clinical studies using stem cells in
A Full-Wireless Network Architecture Based on the Industrial Internet of Things Paradigm

The Industrial Internet of Things is currently gaining momentum in production plants as a way to efficiently support a number of functions, e.g., preventive maintenance. To this extent, a number of solutions have been proposed in the past few years, which typically rely on a layered approach.In this paper, a general-purpose architecture is presented for factory automation systems, which mimics the industrial networks used at the shop-floor. In particular, it relies on a modular structure for devices and protocols aimed at reducing implementation effort, so as to ease its adoption in real-world applications. A preliminary experimental testbed based on such architecture has been set up, and it operations verified.
The Effects of Recency and Numerical Uncertainty Estimates on Overcautiousness

AbstractThe four experiments reported here tested the impact of recent negative events on decision-making. Participants were given a virtual budget to spend on crops of varying costs and payoffs th...
Wave optics simulator for lasers in time-evolving turbulence

Atmospheric optical turbulence can be characterized as refractive index variations along a beam's propagation path due to local fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Turbulence randomly perturbs the wavefront of a beam traveling through the medium, leading to effects such as scintillation and beam wandering. Wave optics simulations use phase screens and Fourier techniques to accurately model phase change of light sources as they travel through turbulence. Georgia Tech Research Institute has enhanced the open-source wave optics toolbox known as WavePy to accurately simulate the propagation of a laser beam over a path length of time- evolving horizontal turbulence. The simulation tool incorporates an optimization routine designed to accept scenario parameters and return receiver and source plane sampling parameters that ensure accuracy and fidelity of the simulation output. This simulation tool is designed to minimize the potential for common faults of wave optics simulations, including: phase-wrapping of the atmospheric phase screens over time, energy loss of the beam over the propagation path, and aliasing of scintillation effects at the receiver plane. This simulator has applications towards informing the design of detectors that can accommodate the changing angle of divergence of the beam as it approaches the detector, which is an important consideration for systems such as laser beam rider missile guidance systems. Initial results towards modeling the effects of varying beam parameters and simulation conditions are presented and analyzed.
The Miner of Last Resort: Digital Currency, Shadow Money and the Role of the Central Bank

Cryptocurrency arose, and grew in popularity, following the financial crisis of 2008 built upon a promise of decentralizing money and payments. An examination of the history of money and banking the United States demonstrates that stable money benefits from strict controls and commitments by a centralized government through chartering restrictions and a broad safety net, rather than decentralization. In addition, financial crises happen when government allows money creation to occur outside of official channels. The U.S. central bank is then forced into a policy of supporting a range of money-like assets in order to maintain a grip on monetary policy and some semblance of financial stability. In addition, this chapter argues that cryptocurrency as a form of shadow money shares many of the problematic attributes of both the privately issued bank notes that created instability during the “free banking” era and the “shadow banking” activities that contributed to the 2008 crisis. In this sense, rather than being a novel and disruptive idea, cryptocurrency replicates many of the systemically destabilizing aspects of privately issued money and money-like instruments. This chapter proposes that, rather than allowing a new, digital “free banking” era to emerge, the better alternative is a public model. Specifically, it argues that the Federal Reserve should use its tools to improve public payment systems, enact robust utility-like regulations for private digital currencies, and limit the likelihood of bubbles using macroprudential measures.
Racial Differences in Perceived Food Swamp and Food Desert Exposure and Disparities in Self-Reported Dietary Habits

Both food swamps and food deserts have been associated with racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in obesity rates. Little is known about how the distribution of food deserts and food swamps relate to disparities in self-reported dietary habits, and health status, particularly for historically marginalized groups. In a national U.S. sample of 4305 online survey participants (age 18+), multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to assess by race and ethnicity the likelihood of living in a food swamp or food desert area. Predicted probabilities of self-reported dietary habits, health status, and weight status were calculated using the fitted values from ordinal or multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for relevant covariates. Results showed that non-Hispanic, Black participants (N = 954) were most likely to report living in a food swamp. In the full and White subsamples (N = 2912), the perception of residing in a food swamp/desert was associated with less-healthful self-reported dietary habits overall. For non-Hispanic Blacks, regression results also showed that residents of perceived food swamp areas (OR = 0.66, p < 0.01, 95% CI (0.51, 0.86)) had a lower diet quality than those not living in a food swamp/food desert area. Black communities in particular may be at risk for environment-linked diet-related health inequities. These findings suggest that an individual's perceptions of food swamp and food desert exposure may be related to diet habits among adults.
Defined Contribution Plans: Challenges and Opportunities for Plan Sponsors

American workers rely on their employers to provide a way to generate retirement income beyond their Social Security earnings. Many employers still offer traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans. A growing majority, however, have replaced DB plans with account-based defined contribution (DC) plans. Virtually everyone acknowledges that the basic DC plan design is flawed. Yet as a society with low private savings and a fraying Social Security system, we count on this imperfect structure to serve as a retirement security bulwark. Workers and society both need the employer-sponsored retirement system to function well. Enhancing DC plan design therefore becomes critical. Defined Contribution Plans: Challenges and Opportunities for Plan Sponsors offers guidance to plan sponsors interested in better understanding the primary issues confronting DC plans. We wrote this book from the viewpoint of the plan sponsor seeking to improve the DC system, and it follows five major themes: the plan participant, the plan sponsor, plan design, investments and investment managers, and asset decumulation in retirement. We present the material conversationally from a high-level perspective. We have not sought to write an encyclopedia on DC plans but rather focus on the basic features of well-run plans. We address key challenges facing DC plans and offer associated design and policy recommendations for plan sponsors and other interested parties to consider. Plan design improvements almost certainly will be incremental, rather than sweeping top-down changes mandated by regulators. Plan sponsors individually will make the important decisions that have lasting consequences for participants and for society. Our objective is to spark interest among sponsors, encouraging them to carry out additional research and take action. We believe the DC system will be strengthened by informed sponsors advocating for and implementing thoughtful strategic changes to their plans.
Invisible Stories: A Phenomenological Study of Bi and Trans Parent Experiences within Elementary Schools in the Southwestern United States.

Heteronormativity, family hegemony, and gender biases in K-12 education threaten child safety, parental dignity, and identity among queer families. While prior research examined the experiences of ...
Correlates of real-world goal-directed behavior in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND Deficits in goal-directed behavior (i.e. behavior conducted to achieve a specific goal or outcome) are core to schizophrenia, difficult to treat, and associated with poor functional outcomes. Factors such as negative symptoms, effort-cost decision-making, cognition, and functional skills have all been associated with goal-directed behavior in schizophrenia as indexed by clinical interviews or laboratory-based tasks. However, little work has examined whether these factors relate to the real-world pursuit of goal-directed activities in this population. METHODS This study aimed to fill this gap by using Ecological Momentary Assessment (four survey prompts per day for 1 week) to test hypotheses about symptom, effort allocation, cognitive, and functional measures associated with planned and completed goal-directed behavior in the daily lives of 63 individuals with schizophrenia. RESULTS Individuals with schizophrenia completed more goal-directed activities than they planned [t(62) = -4.01, p < 0.001]. Motivation and pleasure (i.e. experiential) negative symptoms, controlling for depressive symptoms, negatively related to planned goal-directed behavior [odds ratio (OR) 0.92, p = 0.005]. Increased effort expenditure for high probability rewards (planned: OR 1.01, p = 0.034, completed: OR 1.01, p = 0.034) along with performance on a daily functional skills task (planned: OR 1.04, p = 0.002, completed: OR 1.03, p = 0.047) negatively related to both planned and completed goal-directed activity. CONCLUSIONS Our results present correlates of real-world goal-directed behavior that largely align with impaired ability to make future estimations in schizophrenia. This insight could help identify targeted treatments for the elusive motivated behavior deficits in this population.
Application of the Differential Evolution Method to Solving Inverse Transport Problems

The differential evolution method, a powerful stochastic optimization algorithm that mimics the process of evolution in nature, is applied to inverse transport problems with several unknown parameters of mixed types, including interface location identification, source composition identification, and material mass density identification, in spherical and cylindrical radioactive source/shield systems. In spherical systems, measurements of leakages of discrete gamma-ray lines are assumed, while in cylindrical systems, measurements of scalar fluxes of discrete lines at points outside the system are assumed. The performance of the differential evolution algorithm is compared to the Levenberg-Marquardt method, a standard gradient-based technique, and the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy, another stochastic technique, on a variety of numerical test problems with several (i.e., three or more) unknown parameters. Numerical results indicate that differential evolution is the most adept method for finding the global optimum for these problems. In spherical geometry, differential evolution implemented serially is run-time competitive with gradient-based methods, while a parallel version of differential evolution would be run-time competitive with gradient-based techniques in cylindrical geometry. A hybrid differential evolution/Levenberg-Marquardt method is also introduced, and numerical results indicate that it can be a fast and robust optimizer for inverse transport problems.
THE FIESTA-CONCEPT OF AN ECONOMICAL VEHICLE

The Ford Fiesta sub-compact automobile was introduced in Europe in 1976 and, after modification, in North America in 1977. The design features of both the European and American versions are discussed. Specific information is provided on the body (interior, aerodynamics, heating and ventilation systems, structure and safety components, and interior noise characteristics); the engine (general concepts of its design, carburetion, combustion, and cooling systems, and noise and vibration insulation components); the transmission, differential, and driveshaft mechanisms; the chassis (front suspension and steering, rear suspension, and brakes); and the electrical system. Additional information provided under the description of the North American version relates to bumper systems, emission control systems, and ride and handling characteristics.
Dynamic Reconstruction and Multivariable Control for Force-Actuated, Thin Facesheet Adaptive Optics

The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) under development at the University of Arizona takes a new approach in adaptive optics placing a large (0.65 m) force-actuated, thin facesheet deformable mirror at the secondary of an astronomical telescope, thus reducing the effects of emissivity which are important in IR astronomy. However, The large size of the mirror and low stiffness actuators used drive the natural frequencies of the mirror down into the bandwidth of the atmospheric distortion. Conventional adaptive optics takes a quasi-static approach to controlling the, deformable mirror. However, flexibility within the control bandwidth calls for a new approach to adaptive optics. Dynamic influence functions are used to characterize the influence of each actuator on the surface of the deformable mirror. A linearized model of atmospheric distortion is combined with dynamic influence functions to produce a dynamic reconstructor. This dynamic reconstructor is recognized as an optimal control problem. Solving the optimal control problem for a system with hundreds of actuators and sensors is formidable. Exploiting the circularly symmetric geometry of the mirror, and a suitable model of atmospheric distortion, the control problem is divided into a number of smaller decoupled control problems using circulant matrix theory. A hierarchic control scheme which seeks to emulate the quasi-static control approach that is generally used in adaptive optics is compared to the proposed dynamic reconstruction technique. Although dynamic reconstruction requires somewhat more computational power to implement, it achieves better performance with less power usage, and is less sensitive than the hierarchic technique.
Learning Discriminative Projections for Text Similarity Measures

Traditional text similarity measures consider each term similar only to itself and do not model semantic relatedness of terms. We propose a novel discriminative training method that projects the raw term vectors into a common, low-dimensional vector space. Our approach operates by finding the optimal matrix to minimize the loss of the pre-selected similarity function (e.g., cosine) of the projected vectors, and is able to efficiently handle a large number of training examples in the high-dimensional space. Evaluated on two very different tasks, cross-lingual document retrieval and ad relevance measure, our method not only outperforms existing state-of-the-art approaches, but also achieves high accuracy at low dimensions and is thus more efficient.
Inhibition of Xanthine Oxidase Ameliorates Premature Fetal Brain Injury Following Acute Hypoxia. † 1153

Inhibition of Xanthine Oxidase Ameliorates Premature Fetal Brain Injury Following Acute Hypoxia. † 1153
Introducing multimodal paper-digital interfaces for speech-language therapy

After a stroke or brain injury, it may be more difficult to understand language and communicate with others. Speech-language therapy may help an individual regain language and cope with changes in their communication abilities. Our research examines the process of speech-language therapy with an emphasis on the practices of therapists working with adults with aphasia and apraxia of speech. This paper presents findings from field work undertaken to inform the design of a mixed paper-digital interface prototype using multimodal digital pens. We describe and analyze therapists' initial reactions to the system and present two case studies of use by older adults undergoing speech-language therapy. We discuss the utility of multimodal paper-digital interfaces to assist therapy and describe our vision of a system to help therapists independently create custom interactive paper materials for their clients.