cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Interruption of Flow Path on Stomatal Conductance of Abies amabilis

Wounding of root or stem water conduction systems or cooling of roots in Abies amabilis produced rapid stomatal closure independent of evaporative demand or leaf water potential. The response also occurred in a branch if its xylem was only partially cut, but did not occur if the branch was completely severed. Removing part of the root system or cooling the roots produced the same effect as partial severing of the stem. The speed and uniformity of stomatal closure indicated that the stimulus was physical, linked to water flux in the xylem, and not caused by release of a chemical stimulus at the point of xylem flow disruption. The results suggested that stomatal closure could be rapidly induced with a change in the flux of water through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.
A preliminary survey of the planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) of coastal Alabama.

The two counties that encompass coastal Alabama were divided into 25 plots, approximately 18 × 16 kilometers in size and surveyed using a single ethanol supplied Malaise trap in each plot. Traps were operated for 1-week intervals once a month from February 2004 through January 2005. Selection of trapping stations was based on sampling as wide a variety of landscape types as possible. Sites ranged from relatively undisturbed secondary forests to agriculturally active lands. A total of 44 species from eight families of Fulgoroidea (Acanaloniidae, Achilidae, Cixiidae, Derbidae, Delphacidae, Dictyopharidae, Flatidae, and Issidae) were collected. Thirty-four of these species were new state records, indicating that the planthopper fauna of Alabama is poorly known.
The GenBank sequence database.

Primary protein and nucleic acid sequence databases are so pervasive to our way ofthinking in molecular biology that few of us stop to wonder how these ubiquitoustools are built. Understanding how the these databases are put together will allowus to move forward in our understanding of biology and in fully harvesting theabstracted information present in these records.GenBank, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) genetic sequence database, isan annotated collection of all publicly available nucleotide and protein sequences.The records within GenBank represent, in most cases, single, contiguous stretchesof DNA or RNA with annotations. GenBank ﬁles are grouped into divisions; someof these divisions are phylogenetically based, whereas others are based on the tech-nical approach that was used to generate the sequence information. Presently, allrecords in GenBank are generated from direct submissions to the DNA sequence
A 2‐D synthetic study of global traveltime tomography

A 2-D synthetic test study of global traveltime inversion for deep seated earth structure has been undertaken. This was done by generating traveltime residual data using reasonable models for earth structure. The data were then inverted by similar methods to those applied in global studies of earth structure. Our results indicate that models of the aspherical structure in the lower mantle based on traveltime data are only partially successful and only at the largest scales (harmonic degree ≤3) and that maps of the core-mantle boundary based on traveltimes are unsuccessful.
Chemopreventive effects of calcium but not aspirin supplementation in cholic acid-promoted colon carcinogenesis: Correlation with intermediate endpoints

Epidemiological studies have suggested that increased intake of calcium (Ca) or aspirin (ASA) is associated with a reduced risk for colon cancer. To delineate a possible mechanism of action, the present study used male F344 rats in an azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon tumor model to study the single and interactive effects of Ca and ASA on cholic acid-promoted experimental colon carcinogenesis. Following initiation with AOM, a promotion diet containing 0.5% cholic acid was fed for 34 weeks until the adenoma development stage. Cholic acid was used as a surrogate for high-fat diets and to promote carcinogenesis. Diets were supplemented with CaCO3 (2% Ca by weight), 250 p.p.m. ASA, or both. After 34 weeks, the diets were switched during the progression stage and rats were killed at week 51. Several intermediate endpoints were examined during the course of AOM carcinogenesis to determine their reliability as predictors of colon cancer risk. Intermediate endpoints included colon crypt height measurement, colon mucosal ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and colon mucosal protein kinase C (PKC) activities. The biomarkers were examined at the beginning of the study at 2 weeks, and thereafter at 5, 15, 30 and 40 weeks of dietary treatment. Animals were necropsied at week 51 and tumor incidence and numbers were analyzed for correlation with biomarkers. Survival was highest in the group fed CaCO3 during the promotion stage and tumor burden was lowest in groups fed CaCO3 during this stage. Supplementation during the progression stage was ineffective. The cholic acid promotion model resulted in increased ODC which was inhibited by intervention during the promotion stage with Ca, but not ASA. PKC was also activated by cholic acid feeding, and this effect was modulated by intervention in the promotional stage with Ca or ASA. Colon tumor incidence and burden was increased by cholic acid promotion and decreased by Ca, but not affected by ASA. In summary, Ca is a more effective chemopreventive agent in cholic acid-promoted colon carcinogenesis than ASA, impacting both incidence and tumor number. Colonic ODC, but not PKC may be a suitable predictor of risk and response in chemoprevention trials for colon cancer.
Effects of Court-Ordered Substance Abuse Treatment in Child Protective Services Cases

Courts often play active roles in the lives of families supervised by child protective services (CPS). Judges adjudicate dependency, mandate services, determine placements of children, and order continued supervision or termination of parental rights or services. This study examined the effects of court orders in preventing recurrence of substance abuse in the cases of 447 children in kinship care while under CPS supervision. In addition, the effects of court orders on duration of service and on numbers of placements were studied. Results suggested that court interventions had mixed outcomes. Levels of compliance with mandated substance abuse and mental health treatment did not appear to influence rates of reabuse or duration of service. Court orders appeared to affect both the number of caretakers and placements the children experienced. Children adjudicated dependent were more likely to have multiple caretakers than those under voluntary supervision.
Retrograde Intubation with an Extraglottic Device in Place

Abstract Background The intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) is an extraglottic device with a high rate of successful ventilation and oxygenation. Most modern airway algorithms suggest using an extraglottic device as the first-line rescue technique for a failed airway in emergency airway management. Eventually, a more secure airway is needed if the extraglottic temporizing device is working well. Retrograde intubation is a surgical airway management technique that is effective but relatively slow, making it most useful when ventilation can be maintained during the procedure. Case Report We report 2 cases of difficult emergency airway management with an ILMA used initially and retrograde intubation later used to establish a more secure airway. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? Retrograde incubation can be performed with an LMA in place for complicated airway management.
Brain metastasis: role of trophic, autocrine, and paracrine factors in tumor invasion and colonization of the central nervous system.

The brain is a unique target for tumor invasion and metastasis formation (Steck and Nicolson 1993; Nicolson 1993a; Menter et al. 1995a; Nicolson et al. 1994b. The central nervous system (CNS) is confined by the skull, and the brain is highly sensitive to the slightest change in the local microenvironment. The brain is also surrounded by a formidable blood-brain barrier (BBB), which does not allow penetration of most cell types. Because the brain lacks lymphatic drainage, cerebral edema is a major complication resulting from tumors in the CNS. When tumors form in the brain, either from endogenous brain cells or from metastases invading the BBB, they are very difficult to successfully treat. Therapy of brain tumors and metastases are often only palliative and are often accompanied by additional complications. A relatively small tumor in the brain cavity can cause severe symptoms, including impaired cognition, headaches, seizures, and eventually paralysis.
Tensile deformation and fracture toughness of 2014 + 15 vol pct SiC particulate composite

Tensile tests and fracture toughness experiments were conducted on 2014 aluminum alloy with 15 vol pct SiC particulate in a stage which fit within a scanning electron microscope. Strains associated with tensile deformation and the transition from slow to rapid crack growth were determined using the stereoimaging technique. Overall tensile elongations were measured at 1.6 to 2.4 pct, while localized strains were up to ≈50 pct but depended on the dispersion of SiC particles. Measured fracture toughness values ranged from 18.7 to 29:5 √m. Fractography revealed the virtual absence of dimpled rupture on both types of specimens. The fracture toughness values measured could be accounted for by computing the work done in forming new crack surfaces. To do this, the strain gradients determined during the tests were used in a previously developed model. Matrix ductility and particle dispersion are identified as the factors controlling toughness.
Heifer Production on Rangeland and Seeded Forages in the Northern Great Plains

Integrating use of seeded perennial cool-season grass pastures with native rangeland can increase available forage and provide a high plane of nutrition for grazing livestock. Our objective was to compare performance of yearling beef heifers grazing native rangeland with those grazing an integrated system that included seeded forages. Twice-replicated, 3-ha pastures seeded to either ‘Rosana’ western wheatgrass (Pascopyron smithii [Rydb.] A. Love), ‘Luna’ pubescent wheatgrass (Elytrigia intermedia [Host] Nevski), or ‘Hycrest’ crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum [L.] Gaertn. ssp. desertorum [Fisch. ex Link] A. Love) were grazed in spring, whereas twice-replicated, 3.24-ha pastures seeded to either ‘Alkar’ tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum [Podp.] ZW Liu & RC Wang), ‘NewHy’ hybrid wheatgrass (Elymus hoffmannii KB Jensen & KH Asay), ‘Bozoisky’ Russian wildrye (Psathyrostachys juncea [Fisch.] Nevski.), or ‘Prairieland’ Altai wildrye (Leymus angustus [Trin.] Pilger) were grazed in autumn. Native rangeland was grazed during summer in the integrated system and spring, summer, and autumn in the rangeland treatment. Heifers exhibited greater weight gains on seeded pastures than on native rangeland in spring and autumn of most years. In 2 out of 3 years, heifers that grazed native rangeland during spring gained more (P ¼ 0.012 for gain head � 1 and P ¼ 0.021 for gain head � 1 day � 1 ) while grazing native rangeland during summer than heifers that grazed seeded pastures in spring. Spring þ summer gains averaged (mean 6 SE) 0.56 6 0.01 kg � head � 1 � d � 1 and 73.1 6 1.6 kg � head � 1 . Livestock
Building a cardio-oncology program in a small- to medium-sized, nonprimary cancer center, academic hospital in the USA: challenges and pitfalls

10.2217/FCA.15.43 © 2015 Future Medicine Ltd “The aim of cardio-oncology is not to prevent cancer patients with ca rdiovascular disease and risk factors from receiving n ecessary life-saving cancer therapy, but to prevent and/or treat cardiac disease as best as possible alongside their ca ncer therapy/care; incorporating a most co mprehensive approach with their oncology and other care team.’ Tochi M Okwuosa
Prologue: Laplace, Biot, and Poisson

Urged by Citizen Laplace, Citizen Biot1 undertook “to examine the influence that the variations of temperature which accompany the dilatations and condensations of air might have on the speed of sound…. It is a fact known to the physicists that atmospheric air, when it is condensed, loses a part of its latent heat, which goes into the state of sensible heat, and on the contrary when it is rarefied, it takes back a portion of sensible heat, which it converts into latent heat.” The sonorous condensations must therefore be accompanied by changes of temperature. Since both of these are very small, “we shall regard them as proportional….” Thus Biot assumes that2
Plenary lecture 1: real-time & in-service optical channel qualification and channel protection in intelligent optical networks

Fiber-based optical networks transport an aggregate data rate that exceeds Tbps. The optical technology that makes this possible is known as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Because of this humongous data rate, the performance of optical channels needs to be monitored continuously in-service and in-real time. One of the key performance metrics is the Bit Error Performance (BER), which currently is measured by using bit error detecting correcting codes (EDC) that are embedded in the signal of the information channel. However, EDCs, although indispensable for their bit error correcting ability, require many frames of information to provide a good statistical BER value for each channel. When the BER exceeds a threshold value, then the system undergoes channel equalization or channel protection, which is time consuming and costly. In this talk, we describe a statistical method based on which we estimate the performance parameters of all incoming communication channels in realtime and in-service. This method provides the estimation of BER, SNR, NF, Q, and min-max signal levels of current and previous values. In addition, we describe the realization of the method with a simple CMOS circuit, we describe the benefits of the method, compare with well-established methods and we describe its applicability to multiple channel equalization and channel protection.
Environmental Valuation: The Sum of Specific Damages Approach

There is no abstract for this book chapter. It outlines one of the commonly used methods of valuing environmental improvements, discussing the implicit assumptions about perceptions that are embedded in this approach.
A new pyroxene structure at high pressure: Single-crystal X-ray and Raman study of the Pbcn-P21cn phase transition in protopyroxene

The crystal structure of (Mg (sub 1.54) Li (sub 0.23) Sc (sub 0.23) )Si 2 O 6 protopyroxene has been studied with single-crystal X-ray diffraction at pressures to 9.98 GPa and Raman spectroscopy to 10.4 GPa. A first-order displacive phase transformation from the Pbcn space group to P2 1 cn was observed between 2.03 and 2.50 GPa, which is characterized by a discontinuous decrease in a, c, and V by 1.1, 2.4, and 2.6%, respectively, and an increase in b by 0.9%, along with appearance of intensities of some Okl reflections with knot =2n. This is the first substantiated example of protopyroxene having the symmetry predicted by Thompson (1970). Evidence for the phase transition from Raman spectroscopy is also presented. The prominent structural changes associated with the Pbcn-to-P2 1 cn transformation involve the abrupt splitting of one type of O-rotated silicate chain in low-pressure protopyroxene into S-rotated A and O-rotated B chains in high-pressure protopyroxene, coupled with a marked decrease in the O3-O3-O3 angles and a re-configuration of O atoms around the M2 site. The kinking angle of the silicate chain in the low-pressure phase at 2.03 GPa is 165.9 degrees , whereas the angles are 147.9 degrees and 153.9 degrees for the A and B chains, respectively, in high-pressure phase at 2.50 GPa. Strikingly, the two types of silicate chains in the P2 1 cn structure alternate along the b axis in a tetrahedral layer parallel to (100). Such a mixed arrangement of two differently rotated silicate chains in a tetrahedral layer has not been observed in any other pyroxene structure. Compression anisotropy of the protopyroxene structure is affected by the phase transition. The relative linear compressibilities (beta a :beta b :beta c ) are 1.00:1.72:0.99 for low-pressure protopyroxene, but are 1.00:1.28:1.65 for high-pressure protopyroxene. The bulk moduli of low- and high-pressure phases are 130(3) and 111(1) GPa, respectively. This study concludes that the Pbcn-to-P2 1 cn phase transition results from the differential compression between SiO 4 tetrahedra and MO 6 octahedra.
Gadolinium-enhanced facial nerves : accompanying bilateral acoustic tumors in a patient with neurofibromatosis

A 28-year-old man with widespread cutaneous neurofibromas and no evidence of facial nerve abnormality was placed on gadolinium protocol for evaluation of the presence of multiple meningiomas and intracranial glial tumors. On coronal MRI examination, bilateral acoustic neuromas were rather prominently enhanced by the contrast agent.
The average number of normals through a point in a convex body and a related Euler-type identity

Anormal to a convex bodyK at a pointx in the boundary ofK is a ray with endpoint atx, perpendicular to support planeH ofK atx, and contained in the halfspace bounded byH that containsK. This work establishes bounds on the average number ofnormals through a point inK forK a polytope and forK with sufficiently smooth boundary. The integrals used to establish these bounds lead to an Euler-type relation.
Clinical analysis of long R-R interval in dynamic electrocardiogram in 56 cases of atrial fibrillation

Objective:To investigate the reasons and their clinical significance of long R-R interval in dynamic electrocardiogram in the patients with atrial fibrillation(AF).Methods:To divide the patients with atrial fibrillation into two groups according R-R interval≥ 2.0s:persistent atrial AF group(group A) and paroxysmal AF group(group B).The reasons,mechanism and clinical significance of differences of long R-R intervals between the two groups were statistically analyzed.Results:The long R-R interval in group A and group B was(2.78±0.25)s and(7.32±1.25)s respectively with very significant difference(P0.5).Group B had no atrial-ventricle conduction block after restoration of sinus rhythm.The average 24h times of long R-R interval for one case were(127.5±23.5) times and(578±126.1) times in two groups respectively with very significant difference(P0.5).The proportion of long R-R interval occurred in night was 86.7% for group A and 86.7% for group B respectively.Conclusion:The frequency and time limit of long R-R interval are related with different cardiac rhythm.Long R-R interval usually occurs in night,which is related with increasing tension of vagus nerve.
Current research status and key technology of bionic flapping wing flying mini-robots

The flapping wing flying mini-robot is a kind of new conception aircraft that imitates the flights of birds and insects.The concepts,characteristics and usage of flapping wing flying mini-robot were briefly introduced in this paper.The current research status of flapping wing flying mini-robot both at home and abroad has been summarized in four aspects from test and experiment,modeling and analysis,design and manufacturing,and control and transduction.Finally the key technologies need to be broken through in the following up study were discussed.
Obituary: Geraldine “Gerri” S. Hall

G e r a l d i n e “Gerri” S. Hall passed away on 8 January 2016 in Forestville, N.Y., following a 13-year battle with cancer. She retired from her Clinical Microbiology staff position at the Cleveland Clinic in 2013, and she was living with her husband Jim on their farm in western New York. She was an outstanding microbiologist, teacher, and friend.
Association of Canine Osteosarcoma and Monocyte Phenotype and Chemotactic Function.

Background Monocytes/macrophages are likely key cells in immune modulation in dogs with osteosarcoma (OSA). Increased peripheral monocyte counts are negatively correlated with shorter disease-free intervals in dogs with OSA. Understanding the monocyte/macrophage's modulatory role in dogs with OSA can direct further studies in immunotherapy development for OSA. Hypothesis/Objectives That OSA evades the immune response by down-regulating monocyte chemokine receptor expression and migratory function, and suppresses host immune responses. Animals Eighteen dogs with OSA that have not received definitive treatment and 14 healthy age-matched controls Methods Clinical study—expression of peripheral blood monocyte cell surface receptors, monocyte mRNA expression and cytokine secretion, monocyte chemotaxis, and survival were compared between clinical dogs with OSA and healthy control dogs. Results Cell surface expression of multiple chemokine receptors is significantly down-regulated in peripheral blood monocytes of dogs with OSA. The percentage expression of CCR2 (median 58%, range 2–94%) and CXCR2 expression (median 54%, range 2–92%) was higher in control dogs compared to dogs with OSA (CCR2 median 29%, range 3–45%, P = 0.0006; CXCR2 median 23%, range 0.2–52%, P = 0.0007). Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) (OSA, median 347.36 pg/mL, range 103.4–1268.5; control, 136.23 pg/mL, range 69.93–542.6, P = .04) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (P = .02) levels are increased in OSA monocyte culture supernatants compared to controls. Peripheral blood monocytes of dogs with OSA exhibit decreased chemotactic function when compared to control dogs (OSA, median 1.2 directed to random migration, range 0.8–1.25; control, 1.6, range of 0.9–1.8, P = .018). Conclusions and Clinical Importance Dogs with OSA have decreased monocyte chemokine receptor expression and monocyte chemotaxis, potential mechanisms by which OSA might evade the immune response. Reversal of monocyte dysfunction using immunotherapy could improve survival in dogs with OSA.
Introduction to the Case Studies

Has the Wilsonian assumption of peacebuilding – that rapid liberalization would foster a stable and lasting peace in countries that are just emerging from civil wars – been borne out in practice? How should we go about answering this question? This chapter sets out the investigative framework for the case studies that follow. Specifically, I shall address three issues: First, what are the specific causal hypotheses that will be evaluated against the record of peacebuilding? Second, how will the case studies of peacebuilding missions be structured in order to evaluate these hypotheses? Third, which particular peacebuilding missions will be studied? Most studies of peacebuilding outcomes begin by establishing a standard of effectiveness or success and then proceed to evaluate the record of one or more operations against this standard. My aim is slightly different: to examine whether the strategy of peace-through-liberalization, in particular, has enhanced the prospects for stable and lasting peace in countries that have hosted peacebuilding missions. Put differently, the “independent variable” that I am interested in studying is political liberalization (including the establishment of political and civil freedoms, and preparations for and the holding of elections) and economic liberalization (including the movement toward market-oriented economic policies and practices), while the “dependent variable” is the likelihood of stable and lasting peace within the host country.
THE EVALUATION OF TANK CARS DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF UNDER FILLING

Motion of a train composed of tank cars with various tank incomplete filling level is considered. The analysis of results obtained has shown that if there are tank cars with high incomplete filling in the train, the permissible speed of motion is reduced essentially.
A new ternary polymeric matrix system for controlled drug delivery of highly soluble drugs: I. Diltiazem hydrochloride.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to develop a new ternary polymeric matrix system that is easy to manufacture and that delivers a highly soluble drug over long periods of time.
Prebond Testing and Test-Path Design for the Silicon Interposer in 2.5-D ICs

In interposer-based 2.5-D integrated circuits, the passive silicon interposer is the least expensive component in the chip. Thus, it is desirable to test the interposer before bonding to ensure that more expensive and defect-free dies are not stacked on a faulty interposer. We present an efficient method to locate defects in a passive interposer before stacking. The proposed test architecture uses e-fuses that can be programmed to connect or disconnect functional paths inside the interposer. The concept of die footprint is utilized for interconnect testing, and the overall assembly and test flow is described. Moreover, the concept of weighted critical area is defined and utilized to reduce test time. In order to fully determine the location of each e-fuse and the order of functional interconnects in a test path, we also present a test-path design algorithm. The proposed algorithm can generate all test paths for interconnect testing. We present HSPICE simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the prebond test solution. Test-path designs are also presented to highlight the efficiency of the test-path design algorithm. The benefit of using weighted critical area is demonstrated using a commercial interposer from industry.
Local voltage control in distribution networks: A game-theoretic perspective

Inverter-based voltage regulation is gaining importance to alleviate emerging reliability and power-quality concerns related to distribution systems with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper seeks contribution in the domain of reactive power compensation by establishing stability of local Volt/VAr controllers. In lieu of the approximate linear surrogate used in the existing work, the paper establishes existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium point using nonlinear AC power flow model. Key to this end is to consider a nonlinear dynamical system with non-incremental local Volt/VAr control, cast the Volt/VAr dynamics as a game, and leverage the fixed-point theorem as well as pertinent contraction mapping argument. Numerical examples are provided to complement the analytical results.
Preschool Teachers' Endorsement of Instructional Practices: An Interprofessional Exploration.

AbstractBackground: Preschool teacher’s instructional practices are one component of high-quality early education classrooms that have the potential to directly influence young children’s school readiness and success; therefore, the type and quality of instructional practices used by preschool teachers should be explored.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to expand our understanding of instructional practices reported by preschool teachers as most or least characteristic of their classroom teaching across three domains: classroom climate, emotional socialisation and language and literacy.Sample: Participants in the present study included 150 teachers from early educational settings across the state of Arizona.Design and methods: Teachers completed a demographic survey and Q-sort task. The Q-sort comprised 80 instructional practices that have been shown to influence children’s school readiness in terms of specific skills and later school outcomes.Results: Descriptive analyses revealed the least and mos...
Providing Online Crisis Information: An Analysis of Official Sources during the 2014 Carlton Complex Wildfire

Using the 2014 Carlton Complex Wildfire as a case study, we examine who contributes official information online during a crisis event, and the timeliness and relevance of the information provided. We identify and describe the communication behaviors of four types of official information sources (Event Based Resources, Local Responders, Local News Media, and Cooperating Agencies), and collect message data from each source's website, public Facebook page, and/or Twitter account. The data show that the Local News Media provided the highest quantity of relevant information and the timeliest information. Event Based Resources shared the highest percentage of relevant information, however, it was often unclear who managed these resources and the credibility of the information. Based on these findings, we offer suggestions for how providers of official crisis information might better manage their online communications and ways that the public can find more timely and relevant online crisis information from official sources.
An approach for global monitoring of surface water extent variations in reservoirs using MODIS data

Abstract Freshwater resources are among the most basic requirements of human society. Nonetheless, global information about the space-time variations of the area of freshwater bodies, and the water stored in them, is surprisingly limited. We introduce a new approach that uses MODIS multispectral data to map the global areal extent and temporal variations of known reservoirs at 500 m spatial resolution at nominal eight-day intervals from 2000 to 2015. We evaluate the performance of the approach on 94 reservoirs by comparing the variations in surface area extents with satellite radar altimetry measurements. Furthermore, we present detailed case studies for five reservoirs on four continents to demonstrate the impact of different challenges on the performance of the approach. For three of these case studies, we also evaluate surface area estimates using Landsat-based surface extent reference maps. Altimetry based height measurements for the 94 reservoirs show higher correlation with surface area computed using our approach, compared to surface area computed using previous approaches. One of the main reasons for these improvements is a novel post-processing technique that makes use of imperfect labels produced by supervised classification approaches on multiple dates to estimate the elevation structure of locations and uses it to enhance the quality and completeness of imperfect labels. However, effective estimation of this elevation structure requires that the water body shows sufficient area variations. Hence, the post-processing approach will not be effective for water bodies that are mostly unchanged or are too small to have sufficient variation. The approach is still challenged in regions with frequent cloud cover, snow and ice coverage, or complicated geometries that will require remote sensing data at finer spatial resolution. The surface area estimates we describe here are publically available.
Analysis of clustering algorithms in biological networks

Biological data is often represented as networks, as in the case of protein-protein interactions and metabolic pathways. Modeling, analyzing, and visualizing networks can help make sense of large volumes of data generated by high-throughput experiments. However, due to their size and complex structure, biological networks can be difficult to interpret without further processing. Cluster analysis is a widely-used approach to extract meaningful information from biological networks. In this work, we provide a study that surveys some of the widely used clustering algorithms used for clustering biological data. We identify the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm and attempt to identify features associated with datasets that align well with each approach. We also propose a new clustering method based on graph matching and node merging techniques in an attempt to fill the gap left by the current clustering approaches.
Intraoperative Assessment of Blood Coagulability using Coherence-gated Light Scattering

We developed an optical technique capable of measuring in-vivo the coagulation status of blood. This technique is fiber optic-based, non-invasive, and permits continuous, in-line assessment of blood condition during clinical procedures such as cardiovascular surgery.
Effect of Network Geometry and Interference on Consensus in Wireless Networks

We study the convergence of the average consensus algorithm in wireless networks in the presence of interference. It is well known that convergence of the consensus algorithm improves with network connectivity. However, from a networking standpoint, highly connected wireless networks may have lower throughput because of increased interference. This raises an interesting question: what is the effect of increased network connectivity on the convergence of the consensus algorithm, given that this connectivity comes at the cost of lower network throughput? We address this issue for two types of networks: regular lattices with periodic boundary conditions, and a hierarchical network where a backbone of nodes arranged as a regular lattice supports a collection of randomly placed nodes. We characterize the properties of an optimal Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol that maximizes the speed of convergence on these networks, and provide analytical upper and lower bounds for the achievable convergence rate. Our results show that in an interference-limited scenario the fastest converging interconnection topology for the consensus algorithm crucially depends on the geometry of node placement. In particular, we prove that asymptotically in the number of nodes, forming long-range interconnections improves the convergence rate in one-dimensional tori, while it has the opposite effect in higher dimensions.
Maternal Support as a Predictor of Children’s Sexualized Behaviors Following Childhood Sexual Abuse

Although previous studies have concluded that maternal support following children's sexual abuse disclosures is an important predictor of children's symptoms, the empirical data to support this is limited. Much of the small prior literature has used measures of maternal support without adequately reported psychometric properties, which may obscure the true relationship between support and children's sexual behaviors. Further, it is unclear whether maternal support is related to children's sexual acting out in the context of known predictors of sexual behaviors. The purposes of the current study were to (1) examine the relationships between support and children's sexual behaviors and (2) determine whether support is related to sexual behaviors after controlling for known predictors among 161 treatment-seeking children (6-12 years old; M = 8.70, SD = 2.69) and their nonoffending mothers. In the bivariate analyses, emotional support was negatively related to children's sexual behaviors, whereas maternal blame/doubt was positively correlated with sexual behaviors. Nonetheless, after controlling for other predictors, emotional support predicted developmentally related sexual behaviors but not sexual abuse-specific sexual behaviors. Levels of emotional support and blame/doubt predicted children's total sexual behaviors, after accounting for identified predictors, suggesting that support may play a small role in understanding children's sexual behaviors.
Contact Juggling of a Disk With a Disk-Shaped Manipulator

In this paper, we present a feedback controller that enables contact juggling manipulation of a disk with a disk-shaped manipulator, called the mobile disk-on-disk. The system consists of two disks in which the upper disk (object) is free to roll on the lower disk (hand) under the influence of gravity. The hand moves with a full three degrees of freedom in a vertical plane. The proposed controller drives the object to follow a desired trajectory through rolling interaction with the hand. Based on the mathematical model of the system, dynamic feedback linearization is used in the design of the controller. The performance of the controller is demonstrated through simulations considering disturbances and uncertainties.
Unmanned Aircraft System Path Planning for Visually Inspecting Electric Transmission Towers

To detect faults on the power transmission and distribution systems, current electric utilities perform a visual inspection by dispatching line crews and helicopters. This practice has disadvantages such as high operation costs and safety concerns. To resolve these issues, power utilities are considering the use of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). In this paper, we formulate an optimization model to find an efficient flight path for a UAS for visually inspecting a transmission tower. The objective of the model is to maximize a function involving three performance ratios, namely, flight time, image quality, and tower coverage. The optimization model is non-linear, non-differentiable, and multi-modal. We solve the problem by using a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based-algorithm and a simulated annealing (SA) based-algorithm and compare their results. We test the model under three inspection strategies. The experimental results show that the PSO-based algorithm outperforms the SA-based algorithm. They also show that the proposed model can provide a flight path that comprises a good balance over the three performance ratios.
Results of a controlled field experiment to assess the use of tree tissue concentrations as bioindicators of air Hg

The utility of trees as bioindicators of atmospheric mercury (Hg) depends upon how accurately tree tissue concentrations reflect air-Hg concentrations at a given location and time. The relationship between air-Hg, and Hg concentration in tree tissues was investigated using potted Pinus nigra (Austrian pine) saplings 6 to 7 years in age moved from a tree farm in Oregon, USA, to three locations with different weather, two with different air total Hg (THg) concentrations, all with different predominant gaseous oxidized Hg chemistry, and one being impacted by the marine boundary layer. An aqueous Hg bromide root spike showed no significant effect on above ground tissue concentration. Over two growing seasons, needles, bark, and tree rings were sampled and analyzed for THg concentrations to compare with those collected when the trees originally arrived in Reno, NV (control) versus that measured in the new locations. Overall, foliar Hg concentrations increased significantly at all new locations relative to the control. Spring sample concentrations were lower than fall for foliage at two locations, indicating resorption of Hg along with nutrients. All trees had higher mean Hg concentrations in the outermost tree rings relative to the control, consistent with increased air total Hg concentrations and changing air chemistry. Higher concentrations were measured in the outer bark of trees where ambient GOM concentrations were highest. Higher inner bark concentrations were correlated with the more humid location where high methylmercury concentrations have been measured in fog. Results demonstrated that Pinus nigra tissues are effective biomonitors for air Hg exposures and that translocation from leaves to rings via the phloem is an important pathway for sequestration in plant tissue. We also show that plants are active assimilators of atmospheric Hg, and as such, local environmental conditions influence ring, bark, and foliage concentrations. The latter has important implications for understanding tissue Hg concentrations, and supports the use of tree ring Hg concentrations as archives.
Retrofitting Word Embeddings with the UMLS Metathesaurus for Clinical Information Extraction

Deep learning has surged in popularity and proven to be effective for various artificial intelligence applications including information extraction from cancer pathology reports. Since word representation is a core unit that enables deep learning algorithms to understand words and be able to perform NLP, this representation must include as much information as possible to help these algorithms achieve high classification performance. Therefore, in this work in addition to the distributional information of words in large sized corpora, we use UMLS vocabulary resources to enrich the vector space representation of words with the semantic relations between words. These resources provide many terminologies pertaining to cancer. The refined word embeddings are used with a convolutional neural (CNN) model to extract four data elements from cancer pathology reports; ICD-O-3 tumor topography codes, tumor laterality, behavior, and histological grade. We observed that using UMLS vocabulary resources to enrich word embeddings of CNN models consistently outperformed CNN models without pre-training word embeddings and even with pre-trained word embeddings on a domain specific corpus across all four tasks. The results show marginal improvement on the laterality task, but a significant improvement on the other tasks, especially for the macro-f score. Specifically, the improvements are 3%, 13%, and 15% for tumor site, histological grade, and behavior tasks, respectively. This approach is encouraging to enrich word embeddings with more clinical data resources to be used for information abstraction tasks from clinical pathology reports.
Gastrointestinal Barrier Breakdown and Adipose Tissue Inflammation

Obesity is a state of chronic inflammation. This review aims to summarize recent data supporting the role of the intestinal mucosal barrier and the microbiome in causing adipose tissue inflammation as well as metabolic factors that can affect the intestinal barrier. Obesity and its metabolic consequences, such as diabetes mellitus, are associated with disruption of the intestinal barrier function. Intestinal microbiota and diet play a key role in the maintenance of a healthy intestinal epithelium. Intestinal barrier dysfunction can lead to heightened inflammation, which in turn can further damage the intestinal barrier through the disruption of tight junction proteins. Intestinal barrier breakdown is associated with adipose tissue inflammation in different disease states, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, HIV, and inflammatory bowel disease. Future therapeutic strategies to ameliorate intestinal barrier function may help reduce inflammation in obesity and other chronic conditions of increased intestinal permeability.
The Enslaved, the Worker, and Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction: Toward an Underdiscipline of Antisociology:

At the heart of sociology lies a paradox. Sociology recognizes itself as a preeminently modern discipline yet remains virtually silent on what W.E.B. Du Bois identifies as modernity’s “most magnifi...
Admiration and Disapprobation: Jane Austen’s Emma (1816) and Jane West’s Ringrove (1827)

It is widely accepted that Jane Austen’s fiction was influenced by the novels of her writer contemporaries. Jane West’s A Gossip’s Story (1796) has long been seen as inspiring, negatively and posit...
Gold-catalyzed cascade annulations of 2-(ynol)aryl aldehydes: facile synthesis of benzochromanes and benzobicyclo[n.3.1]acetals.

Gold-catalyzed reactions of 2-(ynol)aryl aldehydes were investigated. Benzochromanes were obtained from the reaction when AuCl3 was employed as the catalyst, whereas benzobicyclo[n.3.1]acetals were produced when triazole−gold was employed as the catalyst. Plausible mechanisms are discussed.
In vivo evaluation of human patellar tendon microstructure and microcirculation with diffusion MRI

BACKGROUND Patellar tendon (PT) microstructure integrity and microcirculation status play a crucial role in the progression of tendinopathy and tendon repair. PURPOSE To assess the feasibility and robustness of stimulated-echo based diffusion-weighted MRI with readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (ste-RS-EPI) for noninvasive assessment of microstructure and microcirculation of human PT. STUDY TYPE Prospective. SUBJECTS Fifteen healthy volunteers. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE PT diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) were acquired with an ste-RS-EPI protocol on a 3T MRI scanner. ASSESSMENT Subjects were positioned with their PT at the magic angle. DTI-derived parameters including axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD), mean diffusivity (MD), and fractional anisotropy (FA) were estimated with b-values of 0 and 800 s/mm2 and 12 diffusion directions. IVIM-derived parameters, f p , D* × f p , V b , and D* × V b were assessed in the central-third and the outer-two thirds of the PT with b-values of 0, 20, 30, 60, 80, 120, 200, 400, and 600 s/mm2 in three orthogonal directions. STATISTICAL TESTS Paired t-tests were used to evaluate differences in IVIM parameters between the central-third and outer-two thirds regions of the patellar tendon. Paired t-tests and within-subject coefficient of variation were used to assess the intra- and intersession reproducibility of PT DTI and IVIM parameters. RESULTS DTI parameters for healthy PT were 1.54 ± 0.09 × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.01 ± 0.05 × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.18 ± 0.06 × 10-3 mm2 /s, and 0.30 ± 0.04 for AD, RD, MD, and FA, respectively. Significantly higher (P < 0.05) IVIM parameters f p and D* × f p were observed in the outer-two thirds (6.1% ± 2.4% and 95.2 ± 49.6, respectively) compared with the central-third (3.8% ± 2.3% and 48.6 ± 35.2, respectively) of the PT. DATA CONCLUSION Diffusion MRI of PT with an ste-RS-EPI protocol is clinically feasible. Both DTI- and IVIM-derived parameters of the PT demonstrated good test-retest reproducibility and interrater reliability. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:780-790.
Trends in Commercial VLSI Microprocessor Design

Here is how commercial VLSI microprocessors have been designed, starting with the Motorola MC68000 (1977–79). I impart the design method and say what software tools were used. Here is how the chips, methods, and tools have evolved. I project the trends. In 1977, logic design was done with pencil and paper. Design verification consisted of programs simulating small sections of a chip and of TTL breadboards. Today (1986), logic design is still done with pencil and paper, but it is entered into a computer using an ordinary text editor. Design verification programs then check this text file. In the next 5 to 10 years, logic design will still be done with pencil and paper, but it will be entered into the computer with a specialized editor. Design verification will stay the same. I don’t think the level of automation will increase significantly for commercial VLSI microprocessor design. The design tools will run faster because the computers they run on will be faster. There will he more computers. So there will be more instances of the use of design tools. But for commercial microprocessors, I don’t think logic design tools will do substantially more than they do today. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. These opinions do not reflect positions held by the IBM Corporation.
Case Studies on Cultural Eutrophication on Watersheds Around Lakes that Contribute to Toxic Blue-Green Algal Blooms

Over the years, farmers have sought fertilizers containing increasing amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen to enhance crop yields. Excess nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, are known to stimulate excess growth of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). Cyanobacteria blooms are also named cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (CHABS). These harmful blooms are detrimental to people, profits, and aquatic ecosystems and are increasing in abundance. This chapter summarizes the process of cultural eutrophication, the connection to farming, and sustainable means of remediation.
Killing “Dixie”: The NAACP, the Black Press, and the Crusade to End Black Caricature Culture in Hollywood, 1950–1969

In the early decades of the twentieth century, Hollywood created its depictions of African Americans. Many of the images, which first appeared in Hollywood films and then on television, were derived from “Dixie,” a term used to reference the antebellum American South, during a time when African Americans were enslaved. This article examines the account, given by the African American Press, of the ongoing dispute over black imagery between Hollywood and the NAACP. The heightened voice of the African American Press ultimately helped to push for the infusing of black presence in popular culture with the goal of depicting the possibilities of an integrated American society. The NAACP and the African American Press emerged as the leading voices in challenging Hollywood’s black caricature culture, after recognizing that harmful black representation was injurious to the burgeoning civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.