cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Emerging Trends on the Evolving Green500: Year Three

It has been traditionally viewed that as the scale of a supercomputer increases, its energy efficiency decreases due to performance that scales sub-linearly and power consumption that scales at least linearly with size. However, based on the first three years of the Green500, this view does not hold true for the fastest supercomputers in the world. Many reasons for this counterintuitive trend have been proposed -- with improvements in feature size, more efficient networks, and larger numbers of slower cores being amongst the most prevalent. Consequently, this paper provides an analysis of emerging trends in the Green500 and delves more deeply into how larger-scale supercomputers compete with smaller-scale supercomputers with respect to energy efficiency. In addition, our analysis provides a compelling early indicator of the future of exascale computing. We then close with a discussion on the evolution of the Green500 based on community feedback.
Treatment of hypokalemic periodic paralysis with topiramate

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis (hypoPP), the most common form of periodic paralysis, is a disorder characterized by attacks of transient muscle weakness associated with a drop in serum potassium level.The mainstay of treatment is potassium supplementation and drugs that inhibit the enzyme carbonic anhydrase. In this report we describe 11-year-old twins with hypoPP who were treated with topiramate, an anti-epileptic drug known to have carbonic anhydrase inhibitory properties. The patients experienced a decrease in the severity of their attacks upon initiation of treatment. Topiramate may warrant further investigation as a treatment option in hypoPP.
Is Bigger Really Better

I must receive at least 25 e-mails every day assuring me that size matters greatly, and any opportunity to increase it, even of dubious medicinal nature, should be immediately embraced. Well, is this true for science in general and seismology in particular? There certainly seems to be an increasing tendency for Big Science initiatives to take center stage, manifested both in federal funding of consortia, interdisciplinary initiatives, and big equipment items and the pre-eminence of multi-author research projects in major scientific journals. As an active seismological researcher who tends to prefer small-grant, single-investigator research, I look on these trends with mild alarm. Yet, for the past three years I served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and as one of the six-member EarthScope Management Team, investing substantial time and energy into the largest consortium funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences and the largest NSF major research equipment (MRE) project in the earth sciences, respectively. Given my widely shared concern that such Big Science activities intrinsically come at the expense of Small Science research funding (my own bread and butter), how do we each decide what endeavors to support with our time? Such choices confront all researchers, and now that I am not on a plane every other week, I've been giving it some more thought myself. If IRIS is Big Science for solid earth activities, then EarthScope is even Bigger Science, with $200 million budgeted for facility construction funding alone from 2003 to 2008 and ongoing annual operational and maintenance costs exceeding $20 million per year. Clearly, not all Big Science activities are of the same nature. Some involve large financial investments in unusually expensive activities—activities beyond the scope of single-investigator grants—that have very focused goals …
Radar scattering from bodies of revolution using an efficient partial differential equation algorithm

A technique is presented for solving the problem of scattering by a three-dimensional body of revolution using a partial differential equation (PDE) technique in conjunction with a radiation boundary condition applied in the Fresnel region of the scatterer. The radiation boundary condition, which is used to truncate the PDE mesh, is based on an asymptotic expansion derived by Wilcox (1956). Numerical results illustrating the procedure and verifying the accuracy of the results are included. >
Western Scientific Approaches to Near-Death Experiences

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are vivid experiences that often occur in life-threatening conditions, usually characterized by a transcendent tone and clear perceptions of leaving the body and being in a different spatiotemporal dimension. Such experiences have been reported throughout history in diverse cultures, and are reported today by 10% to 20% of people who have come close to death. Although cultural expectations and parameters of the brush with death influence the content of some NDEs, near-death phenomenology is invariant across cultures. That invariance may reflect universal psychological defenses, neurophysiological processes, or actual experience of a transcendent or mystical domain. Research into these alternative explanations has been hampered by the unpredictable occurrence of NDEs. Regardless of the causes or interpretations of NDEs, however, they are consistently associated with profound and long-lasting aftereffects on experiencers, and may have important implications for non-experiencers as well.
Schizosaccharomyces pombe Ddb1 is functionally linked to the replication checkpoint pathway.

Abstract Schizosaccharomyces pombe Ddb1 is homologous to the mammalian DDB1 protein, which has been implicated in damaged-DNA recognition and global genomic repair. However, a recent study suggested that the S. pombe Ddb1 is involved in cell division and chromosomal segregation. Here, we provide evidence that the S. pombe Ddb1 is functionally linked to the replication checkpoint control gene cds1. We show that the S. pombe strain lacking ddb1 has slow growth due to delayed replication progression. Flow cytometric analysis shows an extensive heterogeneity in DNA content. Furthermore, the Δddb1 strain is hypersensitive to UV irradiation in S phase and is unable to tolerate a prolonged replication block imposed by hydroxyurea. Interestingly, the Δddb1 strain exhibits a high level of the Cds1 kinase activity during passage through S phase. Moreover, mutation of the cds1 gene relieves the defects observed in Δddb1 strain. The results suggest that many of the defects observed in Δddb1 cells are linked to an aberrant activation of Cds1, and that Ddb1 is functionally linked to Cds1.
A cluster analysis of bacterial vaginosis-associated microflora and pelvic inflammatory disease

Controversy surrounds the association between bacterial vaginosis (BV) and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Women (N = 1,140) were ascertained at five US centers, enrolled (1999-2001), and followed up for a median of 3 years. Serial vaginal swabs were obtained for Gram's stain and cultures. PID was defined as 1) histologic endometritis or 2) pelvic pain and tenderness plus oral temperature >38.8 degrees C, leukorrhea or mucopus, erythrocyte sedimentation rate >15 mm/hour, white blood cell count >10,000, or gonococcal/chlamydial lower genital infection. Exploratory factor analysis identified two discrete clusters of genital microorganisms. The first correlated with BV by Gram's stain and consisted of the absence of hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacillus, Gardnerella vaginalis, Mycoplasma hominis, anaerobic gram-negative rods, and, to a lesser degree, Ureaplasma urealyticum. The second, unrelated to BV by Gram's stain, consisted of Enterococcus species and Escherichia coli. Being in the highest tertile in terms of growth of BV-associated microorganisms increased PID risk (adjusted rate ratio = 2.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.16, 3.53). Carriage of non-BV-associated microorganisms did not increase PID risk. Women with heavy growth of BV-associated microorganisms and a new sexual partner appeared to be at particularly high risk (adjusted rate ratio = 8.77, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 69.2). When identified by microbial culture, a combination of BV-related microorganisms significantly elevated the risk of acquiring PID.
Color gamut matching for tiled display walls

This paper presents a non-parametric full-gamut color matching algorithm. Color matching is important for the seamless appearance of tiled displays. In particular we address the case where the tiled display is composed of different types of projectors or DLP projectors with white enhancement. White enhancement produces a non-additive color space that is difficult to model. We perform our calibration using an inexpensive colorimeter as opposed to a highly accurate spectroradiometer. Our results show that we can achieve good color balance with 1.47% variance between projectors. We present a method for applying this color gamut mapping in real-time on the newest commodity graphics cards.
Carbonyl sulfide exchange in soils for better estimates of ecosystem carbon uptake

Abstract. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) measurements are one of the emerging tools to better quantify gross primary production (GPP), the largest flux in the global carbon cycle. COS is a gas with a similar structure to CO2; COS uptake is thought to be a proxy for GPP. However, soils are a potential source or sink of COS. This study presents a framework for understanding soil–COS interactions. Excluding wetlands, most of the few observations of isolated soils that have been made show small uptake of atmospheric COS. Recently, a series of studies at an agricultural site in the central United States found soil COS production under hot conditions an order of magnitude greater than fluxes at other sites. To investigate the extent of this phenomenon, soils were collected from five new sites and incubated in a variety of soil moisture and temperature states. We found that soils from a desert, an oak savannah, a deciduous forest, and a rainforest exhibited small COS fluxes, behavior resembling previous studies. However, soil from an agricultural site in Illinois, > 800 km away from the initial central US study site, demonstrated comparably large soil fluxes under similar conditions. These new data suggest that, for the most part, soil COS interaction is negligible compared to plant uptake of COS. We present a model that anticipates the large agricultural soil fluxes so that they may be taken into account. While COS air-monitoring data are consistent with the dominance of plant uptake, improved interpretation of these data should incorporate the soil flux parameterizations suggested here.
CARBON MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL SOILS

World soils have been a major source of enrichment of atmospheric concentration of CO2 ever since the dawn of settled agriculture, about 10,000 years ago. Historic emission of soil C is estimated at 78 ± 12 Pg out of the total terrestrial emission of 136 ± 55 Pg, and post-industrial fossil fuel emission of 270 ± 30 Pg. Most soils in agricultural ecosystems have lost 50 to 75% of their antecedent soil C pool, with the magnitude of loss ranging from 30 to 60 Mg C/ha. The depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is exacerbated by soil drainage, plowing, removal of crop residue, biomass burning, subsistence or low-input agriculture, and soil degradation by erosion and other processes. The magnitude of soil C depletion is high in coarse-textured soils (e.g., sandy texture, excessive internal drainage, low activity clays and poor aggregation), prone to soil erosion and other degradative processes. Thus, most agricultural soils contain soil C pool below their ecological potential. Adoption of recommend management practices (e.g., no-till farming with crop residue mulch, incorporation of forages in the rotation cycle, maintaining a positive nutrient balance, use of manure and other biosolids), conversion of agriculturally marginal soils to a perennial land use, and restoration of degraded soils and wetlands can enhance the SOC pool. Cultivation of peatlands and harvesting of peatland moss must be strongly discouraged, and restoration of degraded soils and ecosystems encouraged especially in developing countries. The rate of SOC sequestration is 300 to 500 Kg C/ha/yr under intensive agricultural practices, and 0.8 to 1.0 Mg/ha/yr through restoration of wetlands. In soils with severe depletion of SOC pool, the rate of SOC sequestration with adoption of restorative measures which add a considerable amount of biomass to the soil, and irrigated farming may be 1.0 to 1.5 Mg/ha/yr. Principal mechanisms of soil C sequestration include aggregation, high humification rate of biosolids applied to soil, deep transfer into the sub-soil horizons, formation of secondary carbonates and leaching of bicarbonates into the ground water. The rate of formation of secondary carbonates may be 10 to 15 Kg/ha/yr, and the rate of leaching of bicarbonates with good quality irrigation water may be 0.25 to 1.0 Mg C/ha/yr. The global potential of soil C sequestration is 0.6 to 1.2 Pg C/yr which can off-set about 15% of the fossil fuel emissions.
Juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) from Tenebrio molitor: full-length cDNA sequence, in vitro expression, and characterization of the recombinant protein

Juvenile hormone regulates the development and reproduction in a variety of insects. Juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) is a selective enzyme, which hydrolyzes the methyl ester of JH and alters its activity. In Tenebrio molitor, JHE has been previously purified from pupae and a partial cDNA was amplified by RT–PCR using fat body mRNA. The previous report indicated that several forms of the JHE protein were present in pupal homogenate. In this study, we report the full-length cDNA, which was obtained by RACE methods. The deduced protein sequence corresponds to peptides from two proteins of different molecular weights in the previous study. The coding region of the full-length cDNA was subcloned into the AcMNPV genome and high levels of expression of the JHE enzyme from the viral p10 promoter were demonstrated in cell culture. The majority of JHE is secreted from the cells as a soluble enzyme. The recombinant JHE enzyme was biochemically characterized. The recombinant protein appears by PAGE analysis as a monomer of approximately the same MW (66,000) and pI (4.9) as was expected from the deduced amino acid sequence of the cDNA.  2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore

Reviewed Medium: book Year: 2006 Pages: Three Volumes. 1672 Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN: 0-313-33035-2 (hard cover). Prices: $299.95 USD(hard cover).
Cross-functional teams used in computer science senior design capstone courses

Traditionally, computer science curricula focus on teaching technical content, either ignoring the importance of interpersonal communication or relegating it to separate courses with no integration of communication and technical skills. Thus, students get little practice with communication of technical information and even less appreciation for its importance. For the past several years one of the computer science senior design courses at NC State University has emphasized teaming, process, and professional communication skills in the context of industrially sponsored technical projects. Even though the instructors repeatedly emphasize the importance of communication and process, students are resistant to focus on the more social aspects of problem solving, desiring instead to dive in and solve the technical problems. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of cross-functional teams in an educational setting, identifying communication issues related to coordinating projects and exploring novel opportunities for non-traditional undergraduate education.
A Controlled Trial of Methylphenidate in Black Adolescents Attentional, Behavioral, and Physiological Effects

The short-term effects of methylphenidate were examined on behavioral, laboratory, academic, and physiological measures in 11 black male adolescents diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder (ADD). In a double-blind, crossover design with randomized order, the subjects received placebo and each of three methylphenidate doses (0.15 mg/kg, 0.30 mg/kg, and 0.50 mg/kg) for a period of 2 weeks per medication dosage. Significant drug effects were found for the majority of measures. In general, the higher doses resulted in the most beneficial response in behavioral, academic, and laboratory measures of attention and impulsivity. However, a significant linear increase occurred in diastolic blood pressure. The results suggest that methylphenidate is an effective adjunct to the treatment of ADD in adolescents.
Electron-atom superelastic scattering in magnesium at millielectron volt energies.

The energy dependence of superelastic scattering is measured for electrons on Mg(3 1 P) from threshold to 270 meV with a novel technique. The method uses photoelectrons produced by a narrow bandwidth laser as an approximately monoenergetic incident electron source to collide with excited atoms. Measurements are made at energies as low as 1.5 meV with a resolution of 1 meV near threshold. An efficient magnetic-bottle time-of-flight electron spectrometer allows for the simultaneous measurement of multiple scattering channels. Above-threshold ionization is also observed. The measured energy dependence for transitions from the 3 1 P state to both the 3 3 P and 3 1 S are found to be inversely proportional to the energy from 10 to 270 meV. Below 10 meV, the dependencies are different, with the 3 3 P transition having an E -1/2 dependence and the 3 1 S channel retaining an E -1 dependence.
Multimodality Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging: An Overview

A large, multidisciplinary symposium held at the National Institutes of Health in April and May 2009 brought together individuals from a wide range of scientific disciplines with the goal of promoting the nascent field of multimodality cardiovascular molecular imaging. This supplement to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine summarizes the presentations and discussions of that landmark symposium. The review articles not only present the state of the art of cardiovascular molecular imaging but also discuss opportunities and challenges the community will face in advancing cardiovascular molecular imaging to clinical practice. The use of molecular targets for imaging in preclinical models and the translation of these approaches to patients have become possible with the advent of several technologic advances reviewed in this supplement.
A Review of: “Interpreting and Reporting Clinical Trials: A Guide to the CONSORT Statement and the Principles of Randomised Controlled Trials, by A. Keech, V. Gebski, and R. Pike (eds.)”

I love the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement. It summarizes most of the issues that need to be carefully documented in a publication of a randomized clinical trial. The...
Does Option Trading Make Underlying Stock Prices More Efficient? Evidence from IPO Lockup Expirations

It is well documented that IPO stock prices decline without reversals around lockup expirations, creating a novel setting to examine the impact of option trading on stock price efficiency. I find that optionable IPO stocks’ prices experience significant declines prior to lockup expirations, while non-optionable stocks’ prices start to decline at and after expiration dates. Delta-adjusted order imbalances in option markets are negative prior to lockup expirations and even more negative when it is hard to borrow in the underlying stock markets. These results provide robust new evidence that derivatives trading helps make the underlying stock market more efficient.
Assessing Risk of Gas Shortage in Coupled Gas-Electricity Infrastructures

Many power systems in the United States and elsewhere are experiencing simultaneous increases of the gas-fired and renewable portions in the generation profile. Both contributions are sufficiently clean to replace retiring generators, which are mainly coal-fired. Moreover, pairing gas and renewables is advantageous because the former is flexible enough to mitigate the exogenous fluctuations of the latter. However, the resulting strong coupling of power systems and gas transmission networks through gas-fired generators also imposes risks. In particular, excessive fuel usage by gas-fired power plants may lead to violation of gas pressure limits and gas supply shortages. To provide a simple tool for assessing these risks, we develop a computational framework that characterizes regions of generator dispatch solutions that maintain gas system feasibility. The proposed algorithmic framework is modular -- built through a coordinated execution of multiple generation scenarios within power and gas simulation modules. Monotone dependence of the gas pipeline pressure on the rates of gas withdrawals allows to establish and certify regions of feasibility/infeasibility in the space of the gas injections. The framework is validated against simulations of a highly detailed benchmark gas-electricity model. We conclude the manuscript with a discussion of possible applications of the results to power system operation procedures and regulatory practices.
The First Amendment and the Military Chaplaincy: The Process of Reform

the end of that war. Reinstatement of selective service registration, however, and the possibility of an actual draft is rekindling interest in military affairs in general. Inasmuch as many religious bodies both supply chaplains to the armed forces and have expressed oppo sition to the draft, the controversy surrounding the chaplaincy may well flare up again. Since the military chaplaincy itself has changed since the early sixties, it is the purpose of this article to recount the history and constitutional justification of a military chaplaincy, to report on current efforts at reform, and to suggest areas still in need of clarification.
Marking and Recapture of California Red Scale for Field Studies

Laboratory-reared adult males of Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell) (Homoptera: Diaspididae) were tagged by dusting the host lemons with Calco® oil blue RA dye just before emergence of the insects. Emerged males picked up the powdered dye on their bodies while they walked on the surface of the lemons before their initial flight. Tagged males released in the field were recaptured on cards coated with a 1:1 mixture of Stickem® and mineral oil and placed on traps baited with the sex pheromone produced by virgin red scale females. Each tagged male landing on the traps deposited dye which dissolved in the mineral oil on the cards, resulting in the formation of a distinct blue spot. The dye apparently had no effect on male emergence but did somewhat affect the flight and mobility of the insects. This technique offers several advantages over previously reported methods of marking small insects.
127I and 207Pb Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy and Nuclear Spin Relaxation in PbI2: A Preliminary Study

Lead iodide is a layered structure that experiences polytypism. The 2H polytype contains high rates of iodine vacancies but retains its stoichiometry. This characteristic feature makes it potentially useful for many practical applications. The hopping of iodine ions among vacancies is the dominant motion in the 2H polytype. We present a preliminary 127I and 207Pb solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and spin–lattice relaxation study of the 2H polytype below 400 K. We present reasonable models for the solid-state NMR results in terms of the effects of iodine hopping and lattice vibrations.
Multiple anesthetics for a patient with stiff-person syndrome

Stiff-person syndrome is a progressive disease of muscle rigidity and spasticity due to a deficiency in the production of γ-aminobutyric acid. Because of the rarity of the condition, little is known about effects of anesthesia on patients with stiff-person syndrome. This report describes the clinical course for a single patient with stiff-person syndrome who received general anesthesia on 3 separate occasions. Her anesthetics included use of both neuromuscular blockade and volatile agents. Unlike several previous reports regarding anesthesia and stiff-person syndrome, the postoperative period for this patient did not require prolonged intubation or result in any residual weakness.
Epidemic Trend of Notifiable Diseases in Huairou District of Beijing from 2004 to 2009

[Objective]To analyze the epidemic trend of notifiable diseases in Huairou district of Beijing from 2004 to 2009,provide the scientific basis for making strategies of infectious diseases prevention and control.[Methods]The data of epidemic situation report of Class A,B and C infectious diseases in Huairou district from 2004 to 2009 were analyzed statistically.[Results]12192 cases of Class A,B and C infectious diseases were reported in Huairou district from 2004 to 2009,and the average annual incidence rate was 582.73/100 000.The main reported infectious diseases were other infectious diarrhea,bacillary dysentery,hand-foot-mouth disease,viral hepatitis and tuberculosis.[Conclusion]The prevention and control of common infectious diseases with high incidence rate in this district should be strengthened,meanwhile,the epidemic trend of new infectious diseases should be intimately concerned,and the strength of prevention and control should be improved.
Changes over 12 months in eye glances during secondary task engagement among novice drivers

During their first year of driving, crash rates among novice drivers are very high but decline rapidly. However, it is not clear what skills or knowledge they are acquiring in this period. Secondary task engagement while driving is a contributing factor to many traffic collisions and some of the elevated crash risk among novices could be explained by greater prevalence or longer periods of eyes off the road while engaging in these non-driving tasks. The current study looked at the eye glances of novice teen drivers engaging in secondary tasks on a test track at 0 and 12 months of licensure and compared their performance with their parents. Novices improved from 0 to 12 months on their longest single glance off the forward roadway and total percentage of time for eyes off the forward roadway, but parents remained stable. Compared with their parents, the longest single glance off the forward roadway was longer for novices at 0 months, but by 12 months there was no difference between the groups. However, for total percentage of time for eyes off the forward roadway, novices performed the same as their parents at 0 months and actually had shorter times at 12 months. These findings could reflect the combined development of driving skills over 12 months and the relative experience that modern teenagers have with portable electronic devices. The results suggest that novice drivers are particularly poor at engaging with secondary tasks while driving.
High-performance terrain rendering using hardware tessellation

In this paper, we present a new terrain rendering approach, with adaptive triangulation performed entirely on the GPU via tessellation unit available on the DX11-class graphics hardware. The proposed approach avoids encoding of the triangulation topology thus reducing the CPU burden significantly. It also minimizes the data transfer overhead between host and GPU memory, which also improves rendering performance. During the preprocessing, we construct a multiresolution terrain height map representation that is encoded by the robust compression technique enabling direct error control. The technique is efficiently accelerated by the GPU and allows the trade-off between speed and compression performance. At run time, an adaptive triangulation is constructed in two stages: a coarse and a fine-grain one. At the first stage, rendering algorithm selects the coarsest level patches that satisfy the given error threshold. At the second stage, each patch is subdivided into smaller blocks which are then tessellated on the GPU in the way that guarantees seamless triangulation.
Elasticity and urban vacancy: A longitudinal comparison of U.S. cities

Abstract The effects of urban expansion and population change on vacant land patterns are not fully understood. While the majority of previous research documents that depopulation can result in increased vacant urban areas, there are conflicting findings in regards to the effects of urban expansion. What remains unclear is whether higher urban elasticity (expansion in size) contributes to increases in urban vacancies, or the inverse. While elastic cities extend their boundaries and develop outwardly, inelastic cities contract or stay the same in size and utilize infill development. This research sought to determine if urban elasticity plays a significant role in contributing to urban vacancy increases through an exploratory, quasi-experimental longitudinal analysis of vacant address data from 40 U.S. cities of over 100,000 persons from 2000 to 2010. We compared the top 20 elastic (boundaries expanded the most) and inelastic (boundaries contracted the most) cities. A fixed effects panel model was developed to observe changes over time and differences in total, residential, and business land uses. Results indicate that aggressive urban expansion can contribute to increased urban vacancies, specifically in reference to residential land uses. This finding clarifies what had heretofore been a murky aspect of the urban studies literature.
Intraduodenales Calcium stimuliert die Freisetzung von Cholecystokinin-Pankreozymin (CCK-PZ) beim Menschen

Die Hydrolysierungsprodukte der Nahrungsstoffe fuhren im Lumen des Dunndarms zu einer Freisetzung von CCK-PZ und stimulieren so die Sekretion pankreatischer Enzyme und die Gallenblasenentleerung [1]. Die verschiedenen Nahrungsstoffe unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihrer Fahigkeit, die Sekretion von CCK-PZ anzuregen. Vom Calcium, das ein wesentlicher Bestandteil unserer Nahrung ist und taglich in Mengen zwischen 800 und 1400 mg aufgenommen wird [2], ist nicht bekannt, ob es zu einer Freisetzung von CCK-PZ fuhrt.
Empagliflozin for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An Overview of Phase 3 Clinical Trials.

Introduction: Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have a unique mecha-nism of action leading to excretion of glucose in the urine and subsequent lowering of plasma glu-cose. This mechanism is independent of β-cell function; thus, these agents are effective treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at theoretically any disease stage. This class should not confer an additional risk of hypoglycemia (unless combined with insulin or an insulin secretagogue) and has the potential to be combined with other classes of glucose-lowering agents. Empagliflozin is one of three currently approved SGLT2 inhibitors in the United States, and has shown a favorable benefit-risk ratio in phase 3 clinical trials as monotherapy and as add-on to other glucose-lowering therapy in broad patient populations. In addition to its glucose-lowering effects, empagliflozin has been shown to reduce body weight and blood pressure without a compensatory increase in heart rate. Moreover, on top of standard of care, empagliflozin is the first glucose-lowering agent to demonstrate cardiovas-cular risk reduction in patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease in a prospective outcomes trial: a 14% reduction in risk of the 3-point composite endpoint of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfa-tal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. Like other SGLT2 inhibitors, empagliflozin is associated with a higher rate of genital mycotic infections than placebo and has the potential for volume deple-tion–associated events.
Disrupting the Balance: The Conflict between Hatch-Waxman and Inter Partes Review

For patents in most industries, Inter Partes Review (IPR) offers a new, efficient alternative pathway to challenge patents of dubious quality. However, for pharmaceutical patents, IPR is a means to avoid the litigation pathway created under Hatch-Waxman over thirty years ago. This Article explains that critical differences between district court litigation in Hatch-Waxman proceedings and IPR jeopardize the delicate balance Hatch-Waxman sought to achieve between patent holders and patent challengers. As IPR has grown in popularity, it has become evident that these proceedings favor patent challengers; compared to district court challenges, patents are twice as likely to be found invalid in IPR challenges.In recent decisions, courts have recognized the anti-patentee bias of IPR, yet punted to Congress the job of changing the provisions. It is critical that Congress reduce the disparities between IPR proceedings and Hatch-Waxman litigation. The high patent invalidation rate in IPR proceedings creates significant uncertainty in intellectual property rights. Uncertain patent rights will, in turn, disrupt the nature of competition in the pharmaceutical industry, drug innovation, and consumers’ access to life-improving drugs.
Predictive control of the tokamak q profile to facilitate reproducibility of high-q min steady-state scenarios at DIII-D

We consider control of the q profile while simultaneously regulating the plasma stored energy for the DIII-D tokamak. The main objective is to improve the shot-to-shot reproducibility and facilitate the accessibility of operating conditions that have steady-state potential, i.e. plasmas with large non-inductive current drive fractions. At DIII-D, non-inductive current sources including electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) and neutral beam injection (NBI) allow the possibility of shaping the plasma current density distribution, and therefore enabling control of the q profile. A feedback controller is designed in a model predictive control framework to regulate the q profile while simultaneously regulating the plasma stored energy. The effectiveness of the control approach is demonstrated with experiments.
Regulatory Consistency Requirements in International Trade

One of the most challenging tasks for international trade agreements is to distinguish protectionist regulation from legitimate regulatory policies. An important set of tools in this regard may be termed "regulatory consistency requirements." These include the national treatment obligation of GATT, which requires that imported goods be treated no less favorably than "like" domestic goods by regulators. Further consistency requirements were introduced at the formation of the WTO, requiring among other things that importing nations not make arbitrary distinctions in their regulatory approaches to similar problems in a manner that disadvantages imports. These consistency requirements allow challenges to domestic regulation based on disparate policies toward different products and industries (such as beef and pork, or salmon and baitfish). This paper explores the economic logic and legal scope of consistency requirements in WTO law, and argues that inter-industry consistency obligations are largely unhelpful both in theory and in practice for the identification of protectionist regulation.
Cleanup Strategies for U.S. Army, Europe, Military Bases

Contaminated sites located on European military installations of the U.S. Army, Europe, are not treated the same as contaminated sites on U.S. Army bases in the United States. On U.S. Army, Europe bases, cleanup is generally triggered by generic numerical criteria, such as the “Dutch list,” and cleanup standards are generally set by host nation environmental officials. Although the U.S. Army, Europe does not now establish any priority in funding cleanup of these sites, policy is changing to favor the use of a screening model to allow priority funding of contaminated site cleanup under a “worst first” policy.
A test of concordance in community structure between leafhoppers and grasslands in the central Tien Shan Mountains

Leafhoppers and related Auchenorrhynchous Hemiptera (AH) are among the most diverse grassland herbivores, and many have been linked inexorably to grassland vegetation through diet and shelter for millions of years. Are AH–plant communities in natural grasslands tightly integrated, how does the interaction differ across major ecological gradients, and do habitat or environmental factors explain the most variance in AH community structure? These questions have implications for the conservation of biodiversity and in evaluating effects of a warming climate. Using grasslands of the central Tien Shan Mountains as a natural laboratory, we examine whether AH species assemblages are concordant with vegetation in terms of community structure using closely associated species-level samples. Data were recorded from a nearly 3000-m elevation gradient crossing four arid and three montane grassland vegetation classes. We found elements of AH–plant community classification and structure to be closely correlated except for at the arid–montane habitat transition where a small group of widespread AH species were significant indicators for vegetation classes in both major grassland types. AH species richness and abundance are positively correlated with plant species density and percent cover and, correspondingly, peak at mid-elevations in association with montane grasslands. While overall elevation (and covariate mean annual temperature) explains the most variance in AH species assemblages, the sum total of habitat factors explain more variance than environmental factors when arid and montane grasslands were examined separately, but environmental factors are co-equal with habitat factors when the grassland types are combined. Unexplained variance in the AH community assemblages, attributable to individualistic species responses to environmental and habitat factors, slightly exceeds the total accounted for by the model.
Critical Contact Lens Oxygen Transmissibility and Tear Lens Oxygen Tension to Preclude Corneal Neovascularization.

Objective The purpose of this study is to determine the peripheral oxygen transmissibility (pDk/t) and respective central oxygen transmissibility (cDk/t) in soft contact lenses (SCLs) which might preclude SCL-driven corneal neovascularization (NV) in healthy myopic SCL users. Methods Twenty subjectively successful SCL-wearing patients who presented with asymptomatic but active peripheral corneal NV (not ghost vessels) were recruited as study patients. Twenty-one patients who did not have NV were similarly recruited as controls. Demographic data were collected. Corneal NV was documented and photographed. Current habitual SCLs were collected and thicknesses measured to allow for the calculation of both pDk/t and cDk/t and estimation of local tear oxygen tensions. Results No statistical differences between study and control groups in patient age, refraction, or the numbers of years, days per week, or hours per day patients reported SCL wear were identified. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups for both pDk/t (P=0.006) and cDk/t (P=0.004): mean (±SD) pDk/t was 38.0±23.5 and 19.2±17.7 Fatt units for control and study corneas, respectively. Mean cDk/t were 80.0±54.4 and 36.8±33.1 Fatt units for control and study corneas, respectively. Peripheral tear oxygen tension that "protected" corneas from vascular filling was over 84 mm Hg. Conclusion Maintaining a pDk/t above 30 to 40 Fatt units with daily wear SCLs should protect most normal corneas from NV as a complication of SCL wear.
Perturbation Method: Boundary Layer Method

This chapter elaborates the yield and procedure of boundary layer method. It is applicable to differential equations with a small parameter present, for which regular perturbation series are inadequate. This singular perturbation technique yields an expansion of the solution in terms of the small parameter. It is found that if a regular perturbation series cannot match all the boundary conditions in a differential equation, there may be one or more regions where the solution is rapidly varying. Given a differential equation with a small parameter ɛ, it is attempted to find a solution in the form of a regular perturbation series. It is suggested that if the outer solution cannot match all of the initial conditions or boundary conditions, then place boundary layers (regions of rapid variation) near one or more of the boundaries.
Other Theoretical Frameworks

There are other ways to think of the minimum wage. One approach is to ask whether the minimum wage could lead to greater productivity as an efficiency wage. Another approach is to ask whether the minimum wage constitutes a serious civil rights issue because to pay workers low wages may be tantamount to stealing. On a more philosophical level, is there not a conservative argument to make in favor of the minimum wage because better-paid workers would enable them to be more autonomous. These more philosophical concerns when added to the efficiency argument raise the question of whether a minimum wage perhaps paves the way toward government ultimately serving as employer of last resort, whereby the wage paid at job sites would become the effective minimum wage. And yet, the minimum wage may well be a step toward the concept of a universal basic income (UBI), which would not only replace the minimum wage but redefine the very nature of work. As problematic as these approaches may be politically, a minimum wage does force us to grapple with the implications of a minimum wage broader than commonly supposed. Ironically, the idea of the minimum wage as a middle-class issue may represent a middle of the road, and perhaps be the most feasible politically.
Using Electromagnetic Signal Propagation Models for Radio and Television Broadcasts: An Introduction

This note offers an introduction to electromagnetic signal propagation models, which can be used to model terrestrial radio and television signal strength across space. Such data are useful to social scientists interested in identifying the effects of mass media broadcasts when (i) individual-level data on media exposure do not exist or when (ii) media exposure, while observed, is not exogenous. We illustrate the use of electromagnetic signal propagation models by creating a signal strength measure of military-controlled radio stations during the 2012 coup in Mali.
Boundaries in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Boundaries are crucial to effective psychotherapy. Unique boundary problems arise when working with children. The consequences of boundary violations to therapist and patient are discussed along with suggestions for avoiding and correcting such violations.
Quantifying Anticipatory Characteristics. The AnticipationScope™ and the AnticipatoryProfile™

Anticipation has frequently been acknowledged, but mainly on account of qualitative observations. To quantify the expression of anticipation is a challenge in two ways: (1) Anticipation is unique in its expression; (2) given the non-deterministic nature of anticipatory processes, to describe quantitatively how they take place is to describe not only successful anticipations, but also failed anticipations. The AnticipationScope is an original data acquisition and data processing environment. The Anticipatory Profile is the aggregate expression of anticipation as a realization in the possibility space. A subsystem of the AnticipationScope could be a predictive machine that monitors the performance of deterministic processes.
Nitroarenes: Their Detection, Mutagenicity and Occurrence in the Environment

Nitroarenes and hydroxylated nitroarenes have been identified in diesel and other combustion source emissions and ambient air using bioassay-directed chemical analysis. Studies of the extractable organic matter associated with airborne particles show that substantial mutagenicity is associated with fractions which are more polar than the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These mutagenic polar neutral and acidic fractions contain nitroarenes. Hydroxylated nitroarenes, where the aromatic portion consists of one- and two-rings (e.g., hydroxylated nitrobenzene, -toluene, -naphthalene, and -biphenyl), have been found in relatively high concentrations in the organic acids in ambient air. The distribution of nitroarenes and hydroxylated nitroarenes and the specific isomers present in the air appear to be related to their mechanism of formation and source whether they are emitted directly from combustion sources or formed through atmospheric transformation.
Lattice dynamics of γ-Fe

Large single crystals of fcc iron (\ensuremath{\gamma} phase) were grown in situ and used to study the lattice dynamics of this phase of Fe by standard inelastic neutron scattering techniques. The phonon dispersion curves were measured along the [00\ensuremath{\xi}], [\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\xi}0], and [\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\xi}] symmetry directions at 1428 K. A selected number of phonon frequencies were also obtained at 1227 and 1640 K. We find that the measured dispersion curves are qualitatively similar to those of Ni and ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{0.3}$${\mathrm{Fe}}_{0.7}$. The 1428-K data were used to evaluate the elastic constants, the phonon density of states, and the lattice specific heat of \ensuremath{\gamma}-Fe.
Fin-channel orientation dependence of forward conduction in kV-class Ga2O3 trench Schottky barrier diodes

Ga2O3 vertical trench Schottky barrier diodes with four different fin-channel orientations are realized on (001) substrates and compared. Fin-channels along the [010] direction with (100)-like sidewalls result in the highest forward current, while other channel orientations all lead to a shallow turn-on behavior and much lower forward current, indicative of severe sidewall depletion attributed to negative interface charges. The comparison indicates that the interface charge density is the smallest on the (100)-like surfaces. The breakdown voltage of the diodes with 1-μm fin width is around 2.4 kV, with no apparent dependence on the channel orientation.