cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
In search of the bigger picture: The emergent role of on-line photo sharing in times of disaster

Eyewitness photography is increasingly playing a more significant role in disaster response and recovery efforts. This research elaborates on the ways in which members of the public participate during times of disaster by closely examining the evolving role of a prominent photo-sharing website, Flickr, in events that have occurred since its launch in February 2004. We discuss features of Flickr’s emerging evolutionary growth as a community forum for disaster-related grassroots activity based on the findings from our qualitative study of 29 groups across six disasters over Flickr’s nearly three-year lifespan. Our findings discuss efforts toward the development of norms that attempt to guide the nature of social practice around photographic content during disaster response and recovery efforts.
Pre-purchase satisfaction of work shirts worn by women in agriculture.

As part of a larger comprehensive study on clothing preferences in women's outdoor apparel, the purpose of this study is to assess the pre-purchase satisfaction of women participating in agriculture and to compare with functional, expressive, and aesthetic attributes, specific to shirts. From preliminary data analysis, shirts were identified as a major concern of the participants.
Bacterial Protein Reshapes Host Defense toward Antiviral Responses.

In this issue of Molecular Cell, Penn et al. (2018) report the protein interactome between Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) secreted effectors and macrophage cytosolic proteins. This Resource reveals that the interaction of Mtb effector LpqN with host CBL counteracts antibacterial defense but causes a reciprocal enhancement of antiviral defense.
The paradox of a credit-recovery program: alleviating and exacerbating racial inequity

This ethnographic case study examines how a racial equity-focused effort was contested and undermined by analyzing classroom observations and interviews with three teachers who worked in a credit-r...
Digging Up Lost Billboards: A Photographic Archaeology of Outdoor Advertising in Early Twentieth-Century Shanghai*

This paper proposes a photographic archaeology in order to explore the material, visual and social impact of outdoor advertising in early twentieth-century Shanghai. Combining statistical analysis ...
Firearms training and storage practices among US gun owners: a nationally representative study.

Objectives To describe firearm storage practices among US adults and examine the relationship between having received formal firearms training and firearm storage. Methods In 2015 we asked a nationally representative online sample of 2072 gun owners how they stored household firearms, their reasons for owning guns, the number and types owned, had they carried a loaded handgun in the prior month and whether they had formal firearms training (and if so, whether training covered suicide prevention, accident prevention, firearm theft prevention, safe handling and safe storage). Unadjusted associations between gun owner characteristics and storage practices were estimated using Pearson’s χ2 tests; adjusted associations used multivariate logistic regressions. Final survey weights that combined presample and study-specific poststratification weights account for oversampling of firearm owners and survey non-response. Results 29.7% (95% CI 27.4% to 32.1%) stored ≥1 firearm loaded and unlocked. Of the 61.4% (95% CI 58.9% to 63.9%) of gun owners with firearms training, 32.3% (95% CI 29.4% to 35.3%) stored ≥1 firearm loaded and unlocked, compared with 25.8% (95% CI 22.3% to 29.7%) of those without training. Storage did not differ by training component, age, sex or race. However, firearms were more likely stored loaded and unlocked when respondents owned for protection, owned >1 firearm, owned handguns or carried a loaded gun. After adjusting for firearm-related characteristics, firearms training was not associated with storing firearms loaded and unlocked (adjusted OR=1.11, 95% Cl 0.80 to 1.53). Conclusion Firearms training, as currently provided, is unlikely to reduce unsafe firearm storage.
Effect of reactant gas stoichiometry of in-situ SiNx passivation on structural properties of MOCVD AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Abstract We report on the effect of reactant gas stoichiometry of in-situ SiNx passivation on structural properties of MOCVD grown AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor structures on 100 mm Si (1 1 1). A systematic study on the effect of constituent gas flows on surface morphology and growth rate is reported. X-ray reflectometry and atomic force microscopy is performed to determine the surface morphology and thickness of the near-surface layers. Conformal coverage of SiNx with abrupt SiNx-III-Nitride interface is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. When the growth rate of the in-situ SiNx is less than a critical threshold of 10 nm/h, the AlGaN barrier layer is significantly etched. The charge density of the two-dimensional electron gas induced at the AlGaN/GaN interface due to polarization and surface state filling is evaluated with Hg-probe C-V profile and calculations based on strain relaxation. Increased sheet charge density is observed for the in-situ passivated samples. Passivated samples with growth rates higher than the critical threshold show excellent suppression of strain relaxation in the barrier layer. In addition to the strain induced carrier density, surface state filling with in-situ SiNx passivation contributes 8–12% of the total sheet charge density.
Cortical Computation via Iterative Constructions

We study Boolean functions of an arbitrary number of input variables that can be realized by simple iterative constructions based on constant-size primitives. This restricted type of construction needs little global coordination or control and thus is a candidate for neurally feasible computation. Valiant’s construction of a majority function can be realized in this manner and, as we show, can be generalized to any uniform threshold function. We study the rate of convergence, finding that while linear convergence to the correct function can be achieved for any threshold using a fixed set of primitives, for quadratic convergence, the size of the primitives must grow as the threshold approaches 0 or 1. We also study finite realizations of this process and the learnability of the functions realized. We show that the constructions realized are accurate outside a small interval near the target threshold, where the size of the construction grows as the inverse square of the interval width. This phenomenon, that errors are higher closer to thresholds (and thresholds closer to the boundary are harder to represent), is a well-known cognitive finding.
Validity and reliability assessment of 3-D camera-based capture barbell velocity tracking device.

Abstract Velocity-based training (VBT) requires the monitoring of lift velocity plus the prescribed resistance weight. A validated and reliable device is needed to capture the velocity and power of several exercises. Objectives The study objectives were to examine the validity and reliability of the Elite Form Training System® (EFTS) for measures of peak velocity (PV), average velocity (AV), peak power (PP), and average power (AP). Design Validity of the EFTS was assessed by comparing measurements simultaneously obtained via the Qualisys Track Manager software (C-motion, version 3.90.21, Gothenburg, Sweden) utilizing 6 motion capture cameras (Oqus 400, 240 Hz, Gothenburg, Sweden). Methods Six participants performed 6 resistance exercises in 2 sessions: power clean, dead lift, bench press, back squat, front squat, and jump squat. Results Simple Pearson correlations indicated the validity of the device (0.982, 0.971, 0.973, and 0.982 for PV, AV, PP, and AP respectively) and ranged from 0.868 to 0.998 for the 6 exercises. The test-retest reliability of the EFTS was shown by lack of significant change in the Pearson correlation ( Conclusions The validity and reliability of the EFTS were classified as excellent across all variables and exercises with only one exercise showing a slight influence by the velocity of the movement.
A 0.4–1.2 GHz SiGe Cryogenic LNA for Readout of MKID Arrays

The design and characterization of a low noise amplifier optimized for the readout of microwave kinetic inductance detectors is described. The work is first motivated through a description of microwave kinetic inductance detectors and a discussion of the requirements for the low-noise amplifiers employed for readout of these devices. Next, the design of a two-stage silicon germanium cryogenic integrated circuit low noise amplifier is presented. The small-signal and large-signal characteristics of the fabricated amplifier are then measured. It is shown that, at a physical temperature of 16 K, the amplifier achieves a gain of greater than 30 dB and an average noise temperature of 3.3 K over the 0.4–1.2 GHz frequency band while dissipating less than 7 mW. Moreover, the wideband compression characteristics are measured it is found that the linearity of the amplifier is sufficient to support frequency domain multiplexed readout of more than 500 detectors.
Moralizing queer dialectics: a response to Cyril Ghosh

Ghosh’s book makes important interventions in contemporary LGBTQ+ rights politics, but some analytical and methodological choices produce oversights. In this response I address three such instances...
Evaluating the classification of images from geoscience papers using small data

Abstract Image classification becomes a very challenging task when it involves classes that have shared characteristics and few data are available for training the classifier. Considering this problem, in this work we adopt a case study based on images from geoscience papers and investigate how different features can be combined in order to improve image classification results. In our investigation, we present a tool for evaluating class separability based on the position of the samples in a two-dimensional map according to different features. Moreover, we investigate the usefulness of classifiers’ membership probabilities for our scenario, validating if they can be used as reliable measures of the confidence in the predicted labels. Our experimental results show that it is possible to take advantage of deep learning models’ ability to learn discriminating features from data and combine them with hand-crafted features to improve classification. With this feature combination, we trained a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier whose results are better than the ones achieved using only deep learning.
Does the Removal of Textbook Reading from Emergency Medicine Resident Education Negatively Affect In-Service Scores?

Author(s): Ju, Christine; Bove, Joseph; Hochman, Steven | Abstract: Introduction: In-service exam scores are used by residency programs as a marker for progress and success on board exams. Conference curriculum helps residents prepare for these exams. At our institution, due to resident feedback a change in curriculum was initiated. Our objective was to determine whether assigned Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) articles and Rosh Review questions were non-inferior to Tintinalli textbook readings. We further hypothesized that the non-textbook assigned curriculum would lead to higher resident satisfaction, greater utilization, and a preference over the old curriculum.Methods: We collected scores from both the allopathic In-training Examination (ITE) and osteopathic Emergency Medicine Residency In-service Exam (RISE) scores taken by our program’s residents from both the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 residency years. We compared scores pre-curriculum change (pre-CC) to scores post-curriculum change (post-CC). A five-question survey was sent to the residents regarding their satisfaction, preference, and utilization of the two curricula.Results: Resident scores post-CC were shown to be non-inferior to their scores pre-CC for both exams. There was also no significant difference when we compared scores from each class post-CC to their respective class year pre-CC for both exams. Our survey showed significantly more satisfaction, utilization, and preference for this new curriculum among residents.Conclusion: We found question-based learning and Evidence-Based Medicine articles non-inferior to textbook readings. This study provides evidence to support a move away from textbook readings without sacrificing scores on examinations.
Chain-Length Dependence of Thermal Conductivity in 2D Alkylammonium Lead Iodide Single Crystals.

In 2D organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite materials, layers of conducting inorganic material are separated by insulating organic spacers whose length and composition can be tuned. We report the hea...
A Second Exodus: Ethiopian Jews in Israel Between Religion, Nation and State

Questions about Jewishness, Judaism, and the Jewish people have been topics of millennia-long debates. In this paper, I focus on the formation of social hierarchies in Israel based on skin-color to argue that there is unresolved yet consequential tension between definitions of Jewishness as a religious tradition, a national identity, and a state apparatus. I embrace the perspective of Ethiopian Jews, whose identities were reframed in Israel as Blacks, to illustrate how this tension placed dark-skinned immigrants beyond the scope of both Jewish religious tradition as well as national identity, to become the marginalized inhabitants of the Jewish State. Thereby I describe and examine two state-imposed processes in which Israel’s Rabbinate plays a central role: 1) Israel’s demand that Ethiopian Jews convert to Judaism in order to be accorded citizenship. 2) Israel’s demand that Ethiopian Jewish children attend a segregated Jewish Orthodox public-school system, to acquire and cultivate a particular national identity. State-sponsored schools have become the basis for both religious and national identity education and re-education. Key words: Jewish nationalism; immigration; religious (re-)education; Skin Color; Zionism.
Comparing Zipf’s Law Fidelity With A Human Rights Index

Zipf’s law for city populations is a well-known statement regarding the proportions between the most populous cities of a given area, first mentioned by German physicist Felix Auerbach (Auerbach 1913, Zipf 1949, Simon 1955). Many observers, including Paul Krugman, have held Zipf’s law to be universal (Krugman 1996). In the following however I show that although nations do universally follow the law, they do not follow the law universally well: namely, that the largest cities of several nations generally thought to be protectors of human rights—the United States, Britain, France, Germany—appear to fit this law, whereas several other nations generally thought to perform poorly as defenders of human rights—Russia, China, Cuba—fit the law less well. These results are then compared to the cities of the Korean peninsula: South Korean cities follow the rule more closely than North Korean cities. I conjecture that political regimes can—and do—influence some underlying natural process that drives the formation of Zipf’s law.
A unified description of mechanical and actuation fatigue crack growth in shape memory alloys

Abstract The damage tolerance approaches to fatigue rely on fracture mechanics concepts to explicitly account for the fatigue crack growth process. These approaches typically adopt the Paris equation, which relates the crack growth per cycle to the range of variation of the stress intensity factor, Δ K , during cyclic loading by means of experimentally calibrated parameters. Conditions on the validity of a single parameter description of the near crack tip stress and strain fields restrict the applicability of Δ K to fatigue crack growth resistance in Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) under general thermomechanical loading paths. These conditions are substantially relaxed for the cyclic Δ J –integral approach, which can achieve similitude over a wider range of loading conditions and geometric configurations. Thus, Δ J qualifies as a potential unified descriptor of thermomechanical fatigue crack growth resistance in SMAs, an assertion, which is tested in this work for data from both purely mechanical and actuation fatigue crack growth experiments of a high temperature SMA, Ni 50.3 Ti 29.7 Hf 20 . In the latter, compact tension specimens are subjected to thermal cycling under constant load between an upper and a lower cycle temperature that allows for the stable phase to alternate in each cycle. It is shown here that a Paris-type power-law crack growth expression based on the Δ J -integral can fit fatigue crack growth rate data from both types of experiments with a single set of parameters. This new analysis method for both actuation and mechanical fatigue crack growth rates provides a unified description for fatigue crack growth in SMAs and can allow estimating actuation fatigue crack growth rates, laborious and challenging to measure, from easier to detect mechanical fatigue crack growth rates.
Kelvin transformations for simulations on infinite domains

Solving partial differential equations (PDEs) on infinite domains has been a challenging task in physical simulations and geometry processing. We introduce a general technique to transform a PDE problem on an unbounded domain to a PDE problem on a bounded domain. Our method uses the Kelvin Transform, which essentially inverts the distance from the origin. However, naive application of this coordinate mapping can still result in a singularity at the origin in the transformed domain. We show that by factoring the desired solution into the product of an analytically known (asymptotic) component and another function to solve for, the problem can be made continuous and compact, with solutions significantly more efficient and well-conditioned than traditional finite element and Monte Carlo numerical PDE methods on stretched coordinates. Specifically, we show that every Poisson or Laplace equation on an infinite domain is transformed to another Poisson (Laplace) equation on a compact region. In other words, any existing Poisson solver on a bounded domain is readily an infinite domain Poisson solver after being wrapped by our transformation. We demonstrate the integration of our method with finite difference and Monte Carlo PDE solvers, with applications in the fluid pressure solve and simulating electromagnetism, including visualizations of the solar magnetic field. Our transformation technique also applies to the Helmholtz equation whose solutions oscillate out to infinity. After the transformation, the Helmholtz equation becomes a tractable equation on a bounded domain without infinite oscillation. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the Helmholtz equation on an infinite domain is solved on a bounded grid without requiring an artificial absorbing boundary condition.
Systematic review: investigating the added diagnostic value of gadolinium contrast agents for osteomyelitis in the appendicular skeleton.

Osteomyelitis is an infection of the bone marrow. MRI with gadolinium-based contrast is frequently performed for cases of suspected osteomyelitis. The objective of this systematic review is to examine the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced vs non-contrast–enhanced MRI for osteomyelitis in the appendicular skeleton. We conducted a systematic review of MRI in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE from January 2000 to March 2020. There were 21 studies that met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review for a total of 1095 patients. Analytic methods were based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Evidence was evaluated using the STARD criteria for evaluation of completeness and transparency of reporting. For diagnosing osteomyelitis in the appendicular skeleton, MRI with gadolinium-based contrast has 89% sensitivity (95% CI, 86–92%), 79% specificity (95% CI, 75–83%), and 90% overall diagnostic accuracy ([SE] = 0.03). For diagnosing osteomyelitis in the appendicular skeleton, MRI without gadolinium-based contrast has a 92% sensitivity (95% CI, 87–96%), 89% specificity (95% CI, 84–93%), and 96% overall diagnostic accuracy ([SE] = 0.03). The median score of included studies was 85% utilizing the STARD criteria with excellent interobserver agreement of 83.4%. Limitations included small sample size of studies, with retrospective designs. No evidence was found to suggest an added diagnostic value of gadolinium contrast for the diagnosis of osteomyelitis in the appendicular skeleton. For routine cases of suspected non-spinal osteomyelitis, non-contrast MRI of the area of interest is the next most appropriate study after radiographs.
Safety issues of children age 3-5 years in school classrooms: a perspective of classrooms in the United States

Interior design is an established industry in the United States with its profits well known to be a good contribution to the national economic growth. Some effort has been made by U.S. Design Council to make sure that the interior design of buildings promotes good health and comfort. Questions have been raised about the safety of U.S. classrooms meant for elementary-level children, specifically those under than 5 years of age. This formed the basis of this research, which unraveled the separate interior design elements of elementary classrooms and their effects on pupils’ learning and health. Data were collected through secondary methods from various documentary materials that shed light on the interior design of classrooms and their effects on pupils’ development and learning capabilities. Data were then analyzed through an interpretive and comparative procedure of key variables such as classroom threats and learning achievements. The findings showed that pupils in U.S. school classrooms face mainly seven kinds of classroom threats—thermal, chemical, mechanical, organic, electrical, physiological, and emotional threats—in varying degrees depending on the students’ gender and location. Generally, female pupils were found to be more greatly affected by thermal, emotional, and physiological threats than were their male counterparts in academic achievement. That is because, unlike females, male pupils tend to adapt quickly to classroom threats such as feeling extremely hot, fatigued or dizzy. Additionally, it was found that all pupils face multiple health challenges when exposed to the various above-mentioned threats in their classrooms. With many U.S. schools requiring the use of pesticides, and the environment having been polluted through industrial processes, many children have been exposed to additional
Applications of narrative to the engineering decision making process and the pedagogy of engineering education

Narrative is defined as a basic form of human communication. It is through narrative that humans experience and comprehend life. Using narrative as a tool to improve communication and comprehension requires incorporating several components into a complete narrative structure. The components of a narrative consist of a story; that is, a sequence of events providing chronological order and context to a subject, and a method of discourse; that is, the means in which the story is told. Creating narrative allows for increased cognitive understanding of a subject because it is the way in which we as humans naturally communicate. This paper examines how narrative may be used in engineering decision making. Engineering is a field where data is often presented with little context. This data is difficult to understand at first glance and occasionally requires explanation from experts closest to the data set. Engineering courses are not much different in that students are often faced with computational problems that are taken out of context. Practice in solving problems is necessary; however, these problems are often out of context and use idealized situations, thus hindering students’ ability to transfer knowledge to new situations. Using narrative to place problems in a real world context allows the students to experience situations closer to real world working environments. Outside of the engineering classroom, engineers face large amounts of data generated from projects with large design teams. Arranging the data into a narrative by adding layers of context can aid in comprehension of project data and also help bridge communication gaps between multiple engineering disciplines. Engineering groups tend to do this today, and indeed many companies have formalized engineering processes that unknowingly create a narrative. Understanding the nature of narrative can improve these
In Memoriam: William Francis Kelleher, Jr.

Abstract: A consideration of the scholarly and personal influence of the scholar William Francis (Bill) Kelleher, Jr. Kelleher was a specialist in the ethnography of Northern Ireland who trained anthropology PhD students studying Eastern Europe and thus played a role in the development of the anthropology of postsocialism. His passions were areas of ethnicity and conflict, labor, class, gender, narrative, and social justice.
Getting to the heart of DiGeorge syndrome.

Mice genetically engineered to mimic human DiGeorge syndrome provide clues to the genetic basis of this chromosomal deletion syndrome and question UFD1L as the sole candidate gene.
Volume and Temperature Influences on the Effectiveness of Lean Thermal Reactors

Thirty feet of stainless tubing with a volume of over 1200 in.3 was added to the exhaust manifold of a 4 cylinder engine. The entire assembly was insulated to serve as a constant temperature "lean reactor". Exhaust emission and temperature measurements at various points along the "reactor" provided data on the extent of the HC and CO oxidation reactions as a function of reactor volume. Mass flow calculations were made to calculate exhaust gas residence times. Limited data are also presented on the effect of exhaust flow rate on mixing. /SAE/
Super conductivity in two NaCl structure compounds: α-ZrP and ScS1+x☆

Both ZrP (high temperature α form) and ScS1+x (0 ≤ x < 0.5) crystallize in the NaCl structure. Each has been observed to be superconducting with transition temperatures up to 5 K.
Relating Space Radiation Environments to Risk Estimates

A number of considerations must go into the process of determining the risk of deleterious effects of space radiation to travelers on long missions. Among them are (1) determination of the components of the radiation environment (particle species, fluxes and energy spectra) which the travelers will encounter, (2) determination of the effects of shielding provided by the spacecraft and the bodies of the travelers which modify the incident particle spectra and mix of particles, and (3) determination of relevant biological effects of the radiation in the organs of interest. The latter can then lead to an estimation of risk from a given space scenario. Clearly, the process spans many scientific disciplines from solar and cosmic ray physics to radiation transport theory to the multistage problem of the induction by radiation of initial lesions in living material and their evolution via physical, chemical, and biological processes at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels to produce the end point of importance.
miR-302 Is Required for Timing of Neural Differentiation, Neural Tube Closure, and Embryonic Viability

The evolutionarily conserved miR-302 family of microRNAs is expressed during early mammalian embryonic development. Here, we report that deletion of miR-302a-d in mice results in a fully penetrant late embryonic lethal phenotype. Knockout embryos have an anterior neural tube closure defect associated with a thickened neuroepithelium. The neuroepithelium shows increased progenitor proliferation, decreased cell death, and precocious neuronal differentiation. mRNA profiling at multiple time points during neurulation uncovers a complex pattern of changing targets over time. Overexpression of one of these targets, Fgf15, in the neuroepithelium of the chick embryo induces precocious neuronal differentiation. Compound mutants between mir-302 and the related mir-290 locus have a synthetic lethal phenotype prior to neurulation. Our results show that mir-302 helps regulate neurulation by suppressing neural progenitor expansion and precocious differentiation. Furthermore, these results uncover redundant roles for mir-290 and mir-302 early in development.
Chemotactic Responsiveness of Human Alveolar Macrophages: Effects of Cigarette Smoking

Pulmonary alveolar macrophages from six cigarette smokers demonstrated higher random migration and greater chemotactic responsiveness to casein than did macrophages from seven nonsmokers. These observations are consistent with the concept that pulmonary macrophages are metabolically activated by cigarette smoking.
A Method for Assessing Ground-Truth Accuracy of the 5DCT Technique

Purpose To develop a technique that assesses the accuracy of the breathing phase-specific volume image generation process by patient-specific breathing motion model using the original free-breathing computed tomographic (CT) scans as ground truths. Methods Sixteen lung cancer patients underwent a previously published protocol in which 25 free-breathing fast helical CT scans were acquired with a simultaneous breathing surrogate. A patient-specific motion model was constructed based on the tissue displacements determined by a state-of-the-art deformable image registration. The first image was arbitrarily selected as the reference image. The motion model was used, along with the free-breathing phase information of the original 25 image datasets, to generate a set of deformation vector fields that mapped the reference image to the 24 nonreference images. The high-pitch helically acquired original scans served as ground truths because they captured the instantaneous tissue positions during free breathing. Image similarity between the simulated and the original scans was assessed using deformable registration that evaluated the pointwise discordance throughout the lungs. Results Qualitative comparisons using image overlays showed excellent agreement between the simulated images and the original images. Even large 2-cm diaphragm displacements were very well modeled, as was sliding motion across the lung–chest wall boundary. The mean error across the patient cohort was 1.15 ± 0.37 mm, and the mean 95th percentile error was 2.47 ± 0.78 mm. Conclusion The proposed ground truth–based technique provided voxel-by-voxel accuracy analysis that could identify organ-specific or tumor-specific motion modeling errors for treatment planning. Despite a large variety of breathing patterns and lung deformations during the free-breathing scanning session, the 5-dimensionl CT technique was able to accurately reproduce the original helical CT scans, suggesting its applicability to a wide range of patients.
Deep brain stimulation: treating neurological and psychiatric disorders by modulating brain activity.

Attempts to modulate brain activity for therapeutic purposes by stimulating various cortical and subcortical areas, have been made since the 19th century. Bartholow was one of the first to describe in detail, a case of brain stimulation in 1874 [13]. However, it was not until a century later, when in 1987, Benabid and Pollack proved that chronic high frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of thalamus could be used as a safe and effective way of treating the tremor of Parkinson’s disease (PD) [11,19]. A timeline of important milestones in the history of brain stimulation is shown in Fig. 1. In this article we will discuss the currently approved and the experimental uses of DBS. In addition we will give a brief overview of the proposed mechanisms by which DBS is currently thought to modulate brain activity. Sometimes referred to as a ‘brain pacemaker’, DBS involves placement of intracranial electrodes (Fig. 2) which can be connected to a subcutaneously and subclavicularly implanted pulse generator (IPG). The IPG allows noninvasive adjustments of current amplitude, frequency, pulse width and polarity by means of a hand-
Data size reduction for clustering-based binning of ICs using principal component analysis (PCA)

Accurate binning of ICs using analog characteristics such as IDDQ requires using data from a number of vectors. From this data, information needs to be extracted using a method that will yield sufficiently high resolution. Using a large volume of data can require significant computation time. If n analog measurements are made for each chip, the data has n dimensions. However the measured IDDQ values for a chip can he highly correlated. We examine an approach based on principal component analysis (PCA) for reducing the data size while preserving almost all of the information. PCA transforms the data by extracting statistically independent components and arranging them in the order of relative significance. Using industrial IDDQ data we found that often n-dimensional data can be reduced to a single dimension with no substantial change in the clusters identified
Encrypted messages from the heights of cryptomania

How flexible can encryption be? This question motivated the invention of public key encryption that began modern cryptography. A lot has happened since then. I will focus on two lines of research that I find especially interesting (mainly the second) and the mysterious gap between them.
A perfect storm: examining the synergistic effects of negative and positive emotional instability on promoting weight loss activities in anorexia nervosa

Growing evidence indicates that both positive and negative emotion potentially influence the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa, through both positive and negative reinforcement of weight loss activities. Such reactive emotional experience may be characterized by frequent and intense fluctuations in emotion, a construct known as "emotional instability." The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between positive emotional instability and weight loss activities in anorexia nervosa, and to investigate the synergistic effects of positive and negative emotional instability on promoting weight loss activities. Using ecological momentary assessment methods, 118 participants with anorexia nervosa reported their emotional experiences and behaviors at least six times daily over 2 weeks using a portable digital device. Using generalized linear modeling, results indicated that high levels of both positive and negative emotional instability, and the interaction between the two, were associated with more frequent weight-loss activities, beyond anorexia subtype and mean levels of emotional intensity. These findings indicate that when women with anorexia exhibit both high levels of both positive and negative emotional instability they are more prone to a variety of weight loss activities. The importance of addressing the role of both positive and negative emotion in anorexia treatment is discussed.
Color-Octet Fragmentation and the psi ' Surplus at the Fermilab Tevatron.

The production rate of prompt {psi}{prime}`s at large transverse momentum at the Fermilab Tevatron is larger than theoretical expectations by about a factor of 30. As a solution to this puzzle, we suggest that the dominant {psi}{prime} production mechanism is the fragmentation of a gluon into a {ital c{bar c}} pair in a pointlike color-octet {ital S}-wave state, which subsequently evolves nonperturbatively into a {psi}{prime} plus light hadrons. This contribution to the fragmentation function is enhanced by a short-distance factor of 1/{alpha}{sup 2}{sub {ital s}}, which may compensate for its suppression by {ital v}{sup 4}, where {ital v} is the relative momentum of the charm quark in the {psi}{prime}.
Effect of the Venoms of Two Viperid Snakes, the Copperhead ( Agkistrodon contortrix ) and the Cottonmouth ( Agkistrodon piscivorus ), on the Liver and Kidney of the Bullfrog ( Rana catesbeiana )

Injection of venom into bullfrogs caused a loss if integrity of the epithelium of Bowman’s capsules and of the capillaries of the glomeruli in the kidneys. The kidney tubules were unaffected. Cottonmouth venom had a more severe effect on the kidney than did copperhead venom. Venom of neither snake caused any in vivo effect on the livers of bullfrogs. However, liver slices cultured in vitro with cottonmouth venom showed deterioration of the nuclei above the levels of autolysis in controls. The extent of denucleation was proportional to venom dose. Cottonmouth venom had a greater effect on the nuclei of liver slices than did copperhead venom.
Seasonal and diel activity patterns of generalist predators associated with Diabrotica virgifera immatures (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract The diel and seasonal activity of epigeal predators associated with pre-imaginal Diabrotica virgifera was described. Due to its duration, the egg stage was exposed to more predators than the larval stage. Most predators were easily categorized into day- and night-active guilds. Seasonal and diel niche partitioning may contribute to the maintenance of this diverse and abundant predator community.
Improving the Performance of an Optimistic Concurrency Control Algorithm Through Timestamps and Versions

This correspondence describes and analyzes two schemes for improving the performance of serial validation, an optimistic concurrency control algorithm proposed by Kutng and Robinson. It is shown that timestamp-based techniques can be used to implement serial validation, yielding an equivalent algorithm with a much lower validation cost. A multiple version variant of serial validation is then presented, and simulation results indicate that multiversion serial validation has significant performance advantages over the single version algorithm.
Targeting drugs to the enterohepatic circulation: Lessons from bile acids and other endobiotics

Abstract The pharmacology of chenodeoxycholic acid (chenodiol) and ursodeoxycholic acid, two naturally occurring bile acids which are used for cholesterol gallstone dissolution, is compared with that of common drugs. These bile acids are “enterohepatic” drugs, in that their distribution is limited to the intestine, portal and systemic circulation, liver, and biliary tract; and their target tissue is bile. They also differ from common drugs in being excreted efficiently into bile after amidation with glycine or taurine in the liver. The amidates are efficiently reabsorbed from the small intestine by active ileal transport, whereas sulfates and glucuronides of common drugs are not reabsorbed from the intestine. Efficient intestinal reabsorption results in a flux through the liver and biliary tract many fold greater than the administered dose. Bile acids are completely biotransformed by bacterial enzymes before excretion. The biotransformation products are reabsorbed from the distal intestine and in some species are toxic. It is suggested that the unique pharmacology of enterohepatic drugs should be considered in developing drugs for treatment of diseases of the liver, biliary tract, and small intestine.
An approximately 300 Mpc void of rich clusters of galaxies

Kirshner et al. (1981) have reported an apparent absence of relatively bright galaxies over an enormous volume in the direction of Bootes. This result, if statistically significant, has important implications for theories of galaxy clustering and formation. In connection with the study of the correlation function of rich clusters of galaxies, Bahcall and Soneira (1982) have noticed a large area in the sky, extending approximately 100 deg across, which is completely void of nearby, but not distant, rich Abell clusters. This apparent absence of rich clusters may represent a physical void. If this interpretation is correct, the void extends approximately 150 Mpc/h along the line of sight. The sample studied is Abell's (1958) statistical sample of clusters of galaxies. The distribution of rich clusters is discussed, taking into account observed versus expected characteristics. Attention is also given to aspects of absorption and galaxy counts in the considered region.
THE WEAVER METHOD: AN EVALUATION

(1969). THE WEAVER METHOD: AN EVALUATION. The Professional Geographer: Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 244-246.
Integral Ricci curvature bounds along geodesics for nonexpanding gradient Ricci solitons

Following Li and Yau (Acta Math 156:153–201 1986) and similar to Perelman (The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric applications), we define an energy functional $${\mathcal{J}}$$ associated to a smooth function $${\phi}$$ on a complete Riemannian manifold. As an application, we deduce integral Ricci curvature upper bounds along modified geodesics for complete steady and shrinking gradient Ricci solitons.
SOURCES OF EARNINGS INEQUALITY IN THE BLACK AND WHITE FEMALE LABOR FORCES

Earnings inequality trends and their sources from 1975 to 1986 are evaluated for two historically subordinate working groups—black and white women—using Current Population Survey data. The dual nature of women's employment, improved earnings opportunities, and continuing segregation into low-paying positions create conditions under which earnings inequality in these two groups is expected to increase. Two sources of changing inequality levels are examined to determine which better explains inequality trends: the redistribution of women across labor market positions, which should have occurred due to industrial restructuring; and changes in the rates of earnings returns to labor market positions. For both groups, changes in returns better explain positive inequality trends in the 1980s, although black women's earnings are somewhat more influenced than whites’ by their redistribution across labor market positions.
Personality Disorders as Risk Factors for Eating Disorders Clinical Implications

Personality disorders are oftentimes comorbid with eating disorders. According to a review of the literature, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is the most common Axis II disorder in eating-disordered individuals with restrictive eating behavior, whereas borderline personality disorder is the most common Axis II disorder in those with impulsive eating pathology. Because personality disorders developmentally precede eating disorders and the characteristics of the personality disorder oftentimes mirror the style of eating pathology (eg, highly controlled personality styles and highly controlled eating patterns; impulsive personality styles and impulsive eating pathology), it is reasonable to assume that personality disorders influence subsequent eating pathology. Therefore, it is likely that personality disorders function, to some degree, as risk factors for the development of specific types of eating disorders. The authors discuss the clinical implications of these relationships.
Interspatialism in the Nineteenth-century South: The Natchez of Henry Norman

This essay provides a method and case study for reading photographs as memories. It examines the memories of slavery and the slave trade in Natchez, Mississippi, by analyzing and contextualizing the images of Henry Norman, one of the most important nineteenth-century Southern photographers. Through his family portraits, street scenes, and studio portraits, Norman constructs a progressive vision of Natchez in the years after the Civil War. He erases the slave trade and instead depicts white–black relations as benevolent. His documentary technique is ‘interspatial’: within his interracial compositions, he formally separates blacks and whites, which reflects social hierarchies. In his studio portraits, however, blacks are liberated from the influence of whites within the composition. In this genre, Norman's greatest accomplishment, he affirms the respectability of his subjects and breaks down racial barriers, revealing that ‘true’ art can be a social leveler.
The Potential Unintended Economic Consequences of the Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 2000

Abstract Background: The Medicine Equity and Drug Safety (MEDS) Act of 2000 was passed by Congress in October 2000 in response to the perception that US pharmaceutical prices and expenditures were rising too quickly and that many people could no longer afford their medication. The Act was terminated at the end of December 2000 for lack of the congressionally required certification by the Department of Health and Human Services of 2 key conditions written into the law. Under the terms of the MEDS Act, pharmacists and wholesalers would have been able to reimport lower-priced pharmaceuticals into the United States from other countries. Objective: In this article, we formulate an economic model as the basis for determining the probable unintended effects of the MEDS Act and propose an alternative policy that would achieve the objectives of the MEDS Act. Methods: An economic model of parallel trade in the pharmaceutical industry was used to demonstrate the likely effects of the MEDS Act. Results: Although in most markets the effects of parallel trade would increase economic efficiency, in the pharmaceutical industry parallel trade would be detrimental to long-term economic efficiency. By encouraging parallel trade into the United States, the Congress would, in effect, be introducing pharmaceutical price controls from other countries that have price controls. Parallel trade erodes price differences across countries and hence undermines the most efficient pricing mechanism for paying for research and development. Conclusion: Although the MEDS Act was terminated, important policy lessons can be learned for consideration in the creation of any similar future legislation designed to control pharmaceutical prices.
Stable isotope studies of anthraquinone intermediates in the aflatoxin pathway

Abstract Experiments with two specifically labeled samples of (±)-averufin in fermentations of Aspergillus parasiticus (ATCC 36537) show their intact incorporation into versicolorin A. The sites of labeling parallel those observed in earlier investigations with aflatoxin B 1 and versiconal acetate suggesting a common mechanistic path to the bisfuran. [1— 13 C]-Hexanoic acid in cultures of A. parasiticus (ATCC 24551) unexpectedly gave intact incorporations into averufin, the pivotal C 20 -anthraquinone intermediate of aflatoxin biosynthesis. On the basis of comparison to specimens obtained by total synthesis, the structure of nidurufin is revised and its intermediacy is suggested in a working hypothesis to account for bisfuran formation.
A functional selectivity mechanism at the serotonin-2A GPCR involves ligand-dependent conformations of intracellular loop 2.

With recent progress in determination of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) structure with crystallography, a variety of other experimental approaches (e.g., NMR spectroscopy, fluorescent-based assays, mass spectrometry techniques) are also being used to characterize state-specific and ligand-specific conformational states. MD simulations offer a powerful complementary approach to elucidate the dynamic features associated with ligand-specific GPCR conformations. To shed light on the conformational elements and dynamics of the important aspect of GPCR functional selectivity, we carried out unbiased microsecond-length MD simulations of the human serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) in the absence of ligand and bound to four distinct serotonergic agonists. The 5-HT2AR is a suitable system to study the structural features involved in the ligand-dependent conformational heterogeneity of GPCRs because it is well-characterized experimentally and exhibits a strong agonist-specific phenotype in that some 5-HT2AR agonist...