cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Composable ad-hoc mobile services for universal interaction

This paper introduces the notion of “universal interaction,” allowing a device to adapt its functionality to exploit services it discovers as it moves into a new environment. Users wish to invoke services - such as controlling the lights, printing locally, or reconfiguring the location of DNS servers from their mobile devices. But aptiotistandardizationof interfaces and methods for service invocation is infeasible. Thus, the challenge is to develop a new service architecture that supports heterogeneity in client devices and controlled objects, and which makes minimal assumptions about standard interfaces and control protocols. There are five components to a comprehensive solution to this problem: 1) allowing device mobility, 2) augmenting controllable objects to make them network-accessible, 3) building an underlying discovery architecture, 4) mapping between exported object interfaces and client device controls, and 5) building complex behaviors from underlying composableobjects. We motivate the need for these components by using an example scenario to derive the design requirements for our mobile services architecture. We then present a prototype implementation of elements of the architecture and some example services using it, including controls to audio/visual equipment, extensible mapping, server autoconfiguration, location tracking, and local printer access.
Worth Their Weight in Gold: The Role of Clinical Coordinator in a Family Nurse Practitioner Program

Purpose To identify key functions and responsibilities of the role of clinical coordinator in a family nurse practitioner (FNP) program. Data Sources Recent articles, research, and interviews with other faculty serving as clinical coordinators in FNP programs at five other universities. Conclusions Clinical coordinators are extremely valuable members of the NP education team; they are worth their weight in gold. They support NP programs by assisting in the coordination of student-oriented placement and needs-based clinical activities, in the recruitment and retention of preceptors and clinical agencies, and in providing updated information related to various student resources. Implications for Practice It is important that this complex and valuable role be better understood and appreciated by university administrators and other faculty. Clinical coordination in a distance learning program can take up to three fourths release time for a faculty. The role of the clinical coordinator is diverse, not easily learned, and requires proficiency in academic advising, administration, and clinical supervision.
Soil moisture and TRMM microwave imager relationships in the Southern Great Plains 1999 (SGP99) experiment

Satellite data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) microwave imager (TMI) and the special sensor microwave/imager (SSM/I) were compared to soil moisture observations as part of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) 1999 Experiment. SGP99 was conducted to address significant gaps in the knowledge base on the microwave remote sensing of soil moisture. Satellite, aircraft and ground based data collection were conducted between July 8, 1999 and July 20, 1999, during which an excellent sequence of meteorological conditions occurred. Cross calibration of the SSM/I data to the same TMI channels showed nearly identical brightness temperatures, 19 GHz SSM/I data and soil moisture relationships were similar to those observed in previous experiments in this region. Comparison studies of the SSM/I and TMI channels revealed that only sampling areas with adequate spatial domains should be used for soil moisture validation. Analyses of the TMI 10 GHz data provide new information on potential improvements that this channel can provide for soil moisture estimation. Soil moisture maps of the region were derived for dates of coverage.
Comparison of real-world fuel use and emissions for dump trucks fueled with B20 biodiesel versus petroleum diesel

Diesel vehicles contribute substantially to the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), an ozone precursor, and to particulate matter. Real-world, in-use, on-road emissions of selected diesel vehicles fueled with B20 biodiesel and petroleum diesel were measured during normal duty cycles by using a portable emissions measurement system. Four categories of dump trucks were tested: (a) trucks with a single rear axle and Tier 1 engines, (b) trucks with a single rear axle and Tier 2 engines, (c) tandem-rear-axle trucks with Tier 1 engines, and (d) tandem-rear-axle trucks with Tier 2 engines. Each vehicle was tested for 1 day while it was operating on B20 biodiesel fuel and for 1 day while it was operating on petroleum diesel fuel. On average, there were 4.5 duty cycles per day. Each duty cycle can be represented as a combination of nine operating modes (idle, three levels of acceleration, three levels of cruise, deceleration, and dumping). The average fuel flow and emissions rates on a mass-per-time basis varied s...
Frontier versus ordinary regression models for data mining

Frontier Regression Models seek to explain boundary, frontier or optimal behavior rather than average behavior as in ordinary regression models. Ordinary regression is one of the most important tools for data mining. Frontier models may be desirable alternatives in many circumstances. In this chapter, we discuss frontier regression models and compare their interpretations to ordinary regression models. Occasional contact with stochastic frontier estimation models is also made, but we concentrate primarily on pure ceiling or floor frontier models. We also propose some guidelines for when to choose between them.
Recent Advances in Synchronous-Clock One-Way-Travel-Time Acoustic Navigation

This paper reports recent results in the development and deployment of a synchronous-clock acoustic navigation system suitable for the simultaneous navigation of multiple underwater vehicles. The goal of this work is to enable the task of navigating multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) over length scales of (D(100 km), while maintaining error tolerances commensurate with conventional long-baseline transponder-based navigation systems (O(1 m)), but without the requisite need for deploying, calibrating, and recovering seafloor anchored acoustic transponders. Our navigation system is comprised of an acoustic modem-based communication/navigation system that allows for onboard navigational data to be broadcast as a data packet by a source node, and for all passively receiving nodes to be able to decode the data packet to obtain a one-way travel time pseudo-range measurement and ephemeris data. We present field results for a two-node configuration consisting of a surface ship acting as a global navigation aid to a Doppler-aided AUV
A Finite-Element Approach for Nonlinear Panel Flutter

A finite-element approach has been developed for determining nonlinear flutter characteristics of twodimensional panels, based on aerodynamic forces from quasi-steady aerodynamic theory. The stiffness equations of motion, iterative solution procedure, and convergence characteristics are presented. Comparisons are made with linear flutter and large amplitude vibration results and demonstrate that good accuracy is obtained. Nonlinear flutter results are presented; effects of aerodynamic damping, boundary support conditions, and initial in-plane forces are included.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SEX DIFFERENCES IN MIDDLE‐CLASS DELINQUENCY

The purpose of this investigation was to study relationships between psychological characteristics and type of criminal involvement among four groups of female offenders. The vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Category Test, Trail Making Test, Tactual Performance Test, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered to 63 prostitutes, 64 addict-prostitutes, 69 addicts, and 66 nonaddictt/nonprostitute offenders. No reliable relationships were found between ability structure or personality traits and type of criminal activity. Like male addicts. however, female addicts were found to experience greater sociopathy and psychological discomfort than were nonaddict female offenders.
WebWise: Guide to the University of Oklahoma’s Advanced Center for Genome Technology Web Site

This installment of the WebWise series reviews the University of Oklahoma Advanced Center for Genome Technology (ACGT) web site. This sequencing center is involved in sequencing several bacterial and fungal genomes in addition to their human genome sequencing effort. Although there is no intent to minimize the significance or volume of their sequencing effort in other genomes, this article does focus on those pages of the web site that are relevant to the Human Genome Project. The site map displayed in Figure 1 does not include redundant links, and some groupings of related links are depicted as one link (e.g., the several links to collaborators are illustrated as one link on the site map). The main features of this web site, as well as the features of those sites already reviewed, are indicated in Table 1. As with the previous WebWise reviews, you may find it useful to point your Browser window to the ACGT web site while reading.
Gastric Ethanol Metabolism and Gastritis: Interactions with Other Drugs, Helicobacter pylori, and Antibiotic Therapy (1957‐1997)—a Review

The stomach provides some protection against the penetration of ethanol into the body by contributing to the metabolism of ethanol. The latter is attenuated by various drugs and, although the magnitude of this effect is still the subject of debate, patients should be warned of the corresponding possible increase in blood alcohol levels. Furthermore, oxidation of ethanol generates acetaldehyde, a toxic metabolite. In addition, chronic alcohol abuse seems to favor colonization by Helicobacter pylori, which produces ammonia that also contributes to the commonly associated chronic gastritis. Because antibiotics were shown over the last 4 decades to effectively eliminate gastric ammonia, they should be considered for the routine treatment of such chronic gastritis in the way they are now being used for ulcer therapy.
Magnetic resonance imaging of leaves

SUMMARY Several aspects of leaf anatomy and morphology make it difficult to image leaves with magnetic resonance imaging. Since most fully expanded leaves contain much intercellular air space and are often thin in one plane, relatively few water protons are available to provide signal. Their heterogeneous structure and the presence of many air-water interfaces cause imaging problems as a result of differences in magnetic susceptibility of tissues and cells. Significant progress has been made in overcoming these difficulties, primarily by greatly reducing the echo time, permitting in vivo imaging of leaves at 7 and 9.4 Tesla with an in-plane resolution of less than 15 μm2. Examples are shown and the potential for gaining information regarding in vivo water relations of leaves is discussed.
High dose resveratrol in human subjects over 84 days: Implications on plasma levels of resveratrol

A variety of health attributes have been attributed to resveratrol from dietary sources with epidemiology studies suggesting a possible role in reducing the risk and progression of many diseases including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Often these studies identify quantities of resveratrol less than 10 mg per day as having health promoting properties. In contrast, the majority of clinical trials often utilize doses as high as 2.5 grams per day as a strategy to overcome the perception that resveratrol pharmacokinetics need to be optimized. Strategies to enhance absorption including various drug delivery vehicles or absorption enhancers have been utilized in animal models successfully to increases the systemic exposure of resveratrol. In our most recent study, human subjects were administered 2.5 grams of resveratrol daily for 84 days to understand the impact on long term administration of resveratrol on plasma levels 1 hour post administration. Plasma samples were analyzed by LC/MS for resveratrol and resveratrol-conjugates. Interestingly, plasma levels at days 56 and 84 were approximately 50% less than plasma levels obtained on day 28. These results begin to question the perceived benefits of high dose administration of resveratrol on plasma pharmacokinetics over extended periods.
Strategic Network Formation and Performance in the Venture Capital Industry

I investigate the network structure of venture capitalists based on co-investments, and the effects of network structure on investment performance. As venture capitalists select their partners, network structure is endogenously determined in equilibrium. Using comprehensive data on venture capital firms in the U.S., I jointly estimate a model of strategic network formation and a performance equation, taking endogeneity of network structure into account. In the estimation of the strategic network formation model, instead of imposing an equilibrium selection rule, I exploit the partial identification approach. My estimation strategy relies only on the necessary conditions of pairwise stability and is computationally feasible. I find that the network of venture capitalists tends to be homophilous in terms of asset size, but anti-homophilous in terms of investment experience and industry expertise. Moreover, I fi nd that not taking the endogeneity into account results in signi ficant overestimates of the effects of the network structure on investment performance. Lastly, I conduct a counterfactual policy experiment in which the government makes direct investment into the market by establishing a venture capital firm. I examine the effects of the additional venture capital fi rm on equilibrium network structure and investment performance.
Zero tolerance. Period.

Earlier this month, famed astronomer Geoff Marcy's sexual harassment of female students was exposed. He has since resigned from the University of California, Berkeley, in the face of concerted pressure from peers and students. It is unconscionable for someone to use academic power to be a sexual predator, but the reality is that Marcy operated in an academic culture that turned a blind eye to such behavior.
Some Skepticism about the ‘Separable Preferences’ Approach to the Single Subject Rule: A Comment on Cooter & Gilbert

This is a short Response to Robert D. Cooter & Michael D. Gilbert, A Theory of Direct Democracy and the Single Subject Rule, 110 Colum. L. Rev. 843 (2010). The “single subject” rule – mandating that voter initiatives embrace no more than one subject – has vexed courts and scholars alike for decades. Cooter and Gilbert make a valiant attempt to bring rationality and consistency to judicial application of the rule. They propose a “separable preferences” decision criterion that they argue will improve the democratic process by reducing logrolls and depoliticizing adjudication. We are skeptical. Though we agree that the decision criterion that Cooter and Gilbert propose could work in theory to limit the number of voter initiatives containing certain types of logrolls, we have two primary concerns. First, their approach is premised on a normative hostility to logrolling that is not justified by existing political theory. While it is true that some logrolls can lead to harmful outcomes, other logrolls can be socially beneficial, and the criterion that Cooter and Gilbert propose would eliminate both socially beneficial and harmful logrolls. Second, we do not believe that the separable preferences criterion would lead to court consistency in application of the single subject rule. Our own research finds that in states that allow courts to aggressively police single subject violations, judicial decisions in single subject cases are heavily influenced by the judge’s political preferences rather than neutral, objective rules. We suspect that courts in states that have shown restraint in application of the single subject rule would become much more aggressive if they adopted the separable preferences criterion, leading to greater politicization of adjudication.
3-min all-out exercise test for running.

A 3-min all-out exercise test (3 MT) estimates critical power and the curvature constant for cycle ergometry validly; however, the mode of running has not been studied. We examined the efficacy of a running 3 MT, using global positioning sensor data, to predict outdoor racing performance. Women distance runners (n=14) were tested at preseason within a month prior to competing officially in either short or middle distance races. Critical speed (CS) (4.46±0.41 m/s) estimated from the 3 MT did not differ (p>0.05) from the mean speed of gas exchange threshold and maximum oxygen uptake (50%Δ), as derived from a custom treadmill graded exercise test (4.55±0.24 m/s). Runners with higher curvature constants (D’), estimated from the 3 MT, raced at higher speeds above CS (R2 ranging 0.63–0.99). Race speeds for 800 m exceeded the speed for 150 s of all-out running, rendering 800 m estimates less accurate. Conversely, predicted times for the other distances yielded strong intraclass correlations (α) and low coefficients of variation (%) values (α=0.74/1.7% and α=0.87/2.1%, for 1 600 and 5 000 m, respectively). Use of the running 3 MT for performances ranging ~2.5–18 min is recommended.
The Pay Gap in Perspective

This article traces and evaluates the differential between men’s and women’s pay from 1979 through 2011 and the campaign to close that gap. It corrects and puts into perspective a lot of misinforma...
Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene

Although coral reefs cover only 0.00063 of the surface of Earth, they have had important effects on the atmosphere, ocean chemistry, the shape of the surface of Earth, the diversity of life, the biogeographic distribution of life, and they provide hundreds of billions of dollars in value per year in goods and services to tens of millions of humans. All the continents, islands and freshwater habitats of Earth together occupy more than 460 times the total surface area of coral reefs, yet host only 19 phyla while coral reefs host at least 30 phyla of animals. The per square meter value of coral reefs in goods and services has substantially increased since estimated in 1997, but the total value has decreased from loss of coral-reef habitat and stock of large fishes. Coral reef ecosystems in natural undisturbed states can be inverted trophic biomass pyramids with especially high primary production, but meagre yield or net production. Extractive commercial fishing is potentially sustainable if medium-sized individuals and not large individuals are taken. The net yield for human consumption can be increased by removing the upper trophic levels, but the system is more sustainable and beneficial for humans when managed as a service-based economy rather than an extraction-based economy. The present interglacial period (the Anthropocene) has been exceptionally favorable to coral reefs for thousands of years until the recent three or four decades, in which the living coral cover has abruptly declined about 53% in the western Atlantic, about 40% in the general Indo-Pacific, and about 50% on the Great Barrier Reef. Reefs are presently threatened by increasing CO2. Although there have been few, if any, extinctions, reefs are declining in topographic complexity and ecosystem services. This is most likely the trajectory for future decades and reflects the norm for much of the geologic history of coral reefs.
Revisiting empirical ocean-colour algorithms for remote estimation of chlorophyll-a content on a global scale

Remote-sensing data can be useful for investigating the bio-optical properties of the ocean. Among these bio-optical properties, chlorophyll-a content is of great importance. The standard NASA empirical ocean-colour OC algorithms are used widely to estimate global chlorophyll-a content. Despite their simplicity and effectiveness, these regression-based models have two shortcomings that we investigate here: 1 the general form of the models is a fourth-order polynomial that results in multicollinearity, and 2 the models have the same parameters for all ocean regions i.e. they use global approaches. To resolve the first issue, we use partial least squares PLS, which allows for an orthogonal transformation such that the covariance between the transformed independent variables and the dependent variable is maximized. To investigate the second issue, we use geographically weighted regression GWR to reveal the spatial variation of estimated parameters, demonstrating how the global model underperforms in some locations. GWR results show that model coefficients vary substantially between eastern and western portions of the same ocean basin. By including sea-surface temperature SST as an additional independent variable in the PLS model, we also develop a new approach that provides additional explanatory power and makes the global estimation of chlorophyll-a content more valid.
The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion: an “Insider’s” Appreciation

This article provides an “insider’s” account of The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion from the perspective of one of the authors who contributed to the volume. After discussing the Handbook’s value as a map of the emerging academic subfield of conversion studies, I describe how my chapter, like many others, shows how broader trends in academic scholarship are reflected in the subfield of conversion studies. Finally, I show how the volume may be used to catalyze further comparative study of religious conversion by examining two themes found in conversion accounts widely dispersed across history and culture: karma and dreams.
DOE: Screening Using Fractional Factorials

The methods presented in this chapter are primarily relevant when it is desired to determine simultaneously which of many possible changes in system inputs cause average outputs to change. “Factor screening ” is the process of starting with a long list of possibly influential factors and ending with a usually smaller list of factors believed to affect the average response. More specifically, the methods described in this section permit the simultaneous screening of several (m) factors using a number of runs, n, comparable to but greater than the number of factors (n ~ m and n > m).
Laying the Path: Technical Approaches to Legal and Policy Issues in Internet Design

During the first decade of the process of designing what we now call the Internet, roughly defined as through the close of 19791, fundamental network concepts evolved and decisions were made that have had enduring effects. These were "the framing years," during which the computer scientists and electrical engineers involved staked out their positions regarding the nature of the network they were trying to build, goals to be served by that network, who the users and uses of the network were and would be, and the design criteria that were to function as policy principles for the design process (Braman, 2011). Decision-making of the period was recorded in a technical document series known as the "Requests for Comments" (RFCs), launched by a graduate student as an informal conversation open to all interested in the intelligent network design problem (Abbate, 1999).
A comparison of single and double pediatric cadaver donor kidneys for transplantation

Les doubles reins de cadavres d'enfants assurent une meilleure survie des malades et des greffes. Cependant une utilisation optimale de la masse des donneurs peut etre obtenue par l'emploi des transplantations d'un seul rein d'enfant
Transcriptome analysis of epigenetically modulated genome of NOD mice reveals signature genes involved in autoimmune diabetes

T 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease mediated by the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells by T lymphocytes. Genome wide association studies implicated several genes in the risk of developing this complex disorder. However, low concordance of diabetes incidence among monozygotic twins and other circumstantial evidence suggest a role for epigenetics in diabetes manifestation. To elucidate the epigenetic mechanisms involved in diabetes, we have recently developed a preclinical model in which NOD mice were treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, Trichostatin A. Pharmacological inhibition of histone deacetylases resulted in histone hyperacetylation, selective up-regulation of interferon-γ and its transactivator Tbx21/ Tbet, and protection against autoimmune diabetes. Chromatin remodeling also resulted in the deletion of diabetes causing T lymphocytes as indicated by the inability of splenocytes from drug treated mice to transfer diabetes into immunodeficient NOD. Scid mice. Global gene expression profiling of splenocytes using high throughput microarray technology revealed the exaggerated expression of a novel set of closely related inflammatory genes in acutely diabetic mice and their repression in mice cured of diabetes by chromatin remodeling. In addition, higher-level expression of genes involved in insulin sensitivity, erythropoiesis, hemangioblast generation, and cellular redox control was evident in spleens of cured mice. These results are consistent with the involvement of epistatic mechanisms in the manifestation of autoimmune diabetes and indicate the utility of chromatin remodeling in treating this complex autoimmune disorder.
Gender and the Housing “Questions” in Taiwan

This paper argues that the housing system is not only capitalist but also patriarchal by analyzing how the interrelations of the state, housing market, and the family reproduce gender divisions. In contrast to the housing condition of the working class in pre-welfare state Europe, as originally described by Friedrich Engels, Taiwan’s housing system was constructed by an authoritarian developmental state that repressed labor movements and emphasized economic development over social welfare. However, since the late 1980s, pro-market housing policies have greatly enhanced the commodification of housing, resulting in a unique combination of high homeownership rates, high vacancy rates, and high housing prices. This paper examines the formation of housing questions in Taiwan and its impact on women. In doing so it reveals how a social housing movement emerged in the context of a recent housing boom – on that that has occurred despite a global economic downturn – and which could provide an opportunity for feminist intervention within the housing system to transform gender relations.
Foliar fungicide (pyraclostrobin) application effects on plant composition of a silage variety corn

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the effect of foliar fungicide applied at various times during the growing season of corn on the chemical composition of corn leaves, corn ears, and corn stalks. Treatments were replicated once and assigned to 1 of 8 0.4-ha plots of corn, as follows: control (CON), corn receiving no foliar fungicide application; treatment 1 (V5), where corn received a mixture of pyraclotrobin and fluxapyroxad foliar fungicide (Priaxor, BASF Corp.) corn vegetative stage 5 (V5); treatment 2 (V5 + R1), where corn received two applications of foliar fungicide, a mixture of pyraclotrobin and fluxapyroxad at V5 and a mixture of pyraclostrobin + metconazole foliar fungicide (Headline AMP; BASF Corp.) at corn reproductive stage 1 (R1); and treatment 3 (R1), in which corn received one application of pyraclostrobin + metconazole foliar fungicide at R1. Evaluators at R1 and corn reproductive phase 3 (R3) reported signs of Gray Leaf Spot and Northern Leaf Blight on the foliage. Twenty-four individual corn plants from each treatment were collected at R1 and R3 for weight and length measurement. At each collection, corn was disassembled into leaves, stalks, flag leaf, and ears for chemical analysis. At R3, corn in V5 + R1 and R1 had less yellow leaves than CON and V5 (1.7, 1.5, 0.83 and 0.88 for CON, V5, V5 + R1 and R1, respectively; P = 0.03), and treated corn were taller than untreated (2.5, 2.9, 3.1, and 2.8 m for CON, V5, V5 + R1, and R1, respectively; P = 0.02). Fungicide treated corn stalks had greater lignin content (56, 64, and 50 g/kg DM for V5, V5 + R1, and R1, respectively) compared with untreated (46 g/kg DM; P = 0.03), with the greatest concentration from corn stalks in V5 + R1. Fungicide treated corn leaves had less ADF content (331, 283, and 330 g/kg DM for V5, V5 + R1, and R1; P = 0.01) and NDF content (584, 524, and 554 g/kg DM for V5, V5 + R1, and R1; P = 0.02) compared with untreated leaves (333 g/kg DM ADF; 569 g/kg DM NDF, respectively). In conclusion, results suggest that applications of foliar fungicide at V5 and R1 together may have a synergistic interaction on the fibrous content within the corn leaves, producing a higher quality feedstuff for ruminants when fungal disease is present.
Biometrics and forensics integration using deep multi-modal semantic alignment and joint embedding

Abstract This paper proposes collaborative and context-aware visual question answering (C2VQA) for multi-modal information channels integration, and details its particular mapping and realization for biometrics forensic integration (BFI) using Show and Tell like architectures. C2VQA, which expands on Visual Query Answering (VQA) and the Visual Turing Test (VTT), engages deep semantic alignment and joint embedding using deep learning (DL) for image analysis, vector space as skip-grams and long-term dependencies as gated recurrent networks for context prediction, and multi-strategy learning including conformal prediction for control and meta-reasoning. C2VQA would engage in purposeful dialog to address and correct for misinformation and uncertainty and considers behavior to model realistic VQA problems characteristic of open rather than closed set VQA.
How do Patients in a Medical Interview Perceive a Robot versus Human Physician

This paper presents a study investigating perceptions of a human versus NAO robot physician conducting a simulated medical interview with undergraduate students. Results show that both human and NAO doctor were perceived to be credible and produced positive patient affect. However, the human doctor received significantly higher ratings when compared to the NAO. This pattern of results was fully explained by the higher social presence attributed to the human physician.
Breast Brachytherapy and Clinical Appendix

Breast brachytherapy delivers partial breast irradiation after breast-conserving surgery. The goal is to reduce local recurrence while minimizing dose to normal tissue. The majority of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrences occur within the index quadrant. It provides options for shorter treatment duration compared to traditional whole breast external beam radiation therapy (5 days vs. 5 weeks). Guidelines from several groups exist with recommendations for selecting appropriate patients. Multiple imaging modalities may be used to identify the lumpectomy cavity and confirm applicator placement. Cross-sectional imaging allows for evaluation of the implant (confirms placement, adjustment, manipulation). HDR or LDR can be utilized to deliver dose: 34 Gy in 10 fractions over 5 days (HDR), 32 Gy in 8 fractions over 4 days (HDR), 10 Gy in 2 fractions over 1–2 days (HDR boost), 45–50 Gy/0.50 Gy per hour (LDR), or 15–20 Gy/0.50 Gy per hour (LDR boost). NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413 will allow for comparison of treatment-related toxicity and cosmesis between accelerated partial breast irradiation and whole breast irradiation (results pending). Good to excellent cosmetic and high treatment-related satisfaction have been reported in many series.
Microarray dataset of transient and permanent DNA methylation changes in HeLa cells undergoing inorganic arsenic-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Abstract The novel dataset presented here represents the results of the changing pattern of DNA methylation profiles in HeLa cells exposed to chronic low dose (0.5 µM) sodium arsenite, resulting in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, as well as DNA methylation patterns in cells where inorganic arsenic has been removed. Inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen, though not mutagenic. Several mechanisms have been proposed as to how inorganic arsenic drives carcinogenesis such as regulation of the cell׳s redox potential and/or epigenetics. In fact, there are gene specific studies and limited genome-wide studies that have implicated epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation in inorganic arsenic-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, genome-wide studies about the impact of 1) chronic, low-dose inorganic arsenic exposure on DNA methylation patterns during inorganic arsenic-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and 2) the removal inorganic arsenic (reversal) on DNA methylation patterns, is lacking. For this dataset, two replicates were performed with each of the samples – non-treated, inorganic arsenic-treated, and reverse-treated cells. We provide normalized and processed data, and log2 fold change in DNA methylation. The raw microarray data are available through NCBI GEO, accession number GSE95232 and a related research paper has been accepted for published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (Eckstein et al., 2017) [1] .
Heterogeneity in Corporate Governance: Theory and Evidence

Optimal contracts under information asymmetry require an amount of ownership that management needs to have for incentive compatibility, that is often not practical for large firms. I argue that corporate governance mechanisms help achieve second best control for the investor under such conditions. I propose that the amount of management autonomy in a firm is chosen as a best response to exogenous firm characteristics, such as output variance. Shareholders face a trade-off regarding autonomy as higher autonomy increases firm productivity but also leads to increased private benefits. Shareholders in firms with higher exogenous variance attempt to reduce the information disadvantage they face by reducing autonomy of management. Thus, in practice, I observe a range of governance control that is negatively correlated to the variance of firm output. In addition, I find that over time, this information gap has decreased in US capital markets, and since Sarbanes-Oxley the information asymmetry does not play a role in the choice of corporate governance mechanisms.
Using Data-Driven, Video-Based Early Childhood Consultation with Teachers to Reduce Children’s Challenging Behaviors and Improve Engagement in Preschool Classrooms

Consultation to teachers can be an effective intervention for reducing young children’s challenging behaviors within the classroom, yet there is a need for more efficient approaches that provide data-driven, video-based support to enhance and expand teacher and child impacts. This paper focuses on a newly developed early childhood consultation model, called Learning to Objectively Observe Kids (LOOK), which involves the use of data from validated measures about children, and video-based feedback, to guide teachers’ selection and implementation of behavioral strategies. Results from a small randomized controlled trial demonstrate LOOK impacts on teachers’ use of social–emotional teaching strategies and self-efficacy, as well as children’s positive and negative engagement with teachers, peers, and learning activities in preschool classrooms.
Prospective Image Quality Analysis and Control for Prior-Image-Based Reconstruction of Low-Dose CT.

Purpose: Prior-image-based reconstruction (PIBR) is a powerful tool for low-dose CT, however, the nonlinear behavior of such approaches are generally difficult to predict and control. Similarly, traditional image quality metrics do not capture potential biases exhibited in PIBR images. In this work, we identify a new bias metric and construct an analytical framework for prospectively predicting and controlling the relationship between prior image regularization strength and this bias in a reliable and quantitative fashion. Methods: Bias associated with prior image regularization in PIBR can be described as the fraction of actual contrast change (between the prior image and current anatomy) that appears in the reconstruction. Using local approximation of the nonlinear PIBR objective, we develop an analytical relationship between local regularization, fractional contrast reconstructed, and true contrast change. This analytic tool allows prediction bias properties in a reconstructed PIBR image and includes the dependencies on the data acquisition, patient anatomy and change, and reconstruction parameters. Predictions are leveraged to provide reliable and repeatable image properties for varying data fidelity in simulation and physical cadaver experiments. Results: The proposed analytical approach permits accurate prediction of reconstructed contrast relative to a gold standard based on exhaustive search based on numerous iterative reconstructions. The framework is used to control regularization parameters to enforce consistent change reconstructions over varying fluence levels and varying numbers of projection angles – enabling bias properties that are less location- and acquisition-dependent. Conclusions: While PIBR methods have demonstrated a substantial ability for dose reduction, image properties associated with those images have been difficult to express and quantify using traditional metrics. The novel framework presented in this work not only quantifies this bias in an intuitive fashion, but it gives a way to predict and control the bias. Reliable and predictable reconstruction methods are a requirement for clinical imaging systems and the proposed framework is an important step translating PIBR methods to clinical application.
The relevance of quantum cryptography in modern networking systems

The combination of physics, mathematics, and computer science in quantum computing has developed from a visionary idea to one of the most fascinating and promising areas of quantum mechanics in the past two decades. Research in the field of quantum cryptography promises extremely fast, robust, and impenetrable electronic and photonic security; almost unbreakable! Moreover, the long standing eavesdropping problem of the "man in the middle" attack may finally be solved once and for all. As computing power increases, and as hackers and attackers become more sophisticated, it is feared that sooner or later, traditional cryptography based on mathematically intractable algorithms may be no match for parallelized quantum based processors. For this reason, quantum cryptography, based on the laws of quantum statistical mechanics provides a welcome solution to this fear. This paper explores the basic tenets of quantum cryptography and how the mathematical principles therein apply to the quantum key distribution problem; a central concern in the implementation of quantum cryptography in distributed networks. The quantum key distribution protocol implemented in BB84 protocol is also described and compared to traditional cryptographic systems. A short overview of recent commercial implementations of quantum cryptography is presented with the encountered successes and limitations discussed. This paper explores the development of quantum networks, from the onset of the development of secure communication based on quantum cryptography and concludes with a brief outline of the key challenges facing quantum cryptography implementation in wireless applications and long haul communications.
Orbital Operation and Calibration of SEC-Vidicons in the Celescope Experiment

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates the orbital operation and calibration of secondary electron conduction (SEC)-vidicons in the celescope experiment. The Celescope experiment in the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory used ultraviolet-sensitive SEC-vidicons as photometric detectors to measure the ultraviolet magnitudes of approximately 10,000 stars. The reduction of these data and the calibration of the detectors required the combination of ground and orbital calibrations and actual stellar observations. The variation in area sensitivity of the SEC target and its time decay were determined by use of an iterative process using an optimization procedure combined with least-squares techniques. The internal discrepancy in the data was reduced to less than 0–2 magnitude for all data covering a 1-year period in orbit. The first regular grid, which was a compromise between calibration and data collection, was observed from orbits 400 to 490. Multiple exposures at the same pointing but with different exposure times were used to test the calibration of the instrument. It is found that the time-decay history of each camera–filter combination was determined by fitting a power series to the star data with least-squares technique.
Acupuncture for poison ivy contact dermatitis. A clinical case report

Poison ivy contact dermatitis is fairly common in the suburbia of this country among amateur gardeners and children. It commonly inflicts its poison on the exposed parts of the limbs. The vesicular or bullous skin lesions are quite disturbingly itchy. Scratching the itchy lesions often spreads the condition by transplanting the remanent resinous toxin to other parts of the body. Though they are usually self-limiting, the intense itch is the main motivation for a patient to seek medical care. The conventional treatment is basically ineffective. During the summer of 1987 we treated four such cases of dermatitis with acupuncture upon their request to mollify their unbearable itch. They originally consulted with us for other problems. There were three males and one female. Their ages were between 29 and 63. Three cases were relatively mild and the fourth one was fairly severe. In the milder cases, their itch subsided in a few hours and skin lesions were healed in about two days after one treatment. In the severe case the itch subsided in about two days and most of the skin lesions dried up in four days after the first treatment and were healed almost completely after three sessions of acupuncture treatment. The plausible anti-inflammatory mechanism of acupuncture with the involvement of ACTH and/or cortisol was discussed.
Abstract 17070: The Renin-angiotensin System Regulates Expression of Cyr61 and β3 Integrins in Atheroma in ApoE–/– Mice With Unilateral Renal Artery Ligation

Introduction: Cyr61 is a member of the CCN family of proteins that is expressed in atherosclerotic lesions, stimulates growth responses of cultured smooth muscle cells (SMC) and is upregulated by angiotensin II (Ang II). Hypothesis: Determine whether Cyr61 is expressed in atheroma from ApoE –/– mice with unilateral renal artery ligation. Methods and Results: 18 week old ApoE –/– mice were randomized to unilateral renal artery ligation (RAL), RAL + treatment with irbesartan, RAL + treatment with aliskiren or sham-surgery for 90 days. RAL reduced blood flow (60 ± 6% of baseline values), increased renin mRNA levels in the ligated kidney, and elicited a mild, sustained increase in systolic blood pressure compared to sham-surgery. Lipid deposition, measured by Oil-red O staining, was increased approximately 3 fold in the aortic arch and 2 fold in the descending aorta in the RAL group compared to sham-surgery. Treatment with irbesartan or aliskiren prevented the hypertensive response and reduced descending aorta lipid deposition to a level that was statistically similar to sham-surgery. Aliskiren, but not irbesartan, prevented the increase in aortic arch lipid deposition. Atheromas in the abdominal aorta showed intense staining for Cyr61 in RAL mice but patchy, diffuse and less intense staining in RAL + irbesartan (43% less staining) and RAL + aliskiren (60% less staining) mice. Atheromas showed generalized and intense staining for β 3 integrins that co-localized with Cyr61 in mice with RAL. In contrast, β 3 integrin staining was localized, discrete and even non-existent in atheromas from RAL + irbesartan and RAL + aliskiren mice. Sham-surgery mice had no atheromas and minimal staining for Cyr61 and β 3 integrins. Studies in cultured rat aortic SMC showed that Cyr61 was secreted in response to treatment with Ang II and that echistatin, a function-blocking disintegrin that binds α v β 3 integrins on SMC, reduced Cyr61-induced proliferation, migration and signaling. Conclusions: Cyr61 and β 3 integrins are expressed in aortic atheroma from ApoE –/– mice with unilateral RAL and this expression is regulated by the renin-angiotensin system.
A Low Power Active-Passive Dual Gm-boosted W-band Oscillator for Wireless Networ -on-Chip Applications

A low power active-passive dual Gm-boosted W-band oscillator is proposed leveraging a passive and active dual boosting technique to reduce power consumption and phase noise. An auxiliary common source amplifier is introduced between the gate and drain nodes of the oscillator's core transistors to provide higher-than-unity small-signal gain between the drain and gate of the os-cillator's core transistors. Additionally, passive transformer coupling is introduced between the auxiliary amplifier's load inductor and the oscillator's resonant tank inductor, increasing the effective transconductance with no additional power consumption. The resulting oscillator is extremely compact and exhibits low phase noise under very small power consumption. The oscillator consumes an active area of only 0.025 mm2and achieves a measured phase-noise of −105.5 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset and an FoM of-177.2 dB.
A Self-Supervised Learning Manipulator Grasping Approach Based on Instance Segmentation

Automatic grasping is playing an important role in robotics, and traditional grasping approaches cannot deal with both occlusions and texture-less objects well. To improve the stability and accuracy of grasping in a novel and occlusion environment, a grasping approach based on instance segmentation and self-supervised learning pose estimation network is proposed to grasp objects with the manipulator in this paper. The approach can be divided into three phases: instance segmentation, pose estimation, and pose transformation. Instance segmentation predicts classification masks for each pixel. Masks which stand for the contour of objects provide a heuristic knowledge for the self-supervised learning pose estimation network. Pose estimation network has two fully connected layers and regards estimation as a self-supervised classification problem. Then, the pose can be transformed from value in pixel coordinates to actual value relative to the base coordinate of the manipulator. As a result, the manipulator can be operated to grasp by the given actual value of pose. With the help of the approach proposed in this paper, we improve the grasping accuracy by 35%, compared to the former grasping approach based on the pose estimation network on the grasping dataset of CMU. Besides, grasping with this approach on hardware also shows a high success rate. Therefore, the proposed approach is a more robust and more accurate way of grasping.
Ecophysiology of photosynthesis of Vaucheria sp. mats in a Svalbard tidal flat

Abstract The photosynthetic performance of a Vaucheria sp. community in the Adventfjorden tidal flats near Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the Arctic was evaluated in a series of in situ and ex situ measurements based on variable chlorophyll fluorescence and gasometric approaches. The in situ measurement did not indicate any possible drivers from the selected environmental parameters (temperature, PAR, UVR, emersion period duration) of photosynthetic activity. Two ecotypes, spikes or loose filaments, observed in the field were related to emersion and immersion periods during the tidal cycle. Ex situ long-term monitoring identified PAR as the main controlling factor of photosynthesis. No limitation of photosynthetic activity due to temperatures or light was detected. The detailed ex situ photosynthesis measurements of Vaucheria sp. samples pre-acclimated to different irradiances did not reveal any decrease of photosynthesis in high light. Irradiance affected only the photosynthesis rate, but not the photosynthesis efficiency. The Vaucheria sp. was acclimated to the prevailing low-light conditions but was able to tolerate high-light conditions on sunny days of the late Artic summer.