cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Technology adoption under US biofuel policies: do producers, consumers or taxpayers benefit?

The beneficiaries of technology adoption in agriculture and biofuel markets in the United States are heavily influenced by biofuel policies and market context. Biofuel mandates, one of the key pillars of domestic biofuel policies, may significantly alter the elasticity of demand for biofuels as well as the derived demand for maize used to produce a significant share of ethanol in the United States. Using a stochastic agriculture and biofuel model, it is determined that market context relative to biofuel policy is critically important in understanding the winners and losers from technology adoption. The results for both feedstock and biofuel producers as well as the US tax payers are used to discuss implications for the analysis of EU biofuel policies. , Oxford University Press.
The effects of increased fluid viscosity on swallowing sounds in healthy adults

Background: Cervical auscultation (CA) is an affordable, non-invasive technique used to observe sounds occurring during swallowing. CA involves swallowing characterization via stethoscopes or microphones, while accelerometers can detect other vibratory signals. While the effects of fluid viscosity on swallowing accelerometry signals is well understood, there are still open questions about these effects on swallowing sounds. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of fluids with increasing thickness on swallowing sound characteristics. Method: We collected swallowing sounds and swallowing accelerometry signals from 56 healthy participants. Each participant completed five water swallows, five swallows of nectar-thick apple juice, and five swallows of honey-thick apple juice. These swallows were completed in neutral head and chin-tuck head positions. After pre-processing of collected signals, a number of features in time, frequency and time-frequency domains were extracted. Results: Our numerical analysis demonstrated that significant influence of viscosity was found in most of the features. In general, features extracted from swallows in the neutral head position were affected more than swallows from the chin-tuck position. Furthermore, most of the differences were found between water and fluids with higher viscosity. Almost no significant differences were found between swallows involving nectar-thick and honey-thick apple juices. Our results also showed that thicker fluids had higher acoustic regularity and predictability as demonstrated by the information-theoretic features, and a lower frequency content as demonstrated by features in the frequency domain. Conclusions: According to these results, we can conclude that viscosity of fluids should be considered in future investigations involving swallowing sounds.
Validation Testing in Thorough QT/QTc Clinical Trials∗

In order to validate the results of a thorough QT/QTc (the duration of depolarization and repolarization of ventricles or the duration corrected for heart rate) clinical trial, ICH E14 recommended to include a concurrent positive control treatment in the trial. It further recommended that validation is achieved if the positive control has an effect on the mean QT/QTc interval of about 5 ms. Zhang (2008) discussed the intersection-union test approach for testing the validation hypotheses and an alternative global average test approach. In this article, we further discuss the difference and relationship of the two sets of hypotheses and the difference in the efficiencies of the two approaches. We conclude that validation can be achieved if either one test rejects the null hypotheses without inflating the family-wise Type I error rate. However, using both approaches may improve the efficiency in validation assessment.
Dreams Fulfilled, Dreams Shattered: Determinants of Segmented Assimilation in the Second Generation

We summarize prior theories on the adaptation process of the contemporary immigrant second generation as a prelude to presenting additive and interactive models showing the impact of family variables, school contexts and academic outcomes on the process. For this purpose, we regress indicators of educational and occupational achievement in early adulthood on predictors measured three and six years earlier. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, used for the analysis, allows us to establish a clear temporal order among exogenous predictors and the two dependent variables. We also construct a Downward Assimilation Index, based on six indicators and regress it on the same set of predictors. Results confirm a pattern of segmented assimilation in the second generation, with a significant proportion of the sample experiencing downward assimilation. Predictors of the latter are the obverse of those of educational and occupational achievement. Significant interaction effects emerge between these predictors and early school contexts, defined by different class and racial compositions. Implications of these results for theory and policy are examined.
Stool microbiome and metabolome differences between colorectal cancer patients and healthy adults.

In this study we used stool profiling to identify intestinal bacteria and metabolites that are differentially represented in humans with colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to healthy controls to identify how microbial functions may influence CRC development. Stool samples were collected from healthy adults (n = 10) and colorectal cancer patients (n = 11) prior to colon resection surgery at the University of Colorado Health-Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, CO. The V4 region of the 16s rRNA gene was pyrosequenced and both short chain fatty acids and global stool metabolites were extracted and analyzed utilizing Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). There were no significant differences in the overall microbial community structure associated with the disease state, but several bacterial genera, particularly butyrate-producing species, were under-represented in the CRC samples, while a mucin-degrading species, Akkermansia muciniphila, was about 4-fold higher in CRC (p<0.01). Proportionately higher amounts of butyrate were seen in stool of healthy individuals while relative concentrations of acetate were higher in stools of CRC patients. GC-MS profiling revealed higher concentrations of amino acids in stool samples from CRC patients and higher poly and monounsaturated fatty acids and ursodeoxycholic acid, a conjugated bile acid in stool samples from healthy adults (p<0.01). Correlative analysis between the combined datasets revealed some potential relationships between stool metabolites and certain bacterial species. These associations could provide insight into microbial functions occurring in a cancer environment and will help direct future mechanistic studies. Using integrated “omics” approaches may prove a useful tool in identifying functional groups of gastrointestinal bacteria and their associated metabolites as novel therapeutic and chemopreventive targets.
Maleic anhydride)bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium

[17830-50-1] C40H32O3P2Pd (MW 729.08) InChI = 1/2C18H15P.C4H2O3.Pd/c2*1-4-10-16(11-5-1)19(17-12-6-2-7-13-17)18-14-8-3-9-15-18;5-3-1-2-4(6)7-3;/h2*1-15H;1-2H; InChIKey = SZTCAWKWIIWPGZ-UHFFFAOYAD (zerovalent palladium complex that catalyzes the dimerization of 1,3-dienes and 1,2-dienes.5-9 bis(triphenylphosphine)(maleic anhydride)palladium(0) 1 is an isolable, moderately air-stable, palladium(0) complex that can be used in a variety of reactions where a preformed, organic-soluble palladium(0) complex is required as a catalyst; a catalyst precursor; or a stoichiometric reagent. To date, however, almost all of the reported uses of 1 have been in palladium-catalyzed dimerization of 1,2- or 1,3-dienes) Alternate Name: bis(triphenylphosphine)(maleic anhydride)palladium. (maleic anhydride)bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium; [(3,4-η)-2,5-furandione]bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium; (2,5-furandione)bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium. Physical Data: mp 147–151 °C (dec).1 Solubility: sol THF, acetone, chloroform; low sol benzene. Form Supplied in: not widely available; yellow crystalline solid. Analysis of Reagent Purity: 1H NMR in CDCl3,1 benzene-d6;2 IR.2 Preparative Methods: reaction of Tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) with Maleic Anhydride at rt in benzene,1 benzene/THF,2, 3 or THF3 yields the title complex as a stable monomeric species, which is purified by crystallization from methanol/hexane.2 The title reagent has also been synthesized from the putative bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium.4, 13, 14 maleic anhydride (98 mg, 1 mmol) was dissolved in THF (15 mL) and added dropwise over 10–20 min via a pressure-equalization funnel to a nitrogen blanketed solution of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) (1.155 g, 1 mmol) in benzene (30 mL). The resulting mixture was stirred for additional 30 min at room temperature, after which the solvent was removed under reduced pressure. The resultant yellow oil was redissolved in a mixture of benzene and methanol (2:1, 15 mL) and filtered. Benzene (40 mL) was added to the filtrate and the resulting mixture was cooled in a refrigerator. Yellow crystals were separated from solution overnight. The crystals were isolated by filtration, washed with a mixture of benzene, methanol, and hexane (2:1:5), and dried in vacuo to yield 630 mg of 1 (86%). Purification: recrystallized from benzene, washed with a mixture of benzene, methanol, and hexane (2:1:5), and dried in vacuo.14 Handling, Storage, and Precautions: stable in air for many hours in the solid state.2 Limited stability in air, reported to be of the order of hours.13 Disposal: use typical precautions for heavy metals.
Cis-acting elements in the antigenomic promoter of Nipah virus.

Genome synthesis in paramyxoviruses, including Nipah virus (NiV), is controlled by sequence elements that reside in the non-coding nucleotides at the 5′-trailer (3′-antigenomic) end that make up the antigenomic promoter (AGP). Using a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase-based plasmid-driven minigenome system, the terminal 96 nt of NiV AGP were first mutagenized in blocks of three hexamers to enable broad mapping of the minigenome functional regions. This was followed by further dissection of these functional regions to define the cis-acting elements contained therein. Results based on RNA analysis and reporter gene activity identified a bipartite promoter structure similar to that seen in related viruses, but with some distinct differences: in NiV, each of the two discrete replication control elements was bimodal, characterized by a critical conserved region (nt 1–12 and 79–91) and a contiguous non-conserved region (nt 13–36 and 73–78), which appeared less important. The regulatory role of these less critical regions was underscored by the use of a two-step mutation strategy, which revealed the additive detrimental effect of substitutions in this part of the terminal element. The structure and sequence characteristics of the internal control element was also different: it involved four contiguous hexamers, and the region encompassing three of these (nt 79–96, corresponding to hexamers 14, 15 and 16), although analogous in position to the equivalent element in the Sendai virus AGP, was characterized by the distinct 5′-(GNNNUG)14–15(GNNNNN)16 motif.
Titration of PEEP by the Arterial Minus End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide Gradient

It was shown in dogs that intrapulmonary physiologic shunt ( Q ˙ sp/ Q ˙ t ) , arterial oxygen tension (PaO 2 ), total static respiratory compliance (C T ), oxygen delivery (O 2 AV), cardiac output ( Q ˙ t ) , and arterial minus end-tidal carbon dioxide gradient (PaCO 2 -PetCO 2 ) undergo statistically significant deterioration when oleic acid is injected into the pulmonary artery. Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) therapy reduced Q ˙ sp/ Q ˙ t and PaCO 2 -PetCO 2 gradient and increased PaO 2 . The C T did not show any consistent pattern of improvement with the application of PEEP. The Q ˙ t and the O 2 AV progressively decreased as PEEP was increased. The application of additional PEEP beyond that which minimized the PaCO 2 -PetCO 2 gradient produced a statistically significant increase in die FaCO 2 -FetCO 2 gradient, but this was not reflected by concomitant changes in Q ˙ sp/ Q ˙ t or PaO 2 in spite of a further decrease in Q ˙ t . Thus, the PaCO 2 -PetCO 2 gradient may be a more sensitive indicator of excessive PEEP than is Q ˙ sp/ Q ˙ t or PaO 2 , since it should be smallest when there is maximal recruitment of perfused or functional gas units without overdistention of alveolar areas contributing to dead space. Also, the use of the PaCO 2 -PetCO 2 gradient permits the rapid titration of PEEP without the need for a pulmonary artery catheter.
Computational Tools for Probing Interactions in Multiple Linear Regression, Multilevel Modeling, and Latent Curve Analysis.

Simple slopes, regions of significance, and confidence bands are commonly used to evaluate interactions in multiple linear regression (MLR) models, and the use of these techniques has recently been extended to multilevel or hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and latent curve analysis (LCA). However, conducting these tests andplotting the conditional relations is often a tedious and error-prone task. This article provides an overview of methods used to probe interaction effects and describes a unified collection offreely available online resources that researchers can use to obtain significance testsforsimple slopes, compute regions of significance, and obtain confidence bands for simple slopes across the range of the moderator in the MLR, HLM, and LCA contexts. Plotting capabilities are also provided.
Metabolic Regulation of Epigenetics

How cells sense and respond to environmental cues remains a central question of biological research. Recent evidence suggests that DNA transcription is regulated by chromatin organization. However, the mechanism for relaying the cytoplasmic signaling to chromatin remodeling remains incompletely understood. Although much emphasis has been put on delineating transcriptional output of growth factor/hormonal signaling pathways, accumulated evidence from yeast and mammalian systems suggest that metabolic signals also play critical roles in determining chromatin structure. Here we summarize recent progress in understanding the molecular connection between metabolism and epigenetic modifications of chromatin implicated in a variety of diseases including cancer.
Bioenergetics and glutamate excitotoxicity.

Bioenergetic defects and abnormalities in glutamate neurotransmission have both been proposed to play important roles in neurological diseases of varying chronology, etiology and pathology. Recent experimental evidence suggests an intimate relationship between these two systems. Metabolic inhibition predisposes neurons to glutamate-mediated “excitotoxic” damage. The exact mechanism of this increased susceptibility is yet to be defined, but may involve, singly or in combination, decreased voltage-dependent Mg2+ blockade of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptor, abnormalities in cellular Ca2+ homeostasis, or elevated production of reactive oxygen species. It is believed that enhancement of excitotoxicity by impaired metabolism may be a ubiquitous mechanism of neuronal death in neurological disease. Further elucidation of the exact mechanism of this enhancement may lead to the discovery of new targets for therapeutic intervention.
Exploring the γ-ray emissivity of young supernova remnants – I. Hadronic emission

Using a simplified model for the hadronic emission from young supernova remnants (SNRs), we derive an expression to calculate the hadronic luminosity with time, depending on the SN ejecta density profile and the density structure of the surrounding medium. Our analysis shows that the hadronic emission will decrease with time for core-collapse SNe expanding in the winds of their progenitor stars, but increase with time for SNe expanding into a constant density medium, typical of Type Ia SNe. Using our expressions, we can compute the time-dependent hadronic flux from some well-known young SNe and SNRs with time, and where applicable reproduce previous results in the appropriate parameter regime. Using our calculations, we also emphasize the exciting possibility that SN 1987A may become a visible gamma-ray source in the next decade.
Quality of life in body dysmorphic disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has a significant impact on the patients' quality of life (QOL). This is an initial literature review of QOL in patients with BDD, examining the extent of QOL impairments, the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on QOL, and the effect of treatment on QOL in BDD. Studies were identified through PubMed, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO searches from 1960-2011 using the keywords: "quality of life," "body dysmorphic disorder," "dysmorphophobia," and "body image." Studies included in this review were selected using specific criteria by two authors reaching consensus. Most BDD research studies have used symptom severity measures mainly to study BDD and its treatments. BBD with or without comorbidities is significantly associated with poor QOL and functioning. Studies show that treatment of BDD, either by psychopharmacological treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or cognitive behavior therapy, might have positive effects on QOL, although these results need to be replicated in larger studies. In conclusion, QOL could add significant value to the assessment of BDD if used as one of the primary measures in research and clinical work in BDD, by providing more information and clearer understanding on the impact of the illness on satisfaction with activities of daily life and overall sense of wellbeing before and after treatment.
Density Estimation and Bump-Hunting by the Penalized Likelihood Method Exemplified by Scattering and Meteorite Data

Abstract The (maximum) penalized-likelihood method of probability density estimation and bump-hunting is improved and exemplified by applications to scattering and chondrite data. We show how the hyperparameter in the method can be satisfactorily estimated by using statistics of goodness of fit. A Fourier expansion is found to be usually more expeditious than a Hermite expansion but a compromise is useful. The best fit to the scattering data has 13 bumps, all of which are evaluated by the Bayesian interpretation of the method. Eight bumps are well supported. The result for the chondrite data suggests that it is trimodal and confirms that there are (at least) three kinds of chondrite.
Cultural Customization: An Analysis Of Chinese And Spanish B2C Web Sites

The following paper analyzes the trends in e-commerce, the variations among global e-consumers, and in turn, the imperative for cultural customization of business-to-consumer web sites. A literature review delves into past research done in the field of cultural customization as well as the dimensions and values that distinguish cultures from one another. Furthermore, ten (10) Chinese and ten (10) Spanish B2C web sites from the service, retail and manufacturing sectors are analyzed to view the extent of their cultural customization. The findings conclude that none of the B2C web sites viewed were truly culturally customized, but that there exist advantages for businesses to take the initiative and put forth resources into achieving said status for their respective web sites.
The Hurricane’s Inner Core Region. II. Thermal Stability and Dynamic Characteristics

Abstract This is the second (Paper II) of two papers on the characteristics of the hurricane’s inner core region as revealed by the research flight data of the National Hurricane Research Laboratory. This paper presents information on the thermal stability and the dynamic characteristics of the hurricane’s inner core region from information derived from Paper I. Discussion is given on the hurricane’s inner core vertical stability, divergence, vertical motion, heating mechanism, wind-pressure acceleration, thermal wind balances, and other features. It is shown that large vertical moist instability is present in the eye-wall cloud. Large super-gradient winds are present at the radius of maximum winds. Substantial mixing occurs between eye and eye wall and the average hurricane eye ventilates itself by about half of its mass during the time it takes to move the distance of its eye diameter. Maximum heating does not occur at the radius of maximum updraft. Inner core heating comes from the sinking motion withi...
The impact of a type 2 diabetes, six-week immersion experience on adherence—A pilot study

Abstract Objective The primary objective of this study was to determine the impact of a type 2 diabetes immersion experience on students' perception of adherence difficulty for medication utilization and self-monitoring. The secondary objective was to compare reported versus actual adherence. Methods A fourth year pharmacy students were recruited to participate in a six-week immersion project. Students acted as newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients and were instructed to take a mock medication twice daily, self-monitor blood glucose twice daily, exercise three times weekly, and make one dietary intervention. A pre-participation survey determined student baseline perception of the ability to adhere to the disease state management. Following the experience, the students completed a post-participation survey regarding adherence difficulty perception and actual adherence rates were determined by data download from Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS ™ ) caps and blood glucose monitoring devices. Result Overall, 32 participants completed the study. Self-estimated ability to adhere to a twice-daily medication declined from 82.3% to 67.2% ( p = 0.001). Adherence ability self-estimates for blood glucose monitoring decreased from 75.3% to 63.3% ( p = 0.032). Self-reported adherence to the medication was 67.2% while actual adherence was 31.2% ( p p = 0.001). Conclusions Students' estimates of adherence ease declines following participation in the immersion project. True adherence evaluations indicate that student self-reporting of adherence rates are over-estimates.
A highly reversible room-temperature lithium metal battery based on crosslinked hairy nanoparticles

Rough electrodeposition, uncontrolled parasitic side-reactions with electrolytes and dendrite-induced short-circuits have hindered development of advanced energy storage technologies based on metallic lithium, sodium and aluminium electrodes. Solid polymer electrolytes and nanoparticle-polymer composites have shown promise as candidates to suppress lithium dendrite growth, but the challenge of simultaneously maintaining high mechanical strength and high ionic conductivity at room temperature has so far been unmet in these materials. Here we report a facile and scalable method of fabricating tough, freestanding membranes that combine the best attributes of solid polymers, nanocomposites and gel-polymer electrolytes. Hairy nanoparticles are employed as multifunctional nodes for polymer crosslinking, which produces mechanically robust membranes that are exceptionally effective in inhibiting dendrite growth in a lithium metal battery. The membranes are also reported to enable stable cycling of lithium batteries paired with conventional intercalating cathodes. Our findings appear to provide an important step towards room-temperature dendrite-free batteries.
U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings on Korea during the 113th Congress 2013-2014: Overseeing Multifaceted Aspects of Washington's Peninsular Interests

Numerous U.S. government agencies are involved in developing and implementing U.S. policy toward Korean Peninsula events, trends, and developments. Those studying U.S. government policies toward this region need to pay particular attention to the role played by U.S. Congressional committees in this policymaking. Congressional committees are responsible for approving new legislation, revising existing legislation, funding U.S. government programs and conducting oversight of these programs. This work examines Congressional committee hearings and debate during the 113th Congress (2013.2014) and reveals that multiple Congressional committees with varying jurisdictions seek to shape U.S. government Korean Peninsula policy and that this policymaking covers more than international relations and international security issues.
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Kinase 3 is up-regulated in cancer, drives the invasive phenotype, and predicts short survival.

2147 The early and pervasive tendency of cancer cells to invade into peritumoral normal tissue and to metastasize underlies the patient’s poor prognosis. This malignant spread of tumor cells prevents complete surgical resection and sequesters tumor cells outside the fields of focal radiation; each of these leads to heightened tumor recurrence. A three dimensional spheroid invasion assay was employed to model the invasive behavior of human glioma cells in vitro. Laser capture microdissection in conjunction with whole genome expression profiling resulted in the differentiation of the invasive cell transcriptome as compared to that of stationary cognates. Mitogen activated protein Kinase Kinase 3 (MKK3) was found to be significantly up-regulated in invasive cells. Immunoblotting on a panel of glioma specimens revealed that MKK3 activation is a marker for tumor progression. Analysis of two comprehensive expression data sets of over 200 glial tumors, revealed MKK3 as a predictor of poor patient survival. Further clinical validation was performed on tissue microarrays of breast, lung and pancreatic cancer, in which there was evidence of strong activation of MKK3 as compared to normal tissue. MKK3 was identified to be an important driver of tumor invasion that strongly predicts patient survival. (supported by CA085138 and NS42262)
Correlations between fission fragments for 172 MeV 20 Ne+ 197 Au: A case study for incomplete fusion

Angular and energy correlations have been measured for coincident fission-fragment pairs from the reaction of197Au with 8.6 MeV/u20Ne. These data have been analyzed to test for fission after incomplete fusion and its admixture with fission generally attributed to the relatively pure compound-nucleus mechanism. A Monte Carlo kinematic simulation program has been written to provide a basis for detailed comparisons of the experimental data to the calculations that employ various mechanistic assumptions. We conclude that incomplete fusion is indeed a prominent precursor to fission even for incident energies of less than 10 MeV/u. Similar data from earlier studies have been reanalyzed and shown to be consistent with this conclusion.
A Call in the Woods: Fracking Industry Influence on Network Availability in Underserved Areas

North-Central Pennsylvania has long been a blank spot in cellular network coverage maps. The mountainous and heavily-forested region is unusually under-populated for the northeastern United States. Insufficient transportation infrastructure, rugged terrain, and a thinly-spread population have inhibited the development of robust telecommunications networks. The region is still inconsistently served by 3G cellular service, while LTE or broadband coverage appear unlikely for many of the area’s residents in the foreseeable future. Local residents have recently begun to notice small pockets of network availability in incongruous backwoods locations. These correspond to the sites of fracking wells. North-Central Pennsylvania is experiencing a boom in fracking – the lucrative practice of extracting fossil fuels from deeply-embedded rock formations. Mining companies have built many fracking wells throughout the region, while finding that local cellular service is nonexistent or insufficient for their needs. In effect, a fracking well is left untended most of the time, with a technician visiting periodically. The mining company would like the technician to be able to communicate with supervisors from remote well sites where network connections are unlikely. Very tall antenna towers have been observed springing up next to remote fracking installations, in order for a mining company to bypass weak or nonexistent local cellular networks and establish a connection with faraway service points. This allows a visiting technician to communicate with supervisors, while creating a very localized pocket of service availability for passersby. This project will include field research with a signal measurement device to find locations in remote North-Central Pennsylvania where this phenomenon is occurring, while gathering information on the companies involved and their antenna tower sites. The paper will begin with a theoretical discussion of why more robust service has been inhibited in this region, making this fracking industry work-around necessary. The author will investigate whether fracking firms and telecommunications providers have established business deals for the benefit of one industry while bypassing the needs of local communities. Efforts will also be made to determine if these very local pockets of service are like to come together to produce spillover effects for local communities, or if antenna towers will be decommissioned if a fracking installation is shut down in the future. The paper will ultimately argue that this phenomenon, of network service following a currently hot industrial trend (fracking), represents a failure of telecom firms and local governments to provide service for the good of local residents, until a powerful industry forces piecemeal development in its own interests. The process may also be a short-term phenomenon with very local benefits that serve a company’s or community’s public relations goals, while possibly being a missed opportunity to address the long-term shortage of network coverage in such areas.
A Note on 'Money Is Memory': A Counterexample

A counterexample to the notion that money is memory is provided—one that relies on incomplete information. There exists an implementable allocation for it with money that is not implementable with memory. The result arises because money conveys only a limited amount of information about past actions, which can be beneficial in settings with incomplete information.
A type of underwater GPS system and its application to diver positioning and navigation

In order to supply the navigation service with high accuracy for the diver in underwater actions,a scheme of underwater GPS system which takes the active sonobuoy as a communication beacon,is proposed.The principle of target positioning is based on the measurements of sound propagation delay between the target and beacons,and the algorithm for solving the nonlinear equations of target' s position is also introduced.Thereafter,the Kalman filter and the extended Kalman filter are designed for improving the accuracy of position estimation,and their performance is demonstrated via numerical simulations.The results show that it is necessary to integrate the smoothing techniques such as the Kalman filtering into the positioning solver to improve the navigation accuracy.
Universities, Performance, and Uncommon Partnerships

Reflecting on US higher education’s support for art that serves both aesthetic and social goals, I hypothesize three waves. The first was catalyzed by George Pierce Baker, who in 1905 taught the first theater class in a US university (Harvard), emphasizing writing plays based on what the author knows, and focusing on where they are. Like the first mode of socially informed performance I describe in the Introduction, this wave is play-based, emphasizing the playwright. The significance of this one class cannot be overemphasized, its role in the development of a uniquely American dramatic literature having often been noted. I want to emphasize its generative role for the grassroots theater movement. Two of Baker’s students, Alexander Drummond and Frederick Koch, passed on the valuing of local culture not only in classes for college students but also to people in the regions where their institutions were located. Drummond’s student Robert Gard went on to articulate grassroots theater in a book by that name, which in turn is a source of community-based theater (Cohen-Cruz 2005, pp. 28–30).
Characterization of nuclear sirtuins: molecular mechanisms and physiological relevance.

Sirtuins are protein deacetylases/mono-ADP-ribosyltransferases found in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. This group of enzymes relies on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) as a cofactor linking their activity to the cellular metabolic status. Originally found in yeast, Sir2 was discovered as a silencing factor and has been shown to mediate the effects of calorie restriction on lifespan extension. In mammals seven homologs (SIRT1−7) exist which evolved to have specific biological outcomes depending on the particular cellular context, their interacting proteins, and the genomic loci to where they are actively targeted. Sirtuins biological roles are highlighted in the early lethal phenotypes observed in the deficient murine models. In this chapter, we summarize current concepts on non-metabolic functions for sirtuins, depicting this broad family from yeast to mammals.
Dredge samples from the Chukchi Borderland: Implications for paleogeographic reconstruction and tectonic evolution of the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic

The Chukchi Borderland is a large bathymetric high that extends from the Alaskan Chukchi Shelf into the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Widely interpreted to be underlain by continental crust, the Chukchi Borderland has played a pivotal role in plate reconstructions of the Arctic, despite the fact that its geologic nature, origin and evolution are largely unknown. We present new lithologic descriptions, along with U-Pb, 40Ar/39Ar, and apatite fission track analyses, for rocks dredged from the Chukchi Borderland. These new results provide constraints on the Chukchi Borderland9s crustal architecture, Paleozoic evolution, and pre-Cretaceous paleogeographic position prior to the formation of the Amerasia Basin. Based on the location and nature of dredged rocks, the Chukchi Borderland comprises at least two distinct terranes, juxtaposed by the proposed Chukchi Borderland fault zone. Early Paleozoic units recovered from Northwind Ridge in the eastern Chukchi Borderland consist of low-grade metasedimentary rocks with a Laurentian detrital zircon signature that is statistically indistinguishable from that of Cambrian age units of the Franklinian passive margin exposed on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In contrast, high-grade gneisses and amphibolites dredged from the Chukchi Plateau in the central Chukchi Borderland yield U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages that suggest an affinity with rock units of the Pearya terrane of Arctic Canada. U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages reveal a Paleozoic tectonic history beginning in Early Cambrian to Early Ordovician time with subduction/arc-related high-T metamorphism. Intrusive relationships indicate that Late Ordovician to Silurian orthogneisses intruded the high-T units within an arc setting. Devonian exhumation of these high-grade units is recorded by U-Pb dating of sphene and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of micas and potassium feldspar. The exhumation of the high-grade rocks was coeval with the deposition of coarse-grained sediments bearing detrital zircon compositions similar to Silurian foreland basin sediments deposited in Pearya, as well as with greenschist facies metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks dredged from Northwind Ridge. The new data suggest paleogeographic restoration of the Chukchi Borderland to a position adjacent to Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands prior to Amerasia Basin rifting. This pre-rift position supports and refines the widely cited rotational models for opening of the Canada Basin.
Effects of dexamethasone and meloxicam on Borrelia burgdorferi -induced inflammation in glial and neuronal cells of the central nervous system

Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), affects both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Previously, we reported that in a model of acute LNB in rhesus monkeys, treatment with the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone significantly reduced both pleocytosis and levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) immune mediators that were induced by Bb. Dexamethasone also inhibited the formation of inflammatory, neurodegenerative, and demyelinating lesions in the brain and spinal cord of these animals. In contrast, these signs were evident in the infected animals that were left untreated or in those that were treated with meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. To address the differential anti-inflammatory effects of dexamethasone and meloxicam in the central nervous system (CNS), we evaluated the potential of these drugs to alter the levels of Bb-induced inflammatory mediators in culture supernatants of rhesus frontal cortex (FC) explants, primary rhesus astrocytes and microglia, and human oligodendrocytes. We also ascertained the potential of dexamethasone to modulate Bb-induced apoptosis in rhesus FC explants. As meloxicam is a known COX-2 inhibitor, we evaluated whether meloxicam altered the levels of COX-2 as induced by live Bb in cell lysates of primary rhesus astrocytes and microglia. Dexamethasone but not meloxicam significantly reduced the levels of several Bb-induced immune mediators in culture supernatants of FC explants, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. Dexamethasone also had a protective effect on Bb-induced neuronal and oligodendrocyte apoptosis in rhesus FC explants. Further, meloxicam significantly reduced the levels of Bb-induced COX-2 in microglia, while both Bb and meloxicam were unable to alter the constitutive levels of COX-2 in astrocytes. These data indicate that dexamethasone and meloxicam have differential anti-inflammatory effects on Bb-induced inflammation in glial and neuronal cells of the CNS and help explain the in vivo findings of significantly reduced inflammatory mediators in the CSF and lack of inflammatory neurodegenerative lesions in the brain and spinal cord of Bb-infected animals that were treated with dexamethasone but not meloxicam. Signaling cascades altered by dexamethasone could serve as possible therapeutic targets for limiting CNS inflammation and tissue damage in LNB.
Use of External Controls in Regulatory Decision‐Making

The expanded use of electronic data retrieval systems has greatly expanded the potential sources of real-world data and presents new opportunities for evidence generation outside of the traditional research trial. These data may be used to inform trial design and interpretation as well. Externally controlled trials, such as single-arm and noninferiority designs, have long been used in regulatory decision-making despite the potential flaws based on assumptions of assay sensitivity and constancy.
Should US doctors embrace electronic health records

Moving to electronic healthcare infrastructure could help reduce an epidemic of iatrogenic harm, write George A Gellert, S Luke Webster, and John A Gillean . But hasty implementation has led to suboptimal systems that may jeopardize the clinician-patient relationship, say Edward R Melnick and Hemal K Kanzaria
Home Health Chains and Practice Patterns: Evidence of 2008 Medicare Reimbursement Revision.

Abstract Home health agencies (HHAs) are known to exploit the Medicare reimbursement schedule by targeting a specific number of therapy visits. These targeting behaviors cause unnecessary medical spending. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that during fiscal year 2015, Medicare made more than $10 billion in improper payments to HHAs. Better understanding of heterogeneous gaming behaviors among HHAs can inform policy makers to more effectively oversee the home health care industry. This article aims to study how home health chains adjust and adopt new targeting behaviors as compared to independent agencies under the new reimbursement schedule. The analytic data are constructed from: (1) 5% randomly sampled Medicare home health claim data, and (2) HHA chain information extracted from the Medicare Cost Report. The study period spans from 2007 to 2010, and the sample includes 7800 unique HHAs and 380,118 treatment episodes. A multivariate regression model is used to determine whether chai...
UTB-SOI based adiabatic computing for low-power and secure IoT devices

Adiabatic logic is one of the promising computing paradigm to design energy-efficient and Differential Power Analysis (DPA)-resistant hardware. However, CMOS based adiabatic logic suffers from high leakage power. In order to reduce the leakage power in the existing DPA-resistant adiabatic logic families, we are investigating the usefulness of Ultra-Thin-Body Silicon-On-Insulator (UTB-SOI) devices as the replacement of CMOS devices. As a case study, we have implemented the PRESENT-80 Light Weight Cryptography (LWC) algorithm in UTB-SOI based Symmetric Pass Gate Adiabatic Logic (SPGAL). The security of UTB-SOI SPGAL based PRESENT-80 has been evaluated by performing a DPA attack through SPICE simulations. We proved that the UTB-SOI SPGAL implementation of the PRESENT-80 algorithm is resistant to DPA attacks. SPICE simulations show that the consumption of leakage power for UTB-SOI SPGAL XOR gate is 60% less in comparison to CMOS SPGAL XOR gate. It is also shown that, one round of PRESENT-80 simulated using UTB-SOI SPGAL consumes 36% less power in comparison to CMOS SPGAL one round of PRESENT-80.
Repeated Sales with Multiple Strategic Buyers

In a market with repeated sales of a single item to a single buyer, prior work has established the existence of a zero revenue perfect Bayesian equilibrium in the absence of a commitment device for the seller. This counter-intuitive outcome is the result of strategic purchasing decisions, where the buyer worries that the seller will update future prices in response to past purchasing behavior. We first show that in fact almost any revenue can be achieved in equilibrium, but the zero revenue equilibrium uniquely survives natural refinements. This establishes that single buyer markets without commitment are subject to market failure. However, our main result shows that this market failure depends crucially on the assumption of a single buyer. If there are multiple buyers, the seller can approximate the revenue that is possible with commitment. We construct an intuitive equilibrium for multiple buyers that survives our refinements, in which the seller learns from past purchasing behavior and obtains a constant factor of the per-round Myerson optimal revenue. The seller's pricing policy has a natural explore-exploit structure, where the seller starts with low prices that gradually ascend to learn buyers' values, and in later rounds exploits the surviving high-valued buyers. The result resembles an ascending-price auction, implemented over time. This relates to the intuition from the Coase conjecture in the durable goods literature [Coase 1972] which states that in the absence of commitment, one should expect the VCG outcome (which, for multiple buyers, yields non-trivial revenue for the seller). We further explore this relationship to the Coase conjecture by considering a setting with unlimited supply of goods each round. The Coasian intuition would suggest that the seller makes no revenue in this case, since the VCG outcome gives each item away for a trivial price. However, we show that this intuition does not hold for our setting with non-durable goods. As in the single-item setting, when the seller is constrained to posting a single, anonymous price to all buyers, there exist equilibria for which the seller's revenue is within a constant factor of the Myerson optimal revenue. Finally, we consider the importance of our restriction to anonymous prices. We show that if the seller is permitted to offer different prices to each agent then the Coasian intuition from the single-item setting binds once more: the seller is no longer able to extract nontrivial revenue from any equilibrium with sufficiently natural structure. In other words, the restriction of the seller to an anonymous price was crucial in deriving nontrivial revenue with unlimited supply. Intuitively, an anonymous price mitigates the ability of the seller to use the information an individual buyer leaks with each purchasing decision. Consequently, buyers are more willing to make nontrivial purchasing decisions, which in turn allows the seller to learn.
Modeling Microstructure of AM Processes Using the FE Method

Abstract Due to the repeated thermal cycling that occurs with the processing of each subsequent layer, the microstructure of additively manufactured parts undergoes complex changes throughout the deposition process. Understanding and modeling this evolution poses a greater challenge than for single-cycle heat treatments. Following the work of Kelly and Charles, a Ti-6Al-4V microstructural model has been developed which calculates the phase fractions, morphology, and alpha lath width given a measured or modeled thermal history. Dissolution of the alpha phase is modeled as 1D plate growth of the beta phase, while alpha growth is modeled by the technique of Johnson, Mehl, and Avrami. The alpha phase is divided into colony and basketweave morphologies based on an intragranular nucleation temperature. Evolution of alpha lath width is calculated using an Arrhenius equation. Key parameters of the combined Kelly-Charles model developed here are optimized using the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm. For the deposition of two L shaped geometries with different processing parameters, the optimized model gives a mean error over 24 different locations of 37 % relative to experimentally measured lath widths, compared to 106 % for the original Kelly-Charles model.
Own mother’s milk significantly decreases the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Commentary on: Patel AL, Johnson TJ, Robin B, et al . Influence of own mother’s milk on bronchopulmonary dysplasia and costs. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2017;102:F256-61. OMM has substantial health benefits for VLBW infants including decreased sepsis, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and retinopathy of prematurity.1 2 Limited studies have evaluated the effects of OMM on the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature …
Disputatiousness and the Offender–Victim Overlap:

Objectives:We examine whether offenders are at greater risk of violent victimization than non-offenders because of their disputatiousness; that is, their tendency to become involved in verbal confl...
Focused ion beam characterization of deformation resulting from nanoindentation of nanoporous gold

Regions of deformation resulting from nanoindentation testing of nanoporous gold (np-Au) are characterized by cross-sectional imaging of the ligament structure directly beneath the surface, after lift-out using focused ion beam techniques. Permanent deformation of the porous structure was not exclusively confined to the region directly in contact with the indenter but extended much deeper into the sample. Implications of these observations with respect to previous measurements of the mechanical properties of np-Au are discussed. The conclusions provide initial insight into the deformation behavior of np structures during nanoindentation, as well as a basis for extending this technique to other np metals.
How to Explain Empirical Distribution of Software Defects by Severity

In the last decades, several tools have appeared that, given a software package, mark possible defects of different potential severity. Our empirical analysis has shown that in most situations, we observe the same distribution or software defects by severity. In this paper, we present this empirical distribution, and we use interval-related ideas to provide an explanation for this empirical distribution.