cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interpreting Plato's dialogues

This book introduces readers to some key problems in understanding Plato's writings, and explores in-depth and critically the various ways of approaching Plato. The problem of how to interpret Plato's dialogues dates back to Plato's Academy, and Plato's interpreters ought not to forego this important discussion. For how one approaches texts will inevitably influence how one interprets their contents. This is especially true of Plato's writings, as they are, with few exceptions, dialogues. For the sake of historical accuracy, then, it is crucial that the most plausible interpretation of Plato's works is articulated and well defended. And this is precisely what this book provides: an articulation and critical evaluation of the various ways to approach Plato's dialogues, along with the articulation and defence of a plausible new way to interpret Plato. This new way of approaching Plato neither sees Plato's words as doctrines according to which the dialogues are to be interpreted, nor does it reduce Plato's dialogues to dramatic literature. Rather, it seeks to interpret the aim of Plato's writings as being influenced primarily by Plato's respect for his teacher, Socrates, and the manner in which Socrates engaged others in philosophical discourse. It places the focus of philosophical investigation of Plato's dialogues on the content of the dialogues themselves, and on the Socratic way of doing philosophy. This book contains a comprehensive bibliography of philosophical sources on the interpretation of Plato's corpus of writings, as well as some important works in the field of classical studies and philology. Interpreting Plato's Dialogues provides both an analytical, scholarly, and thorough treatment of what is perhaps the most long-standing problem in Plato studies. The book serves quite well as a companion text to Plato's dialogues and is of special interest to philosophers, classicists, and philologists.
“Creating Phantoms”: Zaki al-Arsuzi, the Alexandretta Crisis, and the Formation of Modern Arab Nationalism in Syria

This quotation may be nothing more than a well-turned phrase by its author, Zaki al-Arsuzi. Nonetheless, it illustrates a dilemma that young men like him faced in the troubled years preceding Syrian independence: As French-educated young men, should they take their places as minor functionaries in the colonial machine and accept the promise of a comfortable and privileged life, or should they join the growing political and ideological struggle to found an independent, national statein Syria? Al-Arsuzi, who is venerated by the current regime in Damascus as the ideological father of Baʾthism, went on to answer this question by spending the next eight years in and out ofthe former Ottoman province of Alexandretta, working in support of the Arab-nationalist cause. Both his contemporary writings and later recollections of the period reveal a growing political consciousness and the formulation of a complex Arabism that was at odds with the dominant ideology emanating from the large cities of Syria. This ideology, as embodied by the National Bloc government in Damascus, was personality-based, hamstrung by European colonial interests, and unable to arouse any sustained political sensibility in the broader population; it centered its political legitimacy and parochial brand of nationalism on opposition to the French occupation. Al-Arsuzi and others, recognizing the weakness inherent in this form of nationalism, drew away from its leadership in the course of the 1930s and moved to create other, more radical and militant Pan-Arabist groups.
An electrochemical engineering assessment of the operational conditions and constraints for solar-driven water-splitting systems at near-neutral pH

The solution transport losses in a one-dimensional solar-driven water-splitting cell that operates in either concentrated acid, dilute acid, or buffered near-neutral pH electrolytes have been evaluated using a mathematical model that accounts for diffusion, migration and convective transport, as well as for bulk electrochemical reactions in the electrolyte. The Ohmic resistance loss, the Nernstian potential loss associated with pH gradients at the surface of the electrode, and electrodialysis in different electrolytes were assessed quantitatively in a stagnant cell as well as in a bubble-convected cell, in which convective mixing occurred due to product-gas evolution. In a stagnant cell that did not have convective mixing, small limiting current densities (<3 mA cm^(−2)) and significant polarization losses derived from pH gradients were present in dilute acid as well as in near-neutral pH buffered electrolytes. In contrast, bubble-convected cells exhibited a significant increase in the limiting current density, and a significant reduction of the concentration overpotentials. In a bubble-convected cell, minimal solution transport losses were present in membrane-free cells, in either buffered electrolytes or in unbuffered solutions with pH ≤ 1. However, membrane-free cells lack a mechanism for product-gas separation, presenting significant practical and engineering impediments to the deployment of such systems. To produce an intrinsically safe cell, an ion-exchange membrane was incorporated into the cell. The accompanying solution losses, especially the pH gradients at the electrode surfaces, were modeled and simulated for such a system. Hence this work describes the general conditions under which intrinsically safe, efficient solar-driven water-splitting cells can be operated.
An Empirical Investigation of the Roles of Outcome Controls and Psychological Factors in Collaboration Technology Supported Virtual Teams

The purpose of this research is to examine whether outcome controls of group work (i.e. time pressure and reward) trigger psychological factors (i.e. distraction, motivation, and trust) and affect problem-solving virtual teams' ability to share information and develop high quality solutions. Results of a laboratory experiment on GSS-based virtual teams indicate that teams exhibited higher motivation and trust under time pressure, and both motivation and trust, in turn, have a positive relationship with information sharing and solution quality in ridge regressions. However, reward control has no significant impact on any psychological factors in both ordinary least squares regression and ridge regression.
Tau deposition drives neuropathological, inflammatory and behavioral abnormalities independently of neuronal loss in a novel mouse model

Aberrant tau protein accumulation drives neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) formation in several neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, efforts to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms and assess the efficacy of therapeutic targets are limited by constraints of existing models of tauopathy. In order to generate a more versatile mouse model of tauopathy, somatic brain transgenesis was utilized to deliver adeno-associated virus serotype 1 (AAV1) encoding human mutant P301L-tau compared with GFP control. At 6 months of age, we observed widespread human tau expression with concomitant accumulation of hyperphosphorylated and abnormally folded proteinase K resistant tau. However, no overt neuronal loss was observed, though significant abnormalities were noted in the postsynaptic scaffolding protein PSD95. Neurofibrillary pathology was also detected with Gallyas silver stain and Thioflavin-S, and electron microscopy revealed the deposition of closely packed filaments. In addition to classic markers of tauopathy, significant neuroinflammation and extensive gliosis were detected in AAV1-Tau(P301L) mice. This model also recapitulates the behavioral phenotype characteristic of mouse models of tauopathy, including abnormalities in exploration, anxiety, and learning and memory. These findings indicate that biochemical and neuropathological hallmarks of tauopathies are accurately conserved and are independent of cell death in this novel AAV-based model of tauopathy, which offers exceptional versatility and speed in comparison with existing transgenic models. Therefore, we anticipate this approach will facilitate the identification and validation of genetic modifiers of disease, as well as accelerate preclinical assessment of potential therapeutic targets.
A gossip protocol for subgroup multicast

Gossip-based multicast can be an effective tool for providing highly reliable and scalable message dissemination. We consider the problem of gossiping within overlapping process groups. If each subgroup independently runs a uniform gossip protocol, then the total gossip overhead could be high for a process that is a member of many subgroups. We present a novel gossip protocol that allows individual subgroup members to trade-off update quality for gossip overhead, enabling processes to belong to several subgroups while maintaining a low total gossip overhead. Our results include a mathematical model for message dissemination under this modified gossip protocol, and an algorithm that computes gossip parameters such that all processes within a subgroup achieve their desired update quality.
Effect of small interfering RNAs on in vitro replication and gene expression of feline coronavirus

Objective—To evaluate the ability of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to inhibit in vitro viral replication and gene expression of feline coronavirus (FCoV). Sample—Cell cultures of Crandell-Rees feline kidney cells. Procedures—5 synthetic siRNAs that each targeted a different region of the FCoV genome were tested individually and in various combinations for their antiviral effects against 2 strains of FCoV (feline infectious peritonitis virus WSU 79-1146 and feline enteric coronavirus WSU 79-1683) in cell cultures. Tested combinations targeted the FCoV leader and 3′ untranslated region, FCoV leader region and nucleocapsid gene, and FCoV leader region, 3′ untranslated region, and nucleocapsid gene. For each test condition, assessments included relative quantification of the inhibition of intracellular viral genomic RNA synthesis by means of real-time, reverse-transcription PCR analysis; flow cytometric evaluation of the reduction of viral protein expression in infected cells; and assessment of virus replic...
A surface micromachined capacitive pressure sensor for intraocular pressure measurement

In glaucoma patients, intraocular pressure (IOP) is a parameter that plays significant role in disease diagnosis and treatment. Continuous IOP measurements could help capture fluctuations in IOP that are found to be relevant to disease progression. In this paper, an implantable surface micromachined capacitive pressure sensor that can be used as a part of LC tank implant circuit is discussed. A three layer Polysilicon process was used for sensor fabrication. A preliminary study on sensor coil is also presented.
Single-Pass versus Two-Pass Boat Electrofishing for Characterizing River Fish Assemblages: Species Richness Estimates and Sampling Distance

Abstract Determining adequate sampling effort for characterizing fish assemblage structure in nonwadeable rivers remains a critical issue in river biomonitoring. Two-pass boat electrofishing data collected from 500–1,000-m-long river reaches as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program were analyzed to assess the efficacy of single-pass boat electrofishing. True fish species richness was estimated by use of a two-pass removal model and nonparametric jackknife estimation for 157 sampled reaches across the United States. Compared with estimates made with a relatively unbiased nonparametric estimator, estimates of true species richness based on the removal model may be biased, particularly when true species richness is greater than 10. Based on jackknife estimation, the mean percent of estimated true species richness collected in the first electrofishing pass (pj,sj ) for all 157 reaches was 65.5%. The effectiveness of single-pass boat electrofishing may be greate...
ωb semileptonic decay form factors for mc

Abstract At leading order in 1 m , the fourteen form factors of the decays ω b →ω c e v and ω b →ω ∗ c e v can be described by two nonperturbative functions whose normalization at threshold is known. We extend these results to O( 1 m c ), and find that five additional functions and one dimensional constant enter into the form factor relations. At threshold all O( 1 m c ) corrections /fvanish, and the normalization is preserved.
Many-to-Many Traffic Grooming in WDM Mesh Networks

In many-to-many communication, a session consists of group of users (we call them members) where each one of the members transmits its traffic to all other members in the group. This paper studies the problem of provisioning many- to-many sessions with sub-wavelength granularities in WDM mesh networks. Our objective is to minimize the number of transceivers required. We study the problem in networks with and without optical splitting capabilities. For networks without optical splitting capabilities, we use an optimal approach which is an extension of that introduced in [8] for the many-to-one traffic grooming problem. For networks with optical splitting capabilities, we introduce a novel hub-based approach where each session is routed through a many-to-one tree from the members to a central hub node, and then through a multicast tree from the hub node back to the members. At the hub node, network coding is performed by linearly combining the traffic units received from the members. These combinations are then groomed and delivered back to the members using light-tree(s). Numerical results from both approaches are presented and compared.
Propulsive forces of mudskipper fins and salamander limbs during terrestrial locomotion: implications for the invasion of land.

Synopsis The invasion of land was a pivotal event in vertebrate evolution that was associated with major appendicular modifications. Although fossils indicate that the evolution of fundamentally limb-like appendages likely occurred in aquatic environments, the functional consequences of using early digited limbs, rather than fins, for terrestrial propulsion have had little empirical investigation. Paleontological and experimental analyses both have led to the proposal of an early origin of ‘‘hind limb-driven’’ locomotion among tetrapods or their ancestors. However, the retention of a pectoral appendage that had already developed terrestrial adaptations has been proposed for some taxa, and few data are available from extant functional models that can provide a foundation for evaluating the relative contributions of pectoral and pelvic appendages to terrestrial support among early stem tetrapods. To examine these aspects of vertebrate locomotor evolution during the invasion of land, we measured three-dimensional ground reaction forces (GRFs) produced by isolated pectoral fins of mudskipper fishes (Periophthalmus barbarus) during terrestrial crutching, and compared these to isolated walking footfalls by the forelimbs and hind limbs of tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum), a species with subequally-sized limbs that facilitate comparisons to early tetrapods. Pectoral appendages of salamanders and mudskippers exhibited numerous differences in GRFs. Compared with salamander forelimbs, isolated fins of mudskippers bear lower vertical magnitudes of GRFs (as a proportion of body weight), and had GRFs that were oriented more medially. Comparing the salamanders’ forelimbs and hind limbs, although the peak net GRF occurs later in stance for the forelimb, both limbs experience nearly identical mediolateral and vertical components of GRF, suggesting comparable contributions to support. Thus, forelimbs could also have played a significant locomotor role among basal tetrapods that had limbs of sub-equal size. However, the salamander hind limb and mudskipper pectoral fin had a greater acceleratory role than did the salamander forelimb. Together, data from these extant taxa help to clarify how structural change may have influenced locomotor function through the evolutionary invasion of land by vertebrates.
Optimal Policies and Simulation-Based Optimization for Capacitated Production Inventory Systems

The motivation for this stream of research has come from problems faced by diverse set of companies, such as IBM, AMD, Allegheny Ludlum, GE, Proctor and Gamble, Westinghouse, Intel, American Standard, McDonald’s, and Caterpillar. Smaller local (to Pittsburgh) companies such as Sintermet, Blazer Diamond, ASKO and Northside Packing have also provided several interesting issues to pursue. At the heart of many of the problems is the interaction between demand variability and non-stationarity, available production capacity, holding costs of inventory (at different locations), lead times and desired service levels. The central goal of this research stream is to understand the interactions in simple single and multiple stage settings and to provide insights and implementable solutions for managing inventories in a cost-effective manner for complex systems. The goal of this chapter is to introduce in a systematic manner some recent advances in ‘Discrete-time, Capacitated Production-Inventory Systems facing Stochastic Demands’ and we limit ourselves to single product setting. The material here is collected from papers that have appeared in the literature: [31, 22, 23, 48, 49].
Sphingomyelin content of intestinal cell membranes regulates cholesterol absorption : evidence for pancreatic and intestinal cell sphingomyelinase activity

Micellar cholesterol uptake and secretion were investigated in the human intestinal cell line CaCo-2 following depletion of apical membrane sphingomyelin. The addition of exogenous sphingomyelinase, which hydrolysed 60% of prelabelled sphingomyelin, resulted in a 50% decrease in the uptake of cholesterol from bile salt micelles. The flux of membrane cholesterol into the cell by the hydrolysis of membrane sphingomyelin decreased the rate of cholesterol synthesis by 43% and inhibited hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase activity by 54%. Moreover, the rate of cholesterol esterification was increased 4-fold. Total cellular cholesterol mass was unchanged by the addition of sphingomyelinase; however, cholesteryl esters increased by 50% and the amount of unesterified cholesterol decreased significantly. The basolateral secretion of cholesterol mass was also decreased following sphingomyelin hydrolysis. Human pancreatic juice was found to contain neutral sphingomyelinase activity which required taurocholate for full expression. The presence of neutral sphingomyelinase activity was also documented in membranes prepared from CaCo-2 cells and in whole homogenates from human duodenal biopsies. The data suggest that the amount of sphingomyelin present in the apical membrane of the intestinal absorptive cell regulates cholesterol uptake from bile salt micelles. Sphingomyelinase activity within intestinal cells and in pancreatic juice could alter the sphingomyelin content of brush-border membranes of small intestinal absorptive cells and thus regulate the amount of cholesterol absorbed by the gut.
Access-Right and Copyright - [Presentation Slides]

Slides of a presentation at Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property in Munich describing a work project on copyright law in the digital environment. Slides introduce the underlying inquiry and frame the issues as descriptive and prescriptive questions concerning proprietary access control under copyright. Three fundamental concepts stand at the basis of such questions, namely, access, property and information. These concepts receive some elaboration in the context of access-to-information problems. The presentation next elaborates on the concept of the "access-right" and offers a formal definition. It then attempts to identify aspects and elements of the access-right as manifested in "traditional" copyright law and compares it to new manifestation of the access-right in current "digital" copyright law. I address overprotection concerns related to the formal (de jure) and actual (de facto) expansion of the exclusive rights and briefly touch upon three categories of solutions and approached: copyright neo-conservatism, copyright reformism and finally, an access-right approach to the problems of copyright law and policy in the digital age.
Utilization of the World Wide Web in Health Education

Abstract The World Wide Web (WWW), an outgrowth of the Internet, can be a vital tool for health educators in schools, higher education, college health services, health care facilities, industry, and in the community. This article describes the basics of the Web, how to access specific health information, and how to utilize the Web in health education. Information also is provided on how to cite the World Wide Web in research papers. Several health-related Web sites with their addresses are categorized and listed with brief descriptions of each site.
Sex, Services, and Surveillance: The Cleveland Street Scandal Revisited

The 1889 “Cleveland Street Scandal” in London, which exposed a male brothel offering telegraph boys to elite men for sexual services, has long been recognized and evaluated as a window into late Victorian homoerotic subcultures and regulatory legislation. By focusing on the telegraph boys' contribution to the scandal, particularly their roles as information service providers in relation to the broader ideologies associated with telecommunications work in this period, the scandal takes on new meanings for queer history. It reveals the relationship between queer urban encounters and the growth of clandestine communications surveillance in Britain and opens up possibilities for re-prioritizing service labor in historical accounts of queer interactions and subjectivities.
ELECTRICITY IN THE ATMOSPHERE | Global Electrical Circuit

The Earth–ionosphere cavity, composed of a thin insulator (the atmosphere) confined between two spherical conductors (the Earth and the ionosphere), provides the natural framework for both the DC and AC global circuits. The DC global circuit involves a nominal voltage drop of 250 kV between Earth and ionosphere. The AC global circuit is an electromagnetic wave phenomenon known as Schumann resonances. The historical discovery of these phenomena and their salient features is reviewed. The source currents for the DC and AC global circuits are different, but cloud-to-ground lightning is a source common to both. Accordingly, the variations in amplitude of the two global circuits are expected to be correlated but not identical. The value of monitoring the global circuit for climate change applications is emphasized, but robust measurement schemes need to be implemented.
A new parameter adaptation method for Genetic Algorithms and Ant Colony Optimization algorithms

This Ant Colony Optimization algorithms and Genetic Algorithms are actively used in controller design, robotic path planning, design automation, biomedical imaging, data mining, and distribution network planning. This paper introduces a genetic algorithm implementation, an ant colony optimization algorithm implementation, and a method of adapting the parameters for the algorithms during the course of their execution whenever they cease producing better solutions. Additionally, it presents the results of experiments performed with and without the method applied. The obtained research outcomes clearly show that the method has the great potential to improve the solutions arrived at in both types of nature inspired algorithms, though the greater improvement is achieved whenever an algorithm tends to stagnate further from the theoretical optimum as happened with the genetic algorithm as compared to with the ant colony optimization algorithm.
A framework for hypothesis-driven approaches to support data-driven learning analytics in measuring computational thinking in block-based programming

K-12 classrooms use block-based programming environments (BBPEs) for teaching computer science and computational thinking (CT). To support assessment of student learning in BBPEs, we propose a learning analytics framework that combines hypothesis- and data-driven approaches to discern students' programming strategies from BBPE log data. We use a principled approach to design assessment tasks to elicit evidence of specific CT skills. Piloting these tasks in high school classrooms enabled us to analyze student programs and video recordings of students as they built their programs. We discuss a priori patterns derived from this analysis to support data-driven analysis of log data in order to better assess understanding and use of CT in BBPEs.
Concordance of the Resting State Networks in Typically Developing, 6-to 7-Year-Old Children and Healthy Adults

Though fairly well-studied in adults, less is known about the manifestation of resting state networks in children. We examined the validity of resting state networks (RSN) derived in an ethnically diverse group of typically developing 6- to 7-year-old children. We hypothesized that the RSNs in young children would be robust and would reliably show significant concordance with previously published RSN in adults. Additionally, we hypothesized that a smaller sample size using this robust technique would be comparable in quality to pediatric RSNs found in a larger cohort study. Furthermore, we posited that compared to the adult RSNs, the primary sensorimotor and the default mode networks in this pediatric group would demonstrate the greatest correspondence, while the executive function networks would exhibit a lesser degree of spatial overlap. Resting state functional magnetic resonance images (rs-fMRI) were acquired in eighteen children between 6 and 7 years recruited from an ethnically diverse population in the Mid-South region of the United States. Twenty RSNs were derived using group independent component analysis and their spatial correspondence with previously published adult RSNs was examined. We demonstrate that the rs-fMRI in this group can be deconstructed into the fundamental resting state networks as all the major RSNs previously described in adults and in a large sample that included older children can be observed in our sample of young children. Further, the primary visual, auditory, and somatosensory networks, as well as the default mode, and frontoparietal networks derived in this group exhibited a greater spatial concordance with those seen in adults. The motor, temporoparietal, executive control, dorsal attention, and cerebellar networks in children had less spatial overlap with the corresponding RSNs in adults. Our findings suggest that several salient RSNs can be mapped reliably in small and diverse pediatric cohort within a narrow age range and the evolution of these RSNs can be studied reliably in such groups during early childhood and adolescence.
Obama's Foreign Policy Legacy and the Myth of Retrenchment

The election of Donald J. Trump jolted the Washington, D.C. foreign policy community. Though erratic and habitually self-contradictory, Trump seemed to be the first man elected president since World War II to explicitly question America’s role in the world. Although Republicans and Democrats spend a lot of time criticizing each other, foreign policy leaders have generally agreed on the broad strokes of American strategy over the past 70 years. Both parties have supported the steady expansion of free trade, the promotion of regional stability through American military and diplomatic activism, and the maintenance of the “liberal world order” established in the wake of World War II. The consensus around this grand strategy, known loosely as primacy or liberal hegemony, accelerated after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, at which point political leaders used fears of terrorism to justify an even more interventionist and militaristic approach to foreign policy. The extent to which Trump will actually depart from this expansive global role of foreign policy activism remains to be seen. Early signs suggest that the bureaucracy, institutional checks, and bipartisan consensus on this grand strategy are moderating Trump’s fitful dissension, resulting in something that looks very close to traditional U.S. foreign policy. As a result, Trump’s bark may prove to be much worse than his bite.
The best way to measure explicit racial attitudes is to ask about them

Direct assessments of explicit racial attitudes, such as reporting an overt preference for White versus Black people, may raise social desirability concerns and reduce measurement quality. As a res...
Novel shaping function for envelope tracking linearization

Envelope tracking (ET) linearization can be explained as the cancellation between two kinds of intermodulation distortions (IMD) [1]. A novel shaping function for ET linearization can thus be constructed by balancing the two IMDs. A dynamic approach of shaping function extraction, called slope tuning, is proposed and demonstrated in this study. Significant linearity improvements in a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power amplifier are experimentally achieved with extracted shaping function for both two-tone and long-term evolution (LTE) signals.
The unexpected impact of expressive writing on posttraumatic stress and growth in Chinese American breast cancer survivors

Objective The present study examined the impact of expressive writing on reducing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSS) and facilitating posttraumatic growth (PTG) in Chinese American breast cancer survivors. Method Ninety-six women who had completed primary treatments for breast cancer were randomly assigned to a cancer experience facts condition, an emotional disclosure condition, or a self-regulation condition and wrote on three occasions over 3 weeks. Participants completed outcome assessments at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months after the last writing session. Results Surprisingly, results indicated that there was generally a small increase in PTSS (ESsg = .16) and a small decrease in PTG (ESsg = -.16) from baseline to the 6-month follow-up. Effect size comparisons and latent growth curve models also indicated that the cancer facts condition was generally associated with superior outcomes for both PTSS and PTG. Conclusions These findings speak to the importance of examining whether interventions are equally efficacious in different cultures.
A todo vapor! As novas tecnologias e a Cultura da Convergência

Este trabalho tem como objetivo a analise teorico-critica de duas obras, inseridas em uma rede intertextual que remete a Lewis Carroll. Trata-se do romance Luka andtheFireof Life , de Salman Rushdie, e o jogo eletronico Alice: MadnessReturns, de American McGee. Traremos como foco a problematizacao das fronteiras entre os games e os textos escritos, pois percebemos que as estruturas intertextual e intermidiatica presentes nesses objetos nos leva a uma outra discussao que tem a ver com o carater transemiotico que os jogos eletronicos possuem. Nessa toada, e necessario dizer que a maneira como os artistas lidam com as representacoes canonicas de personagens conhecidos de historias pode nos levar a repensar como as producoes contemporâneas se imiscuem no mundo dos textos e imagens e necessitam de outros olhares no trato das mesmas. Nesse panorama, inserimos a literatura em um contexto de cultura da convergencia, onde as historias podem ser reproduzidas e re-criadas em diversos meios, e a leitura pode ser feita movimentando-se por varios territorios, tais como os do cinema ou os foruns virtuais de discussao. A convergencia, como Henry Jenkins propoe, nao e algo novo e nem se encontra em um lugar localizavel. Ela e, antes, assim como a hipertextualizacao, um processo mental. Isso causa uma mudanca na propria nocao de autoria do texto, onde agora o leitor nao somente participa ativamente da construcao da cadeia de significacao, mas tambem pode expandir sua leitura atraves de novas criacoes. Isso dependera tambem, claro, de sua posicao social e seu acesso aos meios para se produzir e distribuir sua arte. Eis o motivo pelo qual, finalmente, culminamos na discussao da politizacao da literatura e das novas tecnologias, pois, atualmente, se encontram imbricadas.
From Here to a Coherent and Explicit Intelligence Policy

Whatever course of evolution college admissions and other selection policies take, they will serve as a meter of the evolution of all the implicit assumptions, tensions, and unwritten policies behind them. This meter must be read with ever-watchful eyes. All opportunities for the development of an explicitly articulated intelligence policy must be accepted as a challenge for the betterment of all social policy.
Review of Effect Sizes

This chapter provides an overview of the three major effect sizes that will be used in the book: the standardized mean difference, the correlation coefficient, and the log odds ratio. The notation that will be used throughout the book is also introduced.
Methods for Planar Image Quantification

It is gratifying to see in overview the progress that quantitative planar imaging has made, from simple conjugate-view imaging, through conjugate-views combined with different correction techniques, and most recently towards more sophisticated approaches based on patient-specific transmission and CT images. Challenges remain, particularly in deriving the optimal and less constraining imaging protocol for applications in clinical routine and defining an objective approach for determining the calibration curves and correction factors needed for accurate quantification.
Can Governments Earn Our Trust by Donald F. Kettl

Kettl, D. F. (2017). Can governments earn our trust? New York, NY: Polity Press. $12.95 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-509-52246-0
Deficiency of cationic amino acid transporter-2 protects mice from hyperoxia-induced lung injury

The pathology of acute lung injury (ALI) involves inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS)-derived NO-induced apoptosis of pulmonary endothelial cells. In vitro, iNOS-derived NO production has b...
Pain, Injury, Mortality: Police Confront Critical Incidents

Previous research has shown that the law enforcement occupation is a dangerous profession that has the highest violent victimization rate in the United States (Fridell, Faggiani, Taylor, Brito, & Kubu, 2009). This descriptive study aims to add to the growing body of literature on victimization of police officers by answering the central research question: What are the characteristics of victimization incidents of on-duty law enforcement officers? Specific demographics of interest include; sex of the officer, method of harm used against the officer, incident location, and responding call type. A content analysis was performed on news articles reporting incidents of on-duty law enforcement fatalities and injuries (n=50), in which characters gathered from the articles were recoded to numbers for quantitative analysis. Analysis of data suggests that male officers are more likely to be victimized while on-duty. Gunfire is the method of harm most likely used to victimize officers. A roadway is the location where an incident of victimization will most likely occur, during other types of calls beyond warrant services, traffic stops, domestic disturbances, and suspicious persons. This research can lead to future more detailed research and causal analysis.
Brief report: Impact of healthcare quality on prostate specific antigen screening for the early detection of prostate cancer.

Abstract With recent guidelines emphasizing patient values, patient preferences and shared decision-making in regards to prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening it is important for primary care providers and urologists to identify factors that influence men's decisions to undergo PSA screening. We sought to evaluate the impact of men's perceptions of healthcare quality on obtaining a screening PSA for the early detection of prostate cancer. A retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted of men ages 55–69 without a history of prostate cancer using 2015 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. The relationship between Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) questions captured in MEPS and PSA screening in the last two years were assessed using multiple logistic regression. The analysis was carried out in October 2018 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The final survey sample consisted of 1249 men that equated to 15,313,605.5 once weighted; 69.5% underwent PSA screening. Men who were offered help with filling out forms in the office (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.14–3.01) or rated the quality of healthcare from their doctors ≥7 (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.10–2.44) on a scale from 0 (worst healthcare) to 10 (best health care) had significantly greater adjusted odds of undergoing PSA screening. Men who rated the quality of healthcare delivered to them as high had significantly greater odds of undergoing PSA screening compared to those who rated it lower. Our results may suggest that improvements in healthcare quality and patient experience of care have the potential to positively influence PSA screening.
Designing a Machine Learning Model to Predict Cardiovascular Disease Without Any Blood Test

Healthcare in the USA is struggling with alarming levels of hospital readmission. Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) has been identified as the most frequent cause. While the factors related to high hospital readmission are complex, according to prior research, early detection and post-discharge management has a significant positive impact. However, the widening gap between the number of patients and available clinical resources is acutely aggravating the problem. A solution that can effectively identify well patients at risk of future CVDs will allow focusing limited clinical resources to a more targeted set of patients, leading to more widespread early detection, prevention and disease progression management. This in turn, can reduce CVD-related hospital readmissions. Moreover, if the patient data required by such a solution can be collected without any blood test or invasive procedure, the addressable patient population can be vastly expanded to include home care, remote, and impoverished patients while delivering cost savings of the invasive procedures. Using a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, this research has led to the design and development of a machine learning based predictor artifact capable of identifying patients with future CVD risks. The performance of this predictor artifact, as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, is 0.859. The sensitivity or recall is 85.9% at probability threshold of 0.5. The significant differentiating feature of this artifact lies in its ability to do so without any blood test or invasive procedure.
The Parameters of Assessment

Simply attaching the label schizophrenia to a person may have little predictive power except to stigmatize and damage the person, whether the diagnosis is “correct” or not. Strauss and Carpenter (1981) noted their “belief that labeling an individual as schizophrenic and the social consequences of many of the behaviors of schizophrenic patients induce reactions and expectations which are antitherapeutic in nature” (p. 4).
Epistemic justifications for belief in the unobservable: The impact of minority status.

Abstract Children hold beliefs about religious and scientific entities, such as angels or germs, that they cannot directly observe or interact with. Given their limited opportunities for first-hand observation, children's beliefs in these entities are a clear example of cultural learning and are likely to vary based on cultural factors. In the present study, we investigated variation in the epistemic stance of 4–11-year-old children growing up in a religious minority in China (N = 47), a religious majority in Iran (N = 85), and a religious majority in the U.S. (N = 74). To assess the role of community status as a domain-specific, as opposed to a domain-general, factor contributing to children's beliefs about unobservable entities, we compared children's beliefs about religious unobservable entities with their beliefs about scientific unobservable entities in these three communities. In all three communities, younger and older children were confident that unobservable religious and scientific entities exist. However, compared to children in Iran and the U.S., children from the religious minority group in China were more likely to justify their ontological beliefs about religious entities by appealing to the source of their beliefs. These results highlight the impact of community status on learning from testimony about unobservable entities. Additionally, the results show that under certain circumstances – notably when holding minority beliefs – tracking the source of beliefs serves as a central epistemic justification.
Digest: Phylogenetic comparative methods identify traits associated with urbanization tolerance in Anolis.

Humans have, and continue to, dramatically influence the life history of many taxa. Identification of traits that allow taxa to tolerate humans and urban environments is important for informed conservation policy. Winchell et al. (2020) uses a phylogenetic comparative framework to identify such traits in the Caribbean clade of Anolis lizards. They provide an example of how to use disparate data sources to develop probabilities about species' traits that can be used in phylogenetic analyses.
Adoption patterns of an electronic patient-reported outcomes tool in oncology.

e19127Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are critical for the delivery of patient-centric care. Previous research has shown that the use of PROs can impact clinical outcomes in Oncology. ...
Point defect mechanics

A qualitative understanding of the behaviors of point defects can be established by considering atoms as hard spheres packed together to form the crystal. Crude as the hard sphere model may seem, it can be used to explain many of the observations made about point defects. In Section 4.1, we define the hard sphere radius of an atom and show its influence on the site preference of solute atoms. In Section 4.2, we use the hard sphere model to show the type of the distortions (spherically symmetric or not) in the host crystal around a solute atom. This allows us to explain why certain solutes have a much stronger solid solution hardening effect than others. We then need to go beyond the hard sphere model in order to be more quantitative. In Section 4.3, we define the Seitz radius, which is more useful than the hard sphere radius for keeping track of the volume occupied by atoms of different kinds in solid solutions. We will see that atoms often appear to take on a different radius as a solute atom in another crystal compared to the radius it takes in its own crystal. In Section 4.4, we apply elasticity theory to predict the elastic fields around a solute atom. For simplicity, the size of the point defect is shrunk to zero and is modeled as force dipoles acting on a point in an elastic medium. In Section 4.5, a more realistic model is developed, in which the solute atom is modeled as an elastic sphere to be inserted into a hole inside an elastic medium. Elastic fields arise because the initial size of the sphere is larger than the initial size of the hole. Even though many atomistic and electronic details concerning point defects are ignored, the models developed in this chapter are increasingly more quantitative and can be used to explain a large number of behaviors of point defects. Hard sphere model Hard sphere radius It is common to treat atoms in a crystal as undeformable spheres and to calculate the atomic sizes from the lattice parameters (measured using X-ray diffraction).We call this the hard sphere approach.
Spatially Controlled Templated Hydrogels for Orthopedic Interfacial Tissue Regeneration

Scaffolds that recapitulate the spatial complexity of orthopedic interfacial tissues are essential to their regeneration. This requires a method to readily and flexibly produce scaffolds with spati...
Characterizing Native and Hydrocarbon-Stapled Enfuvirtide Conformations with Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry and Hydrogen–Deuterium Exchange

The number of approved peptide therapeutics, as well as those in development, has been increasing in recent years. Frequently, the biological activity of such peptides is elicited through the adoption of secondary structural elements upon interaction with their cellular target. However, many therapeutic peptides are unstructured in solution and accordingly exhibit a poor bioavailability due to rapid proteolysis in vivo. To combat this degradation, numerous naturally occurring peptides with therapeutic properties contain stabilizing features, such as N-to-C cyclization or disulfide bonds. Recently, hydrocarbon stapling via non-native amino acid substitution followed by ring-closing metathesis has been shown to induce a dramatic stabilization of α-helical peptides. Identifying the ideal staple location along the peptide backbone is a critical developmental step, and methods to streamline this optimization are needed. Mass spectrometry-based methods such as ion mobility (IM) and hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) can detect multiple discrete peptide conformations, a significant advantage over bulk spectroscopic techniques. In this study we use IM-MS and HDX-MS to demonstrate that the native 36-residue enfuvirtide peptide is highly dynamic in solution and the conformational ensemble populated by stabilized constructs depends heavily on the staple location. Further, our measurements yielded results that correlate well with the average α-helical content measured by circular dichroism. The MS-based approaches described herein represent sensitive and potentially high-throughput methods for characterizing and identifying optimally stapled peptides.
Are e-books a different channel? Multichannel management of digital products

Digital products are differentiated from online and offline physical products in important ways. This paper studies the influence of digital products on existing channels and the optimal multichannel management strategy in the context of the book industry. Using individual-level online transaction data and county-level offline bookstore data, I estimate a demand model of book format and retailer choices across genres. I use the estimates to solve for publishers’ optimal wholesale pricing strategy across channels. The demand-side estimates reveal that e-books and offline bookstores appear to compete head-to-head in book genres that serve casual reading purposes such as fiction, science fiction, humor, and biographies, which I categorize as “casual” books. The supply-side results suggest that as local bookstore availability increases, publishers should charge higher wholesale prices in the offline print channel, especially for “casual” books. I find that the e-book channel does not always hurt print channels but can serve as a strategic complement and enhance the pricing power of print channels in some markets and genres; this complementarity does not rely on branding or marketing communication and crucially depends on the relative strength of the channels. Specifically, a new channel can help an existing channel when two conditions hold: first, the new channel is not too weak and can generate enough market expansion effect; second, the existing channel is not too strong and can avoid too much cannibalization from the new channel. I use counterfactual analysis to illustrate the mechanism behind this result and how a multichannel management strategy should account for relative strength across channels.
Transitions in Terrorism Insurance: The Debate over TRIA

In this paper we summarize the motivations for enacting the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) and provide a brief description of its provisions. We then turn to the controversy over TRIA's extension. Multiple views over the role of government in terrorism insurance have been expressed in both the academic and the popular literatures. Even the federal government is divided concerning the efficacy of TRIA. We cull what lessons we can from the debate and its many points of view. We conclude that TRIA has served a useful purpose as a temporary stopgap measure, allowing the industry much needed time to regroup in the face of a dramatically altered risk landscape.