cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Financial Aspects Of Britain's National Coal Board

Both in Britain and America financial success, in terms of commercial standards, has been the yardstick commonly employed in evaluations of the public corporation. Private enterprisers have always insisted that self-support is the only valid criterion, while the nationalizers themselves have often agreed. Certainly this was true of successive Conservative Governments which created the first British corporations in the period between the two great wars. In the view of contemporary Socialist philosophy, however, the traditional criterion has lost is pre-eminence, becoming secondary if not irrelevant. Today the public corporation per se tends to be viewed as nothing more than a convenient means of achieving most effectively the proper end of public enterprise a wider and cheaper distribution of goods and services than was possible under the British system of private ownership. Indeed, Socialists add, there may exist a fundamental disparity between the end of "'public service" and that of financial self-sufficiency. The danger of a rigid application of the financial criterion is most clearly illustrated by those British public corporations which have operated under a heavy indebtedness, incurred by excessive compensation payments. To meet oppressive financial obligations, they have sometimes been forced to compromise their proper role. In the London Passenger Transport Board particularly, the objective of public service was subordinated to the fetish of financial success.' As a result, the public received an unfortunate impression of Socialism in action, while disenchanted employees were obliged to strike in order to obtain justifiable wage increases. Finally, it is maintained, the criterion of financial self-sufficiency overlooks the existence of subsidy programs in the field of private enterprise; or if recognized, the practice is often summarily dismissed as a deviation from the norm.2 However, it would be
Anionic graft polymerization of lithiated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether)

Lithiated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) has been used as an initiator for the graft polymerization of isoprene, methyl methacrylate, hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane, and phenyl isocyanate with the use of toluene and tetrahydrofuran as solvents. The products were examined by gel-permeation chromatography for evidence of homopolymerization and graft polymerization. The composition of the graft copolymers was determined by NMR, and for isoprene and hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane, termination by trialkylchlorosilanes enabled chain lengths to be determined by NMR. The use of toluene gave rise to some homopolymerization, but with tetrahydrofuran, only hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane gave homopolymer. In all cases, graft copolymers were formed. With isoprene and methyl methacrylate, soluble graft copolymers were formed in good yield. In the former case approximately 60% 3,4 and 40% 1,4 addition was found. In the latter case 1,1-diphenylethylene was used to reduce crosslinking, in its absence, methyl methacrylate gave only crosslinked gels in tetrahydrofuran. Hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane added only one molecule per lithium on the polymer, the remainder giving homopolymer. Phenyl isocyanate gave some soluble graft copolymer in toluene, but only crosslinked products were obtained when tetrahydrofuran was used as reaction solvent.
Lightning parameters for engineering applications (keynote speech)

Various parameters of lightning discharges will be reviewed. Both common negative and less frequent but potentially more destructive positive and bipolar flashes will be covered. Direct lightning current measurements on instrumented towers will be discussed. Properties of first and subsequent strokes will be compared. The average number of strokes per flash and multiple channel terminations on ground will be considered. Parameters of subsequent strokes in natural lightning will be compared to their counterparts in rocket-triggered lightning. New insights into the lightning processes gained from triggered-lightning experiments will be discussed.
A Critique of Ism-ideologies

Foster’s theoretical characterizations and assessments, of feudalism, Utopian socialism, Marxism, Fabian socialism, capitalism and fascism presented in this Chapter may, in some preliminary sense, be somewhat familiar. But they are in many respects both unique and significant. They are unique in their reflection of institutional economic analysis and instrumental value theory. They are significant in the sense that they equip us with fresh understandings and insights for contemporary analysis of problems and their determinants.
Tensor Products and Flat Modules

Let R be a ring, M a right and N a left R-module. As usual, M × N denotes cartesian product. If G is an abelian group, and g: M× N → G is a mapping of sets, then for each y ∈ N there is a mapping g y : M → G, defined by the formula g y (α) = g (α, y) ∀ α ∈ M. Symmetrically, if x ∈ M, then g x : N → G is defined by the formula g x (b) = g (x, b) ∀b ∈ M. A mapping g:M×N → G is bilinear in case g y : M→G and g x : N → G are group homomorphisms ∀ x ∈ M,y ∈ N. A balanced map g:M×N →G is a bilinear map such that $$g\left( {xr,y} \right) = g\left( {x,ry} \right)$$ ∀ x ∈M, y ∈ N, r∈R.
Reputation, Network Effects and the Theory of the Firm: A Renegotiation-Proof Approach

I analyze the effect of long-term relations on the property rights theory of the firm when network or reputation effects are present. Repeated relations affect the optimal allocation of ownership even when agents are allowed to renegotiate relational contracts. Single ownership dominates joint ownership when the discount factor is very high or very low; however there exists a mid-region where other ownership structures including joint ownership become optimal. The probability of observing joint ventures does not always increase with the discount factor of agents. In industries where agents' actions affect the structure of the game, i.e. where reputation and network effects are important, renegotiation-proof relational contracts exist and joint ownership is more likely to be optimal.
Enzyme studies in muscular dystrophy. III. In hereditary muscular dystrophy in mice.

SummaryChanges in muscle composition, and activity of 4 enzyme systems in mice with dystrophia muscularis, have been investigated. Total nitrogen and protein nitrogen contents of dystrophic muscle were reduced as compared to controls, while collagen nitrogen was increased. Percentage dry weight was unchanged. Aldolase activity of dystrophic muscle was decreased on the basis of wet or dry weight, but was unchanged on the basis of protein- or non-collagen protein nitrogen content of muscle. Succinoxidase activity was not significantly affected by muscle dystrophy. Cytochrome oxidase and cathepsin activities were markedly increased in the muscle of dystrophic mice as compared to controls. Liver tissue from these mice showed no change as a result of the dystrophy. These results are compared to those observed in other forms of muscle wasting.
Surveys of the Influencing Factor and the Cognition of AIDs among 2010 Grade Undergraduates of Dali University

Objective: To investigate the status quo of cognition of AIDs in 2010 grade students,and provide scientific basis on AIDs education.Methods: Questionnaires were conducted with random sample in all 2010 grade students to analyze the knowledge of AIDs.Results: About 85.5% percentage of students who were given the questionnaires knew such fundamental knowledge of AIDs as the route of transmission and protective measure.The awareness rate of basic knowledge and conceptual problem of AIDs among university students was more than 95%,but the awareness rate of non-transmission knowledge of AIDs was only 50%.The differences ranging from gender,place of birth,age,only child student,to nationality and education background are influencing factors to the cognition of AIDs,but with no statistic differences(P0.05).Conclusion: The health education on AIDs prevention and control among 2010 grade students of Dali University is effective,however,we still have a long way to go.
NON-INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETES : THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Diabetes, known since antiquity, has been defined by glycosuria. In 1886, when Minkowski demonstrated that pancreatectomized dogs developed diabetes, the islets of Langerhans became a focus of the search for an active principle culminating in the discovery and the isolation of insulin in 1921 by Banting, Best and Collip. In 1959, the radioimmunoassay of Yalow and Berson solidified the concept of insulin resistance in non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM). In 1971, the insulin receptor was defined as a cell surface protein that initiated the insulin signal transduction cascade. Today, we know that NIDDM accounts for at least 90% of all diabetes worldwide and involves approximately 100 million people. The microvascular complications of NIDDM are the same as for insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) and are related to the intensity and duration of hyperglycaemia. Further, it is clear from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) that all microvascular complications can be reduced with intensive control of the blood glucose. Macrovascular disease is also accelerated in NIDDM, including both hypertension and dyslipidemia. The major risk factor for NIDDM are age, obesity, physical inactivity, and genetic background. The earliest features seen in individuals destined to develop NIDDM is insulin resistance, but for hyperglycaemia to ensure there must be a defect in insulin secretion. Thus, insulin resistance defines the prehyperglycaemic phase of NIDDM, but varying degrees of insulin secretory deficiency define the hyperglycaemic phase. Macrovascular risk occurs throughout the lifetime of the individual, whereas microvascular risk ensues with the inception of hyperglycaemia. Tomorrow, we will understand more clearly whether lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, or new classes of drugs, can delay or prevent NIDDM. Clinical trials are now beginning to test whether impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) can be delayed or prevented from moving to overt NIDDM. The genetics of NIDDM are under intense study. Mutations in the insulin receptor lead to NIDDM in a small number of patients, and mutations in the glucokinase gene lead to maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY). Work is now underway to study other candidate genes as well as work on positional cloning techniques to identify diabetes genetic loci. The hormone Leptin has just been discovered and is a major regulator of body weight. In summary, the most important new emphasis on the treatment of NIDDM is the recognition of the importance of hyperglycaemia and our ability to both treat and possibly prevent this metabolic perturbation. This joins the longer-term emphasis on cardiovascular risk reduction from both treatment and prevention of hypertension and dyslipidemia.
Kernel-independent fast multipole method within the framework of regularized Stokeslets

Abstract The method of regularized Stokeslets (MRS) uses a radially symmetric blob function of infinite support to smooth point forces and allows for evaluation of the resulting flow field. This is a common method to study swimmers at zero Reynolds number where the Stokeslet is the fundamental solution corresponding to the kernel of the single layer potential. Simulating the collective motion of N micro-swimmers using the MRS results in at least N 2 pair-wise interactions. Efficient simulation of a large number of swimmers in free space is observed with the implementation of the kernel-independent fast multipole method (FMM) for radial basis functions. We illustrate the complexity of the algorithm on a simple test case where we study regularized point forces, showing that the method is of order N . Additionally, we explore accuracy in time for the MRS where the swimmers are modeled as Kirchhoff rods and the kernel-independent FMM is compared to the direct calculation using the standard MRS. Optimal hydrodynamic efficiency is also explored for different configurations of swimmers.
Causes and Forces at the Collegio Romano

Thus far our studies of the sixteenth-century achievement in mechanics have focused on conceptual changes that encouraged an experimentalist attitude toward the study of motion and on the development of “calculatory” techniques that permitted a mathematical analysis of the observed results. With regard to the latter, the emphasis to this point has been on kinematics, i.e., on the quantification of spatio-temporal aspects of motion, without reference to the dynamical factors that produce and influence motions of various types. In this essay we propose to complement the studies already presented by considering how sixteenth-century natural philosophers, especially those associated with the Aristotelian tradition, viewed the causes and forces that initiate and otherwise determine the local motions that occur in the cosmos.
Modeling Classroom Discourse: Do Models That Predict Dialogic Instruction Properties Generalize across Populations?.

It has previously been shown that the effective use of dialogic instruction has a positive impact on student achievement. In this study, we investigate whether linguistic features used to classify properties of classroom discourse generalize across different subpopulations. Results showed that the machine learned models perform equally well when trained and validated on different subpopulations. Correlation-Based Feature Subset evaluation revealed an inclusion relationship between different subsets in terms of their most predictive features.
Transmission lines detection technology

With the development of high-voltage and large-capacity transmission line technology, safe and reliable operation of the transmission line is essential. In view of China’s vast area and varied geographical environment along transmission lines, which are affected by the frequently severe weather and heavy air pollution, etc., it is necessary to detect the device status of the transmission line. Detection equipment and technology should be applied to transmission lines as appropriate to individual lines. State-of-the-art online detection technology and maintenance technology, using infrared and ultraviolet imaging remote sensing, can ensure the safe operation of the line by precisely detecting all kinds of defects of transmission line insulators, conductors, and hardware devices and carrying out line maintenance in good time.
In-droplet cell concentration using dielectrophoresis

Concentrating cells or adjusting the concentration of cells are one of the most fundamental steps in cell biology experiments, and are typically achieved through centrifugation. However this step is challenging to implement in droplet microfluidics. Here we present an in-droplet cell concentrator that operates by first gradually focusing cells inside a droplet to one side of the droplet using negative dielectrophoresis (nDEP), followed by asymmetric droplet splitting using a Y-shaped junction, resulting in two daughter droplets, one of which containing all or most of the cells. The developed platform was first characterized using droplets containing different number of polystyrene (PS) particles and by varying the applied voltages, flow rates, and the width ratios of the droplet splitting microchannels. Using this platform, the volume of one daughter droplet could be reduced up to 84% compared to that of the mother droplet, which resulted in the PS particle concentration to increase by 5.6-fold, with an average recovery rate of 90%. When testing with cells (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), recovery rates as high as 98% could be achieved while increasing the cell concentration by 5-fold. This technology adds a new capability to droplet microfluidics operation, and can be used for adjusting concentrations of cells in droplets, exchanging solutions in which cells are suspended in droplets (including cell washing steps), and separating cells of different dielectric properties inside droplets, all of which are common steps in conventional cell assays but have been so far difficult to achieve in droplet format.
A new and updated resource for codon usage tables

Due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, most amino acids can be encoded by multiple synonymous codons. Synonymous codons naturally occur with different frequencies in different organisms. The choice of codons may affect protein expression, structure, and function. Recombinant gene technologies commonly take advantage of the former effect by implementing a technique termed codon optimization, in which codons are replaced with synonymous ones in order to increase protein expression. This technique relies on the accurate knowledge of codon usage frequencies. Accurately quantifying codon usage bias for different organisms is useful not only for codon optimization, but also for evolutionary and translation studies: phylogenetic relations of organisms, and host-pathogen co-evolution relationships, may be explored through their codon usage similarities. Furthermore, codon usage has been shown to affect protein structure and function through interfering with translation kinetics, and cotranslational protein folding. Despite the obvious need for accurate codon usage tables, currently available resources are either limited in scope, encompassing only organisms from specific domains of life, or greatly outdated. Taking advantage of the exponential growth of GenBank and the creation of NCBI’s RefSeq database, we have developed a new database, the High-performance Integrated Virtual Environment-Codon Usage Tables (HIVE-CUTs), to present and analyse codon usage tables for every organism with publicly available sequencing data. Compared to existing databases, this new database is more comprehensive, addresses concerns that limited the accuracy of earlier databases, and provides several new functionalities, such as the ability to view and compare codon usage between individual organisms and across taxonomical clades, through graphical representation or through commonly used indices. In addition, it is being routinely updated to keep up with the continuous flow of new data in GenBank and RefSeq. Given the impact of codon usage bias on recombinant gene technologies, this database will facilitate effective development and review of recombinant drug products and will be instrumental in a wide area of biological research. The database is available at hive.biochemistry.gwu.edu/review/codon .
The magnetic field profile and e-beam transport in the double helix linearly polarized wiggler

In free electron laser with a long, linear wiggler,the magnetic field at the entrance of wiggler and theexternal focusing required to keep the electron beam fromdiapering can determine the character of the electronorbits and seriously influence the FEL gain. To obtain goodresults in FEL experiments, it is necessary to investigatethe linearly polarized wiggler with good magnetic field atthe entrance and self-focusing.
Multi-fidelity Surrogate Modeling for Application/Architecture Co-design

The HPC community has been using abstract, representative applications and architecture models to enable faster co-design cycles. While developers often qualitatively verify the correlation of the application abstractions to the parent application, it is equally important to quantify this correlation to understand how the co-design results translate to the parent application. In this paper, we propose a multi-fidelity surrogate (MFS) approach which combines data samples of low-fidelity (LF) models (representative apps and architecture simulation) with a few samples of a high-fidelity (HF) model (parent app). The application of MFS is demonstrated using a multi-physics simulation application and its proxy-app, skeleton-app, and simulation models. Our results show that RMSE between predictions of MFS and the baseline HF models was 4%, which is significantly better than using either LF or HF data alone, demonstrating that MFS is a promising approach for predicting the parent application performance while staying within a computational budget.
Sex Roles and Depression

Women are decidedly more susceptible than men to symptoms of depression, and the present paper is concerned with identifying some of the conditions contributing to this important sex difference. Using data from a sample representative of an urban population, the analysis focuses on stress-provoking circumstances to which women are often exposed but from which men are typically shielded Such circumstances are found especially in the demands and burdens that impinge on homemakers and in the conflicts occurring between the work and family roles of women employed outside the home. The findings indicate that sex differences in depression can be in part accounted for by the problematic experiences of women in these areas.
Micro Resolution Time-of-Flight Imaging

We propose a time-of-flight imaging technique with modulation frequencies as high as 1 THz using optical superheterodyne interferometry. Our proposed system provides great flexibility in imaging range and resolution.
Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants Among US High School Students to Help Study: Results From a National Survey.

Objective:Mixed findings exist regarding extent and efficacy of nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NMUPS) for study enhancement (SE). This national study of US high school seniors examined ...
Pharmaceutical usefulness of hydroxypropylcyclodextrins: "e pluribus unum" is an essential feature.

A series of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrins was prepared by a method that leads to a preferential substitution on the secondary hydroxyls, mainly O-2, of β-cyclodextrin with (S)-2-hydroxypropyl groups. The series consisted of mixtures of compounds with average degrees of substitution of 8, 3, and 1.6 and of a specially isolated monosubstituted compound; thus, the number of components progressively decreased in this series. The crystallinity in the series increased progressively, the first member being fully amorphous and the last one fully crystalline. All members of the series formed clear aqueous solutions at concentrations of >50.0, 2.0, 0.6, and 0.3%, respectively. Therefore, pharmaceutically useful hydroxypropylcyclodextrin preparations are those containing a large number of chemically individual compounds—a feature resulting in an amorphous state and high water solubility.
Synchrony and Intercultural Communication

The concept of synchrony presented at the conference is elaborated here as a foundation of effective intercultural communication. Synchrony refers to a state of congruence and harmony in verbal and nonverbal communication patterns of two or more interactants. Synchronic communication naturally occurs when the interactants share common cultural norms and whose psychological orientation toward each other is one of harmony and cooperation. Because synchronic communication, by and large, follows cultural scripts shared by the interactants, creating synchrony across cultures requires a special awareness and effort by at least one party. A three-person role-play that is designed to enhance an awareness of synchronic communication is presented at the end of this paper.
Direct Epifluorescent Filter Techniques (DEFT)

This article is reproduced from the previous edition, volume 1, pp 527–530, © 1999, Elsevier Ltd.
Evidence-Based Strategies for Maternal Stabilization and Rescue in Obstetric Hemorrhage

Obstetric hemorrhage is one of the most frequent causes of maternal death in the United States. More than 70% of maternal deaths from hemorrhage are preventable. State and professional quality care organizations have reduced severe maternal morbidity by more than 20% by implementing evidence-based guidelines. Successful hemorrhage management requires collaborative, multidisciplinary teams of trained health care personnel. Hemorrhage management's primary goal is to stop the bleeding before the occurrence of maternal hypovolemia, acidosis, coagulopathy, and death. Uterine atony is the primary cause of obstetric hemorrhage and can be managed with uterotonic agents, placement of noninvasive uterine tamponade balloons, and surgical procedures if needed. Women experiencing massive hemorrhage should be treated according to resuscitation care guidelines with avoidance of hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulopathy. Use of a massive transfusion protocol is warranted for best outcomes. Resources for institutional adoption of current collaborative standards for managing obstetric hemorrhage are identified in this article.
Concurrent repair of a displaced rib fracture and splenic capsular tearing using laparoscopic technique in a standing horse with acute haemoperitoneum

Splenic trauma as a sequela to rib fracture is a recognised cause of haemoperitoneum in the horse. Although surgical repair to those areas damaged is advocated as the treatment of choice, information pertaining to the simultaneous repair of such sites is lacking. Additionally, the hypovolaemic case presents a separate anaesthetic challenge. This report is the first published description of a concurrent approach for a displaced rib fracture and an associated splenic capsular tear using laparoscopic technique in a standing sedated horse with acute haemoperitoneum. The rib fracture was reduced and stabilised using polyamide ties, and the splenic capsular tear repaired using intracorporeal suturing with knotless, unidirectional barbed suture. Total surgery time was 90 min and no complications were encountered during the procedure. The mare was discharged 6 days post-operatively. Organ orientation in the standing case afforded excellent visibility to both the parietal surface of the spleen and fractured rib, and abolished the necessity for general anaesthesia. © 2020 EVJ Ltd
Neural Representations of Abstract Concepts: Identifying Underlying Neurosemantic Dimensions.

The abstractness of concepts is sometimes defined indirectly as lacking concreteness; this view provides little insight into their cognitive or neural basis. Multivariate pattern analytic (MVPA) techniques applied to fMRI data were used to characterize the neural representations of 28 individual abstract concepts. A classifier trained on the concepts’ neural signatures reliably decoded their neural representations in an independent subset of data for each participant. There was considerable commonality of the neural representations across participants as indicated by accurate classification of each participant’s concepts based on the neural signatures obtained in other participants. Group-level factor analysis revealed 3 semantic dimensions underlying the 28 concepts, suggesting a brain-based ontology for this set of abstract concepts. The 3 dimensions corresponded to 1. the degree a concept was Verbally Represented; 2. whether a concept was External (or Internal) to the individual, and 3. whether the concept contained Social Content. Further exploration of the Verbal Representation dimension suggests that the degree a concept is verbally represented can be construed as a point on a continuum between language faculties and perceptual faculties. A predictive model, based on independent behavioral ratings of the 28 concepts along the 3 factor dimensions, provided converging evidence for the interpretations.
Assessing middle school dual language learners' and English-only students' motivation to participate in classroom discussion

Abstract This study investigated the constructs contributing to individual differences in Dual Language Learners' (DLL) and English-only (EO) students' (M age = 12.19; SD = 0.325) motivation to participate in classroom discussion. Study 1 describes the development of a 20-item measure, the Motivation for Classroom Discussion Questionnaire (MCD-Q). A focus group (Study 1a n = 11) evaluated the MCD-Q items. Data reduction techniques reduced the items to five motivational constructs (value, language-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, social motivation, and interest) for a sample of DLLs and EO students (Study 1b n = 208). Study 2 (n = 125) examined the relation between dimensions of students' motivation, language status (DLL, EO), and their audio-recorded amount of talk during English Language Arts. Study 2 demonstrated that of students who have high confidence in their language abilities (i.e., high language-efficacy), those who identified as EO students were more likely to engage in a greater amount of talk during classroom discussions than students who identified as DLLs.
Challenging Definitions of Psychological Trauma: Connecting Racial Microaggressions and Traumatic Stress

While previous studies have found significant relationships between racial microagressions, depression, and anxiety, few studies have examined the effects of racial microaggressions on traumatic stress. Furthermore, although trauma has been traditionally conceptualized as psychophysiological reactions to life-threatening events, the notion of racial trauma has been excluded, despite resulting in similar symptomatology. The current study utilized a correlational, cross-sectional design with a racially diverse sample of people of color (N=254) to investigate the relationships between racial microaggressions, racially- or culturally-related trauma, and trauma symptoms. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, results indicated that a greater frequency of racial microaggressions was significantly associated with greater traumatic stress symptoms, and that school or workplace microaggressions were the type of microaggression that was most associated with traumatic symptoms. Implications are discussed, including the need for counselors, psychologists, and helping professionals to consider racial microaggressions as traumatic events while using culturally-informed trauma-focused methods to normalize and empower people of color.
Models of Prosecutor-Led Diversion Programs in the United States and Beyond

Diversion programs allow criminal justice actors to send defendants out of the court system, compelling them instead to attend treatment programs, participate in educational opportunities, and/or p...
Esophageal disease in lung transplant patients

There is a very well-established and complex interplay between gastroesophageal reflux and lung disease. This is particularly true in end-stage lung disease and post-lung transplant patients. Numerous studies have shown that in patients who are undergoing pre-lung transplant evaluations for diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), emphysema, connective tissue disease, there is a high prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux and esophageal dysmotility. Post-lung transplant, many of the reflux issues persist or worsen, and there is some evidence to suggest that this leads to worsened long-term allograft function and bronchiolitis obliterans. Anti-reflux operations in patients with lung disease have been shown to be safe in both the pre and post-lung transplant setting and lead to improved reflux symptoms, as well as protecting against reflux induced allograft dysfunction in the post-lung transplant patients. Barrett's esophagus and esophageal malignancy are also not unheard of in these patients, and select patients may benefit from operative intervention. This review discusses the links between gastroesophageal reflux and lung transplant patients in both the pre and post-transplant setting. We also review the approach to the workup of esophageal disease in the pre-lung transplant setting as well as the surgical management of this unique group of patients.
Compliance Requirements Checking in Variable Environments

Ensuring compliance with complex privacy related regulations is more challenging in the presence of changing operating environments, such as cloud based services. This motivates the needs for tools and techniques that support systematic modeling and analysis of compliance requirements checking while considering the impact of operating environment changes on them. This paper demonstrates how goaloriented requirements engineering tools can be used to model variability in compliance sources and operating environments. We report a case study to demonstrate that the proposed modeling approach enables preforming trade-off analysis between organizational goals and alternative compliance controls.
Rules of Redistribution and Foreign Aid: A Proposal for a Change in the Rules Governing Eligibility for Foreign Aid

When income is redistributed at national level, the minimum requirement is that the transfers should be progressive, that is flow from richer to poorer individuals. The same rule should hold at the global level: it is not sufficient that transfers be from a richer to a poorer country. But normally we do not know who are the taxpayers who finance international aid nor who are the beneficiaries of aid. We can nevertheless establish the rules such that the likelihood of a globally regressive transfer is minimized. This implies taking into account countries- national income distributions: penalizing countries with highly unequal distributions since there exists a non-trivial probability that the transfers may be received by people richer than rich countries- taxpayers. Some rules for changing eligibility criteria for aid are proposed.
Measuring Meaningful Use

To qualify for new federal funds intended to promote the widespread adoption and use of electronic health records, U.S. physician practices must meet the government’s "meaningful use" benchmarks. Our analysis indicates that among physicians who have electronic health records, between 75-85 percent are already using functions that meet some of the proposed criteria for demonstrating meaningful use. But gaps remain. We provide a new analysis of baseline use of specific electronic health record functions among primary care physicians and medical and surgical specialists. The analysis can help researchers and policy makers measure more accurately the success of ongoing efforts to expand effective use of health information technology.
ℒ 1 -Adaptive MPPI Architecture for Robust and Agile Control of Multirotors

This paper presents a multirotor control architecture, where Model Predictive Path Integral Control (MPPI) and ℒ 1 adaptive control are combined to achieve both fast model predictive trajectory planning and robust trajectory tracking. MPPI provides a framework to solve nonlinear MPC with complex cost functions in real-time. However, it often lacks robustness, especially when the simulated dynamics are different from the true dynamics. We show that the ℒ 1 adaptive controller robustifies the architecture, allowing the overall system to behave similar to the nominal system simulated with MPPI. The architecture is validated in a simulated multirotor racing environment.
Comparison of Various Antibiotic Treatments in Cows Diagnosed with Toxic Puerperal Metritis

A field trial was conducted using Holstein cows to investigate the efficacy of various antibiotics in treating toxic puerperal metritis.
Applied Improvisation Techniques to Enhance IT Majors' Soft Skills, Communication Skills, and Teamwork Skills

The 2017 Curriculum Guidelines for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology now stresses the importance of soft skills (section 5.2.1), communication skills, and team skills training for IT majors. Applied improvisation techniques can be used in teaching of technical concepts such as cybersecurity, agile development, database design, programming concepts, and most importantly, how to better one's communication and teamwork skills. This workshop is designed for those who want to learn more about some of the various techniques used and how they can be incorporated into the IT curriculum. Nearly 20 years ago, the National Academy of Sciences Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) recognized the importance of improvisation as tool to help IT practitioners become more creative. Creative problem-solving methodologies such as design thinking all tie into the use of improvisation. Companies such as Twitter, IDEO, and Google are using improvisation methods as a way of creating better collaborative teams and a work environment that says YES before NO. Improvisation training can help students and faculty to become better listeners, communicators, collaborators, innovators, and those who can better focus on the organization or team story and not their own story.
Neural representations of others’ traits predict social decisions

Abstract To guide social interaction, people often rely on expectations about the traits of other people based on markers of social group membership, i.e., stereotypes. Although the influence of stereotypes on social behavior is widespread, key questions remain about how traits inferred from social group membership are instantiated in the brain and incorporated into neural computations that guide social behavior. Here, we show that the human lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) represents the content of stereotypes about members of different social groups in the service of social decision-making. During fMRI scanning, participants decided how to distribute resources across themselves and members of a variety of social groups in a modified Dictator Game. Behaviorally, we replicated our recent finding that perceptions of others’ traits, captured by a two-dimensional framework of stereotype content (warmth and competence), biased participants’ monetary allocation choices in a context-dependent manner: recipients’ warmth increased advantageous inequity aversion and their competence increased disadvantageous inequity aversion. Neurally, representational similarity analysis (RSA) revealed that perceptions of others’ traits in the two-dimensional space were represented in the temporoparietal junction and superior temporal sulcus, two regions associated with mentalizing, and in the lateral OFC, known to represent latent environmental features during goal-directed outcome inference outside the social domain. Critically, only the latter predicted individual choices, suggesting that the effect of stereotypes on behavior is mediated by inference-based, domain-general decision-making processes in the OFC.
A 32-MHz, 34-μW Temperature-Compensated RC Oscillator Using Pulse Density Modulated Resistors

Highly stable on-chip frequency references offer the possibility of replacing crystal oscillators in many cost- and form-factor-constrained applications. However, achieving good frequency stability in a power-efficient manner across process, voltage, and temperature variations possess many design challenges. This article describes these challenges and presents a method for improving the integrated RC oscillator's frequency accuracy by overcoming them. We show that the impact of resistor temperature coefficient (TC) on the accuracy of output frequency can be mitigated by using a parallel combination of two switched resistors that are digitally controlled by pulse-density modulated sequences. By trimming at only two temperatures, a prototype frequency-locked loop (FLL)-based 32-MHz oscillator fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process achieves an inaccuracy of 530 ppm (8.4 ppm/°C), 80-ppm/V voltage sensitivity, 2.5-ppm Allan deviation, and 1-μW/MHz power efficiency.
Do Larger School Grants Improve Educational Attainment? : Evidence from Urban Mexico

We study the effects of larger cash grants on the educational attainment of low-income middle and high school students in Mexico. Starting in 2009, school grants from the Oportunidades conditional ...
Chemical Changes of Vitamins during Food Processing

Evaluation of the chemical effects of food processing on vitamins is a difficult task because of the diverse nature of the various vitamins as well as the chemical heterogeneity within each class of compounds. Although the general stability properties of many of the vitamins have been determined, many of the factors affecting retention of vitamins in complex food systems have not been well established. The variables that must be considered include (a) the time and temperature of processing or storage; (b) the concentration dependence and temperature dependence of the degradation reaction; (c) environmental variables such as the pH and the concentration of oxygen, metal ions, and various reducing or oxidizing agents; (d) the rate of competing or sequential reactions; (e) the relative stability of the various forms of a vitamin present; (f) the chemical nature of other food components (e.g., reducing vs. nonreducing sugars); (g) the mechanism(s) of chemical loss of vitamin activity in the food; and (h) the water activity of the food system. Because of the complex interactions of these variables, generalization on the basis of existing knowledge about the stability of vitamins in specific foods is often unreliable.
Human T Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type I Tax Activates IL-15Rα Gene Expression Through an NF-κB Site

IL-15 mRNA levels are increased in diseases caused by human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). In this study, we demonstrated that IL-15Rα, the IL-15-specific binding receptor, mRNA and protein levels were also elevated in HTLV-I-infected cells. We showed that transient HTLV-I Tax expression lead to increased IL-15Rα mRNA levels. In addition, by using a reporter construct that bears the human IL-15Rα promoter, we demonstrated that Tax expression increased promoter activity by at least 4-fold. Furthermore, using promoter deletion constructs and gel shift analysis, we defined a functional NF-κB-binding motif in the human IL-15Rα promoter, suggesting that Tax activation of IL-15Rα is due, in part, to the induction of NF-κB. These data indicate that IL-15Rα is transcriptionally regulated by the HTLV-I Tax protein through the action of NF-κB. These findings suggest a role for IL-15Rα in aberrant T cell proliferation observed in HTLV-I-associated diseases.
Further Modification of Flame Photometer Dual-Channel Circuit for Convenient Determination of Sodium and Potassium

Mechanical and electrical modifications of the Baird flame photometer are described that increase ease of setting, improve the precision of response, and permit both sodium and potassium to be determined without resetting zero or sensitivity controls.
A low-cost method to measure the timing of postfire flash floods and debris flows relative to rainfall

[1] Data on the specific timing of postfire flash floods and debris flows are very limited. We describe a method to measure the response times of small burned watersheds to rainfall using a low-cost pressure transducer, which can be installed quickly after a fire. Although the pressure transducer is not designed for sustained sampling at the fast rates (≤2 s) used at more advanced debris flow monitoring sites, comparisons with high-frequency stage data show that measured spikes in pressure sampled at 1 min intervals are sufficient to detect the passage of most debris flows and floods. Postevent site visits are used to measure the peak stage and identify flow type on the basis of deposit characteristics. The basin response time scale (tb) to generate flow at each site was determined from an analysis of the cross correlation between time series of flow pressure and 5 min rainfall intensity. This time scale was found to be less than 30 min for 40 postfire floods and 11 postfire debris flows recorded in 15 southern California watersheds (≤1.4 km2). Including data from 24 other debris flows recorded at 5 more instrumentally advanced monitoring stations, we find there is not a substantial difference in the median tb for floods and debris flows (11 and 9 min, respectively); however, there are slight, statistically significant differences in the trends of flood and debris flow tb with basin area, which are presumably related to differences in flow speed between floods and debris flows.
Prokaryotic mechanosensitive channels

Mechanosensitive ion channels are integral membrane proteins that open and close in response to mechanical stress applied either directly to the cell membrane (in the case of intrinsically mechanosensitive channels) or indirectly, through forces applied to other cytoskeletal components. Cellular phenomena mediated by mechanosensitive channels include touch, hearing, cardiovascular tone, detection of gravity, pressure sensation, pain perception, and osmoregulation. Mechanosensirive channels are quite diverse both physiologically and structurally and have been discovered in all fundamental branches of the phylogenetic tree, Eubacteria, Eukarya, and Archaea. Eukaryotic mechanosensitive channels include the TRPV subclass of the Transient Receptor Potential channel family: the TREK-1 and TRAAK members of the two-pore domain potassium channel family K2p; and the DEG/ENaC superfamily composed of degenerins, eptithelial sodium channels, and acid-sensing channels that have been implicated in the touch response of nematodes. Although many of these channels, including the degenerins and the yet-to-be identified channel receptors involved in hearing, appear to have an obligatory requirement for cytoskeletal coupling, others, such as the TREK-1 and TRAAK channels, exhibit intrisinic mechanosensitive activity.
Hollowing Out the Dewey-Lippmann Debate

The debate in the 1920s between Walter Lippmann and John Dewey over the meaning of democratic citizenship has in the last decade received attention from many quarters, especially political philosophers and theorists. These scholars have attempted to resuscitate the debate’s historical significance in order to shed light on contemporary tensions between media, political legitimacy, elite power and grassroots democracy. However, the complexities of the exchange have often been glossed over in the attempt to advance an agenda unrelated to the debate itself. Many of these commentators fail to appreciate the historical circumstances surrounding the debate. For instance, they overlook the fact that Lippmann was interested in persuading disillusioned progressives to accept a more elitist view of democracy. They ‘hollow out’ the debate’s particularities and filter what remains through a fine screen so that what remains supports their pet theory. Four specific philosophical treatments of the debate interest me, for in each case the philosopher or theorist hollows out the debate for their own purposes: (i) Noelle McAfee’s reading of the debate in terms of contemporary philosophical disputes over the nature of democratic legitimacy and deliberation, (ii) Ramon Del Castillo’s interpretation of the debate as a critical theorist’s attempt to preserve the public sphere, (iii) Colin Pearce’s reading of the debate as a conflict between American pragmatism and American progressive journalism and (iv) Melvin Rogers’ interpretation of the debate as the simultaneous expression of three recent theoretical frameworks. As I demonstrate, each of these accounts, while thought-provoking, is deficient, for each in its own way distorts the historical record, oversimplifies the issue for extraneous reasons and contributes to the hollowing out of an event in American history that should be appreciated on its own terms and in its robust complexity.
Radioluminescence in amorphous silica: temperature dependence and relaxation

Abstract Radioluminescence measurements on preform and fiber amorphous silica specimens have been made in the temperature interval 6 to 300 K and wavelength regime 300 to 800 nm. A typical spectrum consists of peaks at ∼550 (main band) and ∼650 (secondary band) nm, which are associated with self-trapped excitons and nonbridging oxygen hole centers of the silica lattice, respectively. Radioluminescence from the main band decays with increasing temperature and becomes undetectable in the 130 to 170 K range, consistent with the decay of self-trapped holes. Assuming the decrease in radioluminescence with temperature to be due to quenching of self-trapped exciton radiative recombination, with a spread in quenching barrier energy, we derive an expression of the form L(T)=L(0)/[1+AT+BT2+CT3], which yields an excellent fit to the experimental data. An observed time-dependent relaxation of radioluminescence is associated with the enhancement of nonradiative recombination.