cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recognition of Hearing Aid Orientation Content by First-Time Users

Purpose: To examine how well hearing aid orientation (HAO) content is remembered immediately and 1 month after the HAO, and whether the ability to remember this information differs as a function of the audiologist providing the information, patient’s age, degree of hearing loss, and prior knowledge of hearing aids. Method: A convenience sample of 100 older adults completed a multiple-choice test of hearing aid knowledge immediately following the HAO and 1 month later. Covariate and regression analyses were used to address the study purpose. Results: On average, participants recognized 74% of the information immediately following HAO and 78% at 1 month. Hearing loss was associated with declining recognition for hearing aid use and care information immediately following HAO, whereas prior knowledge was associated with successful recognition. Participants who recognized more HAO content immediately also remembered more at 1 month. A difference in recognition of hearing aid information based on audiologist wa...
Short-term Changes in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Pools during Tillage Management Transition

It is well established that distribution of organic C and N within a soil profile is substantially influenced by long-term conversion of soil from plow-tillage to no-tillage management, but little is known about the short-term changes in the character of soil organic matter during transition between these two soil management systems. To characterize the changes in composition of organic C and N pools in soil during tillage transition, we measured total N, organic C, active N, biomass N, and biomass C at depth intervals of 0 to 2.5, 2.5 to 5, 5 to 12.5, and 12.5 to 20 cm within the profile of soil during the first 3 yr in the transition from plow tillage to no tillage. The results ohtained showed that transformation of a soil profile from that typical of plow tillage management to one characteristic of no tillage occurred rapidly within a 3-yr period of transition. In this time period, stratification of organic matter in the profile progressed significantly toward that which occurs after 20 yr of no-tillage treatment. For example, substantial increases in total N (30%), organic C (38%), biomass N (87%), and biomass C (33%) were detected in the top layer of no-tillage soil along with corresponding decreases of 6%, 7%, 35%, and 15% of those respective components in the bottom layer. With transition, the biomass C, biomass N, and active N pools increased more rapidly in the upper soil profile than did the total pools of C and N. Although the characteristic profile of no-tillage soil developed quickly during tillage transition, evidence was equivocal for any significant increase in organic matter content within the first 3 yr after conversion to no-tillage management.
DYNAMICS OF QUASIPARTICLES IN CuO2 PLANES

At 5 electrons per cell, planar CuO2 is an antiferromagnetic insulator rather than a Fermi liquid. We consider the effects of adding a few electrons or holes into such an insulator and derive a relation between the insulating energy gap and effective mass m* of the added carriers. We find $m_{{\rm{el}}}^{\rm{*}} $to differ from $m_{{\rm{hol}}}^{\rm{*}} $, with both being temperature dependent.
Diffusion, rheology, and flow birefringence in block copolymer liquids near the ordering transition

Measurements of the diffusion and relaxation of block copolymer chains near the order-disorder transition (ODT) are reported. Forced Rayleigh scattering has been used to determine the diffusivities parallel and perpendicular to the lamellar planes, for poly(ethylene-propylene)-poly(ethylethylene) (PEP-PEE) melts. The anisotropy is relatively weak (i.e., less than a factor of 4), but increases steadily as temperature is decreased. Rheology and flow birefringence have been employed to examine the conformational dynamics in block copolymer solutions. For PEP-PEE in squalane, the stress-optic relation is approximately valid, but the stress-optic coefficient increases in the ordered state. The location of the ODT is consistent with the dilution approximation. For polystyrene-polyisoprene (PS-PI) diblock and triblock copolymers, the stress-optic relation fails completely. There is evidence that the fluctuation regime (i.e., in the disordered state but near the ODT) may be considerably broader in block copolymer solutions than in melts. Furthermore, the onset of structure in the solution is accompanied by substantial form birefringence. In general, the optical signals are more complicated than the Theological ones, but also much more sensitive to small changes in temperature or concentration.
Relationship of developmental stage to initiation of replication in polytene nuclei

The various types of autoradiographic patterns occurring in salivary gland nuclei ofD. melanogaster following a short pulse of tritiated thymidine have been described and the probable order of their sequence within a polytenic replication cycle assigned. On the basis of that assignment, the distribution of those patterns in the nuclei of salivary glands of 160 staged larvae and prepupae has been assessed and the following interpretations made: Throughout the third larval instar and prepupal period there is a continuing decrease in frequency of labeled nuclei. Within the larval period that decrease is reflected in a proportional decrease in label patterns characteristic of both initiation and propagation phases of the replication cycle. At the beginning of the prepupal period there is a rise in the proportion of labeled cells displaying initiation type patterns followed by an abrupt cessation of such patterns. It is proposed that termination of initiation of polytenic replication is amongst the physiologic manifestations of the induction of pupation.
ApicoAP: the first computational model for identifying apicoplast-targeted proteins in multiple species of Apicomplexa.

Cilingir, G., S.L. Broschat. and A.O.T. Lau, ���ApicoAP: The first computational model for predicting apicoplast-targeted proteins for multiple species of Apicomplexa,�� PLoS ONE, Vol. 7, No. 5, e36598, May 2012, PMCID3344922.
Display of heterologous proteins on the surface of microorganisms: From the screening of combinatorial libraries to live recombinant vaccines

In recent years there has been considerable progress towards the development of expression systems for the display of heterologous polypeptides and, to a lesser extent, oligosaccharides on the surface of bacteria or yeast. The availability of protein display vectors has in turn provided the impetus for a range of exciting technologies. Polypepttde libraries can be displayed in bacteria and screened by cell sorting techniques, thus simplifying the isolation of proteins with high affinity for ligands. Expression of antigens on the surface of nonvirulent microorganisms is an attractive approach to the development of high-efficacy recombinant live vaccines. Finally, cells displaying protein receptors or antibodies are of use for analytical applications and bioseparations.
Novel Orientational Ordering and Reentrant Metallicity in K x C 60 Monolayers for 3 ≤ x ≤ 5

STM studies on K(x)C(60) monolayers reveal new behavior over a wide range of the phase diagram. As x increases from 3 to 5 K(x)C(60) monolayers undergo metal-insulator-metal reentrant phase transitions and exhibit a variety of novel orientational orderings, including a complex 7-molecule, pinwheel-like structure. The proposed driving mechanism for the orientational ordering is the lowering of electron kinetic energy by maximizing the overlap of neighboring molecular orbitals. In insulating (metallic) K(x)C(60) this gives rise to orbital versions of the superexchange (double-exchange) interaction.
Differential effects of adrenocorticotropic hormone on steroid hydroxylase activities in the inner and outer zones of the guinea pig adrenal cortex.

Abstract We have studied the effects of ACTH treatment on steroid hydroxylase activities in the inner (zona reticularis) and outer (zona fasciculata plus zona glomerulosa) zones of the guinea pig adrenal cortex. Animals received 5 or 10 U of ACTH daily for 6 days and enzyme activities were then assessed in isolated microsomal or mitochondrial preparations. In control animals, microsomal cytoochrome P-450 concentrations were greater in the inner than outer zone, but mitochondrial P-450 levels were similar in the two zones. Microsomal 17α-hydroxylase and mitochondrial 11β-hydroxylase activities were greater in the outer than inner zone, but microsomal 21-hydroxylase activity was greater in the inner zone. ACTH treatment decreased cytochrome P-450 concentrations in inner but not outer zone microsomes; mitochondrial P-450 levels were unaffected in both zones. ACTH caused a dose-dependent increase in inner zone 17α-hydroxylase activity and decrease in 21-hydroxylase activity without affecting the activity of either enzyme in outer zone microsomes. ACTH also decreased 11β-hydroxylase activity in outer but not inner zone mitochondrial preparations. The net effect of ACTH treatment was to diminish the differences in steroid metabolism between the two zones. The results indicate that the effects of ACTH on steroid hydroxylase activities are both zone- and enzyme-dependent, suggesting the existence of multiple and independent regulatory mechanisms.
Update to an application using magnetic smart materials to modify the shape of an x-ray telescope mirror

We describe a technique of shape modification that can be applied to thin walled (∼100-400 μm thickness) electroformed replicated optics or glass optics to improve the near net shape of the mirror as well as the midfrequency (∼2-10 mm length scales) ripple. The process involves sputter deposition of a magnetic smart material (MSM) film onto a magnetically hard material (i.e., one that retains a magnetic field, e.g., the material in hard disk drives). Since the previous report, we have made extensive measurements of the deflection versus magnetic field strength and direction. Here we report those results along with detailed finite element analysis modeling.
Method and system for air-driven pump monitoring based on frequency analysis of the acoustic signal

A method for early failure detection for elastic diaphragms during their operation is described in this paper. The method is based on frequency analysis of the acoustic signal obtained from an air-driven pump. A fully digital system for frequency analysis based on a personal computer was developed for practical implementation of this method. The system was tested in the laboratory and in plant conditions. In laboratory, diaphragms with different artificial flaws were mounted in the pump and the corresponding spectra recorded. The results helped to set the parameters for in-plant experiments. These experiments were between three and fourteen days. During this time the system performed acquisition and data processing at 10 second apart. Three in-plant experiments have shown that a failure initiation event can be detected from frequency behavior analysis for each test and that a subsequent failure occurs. All failures indicated by the system have been confirmed by visual inspection.
Enhanced efficiency of superoxide dismutase-induced cardioprotection by retrograde intracoronary administration

Objective: We hypothesized that modification of the infusion route may improve the efficiency of superoxide dismutase (SOD)-induced cardioprotection against reperfusion injury. The routes for SOD delivery previously examined were intravenous, via the left atrium, or by a combination of these, all of which can deliver SOD into the ischemic myocardium only after reperfusion. In contrast, retrograde intracoronary infusion may be able to deliver SOD before reperfusion. We investigated the feasibility and efficiency of the retrograde intracoronary infusion of SOD to attenuate reperfusion injury. Methods and results: Lewis rats underwent 30-min left coronary artery occlusion followed by reperfusion for 24 h. Just before reperfusion, CuZn–SOD was administered intravenously (15,000 U/kg, V-SOD group) or by retrograde intracoronary infusion (1500 U/kg, R-SOD group) through a catheter inserted into left cardiac vein via left superior vena cava as we have previously reported. This method has been shown to perfuse the whole left ventricular free walls. Controls for each group were injected with phosphate buffer saline only via the same routes (V-PBS and R-PBS group). The R-SOD group demonstrated significantly preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; 71.3 ± 1.7% vs. 60.8 ± 2.3%, p =0.028), reduced infarct size (23.3 ± 2.3% vs. 42.4 ± 3.5%, p <0.001), and attenuated polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) infiltration (11.8 ± 0.4 vs. 14.8 ± 0.2 103/mm2, p <0.001) compared to the V-SOD group. The V-SOD group demonstrated significantly improved reflow (64.3 ± 2.1% vs. 53.4 ± 2.4%, p =0.017) and attenuated PMNL infiltration (14.8 ± 0.2 vs. 16.8 ± 0.7 103/mm2, p =0.018) compared to the V-PBS group. Conclusion: Retrograde intracoronary infusion is a promising, clinically applicable method to enhance the efficacy of SOD-induced myocardial protection against ischemia–reperfusion injury.
The Impact of Game Customization and Control Mechanisms on Recall of Integral and Peripheral Brand Placements in Videogames

ABSTRACTAs marketers invest more and more money into in-game brand placements, little research has tested the effects of videogame customization and controller type in relation to advertising effects, even though these factors have demonstrated importance in other areas of gaming research. Results from an experiment show that game customization significantly increases recall of an integral brand placement-one that is central to actual game play-but not of peripheral brands, which simply appear within the game. Regardless of brand type, players using a traditional controller exhibit significantly greater recall than those who use a newer, more naturally mapping controller. An interaction effect indicates that the influence of controller type disappears when customization is allowed; this effect is not specific to either type of brand. These results are interpreted through models of processing fluency and the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing. The article concludes with marketi...
A Process for Initiating Change: Developing Technology Goals for a College of Education

Les AA. decrivent les obstacles que rencontre l'introduction de la technologie informatique dans les centres de formation des enseignants. Pourtant les enseignants devraient etre formes a l'utilisation de ces outils qui peuvent etre d'une aide considerable dans leur pratique pedagogique. Les AA. soutiennent qu'un programme de formation informatique doit etre imperativement reflechi et applique dans tous les centres de formation des Etas-Unis
Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory

John Nash's formulation of noncooperative game theory was one of the great breakthroughs in the history of social science. Nash's work in this area is reviewed in its historical context to better understand how the fundamental ideas of noncooperative game theory were developed and how they changed the course of economic theory.
3D printing for children: What to build next?

Abstract The era of affordable 3D printing is clearly underway; indeed, the historical patterns of growth in 3D printing are, in many ways, strikingly similar to those associated with the growth of home computing in the late 1970’s. One of the prominent areas of increased interest in 3D printing is in the realm of education: fabrication tools are becoming available to college undergraduates and high school students, and even to younger children. Accompanying this burgeoning growth, however, there is an acute need to consider the ways in which 3D printing should develop, as a technology, in order to accommodate the abilities and activities of youngsters. This paper discusses a number of technological challenges to be overcome in making 3D printing truly available to children over the next decade. The most prominent challenges described here include: (a) expanding the range of physical media available for printing, (b) incorporating ideas derived from “pick-and-place” mechanisms into 3D printing, (c) exploring methods for creating portable and ubiquitous printing devices, (d) creating tools for hand-customization and finishing of tangible printed objects, and (e) devising software techniques for specifying, altering, and combining 3D elements in the context of printing. By facing these challenges, we can provide children (and adults) with a remarkably powerful and expressive means for creating all sorts of personalized artifacts.
Image retrieval on the Internet-how can fuzzy help?

This paper surveys various aspects of image retrieval on the Internet. Many images are indexed by keyword or retrieved by similarity to a "key image". Existing work in areas such as linguistic variables for describing spatial relationships and color have natural applications in the area of image retrieval. Unlike image databases, the Internet is large and heterogeneous. The result of retrieval is necessarily a dialogue between the user (searcher) and the retrieval system. In this paper, several aspects of Internet information retrieval where fuzzy logic can be applied are highlighted.
Analysis of beam-like lattice trusses

A simple procedure is presented for predicting the thermoelastic and free vibration responses of large repetitive beam-like trusses. The procedure is based on replacing the original lattice structure by an equivalent continuum beam model and obtaining closed-form (exact) solutions for the beam model. The equivalent beam model accounts for warping and shear deformation in the plane of the cross-section and is characterized by its thermoelastic strain and kinetic energies, from which the equations of motion and constitutive relations can be derived. The high accuracy of the results obtained by the proposed approach is demonstrated by means of numerical examples.
Uniqueness of complementing pairs in partially ordered abelian groups

Let A and B denote subsets of an abelian group ( G , +). The pair ( A, B ) is called a complementing pair for A + B provided each element of the sum is uniquely represented. A complementing pair ( A, B ) for C is denoted ( A, B ) ~ C .
Laparoscopic burch urethropexy in a private clinical practice

Abstract Study Objective . To determine the effectiveness of laparoscopic Burch urethropexy in a private practice setting. Design . Prospective, observational study (Canadian Task Force classification II–2). Setting . Private practice. Patients . Fifty-one consecutive women with stress urinary incontinence (15 genuine stress urinary incontinence, 36 concomitant degrees of pelvic organ prolapse). Intervention . Laparoscopic Burch urethropexy was performed with sutures in 36 patients and with mesh and staples in 15, in combination with laparoscopic vaginal vault suspension, paravaginal repair, laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, and other procedures. Measurements and Main Results . Intraoperative complications occurred in 10% of cases; all were recognized and repaired laparoscopically. Operating time ranged from 55 minutes to 3 hours (median 2 hrs 25 min). Forty-four (86%) surgeries were done on an outpatient basis, five women required an overnight stay, and two were admitted. Forty-seven (93%) patients were discharged without a catheter; two had urinary retention requiring a catheter for 5 days. Follow-up ranged from 12 to 42 months (average 24 mo). Forth-eight women (94%) were cured, three (6%) failed therapy, and six (12%) developed de novo detrusor instability. Conclusion . Burch urethropexy can be performed safely by laparoscopy in a private practice setting with success similar to that of open technique. Most intraoperative complications can be corrected laparoscopically with no increase in morbidity.(/)
The Imaging of Spinal Infections

Spinal infections can arise in a variety of anatomical locations and structures and encompass vertebral osteomyelitis, discitis, disc space infection, epidural abscesses, and infection of the adjacent soft tissue structures. Plain radiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear imaging all have a role in the diagnosis of spinal infection. MRI continues to be the gold standard for the imaging diagnosis of spinal infections. 67 Gallium citrate and Tc-99m-methylene diphosphonate scintigraphy have become the standard for nuclear imaging of the spine. Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, strepavidin/ 111 In-biotin, and 99m -ciprofloxacin have shown promise for aiding in the diagnosis and evaluation of spinal infection but warrant further study.
Achieving both creativity and rationale : reuse in design with images and claims

Although designers seek to create designs that are novel, most are based in some part on previous work. However, formal methods for design rationale reuse are dismissed as too inhibiting to the creative process. In this chapter we argue for the reuse of rationale as a central activity in design, and explore how this can be used as part of the creative process. Specifically, we examine how claims, paired with representative images, can stimulate the creative process while providing a bridge to rationale reuse. We present a design approach in which images and claims are presented together, supporting reuse in design activities like storyboarding. An evaluation revealed the careful interplay between creativity and rationale reuse, illustrating how they can complement each other during the design process. Our work serves to demonstrate that an appropriate design activity can be used to leverage creativity with the use of rationale.
THE EFFECTS OF ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS ON CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in children, and it has been associated with an increased risk of cognitive, psychiatric, and learning problems. Although side effects of antiepilepticdrugs(AEDs)havebeenlongstudiedinadults,anunderstandingofhowtheymanifest in children is only beginning to emerge. Careful clinical considerations must be made to accurately determinethepotentialcontributionofAEDstolearningproblems,andthisincludesunderstanding thecomplexroleplayedbymultiplemedical, developmental,andpsychosocialfactors. Thepresent review provides information on common cognitive and psychiatric side effects of AED treatment in children, with consideration of classroom accommodations and strategies that may be helpful to circumvent these difficulties. C 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Arthritis-Specific Health Beliefs Related to Aging Among Older Male Patients With Knee and/or Hip Osteoarthritis

Background. Disease-specific beliefs may impact patients’ perceptions of the efficacy of various treatment options, thus, it is important to understand these beliefs. We examined the relationship between patients’ demographic characteristics and arthritis-specific beliefs related to aging. Methods. We performed a cross-sectional survey of 591 elderly primary care patients, who had symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee and/or hip, at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Data were collected on age, race, educational level, income, and whether patients agreed or disagreed with four statements regarding aging and arthritis. We also assessed OA symptom severity using the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Index (WOMAC) and depressive symptoms using the Geriatric Depression Scale. We used logistic regression analyses to examine relationships between patients’ age, race, and educational level and arthritis-specific health beliefs, while adjusting for OA symptom severity, radiographic confirmation of OA, OA joint burden, depressive symptoms, and income. Results. Patients 70 years old or older, as compared to patients 50‐59 years old, were more likely to believe that: arthritis is a natural part of growing old; people should expect that when they get older, they won’t be able to walk as well, and people should expect to live with pain as they grow older. Conclusion. Among older, male veterans, health beliefs regarding the relationship between aging and arthritis vary by age. Clinicians should consider these differences when discussing treatment strategies with their patients with knee and/or hip OA.
System for automated site model acquisition

A system has been developed to acquire, extend and refine 3D geometric site models from aerial imagery. The system hypothesizes potential building roofs in an image, automatically locates supporting geometric evidence in other images, and determines the precise shape and position of the new buildings via multi-image triangulation. Projectively warped image intensity maps are associated with the faces of each recovered building, allowing realistic rendering of the scene from new viewpoints.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Forensic Developmental Psychology: Unveiling Four Common Misconceptions

We summarize recent developments in the field of forensic developmental psychology that challenge traditional conceptions about the reliability of children's reports. The areas covered involve the disclosure patterns of sexually abused children, the nature of suggestive interviews, developmental differences in suggestibility, and the amount of suggestion required to produce false reports and beliefs.
Cargo Proteins Facilitate the Formation of Transport Vesicles in the Cytoplasm to Vacuole Targeting Pathway

Selective incorporation of cargo proteins into the forming vesicle is an important aspect of protein targeting via vesicular trafficking. Based on the current paradigm of cargo selection in vesicular transport, proteins to be sorted to other organelles are condensed at the vesicle budding site in the donor organelle, a process that is mediated by the interaction between cargo and coat proteins, which constitute part of the vesicle forming machinery. The cytoplasm to vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway is an unconventional vesicular trafficking pathway in yeast, which is topologically and mechanistically related to autophagy. Aminopeptidase I (Ape1) is the major cargo protein of the Cvt pathway. Unlike the situation in conventional vesicular transport, precursor Ape1, along with its receptor Atg19/Cvt19, is packed into a huge complex, termed a Cvt complex, independent of the vesicle formation machinery. The Cvt complex is subsequently incorporated into the forming Cvt vesicle. The deletion of APE1 or ATG19 compromised the organization of the pre-autophagosomal structure (PAS), a site that is thought to play a critical role in Cvt vesicle/autophagosome formation. The proper organization of the PAS also required Atg11/Cvt9, a protein that localizes the cargo complex at the PAS. Accordingly, the deletion of APE1, ATG19, or ATG11 affected the formation of Cvt vesicles. These observations suggest a unique concept; in the case of the Cvt pathway, the cargo proteins facilitate receptor recruitment and vesicle formation rather than the situation with most vesicular transport, in which the forming vesicle concentrates the cargo proteins.
A barebones communicative robot based on social contingency and Infomax Control

In this paper, we present a barebones robot which is capable of interacting with humans based on social contingency. It expands the previous work of a contingency detector into having both human-model updating (developmental capability) and policy improvement (learning capability) based on the framework of Infomax control. The proposed new controller interacts with humans in both active and responsive ways handling the turn-taking between them.
Assessing Dual-Role Staff-Interpreter Linguistic Competency in an Integrated Healthcare System

Background Interpreter services for medical care increase physician–patient communication and safety, yet a “formal certification” process to demonstrate interpreter competence does not exist. Testing and training is left to individual health care facilities nationwide. Bilingual staff are often used to interpret, without any assessment of their skills. Assessing interpreters’ linguistic competence and setting standards for testing is a priority.
Mortality on long-distance voyages in the eighteenth century.

The author discusses the problems involved in calculating mortality rates on long-distance sea voyages in the eighteenth century and compares the mortality experience of slaves other migratory groups and inland populations (ANNOTATION)
Cross-language relationship between Spanish and English oral reading fluency among Spanish-speaking English language learners in bilingual education classrooms

This study examined whether oral reading fluency in a child's first language (Spanish) as assessed by Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) was related to oral reading fluency in a second language (English) and whether Spanish oral reading fluency probes administered in the fall were predictive of English oral reading fluency outcomes for spring of the same academic year. A total of 68 bilingual education students across grades 1 through 5 were assessed in Spanish and English during the fall, winter, and spring. Results showed that reading in Spanish and English across grades and time periods correlated moderately high with the exception of fourth grade. In addition, Spanish oral reading fluency at the beginning of the year significantly predicted English reading outcomes at the end of the year. These findings suggest that CBM can be a valuable tool for evaluating the relationship between oral reading fluency in both the first and second language. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 795–806, 2007.
Globalization of Chinese firms, location choice, and socio-cultural milieu

For a number of years, the bulk of Chinese outward foreign direct investment was found in countries with lower technological development and minimal management capabilities. Recent research and preliminary data have shown a swift shift in outward foreign direct investment allocation by Chinese multinational enterprises to OECD countries. We argue that the main reasons for this shift are: location strategy, firm-specific resources, new government policy, and socio-cultural milieu. This paper examines the factors which influence Chinese manufacturers' decisions to invest in OECD countries. We integrate the resource-based view, institutional view, and economic view to explain the propensity of Chinese manufacturing firm investment. We contribute to Chinese investment decision and foreign direct investment location theory by incorporating these three views.
Air Displacement Plethysmography versus Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry in Underweight, Normal-Weight, and Overweight/Obese Individuals

BACKGROUND: Accurately estimating fat percentage is important for assessing health and determining treatment course. Methods of estimating body composition such as hydrostatic weighing or dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), however, can be expensive, require extensive operator training, and, in the case of hydrostatic weighing, be highly burdensome for patients. Our objective was to evaluate air displacement plethysmography via the Bod Pod, a less burdensome method of estimating body fat percentage. In particular, we filled a gap in the literature by testing the Bod Pod at the lower extreme of the Body Mass Index (BMI) distribution. FINDINGS: Three BMI groups were recruited and underwent both air displacement plethysmography and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. We recruited 30 healthy adults at the lower BMI distribution from the Calorie Restriction (CR) Society and followers of the CR Way. We also recruited 15 normal weight and 19 overweight/obese healthy adults from the general population. Both Siri and Brozek equations derived body fat percentage from the Bod Pod, and Bland-Altman analyses assessed agreement between the Bod Pod and DXA. Compared to DXA, the Bod Pod overestimated body fat percentage in thinner participants and underestimated body fat percentage in heavier participants, and the magnitude of difference was larger for underweight BMI participants, reaching 13% in some. The Bod Pod and DXA had smaller discrepancies in normal weight and overweight/obese participants. CONCLUSIONS: While less burdensome, clinicians should be aware that Bod Pod estimates may deviate from DXA estimates particularly at the lower end of the BMI distribution.
Optimal capacity and location assessment of natural gas fired distributed generation in residential areas

With the increasing use of natural gas to generate electricity, installed natural gas fired microturbines are found in residential areas to generate electricity locally. This paper discusses the methodology of assessing optimal capacity and locations for installing natural gas fired microturbines in distribution residential network. The IEEE 123 Node Test Feeder was selected as the test bed. Three phase unbalanced electric power flow was run in OpenDSS through COM server, and the gas distribution network was analyzed using GASWorkS. The continual sensitivity analysis methodology was proposed to select multiple DG locations and annual simulation was run to minimize annual average losses. Nodal pressures of the gas system were checked for various cases to investigate if existing gas distribution network can accommodate the penetration of selected microturbines. The results indicate the optimal locations suitable to place microturbines and capacity that can be accommodated by the system.
Predicting the distribution of shrub species in southern California from climate and terrain-derived variables

Generalized additive, generalized linear, and classi- fication tree models were developed to predict the distribution of 20 species of chaparral and coastal sage shrubs within the southwest ecoregion of California. Mapped explanatory vari- ables included bioclimatic attributes related to primary envi- ronmental regimes: averages of annual precipitation, mini- mum temperature of the coldest month, maximum tempera- ture of the warmest month, and topographically-distributed potential solar insolation of the wettest quarter (winter) and of the growing season (spring). Also tested for significance were slope angle (related to soil depth) and the geographic coordi- nates of each observation. Models were parameterized and evaluated based on species presence/absence data from 906 plots surveyed on National Forest lands. Although all vari- ables were significant in at least one of the species' models, those models based only on the bioclimatic variables predicted species presence with 3 - 26 % error. While error would un- doubtedly be greater if the models were evaluated using inde- pendent data, results indicate that these models are useful for predictive mapping - for interpolating species distribution data within the ecoregion. All three methods produced models with similar accuracy for a given species; GAMs were useful for exploring the shape of the response functions, GLMs allowed those response functions to be parameterized and their significance tested, and classification trees, while some- times difficult to interpret, yielded the lowest prediction errors (lower by 3-5% ).
Assembly by Reduced Complexity (ARC): a hybrid approach for targeted assembly of homologous sequences.

Analysis of High-throughput sequencing (HTS) data is a difficult problem, especially in the context of non-model organisms where comparison of homologous sequences may be hindered by the lack of a close reference genome. Current mapping-based methods rely on the availability of a highly similar reference sequence, whereas de novo assemblies produce anonymous (unannotated) contigs that are not easily compared across samples. Here, we present Assembly by Reduced Complexity (ARC) a hybrid mapping and assembly approach for targeted assembly of homologous sequences. ARC is an open-source project (http://ibest.github.io/ARC/) implemented in the Python language and consists of the following stages: 1) align sequence reads to reference targets, 2) use alignment results to distribute reads into target specific bins, 3) perform assemblies for each bin (target) to produce contigs, and 4) replace previous reference targets with assembled contigs and iterate. We show that ARC is able to assemble high quality, unbiased mitochondrial genomes seeded from 11 progressively divergent references, and is able to assemble full mitochondrial genomes starting from short, poor quality ancient DNA reads. We also show ARC compares favorably to de novo assembly of a large exome capture dataset for CPU and memory requirements; assembling 7,627 individual targets across 55 samples, completing over 1.3 million assemblies in less than 78 hours, while using under 32 Gb of system memory. ARC breaks the assembly problem down into many smaller problems, solving the anonymous contig and poor scaling inherent in some de novo assembly methods and reference bias inherent in traditional read mapping.
Cyber security via minority games with epistatic signaling: invited paper

We present a game theoretic framework, modeling strategic interactions among humans and things, which are assumed to be interconnected by a social-technological network, as in Internet of Humans and Things (IOHT). Often a pair of agents in the network interacts in order for an informed sender-agent to signal an uninformed receiver-agent to take an action that benefits each of the players -- the benefits to the pair of agents are modeled by two separate utility functions, both depending on the sender's private information, the signal exchanged, and the receiver's revealed (and unrevealed) action. In general, the two agents' utilities may not be aligned and may encourage deceptive behavior. For example, a sender, aware of his own private "state of ignorance," may seek useful information from a receiver who owns powerful computational resources to search a large corpora of webpages; the sender does so by sending a signal to the receiver in the-form of a keyword. Obvious examples of deceptiveness here range from attempts to hide one's intentions to auctioning the keywords on an ad exchange through real-time bidding. A rather troublesome situation occurs when deceptions are employed to breach the security of the system, thus making the entire social-technological network unreliable. Earlier, we proposed a signaling-game-theoretic framework to alleviate this problem. This paper further enhances it by reconfiguring signals to possess more complex structures (epistatic signals to represent attack and defense options over a given set of vulnerabilities). We explore two augmentations to the original evolutionary signaling game by first enhancing mutation bias toward strategies performing well in previous populations and secondly by allowing the parameters of the utility functions to dependent on population preferences giving rise to a minority game with epistatic signaling. The resulting game systems are empirically studied through extensive computer simulation.
Nanomechanical Imaging Of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Nanomechanical mapping of individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) has been undertaken to investigate intra-tube variations of mechanical response. Ultrasonic force microscopy has been used to measure the relative axial and radial variations of contact stiffness of individual MWNTs synthesized using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and arc-discharge (AD) techniques. For CVD-based MWNTs the contact stiffness of the tube was seen to vary strongly across volume defects (axial variation of the tube radius) and is assumed to result from the high crystalline defect density associated with such radial variations. These observations support recent experimental data of effective Young’s modulus inferred from electrostatically-induced nanotube vibration amplitudes.
Gender, domestic labor time, and wage inequality.

This paper explores the relationship between domestic labor and wage labor by estimating the relative influence of hours spent in domestic labor (e.g., housework and child care) on women's and men's wages. It is hypothesized that involvement in domestic activities negatively affects wages and is likely to be an important factor in explaining women's lower wages relative to men. Findings from OLS regression analyses of white, currently employed, currently married women and men indicate that domestic labor time significantly decreases both sexes' wages. In order to assess whether this relationship differs by class, the sex-specific earnings equations also are estimated within the working class and the non-working class. The negative effect of domestic labor time on both sexes' income persists in the within-class analyses. Working-class men are more vulnerable to the detrimental influence of domestic production. Unexpectedly, housework and child care time decreases non-workingclass women's wages more so than working-class women's wages. It is noted that these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional nature of the data which precludes an unequivocal assessment of potential nonrecursivity in the linkages among key variables in the model. Overall, the findings imply that a more equitable distribution of work in the home is necessary before labor market inequalities between the sexes can be ameliorated.
Comparative Experimental and Computational Studies for Annular Condensing and Boiling Flows in Millimeter Scale Horizontal Ducts

This paper describes experimental approaches for ensuring high heat-flux annular flow boiling and flow condensation under conditions for which shear and pressure forces dominate buoyancy effects. The paper also describes fundamental predictive tools for such flows. For annular flows, the liquid phase flows in the form of a wavy film (often micro-meter scale thin) that continuously irrigates the heat-exchange surface inside millimeter scale ducts. Controlled attainments of these annular flow configurations (which experience only second order effects of surface-tension forces) are essential to integration of functional boilers and condensers for certain space-based as well as micro-scale thermal systems. The experiments deal with flow condensation of FC-72 in a 2 mm gap horizontal channel of 1 m length and flow boiling of FC-72 in a 1.6 mm gap horizontal channel of 0.74 m length. For both boiling and condensing flow experiments, annularity of the respective flows is ensured by choice of an appropriate rate of through flow of vapor that does not actively participate in phase-change and has a flow rate which lies within a well defined range. The through flow of vapor is shown to ensure stability, annularity (by effectively suppressing nucleation in the case of flow boiling), and predictability. This fact is demonstrated by relevant flow visualization videos whose schematic and still pictures are included here. Two sets of annular condensing flow simulation results (one based on a full computational fluid dynamics based steady/unsteady simulations and another based on a quasi 1-D steady simulations) are compared against experimental heat-flux measurements obtained for annular shear driven condensing flows of FC-72 vapor. For quasi-steady annular boiling, only the quasi 1-D steady simulations approach is used for comparisons with experimental heat load measurements.The reasonableness of the proposed 1-D predictive engineering tool, with proper understanding of its scope and limitations, enables one to generate useful results for more sophisticated simulations. Furthermore the tool readily yields results/estimates for other working fluids, channel dimensions, and flow conditions.© 2012 ASME
Delamination and fiber-bridging damage analysis of angle-ply laminates subjected to transverse loading

A three-dimensional continuum damage model is developed for the prediction of the initiation and propagation of intralaminar damage mechanism. This continuum damage model is implemented using a user-subroutine in finite element software ABAQUS™/Standard and combined with the cohesive zone model for three-dimensional progressive damage analysis of angle-ply [0/α] (α = 90°, 75°, 60°, 45°, 30°, 15°, and 10°) laminated plates subjected to transverse loading. It is found that delamination is the major damage mode in large-angle (α ≥ 30°) laminates while fiber bridging is the dominant damage mode in small-angle (α ≤ 15°) laminates. The damage mode predictions are in good agreement with experimental observations reported in the literature. Matrix cracking within the bottom plies and its interactions with interlaminar damage are found to play an important role in the formation of the final damage modes, shapes, and sizes.
Reengineering Software: A Case Study

Optimally software design should be robust enough to handle any future additions or code changes, however it is not always possible to predict the direction a software project will go in. In research projects and in-house projects, where the user and creator are often the same, software design may be overlooked entirely. If software is complex, or has not been designed for its current modifications, it may merit reengineering. The future use and needs of the program must be evaluated. There are many metrics that are used to make this decision, but these metrics only act as a guide. Most of the decision to redesign a software system is subjective, and is often made as the development of the program becomes increasingly difficult. In this paper, the redesign of a complex piece of software is examined. The process of redesign is evaluated to determine if the work put into it was worth the benefits accrued by the new design.
Targeting Drugs into the Central Nervous System

Drugs face a formidable obstacle in reaching the central nervous systems (CNS) due to the existence and specific properties of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that is a vital element in the regulation of the internal environment of the brain and the spinal cord. This chapter summarizes the principles and perspective of strategies that offer invasive and non-invasive approaches to overcome this major hurdle to the pharmacotherapy of the CNS.
Partners in quality: managing your suppliers.

Just expecting more from your supplier is not what partnership is about. We have had the experience where the quality improvement and partnership banner has been waved but the tone and spirit of the meeting did not encourage or support a joint quality improvement effort. Benefits will not be achieved until the wall truly begins to come apart and the relationship is built on mutual respect and trust. Data collection and open answers to questions often reveal embarrassing errors and obvious needs for improvements. As stated before, blame and finger-pointing must be replaced with a mutual commitment to asking and answering the question, "How can we improve?" As Dr. W. Edwards Deming has stated, "End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust." The structured approach of a quality improvement process and the application of quality methods and techniques has proven useful in removing emotion and helping the team focus on the process rather than the people and the issues involved. Quality improvement methods are focused on achieving both customer and supplier goals--customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and operational efficiency and effectiveness. Our experience with Partners in Quality as well as our experience with the quality leadership process supports a recent quote in the Harvard Business Review: "Quality is not just a slogan...(it is) the most profitable way to run a business."