cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MRF model-based algorithms for image segmentation

The authors empirically compare three algorithms for segmenting simple, noisy images: simulated annealing (SA), iterated conditional modes (ICM), and maximizer of the posterior marginals (MPM). All use Markov random field (MRF) models to include prior contextual information. The comparison is based on artificial binary images which are degraded by Gaussian noise. Robustness is tested with correlated noise and with object and background textured. The ICM algorithm is evaluated when the degradation and model parameters must be estimated, in both supervised and unsupervised modes and on two real images. The results are assessed by visual inspection and through a numerical criterion. It is concluded that contextual information from MRF models improves segmentation when the number of categories and the degradation model are known and that parameters can be effectively estimated. None of the three algorithms is consistently best, but the ICM algorithm is the most robust. The energy of the a posteriori distribution is not always minimized at the best segmentation. >
The Substance of Self-Government

In Democratic Rights: The Substance of Self-Government, Corey Brettschneider develops an attractive and powerful conception of self-government - the value theory of democracy - that encompasses both substantive rights like privacy and procedural rights. Although he argues, following Habermas and Rawls, that substantive rights and procedural rights are "co-original," the structure of his theory may lead him to reduce the former into the latter and not fully to account for personal self-government in his conception of democratic self-government. The wages of his democratic justifications for substantive rights may be a surprising anxiety or unwarranted tension concerning judicial review protecting such rights.
Challenges and Opportunities in Many-Core Computing

In this paper, we present some of the challenges and opportunities in software development based on the current hardware trends and the impact of massive parallelism on both the software and hardware industry. We indicate some of the approaches that can enable software development to effectively exploit the many-core architectures. Some of these include encapsulating domain-specific knowledge in reusable components, such as libraries, integrating concurrency with languages, and supporting explicit declarations to help compilers and operating system schedulers. Tighter interaction between software and underlying hardware is required to build scalable and portable applications with predictable performance and higher power-efficiency. Overall, many-core computing provides us opportunities to enable new application scenarios that support enhanced functionality and a richer experience for the user on commodity hardware.
High-speed parameter estimation of stepper motors

A batch least-squares algorithm is used to identify the parameters of a permanent magnet stepper motor. Short data segments of less than a tenth of a second are considered, and the procedure does not require a special motor configuration. Error indexes are studied as measures of uncertainty in the estimation procedure. Simulations are performed to test the identification method and the usefulness of the error indexes. Experimental results, obtained on an industrial setup, demonstrate the validity of the approach in an actual application. The results can be used to develop models of stepper motors for precise control and to automatically tune computer-controlled drives. >
The Search for New Physics Phenomena using e - e - Collisions in the CLIC Energy Range

The International Linear Collider project, now no longer on the back burner, finds its natural sequel in the several-TeV realm by relying on CLIC technology. We briefly home in on a few of those physics processes initiated by e-e- collision where the extension to that higher energy region is likely to be of major importance.
Chromatin structure: a property of the higher structure of chromatin and the time course of its formation during chromatin replication

The action of a number of enzymes and metals on one nuclear preparation were interpreted in terms of the existence of a fragile but highly DNAase-I resistant feature of chromatin superstructure. The generation of this DNAase-I resistance feature of chromatin was then followed during normal DNA synthesis in the regenerating rat liver by following the disappearance of a transitory DNAase-I susceptible state. This transitory, DNAase-I susceptible state appears to be extremely similar to the post-synthetic, DNAase-I susceptible state that has been described in He La32.
High-performance on-chip transformers

To study the substrate effect on transformer performance, several types of spiral transformers were fabricated on p/sup +/ silicon substrate with microporous silicon (PS) regions. Our analysis shows that the use of PS significantly reduces the substrate effects including eddy current and capacitive coupling between spirals and the substrate. The reduced substrate effects lead to higher Q-factor and resonant frequency (f/sub r/), mutual reactive coupling coefficients (k/sub Im/) with larger useable band width and higher available gain (G/sub a/) mainly because of the reduction in power loss to the substrate. The use of PS can greatly increase transformer performances and broaden the parameter space for on-chip transformer layout optimization.
Assessment of Quality of Life in Obese Individuals

Introduction Recent reviews have described the potential adverse ef­ fects of obesity on quality of life (1,2). Impairments have been reported in physical functioning, including general health (3–6) and bodily pain (7), as well as in psychosocial status (8). In the latter domain, as many as 20% to 30% of individuals who seek weight reduction have been found to suffer from binge eating (9,10) or depression (11,12). Over the past 20 years, numerous instruments have been developed to assess quality of life (1,2,13,14). This article briefly reviews the meaning of this term and then examines measures that are likely to be the most useful with obese persons. Four sets of instruments are examined. The first consists of generic, broad-spectrum measures that assess multiple domains including physical, social, and vocational functioning. The second set consists of condition-specific measures that assess symptoms or experiences that are most likely to occur in patients with obesity (e.g., stigmatization, body image concerns, food preoccupation). The third and fourth sets of instruments assess depression and binge eat­ ing, respectively. We believe that these two complications should be evaluated, in addition to the more general con­ struct of quality of life.
CCL5 Modulates Pneumococcal Immunity and Carriage

Understanding the requirements for protection against pneumococcal carriage and pneumonia will greatly benefit efforts in controlling these diseases. Recently, it has been shown that genetic polymorphisms can result in diminished expression of CCL5, which results in increased susceptibility to and progression of infectious diseases. We show that CCL5, together with Th cytokine mRNA expression, is temporally up-regulated during pneumococcal carriage. To determine the contribution of CCL5 to pneumococcal surface antigen A-specific humoral and cellular pneumococcal immunity, mice were treated with anti-CCL5 or control Abs before and during Streptococcus pneumoniae strain EF3030-challenge for the initiation of carriage. CCL5 blockade resulted in a decrease of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells as well as CD11b(+) cells in the spleen, cervical lymph node, lung, and nasopharyngeal associated lymphoid tissue during the recognition phase of the pneumococcal adaptive immune response. CCL5 blockade significantly reduced the Ag-specific IgG2a and IgG1 Abs in serum and IgA Ab levels in nasal washes. These decreases also corresponded to reductions in Ag-specific T cell (mucosal and systemic) responses. CCL5 inhibition resulted in decreasing the quantity of IL-4- and IFN-gamma-secreting CD4(+) T cells and increasing the number of Ag-specific IL-10-producing CD4(+) T cells; these changes combined also corresponded with the transition from pneumococcal carriage to lethal pneumonia. These data suggest that CCL5 is an essential factor for the induction and maintenance of protective pneumococcal immunity.
Analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer interfacial conditions between a porous medium and a fluid layer

DiAerent types of interfacial conditions between a porous medium and a fluid layer are analyzed in detail. Five primary categories of interface conditions were found in the literature for the fluid flow at the interface region. Likewise, four primary categories of interface conditions were found in the literature for the heat transfer at the interface region. These interface conditions can be classified into two main categories, slip and no-slip interface conditions. The eAects of the pertinent parameters such as Darcy number, inertia parameter, Reynolds number, porosity and slip coeAcients, on diAerent types of interface conditions are analyzed while fluid flow and heat transfer in the neighborhood of an interface region are properly characterized. A systematic analysis of the variances among diAerent boundary conditions establishes the convergence or divergence among competing models. It is shown that in general, the variances have a more pronounced eAect on the velocity field and a substantially smaller eAect on the temperature field and even a smaller eAect on the Nusselt number distributions. For heat transfer interface conditions, all four categories generate results, which are quite close to each other for most practical applications. However, small discrepancies could appear for applications dealing with large values of Reynolds number and/or large values of Darcy number. Finally, a set of correlations is given for interchanging the interface velocity and temperature as well as the average Nusselt number among various models. ” 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Population-scale three-dimensional reconstruction and quantitative profiling of microglia arbors.

Motivation: The arbor morphologies of brain microglia are important indicators of cell activation. This paper fills the need for accurate, robust, adaptive, and scalable methods for reconstructing 3-D microglial arbors & quantitatively mapping microglia activation states over extended brain tissue regions. Results: Thick rat brain sections (100-300￻m) were multiplex immunolabeled for IBA1 and Hoechst, and imaged by step-and-repeat confocal microscopy with automated 3-D image mosaicing, producing seamless images of extended brain regions (e.g., 5,903×9,874×229 voxels). An over-complete dictionary based model was learned for the imagespecific local structure of microglial processes. The microglial arbors were reconstructed seamlessly using an automated and scalable algorithm that exploits microglia-specific constraints. This method detected 80.1% and 92.8% more centered arbor points, and 53.5% and 55.5% fewer spurious points than existing vesselness and LoG based methods, respectively, and the traces were 13.1% and 15.5% more accurate based on the DIADEM metric. The arbor morphologies were quantified using Scorcioni’s L-measure. Coifman’s harmonic co-clustering revealed four morphologically distinct classes that concord with known microglia activation patterns. This enabled us to map spatial distributions of microglial activation and cell abundances. Availability: Experimental protocols, sample datasets, scalable opensource multi-threaded software implementation (C++, MATLAB) in the
Ventricular remodeling without cellular contractile dysfunction

Abstract Background: A number of factors may contribute to progressive left ventricular (LV) remodeling and global LV dysfunction after myocardial damage. Important among these are loss of myocytes from necrosis or apoptosis, changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM), myocyte contractile dysfunction, and the purely geometric or mechanical effects of structural alterations in the LV. Which of these components is more important at a particular stage in the natural history of LV remodeling is unclear. Nor is it known whether global LV dysfunction can occur in the absence of isolated myocyte contractile dysfunction. Methods and Results: We studied the natural history of LV remodeling in the rat infarct model to address the question of whether structural alterations in the heart can contribute directly to LV dysfunction or whether the presence of myocyte contractile dysfunction is essential for the development of systolic LV dysfunction. Over 6 weeks, post-MI rats developed progressive LV remodeling and dysfunction, with alterations in several biochemical markers such as a decrease in sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA2a) and an increase in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and Na + -Ca 2+ exchanger. Myocytes isolated from the remote noninfarcted LV of the remodeled hearts were hypertrophied. Changes in length of the remodeled myocytes correlated well with indices of global LV remodeling. However, no significant defects were seen in any of the contractile or intracellular calcium transient parameters of the remodeled myocytes in the unloaded state, after viscous loading or during increased stimulation frequency. Conclusions: These data suggest that myocyte hypertrophy may be dissociated from myocyte contractile defect and that global LV systolic dysfunction can occur in the absence of significant myocyte contractile dysfunction. Factors such as loss of muscle mass from necrosis or apoptosis, increased wall stress, and alterations in the ECM may play a more important role early in the natural history of LV remodeling, before myocyte contractile dysfunction has become apparent.
A hardware-in-the-loop and virtual reality test environment for steer-by-wire system evaluations

A high precision, cost effective, experimental hardware-in-the-loop steer-by-wire test environment is presented and discussed to support engineering and psychology studies. In this project, a suite of chassis models and nonlinear control algorithms are developed and validated, as well as various human-machine interface design issues investigated. This paper provides an overview of the real time steering simulator which has been created to facilitate the comparison and evaluation of vehicle and steering system control strategies in a repeatable manner. The insertion of novel driver input devices, with adjustable force feedback, permits the study of the human-vehicle interface. The remote operation and/or supervision of semi-autonomous or autonomous vehicles can be studied using a human-in-the-loop system to provide insight into the relative importance to the driver of various vehicle parameters.
The growth and superhydrophobicity of a perfluorocarbon nanoneedle array on an SiO/sub 2/ surface

Alternate employment of etching gas (SF6) and deposition gas (C4F8) on an unpolished SiO2 surface in an inductive coupling plasma system generates a perfluorocarbon nanoneedle array at low pressure and at ambient temperature. The nanoneedle averages 300 nm in diameter and the nanoneedle surface has a large water contact angle of 171deg. The superhydrophobicity of the perfluorocarbon nanoneedle surface may be used in many industrial and biological processes
Helicobacter pylori Induces Interleukin-8 Secretion by Toll-Like Receptor 2- and Toll-Like Receptor 5-Dependent and -Independent Pathways

Helicobacter pylori is an important human pathogen that causes gastritis and is strongly associated with gastric ulcers, gastric adenocarcinomas, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas. In response to H. pylori, interleukin-8 (IL-8) is secreted from host cells to attract components of the innate and adaptive immune systems to the site of infection. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR5 have been shown to recognize H. pylori and to initiate signaling pathways that result in enhanced activation of NF-κB. Here, we evaluated the contribution of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways to TLR2-dependent and TLR5-dependent secretion of IL-8. Secretion of IL-8 from H. pylori-infected HEK293 cells was augmented by the expression of TLR2 or TLR5. While H. pylori infection resulted in the activation of ERK, JNK, and p38, the enhanced IL-8 secretion from TLR2- and TLR5-expressing cells coincided with increased p38 activation and phosphorylation of the transcription factor ATF2. When p38 activity was inhibited in TLR2- or TLR5-expressing cells, H. pylori-dependent IL-8 secretion returned to the level observed in infected parental HEK293 cells that did not express TLR2 or TLR5; inhibition of p38 had no effect on IL-8 secretion from infected parental HEK cells. In contrast, inhibition of JNK and/or ERK resulted in substantially less IL-8 secretion from infected cells, independent of TLR2 or TLR5 expression. Based on these data, we propose that H. pylori induces IL-8 secretion through a dual mechanism that includes a TLR2/5-independent component involving the activities of JNK and ERK and a TLR2/5-dependent component that requires p38 activity.
Agricultural Resource Economics and the Environment

Agricultural resource economics depends upon a widely scattered literature. This article presents some of the contributions of a forthcoming book on the subject. Some of the major environmental and resource management issues for agriculture are summarized with the needs of policy analysts, graduate students, and research economists in mind. Models involving dynamics and externality management are emphasized and illustrated with examples from water, pesticides, and land resources.
Estrogen replacement, vascular distensibility, and blood pressures in postmenopausal women

The pathogenesis of blood pressure (BP) rise in aging women remains unexplained, and one of the many incriminating factors may include abnormalities in arteriolar resistance vessels. The aim of thi...
Appendix C: Generalized Functions

Electrical Engineering/Electromagnetics Waves and Fields in Inhomogeneous Media A Volume in the IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Waves Donald G. Dudley, Series Editor ".it is one of the best wave propagation treatments to appear in many years." Gerardo G. Tango, CPG, Consulting Seismologist-Acoustician, Covington, LA This comprehensive text thoroughly covers fundamental wave propagation behaviors and computational techniques for waves in inhomogeneous media. The author describes powerful and sophisticated analytic and numerical methods to solve electromagnetic problems for complex media and geometry as well. Problems are presented as realistic models of actual situations which arise in the areas of optics, radio wave propagation, geophysical prospecting, nondestructive testing, biological sensing, and remote sensing. Key topics covered include: * Analytical methods for planarly, cylindrically and spherically layered media * Transient waves, including the Cagniard-de Hoop method * Variational methods for the scalar wave equation and the electromagnetic wave equation * Mode-matching techniques for inhomogeneous media * The Dyadic Green's function and its role in simplifying problem-solving in inhomogeneous media * Integral equation formulations and inverse problems * Time domain techniques for inhomogeneous media This book will be of interest to electromagnetics and remote sensing engineers, physicists, scientists, and geophysicists. This IEEE Press reprinting of the 1990 version published by Van Nostrand Reinhold incorporates corrections and minor updating. Also in the series. Mathematical Foundations for Electromagnetic Theory by Donald G. Dudley, University of Arizona at Tucson This volume in the series lays the mathematical foundations for the study of advance d topics in electromagnetic theory. Important subjects covered include linear spaces, Green's functions, spectral expansions, electromagnetic source representations, and electromagnetic boundary value problems. 1994 Hardcover 264 pp ISBN 0-7803-1022-5 IEEE Order No. PC3715 About the Series The IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Waves consists of new titles as well as reprints and revisions of recognized classics that maintain long-term archival significance in electromagnetic waves and applications. Designed specifically for graduate students, practicing engineers, and researchers, this series provides affordable volumes that explore electromagnetic waves and applications beyond the undergraduate level.
Visual Interactive Method

The Visual Interactive Method for Decision Analysis (VIMDA) was developed with the aim of providing an easy to use and easy to understand method for decision makers to examine efficient alternatives with no restrictive assumptions about the underlying utility function of the decision maker (Korhonen, 1988). VIMDA was designed for dealing with problems where many alternatives were available (purchasing a house, purchasing an appliance, selecting the best candidate for an award). The method allows preliminary screening of alternatives using aspiration levels as bounds, retaining the possibility of considering these alternatives later in the analysis. A computer graphics system presenting the attainments of a small subset of alternatives to the decision maker is the heart of VIMDA. The decision maker can select the preferred alternative from this small set, with the implied preference information providing a basis for elimination of many of the remaining alternatives. User friendliness is emphasized in the system. Decision makers are allowed to change their minds about the quality of solutions, hence, allowing a free search of alternatives.
How to Develop a Marketing Plan for an Academic Library

ABSTRACT The importance of marketing library services and programs to users is indisputable, but developing an effective library marketing plan can be daunting for individuals new to the task. Much has been written recently about ways to market the academic library, but there is more to marketing than simply hanging a flyer or distributing a bookmark. Now, more than ever, marketing should be a part of the library's overall strategic planning process. Libraries must develop a marketing plan that incorporates the library's strategic plan as well as the mission and vision statements. This article provides a step-by-step overview on how to develop a comprehensive marketing plan, from both a public and a private institution's perspective.
Effect of Nutritional Anemia on Size of the Heart.

During an investigation pertaining to the influence of certain foods on anemia in rats, it was observed that the hearts of those having low hemoglobin values were considerably larger than the hearts of normal animals. Thereupon the weights of the hearts of the experimental animals, computed on the percentage basis, were compared with those of normal animals as given by Donaldson. Successive biweekly hemoglobin determinations were made throughout the period of study, the last being taken just before the animals were killed. The results indicate that there is a close correlation between the size of the heart and the degree of anemia. The heart weights of animals with high hemoglobin values—from 11 gm. to 14 gm. per 100 cc. of blood (Newcomer method) are comparable to those given by Donaldson. When the hemoglobin values fell to 10 gm. the hearts were slightly hypertrophied; this became more marked as the degree of anemia increased. At the very low hemoglobin levels, from 2 gm. to 3 gm. per 100 cc., the heart...
Power in Decisions Among Multiple Alternatives

Abstract Decision-making in a committee usually involves individual preference orders on issues and voting blocs based on those orders. Ideally, the winning issue ought to be the one having a simple majority over every other issue. This is often impossible to obtain. In this paper, we develop a method whereby the issue closest to the ideal can be identified and the voting power of blocs measured so that winning coalitions can form to bring in the near-ideal issue,
Dynamic responses and tensions of broken conductors for suspension towers in heavy icing area

With consideration of conductor-ground contact,conductor damping coefficient,bundle numbers and spacers,a continuous 7-span FE model of conductors and insulators was established. Under different load cases,the dynamic responses of the broken conductors were analyzed. The FE calculation results agreed well with the test ones,and the rationality of the FE model was verified. The unbalanced tensions of broken conductors with and without conductorground contact were almost same. When all the sub-conductors were not broken simultaneously,the unbalanced tensions calculated using the model with spacers were much lower than those using the model without spacers. For suspension towers in 20 mm and 30 mm icing areas,the tensions calculated using the static analysis method were a little lower than the low-limit values in the regulation. For other icing areas,the calculated values were higher than the low-limit values by about 10%. Four sub-conductors of the eight-bundle conductors were assumed broken in the dynamic analysis,the tensions of broken conductors are lower than the regulated values.
Characteristics analysis of markers and changes after Enterovirus 71 infection

Objective To analyze the markers and Change after EV71 infection in hand-foot and mouth disease( HFMD).Methods Cluster sampling was used to recruit 249 hospitalized cases of HFMD and 50 cases of healthy children as controls,clinical information,rectal swabs and serum samples were also collected,EV71 and CoxA16 virus RNA and IgM antibodies were detected,statistical analysis were by SPSS 13.0.Results Among 249 cases of clinical diagnosed HFMD,198 cases( 79.5%) were detected enterovirus RNA from swabs,14 cases( 5.6%) were detected EV71 and CA16,51 cases( 20.5%) were not detected any enterovirus.In early infected patients,EV-RNA detected from rectal swab and EV-IgM detected from serum,there was no significant difference in the two methods in detecting EV71 infection( x2= 0.01,P = 0.928).In addition,EV71-IgM positive rate were 80% to 100% in patients serum from the third day to the sixth day after the onset,but after eight days,EV71-IgM positive rate was reduced in patients.Conclusions In early laboratory detected pathogen of HFMD,EV71-IgM positive rate were in coincidence with positive rate of EV71-RNA.
Identity-Based Cryptosystem Secure E-mail System

To solve the key distribution problems in the BF-IBE scheme,this paper proposes a new key distribution protocol based on Merkle simple key distribution protocol and Diffie-Hellman key exchange,which improves the BF-IBE scheme.A new secure E-mail scheme based on Identity-Based Cryptosystems(IBC) is designed with the combination of the improved BF-IBE scheme,GDH group signatures and key exchange protocols.It ensures not only the confidentiality,integrity and authenticity,but also the non-repudiation and tracing of the e-mail owing to the improved PKG.The new scheme is compatible with the existing mail protocols and has some practicability as well as application prospects.
An Ecosystem to Support Traditional Clinical Investigation: Lessons From Aging, Exercise, Blood Pressure, and Women.

See related article, pp 1011–1020 In this edition of Hypertension , Nyberg et al1 from the University of Copenhagen report that both prostacyclin- and acetylcholine-induced vasodilation are blunted in the legs of young (mean age, 54 years) postmenopausal women and subsequently improved by endurance exercise training. At first glance, this is a terrific piece of mechanistic physiology and high resolution or deep phenotyping combined with an exercise training intervention in humans. It also begins to fill an important gap in our understanding of sex differences, aging, exercise, and resistance vessel physiology and pharmacology in humans that has relevance to blood pressure regulation and hypertension. As humans, age there is a generalized decline in endothelial-mediated vasodilator function. In older men, exercise training can limit the decline in resistance vessel vasodilator function with aging.2 In older women, much less is known—the effects of exercise training on resistance vessel function have been studied minimally, and the studies on larger arteries suggest that endothelial function in older women may be less trainable than men.3 There is also speculation that the loss of estrogen at menopause contributes to potential sex differences in blood vessel trainability. In this context, the key finding of Nyberg et al1 is that the resistance vessel vasodilator responses to both prostacyclin and acetylcholine are improved by training in a relatively young group of postmenopausal women. By contrast, training had minimal effects in a group of slightly younger (mean age, 50 versus 54 …
Transition to Higher Education – in Search of Belonging

The transition to higher education is a significant milestone in the life-cycle of students. It evokes a range of emotions from excitement to fear as they make a new intellectual and social home for themselves. Traditional-aged students who leave home often find themselves mingling with and learning from students with quite different backgrounds.
An Assessment of the Performance of the Operational Global Ensemble Forecast Systems in Predicting the Forecast Uncertainty

AbstractThis study investigates the efficiency of the major operational global ensemble forecast systems of the world in capturing the spatiotemporal evolution of the forecast uncertainty. Using data from 2015, it updates the results of an earlier study based on data from 2012. It also tests, for the first time on operational ensemble data, two quantitative relationships to aid in the interpretation of the raw ensemble forecasts. One of these relationships provides a flow-dependent prediction of the reliability of the ensemble in capturing the uncertain forecast features, while the other predicts the 95th percentile value of the magnitude of the forecast error. It is found that, except for the system of the Met Office, the main characteristics of the ensemble forecast systems have changed little between 2012 and 2015. The performance of the UKMO ensemble improved in predicting the overall magnitude of the uncertainty, but its ability to predict the dominant uncertain forecast features was degraded. A comm...
Bruce M. Knauft, South Coast New Guinea Cultures: History, Comparison, Dialectic

IN THIS STUDY Bruce Knauft works hard to bridge the gap between different frameworks and modes of analysis in Melanesian anthropology, especially those that emphasize either “materialist” or “symbolist” approaches. Fighting his way through the problems of specificity versus generality that have been churned up through the set of approaches fuzzily labeled as postmodernist, he sets himself the task of reexamining the available data on a part of New Guinea earlier characterized as the home of exotica such as head-hunting and ritual homosexuality. His aim is to establish new generalizations that give a more coherent picture, and in particular to show how the south coast New Guinea cultures configure in comparison with those of the highlands region about whom other writers, such as Daryl Feil and Maurice Godelier as well as Gilbert Herdt, have produced earlier generalizations and comparisons. Well aware of the problems of inappropriate reification involved in synchronic objectivism, he nevertheless notes that the more dynamic and processual theories implicating “practice” “are not yet well developed” for comparative analysis (p. 5). Knauft recognizes also that ethnographies written at different times and from within different writing traditions cannot be simplistically utilized; rather, their conditions of pro-
A Data-Driven Approach for Daily Real-Time Estimates and Forecasts of Near-Surface Soil Moisture

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission provides global surface soil moisture retrievals with a revisit time of 2-3 days and a latency of 24 hours. Here, to enhance the utility of the SMAP data, we present an approach for improving real-time soil moisture estimates ("nowcasts") and for forecasting soil moisture several days into the future. The approach, which involves using an estimate of loss processes (evaporation and drainage) and precipitation to evolve the most recent SMAP retrieval forward in time, is evaluated against subsequent SMAP retrievals themselves. The nowcast accuracy over the continental United States (CONUS) is shown to be markedly higher than that achieved with the simple yet common persistence approach. The accuracy of soil moisture forecasts, which rely on precipitation forecasts rather than on precipitation measurements, is reduced relative to nowcast accuracy but is still significantly higher than that obtained through persistence.
Polyethylenimine Applications in Carbon Dioxide Capture and Separation: From Theoretical Study to Experimental Work

Solid absorbents made with polyethylenimine (PEI), which is loaded on different porous substrates, are promising for postcombustion carbon dioxide capture. Herein, theoretical studies of polyamine applications, including PEI for carbon dioxide capture, are reviewed and the development of experimental work on carbon dioxide capture by using PEI summarized. The mechanisms of carbon dioxide capture are discussed at different reaction sites of the polyamines, such as primary, secondary, and tertiary amine groups. Experimental achievements in carbon dioxide capture are investigated by the incorporation of PEI with different support materials, such as mesoporous silica; nanotubes; membranes; and other materials, such as alumina, zeolite, resin, metal–organic frameworks, and glass fibers, through impregnation, grafting, and synthesis. The excellent carbon dioxide capture capacity and great stability of PEI-impregnated nanomaterials highlight PEI as one of the greatest candidates for carbon dioxide capture from flue gas or air.
For goodness sake! What is intrinsic value and why should we care?

Abstract In recent years, conservation planning, policy, and communications have increasingly emphasized the human benefits, or “ecosystem services,” provided by nonhuman nature. In response to this utilitarian, anthropocentric framing, some conservationists have countered that nonhuman nature is valuable for more than its instrumental use to humans. In other words, these critics maintain that nonhuman nature has intrinsic value, which the ecosystem services paradigm fails to duly acknowledge. Proponents of the ecosystem services approach have responded in turn, either by proposing that intrinsic value can be integrated into the ecosystem services framework, or by justifying the pull away from intrinsic value on the grounds that it does not motivate broad support for conservation. We suggest these debates have been clouded by an ambiguous conceptualization of intrinsic value, which in fact has a rich intellectual heritage in philosophy and environmental ethics. We therefore review some of the major work from these literatures, to provide members of the conservation community with a deeper understanding of intrinsic value that, we hope, will inform more focused and productive discourse. Following this review, we highlight two common ways intrinsic value has been misinterpreted in recent debates around ecosystem services. As a result of these misinterpretations, we argue, the non-anthropocentric ethical concerns raised by many critics of the ecosystem services approach remain effectively unaddressed. We conclude by offering logical, practical, and moral reasons why the concept of intrinsic value continues to be relevant to conservationists, even and especially in the emerging ecosystem services paradigm.
Protecting bias: Across time and ecology, open-source bat locality data are heavily biased by distance to protected area

Open-source species locality data are widely used in species distribution modeling but may be spatially biased by uneven sampling effort across a species' range. Spatial biases may vary across ecological trait groups if traits affect associations with landscape features and capture probability. Furthermore, spatial biases may change across time as research priorities, funding, and methodologies change, which may confound modeling of temporal changes in distributions. We used locality records from 93 bat species from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to characterize the differential contribution of bias variables to spatial bias and how contribution varied across ecological trait groups. Next, we examined how historical changes in protected area proliferation, economic development, and sampling method advancement affected protected area and university biases. Roosting and foraging traits influenced spatial bias, but distance to protected areas was the greatest contributor to spatial sampling bias in a pooled model and 8 out of 10 ecological trait group models. Over time, distance to protected areas significantly decreased following protected area proliferation, but economic improvement did not influence distance to universities. Sampling method advancements increased protected area bias for two out of three foraging groups. Although sampling effort has increased over time, effort is becoming more biased towards protected areas, which may not encompass the entirety of species' ranges or allow for equal sampling across taxa. Characterizing spatial bias differences among species and across time clarifies underlying causes of spatial bias, information that can be leveraged to improve spatial bias correction.
A New Framework for Shortest Path Algorithms and its Applications

Abstract In the field of shortest path problems, many involve the application of a series of independent shortest path algorithms. In this paper we present a new framework for shortest path algorithm which exploits information from previous shortest path calculations. This framework enables the prioritizing of nodes with optimal distance labels (or minimum arrival time) to save the computation time. Different mechanisms to replenish the priority scan eligible list PSE are studied. Computer implementations and numerical results are presented.
Integrating AI components for a military planning application

We integrated three mature AI reasoning systems and several legacy military systems in order to provide human planners with advanced capabilities in a military planning domain. The integration demonstrates the operation of a diverse set of AI applications that present a unified system to a human planner in a realistic and meaningful context. We began with an operational planning support system and integrated into it AI components that filled technology gaps. These components, drawn from AI research laboratories, were a generative planner, a temporal reasoner and plan visualizer, and a knowledge-based plan critiquer. The resulting system uses a shared representation to support plan authoring, consistency checking, feasibility analysis, replanning, and visibility into the plan. The support provided is flexible and user controlled. We describe lessons learned from the simultaneous application and integration of mature AI research software, and for individual system components, primarily as they relate to the representation of plans.
Complex Modulation and Demodulation

This chapter discusses the techniques of complex modulation and demodulation through an intuitive approach. Modulation as a process in which data is mapped into symbols. The use of modulation constellations leads the problem of avoiding intersymbol interference, or the avoidance of symbols overlapping one another in time. The raised cosine filter is introduced as the solution, which have been plotted for several roll-off factors. The combined transmitter and receiver affects of the raised cosine filter are shown, leading to use of the square root of raised cosine filter.
Automated Domain Bias Correction and Its Application in Text-Based Personality Analysis*

Personality prediction based on textual data is one topic gaining attention recently for its potential in large-scale personalized applications such as social media-based marketing. However, when applying this technology in real-world applications, users often encounter situations in which the personality traits derived from different sources (e.g., social media posts versus emails) are inconsistent. Varying results for the same individual renders the technology ineffective and untrustworthy. In this paper, we demonstrate the impact of domain differences in automated text-based personality prediction. We also propose different approaches for domain error correction to meet different needs: (a) single or multi-domain correction and (b) outcome-based or input feature-based error correction. We conduct comprehensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. Our findings demonstrate a significant improvement of prediction accuracy with the proposed methods. (e.g., 20–30% relative error reduc...
Reflection of plane waves from the boundary of an initially stressed incompressible half-space

In this paper, nonlinear theory of elasticity is used to study the effect of initial stress on plane waves in an incompressible material. For this problem, the initial stress is not associated with...
Efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab/pertuzumab [TCH-P] in non-metastatic HER2+ breast cancer: The Cleveland Clinic experience.

531 Background: Pertuzumab is FDA approved for use in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy in women with non-metastatic HER2+ breast cancer. The TRYPHAENA trial repo...
Empirically Analyzing and Evaluating Security Features in Software Requirements

Software requirements, for complex projects, often contain specifications of non-functional attributes (e.g., security-related features). The process of analyzing such requirements for compliance is laborious and error prone. Due to the inherent free-flowing nature of software requirements, it is appealing to apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML)-based techniques for analyzing these documents. In this paper, we propose a semi-automatic methodology that assesses the security requirements of software systems with respect to completeness and ambiguity, creating a bridge between the requirements documents and being in compliance with standards. Security standards, such as ISO and OWASP, are compared against software project documents for textual entailment relationships. These entailment results along with the document annotations are used to train a Neural Network model to predict whether a given statement in the document is found within the security standard or not. Hence, this approach aims to identify the appropriate structures that underlie software requirements documents. Once such structures are formalized and empirically validated, they will provide guidelines to software organizations for generating comprehensive and unambiguous requirements specification documents as related to security-oriented features.
Aberrant Middle Prefrontal-Motor Cortex Connectivity Mediates Motor Inhibitory Biomarker in Schizophrenia.

Abstract Background Inhibitory deficits in motor cortex in schizophrenia have been well demonstrated using short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) by transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, it remains unknown whether these deficits originate from dysfunction of motor cortex itself or reflect abnormal modulations of motor cortex by other schizophrenia-related brain areas. Methods The study was completed by 24 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 30 healthy control subjects. SICI was obtained by delivering transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left motor cortex. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging fractional anisotropy were used to measure functional connectivity (FC) and white matter microstructures, respectively. Stimulation sites for SICI at motor cortex were used as the seeds to obtain whole-brain FC maps. Clinical symptoms were assessed with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Results In schizophrenia, left prefrontal cortex–motor cortex FC was inversely associated with SICI but positively associated with the underlying white matter microstructure at the left corona radiata and also associated with overall symptoms (all corrected p Conclusions Higher resting-state left prefrontal-motor cortex FC, accompanied by a higher fractional anisotropy of left corona radiata, predicted fewer inhibitory deficits, suggesting that the inhibitory deficits in motor cortex in schizophrenia may in part be mediated by a top-down prefrontal influence. SICI may serve as a robust biomarker indexing inhibitory dysfunction at anatomic as well as circuitry levels in schizophrenia.
Active Queue Management Mechanism Based on DiffServ in MPLS Networks

Active Queue Management is the key to congestion control and enhancing IP QoS. MRED can support MPLS networks and take advantage of classifying mechanism of DiffServ and mark different businesses with different drop precedence. However, it has several limitations. In this paper, I-AMRED is proposed in order to reduce packet loss ratio and raise throughput in MPLS networks based on DiffServ and MRED. Thus, it can also adaptively control average queue length, and diminish sensitiveness to control parameters and improve stability with the service flow bursts. Two experimental schemes are designed and implemented on NS-2. Experimental results show that I-AMRED algorithm increases throughput of networks and largely decreases packet loss ratio of AF PHB traffic. When data traffic is very large or sharply increased, the performance of throughput and packet loss ratio is improved greatly, and has better stability.
Abstract 16789: Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 is Predictive of Endothelial Dysfunction Measured as Digital Reactive Hyperemia

Background: Local hemostasis is regulated by the endothelium, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) acts as the main inhibitor of the fibrinolytic system. Production of PAI-1 is upregulated in chronic inflammatory states such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), and may reflect endothelial dysfunction. Digital reactive hyperemia (RHI) is a convenient test of microvascular and endothelial function. Lower RHI is associated with worse long term outcome. Whether levels of PAI-1 reflect microvascular function measured by RHI has not been studied. Methods: We measured CVD risk factors in 682 participants (mean age 51±9 years, 57% female) enrolled in the Morehouse-Emory Partnership to Eliminate Cardiovascular Health Disparities (META-Health) study. Levels of PAI-1 were examined as continuous, log-transformed values. Digital pulse wave amplitude during reactive hyperemia was assessed using the Endo-PAT 2000 device (Itamar Medical, Israel). Briefly, a reactive hyperemia index (RHI) was calculated as the ratio of baseline to post-hyperemic pulse wave after 5 minutes of forearm cuff inflation. RHI was used as both a continuous and dichotomous variable. Results: Median levels of PAI-1 were 13.3 (IQR 7.2, 26.3) ng/mL. Levels of PAI-1 correlated inversely with the RHI (r=-0.112, p=0.005). Participants with PAI-1 levels in the highest tertile had lower RHI compared to those in the lowest tertile (2.1±0.6 vs. 2.3±0.7, p=0.004). Furthermore, levels of PAI-1 in the highest tertile increased the odds of a RHI Conclusion: PAI-1 predicts lower RHI, indicating reduced digital microvascular reactivity that may be due to endothelial dysfunction. Since impaired RHI has been associated with worse long-term outcomes, this may be a useful tool for monitoring risk and following response to therapeutic PAI-1 antagonists