cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Vibrio cholerae trh Gene Is Coordinately Regulated In Vitro with Type III Secretion System Genes by VttRA/VttRB but Does Not Contribute to Caco2-BBE Cell Cytotoxicity

Numerous virulence factors have been associated with pathogenic non-O1/non-O139 serogroup strains of Vibrio cholerae. Among them are the thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and the TDH-related hemolysin (TRH), which share amino acid similarities to the TDH and TRH proteins of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, where they have been shown to contribute to pathogenesis. Although TDH and TRH homologs can be encoded on extrachromosomal elements in V. cholerae, type III secretion system (T3SS)-positive strains, such as AM-19226, carry a copy of trh within the T3SS genomic island. Transcriptional fusion analysis showed that in strain AM-19226, trh expression is regulated in a bile-dependent manner by a family of transmembrane transcriptional regulators that includes VttRA, VttRB, and ToxR. Genes encoding T3SS structural components are expressed under similar conditions, suggesting that within the T3SS genomic island, genes encoding proteins unrelated to the T3SS and loci involved in T3SS synthesis are coregulated. Despite similar in vitro expression patterns, however, TRH is not required for AM-19226 to colonize the infant mouse intestine, nor does it contribute to bile-mediated cytotoxicity when strain AM-19226 is cocultured with the mammalian cell line Caco2-BBE. Instead, we found that a functional T3SS is essential for AM-19226 to induce bile-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. Collectively, the results are consistent with a more minor role for the V. cholerae TRH in T3SS-positive strains compared to the functions attributed to the V. parahaemolyticus TDH and TRH proteins.
Silver metallization for advanced interconnects

Silver metal has the highest room-temperature electrical conductivity of any substance; however, it has found limited acceptance in the electronic industry (e.g., silver filled epoxy) due to the high rate of metal corrosion and migration causing dendrites and electrical failures. With decreasing transistor feature sizes, device-operating voltages have scaled down considerably. In this paper, the reliability of silver and potential benefits of silver metallization are discussed in terms of future trends in microelectronic interconnections. Experimental data supports existing reliability models indicating that electrochemical migration failure modes may not be operative at low voltages. Silver metal corrosion and migration are studied under accelerated test conditions to obtain a qualitative understanding of the failure mechanism.
Generalization Through the Recurrent Interaction of Episodic Memories: A Model of the Hippocampal System

In this article, we present a perspective on the role of the hippocampal system in generalization, instantiated in a computational model called REMERGE (recurrency and episodic memory results in generalization). We expose a fundamental, but neglected, tension between prevailing computational theories that emphasize the function of the hippocampus in pattern separation (Marr, 1971; McClelland, McNaughton, & O’Reilly, 1995), and empirical support for its role in generalization and flexible relational memory (Cohen & Eichenbaum, 1993; Eichenbaum, 1999). Our account provides a means by which to resolve this conflict, by demonstrating that the basic representational scheme envisioned by complementary learning systems theory (McClelland et al., 1995), which relies upon orthogonalized codes in the hippocampus, is compatible with efficient generalization—as long as there is recurrence rather than unidirectional flow within the hippocampal circuit or, more widely, between the hippocampus and neocortex. We propose that recurrent similarity computation, a process that facilitates the discovery of higher-order relationships between a set of related experiences, expands the scope of classical exemplar-based models of memory (e.g., Nosofsky, 1984) and allows the hippocampus to support generalization through interactions that unfold within a dynamically created memory space.
Adaptation of a CCR5-Using, Primary Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Isolate for CD4-Independent Replication

The gp120 envelope glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) promotes virus entry by sequentially binding CD4 and chemokine receptors on the target cell. Primary, clinical HIV-1 isolates require interaction with CD4 to allow gp120 to bind the CCR5 chemokine receptor efficiently. We adapted a primary HIV-1 isolate, ADA, to replicate in CD4-negative canine cells expressing human CCR5. The gp120 changes responsible for the adaptation were limited to alteration of glycosylation addition sites in the V2 loop–V1-V2 stem. The gp120 glycoproteins of the adapted viruses bound CCR5 directly, without prior interaction with CD4. Thus, a major function of CD4 binding in the entry of primary HIV-1 isolates can be bypassed by changes in the gp120 V1-V2 elements, which allow the envelope glycoproteins to assume a conformation competent for CCR5 binding.
Subbottom swath mapping with HAWAII MR1

The HIGP Acoustic Wide Angle Imaging Instrument Mapping Researcher 1 (HAWAII MR1) swath mapping sonar system was used to conduct an experiment applying synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) techniques to imaging objects beneath the seafloor. Potential applications of this technology include locating buried toxic wastes and removal of unexploded ordnance from weapons test ranges. The prime contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK) subcontracted to the Hawaii Mapping Research Group at HIGP to supply the sonar system used in the experiment. The objective was to combine the bottom-penetrating 12 kHz frequency and differential phase technique of HAWAII MR1 with SAS signal processing to enhance resolution and enable the detection and identification of buried objects over a swath of seafloor. HAWAII MR1 was originally designed for measuring acoustic backscatter and bathymetry in deep ocean across swaths up to 25 km wide. A number of modifications were necessary to adapt the system to this experiment. ATK provided a linear hydrophone array and two projectors, which were installed in the tow vehicle. The control and data acquisition electronics were modified to increase pulse repetition rates and decrease transmitted pulse widths while maintaining a constant phase with respect to the carrier frequency. The HAWAII MR1 attitude and depth sensors were supplemented with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Conductivity/Temperature/Depth sensors (CTD) supplied by ATK. HAWAII MR1 was towed at altitudes of 5-15 meters over a target field having a variety of targets proud and buried at depths of 1-4 feet. SAS processing carried out by ATK revealed distinct returns from cylinders beneath up to two feet of sand.
Increasing Academic Excellence and Enhancing Diversity Are Compatible Goals

It is possible to simultaneously increase academic excellence and diversity. This article describes how the theory of successful intelligence can be used to accomplish both of these goals. The theo...
Poly(pentamethylcyclopentasiloxane). I. Synthesis and characterization

We have discovered that pentamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D 5 H) can be readily polymerized into poly(pentmethylcyclopentasiloxane) (PD 5 ) with a Pt (Karstedt) catalyst in the presence of water in bulk or in solution at 100°C and that the product is a solid with extraordinary properties. The polymerization starts with the oxidation of the SiH groups by water into an intermediate containing SiOH groups (SiH + H 2 O → SiOH + H 2 ), which is followed immediately by the condensation (2SiO → Si-O-Si) of D 5 H rings into complex aggregates of cyclosiloxane moieties. According to Raman spectroscopy, an average of three of the five SiH functionalities are converted, and the final product contains only a negligible number of SiOH groups. The melting and glass-transition temperatures of the monomer are exceptionally low: T m,D5H = -137.6 ± 1 and T g,D5H = -152 ± 2 °C. The polymer exhibits an unprecedented combination of properties: it is a stiff and brittle solid, is insoluble in common solvents, does not exhibit a melting endotherm but has an extremely low glass transition (T g,PD5 = -151 ± 0.5 °C), and is thermally stable up to at least 700 °C. Brillouin scattering indicates very slow variation of the relaxation time with temperature, a property characteristic of strong glass-forming systems such as silica glass. This characteristic may account for the unique combination of properties of the new polymer: an extremely low glass-transition temperature combined with solidlike properties even at ambient temperature (more than twice its glass-transition temperature).
Is endogenous ouabain a physiological regulator of cardiovascular and renal function

attempts to understand the regulation of extracellular fluid volume by the kidney and how it is linked to the pathophysiology of hypertension led to the discovery of compounds in mammalian blood and tissues that resemble cardenolides and bufodienolides ([3][1]). These so-called endogenous digitalis-
A review of the economics of the prevention and control of rabies. Part 2: Rabies in dogs, livestock and wildlife.

Although rabies in domestic and wild animals represents a significant threat to public health and can cause economic losses among livestock, there are very few studies that examine the economics of rabies in animals. The literature that does exist can be characterised as poorly documented estimates of costs, with insufficient information to allow replication of the analyses. Most papers have numerous ‘violations’ of the standard recommended procedures for assessing burden of disease and the cost and benefits of interventions. For example, most studies do not distinguish between financial charges and true economic costs. Further, despite the fact that controlling rabies in animal populations is often a multi-year task, only a few papers contain a multi-year framework, complete with discounting of future costs and benefits.
Combinatorial Auction Design

Combinatorial auctions have two features that greatly affect their design: computational complexity of winner determination and opportunities for cooperation among competitors. Dealing with these forces trade-offs between desirable auction properties such as allocative efficiency, revenue maximization, low transaction costs, fairness, failure freeness, and scalability. Computational complexity can be dealt with algorithmically by relegating the computational burden to bidders, by maintaining fairness in the face of computational limitations, by limiting biddable combinations, and by limiting the use of combinatorial bids. Combinatorial auction designs include single-round, first-price sealed bidding, Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanisms, uniform and market-clearing price auctions, and iterative combinatorial auctions. Combinatorial auction designs must deal with exposure problems, threshold problems, ways to keep the bidding moving at a reasonable pace, avoiding and resolving ties, and controlling complexity.
Implementation variation and fidelity in an inquiry science program: Analysis of GLOBE data reporting patterns

This article examines variations in patterns in the enactment of a large-scale kindergarten through Grade 12 science inquiry program. Student data reports in the GLOBE program provide a useful measure of implementation because key design elements in the program are student collection and reporting of local environmental data. We examined associations among teachers' responses to survey items to patterns in GLOBE data reporting to develop hypotheses about important contextual factors related to program implementation. Implications for the study of science inquiry programs are discussed. 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 294-315, 2004
Characterization of 13 microsatellite markers for Calochortus gunnisonii (Liliaceae) from Illumina MiSeq sequencing.

Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were designed for Calochortus gunnisonii (Liliaceae), a montane lily species of the central and southern Rocky Mountains, using next-generation DNA sequencing. The markers will be used to investigate population structure, genetic diversity, and demographic history. Methods and Results: Thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated from C. gunnisonii using Illumina MiSeq next-generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatic screening. The mean number of alleles per locus ranged from 4.15 to 5.92 (avg. = 4.97). Observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.077 to 0.871 and 0.213 to 0.782, respectively. The primers were also tested for cross-species amplification value with C. flexuosus, C. nuttallii, C. kennedyi var. kennedyi, and C. subalpinus. Conclusions: These primers will be useful for genetic and evolutionary studies across C. gunnisonii's range within the southern and central Rocky Mountains. Furthermore, these markers have proven valuable for cro...
Laparoscopic varicocelectomy: preliminary report of a new technique.

AbstractThe use of varicocelectomy for the treatment of subfertility seems to be incontrovertible. However, there is a difference of opinion as to the proper surgical method of varicocele ablation. The inguinal and high retroperitoneal approaches are the most commonly accepted methods to date. However, significant postoperative morbidity is common and return to normal activity often is prolonged. Also, bilateral operations are being performed more commonly. These considerations have prompted many to search for alternative techniques.We developed a laparoscopic procedure that is as simple and effective as more traditional methods. In addition, it offers lower morbidity, allows for microscopic dissection with preservation of the spermatic artery and is amenable to bilateral ligation without a second incision. Ten patients 16 to 54 years old underwent laparoscopic ligation of the spermatic veins at the internal inguinal ring. The diagnosis was based on physical examination. Indications for the operation were...
An analysis of the finite differenced, even-parity, discrete ordinates equations in slab geometry

In this paper three spatial differencing schemes to be used with the even-parity, discrete ordinates, neutron transport equations are presented for the case of slab geometry and isotropic scattering and sources. These three schemes are analyzed in accordance with several desirable properties for spatial differencing schemes. The analyzed indicates that cell-edge differencing of the even-parity equations yields a second-order, positive method that satisfies most diffusion limits and leads to an iteration that can be readily accelerated with an effective diffusion synthetic algorithm. The analyses indicate that this approach is quite promising and should be further developed.
Author Attribution of Email Messages Using Parse-Tree Features

Most existing research on authorship attribution uses various types of lexical, syntactic, and structural features for classification. Some of these features are not meaningful for small texts such as email messages. In this paper we demonstrate a very effective use of a syntactic feature of an author's writing - text's parse tree characteristics - for authorship analysis of email messages. We define author templates consisting of context free grammar CFG production frequencies occurring in an author's training set of email messages. We then use similar frequencies extracted from a new email message to match against various authors' templates to identify the best match. We evaluate our approach on Enron email dataset and show that CFG production frequencies work very well and are robust in attributing the authorship of email messages.
Leopard: lightweight edge-oriented partitioning and replication for dynamic graphs

This paper introduces a dynamic graph partitioning algorithm, designed for large, constantly changing graphs. We propose a partitioning framework that adjusts on the fly as the graph structure changes. We also introduce a replication algorithm that is tightly integrated with the partitioning algorithm, which further reduces the number of edges cut by the partitioning algorithm. Even though the proposed approach is handicapped by only taking into consideration local parts of the graph when reassigning vertices, extensive evaluation shows that the proposed approach maintains a quality partitioning over time, which is comparable at any point in time to performing a full partitioning from scratch using a state-the-art static graph partitioning algorithm such as METIS. Furthermore, when vertex replication is turned on, edge-cut can improve by an order of magnitude.
Polymer Injection Molding: C-Mold

The injection-molding industry has recognized that computer-aided engineering (CAE) enhances an engineer?s ability to handle all aspects of the polymer injection-molding process, benefiting productivity, product quality, timeliness, and cost. The process behavior predicted by CAE can help novice engineers overcome the lack of previous experience and assist experienced engineers in that may otherwise be overlooked. By using CAE analysis to iterate and evaluate alternative designs and competing materials, engineering know-how in the form of design guidelines can be established relatively faster and more cost-effectively. This is illustrated by a wealth of literature and the ever-growing number of CAE software users in the injection-molding industry which has been highlighted in the article. Also the CAE software C-MOLD and the modeling of the thermoplastic injection moulding with the help of the software discussed briefly.
Time from Screening Mammography to Biopsy and from Biopsy to Breast Cancer Treatment among Black and White, Women Medicare Beneficiaries Not Participating in a Health Maintenance Organization.

Abstract Purpose There is a breast cancer mortality gap adversely affecting Black women in the United States. This study assessed the relationship between number of days between abnormal mammogram, biopsy, and treatment among Medicare (Part B) beneficiaries ages 65 to 74 and 75 to 84 years, accounting for race and comorbidity. Methods A cohort of non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White women residing in the continental United States and receiving no services from a health maintenance organization was randomly selected from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services denominator file. The cohort was followed from 2005 to 2008 using Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services claims data. The sample included 4,476 women (weighted n = 70,731) with a diagnosis of breast cancer. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to identify predictors of waiting times. Findings Black women had a mean of 16.7 more days between biopsy and treatment (p Conclusions Medical care delays may contribute, in part, to the widening breast cancer mortality gap between Black women and White women. Further study, with additional clinical and social information, is needed to broaden scientific understanding of racial determinants and assess the clinical significance of mammogram to treatment times among Medicare beneficiaries.
Performance of a GSM/GPRS System Subject to Interference

In this paper, we present a performance analysis of an integrated voice/data access system in a GSM/GPRS network, where the radio channels are subject to transmission impairments. Circuit-switched GSM voice and packet-switched GPRS data users share the N channels, with priority given to voice. We incorporate transmission impairments by a Markovian two-state channel model, where one state is characterized by a very low BER (good state), and the other by a much higher BER (bad state). The results indicate that the delay performance of the GPRS data users can be drastically affected by the channel impairments
Genome-wide survey of single-nucleotide polymorphisms reveals fine-scale population structure and signs of selection in the threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata

The advent of next-generation sequencing tools has made it possible to conduct fine-scale surveys of population differentiation and genome-wide scans for signatures of selection in non-model organisms. Such surveys are of particular importance in sharply declining coral species, since knowledge of population boundaries and signs of local adaptation can inform restoration and conservation efforts. Here, we use genome-wide surveys of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, to reveal fine-scale population structure and infer the major barrier to gene flow that separates the eastern and western Caribbean populations between the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. The exact location of this break had been subject to discussion because two previous studies based on microsatellite data had come to differing conclusions. We investigate this contradiction by analyzing an extended set of 11 microsatellite markers including the five previously employed and discovered that one of the original microsatellite loci is apparently under selection. Exclusion of this locus reconciles the results from the SNP and the microsatellite datasets. Scans for outlier loci in the SNP data detected 13 candidate loci under positive selection, however there was no correlation between available environmental parameters and genetic distance. Together, these results suggest that reef restoration efforts should use local sources and utilize existing functional variation among geographic regions in ex situ crossing experiments to improve stress resistance of this species.
FONTES DE MATÉRIA ORGÂNICA COMO ALTERNATIVA NA MELHORIA DAS CARACTERÍSTICAS QUÍMICAS DO SOLO E PRODUTIVIDADE DO CAPIM-MOMBAÇA

O experimento foi realizado no municipio de Araguatins, estado do Tocantins, com o objetivo de avaliar a melhoria das caracteristicas quimicas do solo e produtividade do capim-Mombaca (Panicum maximum cv. Mombaca) com a utilizacao de diferentes fontes de materia orgânica (MO). O delineamento realizado foi em blocos casualizados com seis tratamentos (esterco de galinha-EG, esterco bovino-EB, serragem de madeira-SG, residuo de leguminosa (Calopogonium mucunoides)-LG, serrapilheira-SE e residuo de capim-Mombaca-CM), e um tratamento testemunha-TE sem aplicacao de residuo orgânico, com quatro repeticoes. A fertilidade do solo foi melhorada com a utilizacao das fontes de MO, observando-se aumentos nos teores de saturacao por bases e no fosforo residual disponivel. A produtividade do capim-Mombaca tambem foi influenciada pela adubacao orgânica, exceto para o tratamento SE. O EG foi a fonte de MO que mais contribuiu para o aumento da producao de materia seca total da parte aerea (MST) da pastagem em estudo, enquanto que a LG foi a fonte de MO de origem vegetal que mais proporcionou melhoria na fertilidade do solo como na produtividade de MST do capim-Mombaca.
Cognitive Diagnosis for Small Educational Programs: The General Nonparametric Classification Method.

The focus of cognitive diagnosis (CD) is on evaluating an examinee’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of cognitive skills learned and skills that need study. Current methods for fitting CD models (CDMs) work well for large-scale assessments, where the data of hundreds or thousands of examinees are available. However, the development of CD-based assessment tools that can be used in small-scale test settings, say, for monitoring the instruction and learning process at the classroom level has not kept up with the rapid pace at which research and development proceeded for large-scale assessments. The main reason is that the sample sizes of the small-scale test settings are simply too small to guarantee the reliable estimation of item parameters and examinees’ proficiency class membership. In this article, a general nonparametric classification (GNPC) method that allows for assigning examinees to the correct proficiency classes with a high rate when sample sizes are at the classroom level is proposed as an extension of the nonparametric classification (NPC) method (Chiu and Douglas in J Classif 30:225–250, 2013). The proposed method remedies the shortcomings of the NPC method and can accommodate any CDM. The theoretical justification and the empirical studies are presented based on the saturated general CDMs, supporting the legitimacy of using the GNPC method with any CDM. The results from the simulation studies and real data analysis show that the GNPC method outperforms the general CDMs when samples are small.
Bands and Band Gaps in Solids

The distinction between valence and conduction bands is discussed. Insulators, semiconductors, metals. Electrons and holes definition. Effective mass; sign convention of charge, mass and mobility. Semi-metals and narrow gap semiconductors. Band parameters for typical semiconductors, table. Constant energy surfaces in Brillouin zones. Effective mass in real bands, in conduction and valence bands for various semiconductors, table. Band gaps and higher bands in typical semiconductors, tables. Hole effective mass and valence band splitting for typical semiconductors, splitting, table. Probing of bands and measuring effective masses with cyclotron resonance is discussed. Distinction of momentum effective mass, and effective mass at higher energies is given the band gap discussion, diagram for different types of semiconductors. Band gap variation with temperature and pressure, with alloy composition; gap bending, table of bowing parameters. Direct and indirect band gap discussion and table. Gap narrowing with heavy doping, shift of Fermi level into gap. Bands in superlattices. Mini bands, electron transport. Bands in ultrathin superlattices. Density of states in mini bands. One- two- and zero-dimensional quantum wells. Electronic states in micro crystallites. Bands in amorphous semiconductors. Use of supercomputers is indicated.
Design and analysis of hard real-time systems

First, we study hard real-time scheduling problems where each task is defined by a four tuple (r, c, p, d): r being its release time, c computation time, p period, and d deadline. The question is whether all tasks can meet their deadlines on one processor. If not, how many processors are needed? For the one-processor problem, we prove two sufficient conditions for a (restricted) periodic task set to meet deadlines. The two conditions can be applied to both preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling, in sharp contrast to earlier results. If a periodic task set can meet deadlines under any algorithm which does not idle the processor as long as there are tasks ready to execute, it must satisfy our second condition. We also prove a necessary condition for a periodic task set to meet deadlines under any scheduling algorithm. We present a method for transforming a sporadic task to an equivalent periodic task. The transformation method is optimal with respect to non-preemptive scheduling. With this method, all results on scheduling periodic task sets can be applied to sets of both periodic and sporadic tasks. For the scheduling problem in distributed memory systems, we propose various heuristic algorithms which try to use as few processors as possible to meet deadlines. Although our algorithms are non-preemptive, our simulation results show that they can outperform the heuristic algorithms based on the famous preemptive rate monotonic algorithm in terms of the number of used processors and processor utilization rate. Second, we describe a hard real-time software development environment, called HaRTS, which consists of a design tool and a scheduling tool. The design tool supports a hierarchical design diagram which combines the control and data flow of a hard real-time application. The design diagram is quite intuitive, and yet it can be automatically translated into Ada$\sp{\rm TM}$ code and analyzed for schedulability. The scheduling tool schedules precedence-constrained periodic task sets and simulates the task execution with highly animated user interfaces, which goes beyond the traditional way of examining a schedule as a static Gantt chart.
Electronic Structure of Linear Charge Transfer Solids

Until recently organic conductors were so scarce that recipes for their synthesis were deemed necessary. Now these recipes seem quaint as organic and polymeric conductors multiply.1 Segregated, rather than mixed, stacking of π-molecular donors (D) and acceptors (A) is indeed required. But conducting polymers show crystallinity not to be essential, while excellent D2X conductors and superconductors have neither crystallographically equivalent sites nor strictly equal transfer integrals t. The physical idea of facile charge fluctuations among nearly equivalent, partly-filled sites supercedes any mathematical statement of equality. Polarizable counter ions, disorder, dimensionality, overlap patterns, etc. have all provided useful but limited insights.
Assessment as a Context for Student Engagement

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the ways in which assessment-related instructional practices empirically and theoretically link to student motivation and engagement. We discuss these links in three sections. First, we briefly look at the history of standardized testing in America’s schools, drawing connections between the use of testing in practice and student motivation. Next, we look at research on classroom-based assessment practices to discuss how they connect to student motivation. We organize our discussion according to summative and formative distinctions, concluding that summative testing systems tend to connect with traditional motivation processes such as goals and efficacy-related beliefs, whereas formative systems tend to connect with engagement-related processes such as self-regulated learning and self-determination. In the last section, we extrapolate from lessons learned in previous sections to hypothesize on the ways in which high-stakes testing practices may undermine student motivation and engagement.
Predicting Time to First Treatment in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Using Machine Learning Survival and Classification Methods

Dealing with censored data is an important consideration for disease prognosis modeling. This is particularly true when diseases have highly heterogeneous presentations and prognosis. Algorithms used to develop prognostic models must be robust to censored data. We explore methods to deal with censoring in a highly heterogeneous disease – chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Although survival analysis is the standard method for estimating survival times, binary classifiers can potentially yield better predictive accuracy, depending on the outcome specified.
How to Marginalize Criminal Trials Without Pretrial Discovery

In the early twentieth century, both civil and criminal cases were resolved by trial roughly twenty percent of the time. In the early twenty-first, the trial rates for both dockets hover around two or three percent. The predominant explanation for “disappearing trial” in civil litigation is the advent of broad pretrial discovery initiated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Trials were once necessary not only to settle factual disputes but also to generate evidence of the facts. Discovery rules empowered parties to gather virtually all evidence before trial, which turned out to lead to the parties to settle in nearly all cases and pushed the trial toward obsolescence. The federal criminal justice system never adopted discovery rules remotely as broad as the civil model. For decades, neither did state systems; most still have not. What, then, explains criminal adjudication’s ability to match the civil system in replacing trials with settlements? Law enforcement has considerable evidence-gathering authority wholly separate from pretrial discovery rules, and technology provides new forms of evidence where formerly none existed. Those make up for civil discovery tools to find or create evidence. But criminal process is lacks civil procedure’s other component — interparty disclosure obligations, which are crucial to facilitating settlements. And unlike civil discovery, evidence-gathering tools are provided equally to both parties. These deficiencies should undermine the criminal justice system’s capacity to achieve phenomenally high rates of negotiated dispositions, yet they do not. This article makes the case that the answer lies in the distinctively coercive practices of plea-bargaining that arose in the 1980s, which soon triggered a sharp rise in guilty pleas and decline in trials. It describes how hard-bargaining tactics effectively substitute for broad discovery as a means to achieve settlements, but at a cost. While civil litigation replicates the adversarial examination of evidence in the pretrial stage that formerly occurred at trial, criminal litigation often does not, resulting in settlements that are induced by the excessive risks attached to declining them and that rest on evidence that escapes evaluation by both courts and the defense.
Characterization and Evaluation of 3.3 kV 5 A SiC MOSFET for Solid-State Transformer Applications

The SiC MOSFETs are replacing Si IGBTs in power electronics applications due to its several intrinsic features, such as higher temperature operation availability, higher breakdown electric field and higher switching speed. However, for the medium voltage range above 1.7 kV, the SiC MOSFETs are still at their early development stage and are not ready for commercialization. This paper presents the characterization and evaluation of 3.3 kV, 5 A SiC MOSFETs. They are the samples from GeneSiC and are not commercialized yet. Static and dynamic tests are performed for the device at different working conditions. For static tests, I-V characteristics, Rds(on) and parasitic capacitors characteristics were recorded for different temperatures. The dynamic tests were done with a Double Pulse Tester (DPT) with an inductive load up to 1.8 kV. The switching speed and switching loss are evaluated and analyzed for different conditions. A simple energy effective and charge effective Coss calculation method through DPT test results is proposed. The test results show its potential in medium voltage applications, especially in multistage cascaded topology.
226 THE INCIDENCE OF MIGRAINES IN PATIENTS WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE.

Objectives To examine the incidence of migraine headaches (MHAs) in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). Background MHA affect 12% of adults (18% of women and 6% of men). The presence of right-to-left communication provides a potential conduit for chemical substances to bypass the pulmonary filter, enter the cerebral circulation, and induce MHA. MHA were evaluated in patients with CHD before and after surgical correction of their defect to establish an association between CHD and MHA. Methods 2,401 patients were seen at the Ahmanson Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center at UCLA; 517 (22%) were successfully contacted, and 238 (46%) participated in the study. Patients were stratified based on the presence and direction of intracardiac shunting as determined by echocardiography and angiography. Results The incidence of MHA (36.3%) was three times higher in patients with CHD compared with historical controls (12%). Of 81 people who reported MHA, 67 (82.6%) experienced migraines with aura and 14 (17.4%) experienced migraines without aura. MHA were present in 31 (39.3%) patients with no shunt, 25 (31.6%) patients with right-to-left shunts, and 25 (38.5%) patients with left-to-right shunts. Conclusions There was a threefold increase in the incidence of MHA in patients with CHD compared with historical controls. There was no significant difference in the incidence of MHA between patients with right-to-left, left-to-right, or no shunts. The higher incidence of MHA in CHD patients, especially MHA with aura, suggests that genes that control the embryology of CHD may also predispose patients to develop MHA.
Design of Hardware-Friendly Memory Enhanced Neural Networks

Neural networks with external memories have been proven to minimize catastrophic forgetting, a major problem in applications such as lifelong and few-shot learning. However, such memory enhanced neural networks (MENNs) often require a large number of floating point-based cosine distance metric calculations to perform necessary attentional operations, which greatly increases energy consumption and hardware cost. This paper investigates other distance metrics in such neural networks in order to achieve more efficient hardware implementations in MENNs. We propose using content addressable memories (CAMs) to accelerate and simplify attentional operations. Our hardware friendly approach implements fixed point L ∞ distance calculations via ternary content addressable memories (TCAM) and fixed point L 1 and L 2 distance calculations on a general purpose graphical processing unit (GPGPU). As a representative example, a 32-bit floating point-based cosine distance MENN with M • D multiplications has a 99.06% accuracy for the Omniglot 5-way 5-shot classification task. Based on our approach, with just 4-bit fixed point precision, a L ∞ - L 1 distance hardware accuracy of 90.35% can be achieved with just 16 TCAM lookups and 16•D addition and subtraction operations. With 4-bit precision and a L ∞ -L 2 distance, hardware classification accuracies of 96.00% are possible. Hence, 16 TCAM lookups and 16•D multiplication operations are needed. Assuming the hardware memory has 512 entries, the number of multiplication operations is reduced by 32x versus the cosine distance approach.
Multi-factor congressional vote prediction

In recent times we have seen a trend of having the ideologies of the two dominant political parties in the U.S. growing further and further apart. Simultaneously we have entered the age of big data raising enormous interest in computational approaches to solve problems in many domains such as political elections. However, an overlooked problem lies in predicting what happens once our elected officials take office, more specifically, predicting the congressional votes, which are perhaps the most influential decisions being made in the U.S. This, nevertheless, is far from a trivial task, since the congressional system is highly complex and heavily influenced by both ideological and social factors. Thus, dedicated efforts are required to first effectively identify and represent these factors, then furthermore capture the interactions between them. To this end, we proposed a robust end-to-end framework Multi-Factor Congressional Vote Prediction (MFCVP) that defines and encodes features from indicative ideological factors while also extracting novel social features. This allows for a principled expressive representation of the complex system, which ultimately leads to MFCVP making accurate vote predictions. Experimental results on a dataset from the U.S. House of Representatives shows the superiority of MFCVP to several representatives approaches when predicting votes for individual representatives and also the overall outcome of the bill voted on. Finally, we perform a factor analysis to understand the effectiveness and interplay between the different factors.
Modeling robust and efficient coding in the mouse primary visual cortex using computational perturbations

Investigating how visual inputs are encoded in visual cortex is important for elucidating the roles of cell populations in circuit computations. We here use a recently developed, large-scale model of mouse primary visual cortex (V1) and perturb both single neurons as well as functional- and cell-type defined population of neurons to mimic equivalent optogenetic perturbations. First, perturbations were performed to study the functional roles of layer 2/3 excitatory neurons in inter-laminar interactions. We observed activity changes consistent with the canonical cortical model (Douglas and Martin 1991). Second, single neuron perturbations in layer 2/3 revealed a center-surround inhibition-dominated effect, consistent with recent experiments. Finally, perturbations of multiple excitatory layer 2/3 neurons during visual stimuli of varying contrasts indicated that the V1 model has both efficient and robust coding features. The circuit transitions from predominantly broad like-to-like inhibition at high contrasts to predominantly specific like-to-like excitation at low contrasts. These in silico results demonstrate how the circuit can shift from redundancy reduction to robust codes as a function of stimulus contrast.
Seeking justice rooted in truth, reconciliation and forgiveness

This paper presents an overview of the philosophy and implementation of restorative justice practices, the challenges and accomplishments of which we examine across the arc of the twentieth and eme...
Answer to August 2020 Photo Quiz.

Answer: Pulmonary and cardiovascular manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was found to be present by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) targeting N1 and N2 gene products, performed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on a
The Corrosion of 6061 Aluminum Under Heat Transfer Conditions in the ANS Corrosion Test Loop

The corrosion of aluminum alloy fuel cladding in ultrahigh flux research reactors such as the Advanced Neutron Source may pose special temperature and structural problems associated with the buildup of reaction products during the lifetime of the core. In order to ensure that both the fuel and cladding integrity are maintained for the special conditions to be imposed on the ANS fuel plates, an experimental facility was constructed that permits the examination of material behavior for a wide range of thermal-hydraulic conditions, particularly high heat flux (to 20 MW/m{sup 2}) and coolant velocity (to 35m/sec). Tests have been conducted on specimens of 6061 aluminum that yielded meaningful comparisons to earlier data (i.e., High Flux Isotope Reactor and Advanced Test Reactor) and illustrated several important aspects of the process. In addition to the direct measurements of temperature response, these tests indicated that the film growth rate and morphology were sensitive to the heat flux and coolant water chemistry, as well as other system temperatures. The corrosion products were mainly boehmite (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}{center dot}H{sub 2}O) and an iron-rich barrier-type layer on the outer surface of the boehmite, which appeared to form in certain instances as a consequence of mass transport frommore » the cooler sections of the loop. Eventually, also depending upon the particular coolant and heat-transfer conditions, the films underwent spallation; and this event was followed by an aggressive internal reaction in the alloy underlying the film.« less
XK is a partner for VPS13A: a molecular link between Chorea-Acanthocytosis and McLeod Syndrome

Vps13 is a highly conserved lipid transfer protein found at multiple interorganelle membrane contact sites where it mediates distinct processes. In yeast, recruitment of Vps13 to different contact sites occurs via various partner proteins. In humans, four VPS13 family members, A-D, are associated with different diseases. In particular, vps13A mutants result in the neurodegenerative disorder Chorea-Acanthocytosis (ChAc). ChAc phenotypes resemble those of McLeod Syndrome, caused by mutations in the XK gene, suggesting that XK could be a partner protein for VPS13A. XK does, in fact, exhibit hallmarks of a VPS13A partner: it forms a complex with VPS13A in human cells and, when overexpressed, relocalizes VPS13A from lipid droplets to subdomains of the endoplasmic reticulum. Introduction of two different ChAc disease-linked missense mutations into VPS13A prevents this XK-induced relocalization. These results suggest that dysregulation of a VPS13A-XK complex is the common basis for ChAc and McLeod Syndrome.
Can democracy work for the poor

Millions of the world’s poorest people now live in middle-income democracies that, in theory, could use their resources to end extreme poverty. However, citizens in those countries have not succeed...
Control Technique for High-Frequency Soft-Switching Three-Phase Inverter Under Grid Fault Condition

This paper presents a control method for three-phase inverter under grid fault condition based on a novel critical conduction mode (CRM)-based soft-switching modulation. In the soft-switching modulation, one phase is clamped to dc bus, other two phases operate in CRM and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), respectively. The soft-switching technique with silicon carbide (SiC) power devices allows the inverter to operate at hundreds of kHz with high efficiency by reducing switching loss. In order to extend the modulation scheme to more practical cases, behavior of the inverter under grid fault conditions, specifically voltage sag, is investigated. During voltage sag, the grid voltage becomes unbalanced requiring unbalanced ac current reference for the avoidance of output active power oscillation. With the unbalanced grid voltage and ac current reference, continuous conduction mode (CCM) operation occurs where DCM operation is intended leading to high turn-on loss. To eliminate the CCM operation and reduce the turn-on loss, an improved modulation technique is proposed by using off-time extension concept in CRM phase. In this paper, how the CCM operation appears under grid fault condition, and details of the proposed control are discussed. Performance of the proposed control method is validated experimentally with SiC-based three -phase inverter laboratory prototype.
Invasive Woody Plants and Their Effects on Arthropods in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities

Invasive plant introductions are increasing globally, and trends in human activity suggest these increases will continue. Although we know much about interactions between invasive herbaceous plants and arthropod communities, there is a dearth of knowledge examining interactions between invasive woody plants and arthropod communities. What information does exist shows that invasive woody plant relationships with mutualists (e.g., pollinators), herbivores, twig- and stem-borers, leaf-litter and soil-dwelling arthropods, and other arthropod groups are complex and hint at multiple factors influencing effects. These relationships warrant additional attention to allow better prioritization of species for research and regulatory review. Chinese tallow tree, e.g., is renowned for its attractiveness to honeybees, whereas reduced pollinator populations are found among other invasive woody plants such as privet. The unknown driving mechanisms and interactions that create these differences represent a substantial gap in knowledge and warrant additional research. Our objectives are to review current knowledge regarding invasive woody plants and their interactions with various arthropod groups in the United States, outline future research needs, and present a call to action regarding invasive woody plant research.