cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fiber texture of sputter deposited molybdenum films and structural zone model

Abstract The texture orientation of 2.5, 5, and 100 nm thick Mo films grown by sputter deposition on SiO2 membranes at room temperature has been studied quantitatively using transmission electron microscopy. The sample tilt angle dependent diffraction patterns of these films revealed a fiber texture with the [110] out-of-plane direction for all film thicknesses. Films grown at different sputtering power and substrate–target distance showed a similar texture orientation. These results would imply that the growth was in zone II, according to the microstructure classification of the structural zone model. This is in contrast to the conventional assignment of zone I for Mo deposition at room temperature based on the low Mo homologous temperature of ∼0.1. It was found that texture dispersion was reduced as the thickness of the film increased. Possible mechanisms, including energetic particles bombardment during growth, which could affect the surface mobility and texture of the films, were discussed.
Influence of Coal Dust on Premixed Turbulent Methane-Air Flames

Abstract This study discusses the design of a new experimental platform, the Hybrid Flame Analyzer (HFA) to measure burning velocity of gas, dust, and hybrid (gas and dust) premixed flames. The HFA is used to analyze a particle–gas–air system of coal dust particles (75–90 μm and 106–120 μm) in a premixed CH 4 –air ( ϕ g = 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2) flame. Experimental results show that particles usually increase the turbulent burning velocity. Smaller particle sizes and larger concentrations (>50 g/m 3 ) increase turbulent burning velocity compared with larger particle sizes and lower concentration ranges. The experimental data is used to develop a correlation similar to turbulent gas flames to help modeling of the complex behavior.
Meadows on the Way to Mars Creating Future Spaceflight Capabilities

This article addresses factors that will influence future human spaceflight missions. A fictional Mars expedition vignette highlights how a future Mars expedition may be tied to societal challenges and research priorities on Earth. Historical aspects of the Apollo era are used to emphasize sociotechnical factors that can influence goals, priorities, and larger societal effects of spaceflight. Current cultural and technology factors will strongly affect spaceflight in the year 2035. However, sociotechnical disruptions influence the robustness of mission planning efforts. The goal is to recognize and prepare for a range of possible futures affecting spaceflight mission scenarios.
More Bad News for the Logical Autonomy of Ethics

A conclusion containing an 'ought7 cannot (as a matter of logic) be derived from 'ought'-free premises. (The same, of course, goes for the other moral words.) Logic is conservative; the conclusions of a valid inference are contained within the premises. You don't get out what you haven't put in. Hence if 'ought' appears in the conclusion of an argument but not in the premises, the inference is not logically valid.'2
Focusing on Health Care and Trade

The Democrats regained control of Congress in November in part as a result of the corruption and incompetence of the Republicans, but also in part because of their promises to make things better for the average family. Their ability to stay in power will depend on their ability to make good on these promises. Two areas that are central to the economic security of average workers are health-care reform and trade policy. The Democrats will have to put forward a clear progressive agenda in these areas if they expect to be taken seriously in future elections.
Using the patient safety indicators to detect potential safety events among US veterans with psychotic disorders: clinical and research implications

Objective. Patients with psychotic disorders often experience poorer health outcomes, but whether they experience increased risks of medical errors/patient safety events is less clear. A single state-level US study found acute care inpatients with schizophrenia were at higher risk of incurring some of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) patient safety indicators (PSIs). We examined a nationwide sample of US Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) acute care inpatients to determine the rates observed among patients with psychotic disorders for a larger set of PSIs.
Postnatal Alterations of Cardiac Rhythm

Knowledge of the clinical phenomena discussed in this paper should be at the listening end of every stethoscope used on a newborn baby.
An Excel forecasting model to aid in decision making that affects hospital resource/bed utilization - hospital capability to admit emergency room patients

In complex systems it is difficult to discern the effects of interactions among component parts. Analysts can use Microsoft Excel for a preliminary assessment of internal systems dynamics. Often, in the hospital environment early data identification surfaces as rate estimates - admits per hour versus discharges per hour. For example, management may wish to assess capability to accommodate patients discharged from the emergency department for subsequent admission to the department of medicine (DOM) as well as demands on DOM bed capacity from other sources. This paper explores conceptual development and practical application of the spreadsheet model. Particular features include: constructing lookup tables by hour of day containing estimates of minimum and maximum rates, using the randbetween function to randomly select model inputs from a uniform distribution, developing frequency distributions to assist in output interpretation, illustrating conditional formatting, output graphing, etc. One can observe multiple samples of hourly patient fluctuations based on unit open beds and midnight census. Number of patients waiting can be shown at varying levels of system utilization. As utilization approaches approximately eighty percent, patient waiting time increases disproportionately. The spreadsheet model is a dynamic, visual illustration of how variation in individual process times can affect total process capability. Its use is primarily intended as a teaching tool for those new to simulation modeling.
On the Dynamics of Automobile Drifting

Driving at large angles of sideslip does not necessarily indicate terminal loss of control, rather, it is the fundamental objective of the sport of drifting. Drift racing challenges drivers to navigate a course in a sustained sideslip by exploiting coupled nonlinearities in the tire force response. The current study explores some of the physical parameters affecting drift motion, both in simulation and experiment. Combined-slip tire models are used to develop nonlinear models of a drifting vehicle in order to illustrate the conditions necessary for stability. Experimental drift testing is conducted to observe the dynamics featured in the track data. An accelerometer array on the test vehicle measures the acceleration vector field in order to estimate the vehicle states throughout the drift testing. Neural networks are used to identify the patterns in the accelerations that correspond to sideslip excursions during drifts. These estimates combined with computations of angular acceleration, yaw rate, and lateral acceleration build a framework for identifying the dynamics in terms of physical parameters and stability and control derivatives. The research developments are intended to support a future study quantifying the effects of vehicle configuration changes on drift capability as related to performance potential and handling qualities.
Role of Community Colleges in the Implementation of Postsecondary Education Enrollment Policies for Undocumented Students

This article examines the case of how the City University of New York (CUNY)—its central administrative offices and two of its community colleges—has addressed the issue of college access for undocumented immigrants in its implementation of New York’s college in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policy for this population. It highlights the role of implementers—those individuals who make day-to-day decisions and whose responsibility it is to carry out mandates—and policy ambiguity in the execution of policies. A total of 19 individuals ranging from interest group representatives, local community-based organization officials, CUNY central administrative office officials, and staff from two community colleges were interviewed. This investigation finds that CUNY’s central administrative offices have devoted a fair amount of resources on disseminating the availability of ISRT for undocumented immigrants and attempts to ensure proper institutional implementation of the state’s policy as interpreted by its system-l...
Design contest overview: Combined architecture for network stream categorization and intrusion detection (CANSCID)

This year we received 8 submissions for our Deep Packet Inspection problem. 6 submissions used FPGAs, and 2 used GP-GPUs. The organizers find it significant that no team submitted a software-only solution that did not use some kind of hardware accelerator— an indication that software alone could not meet the required line rate. This year the contest ended in a tie. Congratulations to the joint winners, Team Sasao Lab and Team Limenators, each having implemented 140 patterns while maintaining line rate. Additionally, Team Sasao Lab was the only team to use an NFA approach rather than DFAs for matching the regular expressions. Full results are given in Table II. The performance of the two winners was verified by the organizers using undisclosed test inputs. The performance of the other teams is self-reported.
Short on phosphate: plant surveillance and countermeasures.

Metabolism depends on inorganic phosphate (Pi) as reactant, allosteric effector and regulatory moiety in covalent protein modification. To cope with Pi shortage (a common situation in many ecosystems), plants activate a set of adaptive responses to enhance Pi recycling and acquisition by reprogramming metabolism and restructuring root system architecture. The physiology of Pi starvation responses has become well understood, and so current research focuses on the initial molecular events that sense, transmit and integrate information about external and internal Pi status. Recent studies have provided evidence for Pi as a signaling molecule and initial insight into the coordination of Pi deficiency responses at the cellular and molecular level.
Segmentation-based noise suppression for speech coders using auxiliary sensors

Despite the significant progress, low perceptual quality of encoded noisy speech is still an unsolved problem. The quality problem at noisy environments is addressed for MELP speech encoder by using a novel speech enhancement algorithm at the front-end. The speech signal is segmented into broad phonetic classes using auxiliary sensors in addition to the acoustic microphone. Each phoneme class is enhanced by suppressing maximum noise while minimally distorting perceptually important cues using the acoustic-phonetic knowledge about the class. The A/B quality test shows significant improvement over the MELPe coder that uses MMSE algorithm for enhancement.
CERTAIN FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF MICROWAVE AND HOT‐WATER PROCESSED CRAMBE MEALS

Thioglucosidase was inactivated by hot-water or microwave heating in whole crambe seeds. The seed was dehulled, hexane-extracted to remove the oil, and washed with water to produce low glucosinolate (<l%) crambe meals containing approximately 60% protein. functional properties of crambe meals, including nitrogen solubility, water absorption, and fat absorption properties were investigated and compared to soy protein products. There was no significant difference between the nitrogen solubility of crambe meals, regardless of the method used to inactivate thioglucosidase. Crambe meals were more soluble than soy protein products at pH 3 to 6. Water absorption and fat absorption properties of crambe meals were comparable to soy protein products.
Temporary Inactivation of the Retrosplenial Cortex Causes a Transient Reorganization of Spatial Coding in the Hippocampus

The ability to navigate accurately is dependent on the integration of visual and movement-related cues. Navigation based on metrics derived from movement is referred to as path integration. Recent theories of navigation have suggested that posterior cortical areas, the retrosplenial and posterior parietal cortex, are involved in path integration during navigation. In support of this hypothesis, we have found previously that temporary inactivation of retrosplenial cortex results in dark-selective impairments on the radial maze (Cooper and Mizumori, 1999). To understand further the role of the retrosplenial cortex in navigation, we combined temporary inactivation of retrosplenial cortex with recording of complex spike cells in the hippocampus. Thus, behavioral performance during spatial memory testing could be compared with place-field responses before, and during, inactivation of retrosplenial cortex. In the first experiment, behavioral results confirmed that inactivation of retrosplenial cortex only impairs radial maze performance in darkness when animals are at asymptote levels of performance. A second experiment revealed that retrosplenial cortex inactivation impaired spatial learning during initial light training. In both experiments, the normal location of hippocampal "place fields" was changed by temporary inactivation of retrosplenial cortex, whereas other electrophysiological properties of the cells were not affected. The changes in place coding occurred in the presence, and absence, of behavioral impairments. We suggest that the retrosplenial cortex provides mnemonic spatial information for updating location codes in the hippocampus, thereby facilitating accurate path integration. In this way, the retrosplenial cortex and hippocampus may be part of an interactive neural system that mediates navigation.
Late Holocene sediment accumulation on the northern California shelf: Oceanic, fluvial, and anthropogenic influences

The late Holocene sedimentary record of the northern California continental shelf archives the combined influences of fluvial and oceanic mechanisms of land to ocean sediment flux, and provides perspective on the cumulative impacts of major floods and land-use change in the drainage basin during historical time. Piston cores collected on the shelf (50−150 m water depths) off the Eel and Klamath Rivers were analyzed to identify lithologies indicative of depositional processes over the past 5 k.y., and dated using 137Cs and 14C methods to resolve spatial patterns in sediment accumulation rates. Sediment accumulation rates averaged over the past several millennia display along- and across-shelf gradients that reflect interactions between the shelf flow field and antecedent tectonically produced topography. The highest rates (3−6 mm/yr; 0.4−0.8 g/cm2/yr) are associated with structural lows on the middle shelf, whereas the lowest rates (0.2−0.6 mm/yr; 0.03−0.05 g/cm2/yr) occur at structural highs and at the shelf edge. This accumulation pattern is spatially coincident with postglacial sediment thicknesses on the shelf, and with depocenters that form on shorter time scales in response to oceanic flood events. The sediment column exhibits an upward-fining sequence consistent with increased bypass of river silt and clay as delta plains progressively filled during the Holocene transgression. Sedimentary event beds indicative of major river floods, including two probable hyperpycnal discharges of the Eel River within the past 1 k.y., are preserved. Stratigraphic evidence of accelerated sediment delivery to the shelf during historical time, in the form of increased burial of fluvial mud relative to fine-grained sand, is superimposed on this natural record. This change is concordant with the regional history of forest clearing and related land-use practices in the watershed after the early 1800s, and appears to record the combined impacts of timber harvesting and several extreme floods after ca. A.D. 1950.
An Examination of the Credence Attributes of an Audit

SYNOPSIS: An audit consists of two main components: (1) the assessment of risk, and (2) the planning and execution of audit procedures. Both activities require a great deal of professional judgment. In this sense, the auditor is an expert who is best positioned to assess the risk and to conduct the audit in accordance with professional auditing standards. We use a simple decision-making framework to illustrate an auditor's possible strategies when an auditee cannot directly determine the effort level required to conduct an audit appropriately. We discuss and compare three economic perspectives for the audit: search goods, experience goods, and credence goods. Based on the economic theory of credence goods, we predict that a seller has incentives to act strategically when buyers are faced with considerable uncertainties relating to a service they purchase. Specifically, we argue that an auditor might have incentives to (1) under-audit, (2) over-audit, or (3) overcharge. These strategic actions have importa...
Finite-element prestack reverse-time migration for elastic waves

Reverse‐time migration of zero‐offset data for acoustic waves has been successfully implemented by Whitmore (1983), Baysal et al. (1983), McMechan (1983), and Loewenthal and Mufti (1983). In reverse‐time migration, data recorded on the surface are used as the boundary condition and are extrapolated backward in time (Whitmore, 1983; Levin, 1984). Reverse‐time migration is mathematically a well‐posed problem. This is in contrast to conventional depth‐extrapolation‐migration schemes, in which the surface data are initial‐value conditions for solving the wave equation. Reverse‐time migration may offer improvements over conventional depth migration due to its freedom from dip‐angle limitations.
A Phage Tubulin Assembles Dynamic Filaments by an Atypical Mechanism to Center Viral DNA within the Host Cell

Summary Tubulins are essential for the reproduction of many eukaryotic viruses, but historically, bacteriophage were assumed not to require a cytoskeleton. Here, we identify a tubulin-like protein, PhuZ, from bacteriophage 201φ2-1 and show that it forms filaments in vivo and in vitro. The PhuZ structure has a conserved tubulin fold, with an unusual, extended C terminus that we demonstrate to be critical for polymerization in vitro and in vivo. Longitudinal packing in the crystal lattice mimics packing observed by EM of in-vitro-formed filaments, indicating how interactions between the C terminus and the following monomer drive polymerization. PhuZ forms a filamentous array that is required for positioning phage DNA within the bacterial cell. Correct positioning to the cell center and optimal phage reproduction only occur when the PhuZ filament is dynamic. Thus, we show that PhuZ assembles a spindle-like array that functions analogously to the microtubule-based spindles of eukaryotes.
Climate change: a crop protection challenge for the twenty-first century

Convincing data now show that temperatures are increasing, and that changing precipitation patterns are already affecting agriculture. Predicted future impacts vary by region, but all are projected to suffer productivity declines by the late twenty-first century unless successful mitigation measures are implemented soon. Exacerbating the climate change challenge, doubling of overall crop productivity will be required by mid-century. Clearly, crop protection will become increasingly difficult as higher-yielding varieties present a larger and more tempting target to all pests, and the pests themselves extend their ranges poleward and into other new geographies owing to reduced winter kill and longer growing seasons. Fortunately, good progress on enhancing crop protection technology to meet these challenges is already being made, but the scope of this climatic provocation is such that complacency is not an option. Increased investment into new technologies and adoption of new agricultural practices with improved adaptive and mitigation potential are both essential. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Discovery and characterization of novel d-xylose-specific transporters from Neurospora crassa and Pichia stipitis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is considered one of the most promising organisms for ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstock. Unfortunately, pentose sugars, which comprise up to 30% of lignocellulose, cannot be utilized by wild type S. cerevisiae. Heterologous pathways were introduced into S. cerevisiae to enable utilization of D-xylose, the most abundant pentose sugar. However, the resulting recombinant S. cerevisiae strains exhibited a slow growth rate and poor sugar utilization efficiency when grown on D-xylose as the sole carbon source. D-xylose uptake is the first step of D-xylose utilization. D-xylose can only enter yeast cells through hexose transporters, which have two orders of magnitude lower affinity towards D-xylose compared to hexoses. It was also shown that inefficient pentose uptake is the limiting step in some D-xylose metabolizing yeast strains. Here we report the cloning and characterization of two novel D-xylose-specific transporters from Neurospora crassa and Pichia stipitis. These two transporters were identified from a total of 18 putative pentose transporters. They were functionally expressed and properly localized in S. cerevisiae as indicated by HPLC analysis and fluorescence confocal microscopy, respectively. Kinetic parameters of the D-xylose-specific transporters were determined using a 14C-labeled sugar uptake assay. Use of pentose-specific transporters should improve D-xylose consumption and ethanol production in fast D-xylose assimilating strains, thereby lowering the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production.
The Invisible World of Professional Practical Knowledge of a Teacher of the Gifted

Most of our information on how teachers of the gifted and talented think while they plan and implement instruction is from the perspective of the researcher, not from the teacher’s perspective. One expert teacher was studied in great detail using ethnographic and phenomenological techniques. More specifically, a teacher was studied as he planned and taught two philosophy courses. After extensive observation and interviewing, the teacher’s thoughts were categorized into planning thoughts and action thoughts. The author argues that the way in which the teacher’s thoughts are linked to his practice cannot be adequately understood unless one gains access to the invisible, tacit knowledge of the teacher. The teacher’s hidden world is described in relation to how the researcher discovered it. The concept of professional practical knowledge is discussed in terms of further research and teacher training.
Focus Introduction: Aquatic Nature Religion

Outdoor adventure and other recreational practices can express, evoke, and reinforce religious perceptions and orientations to natural and social worlds. Some participants in them understand nature itself to be sacred in some way and believe that facilitating human connections to nature is the most important aspect of their chosen practice. Such activities can be construed by scholars as "nature religion," and profitably analyzed by comparing characteristics commonly associated with religion to the beliefs and practices of participants engaged in these activities. Here I introduce as "Aquatic Nature Religion" three case studies that explore the religious, or religion-resembling aspects, of surfing, fly fishing, and whitewater kayaking. These studies provocatively challenge conventional understandings of religion and pose anew the boundary question: Where does religion end and phenomena that are not religious begin?.
Joint Effects of Genetic Hitchhiking and Background Selection on Neutral Variation

Due to relatively high rates of strongly selected deleterious mutations, directional selection on favorable alleles (causing hitchhiking effects on linked neutral polymorphisms) is expected to occur while a deleterious mutation-selection balance is present in a population. We analyze this interaction of directional selection and background selection and study their combined effects on neutral variation, using a three-locus model in which each locus is subjected to either deleterious, favorable, or neutral mutations. Average heterozygosity is measured by simulations (1) at the stationary state under the assumption of recurrent hitchhiking events and (2) as a transient level after a single hitchhiking event. The simulation results are compared to theoretical predictions. It is shown that known analytical solutions describing the hitchhiking effect without background selection can be modified such that they accurately predict the joint effects of hitchhiking and background on linked, neutral variation. Generalization of these results to a more appropriate multilocus model (such that background selection can occur at multiple sites) suggests that, in regions of very low recombination rates, stationary levels of nucleotide diversity are primarily determined by hitchhiking, whereas in regions of high recombination, background selection is the dominant force. The implications of these results on the identification and estimation of the relevant parameters of the model are discussed.
Path analysis of self-efficacy and diving performance revisited.

The Feltz (1982) path analysis of the relationship between diving efficacy and performance showed that, over trials, past performance was a stronger predictor than self-efficacy of performance. Bandura (1997) criticized the study as statistically �overcontrolling� for past performance by using raw past performance scores along with self-efficacy as predictors of performance. He suggests residualizing past performance by regressing the raw scores on self-efficacy and entering them into the model to remove prior contributions of self-efficacy imbedded in past performance scores. To resolve this controversy, we reanalyzed the Feltz data using three statistical models: raw past performance, residual past performance, and a method that residualizes past performance and self-efficacy. Results revealed that self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of performance in both residualized models than in the raw past performance model. Furthermore, the influence of past performance on future performance was weaker when the residualized methods were conducted.
Comparison of the effects of estradiol-17β and the synthetic estrogen, RU-2858, on lordosis behavior in adult female rats and guinea pigs

Abstract Female sexual behavior (as assessed by lordosis responses) in adult ovariectomized guinea pigs and rats was measured after a single subcutaneous injection of either the synthetic estrogen RU-2858 or estradiol-17β (E) and a subsequent injection of progesterone (P). Thresholds for responsiveness to each estrogen were determined over a range of doses from 1 to 640 μg/kg of body weight. RU-2858 was able to stimulate lordosis at doses several times lower than E in both guinea pigs and rats. In general, guinea pigs were less sensitive to both estrogenic compounds than rats and were particularly insensitive to E. Approximately 40% of guinea pigs given RU-2858 displayed lordosis prior to P injection. Subsequent P injection did not greatly enhance the intensity of lordosis responses in these animals. These guinea pigs were also more sensitive than the remaining 60% of RU-2858-injected guinea pigs on several indexes of lordosis intensity (e.g., lordosis threshold, duration of heat, duration of individual lordosis responses). Rats did not respond behaviorally to RU-2858 without a subsequent P injection nearly as frequently as did guinea pigs. At the doses used in this study, E did not facilitate lordosis behavior in rats or guinea pigs in the absence of a subsequent P injection.
Calculation of dissociation constants and the relative stabilities of polynuclear clusters of 1:1 electrolytes in hydrothermal solutions at supercritical pressures and temperatures

Abstract Monte Carlo calculations ( Pitzer and Schreiber , 1987), electrostatic theory ( Oelkers and Helgeson , 1990), and revised interpretation of the concentration dependence of conductance data ( Oelkers and Helgeson , 1991) indicate that monatomic ions and neutral ion pairs predominate in single 1:1 electrolyte solutions only in the dilute concentration range at supercritical pressures and temperatures where the dielectric constant of H2O (ϵ) is ≲ 15. To assess geologically realistic degrees of formation of polynuclear clusters at higher concentrations, the logarithms of overall dissociation constants (log β) for triple, quadruple, quintuple, and sextuple complexes of monatomic ions in 16 single 1:1 electrolyte solutions at pressures from 500 to 4000 bars and temperatures from 400 to 800°C were generated from the results of Monte Carlo calculations reported by Gillan (1983) for the restricted primitive model using hard sphere diameters (δH) obtained by regression of the logarithms of dissociation constants (log K) for diatomic neutral ion pairs reported by Quist and Marshall (1968), Frantz and Marshall (1984), and Oelkers and Helgeson (1988). In addition, the logarithms of dissociation constants for polynuclear clusters involving more than one type of cation in the system NaCl-KCl-HCl were estimated by assuming a linear dependence of δH on cluster stoichiometry. The calculated and estimated values of log β typically decrease monotonically with increasing cluster size at a given pressure and temperature. Speciation calculations generated from the logβ and log K values using activity coefficients for both charged and neutral aqueous species ( Oelkers and Helgeson , 1990, 1991) indicate that polyatomic clusters of monovalent ions are major solute species in supercritical aqueous solutions with 1:1 solute concentrations > 0.5 m at low pressures and high temperatures where the dielectric constant of H2O is low, which is in general agreement with conclusions reached by Pitzer and Schreiber (1987). It follows by analogy that polyatomic clusters involving Si, Al, Ag, Cu, Fe, S, and other elements in geologic systems may increase substantially the solubilities of rock- and ore-forming minerals in concentrated hydrothermal solutions at supercritical temperatures and pressures.
GENETIC DIVERSITY OF THE CADDO MADTOM, NOTURUS TAYLORI, WITH COMMENTS ON FACTORS THAT PROMOTE GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN FISHES ENDEMIC TO THE OUACHITA HIGHLANDS

Abstract We studied allozyme diversity of the endemic Caddo madtom, Noturus taylori, over its small geographic range (<2,000 km2) in the Ouachita Highlands of southwestern Arkansas. This small catfish species exhibited marked genetic divergence among rivers and low levels of genetic variation within sampling localities. The more widely distributed brindled madtom, Noturus miurus, exhibited nearly identical patterns of genetic divergence among river localities separated by similar geographic distance, and similarly low levels of variation within localities were observed. We compared genetic results from madtoms to those obtained in a previous study of 2 co-distributed, endemic darter species and found that habitat specialists, especially those restricted to head-waters, are likely to show high levels of genetic divergence at relatively small spatial scales. Comparative genetic and ecological study of these endemic species suggests that an interaction of extrinsic (larger rivers with higher silt loads) and ...
Biaxial anisotropic sample design and rectangular to square waveguide material characterization system

An electrically biaxial anisotropic sample design methodology utilizing crystal-lographic symmetry is discussed. Sample synthesis equations based on equivalent capacitance analysis translate desired permittivity values and host materials to sample cell dimensions and are subsequently fabricated on a 3-D printer. Equivalent capacitance predictions yield permittivity tensor element values comparable to simulation results. A rectangular to square waveguide measurement system is also used to verify the sample design methodology.
Parallelization of Particle-Particle, Particle-Mesh Method within N-Body Simulation

N-Body problem has become an intricate part of the computational sciences, and there has been rise to many methods to solve and approximate the problem. The solution potentially requires on the order of calculations each time step, therefore efficient performance of these N-Body algorithms is very significant (5). This work describes the parallelization and optimization of the Particle-Particle, Particle-Mesh (P3M) algorithm within GalaxSeeHPC, an open-source N-Body Simulation code. Upon successful profiling, MPI (Message Passing Interface) routines were implemented into the population of the density grid in the P3M method in GalaxSeeHPC. Each problem size recorded different results, and for a problem set dealing with 10,000 celestial bodies, speedups up to 10x were achieved. However, in accordance to Amdahl's Law, maximum speedups for the code should have been closer to 16x. In order to achieve maximum optimization, additional research is needed and parallelization of the Fourier Transform routines could prove to be rewarding. In conclusion, the GalaxSeeHPC Simulation was successfully parallelized and obtained very respectable results, while further optimization remains possible.
The Supreme Court of Arizona: Its 2003 - 2004 Decisions

This article is the seventh annual review of the decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court, covering the period from August 1, 2003, to July 31, 2004. This major task of a comprehensive review of the substantive work of Arizona's highest court, in combination with a statistical survey, is a largely unique contribution to legal scholarship on the law-generating work of state supreme courts. Beyond an analytic assessment of the decisional law rendered by the Arizona Supreme Court, the annual review provides a comparative statistical evaluation of the Arizona Supreme Court's work over the now seven-year period of these studies. The annual review, therefore, offers a binocular view on the Arizona Supreme Court, with one eye on the decisions of the past year, and the other viewing that work in the context of the recent past.
Facilitating a Battle Between Hackers: Computer Security Outside of the Classroom

Attack/Defend computer security contests require participants to leverage knowledge obtained from a variety of courses across a computer science curriculum, providing undergraduates with a novel and exciting opportunity to challenge both themselves and their peers. However, there are limited opportunities to participate in such contests and none of them is well suited for novices in computer security.This paper describes the design of an Attack/Defend security contest that is geared towards undergraduates who have little exposure to computer security and require a more gentle introduction. We provide implementation details of the framework that supports this contest and offer lessons learned over the past three years in growing our contest into an intercollegiate event that is deployed on a cloud infrastructure to support multiple, concurrently operating contest sites which span three timezones.
WTA Hash-Based Multimodal Feature Fusion for 3D Human Action Recognition

With the prevalence of the commodity depth sensors (e.g. Kinect), multimodal data including RGB stream, depth stream and audio stream have been utilized in various applications such as video games, education and health. Nevertheless, it is still very challenging to effectively fuse the features from multimodal data. In this paper, we propose a WTA (Winner-Take-All) Hash-based feature fusion algorithm and investigate its application in 3D human action recognition. Specifically, the WTA Hashing is performed to encode features from different modalities into the ordinal space. By leveraging the ordinal measures rather than using the absolute value of the original features, such feature embedding can provide a form of resilience to the scale and numerical perturbations. We propose a frame-level feature fusion algorithm and develop a WTA Hash-embedded warping algorithm to measure the similarity between two sequences. Experiments performed on three public 3D human action datasets show that the proposed fusion algorithm has achieved state-of-the-art recognition results even with the nearest neighbor search.
Empirical therapy in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infections: An Up-To-Date approach

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to be an important pathogen worldwide, with high prevalence of infection in both community and hospital settings. Timely and appropriate choice of empirical therapy in the setting of MRSA infection is imperative due to the high rate of associated morbidity and mortality with MRSA infections. Initial choices should be made based on the site and severity of the infection, most notably moderate skin and soft tissue infections which may be treated with oral antibiotics (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, doxycycline/minocycline, linezolid) in the outpatient setting, versus choice of parenteral therapy in the inpatient setting of more invasive or severe disease. Though the current recommendations continue to strongly rely on vancomycin as a standard empiric choice in the setting of severe/invasive infections, alternative therapies exist with studies supporting their non-inferiority. This includes the use of linezolid in pneumonia and severe skin and skin structure infections (SSSI) and daptomycin for MRSA bacteremia, endocarditis, SSSIs and bone/joint infections. Additionally, concerns continue to arise in regards to vancomycin, such as increasing isolate MICs, and relatively high rates of clinical failures with vancomycin. Thus, the growing interest in vanomycin alternatives, such as ceftaroline, ceftobribole, dalbavancin, oritavancin, and tedizolid, and their potential role in treating MRSA infections.
Pacifists, Peace Democrats, and the Politics of Perfection in the Civil War Era

During the Civil War, a group of northern Christian perfectionists opposed the war conducted by the federal government against the se ceded states. These perfectionists openly protested the use of violence against the southern confederacy and advocated instead a negotiated settlement between North and South. They even proposed that the Confederate States of America be recognized as an independent nation with slavery intact, despite the perfectionists' abhorrence of slavery and their strong abolitionist sentiments. The pacifism of the perfectionists stemmed from their obligations to obey the authority they believed to be higher than all others—God and His laws. While slavery violated the laws of God, the perfectionist pacifists believed, so did the employ ment of violence and bloodshed. The practice of one evil could never be justified as a cure for another. Paralleling the opposition of the perfectionist pacifists was that of the Peace Democrats, a wing of the Democratic party that denounced war policies and demanded that hostilities be halted. While many of the protests against the war and proposals to end it presented by the Peace Democrats duplicated those of the perfectionists, the perfection ist pacifists never gave political support to the Peace Democrats. In fact, the perfectionists attacked the Peace Democrats with great tenac ity while at the same time working for the same end as the Peace Dem ocrats. The perfectionists' beliefs concerning authority, government, and Christian obligation kept them from uniting with the Peace Demo crats in opposing the war. As long as the Peace Democrats failed to share the perfectionists' ideological commitments, the perfectionists could not ?low themselves to work with the peace wing of the Demo cratic party to further their cause. The perfectionist pacifists' rejection of the Peace Democrats limited the influence the perfectionists might have had in halting the carnage. It also revealed limitations that would
Reorientational Dynamics of NaBH4 and KBH4

The details of the rotational dynamics of borohydride ions in both the ordered and disordered crystal phases of NaBH4 and in the disordered crystal phase of KBH4 were determined by quasielastic neutron scattering (QNS). Model fits of the QNS data indicate that the BH4− tetrahedron in the ordered phase of NaBH4 rotates with a combination of 2-site and 3-site reorientations that preserve its crystallographic orientation. The QNS results for the disordered phases are well described by a model assuming nearest-neighbor BH4− jumps from one corner to another of a cube formed by eight hydrogen positions of half occupancy. Distinguishing between likely mechanisms for reorientation was made possible by collecting data at sufficiently high momentum transfer. The activation energies derived for the low-temperature and high-temperature phases of NaBH4 are 13.4 ± 0.8 and 11.9 ± 0.5 kJ/mol, respectively. We find an activation energy for KBH4 of 14.6 ± 0.5 kJ/mol in the high-temperature phase. The torsional vibration ba...
Lack of chicken adaptation of newly emergent Eurasian H5N8 and reassortant H5N2 high pathogenicity avian influenza viruses in the U.S. is consistent with restricted poultry outbreaks in the Pacific flyway during 2014–2015

In 2014-2015, the U.S. experienced an unprecedented outbreak of Eurasian clade 2.3.4.4 H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, initially affecting mainly wild birds and few backyard and commercial poultry premises. To better model the outbreak, the pathogenesis and transmission dynamics of representative Eurasian H5N8 and reassortant H5N2 clade 2.3.4.4 HPAI viruses detected early in the North American outbreak were investigated in chickens. High mean chicken infectious doses and lack of seroconversion in survivors indicated the viruses were poorly chicken adapted. Pathobiological features were consistent with HPAI virus infection, although the delayed appearance of lesions, longer mean death times, and reduced replication in endothelial cells differed from features of most other Eurasian H5N1 HPAI viruses. Although these initial U.S. H5 HPAI viruses had reduced adaptation and transmissibility in chickens, multi-generational passage in poultry could generate poultry adapted viruses with higher infectivity and transmissibility.
Investigation on measles antibody level in healthy population in Fangshan District,Beijing

Objective To analyze measles immunity level of healthy population, and provide immunization strategy for the elimination of measles. Methods The subjects who had been living for over 6 months in Beijing were recruited for this study. PPS sample method was used to select 260 objects from 10 age groups. Demographic characteristics,vaccine immunization and history of measles were investigated by questionnaire. 5 ml blood sample of each subject was collected,and measles Ig G antibody was measured by ELISA. Results Positive rate of measles antibody was 86. 54%,and the standardized positive rate was 89. 73%. The median of antibody was 1135. 22 IU / L. Positive rate and median of measles antibody were significantly different between populations of different age groups( χ2= 34. 77,P 0. 01; H = 30. 61,P 0. 01). Antibody positive rate was the lowest in the 1 year age group,( 60.87%); Antibody positive rate was the highest in the 15 ~ 19 years age group,( 100. 00%). The median of measles antibody was2 743. 98 IU / L in the 1 ~ 4 years age group,being the highest; The median of measles antibody in 15 ~ 19 years age group was 579.37 IU / L,being the lowest. Positive rate and median of measles antibody were significantly different between populations from different areas( χ2= 11. 09,P 0. 01; H = 8. 92,P = 0. 01). Antibody positive rate and median in populations without vaccination history were lower than those populations with vaccination history and people whose history unknown. The difference showed statistical significance( χ2= 35. 45,P 0. 01; H = 12. 15,P = 0. 02). Conclusions Among the permanent residents in Fangshan District,measles antibody level among those aging between 5 ~ 19 years old was high enough to prevent outbreak and epidemic of measles. However,it is necessary to promote the measles antibody level for the infants younger than 8 month and people between 20 ~ 29 years old.
Anatomical Variation of the Renal Veins with Varicosity Presenting as Pseudotumor of the Kidney

Multiple renal veins opening separately into the inferior vena cava are rare, particularly in the left kidney. To my knowledge there have been no reports of this anatomical variation in the radiologic or urologic literature.
A GPU Powered Mobile AR Navigation System

This paper presents a real-time Augmented Reality Navigation system (ARNavi) on Android mobile phone that exploits the parallel computing power of mobile GPUs. Unlike conventional navigation systems, our proposed ARNavi augments navigation information onto live video streaming from device camera in real-time. The contributions of this paper are two-fold. First, we propose a fast and accurate lane detection and mapping algorithms. Second, we demonstrate that real-time augmented reality navigation can be achieved by taking advantage of CPU-GPU heterogeneous computing technology on a mobile processor. We achieve up to 18 FPS for 640 × 360 resolution camera streaming. It is more than 2.6 × speedup over CPU only execution .
Variation in the Presence of Simple Home Modifications of Older Americans: Findings from the National Health and Aging Trends Study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between sociodemographic and economic factors and the presence of simple home modifications (HMs) among older adults in the United States. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: National Health and Aging Trends Study (2011, Round 1). PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling Medicare enrollees aged 65 and older (N = 6,628). MEASUREMENTS: The primary dependent variable was the reported presence or absence of simple HMs (grab bars in the shower or near the toilet, shower seats, raised toilet seats). RESULTS: Of the individuals sampled, 60.7% reported having at least one HM of interest. Black (odds ratio (OR) = 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.68-0.91) and Hispanic (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.45-0.78) respondents were less likely than white, non-Hispanic respondents to have HMs. Those with more education (high school graduate: OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.42; >high school: OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.14-1.62) and larger social networks (≥4 people; OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.12-1.89) were more likely to have at least one HM, whereas being divorced (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.43-0.74) was associated with lower likelihood. Income (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.97-1.05), Medicaid enrollment (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.77-1.25), and living alone (OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.85-1.23) were not significantly associated with the presence of HMs. CONCLUSION: Minorities, individuals with less education, and those with less social support are less likely to have HMs. Awareness of these disparities and the shortcomings of the HM delivery system is important to clinicians and policy-makers who seek to prevent falls and facilitate aging in place for all older Americans.© 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society. Language: en