cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Apparent oral contraceptive failure associated with antibiotic administration

The concomitant use of antibiotics and oral contraceptives should be included in the assessment of contraceptive failure. A case of unwanted adolescent pregnancy during the use of a semisynthetic penicillin and an oral contraceptive is presented and discussed. Advising a different contraceptive method or an additional contraceptive modality may be indicated in adolescents taking long-term antibiotic medication.
Recovery rates after treatment for alcohol/drug dependence. Tobacco users vs. non-tobacco users

Because it has been seen repeatedly that using another addictive drug frequently leads to relapse to using the initial drug of choice, most chemical-dependence treatment specialists recognize the necessity of addressing all drugs of abuse in the same treatment setting. This treatment philosophy, however, does not appear to apply to the drug nicotine. Although a significant number of persons with alcohol/ drug dependence use tobacco on a regular basis, there do not appear to have been any studies conducted on the effect of nicotine use on outcome after treatment for alcohol/drug dependence. In a prospective study, the authors compared 12-month recovery rates after inpatient treatment for alcohol/ drug dependence in tobacco users and non-tobacco users. Significantly better recovery rates were discovered for non-tobacco users than tobacco users, especially if the drug of choice was a sedative, such as alcohol or narcotics. Data presented here support the theory that continued nicotine use may be a relapse factor for resuming alcohol use.
Environmental issues involved in biological control of rangeland grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) with exotic agents.

Within the field of biological control, there is a strategy that involves the attempt to control a native pest species with an exotic biological control agent. This strategy has been termed neoclassical biological control, and its ecological foundation differs markedly from other forms of biological control. Neoclassical biological control with a parasitic wasp and an entomophagous fungus from Australia is now being applied to rangeland grasshoppers in the western United States. Available evidence suggests that the costs of such a strategy greatly exceed the benefits. Although the probability of successful establishment may be low, if such an agent is established there are a number of possible nontarget impacts. Adverse effects include competitive suppression or extinction of both native biological control agents and nontarget acridids, which comprise the vast majority of extant grasshopper species. Suppression of nontarget acridids may result in loss of biological diversity, existing control of weed species, release of otherwise innocuous acridid species from competitive regulation, disruption of plant community structure, suppression of essential organisms vectored by grasshoppers, and disruption of food chains and other nutrient cycling processes. These impacts are particularly serious given that an established exotic agent is essentially permanent and spatially unbounded. Given that the value of the rangeland resource depends upon the largely unknown ecological processes that underlie its sustainable productivity, there are a number of management techniques that offer a greater probability of success with a markedly lower likelihood of ecological and economic disruption than does neoclassical biological control.
The minimum L-complexity algorithm and its applications to learning non-parametric rules

This paper proposes the minimum L-complexity algorithm (MLC), which can be thought of as an extension of the minimum description length (MDL) principle-based algorithm to the case where general real-valued functions are used as hypotheses and general loss functions are used as distortion measures. MLC is also closely related to Barron's complexity regularization algorithm and Vapnik's structural risk minimization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of MLC in terms of sample complexity within the decision theoretic PAC learning model. Specifically using MLC, we develop a unifying method of deriving upper bounds on target-dependent (non-uniform) sample complexity both for parametric and non-parametric settings. We further introduce a method for evaluating average-case sample complexity where the average is taken with respect to a prior probability over the parametric target class. These target-dependent and average-case sample complexity bounds offer a new view of sample complexity analysis, while most of previous work focusing on the worst-case sample complexity. As applications of MLC, we consider the issues of learning and non-parametric rules in terms of 1) stochastic rules with finite partitioning, 2) finite Hermite series, and 3) finite Fourier series. We use MLC to improve the previously-known best results on sample complexity for these issues.
Molecular characterization of rat Crry: widespread distribution of two alternative forms of Crry mRNA

The rat complement regulator 512 antigen/Crry is present in a widespread distribution as at least two discrete proteins of Mr 65 000–70 000 and 75 000–85 000. The molecular basis for the different proteins has not been determined. We screened a cDNA library derived from cultured rat glomerular epithelial cells with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-generated nucleotide probe for CR1 and Crry. Two identical clones with 1.8 kilobase inserts were obtained. Clone 6.1 consisted of 1811 nucleotides. The sequence was identical to nucleotides 42–1666 of the cDNA for rat 512 antigen/Crry except for 11 nucleotides at the extreme 5′ and 3′ ends and an exact duplication of 186 bases that would encode an additional complete short consensus repeat (SCR). By reverse transcription PCR, we show that the two forms of Crry mRNA exist in all rat cells/tissues examined. It is likely that these two Crry mRNA species differ by the absence or presence of a 186 base repeat that encodes a complete SCR. These are translated into Crry proteins, containing six and seven SCRs, respectively, which explains the different sizes of Crry proteins. The role of the SCR duplication remains to be defined.
Emancipatory Research: Then and Now

This discussion piece reflects on menstrual cycle research since the founding of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research in the context of contemporary research presented in this special issue of Sex Roles. Although women researchers in the 19th century began documenting that normal menstruation is neither disabling nor dangerous, taboos, concealment and avoidance of menstruation persist. Feminist researchers have worked to find ways to support women’s health and wellbeing within a sociocultural milieu still reflecting largely negative views of menstrual cycle phenomena. The present collection of current menstrual cycle research offers useful contextual approaches to understanding why menstruation remains in the shadows, and how to resist negative characterizations, as well as encourage curiosity and body awareness. Alternatives to mainstream corporate and medical views of menstrual phenomena are discussed. Fruitful theoretical and methodological directions for research are identified to support advocacy, educational, and therapeutic interventions for menstrual health.
Clinical treatment of dyslipidemia: practice patterns and missed opportunities

Studies have found that most dyslipidemic coronary artery disease and postsurgical cardiac patients are not monitored for serum lipids, especially high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). These patients are not prescribed lipid-altering therapy and are not treated to National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) target levels. When prescribed, the most commonly administered drugs are statins, followed by fibrates and niacin. Resins are the least commonly prescribed treatment for dyslipidemia. Unfortunately, drugs chosen are often not the best for each patient. To compound matters, compliance with lipid-modification therapy is poor. Nurse case-management programs, supportive regular contact with healthcare professionals, and immediate postinterventional initiation of therapy significantly improves compliance.
Removal of non-diamond carbon from the surface of CVD diamond films

Abstract A thin (10 nm) carbon contaminant film is found to adhere to chemically vapor-deposited diamond films. This layer may be removed with a simple wash in isopropanol.
On the Turán Number of Forests

The Turan number of a graph $H$, $\mathrm{ex}(n,H)$, is the maximum number of edges in a graph on $n$ vertices which does not have $H$ as a subgraph. We determine the Turan number and find the unique extremal graph for forests consisting of paths when $n$ is sufficiently large. This generalizes a result of Bushaw and Kettle [Combinatorics, Probability and Computing 20:837--853, 2011]. We also determine the Turan number and extremal graphs for forests consisting of stars of arbitrary order.
Eifring, Halvor, ed., Love and Emotions in Traditional Chinese Literature

As Halvor Eifring explains in his introduction (1–36), this book represents the fruits of a conference on qing 情 held in Finse, Norway, in 1997. The purpose of the collaboration was evidently to answer the question with which the editor opens the book: “To what extent are emotions universal?” (1). The difficulty, as Eifring aptly notes, is that qing and “emotion” are by no means coterminous; as we shall see, qing includes some senses comparable to our word “emotion,” but it comes with divergent philosophical underpinnings and also bears senses unlike anything that ordinary speakers of English associate with emotion. Thus Love and Emotions in Traditional Chinese Literature is a book that fails to solve the original problem to which it was devoted but proves extremely useful for different reasons. Although comparatists with a global perspective may not find in these pages all the answers to the problem of universal human psychology, students of Chinese philosophy and cultural history will treasure this book as the most detailed investigation in English into the various senses of qing and their usage through many centuries of Chinese writing. Were it not for the otherworldly list price ($193 as of this writing), I would recommend that any reader of Dao purchase this book. The following discussion considers all of the contributions but two: Robert E. Buswell, Jr., “The Transformation of Doubt (yiqing 疑情) into a Positive Emotion in Chinese Buddhist Meditation” (225–36), and Waiyee Li, “Languages of Love and Parameters of Culture in Peony Pavilion and The Story of the Stone” (237–70). Qing has been the source of considerable consternation in the study of Chinese philosophy, inasmuch as the earliest Sinologists, who were eager to attach every Chinese concept to some convenient entity from the Western tradition, recognized that it often means something like “emotion,” but just as often it also means something perplexingly different. To readers of late imperial literature, meanwhile, qing has a related yet distinct sense: “passionate feelings for another human being,” sometimes as a general sort of affection, but more typically as a profound and life-altering passion like romantic love. In other words, while it is possible to feel qing for one’s father or mother, a protagonist is Dao (2010) 9:237–240 DOI 10.1007/s11712-010-9165-2
Considering the energy consumption of mobile storage alternatives

This paper is motivated by a simple question: what are the energy consumption characteristics of mobile storage alternatives? To answer this question, we are faced with a design space of multiple dimensions. Two important dimensions are the type of storage technologies and the type of file systems. In this paper, we explore some options along each of these two dimensions. We have constructed a logical-disk system, which can be configured to run on different storage technologies and to emulate the behavior of different file systems. As we explore these configuration options, we find that the energy behavior is determined by a complex interaction of three factors: the power management mechanism of the storage device, the distribution of idleness in the workload, and the file system strategies that attempt to exploit and bridge these first two factors.
Temporization of Class II gold restorations.

A good temporary restoration should provide pulpal protection, positional stability, and adequate occlusion and should facilitate proper oral hygiene.’ Several procedures have been discussed in the literature concerning fabrication of temporaries for full cast restorations, inlays, and onlays This article describes a procedure for making a temporary restoration for a class II gold preparation with minimal expenditure of time.
Towards a Generalized Bounding Surface Model for Cohesive Soils

Since its inception over thirty years ago, the bounding surface model for cohesive soils has been progressively improved and expanded to a three-invariant, elastoplastic formulation that accounts for the initial and stress induced anisotropy. More recently, a simplified version of the model served as the basis for a simplified form of the anisotropic model. In order to more accurately simulate the softening of natural clays, the associative flow rule used exclusively in all earlier versions of the model was recently extended to include a non-associative flow rule. In an effort to unify the aforementioned versions of the bounding surface model for cohesive soils, a generalized model framework has been developed. The present paper describes this framework.
The Inverse Born Approximation: Exact Determination of Shape of Convex Voids

The Inverse Born Approximation (IBA) to the elastic wave inverse scattering problem is known to give highly accurate results for the shape of complex voids. In this paper we present an argument demonstrating that the IBA is, in fact, exact for determining the size, shape and orientation of a wide class of these scatterers given infinite bandwidth and unlimited aperture information. Essentially, our argument demonstrates how the IBA algorithm picks out the singular contribution to the impulse response function and correctly relates it to the shape of the scatterer. Some specific examples will be used to illustrate the more intuitive aspects of the discussion.
Standard error in die yield projections from defect test structures

Large-area defect test structures provide valuable information about yield inhibitors that in most cases can be obtained only with a great deal more difficulty from VLSI circuits themselves. Effective use of the test structures depends on the sizes of the critical features on the test structure relative to the VLSI circuits being manufactures, and the errors made in estimating yield from test structure data. The standard prediction error (SPE) for die yield and its implications for test structure design are discussed. A binomial simulation of projected error is made that allows one to assess the contribution of the variation in yield from pure chance excluding error sources such as measurement errors. The simulated error is smaller than the SPE. >
Simian Virus 40-Host Cell Interactions. I. Temperature-Sensitive Regulation of SV40 T Antigen in 3T3 Mouse Cells Transformed by the ts*101 Temperature-Sensitive Early Mutant of SV40

Abstract BALB/3T3 and Swiss/3T3 mouse cells transformed at permissive temperature (33 C) by the early temperature-sensitive mutant of simian virus 40 (SV40), ts*101, exhibited a temperature-dependent modulation of SV40 tumor (T) antigen as assayed by immunofluorescence. The percentage of T antigen-positive nuclei in ts*101 transformed cells was reduced at restrictive temperature (39 C) when compared to 33 C and to wild-type SV40 transformed cells at either 33 C or 39 C. The percentage of T antigen-positive nuclei in ts*101 transformed cells returned to the 33 C control level when the cells were shifted from 39 to 33 C. The ts*101 transformed cells could be superinfected with wild-type, but not ts*101, virions at 39 C as assayed by an increase in T antigen-positive nuclei.
Factors Influencing Temperature Fields during Combustion Reactions

Abstract : A unique, non-invasive diagnostic technique for characterizing two-dimensional thermal fields generated during the combustion of nanothermites was developed. Temperature resolved thermal images of the reactions were obtained using infrared imaging coupled with multiwavelength pyrometry. Thermal images of fuel rich aluminum/copper oxide (Al/CuO) and aluminum/ polytetrafluoroethylene (Al/PTFE) mixtures embedded with different additives were analyzed and the principal factors affecting the spatial distribution of temperature during their combustion were identified. Results showed two distinct temperature zones during combustion: a hot zone surrounding the point of ignition, where the highest temperatures were recorded followed by a lower temperature region called the intermediate zone. Temperatures are plotted as a function of distance from the point of ignition such that inflection points distinguishing temperature gradients provide an indication of the range of the thermal influence. Gas generation and heat of combustion are principal factors affecting temperature fields: greater gas generation in addition to condensed phase products promotes higher temperatures in the far field. Results also indicate that faster reactions attain higher temperatures and more extensive temperature fields. This observation is attributed to greater momentum of the gas and condensed phase products projected from the hot zone that shift the inflection point farther. These results show that multiphase convection is a governing mechanism promoting thermal energy distributions.
Software for ANN training on a Ring Array Processor

Experimental research on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithms requires either writing variations on the same program or making one monolithic program with many parameters and options. By using an object-oriented library, the size of these experimental programs is reduced while making them easier to read, write and modify. An efficient and flexible realization of this idea is Connectionist Layered Object-oriented Network Simulator (CLONES). CLONES runs on UNIX workstations and on the 100-1000 MFLOP Ring Array Processor (RAP) that we built with ANN algorithms in mind. In this report we describe CLONES and show how it is implemented on the RAP.
DIEL VARIATION IN MIGRATION RATES OF EASTERN PACIFIC GRAY WHALES MEASURED WITH THERMAL IMAGING SENSORS

We recorded the blows of gray whales during their southbound migration past central California in January 1994, 1995, and 1996, using thermal imaging sensors. For our sampling purposes, we defined day (0730-1630) and night (1630-0730) to coincide with the onloff effort periods of the visual counts being conducted concurrently. We pooled data across the three years of sampling and tested for diel variation in surfacing interval, pod size, offshore distance, migration rate, and swimming speed by comparing paired day/night means for samples collected within the respective 24-h period. We performed these tests using data from the entire migration period and then repeated the tests for samples collected prior to and after the approximate median migration date (15 January). Over the entire migration period we observed larger diurnal pod sizes = 1.75 ? 0.280, .i&hr = 1.63 2 0.232) and greater diurnal offshore distances (*dAy = 2.30 t 0.328 km, fnIghr = 2.03 ? 0.356 km) but found no diel variation in surfacing interval. For the entire migration period, the nocturnal migration rate (average number of whales passing per hour) was higher than the diurnal rate. During the first half of the migration we detected no diel variation in pod size or surfacing interval, but diurnal offshore distances were larger than at night = 2.28
Effect of latency on presence in stressful virtual environments

Previous research has shown that even low end-to-end latency can have adverse effects on performance in virtual environments (VE). This paper reports on an experiment investigating the effect of latency on other metrics of VE effectiveness: physiological response, simulator sickness, and self-reported sense of presence. The VE used in the study includes two rooms: the first is normal and non-threatening; the second is designed to evoke a fear/stress response. Participants were assigned to either a low latency (/spl sim/50 ms) or high latency (/spl sim/90 ms) group. Participants in the low latency condition had a higher self-reported sense of presence and a statistically higher change in heart rate between the two rooms than did those in the high latency condition. There were no significant relationships between latency and simulator sickness.
Threshold voltage generation and supply-independent biasing in c.m.o.s. integrated circuits

A method is presented for the generation of a voltage equal to an integer multiple of the n-channel threshold voltage in c.m.o.s. integrated circuits. Experimental results from an integrated prototype are given and possible applications are discussed
Hypercytotoxicity and Rapid Loss of NKp44+ Innate Lymphoid Cells during Acute SIV Infection

HIV/SIV infections break down the integrity of the gastrointestinal mucosa and lead to chronic immune activation and associated disease progression. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), distinguishable by high expression of NKp44 and RORγt, play key roles in mucosal defense and homeostasis, but are depleted from gastrointestinal (GI) tract large bowel during chronic SIV infection. However, less is known about the kinetics of ILC loss, or if it occurs systemically. In acute SIV infection, we found a massive, up to 8-fold, loss of NKp44+ILCs in all mucosae as early as day 6 post-infection, which was sustained through chronic disease. Interestingly, no loss of ILCs was observed in mucosa-draining lymph nodes. In contrast, classical NK cells were not depleted either from gut or draining lymph nodes. Both ILCs and NK cells exhibited significantly increased levels of apoptosis as measured by increased Annexin-V expression, but while classical NK cells also showed increased proliferation, ILCs did not. Interestingly, ILCs, which are normally noncytolytic, dramatically upregulated cytotoxic functions in acute and chronic infection and acquired a polyfunctional phenotype secreting IFN-γ, MIP1-β, and TNF-α, but decreased production of the prototypical cytokine, IL-17. Classical NK cells had less dramatic functional change, but upregulated perforin expression and increased cytotoxic potential. Finally, we show that numerical and functional loss of ILCs was due to increased apoptosis and ROR γt suppression induced by inflammatory cytokines in the gut milieu. Herein we demonstrate the first evidence for acute, systemic, and permanent loss of mucosal ILCs during SIV infection associated with reduction of IL-17. The massive reduction of ILCs involves apoptosis without compensatory de novo development/proliferation, but the full mechanism of depletion and the impact of functional change so early in infection remain unclear.
Cultivating a Landscape of Online Places for a Developmental Learning Community

We describe our work on seeding and building a developmental learning community for recruiting and retaining women in educational programs and careers related to computing and information science (CIS). Our approach is explicitly participatory: we work with young women to better understand how they view and approach CIS and to build activities that may attract women who would otherwise be disinclined toward computing. In this paper we focus primarily on the software tools aspects of this research project.
Kidney-bone, bone-kidney, and cell-cell communications in renal osteodystrophy.

The relationship between bone and the kidney in renal osteodystrophy is a complex interplay of kidney to bone connections, bone to kidney connections, and cell to cell connections. In addition, such interactions have a profound effect on the vasculature. In this review, we discuss the role of the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in the skeleton, kidney, and vasculature. In addition, we propose that deficiencies of these BMPs seen in chronic kidney disease (CKD) result in decreased bone remodeling and a compensatory secondary hyperparathyroidism (high turnover state). Treatment of the hyperparathyroidism blocks this compensatory arm and thus decreased bone remodeling occurs (low turnover). We review animal models of CKD in which treatment with BMP-7 resulted in normalization of both high and low turnover states. Finally, we discuss vascular calcification as it relates to bone metabolism. We discuss the roles of BMP-7 and 2 other bone regulatory proteins, osteoprotegerin (OPG) and α2-HS glycoprotein (AHSG, human fetuin), in the human vasculature and their implications for vascular calcification.
Substance vs. procedure: Constitutional enforcement and constitutional choice

Abstract The constitutional political economy research program established by Nobel Laureate James M. Buchanan provides a rigorous analytical framework for the analysis of constitutional choice. I focus on two issues that have received only limited attention in the CPE literature: the problem of constitutional enforcement and the role of judicial review. I demonstrate that incorporating a concern for enforcement into constitutional analysis has significant implications for the the choice among rules, and suggests that procedural constitutional constraints have significant advantages over constitutional norms that attempt to secure broader, substantive values.
Advanced processing for high-bandwidth sensor systems

Compute performance and algorithm design are key problems of image processing and scientific computing in general. For example, imaging spectrometers are capable of producing data in hundreds of spectral bands with millions of pixels. These data sets show great promise for remote sensing applications, but require new and computationally intensive processing. The goal of the Deployable Adaptive Processing Systems (DAPS) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory is to develop advanced processing hardware and algorithms for high-bandwidth sensor applications. The project has produced electronics for processing multi- and hyper-spectral sensor data, as well as LIDAR data, while employing processing elements using a variety of technologies. The project team is currently working on reconfigurable computing technology and advanced feature extraction techniques, with an emphasis on their application to image and RF signal processing. This paper presents reconfigurable computing technology and advanced feature extraction algorithm work and their application to multi- and hyperspectral image processing. Related projects on genetic algorithms as applied to image processing will be introduced, as will the collaboration between the DAPS project and the DARPA Adaptive Computing Systems program. Further details are presented in other talks during this conference and in other conferences taking place during this symposium.
Overview of Antibiotic Use and Resistance: Setting the Stage for Tigecycline

Since the introduction of antibiotics 6 decades ago, clinicians have taken comfort in the relative safety and exceptional efficacy of these drugs. Patients initially looked on antibiotics as “wonder drugs,” primarily because of their life-saving benefits in treating serious wounds, postsurgical infections, pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, and sepsis, as well as their dramatic effect on sexually transmitted infections and infections of the urinary tract. Antibiotics are available for use in the community with oral formulations, as well as in the hospital with parenteral preparations. Over the past several decades, antibiotics have been used enthusiastically by physicians, and patients have learned to expect them for the treatment of many ailments, even those that are known not to be caused by bacteria. It is widely believed that more than half of the community use of antibiotics is for the treatment of respiratory infections in children, well more than half of which are caused by viruses. Antibiotics have been used for decades in the treatment of acne vulgaris and many other common skin conditions and have been used adjunctive to surgical drainage for a large number of deeper cutaneous and fascial abscesses and carbuncles. That antibiotics are frequently prescribed in response to patient requests for these miracle drugs to treat trivial or nonbacterial infections and that most physicians are very comfortable prescribing these agents by telephone for presumed but not proven bacterial infections are understatements. Initially, sulfonamides and penicillins dominated the field, but cephalosporins and penicillinase-resistant semisynthetic penicillins soon followed. Macrolides and tetracyclines were also introduced relatively early during the history of antibiotics as broad-spectrum agents for a variety of indications. The development of macrolides included the introduction of clarithromycin and the azalide azithromycin, both of which had improved tolerability and activity. Tetracyclines were
An upper bound for cell loss probability of bursty sources in broadband packet networks

An upper bound for the probability of cell loss of bursty sources in broadband integrated packet networks based on asynchronous transfer mode is discussed. A performance model is developed to obtain this upper bound for traffic sources admitted into the system in connection-oriented services. It is possible to evaluate the required bandwidth for a desired cell loss rate, and provide procedures for call admission and proactive congestion control at the access nodes of the network using this upper bound. A simulation model and results for a number of cases are given and the tightness of this bound is verified, especially for moderate cell loss rates. >
Optical analysis of particle image velocimetry data

Full field velocity data can be of significant value for transient fluid flows. A recently developed technique utilizing double exposure photographs of particles seeded into a flow can provide this kind of data. Analysis of the resulting particle seed photographs is a problem due to the number of particles and spatial resolution requirements of the measurement. A current technique for analyzing the particle photographs is based on a point by point illumination of the particle image, and two subsequent 2-D fast Fourier transforms (FFT) to produce an autocorrelation pattern of the particles. The particle displacement can be determined from the autocorrelation pattern. The digital 2-D FFT of image data may take a considerable amount of computer time depending on the computer involved. We present a technique for performing the equivalent of the Fourier transform optically, producing an autocorrelation function from an input function. Preliminary results are presented as well as a discussion on possible system improvements and system potential.Full field velocity data can be of significant value for transient fluid flows. A recently developed technique utilizing double exposure photographs of particles seeded into a flow can provide this kind of data. Analysis of the resulting particle seed photographs is a problem due to the number of particles and spatial resolution requirements of the measurement. A current technique for analyzing the particle photographs is based on a point by point illumination of the particle image, and two subsequent 2-D fast Fourier transforms (FFT) to produce an autocorrelation pattern of the particles. The particle displacement can be determined from the autocorrelation pattern. The digital 2-D FFT of image data may take a considerable amount of computer time depending on the computer involved. We present a technique for performing the equivalent of the Fourier transform optically, producing an autocorrelation function from an input function. Preliminary results are presented as well as a discussion on possible system...
The Increasing Complementarity between Cognitive and Social Skills

Abstract Data linking 1972 and 1992 adolescent skill endowments to adult outcomes reveal increasing complementarity between cognitive and social skills. In fact, previously noted growth in demand for cognitive skills affected only individuals with strong endowments of both social and cognitive skills. These findings are corroborated using Census and CPS data matched with Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) job task measures; employment in and earnings premia to occupations requiring high levels of both cognitive and social skill grew substantially compared with occupations that require only one or neither type of skill, and this emerging feature of the labor market has persisted into the new millennium.
Left ventricular assist devices ramp studies: truth or consequences?

In this issue of JACC: Heart Failure , Adatya et al. [(1)][1] from the University of Minnesota prospectively investigated patients who received the Thoratec HeartMate II (Pleasanton, California) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) between June 2012 and February 2014. The investigators designed a
Working Justice: Disabled People in Catholic Social Thought

The author discusses the problems of disability that fall within the Church's Pro-Life Ministry. He also discusses how those problems raise questions of social justice.
United States Trade and Latin America: The Wilson Years

W ORLD WAR I offered the United States a unique commercial opportunity, not only to supply the European belligerent powers with needed goods but also to gain control of trade in the world-particularly Latin America-that had long been dominated by England and Germany. While historians have given much attention to the role of the United States as a merchant for the belligerent powers, they have all but neglected the worldwide commercial thrust of Americans during this period. Yet to government officials as well as to influential business leaders the prospect of an extensive trade on a permanent basis with markets hitherto dominated by Europe was at least as enticing as the temporarily enlarged trade with Europe, which, they realized, would be drastically reduced once the war ended. Secretary of Commerce William C. Redfield had already laid the basis for extending the nation's trade even before the outbreak of hostilities. One of the neglected figures of Woodrow Wilson's administration, Redfield had reorganized his department soon after taking office, especially its Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. He had turned it into a highly efficient agency for foreign commercial development. He had also brought about close business-government cooperation in trade matters, a relationship which had previously been lacking. As a result of Redfield's efforts and certain measures passed during the first year of Wilson's administration, the United States was already prepared when the war began to challenge Europe's commercial hegemony in Latin America. While the opening of the struggle in August 1914, at first threatened to bring ruin to the nation's economy, the crisis was short lived. Even as the nation encountered financial difficulty, business and administration leaders sensed the opportunity which the war afforded them in Latin America. In-
Feasible Neural Commands and Feasible Mechanical Outputs

Having understood the basic concepts related to the structure and function of tendon-driven limbs, we can now revisit and appreciate the question: ‘How does the nervous system control a tendon-driven limb?’ Chap. 5 shows why it is reasonable to consider optimization as a means to resolve the muscle redundancy that exists for the control of joint torques. But Chap. 6 paints an alternative picture when we see that orchestrating tendon excursions among muscles is severely overdetermined—which is the opposite of redundancy. In this chapter I begin to explore in detail the working hypothesis that having numerous muscles does not make them as redundant as proposed by the classical notion of muscle redundancy. I do this by introducing you to the concepts of how feasible muscle activations produce feasible mechanical outputs. This perspective grows out of the fusion of linear algebra, geometry, mechanics, and anatomy. It shows how the anatomical structure of the limb together with the constraints that define a mechanical task naturally specify a set of feasible neural commands . The fact that this set of feasible neural commands has a well-defined structure compels and allows us to revise and extend the classical notion of muscle redundancy, and propose a more general approach to neuromuscular control that emphasizes compatibility with evolutionary biology and clinical reality.
A discrete fractal in $${\mathbb{Z}}$$ related to Pascal’s triangle modulo 2

For each integer d ≥ 1, let $$\begin{array}{ll}\fancyscript{F}_d = \left\{ k \in \mathbb{Z} : \binom{(2^d+1)k}{k} = 1\quad ({\rm mod}\;2) \right\}\end{array}$$ In this paper we investigate the self-similarity and dimension of each of the sets $${\fancyscript{F}_d}$$ . In particular we show that both the Hausdorff dimension and the packing dimension of $${\fancyscript{F}_d}$$ are $${\log ( \phi ) /\log (2)}$$ , where $${\phi}$$ is the golden ratio, which demonstrates that $${\fancyscript{F}_d}$$ is a discrete fractal in the sense of Barlow and Taylor (Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 64:125–152, 1992).
Radiation-Hardened Circuitry Using Mask-Programmable Analog Arrays. Final Report

As the recent accident at Fukushima Daiichi so vividly demonstrated, telerobotic technologies capable of withstanding high radiation environments need to be readily available to enable operations, repair, and recovery under severe accident scenarios where human entry is extremely dangerous or not possible. Telerobotic technologies that enable remote operation in high dose rate environments have undergone revolutionary improvement over the past few decades. However, much of this technology cannot be employed in nuclear power environments due the radiation sensitivity of the electronics and the organic insulator materials currently in use. This is the final report of the activities involving the NEET 2 project Radiation Hardened Circuitry Using Mask-Programmable Analog Arrays. We present a detailed functional block diagram of the proposed data acquisition system, the thought process leading to technical decisions, the implemented system, and the tested results from the systems. This system will be capable of monitoring at least three parameters of importance to nuclear reactor monitoring: temperature, radiation level, and pressure.
Improving Recognition of Dysarthric Speech Using Severity Based Tempo Adaptation

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder, characterized by slurred or slow speech resulting in low intelligibility. Automatic recognition of dysarthric speech is beneficial to enable people with dysarthria to use speech as a mode of interaction with electronic devices. In this paper we propose a mechanism to adapt the tempo of sonorant part of dysarthric speech to match that of normal speech, based on the severity of dysarthria. We show a significant improvement in recognition of tempo-adapted dysasrthic speech, using a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) - Hidden Markov Model (HMM) recognition system as well as a Deep neural network (DNN) - HMM based system. All evaluations were done on Universal Access Speech Corpus.
Book-Smart, Not Street-Smart: Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts and The Social Workings of Law

This paper critiques blockchain-based “smart contracts,” which aim to automatically and securely execute obligations without reliance on a centralized enforcement authority. Though smart contracts do have some features that might serve the goals of social justice and fairness, I suggest that they are based on a thin conception of what law does, and how it does it. Smart contracts focus on the technical form of contract to the exclusion of the social contexts within which contracts operate, and the complex ways in which people use them. In the real world, contractual obligations are enforced through all kinds of social mechanisms other than formal adjudication—and contracts serve many functions that are not explicitly legal in nature, or even designed to be formally enforced. I describe three categories of contracting practices in which people engage (the inclusion of facially unenforceable terms, the inclusion of purposefully underspecified terms, and willful nonenforcement of enforceable terms) to illustrate how contracts actually “work.” The technology of smart contracts neglects the fact that people use contracts as social resources to manage their relations. The inflexibility that they introduce, by design, might short-circuit a number of social uses to which law is routinely put. Therefore, I suggest that attention to the social and relational contexts of contracting are essential considerations for the discussion, development, and deployment of smart contracts.
Probing the Conformationally Excited States of Membrane Proteins via 1H-Detected MAS Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy.

Proteins exist in ensembles of conformational states that interconvert on various motional time scales. High-energy states of proteins, often referred to as conformationally excited states, are sparsely populated and have been found to play an essential role in many biological functions. However, detecting these states is quite difficult for conventional structural techniques. Recent progress in solution NMR spectroscopy made it possible to detect conformationally excited states in soluble proteins and characterize them at high resolution. As for soluble proteins, integral or membrane-associated proteins populate different structural states often modulated by their lipid environment. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is the method of choice to study membrane proteins, as it can detect both ground and excited states in their natural lipid environments. In this work, we apply newly developed 1H-detected 15N-HSQC type experiments under moderate magic angle spinning speeds to detect the conformationally excited st...
“Peak-Splitting”: Intensity Effects in Cochlear Afferent Responses to Low Frequency Tones

In 1972, Kiang and Moxon noted that a notch can sometimes be measured in the rate-intensity function of cochlear-afferent responses to tones over restricted ranges of high intensities. It has been subsequently shown that, for low-frequency tones, the notch is found in association with bimodality of period histograms (“peak splitting”) and/or with a rapid shift in response phase (Gifford and Guinan, 1983; Kiang, 1984). In the present paper we present preliminary results from a systematic study of the intensity dependence of the magnitude and phase of responses of chinchilla cochlear afferents to low-frequency tones. Low-frequency stimuli are used to facilitate precise timing of the excitation of cochlear afferents relative to basilar membrane (BM) motion (Ruggero and Rich, 1987; Ruggero et al., 1986b). Our present findings, for responses to 200 – 600 Hz tones, agree with and extend our previous results for 100 Hz tones (Ruggero and Rich, 1988): within each stimulus cycle, there appear to exist two distinct preferred times for inner hair cell (IHC) excitation of cochlear afferents. Relative to BM motion, one corresponds to displacement or velocity toward scala tympani (ST) and the other is synchronous with maximal velocity toward scala vestibuli (SV). Which of these two response phases predominates depends on cochlear location (or, equivalently, characteristic frequency: CF) and on stimulus level, but does not depend significantly on stimulus frequency.
Modularity research to guide MOSA implementation

The US Department of Defense’s acquisition strategy incorporates directives to encourage the use of open architectures and modular solutions through the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). The wa...
Performance Prediction of Surface-Piercing Propellers

A three-dimensional low-order boundary element method is presented for the performance prediction of surface-piercing propellers. The negative image method is used to account for free surface effects. Detachment locations of ventilated cavities are searched for iteratively using a modified smooth detachment condition. Results from parametric studies and validations with experimental measurements are shown.
Solid oxide fuel cell and advanced combustion engine combined cycle: A pathway to 70% electrical efficiency

Abstract A computational system optimization was conducted to explore the efficiency potential of an electrochemical-combustion combined system for distributed power generation. A solid oxide fuel cell model was developed and validated to simulate the electrochemical conversion process and a zero dimensional model was implemented to simulate the engine combustion process. A system level approach was used to evaluate the trade-offs and efficiency potential of the system. A design of experiments of simulations was conducted to explore the design space and a genetic algorithm was used to search the resulting response surface for optimal operating conditions. Metal engine experiments were used to validate that the internal combustion engine is capable of operating under the desired operating conditions and the results were used to obtain final system efficiencies. The results showed that under fully homogeneous and stratified engine conditions the system is capable of achieving electrical efficiencies of 70% (LHV) at a 1 MWe power level while producing minimal soot and NOx emissions.
Fall Creek Monitoring Station: Highly Resolved Temporal Sampling to Prioritize the Identification of Nontarget Micropollutants in a Small Stream.

The goal of this research was to comprehensively characterize the occurrence and temporal dynamics of target and nontarget micropollutants in a small stream. We established the Fall Creek Monitoring Station in March 2017 and collected daily composite samples for one year. We measured water samples by means of high-resolution mass spectrometry and developed and optimized a postacquisition data processing workflow to screen for 162 target micropollutants and group all mass spectral (MS) features into temporal profiles. We used hierarchical clustering analysis to prioritize nontarget MS features based their similarity to target micropollutant profiles and developed a high-throughput pipeline to elucidate the structures of prioritized nontarget MS features. Our analyses resulted in the identification of 31 target micropollutants and 59 nontarget micropollutants with varying levels of confidence. Temporal profiles of the 90 identified micropollutants revealed unexpected concentration–discharge relationships th...
Place, Race, and Sports: Examining the Beliefs and Aspirations of Motivated Black Male Students Who Play High School Sports:

This article examined academically and athletically motivated Black male students who play high school sports. In-depth interviews and observations illuminated their experiences, beliefs, and aspir...
Performance evaluation of a portable 3D imaging system

Abstract Portable 3D imaging systems are important tools used by industry for metrology, inspection, and reverse engineering. The Creaform HandySCAN 300 is a portable 3D imaging system that utilizes photogrammetry to orientate a handheld scanner relative to the part under test. The system does not have a well-defined coordinate system or a fixed measurement range and there currently exists a lack of normative standards suitable for evaluating the performance of such a system. We use the determination of sphere-to-sphere distances and the related measurement uncertainty as a proxy for evaluating the systems performance. The error sources of the imaging system were quantified and an improved measurement process that minimized errors was developed. A comparison between measurements by the HandySCAN 300 and a coordinate measuring machine showed good agreement with normalized errors of less than one.