cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RAPID VARIATIONS OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN THE PERSIAN GULF AS RECORDED BY NIMBUS 2 HRIR

Nimbus 2 high resolution infrared radiometer (HRIR) observations over the Persian Gulf have been analyzed for cloud-free nights from June to November 1966. The spatial distribution of sea surface temperatures as observed by the satellite radiometer responded to the prevailing surface winds. Satellite radiometric observations can be used to locate large-scale air—sea interaction features.
School Exits in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Evidence of a Marketplace?

This article examines whether the large number of school exits from the Milwaukee school voucher program is evidence of a marketplace. Two logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression models tested the relation between the inability to draw large numbers of voucher students and the ability for a private school to remain viable. Data on school enrollments and characteristics are used to test the hypotheses that schools with lower initial voucher enrollments and growth are more likely to fail. The analysis finds evidence of a marketplace; schools that experience low voucher enrollment growth are more likely to have left the program.
Optimal insertion of pilot symbols for transmissions over time-varying flat fading channels

Two major training techniques for wireless channels are time-division multiplexed (TDM) training and superimposed training. For the TDM schemes with regular periodic placements (RPPs), the closed-form expression for the steady-state minimum mean square error (MMSE) of the channel estimate is obtained as a function of placement for Gauss-Markov flat fading channels. We then show that among all periodic placements, the single pilot RPP scheme (RPP-1) minimizes the maximum steady-state channel MMSE. For binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) and quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signaling, we further show that the optimal placement that minimizes the maximum uncoded bit error rate (BER) is also RPP-1. We next compare the MMSE and BER performance under the superimposed training scheme with those under the optimal TDM scheme. It is shown that while the RPP-1 scheme performs better at high SNR and for slowly varying channels, the superimposed scheme outperforms RPP-1 in the other regimes. This demonstrates the potential for using superimposed training in relatively fast time-varying environments.
Traffic-controlled rate monotonic priority scheduling of ATM cells

Future (broadband) integrated services networks are expected to carry various types of traffic including real-time packet video for which stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements must be met. We propose a cell multiplexing scheme for providing real-time communication services in point-to-point ATM networks. Our scheme is simple enough to be used in high-speed ATM networks, yet reasonably efficient in terms of accommodating channel requests. The scheme employs the leaky bucket model as the input traffic description model and regulates the input traffic at user network interface (UNI) to comply with the input traffic specification. Inside the network ATM switches provide bounded local delays to individual cells using a traffic controller and a non-preemptive rate-monotonic priority scheduler.
Interpreting the meaning individuals ascribe to returning to work after traumatic brain injury: a qualitative approach

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe, qualitatively, the meaning individuals ascribe to returning to work after traumatic injury to the brain.Design: A qualitative multiple-case study design was used for this study to allow for flexibility during data collection and to support naturalistic generalizations.Methods: A random sample of two participants was included in the study using snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews and written documentation was used to collect data. Cross-case analysis was used to identify phenomenological themes.Results: While defining the meaning of work, thematic analysis revealed three themes: (a) experience of finding work after injury, (b) experience of maintaining work and (c) independence related to work.Conclusion: The several important points that were identified throughout semi-structured interviews were how individuals subjectively and objectively define work, important points about personal experiences finding and maintaining work and the societal v...
Best-practice recommendations for estimating interaction effects using moderated multiple regression

Summary An interaction effect indicates that a relationship is contingent upon the values of another (moderator) variable. Thus, interaction effects describe conditions under which relationships change in strength and/or direction. Understanding interaction effects is essential for the advancement of the organizational sciences because they highlight a theory’s boundary conditions. We describe procedures for estimating and interpreting interaction effects using moderated multiple regression (MMR). We distill the technical literature for a general readership of organizational science researchers and include specific best-practice recommendations regarding actions researchers can take before and after data collection to improve the accuracy of MMR-based conclusions regarding interaction effects. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Longitudinal Associations of Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Maternal Involvement, and Diabetes Management Across Adolescence

Objective To examine whether maternal depressive symptoms: (a) predicted the level of maternal involvement in diabetes management tasks across adolescence; and (b) moderated associations of involvement with adolescent adherence, metabolic control, and depression. Methods Eighty-two youth aged 10-15 years with type 1 diabetes and their mothers completed measures at baseline and 16 months later. Participants rated maternal involvement in diabetes tasks, adherence, and depressive symptoms; metabolic control was indexed from medical records. Results Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher involvement at baseline, and slower declines in involvement across time. At baseline, involvement was associated with lower adolescent depression and better metabolic control, but this association was stronger when mothers reported fewer depressive symptoms. Interactions of maternal depression with involvement across time suggested maternal involvement was associated with better subsequent adherence primarily when mothers reported fewer depressive symptoms. Conclusions Mothers' depressive symptoms may undermine her care-giving effectiveness during adolescence.
Asymmetric shallow mantle structure beneath the Hawaiian Swell—evidence from Rayleigh waves recorded by the PLUME network

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This article is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 187 (2011): 1725–1742, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2011.05238.x.
Competitive coevolution versus objective fitness for an autonomous motorcycle pilot

Evolution in the context of genetic algorithms is driven by the fitness function. For some applications, this factor is not easy to compute and coevolution represents an alternate solution. Thus, competition between individuals in the population can be used as a performance measure instead of an objective function, when the nature of the problem allows it. In this paper we explore the impact of such a choice on the overall performance of the solutions, as compared to the classic approach. We apply this model to a problem of configuring a multi-agent autonomous pilot for motorcycles.
Cytogenetic analysis of a primary salivary gland myoepithelioma.

Abstract Myoepithelioma, a rare benign salivary gland neoplasm, is a tumor composed entirely of myoepithelial cells. Unlike pleomorphic adenoma, these tumors lack any ductal epithelial differentiation, and manifest a minor stromal element. Previous cytogenetic and molecular genetic studies have mainly investigated pleomorphic adenomas and reported recurring specific chromosomal alterations at 8q12 and 12q13 ∼ q15 regions. The cell origin of these alterations, however, remains speculative. We report the cytogenetic analysis of a parotid myoepithelioma and discuss the putative origin for the cells with cytogenetic alterations. Our analysis shows 12q12 involved in a translocation with a previously unreported partner (1q), and nonrandom del(9)(q22.1q22.3) and del(13)(q12q22). Our results indicate that the myoepithelial cell is the source of those cells with chromosomal alterations, and that myoepithelioma shares 12q alterations reported in a subset of pleomorphic adenomas.
Evaluation of the Dilution-Parody Paradox in the Wake of the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006

Dilution protects famous trademark owners from use of their marks by others that serve to either weaken the mark's capacity to serve as a source identifier or harm the reputation of their mark. Parody, on the other hand, is a protected form of expression under the First Amendment that allows an artist to poke fun at recognizable aspects of society. Trademarks are often the butt of detrimental attempts at parody. In the past, a substantial percentage of dilution cases have been attempts by mark holders to enjoin harmful commercial uses of their famous brands - even if such a use could loosely be construed as a "parody." Yet, the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 (the "TDRA") has carved out a broad and explicit exception for parody, one that is seemingly stronger than any protection that parodies previously enjoyed in the dilution context. It seems under the language of the TDRA, once a potentially infringing use is termed a "parody," and regardless of the degree in which it seriously harms a famous mark, the parodist has a higher probability of escaping strict judicial scrutiny than ever before. Such a result raises important questions as to the current state of dilution law.This article explores the implications of the parody protection outlined in the TDRA and how courts may interpret it while still retaining significant judicial scrutiny over harmful or improper trademark parodies.
Efficient goal-directed exploration

If a state space is not completely known in advance, then search algorithms have to explore it sufficiently to locate a goal state and a path leading to it, performing therefore what we call goal-directed exploration. Two paradigms of this process are pure exploration and heuristic-driven exploitation: the former approaches explore the state space using only knowledge of the physically visited portion of the domain, whereas the latter approaches totally rely on heuristic knowledge to guide the search towards goal states. Both approaches have disadvantages: the first one does not utilize available knowledge to cut down the search effort, and the second one relies too much on the knowledge, even if it is misleading. We have therefore developed a framework for goal-directed exploration, called VECA, that combines the advantages of both approaches by automatically switching from exploitation to exploration on parts of the state space where exploitation does not perform well. VECA provides better performance guarantees than previously studied heuristic-driven exploitation algorithms, and experimental evidence suggests that this guarantee does not deteriorate its average-case performance.
Is the NCI MATCH trial a match for gynecologic oncology

The Precision Medicine Initiative is an NCI driven program in cancer to generate the scientific evidence needed to move the concept of precision medicine into clinical practice. The rapid development and widespread availability of next generation sequencing and other molecular interrogation of tumors has heralded a new era of knowledge about each individual's tumor at a point in time. In some instances, this information has led to new therapeutic discoveries, in most instances, this information has been uninformative or of unclear significance. The NCI Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) trial [NCT02465060] which screens for molecular features that may predict response to a drug with a given mechanism of action, is a multi-study, collaborative effort between the NCI and many pharmaceutical companies to begin to clarify the significance of molecular alterations in tumors not previously studied. This trial design is in response to the recent appreciation that certain driver mutations which may be common in a particular tumor type are mutated in other diseases at low frequency (<10%). In low frequency mutations, testing the utility of certain targeted therapy requires screening large numbers of patients. This review article will discuss the types of novel trial designs that led to the development and launch of the NCI MATCH.
Pharmacologic Therapies for Pediatric Concussions.

Context:Pediatric concussions are common, and emphasis on correct diagnosis and management is stressed in consensus guidelines. Medications may have a role in management of concussion, but no consensus exists regarding appropriate pharmacologic therapy.Evidence Acquisition:Nonsystematic review.Study Design:Clinical review.Level of Evidence:Level 4.Results:There is limited evidence for hypertonic saline to improve posttraumatic headache in the emergency department setting. There is essentially no evidence for the use of any other medication in management of pediatric sport-related concussion.Conclusion:Further research is necessary to determine whether there is benefit to the use of any pharmacotherapy in the management of pediatric-aged athletes with concussions.
Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Hydrogen Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry of Anions: Part 3. Estimating Surface Area Exposure by Deuterium Uptake.

Gas-phase hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX), collision cross section (CCS) measurement, and molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) techniques were utilized to develop and compare three methods for estimating the relative surface area exposure of separate peptide chains within bovine insulin ions. Electrosprayed [M - 3H](3-) and [M - 5H](5-) insulin ions produced a single conformer type with respective collision cross sections of 528 ± 5 A(2) and 808 ± 2 A(2). [M - 4H](4-) ions were comprised of more compact (Ω = 676 ± 3 A(2)) and diffuse (i.e., more elongated, Ω = 779 ± 3 A(2)) ion conformer types. Ions were subjected to HDX in the drift tube using D2O as the reagent gas. Collision-induced dissociation was used to fragment mobility-selected, isotopically labeled [M - 4H](4-) and [M - 5H](5-) ions into the protein subchains. Deuterium uptake levels of each chain can be explained by limited inter-chain isotopic scrambling upon collisional activation. Using nominal ion structures from MDS and a hydrogen accessibility model, the deuterium uptake for each chain was correlated to its exposed surface area. In separate experiments, the per-residue deuterium content for the protonated and deprotonated ions of the synthetic peptide KKDDDDDIIKIIK were compared. The differences in deuterium content indicated the regional HDX accessibility for cations versus anions. Using ions of similar conformational type, this comparison highlights the complementary nature of HDX data obtained from positive- and negative-ion analysis.
Crystal structure of bis­[1-(2-hy­droxy­eth­yl)-2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole-κN3]silver(I) tetra­fluorido­borate methanol monosolvate

1-(2-Hy­droxy­eth­yl)-2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole (metronidazole, MET) is a medication that is used to treat infections by a variety of anaerobic organisms, but there are relatively few reports of the structures of metal compounds that exhibit coordination of metronidazole. We have demonstrated that MET reacts with AgBF4 to give [Ag(MET)2]BF4·CH3OH, in which the AgI cation is coordinated by two MET ligands with a trans arrangement. The structure of [Ag(MET)2]BF4 exhibits some inter­esting differences from its nitrate counterpart, [Ag(MET)2]NO3 [Fun et al. (2008). Acta Cryst. E64, m668]. For instance, although the two MET ligands of both [Ag(MET)2]BF4 and [Ag(MET)2]NO3 are almost coplanar, the former compound has an anti-like geometry with a mol­ecular inversion center, but the latter has a syn-like arrangement. In the crystal, the BF4− anion is linked by an O—H⋯F hydrogen bond to the methanol solvent molecule, which is, in turn, linked to the cation by an O—H⋯O hydrogen bond; the components of the structure are linked by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains along [001]. One of the MET ligands and the BF4− anion are disordered over two sets of sites with ratios of refined occupancies 0.501 (17):0.499 (17) and 0.539 (19):0.461 (19), respectively.
The importance of the sense of smell in human sexuality

Writers, including Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis, have hypothesized about the link between olfaction and sexual activity in humans. This article reports an assessment of the sexual behavior of four subjects with congenital absence of smell. In these subjects, good sexual functioning remained intact despite the absence of the sense of smell.
Worker's Control of Industry and the British Labor Party

Socialist thought has long contained two potentially contradictory doctrines concerning the control or management of productive enterprises under a socialist regime. One of these is the idea of workers' control : the concept that under socialism workers will no longer be merely passive victims of the productive process, but, direct participants in the control of productive enterprises. The other is the idea of central control on behalf of the entire community: the concept that socialism will replace “the anarchy of production” under capitalism with a central determination of the appropriate goals of economic activity. That there is possibiUty of conflict between these two objectives is self-evident. The decentralization of economic administration implied by workers' control may easily contradict the desire for centralization of certain kinds of economic decisions. Conceivably, one goal or the other might have to be abandoned, or at least seriously modified. Today, for the first time in any major industrial nation, a socialist party pledged to the maintenance of democratic institutions is undertaking the task of building socialism. The achievements of the British Labor party may well determine the future goals and techniques of democratic socialists elsewhere. It is not inconceivable that success or failure of the British experiment will determine the path that Western Europe will follow. It is noteworthy, then, that during the last decade the Labor party has abandoned the goal of workers' control; in its current program of nationalization, it is making no provision for direct control of production by workers. This modification of socialist objectives, representing a swing away from the syndicalist content of socialist thinking in the direction of Fabian ideas, was achieved only after the entire socialist movement and the Labor party itself underwent the test of a protracted internal struggle, both of an intellectual and of a practical kind.
Analysis of the Long-Term Performance of Storage / Release Systems Using Linked Watershed-Water Body Modeling

This paper presents a method to analyze the long-term performance of storage/release systems using continuous simulation. The method follows previous efforts that packaged the storage/release problem into a two-input, one-output production function analysis. The two inputs are the storage capacity and the release/treatment rate. The output of the production function typically has been in terms of some measure of pollution control provided by the system (e.g., percent suspended solids removal). We take the analysis one step further by developing the production function with the output in terms of some measure of receiving-water impact. For this paper, we develop the production function in terms of the percent of time the in-stream flow rate exceeds a critical flow rate marking the point where sediment in the receiving water would be eroded. The modeling framework uses several blocks of the U.S. EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to simulate an urban catchment, the storage/release system, and a stream. The analysis involves performing long-term simulations using SWMM, systematically altering the simulated storage capacity and release/treatment rate between simulations, and deriving the production function using spatial interpolation. After the production function is established a cost optimization procedure is applied to determine the storage capacity and release rate combination that meets the receiving water goals while minimizing cost. Application of the analysis method is demonstrated using a hypothetical storage/release system and receiving water body.
Magnetic Ordering of Mn Overlayers on Fe(100)

Spin polarized electron energy loss spectroscopy (SPEELS) was used to probe the magnetic state of Mn overlayers on Fe(100). Non¬zero exchange asymmetries are measured and found to oscillate with a two monolayer period as the Mn overlayer thickness is varied, proving that the surface layer of the Mn overlayers has a net magnetic moment and that these (100) magnetic layers are aligned antiferromagnetically. The average exchange splitting of the Mn surface layer is found to be 2.9 eV, indicating that the Mn surface has a magnetic moment of the order 3 uB. In addition, oxidized Mn overlayer surfaces have been studied, and the spectral features in the range 0 to 6 eV energy loss can be assigned to 3d-3d transitions of Mn2+. No indication of magnetic ordering of the MnO overlayer has been oserved.
Long-term retention of a visually cued poison-based aversion in monkeys

Retention of a poison-based aversion after a 3-yr. period by 8 vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) was found. The color of the visual cue appeared to effect the retention of the aversion.
Induction of differentiation and apoptosis by interferon-γ in human neuroblastoma cells in vitro as a dual and alternative early biological response

Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) has a well known differentiation-promoting activity on several neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines and has also been reported to induce apoptosis in different cellular models. We have investigated the potential of IFN-γ to trigger, besides differentiation, programmed cell death in NB cells and the relationship between these processes. Nine NB cell lines, characterized by different phenotypic and maturational features, were cultured in the presence of IFN-γ (1000 IU/ml) for up to 5 days with either only one treatment at the start of the culture or renewing the culture medium (with or without IFN-γ) every other day. Neuronal differentiation was assessed by evaluation of morphological changes and expression of mature cytoskeletal proteins, while apoptosis was evaluated at the desired times by fluorescent and electronic microscopy, DNA content analysis and DNA fragmentation assay. Our findings show that apoptosis is an early (mainly non post-differentiative) event and is much more evident following a single IFN-γ administration. Moreover, IFN-γ-triggered apoptosis is independent of the cellular phenotype (schwannian or neuronal) and appears to be mutually exclusive with respect to differentiation at the single cell level. Our results strengthen the potential of IFN-γ as a promising therapeutic agent for NB.
Heterocyclic liquid crystals designed for optical light emitting diode applications

Liquid crystals (LCs) represent an important and established area of technology while organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) represent another important but emerging area of technology.
A prospective study of ketamine versus haloperidol for severe prehospital agitation

Context: Ketamine is an emerging drug for the treatment of acute undifferentiated agitation in the prehospital environment, however no prospective comparative studies have evaluated its effectivene...
Broad impact of deleting endogenous cannabinoid hydrolyzing enzymes and the CB1 cannabinoid receptor on the endogenous cannabinoid-related lipidome in eight regions of the mouse brain.

Abstract Background and purpose The enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) hydrolyze endogenous cannabinoids (eCBs), N -arachidonoyl ethanolamine (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), respectively. These enzymes also metabolize eCB analogs such as lipoamines and 2-acyl glycerols, most of which are not ligands at CB 1 . To test the hypothesis that deleting eCB hydrolyzing enzymes and CB 1 shifts lipid metabolism more broadly and impacts more families of eCB structural analogs, targeted lipidomics analyses were performed on FAAH KO, MAGL KO, and CB 1 KO mice and compared to WT controls in 8 brain regions. Experimental approach Methanolic extracts of discrete brain regions (brainstem, cerebellum, cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, midbrain, striatum and thalamus) were partially purified on C-18 solid-phase extraction columns. Over 70 lipids per sample were then analyzed with HPLC/MS/MS. Key results AEA and 2-AG were unaffected throughout the brain in CB 1 KO mice; however, there was an increase in the arachidonic acid (AA) metabolite, PGE 2 in the majority of brain areas. By contrast, PGE 2 and AA levels were significantly reduced throughout the brain in the MAGL KO corresponding to significant increases in 2-AG. No changes in AA or PGE 2 were seen throughout in the FAAH KO brain, despite significant increases in AEA, suggesting AA liberated by FAAH does not contribute to steady state levels of AA or PGE 2 . Changes in the lipidome were not confined to the AA derivatives and showed regional variation in each of the eCB KO models. Conclusions and implications AEA and 2-AG hydrolyzing enzymes and the CB 1 receptor link the eCB system to broader lipid signaling networks in contrasting ways, potentially altering neurotransmission and behavior independently of cannabinoid receptor signaling.
The legal and ethical implications of gag clauses in physician contracts.

Throughout history, those in power have feared the consequences of unfettered discourse within their society. The empowered have restricted and directly manipulated discourse in the context of doctor-patient discussions with surprising frequency, resulting in disturbing curtailments of individual autonomy. During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese government dispatched physicians to peasants’ homes to convince them to use contraception. In the 1930s, the Soviet government expedited the completion of the Siberian railroad by ordering physicians to deny workers’ requests for medical leave and to conceal this order from those workers. Recently, Nicolae Ceausescu sought to increase the Romanian birth rate by prohibiting physicians from advising patients about birth control and barring the dissemination of information about condom use to prevent HIV transmission. Restraints on doctor-patient discussions have not been limited to socialist regimes. In 1988, the Bush Administration implemented a federal regulation prohibiting physicians from discussing abortion with patients in federally funded clinics.
Catholic hospitals and community benefit activities. A comparative inventory of policies and programs reveals a wide range of services.

Results from a 1990 survey of 595 acute care, short-term, U.S. Catholic hospitals help identify and describe the most and least common community benefit activities and propose ways Catholic healthcare providers can become more involved in their local communities. The response rate for this mailed, self-administered questionnaire was 72 percent (n = 429). The survey data indicated that Catholic hospitals engaged in a variety of healthcare efforts in their local communities. These efforts ranged from occasional activities (e.g., delivering food baskets to the needy at Christmastime) to sponsoring long-term programs (e.g., continuing case management). To expand involvement throughout the community, hospitals can do the following relatively low-cost tasks: Have volunteers visit area residents in their homes and report their findings. Sponsor focus groups (facilitated by graduate students from area colleges and universities) that include the various community members. Assess the human needs of the communities that surround the hospital. Graduate students may conduct preliminary studies to identify the scope and variety of community healthcare needs.
Periscope: Unifying Looking Glass Querying

Looking glasses (LG) servers enhance our visibility into Internet connectivity and performance by offering a set of distributed vantage points that allow both data plane and control plane measurements. However, the lack of input and output standardization and limitations in querying frequency have hindered the development of automated measurement tools that would allow systematic use of LGs. In this paper we introduce Periscope, a publicly-accessible overlay that unifies LGs into a single platform and automates the discovery and use of LG capabilities. The system architecture combines crowd-sourced and cloud-hosted querying mechanisms to automate and scale the available querying resources. Periscope can handle large bursts of requests, with an intelligent controller coordinating multiple concurrent user queries without violating the various LG querying rate limitations. As of December 2015 Periscope has automatically extracted 1,691 LG nodes in 297 Autonomous Systems. We show that Periscope significantly extends our view of Internet topology obtained through RIPE Atlas and CAIDA’s Ark, while the combination of traceroute and BGP measurements allows more sophisticated measurement studies.
Urinary solute transport by intestinal segments: a comparative study of ileum and colon in rats

This study was conducted to quantitate and compare urinary solute transport by ileum and colon in an in vivo rat model. Rates of solute transport were compared by analysis of rate constants for each experiment. Sodium and bicarbonate are secreted while ammonium and chloride are absorbed by both ileum and colon. Potassium is absorbed by ileum and not transported by colon. There is a tendency for water movement into the bowel lumen with both intestinal segments. Quantitatively, the amount of bicarbonate secretion and the increase in intraluminal pH is greater with ileum than colon. There is a net osmolar absorption from ileum but not colon. Hydrogen ion or ammonium absorption accounts for the majority and bicarbonate secretion the minority of the acid load in both ileum and colon. Ammonium appears to be absorbed either along with chloride or in exchange for sodium.
GenCyber: Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Stars

The GenCyber program strives to help solve the US's shortfall of cybersecurity professionals by reaching kindergarten through 12th grade students and teachers, developing their cybersecurity awareness and stimulating their interest in the cybersecurity field.
Vehicle Track Segmentation Using Higher Order Random Fields

We present an approach to segment vehicle tracks in coherent change detection images, a product of combining two synthetic aperture radar images taken at different times. The approach uses multiscale higher order random field models to capture track statistics, such as curvatures and their parallel nature, that are not currently utilized in existing methods. These statistics are encoded as 3-by-3 patterns at different scales. The model can complete disconnected tracks often caused by sensor noise and various environmental effects. Coupling the model with a simple classifier, our approach is effective at segmenting salient tracks. We improve the F-measure on a standard vehicle track data set to 0.963, up from 0.897 obtained by the current state-of-the-art method.
The Administrative State and Its Law

For understandable but also unfortunate reasons, the contemporary scholarly and public debate over “the administrative state” — a poorly defined term of convenience — has been marred by dramatic claims, ideological rancor, and arcane doctrinal quarrels that serve as placeholders for a grim clash of convictions. Expansive delegations of legislative powers, coupled with highly deferential judicial review and increasingly “unorthodox” forms of administration, have prompted scholars from opposing vantages to argue that all administrative law is an unlawful departure from constitutional government, or a thin veneer for an essentially “Schmittian” state beyond effective legal control (and a good thing, too).This essay — written as an Introduction to a series of articles commissioned for a transatlantic law conference — argues that the stateside debate would greatly benefit from a comparative administrative law inquiry. In contrast to the acrimony over unchecked executive power in the United States, British scholars apprehend tendencies toward administrative juristocracy. In even sharper contrast, the German administrative law profession shares a firm conviction that is entirely possible to reconcile the demands of modern government with constitutionally grounded rule-of-law precepts. At a minimum, the comparative perspective greatly complicates facile stories of constitutional decay or the “modernization” of an archaic constitutional framework. It invites deeper reflection and opens a wider, perhaps more sober perspective on the American administrative state and its law.
Brain metastases (BMs) from metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in patients (pts) treated with molecularly targeted agents (MTAs).

e15066 Background: Historically, the frequency of BMs from RCC is ~11%. Recent reports have suggested an improvement in the incidence of BMs with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). What is not known is the impact of MTAs on the prevalence of BMs in metastatic RCC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all pts with metastatic RCC treated with MTAs at a tertiary care center, UT Southwestern Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, from 2006–2010. Statistical analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model and the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Fifty nine pts met inclusion criteria. 8 more pts presented with BMs and were not included in the incidence and survival analyses. Median age was 64.6 yrs. Per MSKCC criteria, 3 pts were in favorable (5%), 41 in intermediate (70%), and 15 in poor (25%) prognostic groups. Sites of metastases at presentation included lungs (65%), lymph nodes (40%), bones (30%), and liver (25.4%). Mean follow up time was 16 months, and at last follow up 24...
Local Search for Optimal Global Map Generation Using Mid-Decadal Landsat Images

NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are collaborating to produce a global map of the Earth using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) remote sensor data from the period of 2004 through 2007. The map is comprised of thousands of scene locations and, for each location, there are tens of different images of varying quality to chose from. Constraints and preferences on map quality make it desirable to develop an automated solution to the map generation problem. This paper formulates a Global Map Generator problem as a Constraint Optimization Problem (GMG-COP) and describes an approach to solving it using local search. The paper also describes the integration of a GMG solver into a graphical user interface for visualizing and comparing solutions, thus allowing for solutions to be generated with human participation and guidance.
How Biometric Authentication Poses New Challenges to Our Security and Privacy [In the Spotlight]

Discusses the challenges that face biometric authentication in the areas of privacy and network security. The use of biometric data — an individual’s measurable physical and behavioral characteristics — isn’t new. Government and law enforcement agencies have long used it. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been building a biometric recognition database; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is sharing its iris and facial recognition of foreigners with the FBI. But the use of biometric data by consumer goods manufacturers for authentication purposes has skyrocketed in recent years. For example, Apple’s iPhone allows users to scan their fingerprints to unlock the device, secure mobile bill records, and authenticate payments. Lenovo and Dell are companies that leverage fingerprints to enable users to sign onto their computers with just a swipe. Using biometric data to access our personal devices is increasing as a way to get around the limitations of the commonly used password-based mechanism: it’s easier, more convenient, and (theoretically) more secure. But biometric data can also be stolen and used in malicious ways. Capturing fingerprints at scale isn’t as easy as lifting a credit card or Social Security number, but experience and history tells us that once something is used extensively, criminals will figure out how to misuse and monetize it.
Hybrid Air-Hydronic HVAC Performance in a Residential Net-Zero Energy Retrofit

Abstract While the United States is no longer the global leader in primary energy consumption, it still represents a significant percentage of global consumption. Residential buildings account for 22% of U.S. national primary energy consumption. Research efforts improving efficiency of existing U.S. homes will have opportunity to greatly impact national energy consumption by addressing a significant energy savings potential. Driving towards net-zero energy buildings provides an ideal scenario where homes produce all energy demands on-site. A joint research project, the ReNEWW House, captured an approach of renovating a home to net-zero energy. An efficient and advanced, hybrid air-hydronic HVAC system was installed. During the first heating season, excessive heat pump short-cycling occurred from improper buffer tank controls by default manufacturer settings. Modifications to the temperature control strategy recorded lower energy use through an improved heating system effectiveness. Results were collected over two heating seasons from in-field measurements. During the first heating season, the heat pump used 5440 kWh of electricity at annual heating degree day (HDD) of 6080 °F-day. The second season measured 3920 kWh of electricity at annual HDD of 4800 °F-day. The effectiveness for the heating season increased from 0.89 kWh/°F-day for the first season to 0.82 kWh/°F-day for the second.
Transistor reliability characterization and modeling of the 22FFL FinFET technology

This paper describes the transistor reliability of Intel's 22FFL FinFET technology, which includes an extensive variety of device offerings to enable high performance and low power design options. Detailed evaluations of BTI, TDDB, self-heating, and HCI are included to demonstrate the impact from the various device's pitch, channel length, and threshold voltage. Process integration details are included to highlight the interaction with reliability mechanisms. In addition, modeling results are shown to be well matched to silicon on both discrete devices and benchmark circuits.
Immune related adverse events (irAEs): A unique profile based on tumor type.

e14606Background: Immune checkpoint blockade(ICB) has revolutionized the treatment of a growing number of malignancies. Real world administration of oncolytics is often associated with increased ad...
Mechanisms of Hypertension Induced by Electrolyte-Active Steroids

The role of electrolyte-active steroids in the development and maintenance of hypertension remains unclear. Observations accrued from the deoxycorticosterone acetate-saline (DOCA-saline) hypertensive rat1–3 may have little clinical relevance because, in this model, hypertension is induced by reducing renal mass and by the administration of large amounts of salt together with DOCA. On the other hand, clinical studies in the syndrome of primary aldosteronism are difficult to assess, since data have been obtained in patients with established hypertension4 or following discontinuance of spironolactone.5
Future networking for scalable I/O

Large clustered computers provide low-cost compute cycles, and therefore have promoted the development of sophisticated parallel-programming algorithms based on the Message Passing Interface. Storage platforms, however, fail to keep pace with similar advances. This paper compares standard 4X InfiniBand (IB) to 10- Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) for use as a common storage infrastructure in addition to message passing. Considering IB's native ability to accelerate protocol processing in hardware, the Ethernet hardware in this study provided similar acceleration using TCP Offload Engines. We evaluated their I/O performance using the IOZONE benchmark on the iSCSI-based TerraGRID parallel filesystem. Our evaluations show that 10GbE, with or without protocol-offload, offered better throughput and latency than IB to socket-based applications. Although protocol-offload in both 10GbE and IB demonstrated significant improvement in I/O performance, large amount of CPU are still being consumed to handle the associated data-copies and interrupts. The emerging RDMA technologies hold promises to remove the remaining CPU overhead. We plan to continue our study to research the applications of RDMA in parallel I/O.
Side-effects Burden, Psychological Adjustment, and Life Quality in Women With Breast Cancer: Pattern of Association Over Time

Purpose/objectives To describe the side-effects burden experienced over time by 53 women who were receiving treatment for breast cancer and to describe the association of side-effects burden with psychological adjustment and life quality. Design Data were drawn from the Self-Help Intervention Project (SHIP), an intervention study designed to test the effectiveness of nursing interventions for women receiving treatment for breast cancer. Setting Subjects were interviewed in their homes or treatment locations three times over a period of four to five months. Sample 53 women randomly assigned to the control group of the SHIP. Methods The researchers collected data after treatment was initiated, six to eight weeks later, and three months after that. Main research variables Side-effects burden, psychological adjustment, and life quality. Findings Fatigue was the most problematic side effect over time. Other problematic side effects included sore arm(s), difficulty sleeping, hair loss, and skin irritation. Significant associations were evident for psychological adjustment with symptom extension and number of side effects at Time 2 and Time 3. Depression burden and anxiety burden were associated significantly with psychological adjustment at all three times. Overall life quality and present life quality was associated negatively with symptom extension and number of side effects at all three times. Fatigue burden was associated negatively with life quality at Time 2 and Time 3 with depression burden and anxiety burden negatively associated with life quality at all three times. Conclusions Over time, evidence showed that negative feelings, in particular depression burden and anxiety burden, persist. Depression burden and anxiety burden each were negatively associated with overall and present life quality at all three times. Implications for nursing practice A need exists for clinically individualized nursing interventions that will reduce the side effects burden of women receiving treatment for breast cancer. Interventions can do much to reduce the perception of illness severity so that psychological adjustment and life quality can be maintained.
Comparative Rates of Disinfection of Microbial Indicator Organisms in Chlorinated Sewage Effluents

The densities of several microbial indicator organisms, including fecal coliforms, enterococci, Clostridiumperfrinaens, and a male-specific bacteriophage group, were determined in the pre- and post-chlorinated effluents of three wastewater treatment plants during a rainfall event when the plants were operating near maximum flow capacity. These studies were undertaken to determine the effects of elevated flow rates on the relative rates of inactivation of the microbial indicators due to chlorine disinfection. Three distinctly different responses to chlorine treatment were observed. The vegetative bacterial organisms (fecal coliforms and enterococci) were most sensitive, the male-specific bacteriophage group was considerably more refractory, and c. perfringens, a bacterial spore-former, was highly resistant to inactivation by the disinfecting agent. These findings are significant for two reasons. First, the vegetative bacterial indicators did not reliably index the decay rates of the bacterial virus under the field conditions experienced. This has important public health ramifications to consumers of certain seafood products and to marine recreationists. Second, because of the highly refractory nature of the c. perfrinaens spore, this microbial indicator has practical use in assessing the magnitude of the impacts (source strengths) of sewage contaminated wastewaters on estuarine and marine environments.
Short-Acting Anti-VWF (von Willebrand Factor) Aptamer Improves the Recovery, Survival, and Hemostatic Functions of Refrigerated Platelets.

Objective: Refrigeration-induced binding of VWF (von Willebrand factor) to platelets contributes to the rapid clearance of refrigerated platelets. In this study, we investigate whether inhibiting V...
Comparison of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Electrode Montages for the Lower Limb Motor Cortex

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been widely explored as a neuromodulatory adjunct to modulate corticomotor excitability and improve motor behavior. However, issues with the effectiveness of tDCS have led to the exploration of empirical and experimental alternate electrode placements to enhance neuromodulatory effects. Here, we conducted a preliminary study to compare a novel electrode montage (which involved placing 13 cm2 electrodes anterior and posterior to the target location) to the traditionally used electrode montage (13 cm2 stimulating electrode over the target area and the 35 cm2 reference electrode over the contralateral orbit). We examined the effects of tDCS of the lower limb motor area (M1) by measuring the corticomotor excitability (CME) of the tibialis anterior muscle using transcranial magnetic stimulation in twenty healthy participants. We examined behavioral effects using a skilled motor control task performed with the ankle. We did not find one electrode montage to be superior to the other for changes in the CME or motor control. When the group was dichotomized into responders and non-responders (based on upregulation in CME), we found that the responders showed significant upregulation from baseline after tDCS for both montages. However, only the responders in the traditional montage group showed significant changes in motor control after tDCS. These results do not support the superiority of the new anterior–posterior montage over the traditional montage. Further work with a larger cohort and multiple cumulative sessions may be necessary to confirm our results.
Modeling Concept Drift in the Context of Discrete Bayesian Networks.

Concept drift is a significant challenge that greatly influences the accuracy and reliability of machine learning models. There is, therefore, a need to detect concept drift in order to ensure the validity of learned models. In this research, we study the issue of concept drift in the context of discrete Bayesian networks. We propose a probabilistic graphical model framework to explicitly detect the presence of concept drift using latent variables. We employ latent variables to model real concept drift and uncertainty drift over time. For modeling real concept drift, we propose to monitor the mean of the distribution of the latent variable over time. For modeling uncertainty drift, we suggest to monitor the change in beliefs of the latent variable over time, i.e., we monitor the maximum value that the probability density function of the distribution takes over time. We implement our proposed framework and present our empirical results using two of the most commonly used Bayesian networks in Bayesian experiments, namely the Burglary-Earthquake Network and the Chest Clinic network.