cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Contractual Structure in Bulgarian Agriculture

This paper suggests a holistic framework for analysis of agrarian contracts and investigates the contractual structure in transitional Bulgarian agriculture. Firstly, it incorporates the interdisciplinary New Institutional and Transaction Costs Economics (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) and describes major mechanisms of governance of agrarian activity – institutional environment, market competition, private, collective and public order; and defines features of agrarian sale-purchase, lease, employment, service, loan, insurance and coalition contracts; and identifies technological, institutional, behavioral, dimensional, and transaction costs factors for contractual choice and specifies effective modes for contractual arrangements in agriculture; and determines the effective boundaries and sustainability of farm and agrarian organizations. Secondly, it analyzes the post-communist institutional and organizational modernization of Bulgarian agriculture, and assesses the efficiency of various modes for governing of land supply, and labor supply, and service supply, and inputs supply, and finance supply, and insurance supply, and marketing of output in different type of farms.
Inferring User Political Preferences from Streaming Communications

Existing models for social media personal analytics assume access to thousands of messages per user, even though most users author content only sporadically over time. Given this sparsity, we: (i) leverage content from the local neighborhood of a user; (ii) evaluate batch models as a function of size and the amount of messages in various types of neighborhoods; and (iii) estimate the amount of time and tweets required for a dynamic model to predict user preferences. We show that even when limited or no selfauthored data is available, language from friend, retweet and user mention communications provide sufficient evidence for prediction. When updating models over time based on Twitter, we find that political preference can be often be predicted using roughly 100 tweets, depending on the context of user selection, where this could mean hours, or weeks, based on the author’s tweeting frequency.
Publication bias in dermatology systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in dermatology provide high-level evidence for clinicians and policy makers that influence clinical decision making and treatment guidelines. One methodological problem with systematic reviews is the under representation of unpublished studies. This problem is due in part to publication bias. Omission of statistically non-significant data from meta-analyses may result in overestimation of treatment effect sizes which may lead to clinical consequences. Our goal was to assess whether systematic reviewers in dermatology evaluate and report publication bias. Further, we wanted to conduct our own evaluation of publication bias on meta-analyses that failed to do so. Our study considered systematic reviews and meta-analyses from ten dermatology journals from 2006 to 2016. A PubMed search was conducted, and all full-text articles that met our inclusion criteria were retrieved and coded by the primary author. 293 articles were included in our analysis. Additionally, we formally evaluated publication bias in meta-analyses that failed to do so using trim and fill and cumulative meta-analysis by precision methods. Publication bias was mentioned in 107 articles (36.5%) and was formally evaluated in 64 articles (21.8%). Visual inspection of a funnel plot was the most common method of evaluating publication bias. Publication bias was present in 45 articles (15.3%), not present in 57 articles (19.5%) and not determined in 191 articles (65.2%). Using the trim and fill method, 7 meta-analyses (33.33%) showed evidence of publication bias. Although the trim and fill method only found evidence of publication bias in 7 meta-analyses, the cumulative meta-analysis by precision method found evidence of publication bias in 15 meta-analyses (71.4%). Many of the reviews in our study did not mention or evaluate publication bias. Further, of the 42 articles that stated following PRISMA reporting guidelines, 19 (45.2%) evaluated for publication bias. In comparison to other studies, we found that systematic reviews in dermatology were less likely to evaluate for publication bias. Evaluating and reporting the likelihood of publication bias should be standard practice in systematic reviews when appropriate.
Chapter Seventeen – The Role of Computational Tools in Biomechanics

Biomechanical analysis is a useful tool for understanding the fundamental behavior of the pelvic floor system and should lead to useful clinical applications. An impediment to a more wide-spread application of biomechanical analysis is the difficulty and time-cost in developing a suitable computer model of the organs and muscles for an individual person from medical image data. This chapter discusses the underlying issue in developing an analysis-suitable geometry using industry-standard methods, presents an alternative approach to significantly reduce the burden of patient-specific model generation, and demonstrates the usefulness of the approach with several examples of biomechanical analysis in the female pelvic floor.
Relationship of serious psychological distress to quality of life in adults with diabetes.

Objective:To examine the association between serious psychological distress (SPD) and the Physical and Mental Health components of Quality of Life (QOL) while controlling for depression in a national sample of adults with diabetes.Methods:SPD was assessed in 1,659 adults with diabetes who participated in the 2007 Medical Care Expenditure Survey (MEPS). SPD was measured by the 6-item Kessler scale. Depression was assessed with the PHQ-2 screen. Quality of life was measured with the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) components of the SF-12. We used multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between SPD and quality of life while controlling for relevant covariates and depression screen results to assess the independent effect of SPD on QOL above and beyond the effect of depression.Results:Among US adults with diabetes, 9% had SPD and 15.4% screened positive for depression. Among those with SPD, 85.8% had depression and among those with depression, 50.5% had SPD. In the adjusted model for sociodemogr...
High-Order solver for Blood Flow Using WENO Scheme

A high order solver for the blood flow is developed and analyzed using a two-dimensional backward-facing step.In the first part, a Newtonian steady code to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations has been developed. The accuracy of the code is verified by the experimental results. An exact projection method/fractional-step scheme is used to solve the incompressible N-S equations. Convective terms of the N-S equations are solved using fifth-order WENO spatial operators, and for the diffusion terms, asixth- order compact central difference scheme is employed.The use of WENO scheme is advantageous as it captures the general features of the flow with coarse grid. The third-order Runge-Kutta (RK) explicit time-integrating scheme with total variation diminishing (TVD) is adopted for time discretization.In the second part, the pulsatile behavior of the Newtonian blood flow has been added to the initial program. Finally, the numerical code has been extended to include the steady and pulsatile effects in non-Newtonian blood flow.
Acute and chronic bacterial infection in the rat urinary tract: Immunofluorescent localization of immunoglobulins

To study the relative concentrations and appearance of immunoglobulin in the bladder and kidneys of rats with acute and chronic urinary tract infections, three groups of female Sprague-Dawley rats were studied. Group I underwent weekly intraurethral inoculation with Escherichia coli 07. Group II received inoculation of 0.2 ml of PBS alone. Group III were unmanipulated controls. Bladder and kidney washings were obtained for bacterial colony counts and organism identification. Bladder and kidney tissue was prepared for immunofluorescent examination using goat or rabbit antirat IgA, IgM, or IgG layered with fluorescent-labeled rabbit antigoat or goat antirabbit serum. Negative immunofluorescent controls substituted PBS for antirat serum. No significant difference was noted between bladder and kidney cultures in groups I and II. Comparison of immunofluorescent intensity between groups I and III demonstrated that IgM intensity was greatest between weeks one and three in bladders and kidneys, then decreased to non-significant levels. Bladder IgG intensity peaked at week four and remained elevated throughout the remainder of the study while renal IgG intensity was significant throughout the study period. Renal and bladder IgA was noted only sporadically. Comparison of culture positive animals to culture negative animals (groups II and III) demonstrated a lower immunofluorescent intensity score for culture negative animals. Discrete cellular immunofluorescence was evident in 19.1% of bladders and compared to 0.6% of kidneys. This study suggests that the immunologic response in the rat to intraurethral inoculation and infection is biphasic (IgM followed by IgG) and that a local cellular immunologic response may exist in the bladder.
The economic burden of exposure to secondhand smoke for child and adult never smokers residing in U.S. public housing.

Objective.The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nonsmokers experience disease and death due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the home. We estimated the total excess burden and costs to society due to SHS exposure in U.S. public housing.Methods.We quantified the public health burden for outcomes causally related to SHS exposure for nationally representative never-smoking residents in U.S. public housing using (1) WHO-recommended health outcomes and methodology, (2) publicly available and other large databases, and (3) published estimates of morbidity and mortality rates. We used published estimates of direct medical and nonmedical care costs and the value of productivity losses to estimate SHS-related societal costs for disease and death. We estimated the public health and economic burden for two serum cotinine limits of detection (LODs): 0.05 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) and 0.015 ng/mL.Results.In 2011, an estimated 37,791 never-smoking child and adult U.S. public housing residents exp...
Rapid Feedback after Thrombolysis for Acute Stroke Using a Novel E-mail Protocol (S3.004)

Objective: A pilot quality improvement initiative to decrease time-to-treatment in acute stroke by identifying areas of delay with rapid feedback e-mails. Background: Shorter door-to-needle time (DTN) is associated with better outcomes in acute ischemic stroke. We hypothesized that feedback e-mailed within 48 hours of tPA administration to all members of the interdisciplinary team involved in a particular case as well as all emergency department (ED) nurses would reduce DTN. Design: We developed a novel feedback form, which (1) compares the timeline for the case to institutional time goals; (2) provides a brief case summary; (3) outlines sources of delay. We compared median DTN and component times in the post-feedback (April-October 2015) to the pre-feedback (January 2013-April 2015) epochs. Median times were compared with Mann-Whitney U test. We also assessed the impact of feedback e-mails on ED nursing practice via a survey with 10 Likert-type questions. Results: A total of 182 subjects were included in this study; 149 cases in the pre-feedback epoch and 33 in the post-feedback epoch. Age, sex and median NIHSS did not differ between groups. Median DTN did not change (50 vs. 50 minutes, p=0.79) between epochs. However, median door-to-stroke page (2 vs. 0 minutes, p≤0.01) and door-to-CT time (20 vs. 16 minutes, p=0.03) were shorter in the post-intervention period. Sixteen nurses completed the survey. The majority (88[percnt]) indicated they always read the feedback emails; 75[percnt] felt the emails were supportive of their practice and 63[percnt] agreed they had a voice in improving the acute stroke process. Conclusion: Rapid feedback e-mails are a useful tool to develop ED systems changes across disciplines. Disclosure: Dr. Rostanski has nothing to disclose. Dr. Stillman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Perdomo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kauari has nothing to disclose. Dr. Williams has nothing to disclose.
Pathophysiology of Radiocontrast Nephropathy and Use of Fenoldopam for Its Prevention

There are no proven therapeutic agents for the prevention or treatment of acute renal failure. Radiocontrast agents induce intense vasoconstriction in the renal medulla, which is hypoxic even in normal physiologic states, thereby aggravating the imbalance of medullary oxygen supply and demand. Fenoldopam specifically increases blood flow to the renal medulla through selective agonism of dopamine-1 receptors and has been found to prevent radiocontrast nephropathy in several investigations, including one randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Physicochemical basis of opiate-cerebroside sulfate interaction and its application to receptor theory

Our postulate that opiate agonist and antagonist action is determined by the difference in the physicochemical properties between agonist-receptor complex and the complex formed with antagonist was tested using cerebroside sulfate as a model receptor. All of the drugs examined induced the [3H]cerebroside sulfate transfer from an aqueous phase to a nonaqueous phase. However, most of the agonists were more effective in inducing the transfer than most relatively pure antagonists and in a series of homologues, the maximum transfer induced by the agonists was larger than that induced by the antagonists. Moreover, the transfer induced by levorphanol was reversed by various opiate antagonists, but not by agonists. Both the transfer induced by the drugs used and the inhibition by various types of opiate antagonists correlated closely with their analgetic potencies in man and their antagonisms of the agonist effects in the isolated guinea pig ileum, respectively. Partial agonists and antagonists exhibited biphasic effects; at the low concentration, they antagonized the agonist-induced [3H]cerebroside sulfate transfer but at the higher concentration they induced their own transfer. When the [3H]cerebroside sulfate transfer induced by agonists and the inhibition by antagonists were compared to that induced by inorganic cations, the tightness of the ionic interaction between the cationic nitrogen atom of the drug and the anionic sulfate group of CS could serve to explain the agonist efficacy, while hydration of the ionic bond determines the antagonist efficacy. Based on the molecular mechanism of opiate-cerebroside sulfate interaction, an opiate receptor theory was proposed.
Slicing Up Societies: Commercial Media and the Destruction of Social Environments

Because commercial media are basic institutions of the global order, an analysis of these institutions is key to understanding the connection between neoliberalism and broad forms of social violence. In recent decades, neoliberal policies have pared away ownership and content regulations across the globe, resulting in the growth of transnational media oligopolies. These organizations in turn consolidate global markets by manufacturing a communications environment exclusively focused on producing and training consumers. Commercial media turn to violent content as an easy way to draw audiences, and violent content plays an important ideological role that serves the interests of state and corporate elites. But another more extensive source of violence is inherent to the way media reorganize social settings in pursuit of global markets. In their role as delivery mechanisms for advertising, commercial media disaggregate and segment populations in order to reconstitute them as audiences. This commodification of populations exemplifies the complex forms of symbolic violence perpetrated on the social environment by private media. Each of these forms of violence, violent content, and the commodification of social life contributes to the overall political economy of media violence in the neoliberal period.
Assessing a Garden-based Curriculum for Elementary Youth in Iowa: Parental Perceptions of Change

The interest and use of gardens as educational tools for youth has increased in recent decades. The positive connection found between children and horticulture has prompted the development of garden-based curricula for use in schools. Iowa State University Extension developed the Growing in the Garden (GITG) curriculum for use in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. This study examined what impact the GITG curriculum had on the awareness and interest of first graders in the areas of science, nutrition, and environmental awareness. Impact was assessed by a parental survey asking for perceptions of their child’s interest and awareness after experiencing three lessons from the GITG curriculum. The sample population consisted of 78 parents of first-grade students from four classrooms in Iowa. The response rate was 60.2%. Results indicate that a significant number of parents completing the survey noted an increased awareness and interest of their children in the areas of science and the environment. Factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender did not influence the outcomes.
Comparison of sampling methods for estimation of nearest-neighbor index values

Neighborhood-based indices such as mingling index and diameter differentiation are a set of diversity measures that are based on the relationship between a reference tree and a certain number of nearest neighbors (i.e., trees to which it has the lowest horizontal distance). Using stem-mapped data from eight headwater sites, we compared the relative bias and relative root mean square error (relative to the true mean of each site) of several different methods of choosing reference trees for calculation of diameter differentiation (D¯) and species mingling (M¯) index. Indices were defined using two, three, and four neighbors and methods for selection of the reference tree were random selection of a tree in a fixed-radius plot (FI), random selection of a tree in a variable-radius plot (VA), azimuth selection method (AZ), and nearest tree selection (NT). In general, the relative bias was lower than ±2.5% for D¯ and lower than ±10% for M¯ regardless of the method. The FI method consistently had the lowest relat...
Write. Persist. Struggle: Sponsors of Writing and Workers' Education in the 1930s

Organizations like the John Reed Clubs and the WPA Federal Writers’ Project, as well as publications like The New Masses can be seen as “literacy sponsors” of the U.S. literary left in the 1930s, particularly the young, the working class, and African American writers. The vibrant, inclusionary, activist, literary culture of that era reflected a surge of revolutionary ideas and activity that seized the imagination of a generation of writers and artists, including rhetoricians like Kenneth Burke. Here I argue that this history has relevance for contemporary community writing projects, which collectively lack the political cohesiveness and power of the national and international movements that sponsored the 1930s literary left but may anticipate another global period of struggle for democracy in which writers and artists can play a significant role.
From Hanging Files to Digital Collection: Growing a Controlled Vocabulary for Added Functionality in the Online World

ABSTRACT The Campus Images Collection at the University of Nevada, Reno, a CONTENTdm database, is the product of a collaboration between the University Libraries and various campus agencies that hold current or historical images of the UNR campus. This article explores the development and design of this database, and how the descriptive metadata fields were tailored to meet the needs of different agencies involved. In particular, the author discusses how an old indexing system–used in the past for the organization of print photographs into topical hanging files–was transformed into a set of controlled vocabularies that could be used in Dublin Core metadata fields in CONTENTdm.
Radioautographic analysis of the synthesis of protein, RNA, DNA, and sulfated mucopolysaccharides in the early stages of corneal wound healing

Tritium labeled leucine, uridine and thymidine, and sulfur-35, together with radioautographic techniques, have been used to study early stages of healing of simple, uncomplicated, corneal toounds in rabbits. It was shown that protein and RNA synthesis increased very soon after cutting the cornea. In contrast, DNA synthesis started between the twelfth and eighteenth hours, and increased synthesis of sulfated mucopolysaccharides was observed later still (between 48 and 72 hours after injury). The data also throw some light on the rate of formation of these cellular and tissue components. The location of the cells, relative to the wound, which became activated, was determined, and it was shown that in these small toounds, the major activity in all of the processes studied was largely restricted to a narrow zone adjacent to the cut. The labeling pattern (i.e., nuclear, cytoplasmic, extracellular) obtained toith the different precursors was also noted.
The New Polypharmacy in Psychiatry

Summary A trend towards increased utilisation of polypharmacy in clinical psychiatry has been observed recently. Among the factors contributing to this are the emerging predominance of drug treatment for psychiatric disorders, newer therapeutic agents, attempts to alleviate symptoms in patients who only partially respond to treatment, and the over-interpretation of research data. Problems with polypharmacy include the potential for drug interactions, the unknown safety of newer medicines, and the use of superfluous medication mixtures when one drug might suffice. The complexities inherent in the existing research methodology limit the study of polypharmacy. We suggest a new paradigm for researching multidrug regimens, modelled on that of health services research.
Cyberinfrastructure and optimization

In 2002 the U.S. National Science Foundation created a Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure, which submitted in January of 2003 a report entitled “Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure.” Subsequently, the NSF created an Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) independent of its directorates in such traditional areas as biology, computer science, geosciences, physical science, and engineering. In the following 3 years the NSF sponsored workshops leading to nearly 30 reports (www.nsf.gov/od/oci/reports.jsp) on the role of cyberinfrastructure in specific areas of research. This chapter describes a variety of projects that fall into the intersection of cyberinfrastructure with the study and practice of large-scale optimization. In general, these projects involve large-scale optimization problems in system design, production planning, and logistics. However, the notion of large-scale optimization occurs in other disciplines including physical and biological sciences, engineering, economics. As such, there is a benefit to establish a community whose members use the same modeling and algorithmic techniques and who can benefit from the same software and services.
Routing Simulation Model with Allocation of Burdens Multimodal

In the current work, we present the design of an allocation model of process plants to different customers considering the use of a fleet of vehicles with certain capabilities for the transport of goods, which is framed within theoretical model of mixed integer linear programming, developed from routing model with cargo allocation model and combined with multimodal transport. Furthermore, this model was applied using a simulation process on a real system, specifically the supply of recycled products Recycling Association ARB Bogota Colombia, making a projection of their operation according to their medium-term strategic plan.
Brain and spinal cord atrophy in multiple sclerosis.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reveals that brain and spinal cord atrophy occur early in the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), far earlier than originally anticipated. This has important implications for the early treatment of patients with MS, as atrophy is thought to reflect destructive, irreversible pathology, and subclinical impairment if not overt disability. Several recent trials in MS have included atrophy as a secondary or exploratory measure of treatment efficacy. While measured cerebral volume or spinal cord area changes are small over 1 to 3 year intervals, they are sufficiently large that with current methodologies the atrophy measures should provide conclusive information as to the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions in halting progressive atrophy. Atrophy measures may also provide an important metric for the evaluation of disease in primary progressive MS, and in testing combined therapies and neuroprotective agents, where conventional MRI methodologies may be relatively weak.
The 2D:4D ratio does not always correlate with economic behavior: A field experiment with African-Americans.

Abstract Several studies present evidence of correlations between prenatal testosterone exposure measured with the 2D:4D ratio and behaviors such as pro-social behavior, risk and patient attitudes, and self-employment. Individuals exposed prenatally to higher levels of testosterone have lower levels of risk aversion, higher levels of patience and invest more in others, and in themselves, therefore have higher individual financial wellbeing. We test these hypotheses with a sample of 115 African-Americans who live in a low-income urban area in the U.S. The 2D:4D ratio in our sample of males and females does not have a consistent and robust correlation with risk, patient attitudes, pro-social behavior and self-employment in contrast to previous studies.
Geriatric Complex Figure Test: A Test for the Assessment of Planning, Visual Spatial Ability, and Memory in Older Adults

The present study describes the development of a simplified complex figure for older adults. This new figure is based on theoretical organizational strategy models developed for the Rey Complex Figure Test and combines several new technologies for the enhancement of the data capture. The study shows that the accuracy and memory scores for the new measure correlate significantly with Trail Making Test, Five Point Test, and RBANS Complex Figure scores. The new figure's strategy scores correlate with predominantly nonverbal and to a lesser extent with verbal executive functions, supporting the construct validity of these scores and illustrating that computer-based data recording methodologies can reliably discern the multiple cognitive operations that impact performance on this and similar graphomotor measures.
Spacecraft Electrostatic Force and Torque Expansions Yielding Appropriate Fidelity Measures

Charged spacecraft experience electrostatic forces and torques from both charged neighboring spacecraft and the local space environment. These forces and torques can be used for a variety of novel touchless actuation concepts. In contrast to the multipole method which provides an expansion of the potential field, this paper presents a direct binomial series expansion of the forces and torques called the Appropriate Fidelity Measures (AFMs) method. A two-stage process is presented where first the force and torque vectors are expanded assuming a known charge distribution, followed by a second stage which provides an approximation of the charge distribution through the susceptibilities of the measures. AFMs provide a direct analytical solution and thus provide new insight for charged single- and two-body configurations. The accuracy of a truncated expansion is numerically studied and validated. With a second-order AFM solution, the errors drop below 5% at separations greater than $\sim $ 6 craft diameters. This new method is well-suited for control analysis due to the analytical solutions produced. An AFM solution of the torque on an axis-symmetric cylinder is developed that yields closed form analytic solutions that match prior numerically fit solutions.
The Flavor–Chemistry Association

Since whisky can be described as a blend of chemicals, and since each chemical ingredient has its own aroma, it seems reasonable to think that the flavor of whisky is determined by its chemical constitution. This Democritean perspective has been studied by flavor chemists and is the main focus of this chapter. Chapter 9 expands this view by considering the possible role of microscopic structures.
A scoping review of post opioid-overdose interventions.

Abstract Introduction Nonfatal opioid overdose is a significant risk factor for subsequent fatal overdose. The time after a nonfatal overdose may provide a critical engagement opportunity to both reduce subsequent overdose risk and link individuals to treatment. Post-overdose interventions have emerged in affected communities throughout the United States (US). The objective of this scoping review is to identify US-based post-overdose intervention models (1) described in peer-reviewed literature and (2) implemented in public health and community settings. Methods Using the adapted PRISMA Checklist for Scoping Reviews, we searched PubMed, PsychInfo, Academic OneFile, and federal and state databases for peer-reviewed and gray literature descriptions of post-overdose programs. We developed search strings with a reference librarian. We included studies or programs with at least the following information available: name of program, description of key components, intervention team, and intervention timing. Results We identified a total of 27 programs, 3 from the peer-reviewed literature and 24 from the gray literature. 9 programs operated out of the ED, while 18 programs provided post-overdose support in other ways: through home or overdose location visits, mobile means, or as law enforcement diversion. Commonly, they include partnerships among public safety and community service providers. Conclusions Programs are emerging throughout the US to care for individuals after a nonfatal opioid overdose. There is variability in the timing, components, and follow-up in these programs and little is known about their effectiveness. Future work should focus on evaluation and testing of post-overdose programs so that best practices for care can be implemented.
A novel computational framework for D(t) from Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching data reveals various anomalous diffusion types in live cell membranes

Diffusion of proteins and lipids in lipid membranes plays a pivotal role in almost all aspects of cellular biology, including motility, exo-/endocytosis and signal transduction. For this reason, gaining a detailed understanding of membrane structure and function has long been a major area of cell biology research. To better elucidate this structure-function relationship, various tools have been developed for diffusion measurements, including Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP). Because of the complexity of cellular microenvironments, biological diffusion is often correlated over time and described by a time-dependent diffusion coefficient, D(t), although the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Since D(t) provides important information regarding cellular structures, such as the existence of subresolution barriers to diffusion, many efforts have been made to quantify D(t) by FRAP assuming a single power law, D(t) = Γt α - 1 where Γ and α are transport coefficient and anomalous exponent. However, straightforward approaches to quantify a general form of D(t) are lacking. In this study, we develop a novel mathematical and computational framework to compute the mean square displacement of diffusing molecules and diffusion coefficient D(t) from each individual time point of confocal FRAP data without the single power law assumption. Additionally, we developed an auxiliary equation for D(t) which can readily distinguish normal diffusion or single power law anomalous diffusion from other types of anomalous diffusion directly from FRAP data. Importantly, by applying this approach to FRAP data from a variety of membrane markers, we demonstrate the single power law anomalous diffusion assumption is not sufficient to describe various types of D(t) of membrane proteins. Lastly, we discuss how our new approaches can be applied to other fluorescence microscopy tools such as Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) and Single Particle Tracking (SPT).
A Comparative Analysis between Two Additively Manufactured Microstrip Transmission Lines using Fused Filament Fabrication Method for Radio Frequency Applications

Bandwidth requirement is ever increasing for radio frequency (RF) circuits in modern day applications. Due to the versatility of additively manufactured prototypes, researchers and engineers are exploring possibilities of manufacturing conductive sections of complex RF circuits by such technology. This paper presents a conductive transmission line fabricated by fused filament fabrication method. It was shown that the reported transmission line can support radio frequency signals from 100 MHz to 5 GHz that is 66.67% higher compared to a similar additively manufactured transmission line reported earlier. A comparative analysis using measurement data and verification result using a full-wave simulation is presented.
Cryogenic Response of HKMG MOSFETs for Quantum Computing Systems

Hardware implementation of Quantum Processors require monolithic integration of CMOS controller and read-out interface circuits, operating at cryogenic temperatures (1-6K), to enable scale-up of the number of Q-bits and energy-efficient noise-tolerant circuit operation [1] (Fig. 1a). In this work, we investigate the critical role of interface traps near band-edge that affect both the sub-threshold swing (SS) and threshold voltage ( $(\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{TH}})$ ) of high-K metal-gate (HKMG) n-channel MOSFETs at cryogenic temperature. We highlight two fundamental mechanisms that contribute to an increase in interface trap capacitance $(C_{\mathrm{it}})$ that affect both the SS and $(\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{TH}})$ at cryogenic temperatures: (a) the proximity of the surface Fermi-level $(\mathrm{E}_{\mathrm{F}})$ to the edge of the conduction band $(\mathrm{E}_{\mathrm{C}})$ , where the density of interface traps $(D_{\mathrm{it}})$ is higher, and (b) higher sensitivity of the interface trap response for a given change in $\mathrm{E}_{\mathrm{F}}$ (Fig. 1b). We developed a physics-based cryo-CMOS transistor model [2], by incorporating multiple discrete interface traps located near $\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{C}}$ and show excellent agreement with the experiments. This provides an important step towards optimization of future cryo-CMOS technology necessary for interface circuits in quantum processors.
Chapter 19 – Tiger Telemetry

Publisher Summary Telemetry is one of the few ways to study species as elusive as tigers, and a well-executed telemetry study can yield high amounts of data. However, because tigers occur at low densities and tend to inhabit remote, rugged, and inaccessible habitat, and are one of the most difficult species to capture, telemetry is also perhaps the hardest and most expensive way to study tigers. This chapter discusses a variety of issues surrounding the use of telemetry to study tiger populations, based on 15 years of experience of radio-tracking tigers in the Russian Far East. There is a considerable body of literature on the collection and analysis of radio-telemetry data. A brief discussion of the benefits of telemetry studies is provided followed by a review of capturing tigers, which is the first step of any radio-tracking study. This chapter then summarizes the types of collars available and advantages and disadvantages of each and then follows this with a discussion of sample size and study duration. Finally, specific types of data are discussed that may be better collected using radio-telemetry. A few carefully designed and implemented telemetry studies that focus on gaps in the knowledge of tiger ecology and behavior will greatly enhance the ability to conserve tiger populations.
Self-Stabilizing Long Range Photonic Manipulation of Nanostructured Macroscopic Objects

We show that long-range optical manipulation of macroscopic objects becomes possible when their surface is patterned on the subwavelength scale. Metasurface engineering of the anisotropy of light scattering gives rise to self-stabilizing optical radiation forces.
On Vortex Alignment and the Boundedness of the Lq-Norm of Vorticity in Incompressible Viscous Fluids

We show that the spatial Lq-norm (q > 5/3) of the vorticity of an incompressible viscous fluid in ℝ3 remains bounded uniformly in time, provided that the direction of vorticity is Holder continuous in space, and that the space-time Lq-norm of vorticity is finite. The Holder index depends only on q. This serves as a variant of the classical result by Constantin-Fefferman (Direction of vorticity and the problem of global regularity for the Navier-Stokes equations, Indiana Univ. J. Math. 42 (1993), 775–789), and the related work by Grujic-Ruzmaikina (Interpolation between algebraic and geometric conditions for smoothness of the vorticity in the 3D NSE, Indiana Univ. J. Math. 53 (2004), 1073–1080).
Deflection Shape Balancing: An Alternative to Modal Balancing

Rotor balancing is the final step in the rotor manufacturing process and may be necessary during rotor refurbishment. The process can be time consuming and costly, especially for supercritical monolithic rotors, impacting schedule and increasing costs. Modal balancing is a commonly used practice and is effective but requires multiple runs and at least one high-speed run. Deflection shape balancing is introduced as an alternative that may offer a more efficient method of balancing making the process faster with potentially fewer balancing runs. This paper explores the performance of the deflection shape fit balancing technique by utilizing MATLAB code simulations.
Only Extreme Fluctuations in Light Levels Reduce Lettuce Growth Under Sole Source Lighting.

The cost of providing lighting in greenhouses and plant factories can be high. In the case of variable electricity prices, providing most of the light when electricity prices are low can reduce costs. However, it is not clear how plants respond to the resulting fluctuating light levels. We hypothesized that plants that receive a constant photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) will produce more biomass than those grown under fluctuating light levels. To understand potential growth reductions caused by fluctuating light levels, we quantified the effects of fluctuating PPFD on the photosynthetic physiology, morphology, and growth of ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Green Salad Bowl’ lettuce. Plants were grown in a growth chamber with dimmable white LED bars, alternating between high and low PPFDs every 15 minutes. The PPFDs were ~ 400/0, 360/40, 320/80, 280/120, 240/160, and 200/200 µmol·m-2·s-1, with a photoperiod of 16 hours and a DLI of ~11.5 mol·m-2·d-1 in all treatments. CO2 was ~ 800 µmol·mol-1. Plants in the 400/0 µmol·m-2·s-1 treatment had ~69% lower An,30 (net assimilation averaged over 15 minutes at high and 15 minutes at low PPFD) than plants grown at a PPFD of 320/80 µmol·m-2·s-1 (or treatments with smaller PPFD fluctuations). The low An,30 in the 400/0, and to a lesser extent the 360/40 µmol·m-2·s-1 treatment was caused by low net assimilation at 360 and 400 µmol·m-2·s-1. Plants grown at 400/0 µmol·m-2·s-1 also had fewer leaves and lower chlorophyll content compared to those in other treatments. The four treatments with the smallest PPFD fluctuations produced plants with similar numbers of leaves, chlorophyll content, specific leaf area, dry mass, and leaf area. Chlorophyll content, An,30, and dry mass were positively correlated with each other. Our results show that lettuce tolerates a wide range of fluctuating PPFD without negative effects on growth and development. However, when fluctuations in PPFD are extreme (400/0 or 360/40 µmol·m-2·s-1), chlorophyll levels and An,30 are low, which can explain the low poor growth in these treatments. The ability of lettuce to tolerate a wide range of fluctuating light levels suggests that PPFD can be adjusted in response to variable electricity pricing.
Virus transport from drywells under constant head conditions: A modeling study.

Abstract Many arid and semi-arid regions of the world face challenges in maintaining the water quantity and quality needs of growing populations. A drywell is an engineered vadose zone infiltration device widely used for stormwater capture and managed aquifer recharge. To our knowledge, no prior studies have quantitatively examined virus transport from a drywell, especially in the presence of subsurface heterogeneity. Axisymmetric numerical experiments were conducted to systematically study virus fate from a drywell for various virus removal and subsurface heterogeneity scenarios under steady-state flow conditions from a constant head reservoir. Subsurface domains were homogeneous or had stochastic heterogeneity with selected standard deviation (σ) of lognormal distribution in saturated hydraulic conductivity and horizontal ( X ) and vertical (Z) correlation lengths. Low levels of virus concentration tailing can occur even at a separation distance of 22 m from the bottom of the drywell, and 6-log10 virus removal was not achieved when a small detachment rate ( k d 1 =1 × 10⁻⁵ min⁻¹) is present in a homogeneous domain. Improved virus removal was achieved at a depth of 22 m in the presence of horizontal lenses (e.g., X =10 m, Z =0.1 m, σ =1) that enhanced the lateral movement and distribution of the virus. In contrast, faster downward movement of the virus with an early arrival time at a depth of 22 m occurred when considering a vertical correlation in permeability ( X =1 m, Z =2 m, σ =1). Therefore, the general assumption of a 1.5–12 m separation distance to protect water quality may not be adequate in some instances, and site-specific microbial risk assessment is essential to minimize risk. Microbial water quality can potentially be improved by using an in situ soil treatment with iron oxides to increase irreversible attachment and solid-phase inactivation.
Open-loop Audio-Visual Stimulation for sleep promotion in older adults with comorbid insomnia and osteoarthritis pain: results of a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Osteoarthritis is commonly comorbid with insomnia in older adults. While cognitivebehavioral therapy for insomnia is the recommended first-line treatment for insomnia, alternative efficacious non-pharmacological options are needed. This study examined sleep and pain in 30 community-dwelling older adults with comorbid insomnia and osteoarthritis pain randomized to two weeks of 30 min of bedtime active (n = 15, mean age 66.7 ± 5.2) or placebo control (n = 15, mean age 68.9 ± 5.0) Audiovisual Stimulation (AVS). After AVS use, improvements in sleep, pain, and depression were reported for both groups but between-group comparisons were non-significant. A posthoc analysis examined the effects of AVS in the 11 subjects who reported sleep latency complaints (≥30 min). No significant group differences were found for this small sleep latency subsample; however, the pre-post effect sizes (ES) of active AVS versus placebo were greatly increased for the subsample relative to the total sample for sleep (ES = 0.41 versus 0.18 for the Insomnia Severity Index, and 0.60 versus 0.03 for the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively). A similar enhanced effect pattern was found for pain (ES = 0.41 versus 0.15 for the Brief Pain Inventory). Study findings suggest that the 30-min AVS program may have potential to improve sleep in older adults with sleep onset but not sleep maintenance difficulty. Despite study limitations of a small sample size and lack of follow-up, results offer valuable insights into the functionality of AVS treatment. Future research should focus on subjects with sleep onset complaints, who are most likely to receive benefit from this treatment modality.
Lessons learned from targeting eosinophils in human disease

Eosinophils are a minor subset of the granulocyte lineage distinguished by their unique morphology, phenotype, cytoplasmic contents, and function. Evolutionarily, these are ancient cells whose existence has been conserved within vertebrates for millions of years, suggesting that their contribution to innate immunity and other pathologic and homeostatic responses are important to the host. Knowledge regarding the role of eosinophils in health and disease took a leap forward in 2004 with the creation of mouse strains deficient in eosinophils. This advance was paralleled in humans using pharmacology, namely, with the development of drugs capable of selectively reducing and sometimes even eliminating human eosinophils in those receiving these agents. As a result, a more definitive picture of what eosinophils do, and do not do, is emerging. This review will summarize recent advances in our understanding of the role of eosinophils in human disease by focusing mainly on data from clinical studies with anti-eosinophil therapies, even though the first of such agents, mepolizumab, was only approved in the USA in November 2015. Information regarding both efficacy and safety will be highlighted, and where relevant, intriguing data from animal models will also be mentioned, especially if there are conflicting effects seen in humans.
Hair follicle stem cells as a skin-organizing signaling center during adult homeostasis

Stem cells are the essential source of building blocks for tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Their behavior is dictated by both cell-intrinsic cues and extrinsic cues from the microenvironment, known as the stem cell niche. Interestingly, recent work began to demonstrate that hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are not only passive recipients of signals from the surroundings, but also actively send out signals to modulate the organization and function of their own niches. Here, we discuss recent findings, and briefly refer to the old, on the interaction of HFSCs and their niches with the emphasis on the outwards signals from HFSCs toward their niches. We also highlight recent technology advancements that further promote our understanding of HFSC niches. Taken together, the HFSCs emerge as a skin-organizing center rich in signaling output for niche remodeling during various stages of adult skin homeostasis. The intricate crosstalk between HFSCs and their niches adds important insight to skin biology that will inform clinical and bioengineering fields aiming to build complete and functional 3D organotypic cultures for skin replacement therapies.
Modeling myelin: A toolkit for exploring myelin’s mysteries in vitro

Summary In the myelin field, there is a lack of reliable in vitro tools to study myelination, especially using human cells. In this issue of Developmental Cell, James et al. present a guide to generating human iPSC-derived “myelinoids”—3D models of myelination that reliably achieve mature myelin formation.
Workshop on internet economics (WIE2009) report

On September 23, 2009, CAIDA hosted a virtual Workshop on Internet Economics [3] to bring together network technology and policy researchers, commercial Internet facilities and service providers, and communications regulators to explore a common goal: framing a concrete agenda for the emerging but empirically stunted field of Internet infrastructure economics. With participants stretching from Washington D.C. to Queensland, Australia, we used the electronic conference hosting facilities supported by the California In stitute of Technology (CalTech) EVO Collaboration Network. This report describes the workshop discussions and presents relevant open research questions identified by participants.
Fat Tailed Risk Measurement from Benoit Mandelbrot — Simple Explanation for Non-Finance Professionals

Which line below becomes closest to the blue bars which represent stock market data: the green line or the red line? The green line matches the data much more closely than the red line. This means that traditional statistical analysis based on the “Bell Shaped” curve becomes inaccurate to the point of becoming dangerous to employ.