cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Composite Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval Approach to Question Answering Using a Structured Knowledge Base

With the inception of the World Wide Web, the amount of data present on the Internet is tremendous. This makes the task of navigating through this enormous amount of data quite difficult for the user. As users struggle to navigate through this wealth of information, the need for the development of an automated system that can extract the required information becomes urgent. This paper presents a Question Answering system to ease the process of information retrieval. Question Answering systems have been around for quite some time and are a sub-field of information retrieval and natural language processing. The task of any Question Answering system is to seek an answer to a free form factual question. The difficulty of pinpointing and verifying the precise answer makes question answering more challenging than simple information retrieval done by search engines. The research objective of this paper is to develop a novel approach to Question Answering based on a composition of conventional approaches of Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language processing (NLP). The focus is on using a structured and annotated knowledge base instead of an unstructured one. The knowledge base used here is DBpedia and the final system is evaluated on the Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) 2004 questions dataset.
Median Nerve Ultrasound During the Acute Stroke Period: A New Method of Early Detection (P3.299)

Objective: In this ongoing, prospective study, median nerve ultrasound (US) is used to screen stroke patients for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) during their acute presentation. Background: Lack of recognition of CTS in acute stroke may inhibit rehabilitation. The symptoms of CTS can be difficult to identify in the setting of coexisting neurologic deficits. Median nerve US is accepted as a tool for CTS diagnosis. Methods: Patients were assessed within 72 hours of stroke onset. Detailed neurologic examination was performed. Patients underwent median nerve US of their paretic (P) and nonparetic (NP) sides. The primary outcome was evidence of CTS on ultrasound, based upon laboratory-established values for median nerve cross sectional area (CSA >12mm2). Secondary outcomes were patient reported functional status with the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) symptom score out of 44 points. Results: Of the 17 patients, 5 (29[percnt]) had US defined CTS in their nonparetic limb. All patients with CTS on their paretic side (3; 18[percnt]) had bilateral CTS. The average BCTQ scores of patients was higher in CTS patients (9.6) then normal patients (4.7), but this difference was nonsignificant (p=0.147). The CSA of the P and NP median nerves at the wrist did not differ (p≤0.0001). There was no significant correlation between CSA of the median nerve at either wrist with strength, NIH stroke scale, BCTQ, or other exam findings. The BCTQ showed a near significant correlation with Phalen’s in the NP arm (p=0.054). Conclusions: The results suggest that physical exam and BCTQ are not useful for detecting CTS in the setting of ischemic stroke. Median nerve US may be a helpful diagnostic adjunct in early identification and intervention for CTS. Disclosure: Dr. Lin has nothing to disclose. Dr. Loochtan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hobson-Webb has received personal compensation for activities with Genzyme and Sanofi for speaking. Dr. Hobson-Webb holds stock and/or stock options in Aerpio Therapeutics. Dr. Hobson-Webb has received research support from Valerion Therapuetics and C
Synthesis and plant growth inhibitory activity of N-trans-cinnamoyltyramine: its possible inhibition mechanisms and biosynthesis pathway

ABSTRACTThe search for potent, selective bioherbicides has been the focus of numerous studies for several decades. Developing an economically viable total chemical synthesis procedure has been the challenge for commercial-scale application of these nature-derived chemicals. An efficient and low-cost total synthesis of an allelopathic and antitumor N-trans-cinnamoyltyramine (NTCT) first reported in rice (Oryza sativa L.) was successfully achieved by one-step amidation from trans-cinnamic acid and tyramine. The synthesized NTCT inhibited root and hypocotyl growth of cress (Lepidium sativum L.) and barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.) at concentrations as low as 0.24 μM. The means of ED50 (the effective dose required for 50% plant growth inhibition) levels of the compound on cress and barnyardgrass hypocotyl and root elongations were 0.96 and 0.73 μM, respectively. Potential mechanisms underlying NTCT growth inhibition and its biosynthesis pathway were also suggested. The developed synthesis strategy co...
Reconstructing and evolving software architectures using a coordinated clustering framework

During a long maintenance period, software projects experience architectural erosion and drift, making maintenance tasks more challenging to perform for software engineers unfamiliar with the code base. This paper presents a framework that assists software engineers in recovering a software project's architecture from its source code. The architectural recovery process is an iterative one that combines clustering based on contextual and structural information in the code base with incremental developer feedback. This process converges when the developer is satisfied with the proposed decomposition of the software, and, as an additional benefit, the framework becomes tuned to aid future evolution of the project. The paper provides both analytic and empirical evaluations of the obtained results; experimental results show a reasonably superior performance of our framework over alternative conventional methods. The proposed framework utilizes a novel compartmentalization technique Coordinated Clustering of Heterogeneous Datasets (CCHD) that relies on contextual and structural information in the code base, but, unlike most previous approaches, does not require specific weights for each information type, which allows it to adapt to different project types and domains.
Integrating UAS swarming with formation drag reduction

In the seminal research into simulated swarming, Reynolds developed a methodology that guided a flock of agents using just three rules: collision avoidance, swarm centering, and velocity matching. By modifying these rules, an algorithm is created and applied to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) so each aircraft in a "swarm" maintains a precise position relative to the preceding aircraft. Each aircraft experiences a decrease in induced aerodynamic drag, thus reducing overall fuel consumption, increasing range and endurance and expanding UAS utility. A simulation demonstrates the feasibility of the drag reduction swarm using a drag benefit map constructed from extant research. Due to both agent interaction and wind gust variability, the optimal position for drag reduction presented a severe collision hazard, and drag reduction was much more sensitive to lateral (wingtip) position than longitudinal (stream-wise) position. By increasing longitudinal spacing, the collision hazard was acceptably reduced. For one scenario, compared to a single UAS, a swarm of 10 aircraft demonstrated a 9.7% reduction in total aerodynamic drag, decreased fuel consumption by 14.2% and an increased endurance by 14.5%.
Behavior Modification: Limitations and Liabilities.

The discussion concerns limitations inherent in the behavior modification paradigm and common misuses of the strategy by naive practitioners. The behavioristic explanation of learning often oversim...
Ocular Manifestations of Infectious Diseases

Many systemic infectious diseases have eye involvement. Bacterial, parasitic, viral, and fungal infections can all have associated eye pathology. Many times diagnosis of the ocular disease is an essential clue in the diagnosis of the systemic infection. Similarly, understanding the possible ophthalmic pathology can help the pediatrician and pediatric infectious disease doctor recognize and prevent any blinding complications of a systemic infection. In this chapter we discuss many infections with concurrent eye pathology as well as the ophthalmic manifestations, systemic findings, and management.
Ritual Studies and the Study of Rabbinic Literature

In the last two decades several important studies have been published that focus on ritual in rabbinic literature, and consider ritual to be a critically important conceptual and analytical category in approaching rabbinic texts and rabbinic culture. This article provides an account of the intersection of Ritual Studies with the study of rabbinic literature, surveys key works and significant developments and shifts in the field, and identifies the central challenges in and benefits of examining rabbinic texts through ritual lenses. The article pays special attention to the complex relations between texts about rituals and ritual performances, as well as to the blurry boundaries between law and ritual in the realm of rabbinic halakhah.
N = (2,0) self-dual non-Abelian tensor multiplet in D = 3 + 3 generates N = (1,1) self-dual systems in D = 2 + 2

Abstract We formulate an N = ( 2 , 0 ) system in D = 3 + 3 dimensions consisting of a Yang–Mills (YM)-multiplet ( A ˆ μ ˆ I , λ ˆ I ) , a self-dual non-Abelian tensor multiplet ( B ˆ μ ˆ ν ˆ I , χ ˆ I , φ ˆ I ) , and an extra vector multiplet ( C ˆ μ ˆ I , ρ ˆ I ) . We next perform the dimensional reductions of this system into D = 2 + 2 , and obtain N = ( 1 , 1 ) systems with a self-dual YM-multiplet ( A μ I , λ I ) , a self-dual tensor multiplet ( B μ ν I , χ I , φ I ) , and an extra vector multiplet ( C μ I , ρ I ) . In D = 2 + 2 , we reach two distinct theories: ‘Theory-I’ and ‘Theory-II’. The former has the self-dual field-strength H μ ν ( + ) I of C μ I already presented in our recent paper, while the latter has anti-self-dual field strength H μ ν ( − ) I . As an application, we show that Theory-II actually generates supersymmetric-KdV equations in D = 1 + 1 . Our result leads to a new conclusion that the D = 3 + 3 theory with non-Abelian tensor multiplet can be a ‘Grand Master Theory’ for self-dual multiplet and self-dual YM-multiplet in D = 2 + 2 , that in turn has been conjectured to be the ‘Master Theory’ for all supersymmetric integrable theories in D ≤ 3 .
Foundations for a New World Order: Uniting Protestant Worship during the World War II Japanese American Incarceration1:

During the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, visions of a peaceful new world order led mainline Protestants to manipulate the worship practices of incarcerated Japanese Americans (N...
Lie Algebra Homology and Cohomology

Letsbe a complex Lie algebra together with a subalgebra t and V an s-module. In Section 3.1 we define the Lie algebra homology14(s,t, V) and the cohomologyH*(s,t, V) and derive their standard elementary properties including their connection with Tor and Ext groups introduced by Hochschild for the pair of algebras(U(s),U(t)). More specifically, it is shown that ifs is a finitely semisimple t-module under the adjoint action, thenH * (stV) Tor *U(5) U(t)) (CV) andH*(s t, V)Ext(U(s),n(t)) (C, V).
Income Smoothing and Risk-Adjusted Performance

This paper uses risk-adjusted returns to test whether the stock market response to accounting performance measures is related to the smoothness of companies' reported earnings. Three income models, increasing in their degree of smoothness, are created to test the hypotheses. Cumulative average abnormal returns are utilized for the income models over the study periods to test for a market response to income smoothing. The results indicate that companies that report smooth income have significantly higher cumulative average abnormal returns than firms that do not. When size is considered, market returns are stronger for small companies than for large companies. There is also a significant relationship between the type of industry and income smoothing.
Test-Architecture Optimization and Test Scheduling

Previous chapters have discussed issues associated with pre-bond KGD test and test standards for pre-bond and post-bond test. Post-bond testing is in many ways a less complex issue than pre-bond test, because external test pins can be utilized for test access and TSVs in bonded dies can be treated as interconnects during test (although testing the TSVs themselves may require testing for failure modes unique to TSVs and neighboring active devices). Nevertheless, new constraints for post-bond testing of a 3D stack must be considered, such as limited test access to dies depending on their position in the stack, multiple post-bond test insertions, and limitations on the addition of test TSVs between dies. Just as for pre-bond test, optimizations are needed to design 3D test architectures and test schedules to minimize the cost of post-bond test in order to achieve cost-effective KGD, partial stack, and known-good-stack (KGS) test throughout the manufacture flow of a product.
Polymorphism, Crystal Packing, Twinning, and Molecular Conformations in 5′-Halo-5′-deoxyguanosines and a Hydrate of the Pseudohalide Analogue, 5′-Azido-5′-deoxyguanosine

Crystalline 5′-iodo-5′-deoxyguanosine (I) exists as a pair of solvent-free polymorphs (Ia, Ib) and as a mixed water/methanol solvate (Ic). The solvent-free polymorphs are capable of epitaxial intergrowth to give hybrid crystals that by visual inspection appear to be single crystals (Parkin et al. Cryst. Growth Des. 2016, 16, 6343–6352; hereafter PTGB). To investigate the generality and origin of the unusual polymorphism of the solvent-free forms, we have prepared and characterized the 5′-bromo- and 5′-chloro-5′-deoxyguanosine analogues (II and III, respectively), as well as the pseudohalide derivative 5′-azido-5′-deoxyguanosine (IV). Monoclinic and orthorhombic polymorphs of II (IIa and IIb, respectively) and an orthorhombic form of III all grow from water as small nonsolvated, tightly packed needles or laths. Although IIa is isostructural with the dominant polymorph of I (i.e., Ia in PTGB), all of these crystals (IIa, IIb, III) have similar molecular conformations and packing characteristics to Ia, in wh...
Study of Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics for Low Aspect Ratio MAV Wing

Aerodynamic research is primarily divided into two parts; fly higher, fly faster and fly low, fly slow. This research is focused towards the later part of aerodynamic advancements, which involves small vehicles flying at slow speeds. Design and manufacturing of these vehicles derives inspiration from natural flyers like bats, birds and insects. Micro Aerial Vehicles have weight up to 100g, span not more than 15 cm and fly at speeds below 15mJs. They operate at chord Reynolds number of 7×104 to 2×105, for which aerodynamics becomes different, as compared to the one, which involve large commercial or military manned aircraft. Research into design and development of MAV has expanded exponentially since 1990s. For this research, recent advancements have been captured that have taken place in low Reynolds number aerodynamics regime with prime focus on rigid fixed wing MAVs. Emphasis on the variation of aerodynamic performance parameters vis-a-vis geometric variables have been deliberated upon in this work. Moreover a data of historically successful MAVs is presented which can be utilized for further research in design of Micro Aerial Vehicles. Statistical analysis of most eminent MAVs proved that research in this field of aviation sciences is an upcoming and emerging area of research, worldwide.
Large Field-of-View Shear Wave Imaging for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening

Patients with liver cirrhosis or Hepatitis C have an increased likelihood of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and are screened every six months with ultrasound; however, B-mode has demonstrated a low sensitivity for detecting small, early stage HCC. Studies using ultrasonic elasticity methods have shown increased HCC lesion contrast compared to B-mode, but current elasticity systems are limited to a depth penetration of 8 cm, A proposed, large-aperture, matrix array is presented for increasing depth penetration of acoustic radiation force excitations. Sparsity in the reconstructed shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) occurs in the region of excitation (ROE). Our previously proposed on-axis method uses a lookup table (LUT) and relates the ROE time-to-peak (TTP) displacement to underlying material stiffness. The ROE-TTP methods were extended to include the near-field region (3 mm) of the shear wave source and can be combined with traditional off-axis time of flight methods. The same field-of-view (FOV) using only SWEI would require 60% more excitations. Finite element simulations in homogeneous, elastic phantoms were used to create a LUT. Imaging of a 20 mm diameter spherical lesion in three liver disease states was simulated, including an HCC in a fibrotic liver. Reconstructions combining on-axis and off-axis methods in a simulated fibrotic liver with an HCC lesion had an average CNR of 4.49. The ROE- TTP methods have increased bias in high stiffness materials increasing from 4 % bias in SWEI estimates up to 15% bias in ROE-TTP estimates in a 60 kPa phantom. Even with increased bias, on-axis methods can reduce the sparsity that would otherwise occur inside the ROE, which allows a larger FOV to be interrogated with a reduced number of excitations.
Paired-Line Hybrid Transit System in a Monocentric City with Exponential Demand Pattern:

This paper analyzes the design problem of a paired-line hybrid transit system in a monocentric city with a densely populated central business district (CBD). The trip production rate is assumed to ...
Biclique: an R package for maximal biclique enumeration in bipartite graphs.

Bipartite graphs are widely used to model relationships between pairs of heterogeneous data types. Maximal bicliques are foundational structures in such graphs, and their enumeration is an important task in systems biology, epidemiology and many other problem domains. Thus, there is a need for an efficient, general purpose, publicly available tool to enumerate maximal bicliques in bipartite graphs. The statistical programming language R is a logical choice for such a tool, but until now no R package has existed for this purpose. Our objective is to provide such a package, so that the research community can more easily perform this computationally demanding task. Biclique is an R package that takes as input a bipartite graph and produces a listing of all maximal bicliques in this graph. Input and output formats are straightforward, with examples provided both in this paper and in the package documentation. Biclique employs a state-of-the-art algorithm previously developed for basic research in functional genomics. This package, along with its source code and reference manual, are freely available from the CRAN public repository at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/biclique/index.html.
The spectrum of sexual transaction: representations in young Africans' HIV-themed creative narratives.

Sexual transaction, or any exchange of financial or material goods for sex, contributes to the disproportionate HIV burden among young women aged 15-24 years in sub-Saharan Africa. We analysed repr...
Differences in Consumption of NASEM Priority Nutrients and Food Groups by Race/Ethnicity Among Women Living in WIC-Participating Households

Purpose:To examine racial/ethnic differences in dietary intake of women in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).Design:Cross-sectional study.Setting:Dat...
Chapter 4 – Analytical Chemistry

Publisher Summary It is comparatively easy to determine the presence of sulfur, but many excellent analytical chemists dread working with sulfur compounds because an accurate analytical determination of sulfur is tricky. It is hard to establish the identity of sulfur species because they readily interconvert and often coexist in mixtures of homologs. The quantitative work is hampered because it is not easy to fully convert sulfur to the desired oxidation state and it is very difficult to separate sulfur from mixtures or other compounds. However, several excellent standard methods have been established that give reproducible, if not always absolute, results. This chapter explains basic methods for determining total sulfur and discusses some specially important sulfur systems. The basic separation methods include the lamp test in which the sample is burned in a closed volume in a mixture of 30% oxygen and 70% carbon dioxide. The gas is oxidized with 3% hydrogen peroxide to yield sulfuric acid.
Zooming-out COVID-19: Virtual clinical experiences in an emergency medicine clerkship.

In the setting of the novel 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been challenging to provide medical students in the Emergency Medicine (EM) clerkship meaningful clinical experiences that would meet clinical course goals and objectives, as well as satisfy Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) requirements. During the EM clerkship, students play an integral role in interviewing patients, formulating treatment plans, facilitating patient discharges, and counseling patients. Immediately available direct and indirect supervision are paramount to ensure student learning and safe patient care. The authors present a novel clinical educational experience for senior medical students in an EM clerkship that fulfills specific clinical course learning objectives, while still providing students the opportunity to interact live with patients. We designed a virtual clinical experience where students performed supervised 'virtual callbacks' for patients recently evaluated in the ED. Student feedback on this experience has been positive. Completing the COVID-19 callbacks decreased some of the clinical burden on the department. Patients, too, were grateful for the follow-up.
Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma: Institutional trend toward induction chemotherapy followed by definitive chemoradiation.

Background Recent reports have investigated the nascent role of induction chemotherapy for sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC). The goal of this study was to ascertain trends in treatment pattern changes for SNUC at a single institution and design a treatment algorithm utilized at our institution. Methods Retrospective chart analysis of 21 cases of SNUC from 2010 to 2018. Results Of 21 patients in this cohort, 18 (85.7%) presented with T4 disease, 7 (33.3%) presented with nodal disease, and 3 (14.3%) presented with distant metastasis. Since 2016, patients have been managed by induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation. To this point, patients treated with TPF induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation show no evidence of disease; however, the average follow up time is 16.8 months. Conclusions The multimodality treatment for SNUC continues to evolve, as highlighted by this study, toward increased use of induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy.
Structure-dependent spin transport in a DNA molecule

Abstract A DNA molecule formed by a cytosine-guanine sequence ((CG)n) exhibits a conformational transition from the B-form to the Z-form by varying the ionic environment. This study reports coherent spin transport in a molecule of double strand 5′-(CG)n-3′ (n = 2, 3, 4) under a magnetic proximity effect from ferromagnetic nickel electrodes. The calculation was performed by using a Landauer-Buttiker formula based on a non-equilibrium Green’s function with density functional theory. The conformational transition led to about a 10 times change in conductance, which is similar to the experimental results. In addition, the absolute value of the tunnel magnetoresistance ratio had a tendency to decrease with the conformational transition. The calculation result suggests that not only a change in conductance but also a change in the magnetoresistance ratio can be used to monitor the conformation of a DNA molecule sensitively.
Color-changing refractive index sensor based on Fano-resonant filtering of optical modes in a porous dielectric Fabry-Pérot microcavity.

Refractometry is a ubiquitous technique for process control and substance identification in the chemical and biomedical fields. Herein, we present an all-dielectric, wafer-scalable, and compact Fabry-Perot microcavity (FPMC) device for refractive index (RI) sensing. The FPMC consists of a highly porous SiO2 microcavity capped with a thin, quasi-periodically patterned TiO2 hole array partial reflector that enables rapid, nanoliter-scale analyte transport to and from the sensor. Liquid (alcohols) or condensed-vapor (water from human breath) infiltration resulted in spectral redshifts up to 100 nm, highly apparent visible color change, rapid recovery (< 20 s), and RI sensitivity of up to 680 nm/RIU. The sensor can also be used in spectral or single-wavelength detection modes. Effective-medium and finite-difference time-domain optical simulations identified that Fano-resonant scattering modes induced by the quasi-periodic TiO2 outcoupling layer effectively filter higher-order Fabry-Perot cavity modes and thereby confer an easily identifiable red-to-green color transition during analyte infiltration.
To sell or not to sell: the impact of managers' sales experience on organisational financial performance

Selecting a manager is an important decision for any organisation. If done right, the organisation should thrive with strong productivity and financial performance. If the wrong person is selected, negative issues such as low employee morale and low productivity can lead to poor sales and profits. While experience is an important factor in hiring, some organisations place a disproportionate amount of weight on certain kinds of experience. In particular, this study examined a Fortune 500 firm in North America that anecdotally believed that those individuals with prior experience in sales made better managers. Thus, we quantitatively examined if managers at this firm with prior sales experience produced higher sales revenue, profitability (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation; EBITDA), and return on controllable assets (ROCA) compared to those managers without prior sales experience. The results of our analysis indicate that skill sets, other than those provided by prior sales experience, are necessary for managers to generate and manage revenue.
CONSERVAÇÃO ON FARM DE POPULAÇÕES LOCAIS DE FEIJÃO COMUM

Objetivo deste trabalho foi estimular a conservacao on farm de sementes de diferentes populacoes de feijao comum cultivadas e mantidas por pequenos agricultores do oeste catarinense. Foram conduzidas tres areas demonstrativas, nos municipios de Concordia, Novo Horizonte e Tunapolis, com 10 variedades crioulas cedidas por agricultores e instituicoes parceiras. Em cada local foi realizado um dia de campo quando as plantas estavam em estadio de pos-maturacao fisiologica, em seguida, foi feita a colheita e avaliacao qualitativa e quantitativa das populacoes. Ao final, parte das sementes foi distribuida aos interessados, promovendo assim a multiplicacao e conservacao on farm destas populacoes.
Method to measure the size of a radiographic field larger than a detector by imaging fluorescence X-rays with a slit camera

Purpose X-ray imaging devices contain a collimator system that defines a rectangular irradiation field on the detector plane. The size and position of the X-ray field, and its congruence with the corresponding light field, must be regularly tested for quality control. We propose a new method to estimate how far the x-ray field extends beyond the detector which does not require the use of external detectors. Methods A metallic foil is inserted perpendicularly between the source and the detector. A slit camera, a linear extension of a pinhole camera, is used to project onto the detector the fluorescence X-rays emitted by the irradiated foil. The location where the fluorescence signal inside the camera vanishes is used to extrapolate the location of the field boundary. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to determine the optimal composition and thickness of the foil. A prototype camera with a 1-mm-wide slit was built and tested in a clinical mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system. Results The simulations estimated that a foil made of 25 µm of Molybdenum provided the maximum signal inside the camera for a 39 kVp beam. The boundary of the X-ray fields in mammography and DBT views were experimentally measured. With the camera along the chest wall side, the measured field in multiple DBT views had a variability of only 0.4 ± 0.1 mm compared to mammography. A difference in the measured boundary position of 2.4 and -1.0 mm was observed when comparing to measurements with a fluorescent ruler and self-developing film. Conclusion The introduced technique provides a practical alternative method to detect the boundary of an X-ray field. The method can be combined with other testing methods to assess the congruence of the X-rays and light fields, and to determine if the X-ray field extends beyond the detector more than permitted.
Mobile Internet and Political Polarization

How has mobile internet affected political polarization in the United States? Using Gallup Daily Poll data covering 1,765,114 individuals in 31,499 ZIP codes between 2008 and 2017, I show that, after gaining access to 3G internet, Democratic voters became more liberal in their political views and increased their support for Democratic congressional candidates and policy priorities, while Republican voters shifted in the opposite direction. This increase in polarization largely did not take place among social media users. Instead, following the arrival of 3G, active internet and social media users from both parties became more pro-Democratic, whereas less-active users became more pro-Republican. This divergence is partly driven by differences in news consumption between the two groups: after the arrival of 3G, active internet users decreased their consumption of Fox News, increased their consumption of CNN, and increased their political knowledge. Polarization also increased due to a political realignment of voters: wealthy, well-educated people became more liberal; poor, uneducated people—more conservative.
Global Risk Indicator and Therapy for Older Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Population-Based Study.

PURPOSE:To examine the impact of global risk, a measure comprising age, comorbidities, function, and cognitive statuses, on treatment selection and outcomes among older home care recipients with di...
Intramolecular carbon-carbon bond forming reactions at the anode

Oxidative cyclization reactions offer a unique opportunity both for generating new carbon-carbon bonds and for gaining insight into the mechanisms that govern a variety of radical, radical cation, and cation intermediates. This review surveys recent developments in the use of electrochemistry as a tool for initiating these intriguing reactions. The transformations examined range from fragmentation reactions resulting in radical cyclization pathways to radical cation-based cycloaddition reactions resulting in the formation of two or more bonds. The products generated range from simple five-, six-, and seven-membered rings to complex bridged and fused polycyclic ring skeletons. Many of the cyclic products obtained either retain the functionality used to initiate their formation or have a higher level of functionality than that found in the starting material. The degree of functionality in the products would appear to make them ideal candidates for further synthetic development.
Metrics to evaluate R,D&E

OVERVIEW:Metrics affect research decisions, research efforts, and the researchers themselves. From a review of the literature, interviews at ten research-intensive organizations, and formal mathematical analyses, the authors conclude that the best metrics depend upon the goals of the R,D&E activity as they vary from applied projects to competency-building programs to basic research explorations. For applied projects, market outcome metrics (sales, customer satisfaction, margins, profit) are relevant if they are adjusted via corporate subsidies to account for short-termism, risk aversion, scope, and options thinking. The magnitude of the subsidy should vary by project according to a well-defined formula.For R,D&E programs that match or create core technological competence, outcome metrics must be moderated with “effort” metrics. Too large a weight on market outcomes leads to false rejection of promising programs. The large weight encourages the selection of lesser-value programs that provide short-term, ce...
Optimal Color Range Reporting in One Dimension

Color (or categorical) range reporting is a variant of the orthogonal range reporting problem in which every point in the input is assigned a color. While the answer to an orthogonal point reporting query contains all points in the query range Q, the answer to a color reporting query contains only distinct colors of points in Q. In this paper we describe an O(N)-space data structure that answers one-dimensional color reporting queries in optimal O(k + 1) time, where k is the number of colors in the answer and N is the number of points in the data structure. Our result can be also dynamized and extended to the external memory model.
Practical bootstrapping in quasilinear time

Gentry’s “bootstrapping” technique (STOC 2009) constructs a fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) scheme from a “somewhat homomorphic” one that is powerful enough to evaluate its own decryption function. To date, it remains the only known way of obtaining unbounded FHE. Unfortunately, bootstrapping is computationally very expensive, despite the great deal of effort that has been spent on improving its efficiency. The current state of the art, due to Gentry, Halevi, and Smart (PKC 2012), is able to bootstrap “packed” ciphertexts (which encrypt up to a linear number of bits) in time only quasilinear O(λ) = λ · logO(1) λ in the security parameter. While this performance is asymptotically optimal up to logarithmic factors, the practical import is less clear: the procedure composes multiple layers of expensive and complex operations, to the point where it appears very difficult to implement, and its concrete runtime appears worse than those of prior methods (all of which have quadratic or larger asymptotic runtimes).
Education for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection

Higher education makes an important contribution to citizenship. In the United States, the required portion of the “liberal arts education” in colleges and universities can be reformed so as to equip students for the challenges of global citizenship. This chapter advocates focusing on three abilities: (1) the Socratic ability to criticize one’s own traditions and to carry on an argument on terms of mutual respect for reason; (2) the ability to think as a citizen of the whole world, not just some local region or group; and (3) the “narrative imagination,” the ability to imagine what it would be like to be in the position of someone very different from oneself. This chapter discusses the role of the “liberal arts” curriculum in US education and asks how European universities, with their different structure, might promote these three abilities.
Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology

Agricultural meteorology draws on basic physical and biological sciences to discover, define, and apply knowledge of weather and climate to production of food-, feed-, fiber-, and bio-based products. Agricultural meteorology is based on fundamental principles of radiation and surface aerodynamics and thermodynamics. Models of atmospheric interactions with plants and soil, made more applicable by expanding historical databases, find increased application in risk management and climate change. A highly trained workforce in agricultural meteorology is needed to address future needs for global food security in a changing global climate.
Microwave Assisted Preparation of Calcium Hydroxide and Barium Hydroxide Nanoparticles and Their Application for Conservation of Cultural Heritage

In this paper, we present the microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of alkaline nanomaterials for the preservation of cultural heritage. Calcium and barium hydroxide nanomaterials suspended in aqueous as well as alcoholic medium were applied on different samples to check their effectiveness. The effect of treatment was measured using pH value and alkaline reserve test. The alkaline reserve test results indicate improvement in the alkaline buffer with significant reduction in acidity of the papers and improvement in pH value of the surfaces. Ethanol was found as best solvent on the basis of suspension of nanoparticles, pH value and ease of application through spray gun. Accelerated ageing test revealed that the reinforcement effect of these nanomaterials persisted throughout the ageing. All the results converged in individuating these nanometric particles as an innovative, completely compatible, and efficient material for the consolidation of old and new paper surfaces.
Multiscale/Multifunctional Probabilistic Composite Fatigue

A multi-level (multi-scale/multi-functional) evaluation is demonstrated by applying it to three different sample problems. These problems include the probabilistic evaluation of a space shuttle main engine blade, an engine rotor and an aircraft wing. The results demonstrate that the blade will fail at the highest probability path, the engine two-stage rotor will fail by fracture at the rim and the aircraft wing will fail at 109 fatigue cycles with a probability of 0.9967.
Bifurcation as the Source of Polymorphism

In this paper we present a symmetry breaking bifurcation-based analysis of a Lotka-Volterra model of competing populations. We describe conditions under which equilibria of the population model can be uninvadable by other phenotypes, which is a necessary condition for the solution to be evolutionarily relevant. We focus on the first branching process that occurs when a monomorphic population loses uninvadability and ask whether a symmetric dimorphic population can take its place, as standard symmetry-breaking scenarios suggest. We use Gaussian competition functions and consider two cases of carrying capacity functions: Gaussian and quadratic. It is shown that uninvadable dimorphic coalitions do branch from monomorphic solutions when carrying capacity is quadratic, but not when it is Gaussian.
Proving incentives for long-term investment by pension funds : the use of outcome-based benchmarks

A fundamental goal of any pension system is to ensure that members receive an adequate income when they retire. Although traditional defined benefit pension plans set out how pension income will be determined in advance and then strive to deliver this, the growing number of defined contribution plans accumulate a sum of assets which can then be turned into a pension income on retirement. However, the amount of this retirement income is not predefined This frequently leads to a focus by not only most pension providers, but also regulators and pension plan members themselves on the short-term accumulation of pension assets rather than the longer-term goal of securing an adequate retirement income. This paper discusses a possible solution to this challenge: the use of benchmarks to encourage pension funds to invest with the longer-term goal of delivering adequate retirement income in mind. Examples are provided of leading pension funds that already work with long-term, outcome-based benchmarks. The paper suggests a methodology for pension regulators to use in order to incentivize pension funds in their jurisdictions to adopt a similar approach.
An Energy Efficiency Perspective on Training for Fading Channels

In this paper, the bit energy requirements of training-based transmission over block Rayleigh fading channels are studied. Pilot signals are employed to obtain the minimum mean-square-error (MMSE) estimate of the channel fading coefficients. Energy efficiency is analyzed in the worst case scenario where the channel estimate is assumed to be perfect and the error in the estimate is considered as another source of additive Gaussian noise. It is shown that bit energy requirement grows without bound as the SNR goes to zero, and the minimum bit energy is achieved at a nonzero SNR value below which one should not operate. The effect of the block length on both the minimum bit energy and the SNR value at which the minimum is achieved is investigated. Flash training schemes are analyzed and shown to improve the energy efficiency in the low-SNR regime. Energy efficiency analysis is also carried out when peak power constraints are imposed on pilot signals.
On Freedman's Lattice Models for Topological Phases

Freedman proposes a family of Hamiltonians which define quantum loop gas models on any celluated compact surface. We study the simplest nontrivial cases: celluations of the torus. Our numerical data support Freedman's conjecture about the ground states of the Hamiltonians. PACS: 71.10.-w; 71.35.-y
Admission controller design for high-speed networks: A hybrid system approach

A novel real-time discrete-event admission control (AC) scheme for high-speed networks is proposed with the aim of attaining a desired quality of service (QoS) and high network utilization. The AC uses the available capacity from a novel adaptive bandwidth estimation scheme, a congestion indicator derived from a congestion controller, Peak bit/cell Rate (PBR/PCR) estimate from new sources, along with the desired QoS metrics, and makes decisions whether to “admit” or “reject” new sources so that the QoS metrics and network utilization are met. The admission controller dynamics are expressed as a discrete-event system while the bandwidth estimator design-based on Lyapunov theory and the congestion controller dynamics are given in discrete-time. The novel aspect of the proposed approach is the application of hybrid system theory to prove the performance of the proposed admission controller, stability and the development of rigorous and repeatable design procedure. The performance of the proposed AC is evaluated using the QoS metrics, which are given in terms of service delay, packet/cell losses, and network utilization. Simulation results are presented by streaming ON/OFF and MPEG video data into the network. Results show that the proposed AC admits significantly more traffic compared to other available admission control schemes thereby guaranteeing high network utilization while maintaining the desired QoS.
Professional Sense-Makers Instructional Specialists in Contemporary Schooling

This brief documents the expansion of instructional specialist staffing in U.S. public school districts. We use data from the National Center of Education Statistics’ annual Common Core of Data to chart staffing trends in public school districts between 1997–1998 and 2012–2013. The number of instructional specialists per 1,000 U.S students doubled during that period, and the proportion of districts employing no specialists declined from nearly 20% to 7%. We suggest that specialists are poised to play a pivotal “professional sense-making” role as schools work to implement new instructional standards in the classroom.
Using conceptual blending to describe emergent meaning in wave propagation

Students in interviews on a wave physics topic give answers through embodied actions which connect their understanding of the physics to other common experiences. When answering a question about wavepulses propagating along a long taut spring, students' gestures help them recruit information about balls thrown the air. I analyze gestural, perceptual, and verbal information gathered using videotaped interviews and classroom interactions. I use conceptual blending to describe how different elements combine to create new, emergent meaning for the students and compare this to a knowledge-in-pieces approach.
Stages of Diversification and Industry Productivity Differences

Economies tend to diversify and then re-specialize as they develop. In an economy with many industries that experience different rates of productivity growth, these "stages of diversification" may obtain if initial conditions are skewed away from the industries that dominate economic structure in the long run as a matter of productivitydriven structural change. A calibrated multi-industry growth model with many countries replicates the main features of the "stages of diversification". We also present evidence that countries shift resources towards high-TFP growth manufacturing industries, and towards low-TFP growth sectors, consistent with the model.
Large shield volcanoes on the Moon

[1] The volcanic style of the Moon has long been understood to consist almost exclusively of flood basalts erupted from fissures along with minor pyroclastic activity; large central vent shield volcanoes that characterize basaltic volcanism on the other terrestrial planets appeared to be absent. Small (few kilometers diameter) central vent constructs have long been recognized in the lunar maria and often are found clustered in fields throughout the lunar maria. New global topographic data from the LOLA and LROC instruments on LRO reveal that almost all of these volcanic complexes on the Moon occur on large, regional topographic rises in the lunar maria, tens to hundreds of kilometers in extent and between several hundred to several thousand meters high. We propose that these topographic swells are shield volcanoes and are the lunar equivalents of the large basaltic shields found on the Earth, Venus, and Mars. The newly recognized lunar shields are found peripheral to the large, deeply flooded impact basins Imbrium and Serenitatis, suggesting a genetic relation to those features. Loading of the lithosphere by these basalt-filled basins may be responsible for inducing a combination of flexural and membrane stress, inducing a pressure distribution on vertically oriented dikes favorable to magma ascent. This condition would occur in a zone annular to the large circular loads produced by the basins, where the shield volcanoes occur.
Automatic prefetching by traversal profiling in object persistence architectures

Object persistence architectures support transparent access to persistent objects. For efficiency, many of these architectures support queries that can prefetch associated objects as part of the query result. While specifying prefetch manually in a query can significantly improve performance, correct prefetch specifications are difficult to determine and maintain, especially in modular programs. Incorrect prefetching is difficult to detect, because prefetch is only an optimization hint. This paper presents AutoFetch, a technique for automatically generating prefetch specifications using traversal profiling in object persistence architectures. AutoFetch generates prefetch specifications based on previous executions of similar queries. In contrast to previous work, AutoFetch can fetch arbitrary traversal patterns and can execute the optimal number of queries. AutoFetch has been implemented as an extension of Hibernate. We demonstrate that AutoFetch improves performance of traversals in the OO7 benchmark and can automatically predict prefetches that are equivalent to hand-coded queries, while supporting more modular program designs.
Evolving neural networks for the classification of galaxies

The FIRST survey (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm) is scheduled to cover 10,000 square degrees of the northern and southern galactic caps. Until recently, astronomers classified radio-emitting galaxies through a visual inspection of FIRST images. Besides being subjective, prone to error and tedious, this manual approach is becoming infeasible: upon completion, FIRST will include almost a million galaxies. This paper describes the application of six methods of evolving neural networks (NNs) with genetic algorithms (GAs) to identify bent-double galaxies. The objective is to demonstrate that GAs can successfully address some common problems in the application of NNs to classification problems, such as training the networks, choosing appropriate network topologies, and selecting relevant features. The results indicate that most of the methods we tried performed equally well on our data, but using a GA to select features produced the best results.