cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A JC3IEDM OWL-DL ontology

Steven Wartik Institute for Defense Analyses Alexandria, VA swartik@ida.org One of the major unanswered questions about the semantic web is the degree to which real-world business rules can be expressed in OWL-DL. Ontologies that only contain class hierarchies are useful searching aides, but are unlikely to promote automated reasoning and classification. Only ontologies augmented with more complex concepts can effectively identify inconsistencies and classify individuals. However, OWL-DL is by design restrictive in what concepts it can represent. It will only prove truly useful if its restrictions mainly apply to uncommon situations. In this paper we discuss using OWL to express business rules from the domain of Consultation, Command and Control (C3). We have created an OWL-DL representation of the Joint C3 Information Exchange Data Model (JC3IEDM). The JC3IEDM is a NATO standard agreement (STANAG 5525) for information exchange among NATO members in C3. The JC3IEDM has been under development for 11 years, and its antecedents date back to the 1980s. It contains over 4,500 business rules that govern valid relationships among its data elements. It can fairly be said to represent a nontrivial domain-specific body of knowledge derived from experience and real-world concerns. Historically, the JC3IEDM has been used to achieve common understanding and a shared operational picture through information exchange via database messaging and replication, but in the past few years its governing body has considered how it can be used in a netcentric environment. It is our belief that the JC3IEDM is well suited to use in net-centric operations. It comprises many commonly used concepts (Figure 1) and draws on authoritative sources to define them. It can provide a rich foundational ontology for elements of C3 (and C2).
The “Colored Hero” of Harper's Ferry: The Oberlin Rescue

ON MONDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, 1858, young Shakespeare Boynton drove his father's wagon to the home of John Price. He first offered the black man a job digging potatoes, but Price declined because he was feeling under the weather. The resourceful Shakespeare quickly changed tacks, inviting Price to join him for a ride in the country. “The fresh air must feel good you,” the boy said, promising the unsuspecting laborer that he would “bring you back again.” Price had no reason to mistrust a child, so he climbed into the buggy without realizing that he was heading into an ambush. They had only driven for about ten minutes – perhaps traveling a mile from town – when they were met by a buggy carrying Mitchell, Lowe, and Davis. (Jennings had remained behind to avert suspicion.) The three slave catchers quickly overpowered John, forcing him at gunpoint from the farm wagon into their own buggy. With the frightened John Price wedged between them, a knife placed firmly at his neck, the slave hunters headed toward Wellington, almost ten miles distant, which was the nearest town with the necessary railroad connection. Shakespeare Boynton's part in the betrayal was not quite complete. Once Price was securely in the custody of the slave hunters, the young man turned his wagon around and returned to Oberlin, where he informed Jennings – still waiting at Wack's – of the successful capture. Pleased by the good news, Jennings paid Shakespeare $20 and immediately departed for Wellington, where he was to meet up with his colleagues and their prisoner. From Wellington, their plan was to proceed by train to Columbus – where they expected to obtain a perfunctory rendition hearing before Commissioner Crittenden – and ultimately to Kentucky. Price at first had seemed to acquiesce, telling his captors “I'll go with you” after only the briefest of struggles.
Parameters From the Complete Phonatory Range of an Excised Rabbit Larynx.

Summary Objective This study aims to collect data throughout the complete phonatory range using rabbit larynges. Study Design This is a methodological excised rabbit larynx study. Methods Seven rabbit larynges were dissected and mounted on a modified excised laryngeal apparatus. Phonation was initiated at phonation threshold pressure (PTP) and airflow was increased by consistent increments until phonation instability pressure (PIP) was reached. At each airflow level, aerodynamic measurements, acoustic recordings, and high-speed videos were recorded. This procedure was repeated at multiple elongation conditions to further explore the parameters. Data were then compared across subjects and elongation conditions. Results At PTP, subglottal pressure, fundamental frequency, and sound pressure level were found to increase significantly as elongation was increased. As elongation was increased at PIP, airflow was found to significantly decrease, whereas fundamental frequency was found to significantly increase. Vibratory amplitude decreased at both PTP and PIP as elongation increased. Also, as elongation increased, the range of all parameters was found to decrease significantly. Conclusions The results obtained, combined with the similarities of the histologic structure of the vocal fold lamina propria between rabbits and humans, validate the rabbit larynx as an effective and reliable model for tissue inflammation studies.
Freedom’s Seeds: Reflections of Food, Race, and Community Development: Voices of the Food Movement in Detroit

First paragraph: Tee is a mother of four, born and raised in Detroit. She became an urban gardener one day in 2009 when she decided to take her lawnmower to a nearby abandoned, vacant lot filled with chest-high weeds and turn it into a commu­nity garden. Once she had cleared the space, she went door to door inviting neighbors to meet up to co-create a beautiful space. Where once pedestrians had crossed the street to avoid walking by a lot that seemed sinister, during the growing season it is now inviting, filled with fresh fruits and vegetables such as kale, tomatoes, collards, onions, water­melon, and zucchini the community grows. They also grow flowers, including lavender. Music can be heard while neighbors work in the garden, and artists are hard at work painting signs, building compost bins, and creating other garden decora­tions that together make this a community space....
Neural Reconstruction Integrity: A Metric for Assessing the Connectivity Accuracy of Reconstructed Neural Networks

Neuroscientists are actively pursuing high-precision maps, or graphs consisting of networks of neurons and connecting synapses in mammalian and non-mammalian brains. Such graphs, when coupled with physiological and behavioral data, are likely to facilitate greater understanding of how circuits in these networks give rise to complex information processing capabilities. Given that the automated or semi-automated methods required to achieve the acquisition of these graphs are still evolving, we developed a metric for measuring the performance of such methods by comparing their output with those generated by human annotators ("ground truth" data). Whereas classic metrics for comparing annotated neural tissue reconstructions generally do so at the voxel level, the metric proposed here measures the "integrity" of neurons based on the degree to which a collection of synaptic terminals belonging to a single neuron of the reconstruction can be matched to those of a single neuron in the ground truth data. The metric is largely insensitive to small errors in segmentation and more directly measures accuracy of the generated brain graph. It is our hope that use of the metric will facilitate the broader community's efforts to improve upon existing methods for acquiring brain graphs. Herein we describe the metric in detail, provide demonstrative examples of the intuitive scores it generates, and apply it to a synthesized neural network with simulated reconstruction errors. Demonstration code is available.
A Biomechanical Comparison of Proportional Electromyography Control to Biological Torque Control Using a Powered Hip Exoskeleton.

Background Despite a large increase in robotic exoskeleton research, there are few studies that have examined human performance with different control strategies on the same exoskeleton device. Direct comparison studies are needed to determine how users respond to different types of control. The purpose of this study was to compare user performance using a robotic hip exoskeleton with two different controllers: a controller that targeted a biological hip torque profile and a proportional myoelectric controller. Methods We tested both control approaches on 10 able-bodied subjects using a pneumatically powered hip exoskeleton. The state machine controller targeted a biological hip torque profile. The myoelectric controller used electromyography (EMG) of lower limb muscles to produce a proportional control signal for the hip exoskeleton. Each subject performed two 30-minute exoskeleton walking trials (1.0 m/s) using each controller and a 10-minute trial with the exoskeleton unpowered. During each trial, we measured subjects’ metabolic cost of walking, lower limb EMG profiles, and joint kinematics and kinetics (torques and powers) using a force treadmill and motion capture. Results Compared to unassisted walking in the exoskeleton, myoelectric control reduced metabolic cost by 13% (p=0.005) and biological hip torque control reduced metabolic cost by 7%. Subjects reduced muscle activity relative to the unpowered condition for a greater number of lower limb muscles using myoelectric control compared to the biological hip torque control. More subjects subjectively preferred the myoelectric controller to the biological hip torque control. Conclusions Myoelectric control had more advantages (metabolic cost and muscle activity reduction) compared to a controller that targeted a biological torque profile for walking with a robotic hip exoskeleton. However, these results were obtained with a single exoskeleton device with specific control configurations while level walking at a single speed. Further testing on different exoskeleton hardware and with more varied experimental protocols, such as testing over multiple types of terrain, is needed to fully elucidate the potential benefits of myoelectric control for exoskeleton technology.
Two-Stage Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Sweet Sorghum Biomass—Part 1: Production of Sugar Mixtures

A two-stage hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process was developed for sweet sorghum biomass to improve carbon conversion, to avoid repolymerization reactions between hemicellulose and lignin derivatives that impair the yield of HTL biocrude oil, and to improve the quality of upgraded biocrude oil while producing sugar mixtures as coproducts. In this paper, the first-stage HTL experiment was carried out using sweet sorghum bagasse at various temperature and time conditions to produce sugar mixtures. Under the optimum conditions of 170 °C and 60 min, 94.1% of hemicellulose and 49.2% cellulose, respectively, were hydrolyzed into C5 and C6 sugars with the maximum sugar yield of 28.14% at the concentration of 28.52 g/L. The sugar stream can be used as a stand-alone or blended with sorghum juices to produce either biofuels or value-added chemicals and products. The remaining solids fraction mainly consisted of lignin, cellulose, and a trace amount of hemicellulose that can be further converted for use as a high...
New Studies of Enamel Microstructure in Mesozoic Mammals: A Review of Enamel Prisms as a Mammalian Synapomorphy

Characters from enamel microstructure have not been used in recent phylogenetic analyses of Mesozoic Mammalia. Reasons are that enamel characters have been perceived as (A) variable without regard to systematic position of taxa, (B) inconsistently reported within the literature, and (C) simply scored as either prismatic or not prismatic in earlier mammals. Our work on Mesozoic mammals such as Sinoconodon, Gobiconodon, Triconodontidae, Docodon, Laolestes, and others suggests that synapsid columnar enamel (SCE) structure was easily transformed into plesiomorphic prismatic enamel (PPE) and that PPE may be described with at least five independent character states. Two PPE characters—a flat, open prism sheath and a planar prism seam—were present in the cynodont Pachygenelus and in several Jurassic and Cretaceous mammals. We propose that appearance of a prism sheath transforms SCE into PPE and that reduction and loss of a prism sheath reverse PPE into SCE, in both phylogeny and ontogeny. We further propose that no amniote vertebrates other than the trithelodontid cynodont, Pachygenelus, plus Mammalia have ever evolved an ameloblastic Tomes process capable of secreting PPE and that the genetic potential to secrete PPE is a synapomorphy of Pachygenelus plus Mammalia, whether or not all lineages of the clade have expressed that potential.
Analysis of Age, Period, and Cohort Effects in Marital Fertility

Biological factors in the age pattern of fecundity and cultural universals in the age pattern of fertility control result in uniformities in schedules of age-specific marital fertility across diverse human populations. Yet the fertility of married women at a given age depends not only upon age but also upon the previous experience of the cohort (cohort effect) and the social and economic conditions of the time (period effect).
The Smut Diseases

The smut diseases are generally characterized by black, dusty masses of spores. These spores are, in reality, teliospores but are frequently and incorrectly called chlamydospores. The causal fungi are not obligate parasites; even so, they are not usually found as saprobes. The corn smut fungus, Ustilago maydis, however, is uniquely adapted and persists as a saprobe in the soil and on refuse. The fungi which cause the smut diseases are very specific in their selection of hosts and host organs. Some smut fungi may attack only the stems, flowers, anthers, or ovules of their hosts and no other part and no other host. Some diseases are localized and some are systemic. Many smuts are either seedling or ovary infectors.
Possible Mitochondria-Associated Enzymatic Role in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Residual Disease.

Background: The mechanisms responsible for resistant or recurrent disease in childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are not yet fully understood. A unique mechanism suggesting the role of the mitochondria as the key energy source responsible for residual cells has been assessed in the clinical setting on specimens from patients on therapy were found to have increased copies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) associated with positive minimal residual disease and/or persistent disease (MRD/ PD) status. The potential role of mtDNA in MRD/PD emphasizes queries into the contributions of relevant enzymatic pathways responsible for MRD/PD. This study hypothesized that in an in-vitro model, recovering or residual cells from chemotoxicity will exhibit an increase in both citrate synthase and isocitrate dehydrogenase expression and decrease in succinate dehydrogenase expression. Procedure: Ramos cells (Burkitt lymphoma cell line) were exposed to varying concentrations of doxorubicin and vincristine for 1 hr; and allowing for recovery in culture over a 7-day period. cDNA was extracted on days 1 and 7 of the cell culture period to assess the relative expression of the aforementioned genes. Results: Increase citrate synthase, increase isocitrate dehydrogenase and decrease succinate dehydrogenase expressions were found in recovering Ramos cells. Conclusion: Recovering lymphoma cells appear to compensate by regulating enzymatic levels of appropriate genes in the Krebs Cycle suggesting an important role of the mitochondria in the presence of residual cells.
Effect of elevated dietary inorganic zinc on live performance, carcass yield, and quality of male and female broilers.

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effects of elevated dietary inorganic zinc (Zn) on live performance, carcass and parts yield, and carcass and meat quality of broilers. A total of 288 d-old Ross 344 × 708 broilers were distributed among 3 dietary treatments with 12 replicate cages per treatment and raised sex-separate with 8 birds per cage. Birds were fed practical diets supplemented with either 0, 120, or 240 mg Zn/kg diet. Feed intake and body weight (BW) were measured and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated. At 42 d, 3 birds per cage were processed to assess carcass and meat quality. Male BW at 42 d was increased (P ≤ 0.05) by 120 mg Zn/kg. The FCR to 42 d was also improved (P ≤ 0.05) for males supplemented with 120 mg Zn/kg as compared to 240 mg Zn/kg with the 0 mg Zn/kg diet intermediate. Dietary Zn had no effect on BW or FCR of females. Dietary Zn had no effect on carcass weight and parts yield but absolute weights of male, but not female, total breast and tenders were increased by 240 mg Zn/kg relative to 0 mg Zn/kg with 120 mg Zn/kg intermediate. Breast fillets cook yield and tenderness as well as color were not influenced by Zn in either sex. Supplementing 120 mg Zn/kg resulted in increased Zn in male breast muscle (P ≤ 0.01) whereas 240 mg Zn/kg reduced Zn in breast muscle of females. The 240 mg Zn/kg diet increased Zn in femurs (P ≤ 0.05) of males relative to the other diets. For females, Zn concentration in femurs was increased (P ≤ 0.05) by 240 mg Zn/kg relative to 120 mg Zn/kg with the non-supplemented birds intermediate.
The Effects of Gestational Psychological Stress on Neonatal Mouse Intestinal Development.

Abstract Background Psychological stress during pregnancy has been shown to cause subsequent harm to the fetus and newborn. Many studies focus on neurodevelopmental outcomes, but little is known about the effect of gestational stress on intestinal immunity and development. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of psychological stress during pregnancy on intestinal architecture and growth in newborns. Methods Eight-week-old C57BL6 littermates underwent timed breeding. Pregnant dams were subjected to 1 h of daily psychological stress by using a well-established restraint model during days E7-E14. The distal ileum of 2-wk-old offspring of stressed mothers and nonstressed controls was harvested for histologic analysis. Slides were blinded to measure villus height and crypt depth and surface area. Serum was obtained to measure serum corticosterone levels. An explant model was used to measure corticosterone on the intestinal stem cell marker Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) and growth factors epidermal growth factor receptor and insulin-like growth factor-1. Results The villus height, crypt depth, and surface area were significantly decreased in newborn exposed to stress during gestation. In addition, corticosterone levels were elevated in 2-wk-old mice exposed to stress. Real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that explants exposed to corticosterone had a decrease in LGR5 compared with controls and an increase in epidermal growth factor receptor. Conclusions Here, we establish that neonatal mice from mothers that were subjected to psychological stress during pregnancy have significantly shorter villi and crypts compared with controls. In addition, pups from stressed mothers have decreased expression levels of the intestinal stem cell marker LGR5. These findings will aid in determining the effect of gestational psychological stress on intestinal development and stem cell plasticity.
A Theory for Designing Ductile Materials with Anisotropy

A predictive theory is presented which enables projections of relative ductility and toughness in a wide class of anisotropic materials. Qualitative, and potentially quantitative, trends for stress-state-dependent ductility and fracture toughness are obtained with no experimental input other than the basic stress–strain curves, evidence of failure by progressive cavitation, and basic information about the inclusion content. A key concept is the anisotropy-effect-on-ductility (AED) index, which correlates complex three-dimensional anisotropy attributes of a material to a single scalar index of ductility and toughness. This index has a fundamental meaning as it emerges from a scale transition operation by means of micromechanics. A proof of concept is presented. The theory is relevant to lightweight metals whose anisotropy is inherent (Mg, Al), and eventually induced by processing (sheet metal). It is also relevant to additively manufactured metals where both porosity and process-induced anisotropy seem unavoidable so that the theory is useful in ductility–strength–cost tradeoffs.
Knowledge Maps

To get fragmented information out of people's heads, onto paper, and ultimately into a computer is a continually challenging problem. We show how to use the concepts of influence diagrams to construct knowledge maps that capture the diverse information possessed by an individual or a group. We use redundant knowledge maps assessed iteratively to handle cases where the most comfortable way to assess the information does not correspond to any proper assessment order for the diagram. We use disjoint knowledge maps when the particular assessment to be made does not require a complete joint distribution. The necessary inferential calculations are readily performed in simple cases by spreadsheet programs. Knowledge maps facilitate the processes of representing knowledge and of determining its implications.
Towards Articulated Mobility and Efficient Docking for the DuAxel Tethered Robot System

Sites of increasing interest for planetary science, such as craters, cold traps, and vents lie in terrains that are inaccessible to state-of-the-art rovers. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in collaboration with Caltech, is actively developing a tethered mobile robot, Axel, for traversing and exploring extremely steep terrain, such as Recurring Slope Lineae on Mars and vertical pits on the Moon. However, on Mars, where landing-site ellipses are large due to the presence of an atmosphere, Axel may need to traverse several kilometers from its lander untethered given its finite tether carrying capacity (∼300 m). This paper proposes a novel design for a hybrid mobility system that allows a pair of Axel rovers to dock, lock, and drive long distances as a four-wheeled, articulated steering vehicle. The design improves upon prior efforts to achieve DuAxel mobility by leveraging two actuated docking mechanisms attached on opposite ends of a central module to enable ‘sit/stand’ functionality; the prior DuAxel system was limited to skid steering, which was inefficient due to Axel's grouser-style, high-friction wheels. In the proposed system, the ‘sit’ configuration is achieved by aligning each dock parallel to the surface, allowing one Axel to detach and explore while the other remains docked and serves as a backup. While ‘sitting’, the central module rests on the ground and is outfitted with shovel-style wedges for passive anchoring to sandy terrain (an optional drill can be integrated for anchoring to rock). In order to ‘stand’, the exploring Axel reattaches, locks, and both docks are rotated until Axel's tether caster arm is upright and the central module is lifted off the ground. Once upright, each Axel rotates about a pivot point for articulated, all-wheel steering, which is accomplished by applying differential wheel torques. The main contributions of this paper are i) a detailed systems design of the docking mechanism and central module, ii) kinematic modeling of articulated mobility and ‘sit/stand’ docking functionality, and iii) initial testing in a relevant environment to characterize the mobility of the proposed system.
Candidate SNPs enhance prediction of cognitive impairment after blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) for hematologic malignancy (HM).

11520Background: We tested the hypothesis that candidate genetic variants are associated with cognitive impairment in BMT recipients for HM, and that inclusion of genetic variants improves the perf...
Cyber Security Assessment of the Robot Operating System 2 for Aerial Networks

The Robot Operating System (ROS) is a widely adopted standard robotic middleware. However, its preliminary design is devoid of any network security features. Military grade unmanned systems must be guarded against network threats. ROS 2 is built upon the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard and is designed to provide solutions to identified ROS 1 security vulnerabilities by incorporating authentication, encryption, and process profile features, which rely on public key infrastructure. The Department of Defense is looking to use ROS 2 for its military-centric robotics platform. This paper seeks to demonstrate that ROS 2 and its DDS security architecture can serve as a functional platform for use in military grade unmanned systems, particularly in unmanned Naval aerial swarms. In this paper, we focus on the viability of ROS 2 to safeguard communications between swarms and a ground control station (GCS). We test ROS 2’s ability to mitigate and withstand certain cyber threats, specifically that of rogue nodes injecting unauthorized data and accessing services that will disable parts of the UAV swarm. We use the Gazebo robotics simulator to target individual UAVs to ascertain the effectiveness of our attack vectors under specific conditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of ROS 2 in mitigating the chosen attack vectors but observed a measurable operational delay within our simulations.
Preferred Habitat, Window Dressing, or Both? Evidence From Foreign Exchange Swaps in Taiwan

In this paper, we use a unique dataset to examine the cause of return irregularity in financial markets around the end of the year. Year-end return irregularities are often attributed to either win...
Parameters of cardiac symptoms in young athletes using the Heartbytes database.

Introduction: To determine clinical parameters that are related to abnormal cardiac symptoms in physically active youth.Methods: We used Simon’s Heart Heartbytes National Youth Cardiac Registry to ...
Ultrasound Teleguidance to Reduce Healthcare Worker Exposure to Coronavirus Disease 2019

The global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 has accelerated the adoption of technologies that facilitate patient care while reducing viral spread. We illustrate a proof of concept application of teleguidance to ultrasound-guided bedside procedures as an example of an innovative solution that has been used at our institution to maximize patient and provider safety.
Exploring the utility of metadata record graphs and network analysis for metadata quality evaluation and augmentation

Our study explores the possible uses and effectiveness of network analysis, including Metadata Record Graphs, for evaluating collections of metadata records at scale. We present the results of an experiment applying these methods to records in the University of North Texas (UNT) Digital Library and two sub-collections of different compositions: the UNT Scholarly Works collection, which functions as an institutional repository, and a collection of architectural slide images. The data includes count- and value-based statistics with network metrics for every Dublin Core element in each set. The study finds that network analysis provides useful information that supplements other metrics, for example by identifying records that are completely unconnected to other items through the subject, creator, or other field values. Additionally, network density may help managers identify collections or records that could benefit from enhancement. We also discuss the constraints of these metrics and suggest possible future applications.
Consumer dance identity: the intersection between competition dance, televised dance shows and social media

This article employs a theoretical framework, utilizing cultural analysis, to explore how the intersection in the United States between competition dance, televised dance shows, and social media (w...
Outcome of patients (pts) with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with systemic therapy without cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN)

e16035 Background: Targeted therapies (TT) have replaced cytokines in the management of pts with mRCC. CN has been incorporated in the management of pts with mRCC but many pts are not suitable cand...
The Ketogenic Diet in the Treatment of Post-concussion Syndrome—A Feasibility Study

Concussion is the most common form of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Although most patients' symptoms resolve within a month, patients with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) may continue to experience symptoms for years and have limited treatment options. This pilot study assessed the feasibility and symptom-related effects of a ketogenic diet (KD) in patients with PCS symptoms. The Ketogenic Diet in Post-Concussion Syndrome (KD-PCS) was a single-arm trial of a 2-month KD high in non-starchy vegetables and supplemented with medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Macronutrient targets were ≥70% fat, ≤10% carbohydrate, and the remainder as protein as energy. We assessed feasibility by daily self-reported measure of urine acetoacetate and collection of 3-day food records and serum beta-hydroxybutyrate at multiple timepoints. We assessed symptoms by administering the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) and Modified Balance Error Scoring System (M-BESS) at baseline and month 2 and the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) at baseline, month 1, and month 2. Fourteen participants enrolled in the KD-PCS. Twelve participants completed the study and 11 implemented the KD (73% fat, 9% carbohydrate, and 18% protein) and achieved ketosis. One participant complained of MCT-related diarrhea that resolved and another reported nausea and fatigue that resulted in withdrawal from the study. Among compliant participants, the visual memory domain of the ImPACT improved by 12 points (p = 0.02) and PCSS scores improved by 9 points, although not statistically significant. This pilot trial suggests that the KD is a feasible experimental treatment for PCS and justifies further study of its efficacy.
Sources of High School Student First Amendment Knowledge.

Support and engagement with the First Amendment among high school students is at a high level; however, little is known regarding the ways high school students learn about the First Amendment. This...
Credit Risk and Banks Stability: An Empirical Analysis of Pakistani Banking Sector

This study investigates the risk and stability of banks using the sample of thirty commercial banks operating in Pakistan between 2008 and 2015 with regards to financial and ownership mode. This study investigates the data related to financial mode with regard to conventional and Islamic banks. Results suggest that conventional banks have higher credit risk with initial inference and negatively significant in relation to equity. Whereas, Islamic banks establish the same relation insignificant. Risk proxy depicts similar results with initial inference. This study inferences the ownership mode findings in reference to foreign, private and public banks. Public banks have highest level of credit risk and confirm adversely our initial inference. Public banks also maintain the highest risk proxy value and negatively insignificant in relation with equity but confirms our initial inference. Islamic banks have high leverage, but minimum solvency risk means are more stable than conventional banks. Whereas, foreign banks have low leverage but minimum solvency risk means are more stable than private and public banks. Moreover, we find banks having negligible and/or negative default loans growth are negatively significant in relation with assets. Moreover, results depict that the stability of banks is negatively sensitive with earning assets, interest rates and positively sensitive with GDP growth.
Morphological Characteristics and Mechanical Property of Continuous Drive Friction Welded Joints of Carbon Steel 45(GB)

The influence of friction pressure and time on morphological characteristics and mechanical property of the continuous drive friction welded joints of medium carbon steel 45(GB) was investigated in terms of the newly proposed two character factors, i.e. sticky length to diameter ratio α = length of welded zone / original diameter and scaling factor η = width of outer heat affected zone / width of center heat affected zone. The results show that, with the increase of friction pressure the sticky length to diameter ratio α increases firstly and then decreases, while the scaling factor η increases all along. However,by a friction pressure 60 MPa, the sticky length to diameter ratio α increases and the scaling factor η decreases continuously with the increasing friction time. When the integrative factor δ(δ =η/α) falls in a range 1.15- 1.31, the mechanical property of joints is good because the heat input is moderate, which therefore can be used as a criterion of selection of welding parameters for gaining good performance of the continuous drive friction welded joints of the steel 45(GB).
Historical Preservation in Rust-Belt China: The Life and Death of Jihong Bridge in Harbin

This article examines how China’s rust-belt cities deploy historical preservation for urban revitalization. Drawing upon fieldwork interviews and online debates, it investigates the preservation battle over Jihong Bridge in Harbin in northeast China. Built by Russian settlers in the early 20th century, Jihong Bridge symbolizes the birth of Harbin as a railway city, but a century later, it stood in the way of the local government’s ambitious plan for building high-speed rail. The municipal government elevated the bridge, significantly modifying its structure to allow high-speed trains to pass underneath. The renovation was heavily criticized by local preservationists, who invoked the government’s own preservation regulations to try to save the bridge. The study highlights the dilemma faced by local governments of rust-belt cities, as they are caught between the desire to deploy historical architecture for city branding and competing priorities of infrastructure investment.
Tolls on the Information Superhighway: Entitlement Defaults for Clickstream Data

This paper addresses the collection of "clickstream data," and sets forth a theory about the legal rules that should govern it. At the outset, I propose a typology for categorizing privacy invasions. A given state of informational privacy may be represented by: the observed behavior, the collecting agent, and the searching agent. Using this typology, I identify the specific sources of concern about collection of clickstream data. Then, based on expected levels of utility and expected transaction costs of "flipping" to a different rule, I argue for a particular set of privacy defaults for data mining.
Maximum likelihood for high-noise group orbit estimation and single-particle cryo-EM

Motivated by applications to single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we study several problems of function estimation in a low SNR regime, where samples are observed under random rotations of the function domain. In a general framework of group orbit estimation with linear projection, we describe a stratification of the Fisher information eigenvalues according to a sequence of transcendence degrees in the invariant algebra, and relate critical points of the log-likelihood landscape to a sequence of method-of-moments optimization problems. This extends previous results for a discrete rotation group without projection. We then compute these transcendence degrees and the forms of these moment optimization problems for several examples of function estimation under $SO(2)$ and $SO(3)$ rotations, including a simplified model of cryo-EM as introduced by Bandeira, Blum-Smith, Kileel, Perry, Weed, and Wein. For several of these examples, we affirmatively resolve numerical conjectures that $3^\text{rd}$-order moments are sufficient to locally identify a generic signal up to its rotational orbit. For low-dimensional approximations of the electric potential maps of two small protein molecules, we empirically verify that the noise-scalings of the Fisher information eigenvalues conform with these theoretical predictions over a range of SNR, in a model of $SO(3)$ rotations without projection.
Ultrasound-guided ethanol sclerotherapy for multifocal unilateral Warthin’s tumor after partial parotidectomy:

IntroductionWarthin’s tumor, also known as papillary cystadenoma lymphomatosum, is one of the most common benign salivary gland neoplasms. The current first-line treatment for Warthin’s tumor is pa...
Chapter 8. Novel Applications of Leukotriene Intervention

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the pathogenic role for leukotrienes (LTs) in the lesser explored areas of disease. This perspective is limited to those LTs (5-HETE, LTB, LTC, LTD4, and LTE) that are synthesized from arachidonic acid (AA) via the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway. In a study of 8 cluster headache patients, plasma levels of LTB4 have been found to be significantly elevated during an attack compared to the symptom-free periods. More recently, it has been reported that LTC 4 is detected in the plasma of migraine patients during the prodromal phase and in greater amounts during the beginning of the attack phase. Recent evidence strongly implicates LTs as significant factors in the pathophysiology of anaphylactic, endotoxic, and traumatic shock. In the presence of antihistamines, the selective 5-LOIs has been found to effectively block the ovalbumin-induced drop of coronary flow. Evidence, implicating the involvement of LTs in diseases of the kidney, has been discussed in the chapter. The most frequently mentioned renal disease suspected of being at least partly LT mediated is human glomerulonephritis. The upper gastrointestinal effects of LTs have been briefly described. Infusions of LTC 4 or LTD 4 significantly and dose-proportionally reduced gastric blood flow, gastric mucosal blood flow, gastric oxygen consumption, and acid output. The development of second generation 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors and antagonists of LTB 4 , LTC 4 , and LTD 4 , with extremely enhanced potency and selectivity, offers the promise of new insights into the contributions of leukotrienes to the pathophysiology of these diseases.
Use of dilaudid in gynecology

Abstract Summarizing, I would say that dilaudid in proper dosage is an adequate substitute for morphine. It is about three to four times as strong as morphine in its narcotizing effect, and perhaps five times as strong in analgesic action. With some types of patients this lack of soporific effect may be a detriment. Dilaudid, to judge from my small series, inhibits intestinal peristalsis much less than morphine and appears to affect the bladder similarly. In conclusion, the well known value of minimum intraabdominal manipulation may again be stressed.
Communicating Health Problems Online: An Investigation of Frame Selection and the Cognitive Effects of Health Disclosures

An experiment was conducted to understand how people disclose their health experiences online and the effects of frame selection on behavioral intentions. Participants were asked to respond to a narrative or an informational message in an online discussion of a common health issue. Four original generic frames—the reconstruction, suffering, advice/support, and denial/reactance frames—were used to analyze health disclosures and the subsequent effects. The results revealed that narrative messages encouraged participants to use the advice/support frame more frequently. Those who used the advice/support frame tended to be more frequently involved in the transformation mode and reported greater intentions of engaging in the behavior that might alleviate the health problem. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Subband acoustic echo cancellation using a thin lattice structure

In this paper a novel subband acoustic echo canceller (AEC) is proposed. The proposed scheme consists in K non-overlapping main subbands and K auxiliary subbands implemented using DFT filter bank approach. The auxiliary subbands are introduced in order to provide frequency coverage in the non-overlapping region between the neighboring main subbands. Central to computational efficiency of the proposed scheme is the decimation of the auxiliary bands by a factor of 2 relative to the main bands. A gradient lattice structure, known as thin lattice with predictor part of considerably smaller size than its ladder (filtering) part, is utilized to adapt the taps of subband adaptive filter in the main and auxiliary bands. Simulation results for K=9 number of bands attest to superior tracking and echo attenuation of the proposed structure.
Circadian clock in cell culture: II. In vitro photic entrainment of melatonin oscillation from dissociated chick pineal cells

The avian pineal gland contains circadian oscillators that regulate the rhythmic synthesis of melatonin. We have developed a flow-through cell culture system in order to begin to study the cellular and molecular basis of this vertebrate circadian oscillator. Pineal cell cultures express a circadian oscillation of melatonin release for at least 5 cycles in constant darkness with a period close to 24 hr. In all circadian systems, light regulates the rhythm by the process of entrainment that involves control of the phase and period of the circadian oscillator. In chick pineal cell cultures we have investigated the entraining effects of light in 2 ways: by shifting the light-dark cycle in vitro and by measuring the phase-shifting effects of single light pulses. A 6 hr advance or delay of a LD 12:12 light-dark cycle produced a corresponding shift in the melatonin rhythm. The phase shifts of the rhythms persisted after transfer to constant darkness, showing that the underlying circadian oscillator was entrained. Photic entrainment of the oscillator was further characterized by measuring the phase-shifting effects of single 6 hr light pulses. Single pulses of light shifted the phase of the circadian oscillator in a phase-dependent manner. Light pulses beginning early in the subjective night delayed the phase of the oscillation 8 hr relative to dark controls. Conversely, light pulses beginning late in the subjective night advanced the phase of the oscillation nearly 8 hr. Thus, photoreceptors within the cell cultures can mediate entrainment of the pineal oscillators.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Netherlandish Proverbs: An International Symposium on the Pieter Brueg(h)els

Reviewed Medium: book Year: 2004 Pages: 241 Publisher: University of Vermont Press ISBN: 0-9710223-8-0 Prices: $15.00 US
A Critical Exploration of Face-to Face Interviewing vs. Computer-Mediated Interviewing:

Since the early 1990s, the internet has dominated the attention of the media, academics and business organisations. It has the potential of being a revolutionary way to collect primary and secondary data, although much more research is needed to learn how to better harness its strengths. This project compares depth interviews collected online with depth interviews conducted face-to-face. Advantages and disadvantages are highlighted, as well as suggested strategies for successfully collecting online data. Major points are illustrated using data from a project in which both data collection techniques are employed. The online interview dataset included some of the strongest and some of the weakest interviews in the investigation. This paper argues that under some conditions online depth interviews can provide a useful complement to the traditional face-to-face interview. Sampling frame problems of non-representativeness, endemic in quantitative online data collection, is not problematic if the researcher is ...
Alcohol Elicits Functional and Structural Plasticity Selectively in Dopamine D1 Receptor-Expressing Neurons of the Dorsomedial Striatum.

Addiction is thought to be a maladaptive form of learning and memory caused by drug-evoked aberrant synaptic plasticity. We previously showed that alcohol facilitates synaptic plasticity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), a brain region that drives goal-directed behaviors. The majority of DMS cells are medium spiny neurons (MSNs) that express dopamine D1 receptors (D1Rs) or D2 receptors (D2Rs), which drive “Go” or “No-Go” behaviors, respectively. Here, we report that alcohol induces cell type-specific synaptic and structural plasticity in the DMS. Using mice that express a fluorescence marker to visualize D1R or D2R MSNs, we show that repeated cycles of systemic administration of alcohol or alcohol consumption induces a long-lasting increase in AMPAR activity specifically in DMS D1R but not in D2R MSNs. Importantly, we report that alcohol consumption increases the complexity of dendritic branching and the density of mature mushroom-shaped spines selectively in DMS D1R MSNs. Finally, we found that blockade of D1R but not D2R activity in the DMS attenuates alcohol consumption. Together, these data suggest that alcohol intake produces profound functional and structural plasticity events in a subpopulation of neurons in the DMS that control reinforcement-related learning. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Alcohol addiction is considered maladaptive learning and memory processes. Here we unraveled a long-lasting cellular mechanism that may contribute to the memory of alcohol-seeking behaviors. Specifically, we found that alcohol consumption produces a long-lasting enhancement of channel activity and persistent alterations of neuronal morphology in a part of the brain (DMS) that controls alcohol-drinking behaviors. Furthermore, we show that these alterations occur only in a subpopulation of neurons that positively control reward and reinforcement of drugs of abuse. Finally, we report that blocking the activity of this neuronal population reduces alcohol intake. As such synaptic and structural changes are the cellular hallmarks of learning and memory, and these neuroadaptations may drive the development of pathological heavy alcohol consumption.
Boron neutrino flux and resonant conversion of solar neutrinos

Abstract In view of large uncertainties in the prediction of the boron neutrino flux from the Sun we consider the magnitude of this flux, Φ B , as a parameter to be found from experiment. A consistent description of the data in terms of neutrino resonant conversion admits Φ B / Φ B 0 = 0.4−2.5 in small mixing domain and Φ B / Φ B 0 = 1−3 in large mixing domain (here Φ B 0 ≡5.7·10 6 cm −2 s −1 is the flux in the reference SSM). Variations of the flux within these intervals enlarge the allowed region of mixing angles to sin 2 2 θ = (0.06−2) · 10 −2 and sin 2 2 θ = 0.2−0.9 correspondingly. If the value of Φ B is about the one measured by Kamiokande, the data fix the region Δm 2 ∼ (4−9) · 10 −6 eV 2 and sin 2 2θ ∼ (0.6−2) · 10 −3 (“very small mixing solution”). We comment on the possibility to measure the neutrino parameters and the original boron neutrino flux in future experiments.