cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Implementation of distributed feedback fiber laser sensor for acoustic measurements in hydraulic fracturing

A distributed feedback (DFB) fiber laser strain sensor was implemented to measure acoustic emission induced by the hydraulic fracturing process. A study of practical sensor mounting configurations and their characteristics was carried out to find a practical solution. Combining the suitable mounting configuration and ultrahigh strain sensitivity of the DFB fiber laser, the evolution of the hydraulic fracturing process was well monitored. This study shows that fiber lasers can be useful alternatives to piezoelectric sensors in the field of hydraulic fracturing for gas and oil extraction.
Human rights without human nature: Foucault’s transformative retrieval of liberal rights discourse

Ben Golder’s Foucault and the politics of rights not only takes up a very timely issue in Foucault studies, but it also addresses a question that looms large in twenty-first century theories of rig...
Use of Simulation to Improve Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Performance and Code Team Communication for Pediatric Residents.

Introduction Cardiorespiratory events are infrequent in pediatric teaching hospitals but can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Clear communication within the response team prevents delay...
Iyagi: An Immersive Storytelling Tool for Healthy Bedtime Routine

This paper documents an attempt to support parents and children in co-creating dynamic, fun and consistent bedtime routines through immersive and interactive storytelling. The proposed system, Iyagi, would be designed to ease the friction experienced by parents and children as they transition from evening activities into the bedtime routine as well as move between different stages and spaces within the bedtime routine. The key features of Iyagi would include: (1) Unfolding of a story across multiple rooms in which key bedtime activities take place; (2) Incorporating the physical space, projection of stories, objects, and the parent and child into the story; (3) Unique interactions with tangible objects, tied to the immersive story; (4) Natural interactions through voice, motion and tangible interactions; (5) Progressively calming activities and environments to ease children to sleep. The work presented follows a non-linear process that moved back and forth between user-centered research, idea generation, prototyping and evaluation. Outlined in this paper are learnings and insights from research that evolved into a proof-of-concept prototype. We've also included preliminary thoughts on opportunities for future development of the concept.
The Impact of Early Involvement in a Postdischarge Support Program for Ostomy Surgery Patients on Preventable Healthcare Utilization.

Purpose To evaluate the impact of a postdischarge ostomy support program as an adjunct to nurse-led ostomy care on preventable healthcare utilization. Design A cross-sectional study. Subjects and setting A postdischarge support program offered by an ostomy product's manufacturer provides persons living with an ostomy with patient-centered and easily accessible assistance. Individuals who underwent ostomy surgery within 18 months prior to the survey date were selected from an ostomy patient database maintained by the ostomy patient support program provider. Of 7026 surveys sent to program enrollees, 493 (7%) responded, compared with 225 (5%) out of 4149 surveys sent to individuals in a comparison group. The 2 groups were similar in demographics. A majority of the survey respondents were female (60% of program enrollees vs 55% of respondents in the comparison group). Among the program enrollees, 44% had colostomy, 43% had ileostomy, 10% had urostomy, and 4% had at least 2 types of ostomy surgery compared with 52%, 32%, 12%, and 4% of the respondents in a comparison group, respectively. Methods The study compared hospital readmission and emergency room (ER) visit rates attributable to ostomy complications between program enrollees and respondents in the comparison group. The event rates were measured in 2 study periods: within the first month of discharge and after the first month of discharge. Eligible individuals received an online survey that included the following domains: characteristics of ostomy surgery; readmissions and ER visits within the first month or after the first month of discharge, including reasons for preventable events; and level of health care access. Multivariate logistic regressions controlling for covariates were applied to investigate associations between program enrollment and ostomy-related readmission or ER visit rates. Results Logistic regression analyses showed that, when compared with respondents in the comparison group, program enrollees had a significantly lower likelihood of being readmitted and visiting the ER due to ostomy complications after the first month of hospital discharge and up to 18 months postdischarge (odds ratio [OR] = 0.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27-0.73; and OR = 0.37; 95% CI, 0.22-0.64, respectively). Conclusions Findings suggest that enrolling patients in the postdischarge ostomy support program provides an effective approach to reducing preventable healthcare utilization.
Erythromycin, lincosamides, peptidyl-tRNA dissociation, and ribosome editing.

Inaccurate protein synthesis produces unstable β-galactosidase, whose activity is rapidly lost at high temperature. Erythromycin, lincomycin, clindamycin, and celesticetin were shown to counteract the error-inducing effects of streptomycin on β-galactosidase synthesized in the antibiotic-hypersensitive Escherichia coli strain DB-11 Met−. Newly synthesized β-galactosidase was more easily inactivated by high temperatures when synthesized by bacteria partially starved for arginine, threonine, or methionine. Simultaneous treatment with erythromycin or linocomycin yielded β-galactosidase that was inactivated by high temperatures less easily than during starvation alone, an effect attributed to stimulation of ribosome editing. When synthesized in the presence of canavanine, β-galactosidase was inactivated by high temperature more easily but this effect could not be reversed by erythromycin. The first arginine in β-galactosidase occurs at residue 13, so the effect of erythromycin during arginine starvation is probably to stimulate dissociation of erroneous peptidyl-tRNAs of at least that length. Correction of errors induced by methionine starvation is probably due to stimulation of dissociation of erroneous peptidyl-tRNAs bearing peptides at least 92 residues in length. All the effects of erythromycin or the tested lincosamides on protein synthesis are probably the result of stimulating the dissociation from ribosomes of peptidyl-tRNAs that are erroneous or short.
Achieving Successful Aging in Assisted Living Facilities Through Person-Centered Services

The population of the older adult in China has been continuously increasing at a high speed. It is estimated that in 2020, the population of people above 60 years old will account for 17.8% of the total population of China in 2020, and 25% in 2030. Because of business opportunities brought by such increase, aging community, an important component of the aging services industry, has developed unprecedentedly these years. According to “Healthy China 2030 Plan” issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council of China, a sound aging service system which benefits all the elderly people will be built in China in 2030. Thus, how to provide sound services in assisted living facilities to promote successful aging is an important social topic needing to be taken efforts on. This paper will discuss how to provide the aging people person-centered services, which means meeting their true needs. By constructing a theoretical model and investigating prior helpful experience, the paper proposes several practical suggestions for assisted living facilities on how to develop in China and how to achieve successful aging from the life-span perspective.
2-in-1 with the jump-it game

The concept of recursion lies at the core of many modern programming languages and it is applied to many data structures like lists and trees. On the other hand, the core concept behind a dynamic programming algorithm is to store the results of smaller sub-problems and look them up when they are needed later to solve larger sub-problems instead of re-computing the smaller sub-problems over and over again. Well known algorithms textbooks (e.g. [5, 6]) use the 0--1 knapsack problem, matrix-chain multiplication, and other classical examples to introduce dynamic programming to students. Nonetheless, many students find these problems uninteresting and sometimes difficult to understand. Shortage of interesting problems when introducing dynamic programming to students leads to the shortcomings of grasping the technique to apply it to other real life scenarios. This paper introduces an interesting example, the Jump-It game, which can be used to teach dynamic programming to students. This example can also be used when teaching recursion in the CS1 and CS2 classes.
Is survival after sublobar resection vs. lobectomy made equivalent by extent of lymphadenectomy

Mediastinal lymph node sampling versus dissection in the surgical staging of early non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) has been a controversial topic (1). In their manuscript “Extent of lymphadenectomy is associated with oncological efficacy of sublobar resection for lung cancer ≤2 cm,” Stiles and colleagues (2) used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to investigate whether the extent of lymph node dissection affects survival in patients undergoing segmentectomy or wedge resection for early NSCLC.
Thyroid Abnormalities in Heart Failure

The effects of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism on the heart and cardiovascular system are well documented. It has also been shown that various forms of heart disease including but not limited to congenital, hypertensive, ischemic, cardiac surgery, and heart transplantation cause an alteration in thyroid function tests including a decrease in serum liothyronine (T3). This article discusses the basic science and clinical data that support the hypothesis that these changes pose pathophysiologic and potential novel therapeutic challenges.
The role of gender in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and delinquency and substance use in adolescence

Abstract Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), a construct measuring childhood adversity via abuse and household dysfunction, is linked to subsequent health problems and maladaptive behaviors. Theorized as a cumulative stressor, ACEs promote a chain of negative outcomes across the life-course. Though ample medical and health research has provided support for this proposition, less studies have examined the relationship between ACEs and delinquency, and very few have examined the role of gender. Analyzing data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this study assesses the associations between ACEs and delinquency and substance use separately for boys (n = 964) and girls (n = 947). Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models show that ACEs may be uniquely associated with delinquency for boys and substance use for girls. Gender differences in criminological risk factors reveal potential intervening mechanisms in these relationships, suggesting that ACEs may operate through different pathways for boys and girls.
Impact of Perceived Social Support on Mental Health, Quality of Life, and Disability in Post–9/11 U.S. Military Veterans:

This study examined the impact of perceived social support on mental health and psychosocial functioning in combat veterans after military deployment, including veterans with post-traumatic stress ...
Surfer's myelopathy: an atypical case presentation.

Surfer’s myelopathy (SM) is a rare nontraumatic spinal cord injury seen in beginner surfers and people participating in activities involving prolonged lumbar hyperextension. The majority of cases of SM have been reported in younger patients under 40 years of age, with initial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing T2 signal abnormalities. We present a case of SM in a person over 40 years old whose initial MRI did not show the T2 signal abnormalities usually reported in SM. A 43-year-old male in good physical condition went surfing for the first time and developed generalized back pain that progressed to include bilateral lower extremity pain with numbness and weakness. MRI within 11–12 h of symptom onset revealed no acute T2 signal abnormalities. At the time of initial presentation he had classification consistent with a T12 American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) A and at rehabilitation discharge, 6 weeks later, he had classification of T12 AIS B. Not all cases of SM present similarly. As surfing is a popular sport, education on early identification of warning signs is crucial for instructors and trainees, as well as health care providers. Our case highlights the importance of a comprehensive history and physical examination in developing the diagnosis, especially in presentations that are not classic in nature.
Surface functionality and formation mechanisms of carbon and graphene quantum dots

Abstract Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and Carbon dots (C-dots) have been widely studied in recent years due to their structural and optoelectrical properties. These properties have prompted the exploration of the role of these carbon-based materials in many potential applications. This includes solar cells, photodetectors, bioimaging, sensors, batteries and drug delivery. These properties and applications of GQDs and C-dots are highly dependent on their size, shape and surface functionality. In this work, GQDs and C-dots mixtures have been synthesized by an inexpensive wet chemical method by varying the synthesis temperature from 85°, 100° to 115 °C. The surface functionalities of the synthesized carbon-based materials were investigated by several analytical methods. We discovered a higher degree of oxidation at higher temperatures. The mechanism of formation of different sized GQDs and C-dots with different functionalities have been explained with the help of XPS and NEXAFS analysis. The influence of size and surface functionalities on the optical properties of these nanomaterials is analyzed by UV–Vis and PL spectroscopic techniques. This study demonstrates that physicochemical properties of GQDs and C-dots can be controlled by changing the synthesis temperature.
Phase 1B, Randomized, Double-Blinded, Dose Escalation, Single-Center, Repeat Dose Safety and Pharmacodynamics Study of the Oral NLRP3 Inhibitor Dapansutrile in Subjects With NYHA II-III Systolic Heart Failure.

ABSTRACT The NLRP3 inflammasome has been implicated in the development and progression of heart failure. The aim of this study was to determine the safety of an oral inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome, dapansutrile (OLT1177), in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This was a phase 1B, randomized, double-blind, dose escalation, single-center, repeat dose safety and pharmacodynamics study of dapansutrile in stable patients with HFrEF (New York Heart Association Class II-III). Subjects were randomized to treatment with dapansutrile for up to 14 days at a ratio of 4:1 into 1 of 3 sequential ascending dose cohorts (500, 1000, or 2000 mg) each including 10 patients. Subjects underwent clinical assessment, biomarker determination, transthoracic echocardiogram, and maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing at baseline, day 14, and day 28 to ascertain changes in clinical status. Placebo cases (N = 2 per cohort) were used as a decoy to reduce bias and not for statistical comparisons. Thirty participants (20 men) were treated for 13 (12-14) days. No serious adverse events during the study were recorded. All clinical or laboratory parameters at day 14 compared with baseline suggested clinical stability without significant within-group differences in the dapansutrile-pooled group or the 3 dapansutrile cohorts. Improvements in left ventricular EF [from 31.5% (27.5-39) to 36.5% (27.5-45), P = 0.039] and in exercise time [from 570 (399.5-627) to 616 (446.5-688) seconds, P = 0.039] were seen in the dapansutrile 2000 mg cohort. Treatment with dapansutrile for 14 days was safe and well tolerated in patients with stable HFrEF.
Overwintering conditions impact insulin pathway gene expression in diapausing Megachile rotundata.

Abstract Diapause is a non-feeding state that many insects undergo to survive the winter months. With fixed resources, overall metabolism and insulin signaling (IIS) are maintained at low levels, but whether those change in response to seasonal temperature fluctuations remains unknown. The focus of this study was to determine 1) how genes in the insulin signaling pathway vary throughout diapause and 2) if that variation changes in response to temperature. To test the hypothesis that expression of IIS pathway genes vary in response to temperature fluctuations during overwintering, alfalfa leafcutting bees, Megachile rotundata, were overwintered at either a constant 4 °C in the lab or in naturally fluctuating temperatures in the field. Expression levels of genes in the IIS pathway, cell cycle regulators, and transcription factors were measured. Overall our findings showed that a few key targets of the insulin signaling pathway, along with growth regulators, change during overwintering, suggesting that only cell cycle regulators, and not the IIS pathway as a whole, change across the phases of diapause. To answer our second question, we compared gene expression levels between temperature treatments at each month for a given gene. We observed significantly more differences in expression of IIS pathway targets, indicating that overwintering conditions impact insulin pathway gene expression and leads to altered expression profiles. With differences seen between temperature treatment groups, these findings indicate that constant temperatures like those used in agricultural storage protocols, lead to different expression profiles and possibly different diapause phenotypes for alfalfa leafcutting bees.
Tile size selection of affine programs for GPGPUs using polyhedral cross-compilation

Loop tiling is a key high-level transformation which is known to maximize locality in loop intensive programs. It has been successfully applied to a number of applications including tensor contractions, iterative stencils and machine learning. This technique has also been extended to a wide variety of computational domains and architectures. The performance achieved with this critical transformation largely depends on a set of inputs given, the tile sizes, due to the complex trade-off between locality and parallelism. This problem is exacerbated in GPGPU architectures due to limited hardware resources such as the available shared-memory. In this paper we present a new technique to compute resource conscious tile sizes for affine programs. We use Integer Linear Programming (ILP) constraints and objectives in a cross-compiler fashion to faithfully and effectively mimic the transformations applied in a polyhedral GPU compiler (PPCG). Our approach significantly reduces the need for experimental auto-tuning by generating only two tile size configurations that achieve strong out-of-the-box performance. We evaluate the effectiveness of our technique using the Polybench benchmark suite on two GPGPUs, an AMD Radeon VII and an NVIDIA Tesla V100, using OpenCL and CUDA programming models. Experimental validation reveals that our approach achieves nearly 75% of the best empirically found tile configuration across both architectures.
The accuracy of quantitative EEG biomarker algorithms depends upon seizure onset dynamics

Abstract Objective To compare the performance of different ictal quantitative biomarkers of the seizure onset zone (SOZ) across many seizures in a cohort of consecutive patients with a variety of seizure onset patterns. Methods The Epileptogenicity Index (EI, a measure of fast activity) and Slow Polarizing Shift index (SPS, a measure of infraslow activity) were calculated for 212 seizures (22 patients). After stratification by onset pattern, median index values inside and outside the SOZ were compared in aggregate and for each of the onset patterns. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to compare the performance of each index. Results Median values of EI (0.056 vs 0.0087), SPS (0.27 vs 0.19), and CI (0.21 vs 0.12) were significantly higher for contacts inside the SOZ, all p Conclusions All indices were significantly higher for contacts inside the SOZ; however, the performance of these indices varied depending on the pattern of seizure onset. Significance These findings suggest that future studies of quantitative biomarkers of the SOZ should account for seizure onset pattern.
Understanding the Transient Nature of STEM Doctoral Students’ Research Self-Efficacy Across Time: Considering the Role of Gender, Race, and First-Generation College Status

Developing research self-efficacy is an important part of doctoral student preparation. Despite the documented importance of research self-efficacy, little is known about the progression of doctoral students’ research self-efficacy over time in general and for students from minoritized groups. This study examined both within- and between-person stability of research self-efficacy from semester to semester over four years, focusing on doctoral students in biological sciences (N = 336). Using random intercept autoregressive path analyses, we evaluated differences in stability across gender, racially minoritized student status, and first-generation student status. Results showed similar mean levels of self-efficacy across demographic groups and across time. However, there were notable differences in between-person and within-person stability over time, specifically showing higher between-person and lower within-person stability for racially minoritized and first-generation students. These findings indicate that racially minoritized and first-generation students’ research self-efficacy reports were less consistent from semester to semester. Such results may indicate that non-minoritized and continuing-generation students’ experiences from semester to semester typically reinforce their beliefs about their own abilities related to conducting research, while such is not the case for racially minoritized nor first-generation students. Future research should examine what types of experiences impact self-efficacy development across doctoral study to offer more precise insights about factors that influence these differences in within-person stability.
The Development of Self-Determination in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the development of self-determination in middle childhood and adolescence. This chapter focuses on the issue of self-determination, the purpose that children come to experience a sense of self-determination in the activities they pursue, whether this makes a difference in children's performance and well-being. It also answers the question of preventing children from feeling a sense of self-determination and the work of educators and psychologists, which can facilitate self-determination. This chapter says that when it considers the development of self-determination, it can approach at least two ways. First it thinks the purpose of people, moving toward the sense of self-determination. It can try to understand the developmental process. Second, it asks about individual differences: the purpose is that some individuals are self-determined and others are not for the very same activity. These two issues are linked in than; if one understands the general process through which development occurs, one begins to understand the origins of individual differences. This chapter concludes that new studies can teach ways to intervene with at-risk children to restore their enjoyment of learning and their self-determination around school-related and other tasks. It is encouraging to imagine a classroom of children, fully engaged in their work, following their interests and natural curiosity, and extending themselves, out of a love of learning, beyond the minimum required of them. Such a classroom is the promise of future work on self-determination.
Insulin- and contraction-stimulated translocation of GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein in skeletal muscle

Low molecular weight GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein were isolated in purified plasma membrane and low density microsome fractions from rat skeletal muscle. GTP-binding proteins were detected via the ability of these proteins to bind [32P]GTP subsequent to Western blotting. GLUT4 protein was detected via the anti-GLUT4 antibody F349 subsequent to Western blotting. The possible involvement of GTP-binding proteins in the regulation of GLUT4 protein movement was investigated by examining the subcellular distribution of GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein under basal conditions and following stimulation by insulin or muscle contraction. Insulin stimulation caused a 111 +/- 34.8% increase in the plasma membrane content of GTP-binding proteins which was paralleled by a 74 +/- 19.1% increase in the plasma membrane content of GLUT4 protein. The insulin-stimulated increase in plasma membrane GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein occurred coincident with 27 +/- 4.6 and 33 +/- 7.4% decreases, respectively, in the low density microsome content of these proteins. In addition, muscle contraction significantly increased the plasma membrane content of GTP-binding proteins (63 +/- 18.1%) and GLUT4 protein (67 +/- 22.2%). However, with muscle contraction the concentrations of GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein were not altered in low density microsome fractions. The similar patterns with which the GTP-binding proteins and GLUT4 protein responded to stimulation by insulin and muscle contraction suggests a possible, but yet unidentified functional relationship between these proteins.
Fibrolipoma of the oral cavity; report of a case.

Abstract A case of fibrolipoma of the oral cavity is presented. This was a solitary tumor, apparently associated with local trauma, and accompanied by no generalized lipomatosis. The benign, slow-growing, encapsulated, pedunculated tumor had a clinical history of twenty years' duration. It was diagnosed following excisional biopsy and was treated successfully by surgical enucleation.
Dynamical Processes in Stopping Cross Sections.

Abstract When a projectile collides with a target, several processes are involved, depending on the projectile energy. However, there is no single model that can treat all processes for the whole range of projectile energies without resorting to approximations, the accuracy of which depends on the projectile energy. In this work, we present an account of the efforts toward the solution of this problem by considering the time evolution of the collision for all the projectile energies. For that, we use the Electron-Nuclear Dynamics (END) approach to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. A quantum mechanical Lagrangian formulation is employed to approximate the Schrodinger equation, via the time-dependent variational principle, by a set of coupled first-order differential equations in time for the END. We obtain the final wavefunction of the system as a function of the projectile energy, allowing us to determine collisional properties of interest. We discuss the relevance of the time-dependent description of the energy loss process by presenting our results for electron capture, threshold effects, projectile energy gain and quantum effects in the scattering processes.
Beyond the Senegal: inventing the tropics in the late Middle Ages

For many modern observers, West Africa now stands as the most acute expression of a situation common throughout the tropics: a natural world defined by prodigious nature and debilitating febrile illness. I argue that this connection was inaugurated as a possibility – though not a definitive condition – over the course of the late fifteenth century, as a consequence of Portuguese voyages to West Africa. That connection was gradual rather than immediate. When seafarers first arrived at the African coast they believed it was uniquely healthy. Only by about the turn of the sixteenth century had observers come to the opposite conclusion. I first chart gradual shifts in opinions about the health of West Africa. I then argue that the interpretive challenges the region posed to fifteenth-century observers both at the Portuguese court and aboard ship along the Guinea Coast were the result of influences ranging from the authoritative texts of Pliny and Ptolemy to little known Portuguese devotional literature, and f...
Plasma Experiments with 1.06-µm Lasers at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

Recent laser fusion experiments at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory have provided basic data concerning: laser beam propagation and absorption in high temperature plasmas, electron energy transport processes that transfer the absorbed laser energy to the high-density ablation region, the general fluid dynamic expansion and compression of the heated plasma, and the processes responsible for the production of 14-MeV neutrons during implosion experiments. Irradiation experiments were performed with Nd:YAG glass laser systems: the two-beam Janus (≲40 J/100 ps, 0.4 TW) and Argus (≲140 J, 35 ps, 4 TW), and the single beam Cyclops (≲70 J/100 ps, 0.7 TW). Two classes of targets have been used: glass microshells (40 to 120 µm in diameter with 0.75-µm-thick walls) filled with an equimolar deuterium-tritium mixture, and disks (160 to 600 µm in diameter and 10 µm thick) of several compositions. The targets were supported in vacuum (pressure ≲<10-5 Torr) by thin glass stalks.
Corporate Governance, Capital Structure Choice and Equity Prices

This paper studies the relationship between companies' choice of capital structure and their stock market returns from a corporate governance perspective. A portfolio buying low-levered, zero payout stocks and selling high-levered, zero payout stocks earned abnormal returns of 8.5% per year from Feb. 1964 to Jan. 2004 after controlling for the three Fama-French factors and momentum. Similar results arise for other portfolios with exposure to non-tight capital structures. Such structures are optimal for companies with high growth options and therefore high sensitivity to aggregate risk associated with correlation in the arrival of investment opportunities across companies. Consistent with this view, companies with less tight capital structures have higher rates of sales growth and returns which are positively correlated with the aggregate level of investment opportunities in the economy.
Environmental Kuznets Curve: Conclusive Econometric Evidence for CO2

This paper begins with a statistical formulation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and discusses the major econometric problems raised in the literature in testing this hypothesis using panel data. A simple t-test is then presented that avoids these econometric problems. The result from applying the t-test confirms conclusively the EKC for CO2 as formulated.
A parallel processing paradigm for wavelength division multiplexed networks

The implementation of a widely distributed multicomputer system for performing medium- and high-grain parallel computations is described. An n-cube hypercube is embedded in a ring with 2/sup n/ nodes using the Gray code scheme. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) fiber optic networks are used to crate the n direct connections between nodes not adjacent to each other. >
The Nature of Historia in Leon Battista Alberti's De Pictura:

In this article I inquire into Alberti's claim that his treatise, De Pictura (1435), offers a totally new treatment of painting. I argue that the rationale behind Alberti's self-promoting claim derives from his perception of historia, and from his conceptualization of the relationship between this pictorial genre and nature. The historia is not a depiction of the natural, the contingent and the temporal: The nature that Alberti uses for his historia is an ideal nature that cannot, in fact, be observed in nature. Alberti's historia deconstructs natural reality in an attempt to reconstruct the unobservable, fixed principles which lie behind the surface of the visible world. I would also argue, however, that Alberti's historia is neither a mere representation of ideal truths. Rather, it is the means to construct a fixed and ideal social reality. Alberti's historia is not meant to convey a meaning, but rather to create a reality; it is not a representation of an action, but the execution and performance of on...
Using the object in the classroom

In this essay I describe a process of moving from object relating to object usage in my Comparative Literature course on Literature and Psychoanalysis. My focus is on the iteration of the course that I taught in the fall of 2007, but I also make reference to other versions of the seminar, or, rather, to my sense of the trajectory of my relationship to students’ reactions to its material. I conclude this examination with musings on my most recent experience with the course, in fall 2009. Despite the narrow focus of my current inquiry, I suspect that the phenomena I discuss in relation to this course can be discovered in others as well.
Electrostatic charging during the flow of grains from a cylinder

Abstract Electrostatic charging is ubiquitous in granular processing, leading to problems of safety, jamming and unwanted material segregation. To better understand the mechanics of granular charging, we focus here on flow through a metal cylinder, where we can isolate charging regions near the cylinder walls from noncharging regions further away. We confirm that monodisperse grains charge in proportion to the area of contact between grains and the cylinder walls, and so in large cylinders, most particles remain almost uncharged. Those particles that do charge reach a plateau charge density after filling the cylinder and flowing past the walls a distance of less than one and a half centimeters. For bidisperse granular blends, the net charge produced by the mixture is dominated by the component that comes into contact with the walls of the apparatus. This is found to be caused by segregation effects as well as the coating of the larger particles by the smaller ones. We make use of these results to predict the charge generated in mass flow hoppers, and we test these predictions. Finally we examine the effect of grounding the experimental apparatus, and we find that paradoxically, grounding does not prevent charge accumulation.
Phi-square Lexical Competition Database (Phi-Lex): An online tool for quantifying auditory and visual lexical competition

A widely agreed-upon feature of spoken word recognition is that multiple lexical candidates in memory are simultaneously activated in parallel when a listener hears a word, and that those candidates compete for recognition (Luce, Goldinger, Auer, & Vitevitch, Perception 62:615–625, 2000; Luce & Pisoni, Ear and Hearing 19:1–36, 1998; McClelland & Elman, Cognitive Psychology 18:1–86, 1986). Because the presence of those competitors influences word recognition, much research has sought to quantify the processes of lexical competition. Metrics that quantify lexical competition continuously are more effective predictors of auditory and visual (lipread) spoken word recognition than are the categorical metrics traditionally used (Feld & Sommers, Speech Communication 53:220–228, 2011; Strand & Sommers, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 130:1663–1672, 2011). A limitation of the continuous metrics is that they are somewhat computationally cumbersome and require access to existing speech databases. This article describes the Phi-square Lexical Competition Database (Phi-Lex): an online, searchable database that provides access to multiple metrics of auditory and visual (lipread) lexical competition for English words, available at www.juliastrand.com/phi-lex .
Evidence that density-dependent growth arrest is a two-stage process in WI-38 cells

It was the goal of this study to determine whether during long-term quiescence WI-38 cells gradually lose labile components which then need to be resynthesized before a stimulated cell can progress through G-1 and enter S. The metabolic and molecular status of WI-38 cells was systematically analyzed as they entered and were maintained for an extended period of time in a state of density-dependent growth arrest. Our results indicate that growth arrest in WI-38 cells can be divided into two stages. The first, which we call "early" growth arrest, occurs during the first 7-10 days following cessation of DNA synthesis and mitosis. It is characterized by few biochemical changes compared to actively proliferating cells. During this period of early growth arrest cells do not exhibit a prolongation of the prereplicative stage following serum stimulation. In contrast, WI-38 cells growth arrested for 10-20 days exhibit a number of changes at the molecular and biochemical level (i.e., a twofold decrease in total protein and total RNA content, and decreased levels of most proteins, but an increased amount of fibronectin and collagen). Also, quiescent WI-38 cells stimulated at any time during "later" or "deep" growth arrest do exhibit a prolonged prereplicative phase. Although changes were also observed in the patterns of expression of ten representative growth-associated genes (i.e., histone H-3, p53, c-Ha-ras, 2A9/calcyclin, 4F1/vimentin, LDL-receptor, insulin receptor, collagen, and fibronectin), these occurred mostly at the time when the cells ceased synthesis of DNA and mitosis and became quiescent. No changes in the steady-state levels of the growth-associated transcripts analyzed occurred while the cells were maintained in the growth-arrested state. Thus, these experiments show that although WI-38 cells do cease to incorporate thymidine and divide under crowded culture conditions, the "quiescent" cells continue to undergo changes, are metabolically active, and certainly do not grossly deteriorate.
The origin of eutherian mammals

Palaeontologically recognizable eutherians originated no later than the Early Cretaceous in warm, probably moderately seasonal climates. Immediate ancestors were small, sharing many anatomical, physiological and reproductive features with small modern marsupials. Development of characteristically eutherian features involved interactions of body size, rates of metabolism, energetic costs of reproduction, anatomical/physiological processes of development and effects of each upon rates of population growth. In contrast to eutherians, marsupials have a narrow range of basal metabolic rates (lacking high rates), and show no direct links between rate of energy expenditure and gestation period, postnatal growth rate, fecundity or reproductive potential. Biological implications of this contrast are most pronounced at small body sizes. When resources are abundant, the relatively higher growth rates and earlier maturation of small eutherians (particularly those with high rates of metabolism) can lead to rapid population growth; among most marsupials, however, both pre- and postnatal constraints apparently preclude attainment of such high rates of reproduction. Also, only eutherians among the amniotes combine intimacy of placentation with prolonged active intra-uterine morphogenesis. Once established, that combination permitted (and even favoured) increases in diversity of adaptation in such disparate aspects as elevated metabolic rate, increased pre- and postnatal growth rates, increased encephalization, greater longevity, increased gregariousness, greater karyotypic flexibility, and augmented variability in adult morphology. However, all such boosts in diversity were probably secondary and dependent upon prior innovation of trophoblastic/uterine wall immunological protection of foetal tissues during prolonged intra-uterine development. Increased metabolic rates followed thereafter, with synergisms that may have speeded evolution among early eutherians. Eutherian-style trophoblast probably originated in the Mesozoic. Dependent adaptations, variably expressed, evolved later in sundry descendant lineages. Reproductive differences between marsupials and eutherians are not biologically trivial; to the contrary, breakthroughs among eutherians assured their dominance: (1) in high intensity food habits; (2) at small body masses; and (3) in very cold climates.
Multifractal analysis of two-dimensional images for damage assessment of reinforced concrete structures

The most common assessment technique for reinforced concrete shear walls (RCSW) is Visual Inspection (VI). The current practice suffers from subjective and labor intensive nature as it highly relies on judgment and expertise of the inspectors. In post-earthquake events where urgent and objective decisions are crucial, failure of the conventional VI could be catastrophic. Conventional VI is mainly based on width of residual cracks. Given that cracks could close partially (e.g., due to weight of the structure, behavior of adjacent elastic members, earthquake displacement spectrum, etc.), methods based on crack width may lead to underestimating the state of damage and eventually an erroneous decision. This paper proposes a novel method to circumvent the aforementioned limitations by utilizing the information hidden in crack patterns. Crack patterns from images of the surface cracks on RCSW are extracted automatically, and Multifractal Analysis (MFA) are applied on them. Images were taken from two large scale low aspect ratio RCSW under quasi-static cyclic loading, and MFA showed clear correlation with tri-linear shear controlled behavior of walls which was observed in their backbone curves.
Reflection of Radio Waves from a Rough Sea

At microwave frequencies, the sea cannot always be assumed to be a smooth, or mirror-like, reflecting surface. It is shown that when the sea is rough the reflected field will be a randomly fluctuating one, or will at least have a fluctuating component, even though the radiated signal is of constant amplitude and frequency. The central limit theorem of mathematical probability theory is used to derive the probability-density functions for the amplitude of the reflected signal, and for the amplitude of the combined reflected and direct-path signals. The possible practical significance of these results is discussed.
On relationships between numerical representations of interval orders and semiorders

Abstract The extent to which continuous numerical representations of interval orders are unique is considered. Apair of continuous, real-valued functions, , represents an interval order, >, provided that for x, y ϵ X, x > y if and only if u(x) > v(y). Relationships which necessarily hold between any two such numerical representations are presented and a method by which one continuous representation can be derived from another is described. Similar considerations are made for special forms of continuous numerical representations of semiorders.
Attempts to generate a homocycloheptatrienylidene

Abstract Attempts to generate homocyclooctatetraene by dehydrohalogenation of 8-chlorobicyclo [5.1.0] octadiene led to cyclooctatetraene, styrene and heptafulvene.
Successful Physical Therapy for Constipation Related to Puborectalis Dyssynergia Improves Symptom Severity and Quality of Life

This study evaluated symptom severity and quality of life in patients with puborectalis dyssynergia before and after physical therapy. Twenty-two patients with puborectalis dyssynergia were prospectively enrolled into a multidisciplinary program for the treatment of pelvic floor and bowel disorders in this case series. All patients had functional constipation and evidence of puborectalis dyssynergia. Physical therapy and behavioral counseling were offered to all. Patients completed the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Patient-Assessment of Constipation Symptom Questionnaire, and the Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life Questionnaire. Sixteen patients successfully completed the program. Symptom severity decreased after physical therapy (2.1 ± 0.7 vs. 1.3 ± 0.9, P = 0.007). Quality of life also improved significantly (2.6 ± 0.8 vs. 1.5 ± 1.0, P = 0.007). Patients reported less physical discomfort, fewer worries/concerns, and indicated satisfaction with treatment. The difference in symptom severity was highly correlated with improvement in quality of life (r = 0.7, P = .005). Successful physical therapy for patients with puborectalis dyssynergia is associated with improvements in constipation-related symptoms and in quality of life.
The optical rotation of ordered carrageenans

The optical rotation of carrageenan is modeled as a function of chain conformation, by application of the MOLROT algorithm. As with agarose, previously studied, the optical rotation observed for gels is adequately accounted for by a variant of the chain geometry found in the fiber x-ray diffraction based model, albeit one with a smaller chain extension. Also as with agarose, the coil rotation indicates the presence of chain segments which are locally almost fully extended.
Statistical analysis of wear rate data

Schema et description de l'appareil d'etude de l'usure de polyethylene terephtalate renforce de fibres courtes de verre, moule par injection
Monolithic Ge-on-Si lasers for large-scale electronic–photonic integration

A silicon-based monolithic laser source has long been envisioned as a key enabling component for large-scale electronic–photonic integration in future generations of high-performance computation and communication systems. In this paper we present a comprehensive review on the development of monolithic Ge-on-Si lasers for this application. Starting with a historical review of light emission from the direct gap transition of Ge dating back to the 1960s, we focus on the rapid progress in band-engineered Ge-on-Si lasers in the past five years after a nearly 30-year gap in this research field. Ge has become an interesting candidate for active devices in Si photonics in the past decade due to its pseudo-direct gap behavior and compatibility with Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing. In 2007, we proposed combing tensile strain with n-type doping to compensate the energy difference between the direct and indirect band gap of Ge, thereby achieving net optical gain for CMOS-compatible diode lasers. Here we systematically present theoretical modeling, material growth methods, spontaneous emission, optical gain, and lasing under optical and electrical pumping from band-engineered Ge-on-Si, culminated by recently demonstrated electrically pumped Ge-on-Si lasers with >1 mW output in the communication wavelength window of 1500–1700 nm. The broad gain spectrum enables on-chip wavelength division multiplexing. A unique feature of band-engineered pseudo-direct gap Ge light emitters is that the emission intensity increases with temperature, exactly opposite to conventional direct gap semiconductor light-emitting devices. This extraordinary thermal anti-quenching behavior greatly facilitates monolithic integration on Si microchips where temperatures can reach up to 80 °C during operation. The same band-engineering approach can be extended to other pseudo-direct gap semiconductors, allowing us to achieve efficient light emission at wavelengths previously considered inaccessible.