cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of phosphorus segregation in neutron-irradiated pressure vessel steels by atom probe field ion microscopy

An atom probe field ion microscopy characterization of A533B and Russian VVER 440 and 1000 pressure vessel steels has been performed to determine the phosphorus coverage of grain and lath boundaries. Field ion micrographs of grain and lath boundaries have revealed that they are decorated with a semi-continuous film of discrete brightly-imaging precipitates that were identified as molybdenum carbonitride precipitates. In addition, extremely high phosphorus levels were measured at the boundaries. The phosphorus segregation was found to be confined to an extremely narrow region indicative of monolayer-type segregation. The phosphorus coverages determined from the atom probe results of the unirradiated materials were in excellent agreement with predictions based on McLean`s equilibrium model of grain boundary segregation. The boundary phosphorus coverage of a neutron-irradiated weld material was significantly higher than that observed in the unirradiated material.
Analysis of multiple FSS screens of unequal periodicity using an efficient cascading technique

In this paper, we present an efficient cascading procedure for analyzing frequency selective surface (FSS) systems consisting of multiple FSS screens of unequal periodicity embedded in multiple dielectric layers. In this procedure, we first find a global period for the FSS system by studying the composite in its entirety. Next, we compute the scattering matrix [S] of each of the FSS subsystems for the global Floquet harmonics by applying a relationship we establish that maps the [S] matrix of the subsystem for the individual Floquet harmonics to that for the global harmonics. This mapping-cum-filling process substantially reduces the effort needed to compute the [S] matrix of a subsystem. Finally, we compute the [S] of the entire system by applying a modified cascading formulation, in which one matrix inversion step is eliminated, resulting in a reduction in the total computing resource requirement as well as time. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the technique.
The development of consumer privacy protection policy in China: a historical review

Purpose – Given the unique cultural-political context of China, this paper aims to investigate two research questions: What has been the development trajectory of policy-making on consumer privacy protection in China, and what factors have shaped its development over the years? Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a historical approach and examines the development of Chinese consumer privacy policy during four periods: 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010-present. Findings – Chinese policy-making on consumer privacy protection has made steady advancement in the past few decades due to factors such as technological development, elite advocacy and emulation of other markets; however, the effects of these factors are conditioned by local forces. Originality/value – To date, most studies of consumer privacy issues have focused on Western countries, especially the European Union and the USA. A better understanding of how consumer privacy policy has developed in China provides important lessons on the promot...
A new Cryptalyra species from Colombia (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae)

A new species of Megalyridae, Cryptalyra colombia Shaw, is described. This is the first record of the parasitoid wasp family Megalyridae from Colombia, and only the second known species of the genus Cryptalyra Shaw.
Foreword to 'What's Wrong with Rights for Children?' Symposium

This article introduces a symposium issue on “What’s Wrong With Rights for Children?” -- and why has the United States failed to ratify the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children, even though every nation besides Somalia has done so. The symposium contributors analyze the distinct needs, concerns, interests, rights, and duties of children. They further analyze whether the U.N. Convention is the best formulation of children’s rights and what steps could be taken to improve it. The contributors range from ardent supporters to deep skeptics about children’s rights in general and the UN Convention in particular. This article maps the range of arguments pro and con, but presses for ratification of the Convention and vindication of the essential rights of all children.
The H Particle on the Lattice

Jaffe’s doubly strange spin zero dibaryon (the H particle) is one of the few hadrons made of light quarks which could conceivably exist and yet not have been observed up to the present, making it an interesting test of the standard methods of lattice gauge theory. We have investigated this state and found that the mass of the dibaryon is above the two A threshold, making it unstable to strong decay.
Weibull Distributions and Extreme Wind Speeds

An investigation is presented into the question of whether or not it may be assumed that the annual extreme wind speeds population at various stations is described by probabilistic models with shorter tails than the Type I distribution. Statistical evidence, based on compararive analysis of annual extreme wind data of and data generated by Monte Carlo simulation, appears to support the validity of this assumption for a large number of stations in the United States.
‘Making Change’ in the memorial landscape to the Dakota–US War of 1862: remembrance, healing and justice through affective participation in the Dakota Commemorative March (DCM)

AbstractThe Dakota–US War of 1862 led to the removal and exile of Dakota people from their ancestral homeland. Integral to this process was the forced march of 1,700 women, children and elders from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Despite the siting of numerous memorials related to the war and its aftermath, few mark the forced march and its legacies. Since 2002, however, the seven-day Dakota Commemorative March (DCM) has been held biennially to remember and honour Dakota ancestors on the original forced march. Following a brief overview of extant place-based memorials at sites along its path, we draw on documentary sources to explore the significance of the DCM as a distinctive Dakota intervention in the commemorative landscape. Through a process we call ‘affective participation’ – an intense bodily, emotive and transformative engagement in an event – participants on the DCM not only seek to remember but also strive towards healing and justice in the present and the future. Our hope is...
Understanding Environmentalism: The Impacts of Cultural Worldview, Party Identification, and Religious Affiliation on Environmental Concern

Decades ago, Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky suggested that public concern for the environment is shaped, in part, by intrinsic values and beliefs; however, very little research has explored how an individuals’ group affiliations condition the impact of their deep core cultural beliefs on environmental concern. Using original data from a four-year annual nationwide survey of more than 9,000 American adults conducted from 2008 to 2011, this study examines how the effect of cultural predisposition, especially egalitarianism, hierarchism, and individualism, on environmental concern is mediated by an individual’s political party and religious affiliations. This research has broad implications for understanding how cultural worldview, partisanship, and religion collectively contribute to the formation of environmentalism among the general public.
The Role of Macrophages in the Foreign Body Response to Implanted Biomaterials

Biomaterials are part of the solution to many unmet clinical needs, from implantable sensors to drug delivery devices and engineered tissues. However, biomaterials face an inflammatory environment upon implantation, representing a potential obstacle to their success. In this chapter, we review the consequences of the foreign body response (FBR) for biomaterial function and strategies that have been used to inhibit the FBR. We focus on the role of the macrophage, the cell at the center of the inflammatory response, and discuss implications of changing macrophage behavior on biomaterial acceptance or rejection. Finally, we discuss recent discoveries in the role of macrophage phenotype, ranging from pro-inflammatory (M1) to anti-inflammatory (M2), and the role it plays in wound healing and biomaterial vascularization. We conclude with a discussion of biomaterial design strategies that have been suggested to positively interact with and potentially control macrophages in order to improve interactions with the inflammatory response.
Continuous Sensing of Occupant Perception of Indoor Ambient Factors

Ambient factors such as temperature, lighting, and air quality influence occupants’ productivity and behavior. Although these factors are regulated by industry standards and monitored by the facilities management groups, occupants’ perceptions vary from actual values due to various factors such as building schedules and occupancy, occupant activity and preferences, weather and climate, and the placement of sensors. While occupant comfort surveys are sometimes conducted, they are generally limited to one-time or periodic assessments that do not fully represent occupant experiences throughout building operations. This study proposes a new methodology for gathering real time data on a continuous basis through participatory sensing of occupant ambient comfort in indoor environments based on a smart phone application. The developed application is presented and validated by a pilot study in a university building. Occupant perceptions of temperature are compared to actual temperature records. No correlation is found between perceived and actual room temperatures demonstrating the potential of a participatory sensing tool for adaptively controlling building temperature ranges.
Geologic and physiographic controls on bed-material yield, transport, and channel morphology for alluvial and bedrock rivers, western Oregon

The rivers of western Oregon have diverse forms and characteristics, with channel substrates ranging from continuous alluvial gravel to bare bedrock. Analysis of several measurable morphologic attributes of 24 valley reaches on 17 rivers provides a basis for comparing nonalluvial and alluvial channels. Key differences are that alluvial reaches have greater bar area, greater migration rates, and show systematic correlation among variables relating grain size to bed-material transport capacity. We relate these differences between channel types to bed-material transport rates as derived from a coupled regional analysis of empirical sediment yield measurements and physical experiments of clast attrition during transport. This sediment supply analysis shows that overall bed-material transport rates for western Oregon are chiefly controlled by (1) lithology and basin slope, which are the key factors for bed-material supply into the stream network, and (2) lithologic control of bed-material attrition from in-transport abrasion and disintegration. This bed-material comminution strongly affects bed-material transport in the study area, reducing transport rates by 50%–90% along the length of the larger rivers in the study area. A comparison of the bed-material transport estimates with the morphologic analyses shows that alluvial gravel-bed channels have systematic and bounding relations between bed-material transport rate and attributes such as bar area and local transport capacity. By contrast, few such relations are evident for nonalluvial rivers with bedrock or mixed-bed substrates, which are apparently more influenced by local controls on channel geometry and sediment supply. At the scale of western Oregon, the physiographic and lithologic controls on the balance between bed-material supply and transport capacity exert far-reaching influence on the distribution of alluvial and nonalluvial channels and their consequently distinctive morphologies and behaviors—differences germane for understanding river response to tectonics and environmental perturbations, as well as for implementing effective restoration and monitoring strategies.
Substructure of the myosin molecule: I. Subfragments of myosin by enzymic degradation

Abstract The formation of light meromyosin and heavy meromyosin by trypsin first demonstrated that myosin had regions of high α-helix content which could be separated from the ATPase and actin-binding centers of the molecule. Here we report the action of papain on myosin. Under suitable experimental conditions, low concentrations of papain can split the enzymic globular regions of myosin from the structural α-helical rod, leaving the latter intact along its length. Further digestion cleaves the rod along two-thirds of its length to form light meromyosin and the rod portion of heavy meromyosin. The size and shape of these proteolytic fragments as deduced from hydrodynamic measurements are compared to the structure seen in electron micrographs of shadow-cast preparations. From these studies we conclude that the myosin molecule consists of two globular units, each about 70 A in diameter, attached to a double-stranded α-helical rod about 1350 A long. The effect of Ca- and Mg-actin on the ATPase activity of the cleaved isolated globules is similar to the effect of these cations and actin on the globules in the native or attached state existing in heavy meromyosin. The rod portion of myosin is insoluble at low ionic strength and is therefore responsible for filament formation under physiological conditions. However, only the light meromyosin end of the rod is insoluble in water at neutral pH; the remainder of the rod is soluble at all ionic strengths. There is no evidence for an extensive amorphous region connecting these two subfragments. The intact rod has an α-helical content consistent with a fully helical molecule, and no proline residues could be detected by amino acid analysis.
When Do Entrepreneurs Accurately Evaluate Venture Capital Firms’ Track Records? A Bounded Rationality Perspective

There has been substantial research on the value of young firms engaging high-quality partners. This literature, as well as the broader firm reputation literature, has tended to assume that individ...
An Integrated Systematic Approach to Designing Enterprise Access Control

Today, the network design process remains ad hoc and largely complexity agnostic, often resulting in suboptimal networks characterized by excessive amounts of dependence and commands in device configurations. The unnecessary high configuration complexity can lead to a huge increase in both the amount of manual intervention required for managing the network and the likelihood of configuration errors, and thus must be avoided. In this paper, we present an integrated top–down design approach and show how it can minimize the unnecessary configuration complexity in realizing reachability-based access control, a key network design objective that involves designing three distinct network elements: virtual local-area network (VLAN), IP address, and packet filter. Capitalizing on newly developed abstractions, our approach integrates the design of these three elements into a unified framework by systematically modeling how the design of one element may impact the complexity of other elements. Our approach goes substantially beyond the current divide-and-conquer approach that designs each element in complete isolation, and enables minimizing the combined complexity of all elements. Specifically, two new optimization problems are formulated, and novel algorithms and heuristics are developed to solve the formulated problems. Evaluation on a large campus network shows that our approach can effectively reduce the packet filter complexity and VLAN trunking complexity by more than 85% and 70%, respectively, when compared with the ad hoc approach currently used by the operators.
Thermodynamic Study of CO2 Sorption by Polymorphic Microporous MOFs with Open Zn(II) Coordination Sites

Two Zn-based metal organic frameworks have been prepared solvothermally, and their selectivity for CO2 adsorption was investigated. In both frameworks, the inorganic structural building unit is composed of Zn(II) bridged by the 2-carboxylate or 5-carboxylate pendants of 2,5-pyridine dicarboxylate (pydc) to form a 1D zigzag chain. The zigzag chains are linked by the bridging 2,5-carboxylates across the Zn ions to form 3D networks with formulas of Zn4(pydc)4(DMF)2·3DMF (1) and Zn2(pydc)2(DEF) (2). The framework (1) contains coordinated DMF as well as DMF solvates (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide), while (2) contains coordinated DEF (DEF = N,N-diethylformamide). (1) displays a reversible type-I sorption isotherm for CO2 and N2 with BET surface areas of 196 and 319 m2/g, respectively. At low pressures, CO2 and N2 isotherms for (2) were not able to reach saturation, indicative of pore sizes too small for the gas molecules to penetrate. A solvent exchange to give (2)-MeOH allowed for increased CO2 and N2 adsorption...
Profiling Public Affairs Programs: The View From the Top

This research updates existing literature that describes the nature of public affairs programs. A profile of the top 50 public affairs programs, according to rankings from U.S. News & World Report, is identified. Programs are differentiated by type (master of public administration, master of public policy, master of public affairs, and other), and comparisons are made regarding total hours, hours in core, number of specializations, capital city location, accreditation, institutional home, required courses within core, numbers of core courses by category per the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, and variety of specializations within programs. The article statistically explores the relative importance of program characteristics in the status of the top 50 institutions.
Abstract A91: Does psychosocial stress play a role in the etiology of aggressive breast cancer? A cross-sectional study

Background: Greater levels of fear, anxiety or isolation (psychosocial stress) have been hypothesized to negatively alter the sympathetic-parasympathetic autonomic nervous system and suppress immune function, physiologic effects that in turn might impact breast tumor aggressiveness. There is a paucity of cohort data relating psychosocial stress to breast tumor aggressiveness. We examined associations between patient-reported psychosocial stress with aggressive breast cancer in a cross-sectional study of 989 recently diagnosed breast cancer patients (397 non-Hispanic white, 411 non-Hispanic black, 181 Hispanic). We examined associations of psychosocial stress with breast cancer aggressiveness and whether racial/ethnic differences in psychosocial stress might account for disparities in breast cancer aggressiveness. A major assumption of these analyses was that patients reporting greater psychosocial stress at interview (2–3 months after diagnosis) would have also reported relatively greater psychosocial stress had they been interviewed prior to diagnosis. Methods: Psychosocial stress was assessed using the Cohen perceived stress 4 item subscale, the UCLA felt loneliness scale (3 items), and the Cockburn psychological consequences scale (12 items). These three scales loaded onto a single factor in factor analysis, and were used to create a single, standardized psychosocial stress score (Cronbach9s alpha=0.56). Breast cancer aggressiveness was defined as Hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptor negative tumors and tumors high in histologic grade. Differences in psychosocial stress scores were evaluated via t-tests, and logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for breast cancer aggressiveness corresponding to a one standard deviation increase in psychosocial stress score. All reported p-values are two-sided. Because aggressive breast cancer tends to lead to a later stage at diagnosis and an earlier age at diagnosis, adjustment for these variables may inappropriately attenuate the association of interest between psychosocial stress and tumor aggressiveness. Nonetheless, because psychosocial stress was measured after diagnosis, we adjusted for age and stage in some models. Results: Patient reported psychosocial stress was one-third of a standard deviation higher for patients with receptor negative vs. positive disease (mean score difference = 0.32, p=0.0003), and higher for patients with high vs. low or intermediate grade disease (difference = 0.17, p=0.03). Compared to nH-Whites, psychosocial stress scores were higher for nh-Black patients (difference = 0.22, p=0.006), and higher for Hispanic patients (difference = 0.44, p Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study, greater levels of fear, anxiety or isolation were associated with more aggressive breast cancer, consistent with a potential role for psychosocial stress in the etiology of breast cancer aggressiveness. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A91.
Tourism Research on Olympic Games:A Literature Review

The first ancient Olympic Games were held in Greece in 776 B.C.Since then,Olympic Games have been highly valued by most countries as events not only for sports contests,but for the promotion of peace,understanding and friendship among people.With the increasing leisure time and economic affordability of people in the modern society,Olympic Games have attracted tens of millions of visitors every four years,and hence have received increasing attention from tourism researchers.This paper introduces the origin,definition and characteristics of Olympic Games tourism;reviews main tourism research on Olympic Games(i.e.,attractions,market segments,economic and social influence,etc.)from both domestic and international perspectives;and discusses issues and prospects associated with the Games.
How useful are implantable cardioverter-defibrillators?

PreviewThe implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) has proved effective in preventing sudden arrhythmic death in high-risk patients, yet critics question whether it reduces overall mortality. Given this controversy, should use of the ICD be expanded to include patients in lower-risk groups? In this article, Dr Fogoros summarizes the current consensus regarding ICD therapy. This discussion should be of special interest to physicians who may refer patients for possible ICD implantation and who are concerned about the device's ultimate usefulness.
Overview of the NLPCC 2015 Shared Task: Open Domain QA

In this paper, we give the overview of the open domain Question Answering or open domain QA shared task in NLPCC 2015. We first review the background of QA, and then describe open domain QA shared task in this year's NLPCC, including the construction of the benchmark datasets, the auxiliary dataset, and the evaluation metrics. The evaluation results of submissions from participating teams are presented in the experimental part, together with a brief introduction to the techniques used in each participating team's QA system.
Map merging of rotated, corrupted, and different scale maps using rectangular features

Integrating data from multiple cooperative robots can be important for expanding their individual capabilities. In an environmental mapping scenario, multiple ground robots map different local areas. Algorithm complexity on merging the maps to build a global map depends on the three factors: orientation, accuracy and scale of the maps. When the three factors are all unknown, the map merging becomes a challenging problem. In this paper, a new approach on merging of two maps with the three factors are unknown. The idea is to estimate the best shared-areas by means of rectangular features. The information of dimensions and connections of maximal empty rectangles allows the algorithms to match orientations and scales, also to find overlapping points. The advantage of this approach is that a map merging is accomplished without any location estimations between the robots. This paper explains the map-merging process with an example of a simple environment, and presents a result with a practical environment.
Synthesis of ligands related to the O-specific antigen of Shigella dysenteriae type 1. IV: Enhanced stereoselectivity of α-D-galactosylation in the synthesis of the sequence α-D-Galp-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc, allowing further extension of the chain at C-2'

AbstractStereoselective α-D-galactosylation at the position 3 of 4,6-O-substituted derivatives of methyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-α-D-glucopyranoside is described. Glycosyl chlorides derived from 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-2-O-benzyl- and 2-O-(4-methoxybenzyl)-D-galactopyranose have been used as glycosyl donors. Methyl 2-acetamido-4,6-di-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-3-O-(3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-α-D-galactopyranosyl)-α-D-glucopyranoside (27) and methyl 2-acetamido-4,6-di-O-benzyl-2-deoxy-3-O-(3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-α-D-galactopyranosyl)-α-D-glucopyranoside (31) have been prepared.
NON-COPLANAR EFFECTS IN NEUTRON-PROTON BREMSSTRAHLUNG**

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the non-coplanar effects in neutron–proton bremmstrahlung. The non-coplanar effects in the proton–proton bremsstrahlung process (ppγ) have been studied both experimentally and theoretically, and the cross-sections have been found to vary significantly with non-coplanarity. The experimental studies of these effects are more difficult for the npγ because of the much lower flux of the available neutron beams. The chapter discusses theoretical cross-sections for incident neutron energies of 200 MeV and 130 MeV. It is found that the cross-section increases as one moves away from coplanarity, in contrast with the ppγ case where the cross-section decreases as the non-coplanarity angle increases. Coplanar npγ cross-sections have been calculated by several authors using various approaches and approximations. Large discrepancies have been found among these calculations. These discrepancies emphasizes that a careful examination of the approximations is required to extract meaningful off-energy-shell information from this process.
A Segmented Abstraction Hierarchy Model for Business Process Modeling

Business process modeling (BPM) typically focuses on the definition and refinement of standardized rules governing typical operations. The accommodation of extraordinary events is not usually addressed in BPM. A process model based on an abstraction hierarchy framework, however, could benefit by borrowing from the tools developed for ecologic interface design, which relies on underlying abstraction hierarchy models to provide adaptability in atypical conditions. In this work, a modified abstraction hierarchy model is proposed for application to general-purpose information systems. The new model explicitly includes both human and technologic components as an agent-based construct, and seeks to better define their interactions with data/information. The model is intended to act as a framework for guiding the development of robust business process models.
Hash-Based Line-by-Line Template Matching for Lossless Screen Image Coding

Template matching (TM) was proposed in the literature a decade ago to efficiently remove non-local redundancies within an image without transmitting any overhead of displacement vectors. However, the large computational complexity introduced at both the encoder and the decoder, especially for a large search range, limits its widespread use. This paper proposes a hash-based line-by-line template matching (hLTM) for lossless screen image coding, where the non-local redundancy commonly exists in text and graphics parts. By hash-based search, it can largely reduce the search complexity of template matching without an accuracy degradation. Besides, the line-by-line template matching increases prediction accuracy by using a fine granularity. Experimental results show that the hLTM can significantly reduce both the encoding and decoding complexities by 68 and 23 times, respectively, compared with the traditional TM with a search radius of 128. Moreover, when compared with High Efficiency Video Coding screen content coding test model SCM-1.0, it can largely improve coding efficiency by up to 12.68% bits saving on screen contents with rich texts/graphics.
Test-Enhanced E-Learning Strategies in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Randomized Cohort Study.

Background: The optimal design of pedagogical strategies for e-learning in graduate and postgraduate medical education remains to be determined. Video-based e-learning use is increasing, with initial research suggesting that taking short breaks while watching videos (independent of answering test questions) may improve learning by focusing attention on the content presented. Interspersed test questions may also improve knowledge acquisition and retention. Objective: To examine the effect of interspersed test questions and periodic breaks on immediate knowledge acquisition and retention at 6 months by pediatric residents engaged in video-based e-learning. Methods: First- and second-year pediatric residents were randomized to 1 of the following 3 groups: viewing the complete video uninterrupted (full video), viewing the video interrupted with unrelated logic puzzles (logic puzzles), or viewing the video interrupted with brief comprehension test questions (short answer questions). Residents answered pre- and post-tests before and after video viewing, followed by a retention test at 6 months. Primary outcome included comparison of the change in test scores between groups. Results: A total of 49 residents completed the initial testing session. All 3 learning groups had comparable mean increases in immediate knowledge gain, but with no significant differences between groups (F2,46=0.35, P=.71). Thirty-five residents completed retention testing with comparable degrees of knowledge retention in the full video and short answer test questions groups (P<.001), but no significant change in the logic puzzles group (F1,32=2.44, P=.13). Conclusions: Improved knowledge gain was not demonstrated among residents answering interspersed questions or completing logic puzzles during interrupted online video viewing when compared with residents viewing uninterrupted video content. However, residents who either participated in uninterrupted video viewing or answered interspersed questions during interrupted video viewing demonstrated significant knowledge retention at 6 months. [J Med Internet Res 2016;18(11):e299]
Cervical sympathetic blockade for the management of electrical storm

A 75-year-old man presented with dizziness and fatigue secondary to ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias. He underwent an elective ablation but continued to suffer from ventricular tachycardia with cardiovascular instability despite antiarrhythmic therapy with multiple agents. The patient continued to develop episodes of ventricular tachycardia and an episode of ventricular fibrillation. Electrical storm encompasses a situation of cardiac instability which may present as several episodes of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation in a short period. We performed an ultrasound-guided left stellate ganglion block at the bedside which resulted in abolition of electrical storm. The patient demonstrated sinus rhythm with episodes of sinus tachycardia. Left stellate ganglion block has proven to be a successful mode of treatment for those patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmia resistant to medical management or those who fail atrioventricular node ablation. Ultrasound-guided left stellate ganglion block is a valuable and effective means to providing sympathectomy in the management of electrical storm or ventricular tachyarrhythmias.
Efficient multicast authentication in internet of things

In this paper, we propose a novel continuous multicast authentication protocol for the Internet of Things applications based on secret sharing scheme. This protocol provides secure and efficient multicast authentication for frequent message transmissions in short session time interval. The protocol solves the problem of shared key among communicating group with its consequence of possible masquerade attack by introducing a novel use of secret sharing scheme. That is, the secret is used as an authenticator and its shares are used as authentication keys. Each share is designated to a specific recipient in a specific time through a challenge known only to the sender and that recipient. The share can be linked back to the secret and, hence, the message source can be authenticated. In addition, the protocol enables multicasting several messages in a specific time slots within a transmission session. Security evaluation of the protocol shows that it fulfills the stated security requirements and addresses the listed attacks. Performance evaluation of the protocol shows that it is lightweight in terms of computation and communication costs, thus addressing the resource-constrained IoT endpoints.
Dynamics of hydration water and coupled protein sidechains around a polymerase protein surface

Abstract Water-protein coupled interactions are essential to the protein structural stability, flexibility and dynamic functions. The ultimate effects of the hydration dynamics on the protein fluctuations remain substantially unexplored. Here, we investigated the dynamics of both hydration water and protein sidechains at 13 different sites around the polymerase β protein surface using a tryptophan scan with femtosecond spectroscopy. Three types of hydration-water relaxations and two types of protein sidechain motions were determined, reflecting a highly dynamic water-protein interactions fluctuating on the picosecond time scales. The hydration-water dynamics dominate the coupled interactions with higher flexibility.
Adaptive Alpha-Trimmed Correlation based underwater image stitching

Image stitching (Mosaicing) is a technique of combining multiple underwater images to generate a composite image with a much larger field of view. With its advancement in various imaging applications, underwater image stitching, in particular presents its own challenges. Underwater images suffer from clouding effects and grayed out colors as a result of absorption and scattering of light. Such complexities hinder the image stitching process causing misalignments and non-uniform illumination. The paper presents a system that combines multiple underwater images to generate a fused image, overcoming the impediments of a visible seamline. The presented method is based on a novel stitching technique called Alpha-Trimmed Correlation. The system is designed to adapt to the difficulties encountered in underwater image stitching. The performance of the stitching algorithm is tested against its ground truth, both subjectively and quantitatively. The quantitative analysis is performed using non-reference underwater quality measures such as UICM, logAMEE, and CTSUIQM.
General Case Simulation Instruction of Generalized Housekeeping Skills in Blind, Multihandicapped Adults:

This study was conducted to determine whether general case simulation instruction on a selected teaching sample of housekeeping skills, which sampled the stimulus and response variation of rooms in...
Salivary Gland Dysfunction and Xerostomia

Saliva plays an important role in oral and systemic health. Dry mouth or xerostomia is a common complaint among patients of different ages in general and among geriatric and medically complex patients in particular. Salivary gland disorders are caused by a variety of etiologic factors. Salivary gland dysfunction may lead to irreversible intraoral hard and soft tissue changes and ultimately may reduce the quality of life. Oral healthcare providers play a significant role in risk assessment, early detection, management, and prevention of salivary gland disorders. These are essential for maintaining a proper oral and systemic health in this patient population.
The Political Economy of Indigo in India, 1580–1930: A global perspective

Ghulam Nadri, an Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University specializing in early modern Gujarat and India, traces the convoluted ‘long-duree moment’ [sic] (p. 121) of natural indig...
Kidney allograft offers: Predictors of turndown and the impact of late organ acceptance on allograft survival.

There is growing interest in understanding patterns of organ acceptance and reducing discard. Little is known about how donor factors, timing of procurement, and geographic location affect organ offer decisions. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 47 563 deceased donor kidney match-runs from 2007 to 2013. Several characteristics unrelated to allograft quality were independently associated with later acceptance in the match-run: Public Health Service increased-risk donor status (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.29-2.69), holiday or weekend procurement (aOR 1.11, 95% CI 1.07-1.16), shorter donor stature (aOR 1.53 for 180 cm, 95% CI 1.28-1.94), and procurement in an area with higher intensity of market competition (aOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.62-1.78) and with the longest waiting times (aOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.34-1.49). Later acceptance in the match-run was associated with delayed graft function but not all-cause allograft failure (adjusted hazard ratio 1.01, 95% CI 0.96-1.07). Study limitations include a lack of match-run data for discarded organs and the possibility of sequence inaccuracies for some nonlocal matches. Interventions are needed to reduce turndowns of viable organs, especially when decisions are driven by infectious risk, weekend or holiday procurement, geography, or other donor characteristics unrelated to allograft quality.
Intranasal Oxytocin and The Neural Correlates of Infant Face Processing in Non-Parent Women.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been widely employed to identify different stages of face processing, with recent research probing the neural dynamics of adult's processing of infant faces. Infant faces represent a salient category of visual stimuli, especially in parents, likely prioritized for processing through activity of the oxytocinergic system. Here we employed a randomized, double-blind, and within-subject crossover study of 24 non-parent women to examine the impact of intranasal oxytocin administration, relative to placebo, on processing infant and adult faces. Our main finding was that, relative to placebo, the P300 ERP elicited by infant faces was greater than the P300 elicited by adult faces in the oxytocin condition. Therefore, oxytocin administration may enhance the allocation of attention towards infant cues, even in non-parent women.
An Inexpensive, Easy‐to‐Use, and Highly Customizable Growth Chamber Optimized for Growing Large Plants

The ability to grow plants in highly controlled and reproducible environments is a critical factor for successful plant biology experiments. This protocol describes a simple and inexpensive method for constructing a fully automatic controlled growth chamber that can be easily adapted in plant biology laboratories as well as classrooms. All the materials described in this protocol can be found in garden and home improvement stores or through websites, making the procurement and setup for growing plants in a controlled environment less expensive and convenient. Furthermore, the system is highly customizable and can be used to study plant responses to numerous abiotic and biotic stress conditions. The growth chamber is designed to enable growth and characterization of large plants, such as maize and soybean. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Pre-diagnostic aspirin use and mortality after breast cancer.

Whether aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammation drug (NSAID) use is associated with mortality following breast cancer remains unclear. Consideration of use patterns and interaction with obesity may help to clarify the inconsistent results. Pre-diagnosis NSAID use, weight, and height were assessed ~ 3 months after diagnosis through in-person interviews with a population-based cohort of 1,442 women with first primary breast cancer. Vital status was determined through the national death index after ~ 18 years of follow-up (N = 237/597 breast cancer-specific/all-cause deaths). We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Multiplicative interaction by body mass index (BMI) was evaluated using the likelihood ratio test. Ever aspirin use was inversely associated with breast cancer-specific mortality (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.59–1.29), but positively associated with all-cause mortality (HR 1.21, 95% CI 0.99–1.48); the CIs included the null values. The HRs, however, were more pronounced for the highest level of duration, frequency, regularity, and timing for all-cause, but not breast cancer-specific mortality. Interactions with BMI revealed no significant heterogeneity (pinteraction = 0.37 and pinteraction = 0.36, respectively). Pre-diagnosis aspirin use was not strongly associated with mortality following breast cancer. The all-cause mortality associations, however, were slightly stronger when we considered patterns of use.
Children with Developmental Disorders and Other Special Needs

In the past half-century in the United States considerable changes have occurred, both in public opinion and legislation, regarding children and adults who have disabilities or special needs. Laws such as the Rehabilitation Act (especially Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), have led to guarantees of civil rights and protections for people with disabilities.1,2 Important legislation, including the Education for Handicapped Children Act3 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,2 specifically protect children with disabilities.4,5 Many of these laws are still important because of the various rights and entitlements that were established, including access to technology. The Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act6 established consumer-driven service delivery in all states to improve access to “assistive technology devices and services” including information and communication management tools.
Local Moment Instability of Os in Honeycomb Li 2.15 Os 0.85 O 3 .

Compounds with honeycomb structures occupied by strong spin orbit coupled (SOC) moments are considered to be candidate Kitaev quantum spin liquids. Here we present the first example of Os on a honeycomb structure, Li2.15(3)Os0.85(3)O3 (C2/c, a = 5.09 A, b = 8.81 A, c = 9.83 A, β = 99.3°). Neutron diffraction shows large site disorder in the honeycomb layer and X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates a valence state of Os (4.7 ± 0.2), consistent with the nominal concentration. We observe a transport band gap of Δ = 243 ± 23 meV, a large van Vleck susceptibility, and an effective moment of 0.85 μB, much lower than expected from 70% Os(+5). No evidence of long range order is found above 0.10 K but a spin glass-like peak in ac-susceptibility is observed at 0.5 K. The specific heat displays an impurity spin contribution in addition to a power law ∝T(0.63±0.06). Applied density functional theory (DFT) leads to a reduced moment, suggesting incipient itineracy of the valence electrons, and finding evidence that Li over stoichiometry leads to Os(4+)−Os(5+) mixed valence. This local picture is discussed in light of the site disorder and a possible underlying quantum spin liquid state.
Descriptive and Prospective Analysis of Young Adult Alcohol Use and Romantic Relationships: Disentangling between- and within-Person Associations Using Monthly Assessments.

Background: Prior research on romantic relationships and alcohol use among young adults has not distinguished between differences in patterns of relationship status over extended periods of time an...
Dietary, immunological, surgical, and other emerging treatments for pediatric refractory status epilepticus.

Abstract Purpose To summarize the evidence regarding dietary, immunological, surgical, and other emerging treatments for refractory status epilepticus (RSE)/super-RSE (SRSE). Methods Narrative literature review including relevant human studies. Results Hypothermia and brenaxolone were tested in randomized controlled trials for RSE/SRSE management, while other interventions have only limited evidence for their efficacy and safety. Clinical trials including the HYBERNATUS study found the efficacy of therapeutic hypothermia to be no better than placebo for RSE/SRSE, and raised concerns about its safety. Ketogenic diet has shown possible efficacy in RSE/SRSE in several case series, with electrographic seizure resolution within 7 days in 20%–90% patients in larger (n = 8–17) reports. A review of 37 pediatric patients reported seizure control with immunotherapy in only 7 patients. A phase 3 double-blind trial showed that brexanolone was no better than placebo for successful wean of 3rd line anesthetic agent(s) and freedom from RSE for ≥24 hours. Epilepsy surgery has been reported to successfully control seizures in small series; however, pre-surgical evaluation is confounded by ongoing ictal activity and anesthetic infusions. Vagus nerve stimulation was reported to be associated with cessation of RSE/SRSE in 21/28 patients in a review of anecdotal reports. There is no evidence for use of pyridoxine and magnesium outside of specific indications. Conclusions There is only anecdotal evidence for dietary, immunological, surgical, and other treatments for RSE/SRSE, often confounded by multiple concurrent treatments, and heterogeneity in their use and assessment of outcomes. Clinical trials for therapeutic hypothermia and brexanolone have not shown a significant advantage over comparators.
Responsive lignin for shape memory applications

Abstract We analyze thermally unstable lignin linkages that generate reactive sites and promote crosslinking reactions during thermal annealing at 180 °C. This results in significantly enhanced glass transition temperature (Tg). We use these characteristics of lignin to enhance interfacial reactivity of a lignin-based multiphase polymer synthesized by a dynamic shear process. An approximately 18 °C increase in Tg and more than 230% increase in storage modulus (E') are achieved by thermally annealing the 50 wt% hardwood lignin-nitrile rubber composite for 5 h at 180 °C. Tunable chemical and physical crosslinks within lignin and rubber resulted in shape programmability demonstrating excellent strain recovery of the synthesized renewable materials. The substantial improvement of the elastic work density of the lignin-based elastomers allows a broader applicable stress window for stress/strain sensing. The renewable materials also exhibit a better strain recovery after thermal annealing.
Increasing Network Resiliency via Data-Centric Offloading

Mobile traffic volume is increasing rapidly, pressuring the underlying infrastructure to quickly increase its capacity. New applications are further exacerbating this problem. Device-to-Device communication has been long recognized as a means to offload traffic from the infrastructure; however, the host-oriented model of the TCP/IP-based Internet poses challenges to this communication pattern. This paper addresses these issues by proposing a scheme that uses a data-centric model to fetch contents from nearby peers while increasing the resiliency of the network in cases of outages and disasters. We collected real data from social media to create a content request pattern and evaluate our approach through the simulation of realistic urban scenarios. Additionally, we analyze the scenario of large crowds in sports venues. Our simulation results show that we can offload traffic from the backhaul network by up to 51.7%, suggesting an advantageous path to support the surge in traffic while keeping complexity and cost for the network operator at manageable levels.