cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Test and Analysis of Full-Scale 27.5-Foot-Diameter Stiffened Metallic Launch Vehicle Cylinders

The Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project (SBKF) was established with the goal of developing improved (i.e., less-conservative, more robust) shell buckling knockdown factors (KDFs) for modern launch-vehicle structures. To this end, SBKF has engaged in several activities to support the development, validation, and implementation of the new design factors, including subscale and full-scale structural testing. Tests on eight different subscale, 8-foot-diameter, integrally stiffened aluminum-lithium 2195 (Al-Li 2195) cylinders were conducted in order to obtain the majority of the required validation data. In addition, two full-scale, 27.5-foot-diameter, Al-Li 2195, integrally stiffened cylinders were tested to provide additional validation data and to determine structural scaling trends. Presented herein are the details of a recent analysis model development and test and analysis correlation effort on the full-scale test articles. The effects of selected modeling assumptions and approaches are discussed, and results from a modeling sensitivity study are presented. It was found that simplified finite element models, that assume nominal test article geometry and material properties, can predict the overall response characteristics well. However, several discrepancies in the test and analysis results were observed. A sensitivity study was performed to determine the effects of several modeling assumptions and address the observed discrepancies. The results from the study indicated that the evolution of local skin pocket buckling and the presence of residual stresses due to the manufacturing process can have a significant influence on the predicted buckling response of the cylinders considered.
Leadership Behaviors in Matrix Environments

Previous research has helped us under-stand the role of program managers in the matrix organization but little has been done to provide a framework for understanding the senior management role. Thi...
5-Level spondylectomy for en bloc resection of thoracic chordoma: case report.

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE Primary tumors of the spine are considered for en bloc resection to improve local control and even obtain cure. Anatomic restrictions often prohibit extensive resections with negative margins that are safe and feasible. We report the first case involving a patient with a large chordoma of the thoracic spine who underwent a successful 5-level spondylectomy with bilateral chest wall resection for en bloc resection without neurologic compromise. CLINICAL PRESENTATION A 26-year-old woman with a chest mass was found to have a T1-5 chordoma via a percutaneous biopsy. En bloc resection of the mass was thought to be the best option for long-term local control and possible cure. She presented without neurologic or pulmonary dysfunction. The patient underwent a 3-stage procedure. The first stage involved a posterior C2-T8 exposure, allowing release of posterior elements from C7 to T6 and instrumented stabilization from C2 to T8. T1-5 ribs were cut bilaterally, and 2 wire saws were placed ventral to the thecal sac at the C7-T1 and T5-6 disc levels. The second stage involved a right-sided thoracotomy, and the T5-6 wire saw was used to complete the lower osteotomy. The third stage involved completion of the C7-T1 osteotomy with the wire saw, delivery of the tumor specimen en bloc, ventral reconstruction of the spine with a titanium mesh cage, and bilateral thoracoplasty. CONCLUSION This is the first case report of a 5-level spondylectomy for en bloc resection of an extensive thoracic chordoma via a bilateral thoractomy without neurologic compromise.
The Monitoring of Large Scale Synoptic Features of the Ocean with Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

During the limited 100 day lifetime of the Seasat Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), a particularly rich data set consisting of about 20 passes was collected just off the U.S. East Coast. The existence of such a data set is especially fortuitous, since the Western North Atlantic is one of the more interesting and dynamic regions of the world’s oceans. The Seasat SAR, in simplest terms, was able to sense only the spatial distribution of 30 cm to 40 cm short gravity waves on the ocean surface, through a Bragg resonance of the radar emission with the ocean. The distribution of these short waves, however, is correlated with a number of significant larger scale phenomena, including local wind structure, long gravity waves, current shear boundaries, and occasionally the local bathymetry. The ability of the Seasat SAR to detect and monitor large scale oceanic or atmospheric processes depends upon modulations of the 30 cm to 40 cm short gravity waves by the larger scale phenomena.
Rapid Pulse Electron Beam Fluorescence for Flow Field Diagnostics

Recent developments in pseudosparks and related devices offer the possibility of high current (up to 1 ka peak current) short time (10 ns) pulses of 10 to 50 kV, collimated electron beams. These devices are compact and have observed repetition rates of 103 Hz. This paper discusses the application of fast, high current electron beam pulses to electron beam flow field diagnostics.
Race and risk of maternal vascular malperfusion lesions in the placenta

Abstract Introduction The biological mechanisms that underlie racial disparities in placenta-mediated pregnancy complications remain unknown. Placental evidence of maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM), a common pathologic feature of these outcomes, represents hypoxic-ischemic damage to the placenta. We sought to separately estimate the risk of MVM and individual lesions associated with maternal race. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of black and white women with singleton live births and placental pathology data at Magee-Womens Hospital during 2008–2012 (n = 15,581). MVM consisted of ≥1 individual lesions: low placental weight, decidual vasculopathy, accelerated villous maturation, infarcts, and fibrinoid deposition. We separately compared the incidence of MVM and individual lesions in black and white women using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Results After adjusting for covariates, black women had increased risks of MVM (aOR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05–1.23), low placental weight (aOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.28–1.55), and decidual vasculopathy (aOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.36–1.83), also observed in uncomplicated, preterm, and term births. Conversely, black women had decreased risk of infarcts (aOR 0.84, 95% CI 0.75–0.95) compared with white women, also observed in uncomplicated and full-term births. Race was not associated with accelerated villous maturation or fibrinoid deposition. Inverse probability weighting to account for potential selection bias generated similar results. Discussion Our findings suggest that excess risks of MVM, specifically low placental weight and decidual vasculopathy in black women may be due to a pathological susceptibility to an underlying high-risk vascular phenotype. The clinical significance of race differences in the occurrence of infarcts warrants further investigation.
Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance: a comparative review of original and automated rescreen diagnosis of cervicovaginal smears with long term follow-up.

BACKGROUND There is an increasing number of articles regarding the long term follow-up of Papanicolaou (Pap) smears with the diagnosis of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS). Much controversy exists regarding the management of patients with this diagnosis. In a prior study in 1992, the authors performed automated rescreening of 101 ASCUS cases and 91 negative (control) cases. They found that through PAPNET-directed rescreening, 35 of 101 ASCUS cases (35%) could be reclassified as a squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL). METHODS These 192 women were followed since 1992 through manual look backs of subsequent Pap smears and surgical biopsies over a 4-year period. The population studied was comprised of predominantly black women between the ages of 14 and 85 years. The majority were considered a high risk population because many had a history of several sexual partners and multiple pregnancies. RESULTS Eighteen of 74 patients (24.3%) with an original diagnosis of ASCUS were found on subsequent Pap smears to have an SIL. Only 4 of 64 patients (6%) who originally had a negative Pap smear subsequently were found to have a low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LGSIL) within 4 years. Through ordinal logistic regression analysis, it was found that patients with an ASCUS diagnosis had a risk of developing SIL that was 2.6 times greater than the risk for patients with a negative smear diagnosis. Comparing the surgical biopsies in the control and ASCUS groups, there was no statistically significant difference in the risk of developing SIL. This may be because the number of follow-up biopsies were small. CONCLUSIONS A statistically significant difference of the risk of developing SIL exists between patients with a negative smear versus those with an ASCUS smear. Long term follow-up is essential in the management of the patients with an ASCUS smear because there is clearly an increased risk of developing SIL. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 1997; 81:348-53. ©1997 American Cancer Society.
Body mass index modifies bladder cancer risk associated with low estrogen exposure among Egyptian women after menopause.

Investigators have reported inconsistent findings regarding associations between body mass index (BMI) and bladder cancer risk, and they have postulated that sex steroids mediate such associations. We assessed the impact of BMI on the relationship between bladder cancer risk and combinations of age at first childbirth, parity, and age at menopause, among Egyptian women. We used data from our multicenter case–control study of 419 cases and 786 controls in logistic regression models to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of such associations. Age > 18 years at first childbirth and parity ≤ 6 were significantly associated with bladder cancer risk, which was higher when both factors (AOR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.55–3.43) and age at menopause 18 years and parity ≤ 6 were present (AOR = 7.60, 95% CI = 1.84–31.35); however, overweight and obesity were associated with significantly lower bladder cancer risk (AOR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.43–0.81, and AOR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.18–0.38, respectively). Body mass index appears to modify bladder cancer risk in Egyptian women after menopause by slightly enhancing the risk associated with low estrogen exposure among the obese only. Longitudinal studies of the BMI role in bladder malignancy in this distinctive population are required.
THE ASSOCIATION OF P2Y12 INHIBITOR COPAYMENT REDUCTION WITH OUTCOMES AT HOSPITALS WITH AND WITHOUT MEDICATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

The ARTEMIS trial ([NCT02406677][1]) showed that copayment reduction improves medication persistence after myocardial infarction. Whether the impact of this financial intervention differed among hospitals that already provided medication assistance or not is unknown. Of 262 hospitals, 49% (129
A Variable Gain E-Band Power Amplifier using Highly Linear Embedded Attenuator

This paper presents a variable gain 81-86 GHz power amplifiers (PA) fabricated in a $0.12 \mu m$ SiGe BiCMOS technology. The PA consists of five common-emitter stages with power combining at the last stage and an intersatge linear nMOS attenuator. It achieves power gain of 24.4 dB, 14 dBm output power at 1dB compression, and saturated power of 17.1 dBm when no attenuation applied and 15 dB attenuation range. Small signal characteristics of the amplifier show peak gain at 84 GHz with 3 dB bandwidth of 12.5 GHz and 3 dB gain variation from -40°C to 85°C. The PA consumes quiescent currents of 117 mA from a 1.6 V supply and 170 mA at 1 dB compression.
Electro-mechanical characterization of three-dimensionally conductive graphite/epoxy composites under tensile and shear loading

Abstract An experimental study was performed to compare the electro-mechanical response of three-dimensionally conductive woven carbon fiber/epoxy laminated composites under quasi-static uniaxial tensile and in-plane shear loading conditions. Three-dimensional (3D) electrical network was generated in these composites by embedding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of 0.025 wt% in the epoxy and reinforcing short carbon fibers (150 μm and 350 μm long) with a fiber density of 1000 fibers/mm2 between the laminates using electro-flocking process. CNTs are effectively dispersed in the epoxy matrix using a combination of ultrasonication and shear mixing techniques. A compression molding fabrication technique was employed to fabricate composite materials. For all composite types, in general, the in-situ electrical response showed a trend of initial decrease in resistance and later increase in resistance for tensile loading. However, no noticeable increase in electrical resistance was observed until failure of the composite under shear loading conditions. Both CNTs and short carbon fibers made new contacts with neighboring carbon fiber laminates for entire duration of shear loading even though the composite was undergoing progressive failure.
Max Weber’s Odyssey: The Wild West, the Frontier, and the Capitalist Spirit

This article examines one aspect of Weber’s thinking with respect to the United States: his view of frontier regions as new horizons for capitalism. This was not an incidental or side issue for Weber, whose famed analysis of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was only half-finished when he traveled through the United States in 1904. Nor is Weber’s outlook on this topic immaterial for contemporary historians, many of whom now affirm quasi-Weberian views under such rubrics as “the New Western” history.A full account of Weber’s notion of the frontier would exceed the limits of a journal article, but we can highlight key points by recalling Max and Marianne Weber’s trek across the territorial United States in 1904. This journey is fairly well known, thanks to several sources – Marianne’s memoirs , Max’s essay on “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism” (1906), and recent studies by Barbel Meurer, Lawrence Scaff, Hans Rollman, and Guenther Roth. But the substance of what they learned on this journey has not yet been very fully integrated into the broader literature on either of them.Max Weber was, briefly, a wayfaring stranger in Mark Twain’s America. And his account of what he saw there sheds light on themes familiar from other writers of the period – notably, that America in the “gilded age” was a “jungle” of industry and greed, of railroads and robber barons, in which, even in the realm of faith, capitalism left an indelible imprint.
A quasi-experimental investigation of college students' ratings of two physical activity mobile apps with varied behavior change technique quantity.

BackgroundAn assessment of how users rate physical activity apps of varying behavior change technique content is necessary to understand if users recognize differences in an app’s ability to promot...
Implicit Attitudes Toward Foreign Accents

Over the past 20 years, the Implicit Attitude Test (IAT) has become a robust paradigm for evaluating unconscious biases about socially sensitive topics (implicit attitudes) in a way that avoids social desirability bias. It has been widely applied to the psychology surrounding race, gender, and other social characteristics, and is a potentially useful tool for linguists particularly in studying the effects of dialect and accent. This study demonstrates an application of the IAT to accents, particularly examining implicit attitudes about Chinese accented English relative to Standard American English. The study evaluated participants’ implicit attitudes about Chinese accents using the IAT, measured their explicit attitudes using the Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI) developed by Zahn and Hopper (1985), and recorded self-reported rates of exposure to Chinese accents. It found that participants had both implicit and explicit attitudes toward Chinese accented English that were significantly negative relative to American English. It did not, however, find a correlation between participants’ explicit and implicit attitudes. There was a weak correlation between implicit attitudes and self-reported rates of exposure to Chinese accents, although the interpretation of this finding is unclear.
Bearded Dragons at Play: YouTube videos and the haptic interface of Ant Smasher

Animals have long appeared as the subjects and characters in digital games, but game studies scholars have rarely considered animals as players of digital games. This paper examines the mobile digital game Ant Smasher and YouTube videos of bearded dragons playing the game. This article advocates for the inclusion of these bearded dragons in gamerspace as not only a personification of the gamer within the space but as a conduit for play, a channel for gamers to breach the boundaries of gamerspace – the cultural and discursive space surrounding digital games that negotiates the relationship between the digital game and its impact on the world at large. Through an analysis of 50 YouTube videos representing these play experiences, this article considers the place of these videos within gamerspace. The implications of this work serve to better understand the relationships between digital gaming, play, and human and non-human actors in interaction with haptic media. This example also expands upon our understandings of play as a whole.
Traces of Plato: Derrida on Philosophy and the City

This paper examines how Derrida approaches the question of philosophy and the city. I argue that Derrida’s political philosophy attempts to address what we might call the Platonic suppression of philosophy, as discussed in his 1968 essay, “Plato’s Pharmacy.” In “Plato’s Pharmacy,” Derrida’s “deconstruction” of Plato excavates the latter’s systematic attempt to suppress the anarchical consequences of what Derrida calls “the pharmakon.” Plato, in Derrida’s view, suppresses the dangerous ambiguity of the pharmakon in the interest of political order. I first show through an analysis of “Plato’s Pharmacy” and the prefatory material included with it in Dissemination, that those critics who consider deconstruction to be incompatible with a positive political project neglect the extent to which Derrida attempts to displace rather than destroy or transcend the systems he “deconstructs.” Derridean readings aim at reconfiguring our structural relationship to ideas, if not necessarily the ideas themselves. In this sense, Derrida can be said to be interested in rethinking what we mean when we ask, “What is the relationship between philosophy and the city?” Second, I argue that two of Derrida’s political works—“Force of Law” and The Politics of Friendship—form a conscious attempt to respond to the Platonic suppression of philosophy as described in “Plato’s Pharmacy.” “Force of Law,” indeed, makes Derrida’s engagement with this Platonic problem overt as he restages Plato’s Apology, casting himself in the starring role. Derrida shows that it is precisely by means of the type of ambiguity that Plato apparently feared that philosophy and the city cease to be opposed. Derrida’s notions of justice as an experience of the impossible and “democracy to come” not only demonstrate how deconstruction supports specifically democratic politics, but also suggest that democratic politics support deconstruction. Derrida’s deconstructive response to the Platonic schema thus allows him to make a similar set of claims that Socrates ironically makes to Athens in the Apology and Republic: far from being unjust, Derrida does justice and deserves to be recognized as the best friend our contemporary democracy has. In my conclusion I briefly consider some problems with Derrida’s reading of Plato and suggest that Plato and Derrida come closer on the issue of philosophy and the city than the latter presumes.
Intrusion Detection Using Principal Component Analysis and Support Vector Machines

Intrusion detection nowadays is an integral part of network security. With the advancement in machine learning technologies, it has become easier than ever to construct a model to detect intrusions. While the accuracy of already existing models is quite high, another aspect of intrusion detection is the computation time of the model. As the speed of the network is increasing rapidly, the intrusion detection system (IDS) should be able to keep up with the high influx of network connections, and with them the potential attacks. In this paper, we present a supervised machine learning model to detect intrusion in the network. We have created a supervised classification model using principal component analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction in combination with support vector machines (SVM) for improved attack detection and faster computation time. Evaluation of the model is done using the UNSW-NB15 data set. Test study shows that the proposed model was able to improve model training and testing time by 33.75% for binary classification and 33.91% for multi-class classification with an overall accuracy of 99.99% and 99.97% respectively. Classification result compared to other model have also been presented.
Partitions of A G ( 4 , 3 ) into maximal caps

In a geometry, a maximal cap is a collection of points of largest size no three of which are collinear. In A G ( 4 , 3 ) , maximal caps contain 20 points; the 81 points of A G ( 4 , 3 ) can be partitioned into 4 mutually disjoint maximal caps together with a single point P , where every pair of points that makes a line with P lies entirely inside one of those caps. The caps in a partition can be paired up so that both pairs are either in exactly one partition or they are both in two different partitions. This difference determines the two equivalence classes of partitions of A G ( 4 , 3 ) under the action by affine transformations.
Does Yoga Make You Happy? Analyzing Twitter User Happiness using Textual and Temporal Information

Although yoga is a multi-component practice to hone the body and mind and be known to reduce anxiety and depression, there is still a gap in understanding people’s emotional state related to yoga in social media. In this study, we investigate the causal relationship between practicing yoga and being happy by incorporating textual and temporal information of users using Granger causality. To find out causal features from the text, we measure two variables (i) Yoga activity level based on content analysis and (ii) Happiness level based on emotional state. To understand users’ yoga activity, we propose a joint embedding model based on the fusion of neural networks with attention mechanism by leveraging users’ social and textual information. For measuring the emotional state of yoga users (target domain), we suggest a transfer learning approach to transfer knowledge from an attention-based neural network model trained on a source domain. Our experiment on Twitter dataset demonstrates that there are 1447 users where "yoga Granger-causes happiness".
The Factor Structure of Items Assessing Subjective Memory: Between-Persons and Within-Persons across Time.

INTRODUCTION Current understanding of the psychometric properties of items intended to assess the multidimensional construct of subjective memory (SM) is limited, as longitudinal studies of aging commonly use single items or brief sets of items to assess SM. Investigating how SM items cluster within individuals over time would increase the understanding of how combining these items impacts their utility as an early indicator of cognitive change in the aging trajectory. To address this need, the current study examined the factor structure of a brief set of SM items in an existing longitudinal study focused on cognitive aging at both the within-person and between-person levels. METHODS Data were drawn from the Einstein Aging Study, a longitudinal cohort study of aging (N = 1,239, Mage = 77.51, SD = 5.03; 69.50% white; 24.27% black; 6.23% other). Community-dwelling older adults from an urban area of New York City were interviewed annually. At each wave, participants responded to 6 items intended to assess SM. Items assessed participants' perceived memory decline as well as current memory ability. Multilevel exploratory factor analyses examined which factor solution best fit the data at between-person and within-person levels. RESULTS Factor structure of the SM items varied at the two levels. At the within-person level, two factors emerged, whereas at the between-person level, a single factor best represented the SM items. Items assessing perceived declines in memory functioning tended to have similar trajectories, while items assessing current memory ability were less related to change over time. CONCLUSION Items appeared to assess two different dimensions of SM when examining within-person changes in SM across time; however, the item structure suggested no other items covaried systematically within persons over time. In contrast to the conceptualization of SM as a multidimensional construct, our findings suggest that when measuring SM between individuals, SM items tend to capture a single dimension underlying SM. This may be due to the long retrospection period of items assessing perceived memory ability. A single item assessing perceived memory decline in older adults without evidence of objective cognitive impairment may be sufficient to monitor memory change in clinical or research settings.
FaasCache: keeping serverless computing alive with greedy-dual caching

Functions as a Service (also called serverless computing) promises to revolutionize how applications use cloud resources. However, functions suffer from cold-start problems due to the overhead of initializing their code and data dependencies before they can start executing. Keeping functions alive and warm after they have finished execution can alleviate the cold-start overhead. Keep-alive policies must keep functions alive based on their resource and usage characteristics, which is challenging due to the diversity in FaaS workloads. Our insight is that keep-alive is analogous to caching. Our caching-inspired Greedy-Dual keep-alive policy can be effective in reducing the cold-start overhead by more than 3× compared to current approaches. Caching concepts such as reuse distances and hit-ratio curves can also be used for auto-scaled server resource provisioning, which can reduce the resource requirement of FaaS providers by 30% for real-world dynamic workloads. We implement caching-based keep-alive and resource provisioning policies in our FaasCache system, which is based on OpenWhisk. We hope that our caching analogy opens the door to more principled and optimized keep-alive and resource provisioning techniques for future FaaS workloads and platforms.
O controle de convencionalidade na jurisprudência argentina

O artigo realiza uma abordagem do conceito de controle de convencionalidade, seus elementos e caracteristicas, conforme foi definido pela Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos e cortes supremas latino-americanas, para depois analisar, em particular, o caso da jurisprudencia da Corte Suprema de Justica da Nacao Argentina sobre o assunto.
Steady Free Surface Flow Over Wavy Bed

By studying the nonlinear problem to higher order, the steady free surface flow past a wavy bed is analyzed near the resonance speed. It is shown that the free surface amplitude always remains finite when nonlinearity of the problem is taken into account. Response curves relating the amplitude-stream velocity are given.
Challenges in definitive fracture management of blast injuries.

The United States military remains engaged in the longest armed conflict in this nation’s history. The majority of casualties in the global war on terror come from blast-related injuries. Multiple centers have published their experience and outcomes with these complex patients. Findings from the study of injured military personnel have implications for mass casualty events resulting from industrial accidents or terrorism in the civilian sector. This article will review the pathophysiology of blast-related injury. The authors will summarize treatment considerations, priorities, and techniques that have proven successful. Finally, the authors will discuss the incidence and management of common complications after blast-related injuries.
Reichenbach on causality in 1923: Scientific inference, coordination, and confirmation

In The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge (1920b), Reichenbach developed an original account of cognition as coordination of formal structures to empirical ones. One of the most salient features of this account is that it is explicitly not a top-down type of coordination, and in fact it is crucially "directed" by the empirical side. Reichenbach called this feature "the mutuality of coordination" but, in that work, did not elaborate sufficiently on how this is supposed to work. In a paper that he wrote less than two years afterwards (but that he published only in 1932), "The Principle of Causality and the Possibility of its Empirical Confirmation" (1923/1932), he described what seems to be a model for this idea, now within an analysis of causality that results in an account of scientific inference. Recent reassessments of his early proposal do not seem to capture the extent of Reichenbach's original worries. The present paper analyses Reichenbach's early account and suggests a new way to look at his early work. According to it, we perform measurements, individuate parameters, collect and analyse data, by using a "constructive" approach, such as the one with which we formulate and test hypotheses, which paradigmatically requires some simplicity assumptions. Reichenbach's attempt to account for all these aspects in 1923 was obviously limited and naive in many ways, but it shows that, in his view, there were multiple ways in which the idea of "constitution" is embodied in scientific practice.
Evolutionary game theory and the evolution of neuron populations, ring rates, and decisionmaking

Ours, is the first application of dynamical evolutionary games to decision making in neuroscience. Firing neurons are the players. The strategy is their firing rate. Neurons with equal firing rates define a population. The neurons do not know the rules of the game, they do not know what the reward is, they are not required to be rational and they do not even know they are playing the game. Interactions are inhibitory. The theory confirms experimental data about decision making in vision: (i ) A parameter of the game model determines how many populations of neurons participate in the decision; (ii ) the solution of the game dictates how many loci in the brain participate in the decision; (iii ) the theory clarifies the difference between ultimate and proximate factors and predicts that quick decisions are associated with more errors and slow decision are associated with fewer errors.
Logic Programming Foundations of Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are becoming ubiquitous. Almost every device today has a controller that reads inputs through sensors, does some processing and then performs actions through actuators. These controllers are discrete digital systems whose inputs are continuous physical quantities and whose outputs control physical (analog) devices. Thus, CPS involve both digital and analog data. In addition, CPS are assumed to run forever, and many CPS may run concurrently with each other. we will develop techniques for faithfully and elegantly modeling CPS. Our approach is based on using constraint logic programming over reals, co-induction, and coroutining.
A second gene in the Staphylococcus aureus cadA cadmium resistance determinant of plasmid pI258.

Abstract Two open reading frames on a 3.7-kb BglII-XbaI fragment which encodes the Staphylococcus aureus cadA cadmium (and zinc) resistance determinant of plasmid pI258 were identified (G. Nucifora, L. Chu, T. K. Misra, and S. Silver, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:3544-3548, 1989). The [35S]methionine-labelled protein products of the 727-amino-acid CadA ATPase and of the 122-amino-acid CadC polypeptide in Escherichia coli were identified by using the T7 RNA polymerase-promoter expression system. A truncated CadA polypeptide (402 amino acids) did not confer resistance in S. aureus but was expressed in E. coli under control of the T7 RNA polymerase-promoter. Removal of 678 nucleotides from the 5' end of the published sequence (which includes the cadA promoter) abolished resistance to cadmium, whereas a 146-nucleotide-shorter deletion was without effect. The cadC gene is needed in addition to cadA for full resistance to cadmium in S. aureus and Bacillus subtilis. cadC functions both in cis and in trans.
Averaging Tail-Actuated Robotic Fish Dynamics Through Force and Moment Scaling

Averaging of robotic fish dynamics is of interest for the purposes of path planning and controller design due to the rhythmic movement of the robot. For a faithful dynamic model of robotic fish, however, classical averaging or geometric averaging typically cannot produce an average model that is accurate and in the meantime amenable to analysis or control design. In this paper, a novel averaging approach is proposed for tail-actuated robotic fish dynamics, in which the tail-generated hydrodynamic force is modeled with the Lighthill's large-amplitude elongated-body theory. The approach consists of scaling the force and moment terms and, then, conducting classical averaging. Numerical investigation reveals that the scaling function for the force term is a constant independent of tail-beat patterns, while the scaling function for the moment term depends linearly on the tail-beat bias. Extensive simulation and experimental results, comparing the predictions from the original and average models, are presented to support the effectiveness of the averaging approach. Existence and local stability of the equilibria for the average model are further analyzed. These equilibria are subsequently used to obtain an analytical solution for steady turning parameters, such as turning period and turning radius, without running simulation of the original or average dynamic models.
Comparison of DNA-Protein Cross-Links Induced by 4′-(9-Acridinylamino)-methanesulfon-m-anisidide and by γ-Radiation

The antitumor agent 4′-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon- m -anisidide ( m -AMSA) inhibits topoisomerase II activity through the formation of a complex of DNA and covalently bound enzyme which, upon protein denaturation, yields DNA breaks (single strand breaks). In the present study, this complex served as a standard for analysis of radiation-induced DNA-protein cross-links (DPC). Following the treatment of exponentially growing mouse L929 cells with 0–100 ng/ml of m -AMSA for 1 h, a linear dose-dependent increase was found in the amount of DNA retained on nitrocellulose filters during subsequent analysis. This result indicates that the assay can detect DPC that have a single protein bound to each DNA fragment. The results of fractionation of nuclear DNA show that m -AMSA induces 20- to 45-fold more DPC in nuclear matrix-associated DNA than in the majority distal loop DNA, supporting the notion that topoisomerase II is located at the nuclear matrix. The frequency of single strand breaks induced by m -AMSA, which should be equal to the frequency of DPC, was determined by alkaline elution. Results of the alkaline elution assay could be correlated with the percentage of DNA retained on nitrocellulose filters; i.e. , 1% DNA retention corresponded to 2560 DPC per log-phase L929 cell, which has been determined to have a DNA content of 22.25 pg. Using this standard curve, DPC induced by γ-irradiation in air were estimated to be formed at a frequency of 133 DPC/cell/Gy, a frequency approximately 3% that of γ-ray-induced single strand breaks. The radiation dose response for DPC production was unaffected by the high levels of DPC present in cells previously treated with m -AMSA. In addition, DPC induced by m -AMSA were rapidly reversed after the removal of the drug, in contrast to a slower removal of DPC induced by γ-radiation. These observations suggest that although m -AMSA and γ-radiation both preferentially induce DPC with matrix-attached DNA, they produce independent types of DPC.
On-Line Parameter Identification Algorithm for Distributed Parameter Plug Flow Systems

This paper presents a sequential parameter identification algorithm for estimating the time delays and time constants of distributed parameter plug flow processes which use fluid as a heat transport medium such as heat exchangers. The dynamics of these processes can be modeled by first order hyperbolic partial differential equations. The parameter identification problem is put into the general framework of a nonlinear identification problem which is solved by a Nonlinear Recursive Least Square (NRLS) algorithm. The NRLS algorithm is applied to estimate the thermal time constants and transit times of solar collectors using fluid as heat transport medium. Different implementations of the parameter identification algorithm are presented including the estimation of the parameters of different models of the collector namely the first order One Temperature Plug Flow (OTPF) and the second order Two Temperature Plug Flow (TTPF) models.
The effect of flurbiprofen on herpes simplex virus type 1 stromal keratitis in mice

The use of steroidal compounds to reduce the inflammation and scarring associated with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) stromal keratitis can result in severe exacerbation of the corneal disease. We compared the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) flurbiprofen sodium with dexamethasone for the treatment of HSV-1 induced corneal stromal disease in an inbred mouse model. Stromal disease was induced by the direct intrastromal injection of HSV-1. A stromal opacity and corneal neovascularization (CNV) developed in 100% of the injected eyes, with no epithelial involvement until late in the course, when the stromal disease was quite severe, such that it was possible to test the effectiveness of drugs in animals with an intact epithelium. Dexamethasone treatment had a variable effect on the severity of disease, ranging from a significant reduction in severity to significant exacerbation of disease, compared with placebo-treated controls. The most frequent effect of dexamethasone treatment was a worsening of corneal stromal opacities and CNV. In contrast, treatment with the NSAID did not exacerbate HSV-1 stromal disease. Flurbiprofen treatment resulted in a significant reduction of the maximum intensity of stromal opacity in some experiments, whereas in other experiments the effect was not statistically significant. In vitro studies of the effect of the anti-inflammatory drugs on HSV-1 replication in Vero cells revealed that both dexamethasone and flurbiprofen inhibited HSV-1 replication in a dose-dependent manner. Flurbiprofen had a greater inhibitory effect, which appears to be due, at least in part, to a direct virucidal effect. Dexamethasone did not exhibit virucidal activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Lawyers in Agencies: Economics, Social Psychology, and Process

Underlying the discussion of the role of the government lawyer that follows lies the premise that lawyers within agencies are fundamentally different than other regulators. A particular regulatory process-and indeed the administrative state in general-would look quite different if we decided to exclude lawyers from the process. Moreover, our explicit or implicit decision about the contours of the role played by lawyers in the administrative state has important implications for our understanding of basic issues, such as the value of science and the value of advocacy. Similarly, excluding other specialists, such as economists or industry experts, also would produce interesting and important changes in the outcomes generated by the administrative state. To put the matter more precisely, there is no question that lawyers' involvement in the administrative process has both costs and benefits.1 The purpose of this essay is to explain the nature of these costs and benefits. The first section of the essay draws on insights from social psychology, providing an explanation for why lawyers' perspectives on regulatory issues differ dramatically from those of their non-regulatory colleagues. The second part describes some of the benefits from adding lawyers and lawyers' perspectives to the regulatory mix. In the third part of the article I discuss the costs that lawyer involvement imposes on a regulatory system. The conclusion is that the inability to quantify the costs and benefits associated with lawyer involvement in regulation makes it impossible to determine with any degree of certainty whether the benefits exceed the costs. On the other hand, the clearly identifiable benefits associated with utilizing lawyers in the regulatory process strongly suggest that it is highly unlikely that the optimal number of lawyers in the regulatory process is zero. It seems equally true,
A Genealogy of Homo-Economicus: Neoliberalism and the Production of Subjectivity

This article examines Michel Foucault’s critical investigation of neoliberalism in the course published as Naissance de la biopolitique: Cours au College de France, 1978-1979. Foucault’s lectures are interrogated along two axes. First, examining the way in which neoliberalism can be viewed as a particular production of subjectivity, as a way in which individuals are constituted as subjects of “human capital.” Secondly, Foucault’s analyses is augmented and critically examined in light of other critical work on neoliberalism by Wendy Brown, David Harvey, Christian Laval, Maurizo Lazzarato, and Antonio Negri. Of these various debates and discussions, the paper argues that the discussion of real subsumption in Marx and Negri is most important for understanding the specific politics of neoliberalism. Finally, the paper argues that neoliberalism entails a fundamental reexamination of the tools of critical thought, an examination of how freedom can constitute a form of subjection.
Modulation of asthmatic response by immunostimulatory DNA sequences.

Asthma is a common disease in the USA affecting approximately 5% of the population. The expression of the allergic asthma phenotype is dependent upon both host genetic factors as well as environmental allergen exposure to inhalant allergens such as house dust mite, cat, grass pollen, and cockroach. Progress in identifying the genes involved in asthma has been assisted by both population-based genetic studies as well as candidate gene approaches. Population-based whole genome wide screen studies in asthmatics have identified linkage to multiple chromosome regions including chromosomes 5q, 6p, 11q, 12q, 13q, and 16q [6, 21], suggesting that multiple genes are associated with the asthma phenotype. Several candidate genes on chromosome 5q (IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, IL-13, β2 adrenergic receptor, corticosteroid receptor), chromosome 11 (beta chain of the high-affinity IgE receptor), chromosome 12 (stem cell factor, IFN-γ, insulin growth factor, and Stat 6), and chromosome 16 (IL-4 receptor) may contribute to asthma and allergy development [6, 21]. In addition, involvement of genes associated with antigen presentation (MHC class II genes) and T cell responses (T cell receptor a chain) have been linked to asthma. These initial genetic studies suggest a complex relationship between genetic susceptibility to asthma, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and allergic inflammation.
New computational methods for electrostatics in macromolecular simulation

Computer simulation of long-range electrostatic forces in macromolecular simulation is quite challenging due to a large number of charges involved, varying dielectric constants, and ionic interactions in the solvent. The paper introduces new difference schemes that can incorporate any desired analytical approximation of the electrostatic potential (e.g., its singular Coulombic or dipole terms) exactly, and with little computational overhead. Numerical experiments for explicit solvent models show 1-2 orders of magnitude higher accuracy in the computed energy and force, as compared to conventional Ewald summation methods with comparable parameters.
Multiparty Protocols Tolerating Half Faulty Processors

We show that a complete broadcast network of n processors can evaluate any function f(x1,..., xn) at private inputs supplied by each processor, revealing no information other than the result of the function, while tolerating up to t maliciously faulty parties for 2t < n. This improves the previous bound of 3t < n on the tolerable number of faults [BG W88, CCD88]. We demonstrate a resilient method to multiply secretly shared values without using unproven cryptographic assumptions. The crux of our method is a new, non-cryptographic zero-knowledge technique which extends verifiable secret sharing to allow proofs based on secretly shared values. Under this method, a single party can secretly share values v1,...vm along with another secret w = P(v1,...,vm), where P is any polynomial size circuit; and she can prove to all other parties that w = P(v1,..., vm), without revealing w or any other information. Our protocols allow an exponentially small chance of error, but are provably optimal in their resilience against Byzantine faults. Furthermore, our solutions use operations over exponentially large fields, greatly reducing the amount of interaction necessary for computing natural functions.
The Trigeminal System

The trigeminal nerve—cranial nerve V—provides sensory innervation to the face and the structures of the oral and nasal cavities. In addition, its motor component innervates the muscles of mastication. Fine (discriminatory) tactile, general (light) tactile, proprioceptive, thermal, and pain sensory modalities are conveyed to the trigeminal nuclei in the brainstem. Axons from the sensory trigeminal nuclei contribute to important reflex circuits and relay sensory information to the thalamus for further integration. Thalamocortical projections relay sensations to the face area of the contralateral postcentral gyrus of the cerebral hemispheres.