cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nitrate in ground water in the United States.

Many activities of modern society, including agricultural land use, contribute nitrate contamination to ground water. Natural background areas commonly show 10 mg/L, at least seasonally. Expanded use of nitrogen fertilizers has profitably increased agricultural production, but it has also had an adverse impact on water quality in many areas. In responsive ground-water settings, nitrate concentrations have increased concurrent with the increased use of N-fertilizers. Wells and ground water exhibiting nitrate contamination have been noted in every state in the USA. The major areas exhibiting problems with nitrate contamination of ground water are: 1. areas of widespread grain production (particularly corn), marked by intensive row-cropping and heavy fertilization; 2. areas with locally intensive animal feeding and handling operations; and, 3. areas of irrigation and fertilization of vegetable and specialty crops, particularly shallow-rooted vegetable crops on sandy soils. Ground water contributes to the nitrate contamination of surface waters through base-flow to streams and lakes. Nitrate loads have increased in many streams, particularly from the midwestern grain-belt eastward, since 1974, in spite of reductions in point-source loads. These increases were highly correlated with many measures of agricultural activity. Nitrate concentrations in ground water typically show significant variability in many dimensions: with depth, spatially, and over time; and these variations are often inter-related. Recognition of this variability is important to understand the extent of the problem and to design programs to mitigate it. At present, nitrate contamination is only evident in shallow portions of the ground-water flow system. This is, in part, a function of time; relative to the dimensions of the ground-water system. In many areas, particularly in deeper portions of the ground-water system the impact of recent nitrate leaching may not be noted for several decades.
Application-Specific NoC Architecture Customization Using Long-Range Links

Networks-on-chip (NoC) represent a promising solution to complex on-chip communication problems. The NoC communication architectures considered in the literature are based on either completely regular or fully customized topologies. This chapter presents a methodology to automatically synthesize an architecture which is neither regular, nor fully customized. Instead, the resulting communication architecture is a superposition of a standard mesh network and a few long-range links which induce small world effects. Indeed, the few application-specific longrange links we insert significantly increase the critical traffic workload at which the network transitions from a free to a congested state. This way, we can exploit the benefits offered by both complete regularity and partial topology customization.
Nutritional Adequacy in Dietary Restriction

An objective of long-term dietary restriction studies involving laboratory animal species is to decrease calorie or nutrient consumption without imposing energy or nutrient deficiencies. In nutritional terms, these animals are to be provided adequate nutrition to meet their maintenance requirements. Most frequently, this objective is achieved by offering test animals a fixed percentage of the amount of diet consumed by ad libitum-fed control animals. The use of this procedure has provided a considerable amount of data showing beneficial effects of dietary restriction (McCay et al. 1935; Masoro 1988; Weindruch and Walford 1988). However, this method of restricting energy or nutrient consumption, without consideration of the quantitative minimum nutrient requirements, may result in animals receiving less than adequate nutrition. Factors contributing to potential deficiencies when animals are fed at near maintenance levels are the inherent variations in dietary nutrient concentrations between production lots of a diet and difference in nutrient requirements due to genotype. The well-being of animals is at risk when their energy or nutrient consumption is below maintenance requirements, even for short periods; consequently, data collected during these periods may be compromised. The objectives of this presentation are to review the status of the nutrient requirements for maintenance of the laboratory animal species most frequently used in dietary restriction studies and to discuss procedures that may be used to insure that they receive adequate maintenance level nutrition.
Treatment Fidelity in Mind-Body Interventions.

Purpose: To contribute to the treatment fidelity literature by providing real-world examples and suggestion for future research and potential clinical application, this article reports on implement...
A Physics-based approach to modeling real-fuel combustion chemistry – III. Reaction kinetic model of JP10

Abstract The Hybrid Chemistry (HyChem) approach has been proposed previously for combustion chemistry modeling of real, liquid fuels of a distillate origin. In this work, the applicability of the HyChem approach is tested for single-component fuels using JP10 as the model fuel. The method remains the same: an experimentally constrained, lumped single-fuel model describing the kinetics of fuel pyrolysis is combined with a detailed foundational fuel chemistry model. Due to the multi-ring molecular structure of JP10, the pyrolysis products were found to be somewhat different from those of conventional jet fuels. The lumped reactions were therefore modified to accommodate the fuel-specific pyrolysis products. The resulting model shows generally good agreement with experimental data, which suggests that the HyChem approach is also applicable for developing combustion reaction kinetic models for single-component fuels.
Fixing Social Media's Grand Bargain

To regulate social media in the twenty-first century, we should focus on its political economy: the nature of digital capitalism and how we pay for the digital public sphere we have. Our digital public sphere is premised on a grand bargain: free communications services in exchange for pervasive data collection and analysis. This allows companies to sell access to end users to the companies’ advertisers and other businesses. The political economy of digital capitalism creates perverse incentives for social media companies. It encourages companies to surveil, addict, and manipulate their end users and to strike deals with third parties who will further manipulate them. Treating social media companies as public forums or public utilities is not the proper cure. It may actually make things worse. Even so, social media companies, whether they like it or not, have public obligations. They play important roles in organizing and curating public discussion and they have moral and professional responsibilities both to their end users and to the general public. A reinvigorated competition law is one important way of dealing with the problems of social media. But this essay also emphasizes a second approach: new fiduciary obligations that protect end-user privacy and counteract social media companies’ bad incentives.
Comment on “Measurement and Modeling of Solubility of para-tert-Butylbenzoic Acid in Pure and Mixed Organic Solvents at Different Temperatures” and “Determination of Solubility and Thermodynamic Properties of Benzophenone in Different Pure Solvents”

Errors are discovered in the tabulated thermodynamic properties for dissolution of tert-butylbenzoic acid and benzophenone dissolved in organic monosolvents. The thermodynamic properties of dissolution were reported in two recently published papers. Specifically, the dissolution properties that were reported by Aniya et al. and by Ouyang et al. do not obey the standard thermodynamic relationship of ΔdissG = ΔdissH – TΔdissS, where ΔdissG, ΔdissH, and ΔdissS are respectively the Gibbs energy of dissolution, the enthalpy of dissolution, and the entropy of the dissolution of crystalline organic compounds in the organic solvent at the solution temperature, T.
Characterization of additively manufactured cellular alumina dielectric structures

Additive manufacturing (AM, also known as 3D printing) can produce novel three-dimensional structures using low-loss dielectric materials. This enables the construction of dielectrics with complex shapes that enable innovative microwave applications such as resonators, filters, and metamaterial lenses. This paper addresses the production and characterization of cellular structures of various designed densities created with a low loss ceramic material, alumina (aluminum oxide), via vat photopolymerization. The permittivity of these printed structures is variable over roughly an octave, with a range of relative permittivites from 1.78 to 3.60, controlled via part geometry.
Variation in prostate surgery costs and outcomes in the USA: robot-assisted versus open radical prostatectomy.

Aim: To compare perioperative complications, inpatient cost and length of stay between robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and open radical prostatectomy (ORP) using National Inpatient Sample data from 2010 to 2015. Patients & methods: A total of 69,009 records with RARP or ORP were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression and generalized linear models. Results: The RARP had superior perioperative outcomes at a higher cost (adjusted mean difference = 2956; 95% CI: $2822–$3090) and shorter length of stay (mean difference = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.81–0.89) compared with ORP. Mean cost of RARP was lowest in urban teaching, private invest-own, high volume and northeast region hospitals and highest for black men. Conclusion: Compared with ORP, RARP had significantly better perioperative outcomes at a higher cost.
Invariant set criteria for CO semigroups

The purpose of this note is to describe conditions that guarantee the invariance of convex sets for strongly continuous semigroups of linear operators. The criteria is expressed in terms of subtangential properties of the semigroup and its infinitesimal generator. These ideas include various recent results of a similar nature.
Phylogenomic analysis of the Brevibacillus brevis clade: a proposal for three new Brevibacillus species, Brevibacillus fortis sp. nov., Brevibacillus porteri sp. nov. and Brevibacillus schisleri sp. nov.

During a screen for antifungal activity of Brevibacillus strains in the Northern Regional Research Laboratory collection we identified two strains with strong activity. Subsequent genomic sequencing and phylogenomic analysis revealed that these strains (NRRL NRS-1210T and NRRL B-41110T) are likely novel species. To confirm their taxonomic placement, we conducted a 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis and subsequently sequenced the genomes of 10 Brevibacillus type strains with a 16S homology > 97%. Phylogenomic analysis of these type strains and of representative Brevibacillus strains deposited in GenBank also identified several novel clades that should be recognised as novel species. For one of these novel clades, we were able to obtain a publicly available isolate (ATCC 35690T) that could serve as a type strain. The three new species were subjected to a polyphasic characterisation to confirm their taxonomic status. Cells of strains NRRL NRS-1210T, NRRL B-41110T and ATCC 35690T are Gram-staining positive, motile and form tan colonies. All three strains are obligate aerobic mesophiles with a broad pH range for growth. The two most prominent fatty acids of the three strains were identified as iso-C15:0 and anteiso-C15:0. The DNA G+C contents of strains NRRL NRS-1210T, NRRL B-41110T and ATCC 35690T are 47.2 mol%, 47.1 mol% and 47.3 mol%, respectively. Based on these characteristics, three novel species are proposed: Brevibacillus fortis sp. nov. (NRRL NRS-1210T = DSM 9886T = ATCC 51666T), Brevibacillus porteri sp. nov. (NRRL B-41110T = KACC 19693T) and Brevibacillus schisleri sp. nov. (ATCC 35690T = LMG 17055T).
The Effect of Frailty on Discharge Location for Medicare Beneficiaries After Acute Stroke.

Abstract Objective To examine the effect of frailty on poststroke discharge location with respect to stroke severity and create a risk-adjusted model for understanding the effects of frailty on discharge to an inpatient rehabilitation facility. Design Retrospective cohort. Setting A 2014 5% Medicare sample. Participants Patients hospitalized for a first-time acute ischemic stroke (N=7258). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures A prehospitalization 6-month baseline was used to calculate a frailty score. Logistic regression to predict odds of discharge to inpatient rehabilitation was used to calculate for 3 levels of baseline frailty, controlling for patient demographics, stroke severity, and comorbidities. Results About 1603 patients were discharged to inpatient rehabilitation. Patients who were nonfrail (odds ratio [OR] 1.716; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.463-2.013) or prefrail (OR 1.519; 95% CI, 1.296-1.779) were more likely to be discharged to inpatient rehabilitation. The final logistic regression model had a C-statistic of 0.63. Most of the patients discharged to inpatient rehabilitation were nonfrail (44.2%) and had moderate strokes (38.9%). Individuals who were frail and suffered a moderate (OR 0.78; 95% CI, 0.558-1.091) or severe stroke (OR 0.509; 95% CI, 0.358-0.721) were less likely to be discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation facility. Conclusions A lack of a claims-based measure for prestroke functional ability makes it difficult to understand discharge decision-making patterns for individuals’ poststroke. Prestroke frailty was found to have a significant effect on predicating inpatient rehabilitation discharge after an acute stroke when controlling for stroke severity, comorbidities, and age. Further investigation is warranted to examine differences in rehabilitation utilization based on frailty and to quantify the effect of rehabilitation on frailty status in individuals poststroke.
Validation of a Parent Report Tool for Monitoring Early Vocal Stages in Infants.

Purpose Tracking of infants' progression through early vocal stages supports the identification of children at risk for language delays and guides early intervention for children with disabilities....
Pedagogical Language Knowledge: An Investigation of a Science Teacher Candidate’s Student Teaching Strengths and Struggles

In today’s increasingly linguistically diverse classrooms, all science teachers require expertise in supporting students’ language development simultaneous to content-based classroom instruction. C...
Cyanide Poisoning—“I’m Mr. Blue…”

Cyanide is a very old and revered toxin, deviously appearing in plants, seeds/pits, and in almost every household item made of plastic, polyurethane, or some such derivative. It works by blocking what is likely the most efficient energy-producing mechanism that nature has created, the production of ATP via oxidative phosphorylation. Toxicity includes collapse of all oxygen-dependent systems including, most importantly, the central nervous system (CNS) and the cardiovascular system. The treatment is supportive care while trying to remove the cyanide from the electron transport chain and reverse its devastating effects!
Testing relationships between smartphone engagement, romantic partner communication, and relationship satisfaction:

As smartphone technology has spread rapidly across the globe, growing concern has spotlighted how these devices can limit the quality of our communication with others and harm interpersonal relatio...
Abstract 3862: Defining immune contexture in small cell lung cancer: Implications for immunotherapy

Introduction: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive neuroendocrine malignancy with limited treatment options and median survival approximately 1 year after diagnosis even with treatment. SCLC patients typically respond to platinum-based cytotoxic chemotherapy, but drug resistance and resultant disease progression rapidly develop, driving the 5-year patient survival rate to Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to comprehensively and quantitatively identify immune cell subsets and their associated functional states in small cell lung cancer to address critical knowledge gaps in the tumor biology of the disease. Methods: To broadly/robustly audit immune contexture in SCLC, we generated tissue-microarrays containing >200 unique patient specimens with fully annotated clinical data. Next, we used an innovative and highly multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) platform consisting of a panel of highly validated antibodies and a computational pipeline. Importantly, mIHC enables cell classification via image cytometry, for identification of immune cell subsets, including: T cells (CD3+, CD4, CD8), B cells (CD20+), granulocytes (CD66b+) Th2-skewed monocytes and macrophages (CD11b+ CD68+ CD163+), and dendritic cells (CD68− CD11c+ HLA-DR+, DC-LAMP+/−). Further, functional markers provide insight into immune checkpoints (PD-1, PD-L1), proliferation (Ki67), and T cell functionality (EOMES, granzyme B). Results: Preliminary observations show a wide variability in total immune cell (CD45+) infiltrate, with most infiltrate excluded or peripheral to tumor nests. Further, myeloid immune infiltrates often dominate over lymphoid infiltrates in terms of overall abundance, however variability exists. In particular CD8+ T cells are relatively low in abundance and often excluded from tumor nests in most tumors. Future analysis will deeply phenotype immune cell types and localization, as well as capture interpatient heterogeneity. Conclusions: Understanding the immune landscape of SCLC could further understanding of SCLC immune suppression and evasion, ultimately leading to optimal single-agent immunotherapy deployment and rational, effective combination therapy for patients with SCLC. Citation Format: Portia L. Thomas, Courtney Betts, Giovanney Gonzalez, Lisa M. Coussens, Christine M. Lovly. Defining immune contexture in small cell lung cancer: Implications for immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 3862.
Abstract P448: Axial versus Vertical Area of Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Outcome

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has the highest morbidity and mortality rate of the major stroke subtypes. Volume is a well-established predictor of outcome. Theoretically, ICH should ex...
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Associated Interstitial Lung Disease: Mortality Rates and Trends.

Rationale: The burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and RA-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) in recent years has not been well characterized. Objective: In this study, we sought to descr...
The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Non-Elderly Adult Uninsurance Rates Among States that did not Expand Medicaid

We estimate the effect of Medicaid expansion on the adult uninsurance rate in states that did not expand Medicaid in 2014. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), we estimate this effect - the treatment effect on the controls (ETC) - by re-weighting expansion regions to approximately balance the covariates from non-expansion regions using an extension of the stable balancing weights objective function (Zubizaretta (2015)). We contribute to the balancing weights literature by accounting for hierarchical data structure and covariate measurement error when calculating our weights, and to the synthetic controls literature (see, e.g. Abadie et al 2010) by outlining a set of assumptions that identifies the ETC using time-series cross-sectional data. We estimate that Medicaid expansion would have changed the uninsurance rate by -2.33 (-3.49, -1.16) percentage points. These results are smaller in absolute magnitude than existing estimates of the treatment effect on the treated (ETT), though may not be directly comparable due to the study design, target population, and level of analysis. Regardless, we caution against making inferences about the ETC using estimates of the ETT, and emphasize the need to directly estimate the appropriate counterfactual when they are the quantity of interest.
Segmentation of specialised and non-specialised work as a model for dealing with rising demand for paediatric surgical services

IntroductionShifts in the landscape of surgical care provision have resulted in a rise in demand for specialist paediatric surgery services. Here we describe a model of a single paediatric surgery ...
Research Note: Contamination of eggs by Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium in experimentally infected laying hens in indoor cage-free housing

ABSTRACT Contaminated eggs are a leading source of human Salmonella infections and this problem continues to challenge public health authorities and egg industries around the world. Salmonella invasion of the ovaries and oviducts of infected laying hens can result in bacterial deposition inside the edible portions of developing eggs. The introduction, persistence, and transmission of salmonellae in commercial egg-laying flocks are influenced by flock management practices, but the food safety ramifications of different types of laying hen housing remain unresolved. The present study assessed the frequency of internal contamination of eggs after experimental Salmonella Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium infection of laying hens in indoor cage-free housing. Groups of 72 hens were housed on wood shavings in isolation rooms simulating commercial cage-free barns with community kick-out nest boxes and perches and 1/3 of the hens in each room were orally inoculated with 8.0 × 107 cfu of 2-strain mixtures of either S. Enteritidis (2 rooms) or S. Typhimurium (2 rooms), and the entire internal contents of all eggs laid 5 to 30 d postinoculation in nest boxes or on the flooring substrate were cultured to detect Salmonella. Contaminated eggs were laid between 8 and 28 d postinoculation. The overall incidence of S. Enteritidis isolation from eggs (3.41%) was significantly (P = 0.0005) greater than S. Typhimurium (1.19%). The contamination frequencies associated with the 2 egg collection locations were not significantly different (P > 0.05). These results demonstrate that oral infection of a relatively small proportion of laying hens in indoor cage-free housing with invasive Salmonella serovars can result in the production of internally contaminated eggs at low frequencies over a period of nearly a month postinoculation.
Do Patterns of Opioid Prescriptions to Medicare Beneficiaries Differ Among Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Practicing in Urban and Rural Settings

Abstract Purpose This study compared opioid prescription patterns among oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) treating Medicare beneficiaries in urban and rural settings, in an effort to identify avenues to further promote responsible opioid prescribing in a patient demographic vulnerable to opioid diversion. Methods This study used Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data from 2014 to 2018, focusing on providers labeled as an OMS. Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes were used to categorize each OMS as urban or rural. Demographic variables included total number of OMSs, provider gender, beneficiaries per provider, beneficiaries age, and beneficiary hierarchal condition category (proxy for clinical complexity). Outcome variables included opioid prescribing rate, opioid claims per provider, opioid claims per beneficiary, and number of days’ supply of opioids per claim. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests, 2-tailed t-tests, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used as appropriate. Results Across all years, the data consisted of mostly urban and male OMSs. The mean number of Medicare beneficiaries prescribed opioids per OMS varied widely, and the mean age of beneficiaries was 70.4 ± 4.4 and 69.9 ± 4.1 years for urban and rural OMSs, respectively. Mean opioid claims per provider were higher among rural OMSs, with large standard deviations among both rural and urban OMSs. However, there were no significant differences in the opioid prescribing rate or in the mean opioid claims per beneficiary in all 5 years included in the study. There were also no clinically significant differences between urban and rural OMSs in the number of days’ supply per claim (between 3 to 4 days in all periods). However, in each year, there was a significantly higher proportion of urban OMSs who prescribed more than 7 days’ supply per claim. Conclusions Opioid prescription practices were generally similar between rural and urban OMSs treating Medicare beneficiaires. The small subset of longer-term opioid prescribers, which were more prevalent in urban areas, warrants further investigation.
Identification of transcription factors involved in the specification of photoreceptor subtypes

During development, retinal progenitors navigate a complex landscape of fate decisions that culminates with an array of unique cell types that are required for proper vision. Here, we aim to identify factors that are required for fate decisions in photoreceptors. These factors help create a diversity of photoreceptor subtypes that sustain vision in day and night, enable the detection of colors, of prey and predators, and other aspects of vision. To identify these factors, we generate a high-quality and deep transcriptomic profile of each photoreceptor subtype in zebrafish. From these profiles, we focus on transcription factors---key players in cell-fate decisions. We apply CRISPR-F0 screening as a versatile platform to explore the involvement of transcription factors in photoreceptor subtype-specification. We find that three differentially-expressed transcription factors (Foxq2, Tbx2a and Tbx2b) play unique roles in controlling the identity of photoreceptor subtypes within the retina. Our results provide novel insights into the function of these factors and how photoreceptors acquire their final identities. Furthermore, we have made our transcriptomic dataset openly available and easy to explore. This dataset and the screening method will be valuable to the scientific community and will enable the exploration of genes involved in many essential aspects of photoreceptor biology.
Limited magnitude error control codes

A relatively new model of error control is the limited magnitude error over high radix channels. In this error model, the error magnitude does not exceed a certain limit known beforehand. In this dissertation, we study systematic error control codes for common channels under the assumption that the maximum error magnitude is known a priori. Optimal codes correcting all asymmetric and symmetric errors are given. Further, as it is often the case that we only need to correct a small number of errors, codes that can correct a single error over asymmetric and symmetric channels are also proposed. The designed codes achieve higher code rates than single error correcting codes previously given in the literature. From the error detection point of view, we study both all and t error detecting codes for asymmetric/unidirectional channels and design close-to-optimal codes. Finally, we show how the all asymmetric error correcting codes proposed in this dissertation can be used to detect all symmetric errors.
Bank insolvencies : cross-country experience

Few areas of the world have escaped significant losses from episodes of bank insolvency. Bank insolvency is more costly in the developing world, where losses represent a greater share of income. The authors present data on bank insolvency episodes since the late 1970s. This new database can be used in conjunction with readily available data. Information and insights are presented in seven tables on: a) major bank insolvencies episodes and systemic banking crises; b) main characteristics of banking crises; c) trade terms in crisis countries; d) trade concentration prior to crises; e) restructuring characteristics; f) financial analysis of crisis countries; and g) restructuring outcome in crisis countries. In a companion paper the authors discuss possible preventatives and the tradeoff between safety and soundness versus efficiency. Meanwhile, this initial database suggests further avenues for research. There is a dearth of widely available indicators on bank performance. More attention should be focused on developing indicators that might predict bank insolvency for individual banks and systems as a whole. The authors devise criteria for assessing how governments deal with insolvency and find that countries handle it well.
Être écrivaine et « reine du foyer » dans les années 1920 et 1930 : Les journaux intimes de Michelle Le Normand

Dans le Quebec des annees 1920 et 1930, ou la glorification de la femme comme « reine du foyer » etait a son comble, les pressions sur les femmes pour se marier et se consacrer a la vocation maternelle etaient enormes, et la difficulte de s’imposer en tant qu’ecrivaine demeurait considerable. Le journal intime de la romanciere Michelle Le Normand, l’epouse du romancier Leo-Paul Desrosiers et la mere de trois enfants, est un temoignage precieux sur ce conflit, tel que vecu par une femme qui a trouve dans les idees conservatrices de son temps a la fois un soutien et une entrave a sa liberte de penser et d’ecrire.
Equations for Complex-Valued, Twisting, Type N, Vacuum Solutions, with one or two Killing/homothetic vectors

hh-spaces, i.e., complex spacetimes, of Petrov type N×N are deter- mined by a trio of pde's for two functions, � and a, of three independent variables (and also two gauge functions, chosen to be two of the independent variables if one prefers). As in common integrable systems, these form a second order, linear system for �; howver, here the integrability conditions, involving a, are more complicated than is common. Therefore, with the hope of finding new solutions, these equations are now constrained to also admit both one and two homothetic or Killing vectors. The case with one Killing and one homothetic vector reduces these equations to two ode's for two unknown functions of the one remaining variable. In addition, we also describe in detail the explicit forms of the metric, tetrad, connec- tions, and curvature for twistinghh-spaces of Petrov type N×N, modulo the determining equations. This simplifies considerably the process of obtaining these details cleanly from earlier articles on the subject, thus simplifying access to the research area.
Human Activity Recognition Using the 4D Spatiotemporal Shape Context Descriptor

In this paper, a four-dimensional spatiotemporal shape context descriptor is introduced and used for human activity recognition in video. The spatiotemporal shape context is computed on silhouette points by binning the magnitude and direction of motion at every point with respect to given vertex, in addition to the binning of radial displacement and angular offset associated with the standard 2D shape context. Human activity recognition at each video frame is performed by matching the spatiotemporal shape context to a library of known activities via k-nearest neighbor classification. Activity recognition in a video sequence is based on majority classification of the video frame results. Experiments on the Weizmann set of ten activities indicate that the proposed shape context achieves better recognition of activities than the original 2D shape context, with overall recognition rates of 90% obtained for individual frames and 97.9% for video sequences.
Knowledge-based management of change in chemical process industry

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a knowledge-based system—management of change (MOC) expert­––for automating MOC in chemical process industry (CPI). MOC is the most important element in any process safety management (PSM) system. But accidents caused by improper MOC continue to happen due to human errors in the MOC procedure. To reduce the human errors, the time and effort involved in MOC, and make MOC more consistent, this system is developed to bridge the gap. MOC expert is not meant to replace the MOC team but to speed up the MOC process by providing consistent hazard review and relevant recommendations to control the hazards. The future work will be focused on addressing issues involved in other kinds of changes and integrating MOC expert with process/product-design tools. A simple case study, which is extracted from a waste-water­-treatment batch process, is used to illustrate the features of MOC expert.
Urban Agriculture and Other Green Uses: Remaking the Shrinking City

For many decades, the primary challenge of land use law has been how to promote and channel growth and development. Nobody wants stagnation; the cure is growth, and lately the cure has been “smart growth.” In the last several years, however, some cities have begun openly to address a previously unacknowledged truth: some cities will and do shrink. They lose population and have no foreseeable prospect of ever regaining it. The land use planning community has begun to grapple with the issue of the shrinking city, asking how we can achieve managed, “smart” shrinkage To some extent, the answer is to shift density and promote green uses of various kinds This brings us to the legal question Does an organized effort to help a city shrink pose any distinctive legal issues? What constraints might the law impose on a city’s goals of diminishing its infrastructure responsibilities, downzoning its land to less intensive uses, or taking other steps consistent with a goal of managed shrinkage This paper explores a few of those issues, using Cleveland, Ohio as an example. It considers legal challenges the shrinking city might face, particularly when downzoning urban property to promote urban agriculture and other green uses, focusing on the application of takings law It also briefly considers the fairness issues associated with downzoning and the limitations of the current legal structure for revitalizing Brownfields in a setting where traditional redevelopment is unlikely.
Community-Based Learning and Social Capital: Exploring Student Attitudes and Perceptions of Connectedness to Campus and Diverse Communities

Community service activities, civic engagement and volunteer services have been identified as key elements in improving how individuals relate and communicate with each other in society. Social capital has also been described as a highly useful form of social networking that empowers community members to collectively use each other as potential resources. The current study explored how participants from non-traditional backgrounds (i.e., ethnicity, culture and age) completed a variety of interethnic community service activities. We hypothesized that increased exposure with members of diverse ethnic groups through community service activities would show reductions in ethnocentric attitudes and also show increases in the perception of the importance of social capital and future participation in community service work activities.
A network forensics system for information leak events

The events of information leak and illegal content propagation often occur on the network. The existing techniques cannot collect sufficient evidences about users' contents to support forensics for these events. A new approach and a system are proposed which apply Chinese word segment and bloom filter to store the digest of users' contents. With this system, investigators can trace back the events that happened months or even years ago without extra cost of hardware storage.
Limit cycle geometry and control in power electronic systems

The operation of self-oscillating power electronic systems, like other variable structure systems, involves limit cycles. Limit cycle geometry can be investigated prior to imposing a control law, and can be related to steady-state solution of asymptotic models. The local implications for switching surface selection for simple DC-DC and DC-AC converters are explored. >
N,N‐Dimethyl‐5β‐Cholest‐3‐ene‐5‐Acetamide

N,N-dimethyl-5β-cholest-3-ene-5-acetamide reactant: 970 mg. (2.51 mmoles) of cholest-4-en-3β-ol product: N,N-dimethyl-5β-cholest-3-ene-5-acetamide Keywords: acetal (and thioacetal) formation; rearrangements
ShareStreams: a scalable architecture and hardware support for high-speed QoS packet schedulers

ShareStreams (scalable hardware architectures for stream schedulers) is a unified hardware architecture for realizing a range of wire-speed packet scheduling disciplines for output link scheduling. This paper presents opportunities to exploit parallelism, design issues, tradeoffs and evaluation of the FPGA hardware architecture for use in switch network interfaces. The architecture uses processor resources for queuing and data movement and FPGA hardware resources for accelerating decisions and priority updates. The hardware architecture stores state in register base blocks, stream service attributes are compared using single-cycle decision blocks arranged in a novel single-stage recirculating network. The architecture provides effective mechanisms to trade hardware complexity for lower execution-time in a predictable manner. The hardware realized in a Virtex-I and Virtex-II FPGA can meet the packet-time requirements of 10 Gbps links for 256 stream queues with window-constrained scheduling disciplines. The hardware can schedule 1536 stream queues with priority-class/fair-queuing scheduling disciplines using 16 service-classes to meet 10 Gbps packet-times.
Nanocomposites: Retrospecr and Prospect

In this paper we make clear distinctions from the terms nanophase, nanocrystalline and deal only with nanocomposites defined as an interacting mixture of two phases, one of which is in the nanometer size range in at least one dimension. The author’s origins of development of the idea that nanocomposites are a virtually infinite class of new materials are described. Then we refer to the results of our extensive studies of nanocomposites derived by solution-solgel techniques to illustrate the properties of such materials in the area of chemical and thermal reactivity. Finally it is pointed out that in the last few years nanocomposite materials have become a major part of new materials synthesis all over the world for applications ranging from mechanical to optical, to magnetic to dielectric.
Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and decision-making

Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and decision-making are discussed and compared. A pragmatic criterion, success in practice, as well as logical consistency are emphasized in comparing alternative approaches. Attention is given to learning models, probability concepts, prior information, axiom systems and selected technical aspects of Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches.
Molecular antifungal defenses in subterranean termites: RNA interference reveals in vivo roles of termicins and GNBPs against a naturally encountered pathogen

Subterranean termites face strong pathogenic pressures from the ubiquitous soil fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, and rely on innate humoral and cellular, as well as behavioral immune defenses for protection. Reticulitermes termites secrete antifungal enzymes that exhibit strong β-1,3-glucanase activity associated with Gram-negative bacteria binding proteins (GNBPs), which prevent M. anisopliae from invading the hemocoel where it can evade immune responses. Molecular evolutionary studies of Reticulitermes termicin genes, which code for defensin-like antifungal peptides, suggest that these proteins may be important effector molecules in antifungal defenses. In this study we show that the RNAi knockdown of termicin and GNBP2 expression via the ingestion of dsRNA significantly increases mortality in termites exposed to a naturally encountered strain of M. anisopliae. Termicin and GNBP2 knockdown also decrease external cuticular antifungal activity, indicating a direct role for these proteins in an external antifungal defense strategy that depends on the active dissemination of antifungal secretions among nestmates.
Best L 1 approximation by convex functions

It is shown that a function inL 1 has a best approximation by convex functions, and that the net of bestL p approximations converges asp decreases to one.
A Web services-based framework for business integration solutions

Abstract Developing e-business applications more efficiently and reliably is a critical challenge for many enterprises since existing approaches are characteristically complex and costly. Web services have been gaining popularity with simpler service-oriented architectures and the potential for lower development costs. In this paper, we propose a service composition framework to support a Web services-based approach for developing business integration solutions. By examining the architectural models of Web services and the structural patterns of e-business applications, we argue that our proposed framework enables the composition of pre-defined canonical Web services for developing business integration solutions more efficiently and reliably than existing approaches.
Mitochondrial three-dimensional form in ascites tumor cells during changes in respiration.

Serial sectioning-reconstruction techniques were used to show the presence of complex, branched mitochondrial forms in Ehrlich-Lettre ascites tumor cells. Although these were the predominant mitochondrial forms present in all cells examined, simple forms, i.e., rods and spheres, also were observed. Attempts to alter the metabolic status of the cell by changing the rate of respiration or degree of coupling of oxidation to phosphorylation did not shift the mitochondrial population from predominantly complex to simple forms. It was shown that complex, branched mitochondrial forms, as well as simple rod and sphere forms were present during coupled, uncoupled, and endogenous respiration and during anaerobiosis. Both complex as well as simple mitochondrial forms underwent transition from an orthodox to a condensed conformation during State 3 respiration. Under the present experimental conditions, differences in mitochondrial forms were not dependent on coupled versus uncoupled respiration or aerobic versus anaerobic state.
Nonlinear gain mediating cortical stimulus-response relations

Single isolated neurons show a nonlinear increase in likelihood of firing in response to random input, when they are biased toward threshold by steady-state depolarization. It is postulated that this property holds for neurons in the olfactory bulb, a specialized form of cortex in which the steady state is under centrifugal control. A model for this non-linearity is based on two first order differential equations that interrelate three state variables: activity density in the pulse mode p of a local population (subset) of neurons; activity density in the wave mode u (mean dendritic current); and an intervening variable m that may be thought to represent the average subthreshold value in the subset for the sodium activation factor as defined in the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. A stable steady state condition is posited at (p 0, u 0, m 0). It is assumed that: (a) the nonlinearity is static; (b) m increases exponentially with u; (c) p approaches a maximum p m asymptotically as m increases; (d) p?0; and (e) the steady state values of p 0, u 0, and m 0 are linearly proportional to each other. The model is tested and evaluated with data from unit and EEG recording in the olfactory bulb of anesthetized and waking animals. It has the following properties. (a) There is a small-signal near-linear input-output range. (b) There is bilateral saturation for large input, i.e. the gain defined as dp/du approaches zero for large |u|. (c) The asymptotes for large input±u are asymmetric. (d) The range of output is variable depending on u 0. (e) Most importantly, the maximal gain occurs for u>u 0, so that positive (excitatory) input increases the output and also the gain in a nonlinear manner. It is concluded that large numbers of neurons in the olfactory bulb of the waking animal are maintained in a sensitive nonlinear state, that corresponds to the domain of the subthreshold local response of single axons, as it is defined by Rushton and Hodgkin.
Sextuplets: An unusual complication of single embryo transfer

Objective To describe an unusual case of a sextuplet gestation after IVF and transfer of a single blastocyst. Design Case report. Setting University-based IVF clinic. Patient(s) A 32-year-old female with secondary infertility undergoing IVF-ET. Intervention(s) Transvaginal oocyte retrieval, transfer of a single blastocyst, and multifetal pregnancy reduction. Main Outcome Measure(s) Ultrasound determination of pregnancy viability. Result(s) Six intrauterine gestational sacs, each with a fetus having cardiac activity, reduced to a triplet gestation. Conclusion(s) Physicians should consider advising patients undergoing IVF-ET to abstain from unprotected intercourse at least 4 days before the anticipated oocyte retrieval. Incomplete aspiration of ovarian follicles is uncommon but not rare and can lead to a higher order multiple pregnancy if recent unprotected intercourse has occurred in this setting.
An action strategy approach to examining shopping behavior

Abstract The theory of planned behavior posits that individuals formulate intentions and actions plans prior to performance of the act. Although research addresses the formation of intentions, marketers focus less attention on understanding how individuals create action strategies. The purpose of this article is to introduce a theory of action and action strategies to marketers and apply the theory to shopping behavior.
Adult females and pubic bone growth.

Previous research (Tague [1994] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 95:27–40) has shown an age effect in pubic bone length among adult women. Tague found that in three prehistoric Native American skeletal samples, women aged 18–24 had a significantly shorter linea terminalis than did women aged 25 and older. The purpose of this research is to determine whether such a difference can be discerned in other female skeletal samples. Three female skeletal samples were used in this analysis: 75 African-American and 42 European-American females aged 18–39 from the Hamann-Todd Collection (collected between 1893 and 1938; Iscan, 1990) and 99 African-American females aged 18–39 from the Terry Collection (collected between 1914 and 1965; Cobb, 1933; Iscan, 1990). Several chord measurements of pubic bone length along the linea terminalis were analyzed by one-tailed t-tests of the separate samples subdivided into two age groups: 18–24 and 25–39 years. Of 15 comparisons between age groups, none differed significantly by age group within each sample. It is concluded that the observed significant difference in pubic bone length in the Native American female skeletal samples cannot be replicated in other samples and that there is no age effect on pubic bone length in the samples tested in this analysis. Tague's findings reflect either the occurrence of late menarche in prehistoric populations or differential survivorship. Am J Phys Anthropol 106:323–328, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Synthesis, electronic and 1H NMR properties of a new type of polypyridyl ligand: Long-range ring current effects

Abstract The preparation of a series of heterocycles obtained by the condensation of 4,5-diazafluoren-9-one with various amines is described with particular emphasis on bridged systems formed by the condensation of 4,5-diazafluoren-9-one with diamine compounds such as hydrazine. Due to sp2 hybridization of the nitrogen atom in the bridge, the protons in the two pyridine units of each bipyridine group are non-equivalent. The projection of a hydrogen atom from one of the pyridine rings into the ring current of an adjacent phenyl ring shifts the proton resonance upfield. Proton NMR resonances have been uniquely assigned for all the compounds and electronic absorptions have been attributed to π → π ∗ transitions located in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum. Reduction of the heterocycles occurs at the imine nitrogen bridge and is irreversible, except for the ligand resulting from the condensation of 4,5-diazafluoren-9-one with hydrazine.
Getting to Know You: Discovering User Behaviors and Their Implications for Service Design

As public services librarians, we often find ourselves in the position of training patrons how to use technology, or as Aaron Tay put it in a recent blog post, we have to “teach the button” (Tay, 2...