cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A damage assessment for wind turbine blades from heavy atmospheric particles

A numerical study of how to simulate heavy atmospheric particle collisions with a 38-m, 1.5-MW horizontal axis wind turbine blade is discussed. Two types of particles were considered, namely hailstones and rain drops. Computations were performed by using a two-dimensional inviscid flowfield solver along with a particle position predictor code. Three blade sections were considered: at 35% span and characterized by a DU 97-W-300 airfoil, at 70% span with a DU 96-W-212 airfoil, and at 90% span using a DU 96-W-180 airfoil. The three blade sections are constituted by 8-ply carbon/epoxy panels, coated with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Hailstone and raindrop simulations were performed to estimate the location of the striking occurrences and the blade surface area subject to damage. Results show that the impact locations along the blade are a function of airfoil angle of attack, local relative velocity, airfoil shape, aerodynamics and mass of the particle. Hailstones were found to collide on nearly every portion of the blade section along their trajectory due to their insensitivity to the blade flowfield. The damaged surface areas were found to be small when compared to the overall impingement surface, and most of delamination damage was localized on the blade leading edge. Moreover, panel delamination occurred for outboard sections, when r=R 0.90. The damage due to raindrops was divided in an erosive and a fatigue contribution due to the impact force. It was observed that the erosive damage follows the cubic power of the blade velocity, whereas the impact force follows the square power of the blade velocity. Moreover, it was seen that the rain drops are sensitive to the blade flowfield, due to shape modifications through the Weber number. In particular, a sensitive behavior of the damage with respect to the blade angle of attack was observed.
Analytical Review: Certain Hemolytic Mechanisms in Hemolytic Anemia

The factors which normally limit the life of the red cell are described as being a continuous metabolic process involving the enzymatic oxidation of Hb and a terminal event, which may be hemolysis, fragmentation or phagocytosis. A number of lytic substances, such as soaps, lipids and lysolecithin-like substances can be extracted from plasma and from tissues. These substances are associated with inhibitors and accelerators to form complexes. The activity of these naturally occurring hemolytic complexes tends to be small, although it can increase to such an extent that appreciable red cell destruction results. Instances are given in which hemolysis in vivo results from the concentration of one of these lysins increasing (as when fat is fed), from an accelerator of one of the lysins being introduced (usually as a drug), and from the concentration of inhibitory material being reduced (as by a low cholesterol diet). Most hemolytic episodes are due to the establishment of a new hemolytic mechanism, which may appear after the introduction of a drug, of an agglutinin such as silicic acid or ricin, of an immune agglutinin which is not itself a hemolysin or of an agglutinin which is a lysin in the presence of complement. The various mechanisms which may result in hemolysis are discussed. The case in which the agglutinin becomes a lysin in the presence of complement presents no difficulty; in other cases the mechanism of hemolysis is not so clear, nor is it clear whether red cell destruction depends primarily on hemolysis or primarily on phagocytosis. Special processes are involved in the destruction of red cells which have intrinsic defects of structure. The abnormally thick red cells of congenital hemolytic icterus are selectively sequestered in the spleen, where there are a number of hemolytic mechanisms which can destroy them the more readily because of their abnormal shape. The sickle cell, with its poor osmotic properties, its reduced mechanical fragility, and its tendency to lose part of its structure as filaments at each disk-sickle transformation, is destroyed by processes which are probably hemolytic but less easy to specify. The flat red cells of Mediterranean disease are abnormally prone to fragmentation. In all these diseases the abnormal shape of the red cell seems to be accompanied by peculiarities in its contained hemoglobin, an observation which requires further study before its significance is clear.
Hippocampal astrocytes in situ exhibit calcium oscillations that occur independent of neuronal activity.

Results presented in this study indicate that a large subpopulation (∼65%) of hippocampal astrocytes in situ exhibit calcium oscillations in the absence of neuronal activity. Further, the spontaneo...
Other Responses to the Holocaust

T he first official recognition that Nazi Germany was pursuing a war of extermination against the Jews—the Allied Declaration of December 17, 1942— generated public and media criticism that Britain and the United States were not doing anything to halt the slaughter. During a late March 1943 trip to the United States, British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden engaged in preliminary discussions in preparation for a joint American-British conference on refugee problems. This conference, scheduled to take place in Bermuda in April 1943, was arranged in part to show that the two governments were working on saving lives. The State Department and the Bermuda Conference Rabbi Stephen Wise of the American Jewish Congress and Joseph M. Proskauer of the American Jewish Committee met with Eden while he was in the United States and asked him for an Allied declaration calling upon Hitler to permit Jews to leave Nazi-occupied Europe. Eden rejected this idea as “fantastically impossible,” also repudiating their hope of shipping food to starving Jews in Europe. In a meeting later that day with high State Department officials, Eden warned that Hitler might take the Allies up on an appeal to release large numbers of Jews, and that there were not enough ships and means of transportation in the world to handle them. (German U-boats, in fact, were destroying Allied ships in the Atlantic faster than new ships could be built: an Allied invasion of North Africa in the fall of 1942 suffered from insufficient shipping.)
For-Profit Companies, Shops, and Commercial Landlords

A central source of conflict between religious freedom and sexual freedom arises in the context of for-profit entities such as shops, closely held corporations, commercial landlords, and many other venues. Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hobby Lobby , it was unclear whether these entities would be protected under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). As set forth in Chapter 2, prior to Hobby Lobby there were strong legal arguments that for-profit entities are not protected, or even if theoretically protected, they are not able to experience a substantial burden on religion in the same ways as an individual or a religious entity because of the many constituencies involved in operating and patronizing a for-profit entity. We no longer live in that world. The Supreme Court's decision in Hobby Lobby makes it clear that today closely held for-profit businesses are protected, at least under the federal RFRA. This is not the end of the discussion, however, because some of the biggest issues that arise in the context of for-profit entities involve religious accommodations that conflict with civil rights and antidiscrimination laws. As I have noted repeatedly, even when a RFRA exists to provide protection for religious freedom, there is no guarantee that all religious freedom claims will be successful. Government may still burden religion when it has a compelling (extremely important) interest and the law that burdens the freedom of religion is narrowly tailored to meet that interest. This issue has been analyzed in several cases; in most of these cases, religious exemptions were denied because the exemption would conflict with antidiscrimination laws. In fact, this is the likely result in most cases involving for-profit entities claiming a right to discriminate under a religious freedom law. Moreover, many states do not yet have religious freedom laws. In these states, it is possible that any future law could exclude for-profit entities – or at least public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants, and catering halls – from the definition of “person” under the law, which would prevent these entities from being protected. This is the approach I advocate because it supports the passage of state RFRAs, which are often essential to protect religious freedom, while protecting against discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and other services available to the general public.
Partitioned Memory Models for Program Analysis

Scalability is a key challenge in static analysis. For imperative languages like C, the approach taken for modeling memory can play a significant role in scalability. In this paper, we explore a family of memory models called partitioned memory models which divide memory up based on the results of a points-to analysis. We review Steensgaard’s original and field-sensitive points-to analyses as well as Data Structure Analysis (DSA), and introduce a new cell-based points-to analysis which more precisely handles heap data structures and type-unsafe operations like pointer arithmetic and pointer casting. We give experimental results on benchmarks from the software verification competition using the program verification framework in Cascade. We show that a partitioned memory model using our cell-based points-to analysis outperforms models using other analyses.
The Bird’s-Eye View from a Worm’s-Eye Perspective

Digital cartographic data are generally encoded either as drawings of discrete shapes or as images of continuously varying conditions. These vector and raster formats differ in terms that are not only operational but also conceptual. To explore the kind of thinking that distinguishes raster processing, several brief examples are presented in the form of classroom brainteasers. These are offered in support of a contention that raster operations are better understood from a local, rather than global, point of view.
Gene Expression Profiling of Bulk CD138+ Plasma Cells in Preneoplastic Gammopathy/Asymptomatic Myeloma Identifies Distinct Subsets of Patients.

Gene expression profiling of plasma cells (GEP-PC) has provided major insights into myeloma pathobiology. However the data about GEP-PC in preneoplastic gammopathy (MGUS) or asymptomatic myeloma (AM) are limited, and gene expression patterns that might predict outcome in these patients have not been defined. We analyzed GEP (using U133Plus Affymetrix microarrays), of plasma cells isolated by immuno-magnetic bead selection with CD138 microbeads, from the bone marrow of patients with MGUS (n=16) and asymptomatic myeloma (AM; n=18) enrolled in a prospective South West Oncology Group (SWOG) observational study. Data from normal plasma cells (PCs) and from 105 myeloma PCs were included as controls. Myeloma PCs were randomly selected to include at least 15 patients from each of the 7 subgroups previously identified based on GEP of myeloma tumor cells (Zhan and Shaughnessy, ASH 2004). After the suppression of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes, there were 1297 genes that significantly differed in expression between MGUS-PCs and MM-PCs, and 1099 genes that differed between MGUS-PCs and normal PCs with a 1% false discovery rate. Hierarchical cluster analysis of all samples was performed using 1000 plasma cell signature genes that were most differentially expressed between normal and myeloma PCs. These data demonstrated that both MGUS and AM samples were distributed between normal and MM samples. A prediction analysis of microarrays (PAM) model (PNAS99:6567, 2002) utilizing 134 genes was then developed to determine if the signature from these genes in MGUS/AM was more similar to normal or to myeloma plasma cells. In this analysis, 11/16 (69%) of the MGUS samples were more similar to normal PC, compared to 6/18 (33%) of the AM samples (p=0.04). At present, there are no reliable phenotypic markers to distinguish between normal and malignant PCs within the bulk CD138+ population. Gene expression spikes for cyclin D1 and MAF/MAF-B were seen in both MGUS and AM cohorts, including in some patients with normal PC signature. These data provide the largest comparison to date, of GEP of PCs in preneoplastic versus malignant gammopathies and suggest that GEP may be a useful tool to prospectively identify subsets of patients within the MGUS/AM population with dominant normal PC or MM PC signatures, and potentially differing prognosis. Further analysis of differentially expressed genes between MGUS/MM PCs identified in this dataset may allow insights into the genomic changes in tumor cells underlying the malignant progression of myeloma.
Solute Transport at Low Flow in an Acid Stream in Appalachian Ohio

The spatial variability in chemical composition of water and sediments along Snow Fork, a stream draining 70 km2 of southeastern Ohio, was investigated under low-flow conditions. The stream is affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) beginning atEssex Mine, an abandoned mine opening, and extending 23 km downstream to the confluence with Monday Creek. Volumetric discharge and changes in stream water and sediment metalconcentrations were examined to identify chemical interactionsand processes controlling the transport and fate of metalcontaminants. The stream loses water to the groundwater system insome sections. The water loss probably occurs through fracturesconnecting the stream to underlying underground coal mines. Massbalance (loading) and mineral saturation index calculations wereused to identify metal sources and sinks. Dissolved metal loadingincreases downstream along the length of Snow Fork, despite theprecipitation of metals as hydroxides in the streambed,indicating multiple groundwater sources of AMD along the flowpath. Relatively high dissolved metal concentrations and lowsediment metal concentrations occur where the pH is low,indicating that local sediment-water interaction dominates masstransfer between sediments and water. Calculated mineralsaturation indexes indicate that aluminum and iron hydroxidesprecipitate in some stream segments and dissolve in others. X-raydiffractograms of sediments show two distinct mineral groups.Amorphous or weakly crystalline minerals dominate one group foundnear the stream headwaters near the underground mine. Crystallinemineral phases dominate the sediments downstream. Thesediffractograms contain the primary peaks for quartz, kaoliniteand illite all of which constitute the local sandstones, shalesor underclay. Peaks of amorphous phases of iron and manganese,if present, are obscured. The implications of these findings arethat the transport of metals in sediments may be as important asdissolved metal transport in estimating the overall stream load,particularly if downstream sources of AMD may remobilize metalsfrom soluble precipitates.
Echocardiographic predictors of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Aims To determine if markers of diastolic dysfunction are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) development among patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Methods and results We examined the association of several echocardiographic measures of diastolic dysfunction with incident AF in 573 patients (mean age = 68 ± 9.5 years; 48% men; 79% white) with HFpEF from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist Trial (TOPCAT) who were free of baseline AF. Echocardiograms were analysed at a core laboratory. Incident AF cases were identified by follow-up study electrocardiograms and review of relevant medical records through May of 2013. Over a median follow-up of 3 years, 40 patients developed AF (incidence rate = 2.2 per 100 person years). Increasing values of the E/A ratio [per 0.1 increase: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.17], left atrial volume (per 5 mL increase: HR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03-1.23), and left atrial area (per 5 cm2 increase: HR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.03-2.22) were associated with greater risk of AF. The risk of AF decreased with increasing peak A wave velocities (per 10 cm/s increase: HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.72-0.96). The risk of AF was not materially altered when peak A wave velocity was further adjusted for left atrial volume (HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.71-0.96) and area (HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.71-0.96). However, the associations of left atrial volume (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.99-1.22) and area (HR = 1.48, 95% CI = 0.96-2.28) were no longer significant when accounting for peak A wave velocity. Conclusion Diastolic parameters of left atrial function possibly are more important markers of AF risk than left atrial dilation in HFpEF.
Toward a Decarceral Sexual Autonomy: Biopolitics and the Compounds of Projected Deviance in Carceral Space

Abstract This essay examines the rhetorical and structural divides between the “inside” and “outside” carceral world as they exist within the intersections of racialized state violence and biopolitics. It is also a reflection on my embodied experience, as a volunteer and activist, inside penal and correctional facilities, not in an attempt to center my “freeworld” body as more important than the embodied experiences of incarcerated people, but rather to trouble that binary altogether and to use my experience as a perceived outsider to illuminate what I call the compounds of projected deviance . I will use my experiences working in jails as well as my experiences teaching yoga in an addiction correctional facility to argue for prison abolition and transformative justice, particularly in relation to resettlement. Drawing on the work of prison and queer studies, I argue that space, race, and sexuality interlock in significant ways in historical and contemporary prisons and jails. I will also use my reflections to argue that the feminist project of sexual liberation and autonomy must start with a rejection of sexual Othering for the most marginalized members of society: incarcerated people.
Hyper-oligodendrogenesis at the vascular niche and reduced blood-brain barrier integrity in the prefrontal cortex during protracted abstinence.

Abstract Alcoholism is a relapsing disorder with limited treatment options, in part due to our limited understanding of the disease etiology. We have recently shown that increased ethanol-seeking in a behavioral model of relapse in a rat model of alcoholism was associated with increased oligodendrogenesis which was positively correlated with platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1) expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The current study investigated whether newly born oligodendrocytes form close physical associations with endothelial cells expressing PECAM-1 and whether these changes were accompanied by altered blood–brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Colableling and confocal analysis demonstrate that newly born oligodendroglia were always located in close physical proximity to PECAM-1 in the mPFC of rats that were ethanol dependent and demonstrated high propensity for relapse. Notably, the endothelial proximity of new oligodendrocytes was associated with reduced expression of endothelial barrier antigen (SMI-71), a marker for BBB integrity. Furthermore, voluntary wheel running during abstinence enhanced SMI-71 expression in endothelial cells, indicating protection against abstinence-induced reduction in BBB integrity. Taken together, these results suggest that ethanol experience and abstinence disrupts homeostasis in the oligo-vascular niche in the mPFC. Reversing these mechanisms may hold the key to reducing propensity for relapse in individuals with moderate to severe alcohol use disorder.
Food-Borne Outbreaks: What's New, What's Not, and Where Do We Go from Here?

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with food-borne outbreaks and focuses on a few recent outbreaks in order to highlight the investigative needs of the molecular epidemiologist and microbial forensic scientist in establishing sound attribution strategies. Food-borne illness, one of humankind's oldest recognized maladies, can be caused by any of more than 250 microbiological, physical, and chemical agents. Illness can be the result of intoxication by a toxin contained naturally within a food or beverage. Illness can occur by infection caused by ingestion of a microbial contaminant in food such as S. typhimurium. Food-borne illnesses are usually self-limiting, manifesting with only moderate morbidity and low mortality consequences. Food-borne outbreaks cause considerable angst among the populace at large and wreak havoc on industry, the economy, and our society. Both S. enterica and E. coli O157:H7 thus are considered potential biothreat agents, that is, microbes that may be used intentionally to taint our food supply with the intention of causing illnesses, instilling fear, and inciting distrust of our food supply. Food-borne illnesses create many nuances and intricacies that may challenge public health and law enforcement professionals in discerning between an accidental and an intentional contamination of our food supply. It is important to question what methods are used to underpin proper attribution; how bacterial diversity is assessed; and what the common microbial forensic lexicon is to discriminate contextually words such as strain, variant, and isolate and descriptors such as rare, indistinguishable, most likely, and clonal.
Ambivalence on the multiplicity of mammalian aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase.

Hydroxytryptophan is decarboxylated to 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase which requires pyridoxal phosphate and is widely distributed throughout mammalian tissues, occurring most abundantly in the pineal gland, liver, kidney, adrenal medulla, and striatum. Earlier studies concluded that 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase (which catalyzes the decarboxylation of dopa, producing dopamine) and 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase (which catalyzes the decarboxylation of 5-hydroxytryptophan, yielding serotonin) are the same enzyme, which the IUPAC Commission on Biomedical Nomenclature in 1972 named aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.28). However, recent studies have questioned the validity of a single enzyme capable of decarboxylating both substrates. For example, since the pineal gland accumulates a large concentration of serotonin, melatonin and other indoleamines, it is assumed that the enzyme functions as a 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase. On the other hand, since the striatum and the adrenal medulla accumulate mainly dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine, it is felt that the enzyme primarily decarboxylates dopa. Other factors dealing with the complexity of catalytic process are the results of reports revealing that both dopa decarboxylase and histidine decarboxylase exhibit complete immunochemical cross reactivity, suggesting the presence of similar antigenic recognition sites.
Testimony and Coherence

Testimony is important both practically and intellectually. We rely on it for our grasp of history, geography, science, and more. We stake our time and fortune, and even our lives, on our beliefs. Which plane to board, what to eat or drink, the instrument readings to accept — all decided through testimony.
A role for cytokines as regulators of hepatic fibrogenesis

It is evident that hepatic fibrogenesis is a complex process involving a cascade of cytokines which interact to enhance the expression of ECM. Cytokines involved early in this cascade may serve as proinflammatory agents or as stimulators of macrophage and Ito cell activation and proliferation, while those cytokines involved later in this process may be directly fibrogenic. Furthermore, we speculate that a balance between profibrogenic and antifibrogenic cytokines normally exists but in the presence of hepatic insults, a relative superabundance of the fibrogenic factors promotes the development of liver fibrosis. To date, most of the evidence supporting a role for cytokines in liver fibrosis has been obtained inin vitro systems or in animal models. We now need to extend these findings to man in order to determine whether a similar cascade of cytokines is important in the development of this pathologic process in man. Further delineation of these cytokines (as well as other profibrogenic soluble factors), and the mechanisms by which they act, are critical to our development of more rational forms of therapy for liver fibrosis.
Aerial photos for assessment of forest decline - A multinational overview

Forest decline has affected a number of tree species worldwide in recent years. Although the causes of this decline are not clearly understood, some have suggested that increased levels of human-caused pollutants such as acid rain, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and heavy metals may be significant factors in predisposing trees to decline. A series of special inventories has acquired data on the location, intensity, and trends of forest decline. Remote sensing, especially with large- and medium-scale color infrared (CIR) aerial photos, has been an integral part of these inventories. This paper reviews the use of aerial photos for assessment of forest decline in the US, Mexico, and West Germany.
Promotion of diabetes onset by stress in the BB rat

The purpose of the present study was to address the question of whether environmental stress affects the age of onset and incidence of overt insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in an animal model of human Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Thirty-five diabetes prone BB rats of both sexes were divided into two groups: experimental animals were exposed to multiple, concurrent, and unpredictable environmental stressors, while littermate controls were exposed to a standard lab environment. Groups were housed in two separate, sound attenuated, independently ventilated, and restricted rooms. By age 150 days, experimental group animals had developed overt diabetes at a significantly earlier age.
Abstract P266: Western Diet Impairs Small Vessel Relaxation and Initiates Kidney Endothelial Stiffening, Fibrosis and Tubulointerstitial Fibrosis Through the Endothelial Mineralocorticoidreceptor

Obesity enhances mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) activation, development of vascular stiffness and end organ injury. In this context, western diet (WD) activation of the endothelial mineralocortico...
How Contexts Matter: A Framework for Understanding the Role of Contexts in Equity-Focused Educational Leadership

In this article, I put forth a framework for thinking about how contexts matter. This framework highlights organizational, occupational, personal, and social contexts that influence leadership, whi...
Internal surgical drainage for bile lakes following hepatoportoenterostomy for biliary atresia

Abstract Bile lakes may be present at time of diagnosis or develop later following hepatoportoenterostomy (HPE) in patients with biliary atresia (BA). We report a patient with recurrent cholangitis following HPE who developed multiple large biliary cystic lesions. Percutaneous drainage resulted in resolution of jaundice and cholangitis but capping of drains resulted in recurrence of symptoms. Therefore, internal drainage of the bile lakes was accomplished using cystjejunostomy to the roux limb of the previous portoenterostomy. At 18 months of follow-up, the patient has remained jaundice free with only one recurrent cholangitis episode which occurred after stopping her antibiotic prophylaxis. Although this patient will likely require liver transplantation in the next few years, this case suggests that cystjejunostomy may be a viable surgical option to improve bile flow and prevent cholangitis in patients who develop bile lakes following HPE.
Examining intersectionality and inclusivity in geosciences education research: A synthesis of the literature 2008–2018

This article reviews geoscience education research published since the December 2007 “Broadening Participation” issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education to examine how research in the field has...
The Nature of Sound

While the vibrating strings of guitars and violins are plainly visible, the sound that they produce in air is invisible. We often associate sound with air because we are used to hearing sounds that reach our ears from the air. We also learn that in the absence of air, sound cannot propagate—movies with sound propagating in outer space, not withstanding. The fact that air is so transparent is not the issue here: Sound travels through liquids such as water and solids such as steel, as well as other gases such as air; nevertheless, we cannot see sound propagating through liquids or solids either. So, what is sound? That is the first subject of this chapter. Once we understand the nature of sound, we will go on to study the modes of vibration of air that is contained in pipes, that is, air columns. These are the basic components for all wind instruments, such as the recorder, flute, and trumpet.
Acoustic properties for dental and alveolar stop consonants: a cross-language study

Abstract: This study explored whether there exists an invariant acoustic property which can distinguish dental from alveolar stop consonants. Experiment I investigated dental and alveolar stops in Malayalam, a language which uses these sounds contrastively. It was found that a measure of the rms amplitude of the burst normalized to the rms amplitude of the vowel could distinguish the two classes of stop consonants. The rms amplitude of alveolar stops is larger than that of dental stops. Using a difference of approximately 14 dB between the amplitude of the burst and that of the vowel as a cut-off between denter and alveolar stops, 91.8% of the data could be classified correctly. Experiment II explored whether the metric established for Malayalam could correctly characterize dental and alveolar stops in two languages that have either dental or alveolar stops, but that do not contrast these two classes of stop consonants. The burst amplitude for English CV and for Dutch CV(C) syllables was analysed. Results showed that for English only 68.2% of the alveolars, and for Dutch only 63.2% of the dentals, were classified correctly. Implications of these findings for a theory of acoustic invariance are discussed.
Near-Optimal Quantization for LoS MIMO with QPSK Modulation

As signaling bandwidths increase, analog-to-digital conversion becomes a fundamental bottleneck for modern all-digital baseband signal processing architectures. Motivated by emerging millimeter (mm) wave communication systems, we investigate the impact of severe quantization for 2 × 2 and 4×4 line-of-sight (LoS) multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) systems employing QPSK. Unlike prior work on MIMO with low-precision quantization, channel state information is utilized only at the receiver (i.e., transmit precoding is not employed). Rather than designing an optimal quantizer, we focus on quantizers with regular structure, and ask whether high-SNR performance approaches that of an unquantized system. First, we prove for a 2×2 MIMO system that phase-only quantization (attractive because it does not require automatic gain control) is unable to achieve this, but that 2-level amplitude and 8-level phase quantization can achieve the maximum data rate of 4 bits per channel use as SNR gets large. We then show that quantizer design based on conventional minimum mean squared quantization error (MMSQE) criterion performs worse than a quantizer based on equal-probability regions. We show that I/Q quantization with 16 regions per antenna using the equal probability criterion achieves the unquantized benchmark at high SNR, which is a maximum data rate of 8 bits per channel use. We illustrate our investigations via numerical examples.
Teoría normativa y Psicología descriptiva en la comprensión del razonamiento causal: Papel de las intervenciones y la invarianza

This paper explores some relationships between, on the one hand, normative philosophical theories of causation and causal reasoning and, on the other hand, descriptive theories of causal cognition of the sort produced in psychology. These issues are discussed from the perspective of an interventionist account of causation. The focus is on what I call distinctions among causal relationships in terms of such features as invariance, specificity and proportionality and the psychological significance of these. It is argued that normative and descriptive theorizing about causation have a great deal to learn from each other.
The diagnostic value of lung ultrasound in neonatal infectious pneumonia

The lung ultrasound develops rapidly in recent years.We investigated the ultrasonic diagnostic value of neonatal infectious pneumonia on the basis of our experience in diagnosing adults′ and children′s infectious pneumonia.The result confirms the reliability and effectiveness of lung ultrasound in diagnosing neonatal infectious pneumonia.We believe that the diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound will be improved a lot with the popularization of lung ultrasound, in combination with the supervision of patients′ conditions as well as routine clinical diagnosis and treatment procedures. Key words: Neonates; Infectious pneumonia; Lung ultrasound
Risk communication in cyberspace: a brief review of the information-processing and mental models approaches.

Effective risk communication in cyberspace is critical for users to understand the potential security risks and make secure decisions. Two approaches to risk communication originating from psychology, the human information-processing approach and the mental-models approach, have been widely applied in other research fields of risk communication. The human information-processing approach characterizes the human as a communication system, with risk-communication information from a source delivered to the receiver, who processes the information via various stages. The mental-models approach emphasizes the importance of understanding experts’ and non-experts’ mental models, comparing these models, and drafting and evaluating risk-communication messages. With an overview of these two approaches and their applications, the goal of this paper is to provide insights for future use of these approaches in cybersecurity.
Proliferating osteoblasts are necessary for maximal bone anabolic response to loading in mice.

Following mechanical loading, osteoblasts may arise via activation, differentiation, or proliferation to form bone. Our objective was to ablate proliferating osteoblast lineage cells in order to investigate the importance of these cells as a source for loading-induced bone formation. We utilized 3.6Col1a1-tk mice in which replicating osteoblast lineage cells can be ablated in an inducible manner using ganciclovir (GCV). Male and female mice were aged to 5- and 12-months and subjected to 5 days of tibial compression. "Experimental" mice were tk-positive, treated with GCV; "control" mice were either tk-negative treated with GCV, or tk-positive treated with PBS. We confirmed that experimental mice had a decrease in tk-positive cells that arose from proliferation. Next, we assessed bone formation after loading to low (7N) and high (11N) forces and observed that periosteal bone formation rate in experimental mice was reduced by approximately 70% for both forces. Remarkably, woven bone formation induced by high-force loading was blocked in experimental mice. Loading-induced lamellar bone formation was diminished but not prevented in experimental mice. We conclude that osteoblast proliferation induced by mechanical loading is a critical source of bone forming osteoblasts for maximal lamellar formation and is essential for woven bone formation.
Ascetics, kings, and the ‘triumphs’ of Vaiṣṇavism in Mughal India: myth and memory in the many lives of Krishnadās Payahārī from Rajasthan to the Western Himalayas

This paper interrogates popular narratives regarding the spread of Vaiṣṇavism in early modern North India through an examination of the memory of the Rāmānandī ascetic and bhakti saint Krishnadās P...
Children's altruism following acute stress: The role of autonomic nervous system activity and social support.

Altruistic behavior after stress exposure may have important health and psychological benefits, in addition to broader societal consequences. However, so far experimental research on altruism following acute stress has been limited to adult populations. The current study utilized an experimental design to investigate how altruistic donation behavior among children may be influenced by (a) exposure to an acute social stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test modified for use with children (TSST-M), (b) individual differences in stress physiology, and (c) social support from a parent. The sample consisted of 180 children (54.9% male, 45.1% female; mean age = 9.92 years, SD = 0.56 years) randomly assigned to one of three conditions involving the TSST-M: (a) prepare for the TSST-M alone, (b) prepare for the TSST-M with a parent, and (c) no-stress control group. Results revealed that children made larger donations post-stressor if they were alone before the acute stressor, if they had moderate cardiac autonomic balance, reflecting both parasympathetic and sympathetic influence, and if they were older. Children who prepared for the TSST-M with social support from a parent made comparable donations as children in the no-stress control group, in accord with stress buffering models. Increased altruism following acute stress among children suggests that a comprehensive understanding of the human stress response needs to incorporate "tend-and-befriend" behavior-the tendency for humans to show increased altruistic behavior during times of distress.
Concordance of mother-child respiratory sinus arrythmia is continually moderated by dynamic changes in emotional content of film stimuli.

Abstract Evidence suggests that concordance between parent and child physiological states is an important marker of interpersonal interaction. However, studies have focused on individual differences in concordance, and we have limited understanding of how physiological concordance may vary dynamically based on the situational context. We examined whether mother-child physiological concordance was moderated by dynamic changes in emotional content of a film clip they viewed together. Second-by-second estimates of respiratory sinus arrythmia were obtained from mothers and children (N = 158, Mchild age = 45.16 months) as they viewed a chase scene from a children’s film. In addition, the film clip’s negative emotional content was rated second-by-second. Results showed that mother-child dyads displayed positive physiological concordance only in seconds when there was an increase in the clip’s negative emotional content. Thus, dynamic changes in mother-child physiological concordance may indicate dyadic responses to challenge.
Picking sides: feeding on the abaxial leaf surface is costly for caterpillars

The study provides us with the evidence that caterpillars tend to feed on the abaxial leaf surface despite the damage caused to them because of higher trichome density. To defend against herbivory, plants have evolved physical and chemical defense mechanisms, including trichomes (hair like appendages on leaves and stem) being one of them. Caterpillars, a major group of insect herbivores are generally found to occupy the abaxial (underside) leaf surface, considered as an avoidance mechanism from biotic and abiotic stresses. Since trichomes are a first line of defense, we examined the correlation between abaxial vs adaxial (above side) trichomes and caterpillar feeding, behavior, and growth. A combination of field, lab and microscopy experiments were performed using tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), a Solanaceae specialist caterpillar, and multiple host species. We found that M. sexta caterpillars overwhelmingly preferred to stay and feed on the abaxial leaf surface, but the abaxial leaf surface also had significantly more trichomes, and consequently, caterpillars took significantly longer to commence feeding. In addition, lab-based diet experiment containing shaved trichomes showed that feeding on the abaxial leaf surface with more trichomes also affected caterpillar growth. Taken together, our study shows that although caterpillars prefer to feed on the abaxial leaf surface, they accrue feeding delays and developmental constraints, indicating tradeoffs affecting performance, and exposure to predation and abiotic stressors.
“Just solving for x”: Retrospective narratives of opportunities of learn on hyper-accelerated algebra I pathways

Abstract The study of Algebra I in Grade 7 or earlier in the United States is often a marker of mathematical competence in competition for elite college admissions. Students who hyper-accelerate their study of Algebra I are presumed to be successful from a content perspective of opportunity to learn (OTL) which uses standardized test scores and completed course transcripts as metrics. This phenomenological study layers two narrative analysis techniques to interpret OTL in the retrospective stories of 15 hyper-accelerated students who graduated from the same high school. Selection for Grade 7 Algebra I was a necessity to preserve their identities of smartness. As they reflected upon their OTL in subsequent courses, participants described evolving beliefs about themselves as being “good” at mathematics in terms of competition, help seeking, conceptual understanding, and appropriate challenge seeking. Their lived experiences raise critical questions about tracking and equitable access to meaningful mathematics for all students.
Snare-Assisted Valve Positioning of Self-Expanding Valves for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Abstract We describe 4 cases in which technical challenges were anticipated in delivering a self-expanding TAVR valve due to challenging aortic anatomy or a previous placed surgical aortic valve. A...
Sexual Health and Function in Menopause and Beyond

Despite a common misperception that sex decreases with age, the majority of women aged 65 to 74 have sexual encounters two or three times per month. Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is characterized by personal distress regarding arousal, desire, orgasm or pain, and is especially common during the menopausal transition. FSD often presents with a combination of physical, psychological, and interpersonal components, and co-occurs with medical conditions such as depression, anxiety, incontinence, and thyroid disease. To provide comprehensive care for menopausal and older women, it is important to incorporate questions about sexual health into your routine history, with an eye toward identifying potential factors that could lead to sexual dysfunction and are amenable to intervention. Simply having educational materials displayed in your clinic or administering relevant screening tools, perhaps at annual well woman exams, can encourage discussion of sexual concerns. While there are unique diagnoses, such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, female sexual interest/arousal disorder (FSAD), and female orgasmic disorder, these diagnoses often co-occur and recommended therapies often overlap. Treatment is almost always multifactorial. Treatment may include medical comorbidity management, psychological and behavioral interventions, medications, devices, sexual aids, and pelvic floor physical therapy. With appropriate treatment, most patients will have significant improvement in sexual function.
Neither Wild nor Cultivated: American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) Seller Surveys Provide Insights into in situ Planting and Husbandry1

Neither Wild nor Cultivated: American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) Seller Surveys Provide Insights into in situ Planting and Husbandry. American ginseng has been gathered commercially in eastern North America for nearly 300 years. A possible contemporary influence on wild supplies is the augmentation of wild ginseng populations by harvesters using commercially available stock from cultivation. We utilized a confidential, annual survey over eight years (2012–2019) in Pennsylvania, United States, to examine the extent to which forest planting of commercial germplasm may account for wild ginseng harvest amounts. Three in ten (28%) root sellers reported that some of the ginseng they sold as “wild” was produced using in situ production methods involving scattering seeds in the forest. One in four (26%) of planters reported using commercially available planting stock in these efforts. Moreover, there was geographic overlap between study participants and the top wild ginseng harvest counties, suggesting planting activities might contribute partially to higher harvest amounts. Respondents confided a hesitancy towards reporting ginseng planting activities on buyer paperwork, as is increasingly being requested, fearing price devaluation, theft, taxation, and disagreement over what constitutes “wild.” Our results suggest that an improved understanding of U.S. wild ginseng origins and trends, especially as influenced by in situ planting and forest farming, will require confidential reporting mechanisms to accommodate seller concerns surrounding disclosure.
Achieving Real-Time Spectrum Sharing in 5G Underlay Coexistence with Channel Uncertainty

Underlay coexistence is a spectrum efficient mechanism to roll out 5G picocells within a macrocell on the same spectrum. Due to a lack of cooperation between the primary users (PUs) in the macrocell and secondary users (SUs) in the picocells, it is impossible to have complete knowledge of channel conditions between them. Under such a circumstance, chance-constrained programming (CCP) has been shown to be an ideal optimization tool to address such a channel uncertainty. However, solutions to CCP are computationally intensive and cannot meet 5G's timing requirement (125 s). To address this problem, we propose a novel scheduler called GPU-based Underlay Coexistence (GUC) with the goal of finding an approximate solution to CCP in real-time. The essence of GUC is to decompose the original optimization problem into a large number of small subproblems that are suitable for parallel computation on GPU platforms. By selecting a subset of promising subproblems and solving them in parallel with fast algorithms, we are able to leverage GPU parallel computing and develop a real-time solution. Through extensive experiments, we show that GUC meets the 125 s requirement while achieving 90% optimality on average.
What Is Dysplastic Nevus

The dictionary defines dysplastic as an “abnormal growth or development of cells, tissue, bone, or organ” and nevus as “any congenital anomaly of the skin, including moles and various types of birthmarks,” or “any congenital growth or pigmented blemish on the skin; birthmark or mole.” So what is dysplastic nevus?
On Using Code Emulators and Monte Carlo Estimation to Predict Assembly Attributes of Spent Fuel Assemblies for Safeguards Applications

The quantification of the plutonium mass in spent nuclear fuel assemblies is an important measurement for nuclear safeguards practitioners. A program is well underway to develop nondestructive assa...