cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spread and backwash effects for nonmetropolitan communities in the U.S.

Few studies empirically estimate the effects of metropolitan growth on nonmetropolitan communities at a national scale. This paper estimates the growth effects of 276 MSAs on population in 1,988 nonmetropolitan communities in the United States from 2000 to 2007. We estimate the distance for growth spillovers from MSAs to nonmetropolitan communities and test the assumption that a single MSA influences growth. We compare three methods of weighting cities’ influence: nearest city only, inverse-distance, and relative commuting flow to multiple cities. We find the inverse-distance approach provides slightly more reliable and theoretically supportable results than the traditional nearest city approach.
Identification of a Molecular Activator for Insulin Receptor with Potent Anti-diabetic Effects

Insulin exerts its actions through the insulin receptor (IR) and plays an essential role in diabetes. The inconvenient daily injection and undesirable side-effects associated with insulin injection demand novel drugs for the diseases. To search for bioactive insulin mimetics, we developed an in vitro screening assay using phospho-IR ELISA. After screening the small molecule chemical libraries, we have obtained a compound (5,8-diacetyloxy-2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone) that provokes IR activation by directly binding to the receptor kinase domain to trigger its kinase activity at micromolar concentrations. This compound selectively activates IR but not other receptors and sensitizes insulin's action. Moreover, it elevates glucose uptake in adipocytes and has oral hypoglycemic effect in wild-type C57BL/6J mice and db/db and ob/ob mice without demonstrable toxicity. Hence, this promising compound mimics the biological functions of insulin and is useful for further drug development for diabetes treatment.
High available mobile infrastructure applications

High availability is a key requirement in mobile communication systems, especially, when it is used for mission-critical services such as public safety. A failure in the fixed network infrastructure can affect a large number of its users and risk loss of lives. The software applications that run the infrastructure and provide services to the mobile users according to some defined communication protocols play a key role for system availability. However, the real-time peer-to-peer aspects of these protocols pose a real challenge to the development of a recovery method that can work in such environment. In a previous paper, we introduced a new failure recovery approach based on a behavioral model for communication protocols. We extend our model based recovery method to also include infrastructure applications that provide data delivery with QoS. Our experimental results have shown that the method improves the availability of these applications by enabling them to quickly and successfully recover from failures. Moreover, the failure-free overhead caused by this approach is relatively low, and is experimentally found to be less than 5%
Measure theoretic entropy of the system of hard spheres

We estimate from below the measure theoretic entropy of the system of spheres interacting by elastic collisions. We find the asymptotics of the entropy in the case of two disks on atoms as the radius increases. We establish that high density leads to large entropy. We introduce a general estimate for Lyapunov exponents in the case of special symplectic matrices.
White Matter Microstructural Integrity in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes

Decreased white and gray matter volumes have been reported in youth with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), but the effects of hyperglycemia on white matter integrity have not been quantitatively assessed during brain development. We performed diffusion tensor imaging, using two complimentary approaches—region-of-interest and voxelwise tract-based spatial statistics—to quantify white matter integrity in a large retrospective study of T1DM youth and control participants. Exposure to chronic hyperglycemia, severe hyperglycemic episodes, and severe hypoglycemia, as defined in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), were estimated through medical records review, HbA1c levels, and interview of parents and youth. We found lower fractional anisotropy in the superior parietal lobule and reduced mean diffusivity in the thalamus in the T1DM group. A history of three or more severe hyperglycemic episodes was associated with reduced anisotropy and increased diffusivity in the superior parietal lobule and increased diffusivity in the hippocampus. These results add microstructural integrity of white matter to the range of structural brain alterations seen in T1DM youth and suggest vulnerability of the superior parietal lobule, hippocampus, and thalamus to glycemic extremes during brain development. Longitudinal analyses will be necessary to determine how these alterations change with age or additional glycemic exposure.
Shallow, Non-pumped Wells: A Low-Energy Alternative for Cleaning Polluted Groundwater

This modeling study evaluated the capability of non-pumped wells with filter media for preventing contaminant plumes from migrating offsite. Linear configurations of non-pumped wells were compared to permeable reactive barriers in simulated shallow homogeneous and heterogeneous aquifers. While permeable reactive barriers enabled faster contaminant removal and shorter distances of contaminant travel, non-pumped wells also prevented offsite contaminant migration. Overall, results of this study suggest that discontinuous, linear configurations of non-pumped wells may be a viable alternative to much more costly permeable reactive barriers for preventing offsite contaminant travel in some shallow aquifers.
Genomewide motif identification using a dictionary model

This paper surveys and extends models and algorithms for identifying binding sites in noncoding regions of DNA. Binding sites control the transcription of genes into messenger RNA in preparation for translation into proteins. The base sequence of most binding sites is not entirely fixed, with the different permitted spellings collectively constituting a "motif." After summarizing the underlying biological issues, we review three different models for binding site identification. Each model was developed with a different type of dataset as reference. We then present a unified model that borrows from the previous ones and integrates their main features. In our unified model, one can identify motifs and their unknown positions along a sequence. One can also fit the model to data using maximum likelihood and maximum a posteriori algorithms. These algorithms rely on recursive formulas and the maximization/minorization principle. Finally, we conclude with a prospectus of future data analyses and theoretical research.
Androgyny and Occupational Sex-Stereotyping of College Students

Previous studies of occupational sex-stereotypes have focused either on discovering stereotypes of specific occupations or on exploring variables related to occupations that affect such stereotyping. This study investigated psychological androgyny as a possible mediator of occupational sex-stereotyping among college students. Androgynous women showed less stereotyped attitudes about traditionally female occupations than did traditionally sex-typed subjects of both sexes, and they also showed less stereotyping of traditionally male occupations than sex-typed subjects and than androgynous men. There was no difference in the degree of stereotyping by androgynous women of female vs male occupations. The other three groups stereotyped male occupations significantly more than the female occupations.
How much testing is enough? Applying stopping rules to behavioral model testing

Testing behavioral models before they are released to the synthesis and logic design phase is a tedious process, to say the least. A common practice is the test-it-to-death approach in which millions or even billions of vectors are applied and the results are checked for possible bugs. The vectors applied to behavioral models include functional vectors, but the significant amount of the vectors are random in nature, including random combinations of instructions. In this paper, we present and evaluate a stopping rule that can be used to determine when to stop the current testing phase using a given testing technique. We demonstrate the use of the stopping rule on two complex VHDL models that were tested for branch coverage with 4 different testing phases. We compare savings and quality of testing both with and without using the stopping rule.
Programmable termination for CML I/O's in high speed CMOS transceivers

This paper describes I/O circuits that can be used in high-speed transceivers to communicate with next generation and legacy devices. We describe the transmitter and receiver front-end circuits that are designed to operate with dual termination voltage supplies. The receiver characterization, ESD protection and system level power up issues related to gate-oxide and electro-migration reliability are discussed.
Power Consumption and Temperature Increase in Large Area Active-Matrix OLED Displays

We model and analyze the power consumption and resulting temperature rise in active-matrix organic-light-emitting device (AMOLED) displays as a function of the OLED efficiency, display resolution and display size. Power consumption is a critical issue for mobile display applications as it directly impacts battery requirements, and it is also very important for large area applications where it affects the display temperature rise, which directly impacts the panel lifetime. Phosphorescent OLEDs (PHOLEDs) are shown to offer significant advantage as compared to conventional fluorescent OLEDs due to high luminous efficiency resulting in lower pixel currents, reducing both the power consumed in the OLED devices and the series connected driving thin-film transistor (TFT). The power consumption and temperature rise of OLED displays are calculated as a function of the device efficiency, display size, display luminance and the type of backplane technology employed. The impact of using top-emission OLEDs is also discussed.
Effects of long-term feeding of diets containing moniliformin, supplied by Fusarium fujikuroi culture material, and fumonisin, supplied by Fusarium moniliforme culture material, to laying hens

Beginning at 24 wk of age, control diets or diets containing 50 or 100 mg/kg moniliformin (M), 100 or 200 mg/kg fumonisin B1 (FB1), or a combination of 50 mg M and 100 mg FB1/kg of diet were fed to White Leghorn laying hens for 420 d. The hens were then fed the control diet for an additional 60 d. At the beginning of the experiment, each treatment consisted of four replicates of six hens. Egg production was reduced by approximately 50% by the end of the second 28-d laying period and remained at approximately this level for the 420 d in only the hens fed the diet containing 100 mg M/kg feed. Production returned to control levels or above within 60 d after hens were fed the control diet. Egg weights were reduced by the 100-mg M diet during the first three 28-d laying periods before returning to weights comparable with controls. The hens in this group also had significantly lower body weights than the other treatments. Mortality was minimal except in hens fed the 100 mg M/kg diet and the 100 mg FB1/kg diet, on which approximately 20% of the hens died. The hens were artificially inseminated with semen from males fed control diets, and fertility was not affected by the dietary treatments. Importantly, toxic synergy between M and FB1 was not observed for any of the parameters measured. Results indicate that laying hens may be able to tolerate relatively high concentrations of M and FB1 for long periods of time without adversely affecting health and performance. Interestingly, hens fed the 100-mg M/kg diet were able to recover when returned to control diets. The likelihood of encountering M or FB1 at these concentrations in finished feed is small.
Flexible Contextualism about Deontic Modals: A Puzzle about Information-Sensitivity

According to a recent challenge to Kratzer's canonical contextualist semantics for deontic modal expressions, no contextualist view can make sense of cases in which such a modal must be information-sensitive in some way. Here I show how Kratzer's semantics is compatible with readings of the targeted sentences that fit with the data. I then outline a general account of how contexts select parameter values for modal expressions and show, in terms of that account, how the needed, contextualist-friendly readings might plausibly get selected in the challenge cases.
Gyroscopes orbiting black holes: A frequency-domain approach to precession and spin-curvature coupling for spinning bodies on generic Kerr orbits

A small body orbiting a black hole follows a trajectory that, at leading order, is a geodesic of the black hole spacetime. Much effort has gone into computing ``self-force'' corrections to this motion, arising from the small body's own contributions to the system's spacetime. Another correction to the motion arises from coupling of the small body's spin to the black hole's spacetime curvature. Spin-curvature coupling drives a precession of the small body, and introduces a ``force'' (relative to the geodesic) which shifts the small body's worldline. These effects scale with the small body's spin at leading order. In this paper, we show that the equations which govern spin-curvature coupling can be analyzed with a frequency-domain decomposition, at least to leading order in the small body's spin. We show how to compute the frequency of precession along generic orbits, and how to describe the small body's precession and motion in the frequency domain. We illustrate this approach with a number of examples. This approach is likely to be useful for understanding spin coupling effects in the extreme mass ratio limit, and may provide insight into modeling spin effects in the strong field for nonextreme mass ratios.
Regulation of the production of soluble IL-4 receptors in murine cutaneous leishmaniasis. The roles of IL-12 and IL-4.

These studies were undertaken with the purpose of elucidating the key signals involved in the regulation of the production of soluble interleu- kin-4 receptors (sIL-4R) in mice during Th1 and Th2 responses to infection with the parasite Leish- mania major. Our results showed that the produc- tion of sIL-4R was consistently higher in lymph node cell cultures from animals mounting a pre- dominant Th2 response (BALB/c mice), and that sIL-4R production paralleled that of IL-4 in both mouse strains, even in the presence of a dominant Th1 response (C3H/FeJ mice). Consistently, admin- istration of anti-IL-12 antibodies to infected C3H/ FeJ mice induced a switch from a Th1- to a Th2-type response and resulted in enhanced pro- duction of sIL-4R. Addition of rIL-12 to splenic cell cultures, however, was found not to have a direct effect on sIL-4R production induced by IL-4 or T cell mitogens. Moreover, the production of sIL-4R appears to be little influenced by Th1- produced cytokines, inasmuch as recombinant in- terferon-g or supernatants derived from antigen- stimulated Th1 clones did not affect the production of sIL-4R by activated splenic cultures. Despite its correlation with Th2 responses, the presence of IL-4 was not an absolute requirement for the up-regulation of the expression of sIL-4R because increased levels could be induced on cells obtained from IL-4 -/- mice. These results indicate that, al- though enhanced sIL-4R production is a feature related to the activation and/or generation of Th2 responses, it is not absolutely dependent on IL-4 or directly inhibited by IL-12 or Th1 cytokines. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 481-488; 1999.
A scalable approach for data-driven taxi ride-sharing simulation

As urban population grows, cities face many challenges related to transportation, resource consumption, and the environment. Ride sharing has been proposed as an effective approach to reduce traffic congestion, gasoline consumption, and pollution. Despite great promise, researchers and policy makers lack adequate tools to assess tradeoffs and benefits of various ride-sharing strategies. Existing approaches either make unrealistic modeling assumptions or do not scale to the sizes of existing data sets. In this paper, we propose a real-time, data-driven simulation framework that supports the efficient analysis of taxi ride sharing. By modeling taxis and trips as distinct entities, our framework is able to simulate a rich set of realistic scenarios. At the same time, by providing a comprehensive set of parameters, we are able to study the taxi ride-sharing problem from different angles, considering different stakeholders' interests and constraints. To address the computational complexity of the model, we describe a new optimization algorithm that is linear in the number of trips and makes use of an efficient indexing scheme, which combined with parallelization, makes our approach scalable. We evaluate our framework and algorithm using real data — 360 million trips taken by 13,000 taxis in New York City during 2011 and 2012. The results demonstrate that our framework is effective and can provide insights into strategies for implementing city-wide ride-sharing solutions. We describe the findings of the study as well as a performance analysis of the model.
Nonferrous Metals: Production and History

This article starts with a brief history of the use and production of nonferrous metals and the occurrences of the minerals from which they are extracted. The modern methods of producing different groups of metals from minerals found in Earth’s crust are described. This is followed by the types and recycling methods of major metals for which a large percentage of fresh metal is produced from scraps. The article then presents processes of refining and value-addition for selected metals, followed by a discussion of the importance of waste and environmental issues associated with the use and production of nonferrous metals.
Semantic Coherence Facilitates Distributional Learning

Computational models have shown that purely statistical knowledge about words' linguistic contexts is sufficient to learn many properties of words, including syntactic and semantic category. For example, models can infer that "postman" and "mailman" are semantically similar because they have quantitatively similar patterns of association with other words (e.g., they both tend to occur with words like "deliver," "truck," "package"). In contrast to these computational results, artificial language learning experiments suggest that distributional statistics alone do not facilitate learning of linguistic categories. However, experiments in this paradigm expose participants to entirely novel words, whereas real language learners encounter input that contains some known words that are semantically organized. In three experiments, we show that (a) the presence of familiar semantic reference points facilitates distributional learning and (b) this effect crucially depends both on the presence of known words and the adherence of these known words to some semantic organization.
Using adjoint-based approach to study flapping wings

Adjoint-based methods show great potential in flow control and optimization of complex problems with highor infinite-dimensional control space. It is attractive to solve an adjoint problem to understand the complex effects from multiple control parameters to a few performance indicators of the flight of birds or insects. However, the traditional approach to formulate the adjoint problem becomes either impossible or too complex when arbitrary moving boundary (e.g. flapping wings) and its perturbation is considered. Here, we use non-cylindrical calculus to define the perturbation. So that, a simple adjoint system can be derived directly in the inertial coordinate. The approach is applied to optimize the vertical motion of an oscillatory cylinder to match a pre-defined downstream velocity profile. The result quickly converges to the analytical solution.
Customer and Employee Incivility and Its Causal Effects in the Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACTThe present research sought to understand customer and employee incivility in the hospitality industry. The study identified customer actions that are perceived as uncivil by employees and coping strategies used by employees after experiencing uncivil behavior. Finally, service-recovery situations are differentiated from security-related incidents and guidance is offered to hospitality managers regarding the minimization of customer incivility. An empirical survey was distributed to 297 hotel employees. Regression analysis indicated that the effects of customer incivility were an increase in: customer aggression, employee negative emotions, employee-to-customer incivility, employee-to-employee incivility, and employee sensitivity to uncivil acts. The effects of employee-to-employee incivility were increased customer aggression and negative emotions, but decreased sensitivity to uncivil acts. Uncivil behaviors by customers included insulting comments, anger, frustration, verbal attacks, and condesc...
Inhibition of the Photosynthetic Electron Transport of Isolated Chloroplasts by Hemolyzed Rabbit Sera

The photosynthetic reduction of oxygen, which leads to the formation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a consequent net consumption of oxygen (O2) was first discovered by Mehler [1], This reaction has since been termed the “Mehler reaction.” it has been accepted that MV and Fd accept electrons from the primary electron acceptor of PSI (X), refered to as ferredoxin reducing substance (FRS), before transfering an electron to oxygen or NADP [2]. Recent developments in research on the primary electron acceptor of PSI, have shown that a series of electron acceptors is involved before the reduction of Fd [3]. The primary electron acceptor from P700 may be a monomeric chlorophyll anion designated A0 -. Electron transfer probably proceeds to a semiquinone (A1-). The electron acceptors following A1- are three iron sulfur (Fe-S) centers denoted as Fx, Fa and FX. It is still unresolved whether these Fe-S centers act in series or in parallel. The experimental evidence tends to favor the concept that electron transfer to the Fe-S centers, particularly Fa and Fb, is in parallel under physiological conditions. It is not known which one of these electron acceptors (ie. Fx, Fa, Fb) interacts with Fd and MV in the reduction of O2. It may be possible that parallel electron flow has a significant role in a differential reduction of NADP and O2 by Fd. in this communication, we report on the patterns of inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport by an unknown inhibitor from hemolyzed rabbit sera that supports the concept of parallel electron flow. A tentative model is proposed to explain the interaction of the Mehler reaction with PSI.
Causes and cures VI: The political science and economics of violence

Abstract The past two years have been a landmark moment for violence prevention, with the publication of The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014; a historic resolution on violence by the 67th World Health Assembly; and the release of multiple documents on violence by international and United Nations entities, with a corresponding building of momentum in scholarship. Most notably, in September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, addressing the need for violence prevention at an unprecedented scale. In this context, more than ever, violence studies have become a field of its own right. Still, a systematic approach of the topic has been lacking, and no textbook yet synthesizes the knowledge of multiple disciplines toward a cogent understanding. This article is the sixth of a series of fifteen articles that will cover, as an example, an outline of the Global Health Studies course entitled, “Violence: Causes and Cures,” reviewing the major bio-psycho-social and structural–environmental perspectives on violence. Political and economic forces have become potent contributors to human behavior and societal organization, such that we cannot leave them out in any analysis of violence. While a major contribution of political science has been to bring together scholars of different fields, economics has endeavored to bring about a coherent theory for the link between income measures and conflict or behavioral violence. These fields thus provide useful insight into the causes and consequences of violence as well as, in many cases, their solutions.
Regulation of Maternal Anti-Paternal Immune Responses in Vitro by Uterine Macrophages

The failure of elements of the maternal immune system to effect rejection of the semiallogeneic fetus remains a major biologic enigma. Currently, the immunologically privileged status of the mammalian embryo is believed to result from 1) failure of expression of histocompatibility antigens by fetal trophoblasts, thus providing an immunologically inert barrier between the mother and the fetus (Simmons and Russell, 1962; Jenkinson and Owen, 1980) and 2) localized immunosuppression in lymph nodes, blood and uterine tissue surrounding the fetus that prevents generation of a cellular immune response (Clark et al., 1984a, 1984b; Hunt et al., 1984b). Two major findings support those hypotheses: 1) trophoblast is poorly or nonstimulatory to lymphocytes (Jenkinson and Billington, 1974; Hunt et al., 1984a) and 2) a cellular immune response to fetal histocompatibility antigens is not generated during pregnancy (Wegmann et al., 1979) although the mother remains generally immunocompetent and antibodies are produced to fetal histocompatibility antigens.
Hunger neurons drive feeding through a sustained, positive reinforcement signal

The neural mechanisms underlying hunger are poorly understood. AgRP neurons are activated by energy deficit and promote voracious food consumption, suggesting these cells may supply the fundamental hunger drive that motivates feeding. However recent in vivo recording experiments revealed that AgRP neurons are inhibited within seconds by the sensory detection of food, raising the question of how these cells can promote feeding at all. Here we resolve this paradox by showing that brief optogenetic stimulation of AgRP neurons before food availability promotes intense appetitive and consummatory behaviors that persist for tens of minutes in the absence of continued AgRP neuron activation. We show that these sustained behavioral responses are mediated by a long-lasting potentiation of the rewarding properties of food and that AgRP neuron activity is positively reinforcing. These findings reveal that hunger neurons drive feeding by transmitting a positive valence signal that triggers a stable transition between behavioral states.
Yaw Control of a Smart Morphing Tailless Aircraft Concept

Aircraft morphing with regard to UAVs has recently gained incredible momentum; however, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on its effect on tailless aircraft. This is partly due to aerodynamic compromises such as directional instabilities that arise in the absence of a vertical stabilizer. Yet birds readily adapt to adverse flight conditions without vertical stabilizers and are unhindered with respect to stability and maneuvering due to their smooth continuous shape change and rapid muscle response. This research, motivated by the discrepancy between manmade and natural flight designs, investigates the aerodynamic effects of a smart morphing horizontal tail exhibiting bending-twisting coupling for yaw control on a bio-inspired aircraft. The structural response due to actuation was determined using Abaqus and coupled with a Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes turbulence model for a low-Reynolds-number fluid analysis of the deformed shape. The morphing tail was simulated as piezoelectric Macro Fiber Composites with oriented PZT rods. Directional moment and stability derivative are presented to gain insight into the effect of the morphing horizontal tail on yaw control.
Defective Recycling and Exocytosis of Transferrin in Reticulocytes of hbd (Hemoglobin Deficit) Mice.

Mice with hemoglobin deficit ( hbd ) have a hypochromic, microcytic anemia inherited as an autosomal recessive. The mice also exhibit reticulocytosis, hyperferremia and elevated free protoporphyrin in red cells (Bannerman et al 1986 Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 182:52). The spontaneous mutation has been mapped to chromosome 19 (Bloom et al 1998 Mamm Genome 9:666), making it ripe for identification of the gene, given the power of mouse genetics. Until the actual locus is determined, however, some mice must be identified as +/? as dominant inheritance obscures the second allele. Prior studies established that hbd/hbd reticulocytes take up 125 I-labelled transferrin as well as +/? controls, but are less effective at incorporating 59 Fe from transferrin (Garrick et al 1987 Exp Hemato 15:671). Scatchard analysis showed the affinity of transferrin receptors for transferrin was similar in hbd/hbd versus +/? reticulocytes; slightly more receptors were present, however, on the surface of hbd/hbd reticulocytes. We now report on aspects of transferrin-dependent iron metabolism in hbd/hbd reticulocytes to resolve the nature of the alterations in the transferrin cycle in these rodent mutants. Improved time resolution for 59 Fe uptake from transferrin by hbd/hbd versus +/? reticulocytes reveals that uptake in the first 2.5 min is indistinguishable; but that, by 5 min, incorporation by the mutant cells lags behind. Similarly, endocytosis of 125 I-labelled transferrin by mutant versus control reticulocytes occurs at essentially the same rate; while exocytosis is about 4-fold slower for hbd/hbd reticulocytes compared to +/? reticulocytes. We conclude that recycling and exocytosis of transferrin in reticulocytes of hbd/hbd mice is strikingly impaired. The mutation in these mice should be in a gene that causes this impairment.
Challenging mass incarceration in the City of Care: Punishment, community, and residential placement:

Challenges to mass incarceration often come from places seeking to bolster “community” sanctions and community-based alternatives to punishment. In the City of Care, local community activists chall...
Exact Model of Vacancy-Mediated Solute Transport in Magnesium

Most substitutional solutes in solids diffuse via vacancies. However, widely used analytic models for diffusivity make uncontrolled approximations in the relations between atomic jump rates that reduce accuracy. Symmetry analysis of the hexagonal close packed crystal identifies more distinct vacancy transitions than prior models, and a Green function approach computes diffusivity exactly for solutes in magnesium. We find large differences for the solute drag of Al, Zn, and rare earth solutes, and improved diffusion activation energies---highlighting the need for exact analytic transport models.
Symmetry breaking during nanocrystal growth

Symmetry breaking is a ubiquitous phenomenon that occurs spontaneously when a system is subjected to changes in size and/or variations in terms of thermodynamic parameters. As a stochastic process, even small fluctuations acting on a system can arbitrarily push it down one of the branches of a bifurcation. In this feature article, we use nanocrystal growth to illustrate the concept of symmetry breaking. Our aim is to convey its importance from a mechanistic perspective, by which one can rationally alter the experimental conditions to manipulate the growth pattern (symmetric vs. asymmetric) and thus generate colloidal nanocrystals with controlled shapes, structures, and properties for various applications.
Engineering Standards: An Introduction for Electrical and Computer Engineering Students

Engineering standards are summaries of industrial best practices. The specifications are written in terms of functional, mechanical and electrical aspects that allow proper usage of available components to build a system. Standards may also be regarded as codified guidelines that define how tests should be performed, and how products are to be designed. Standards are created by bringing together experience and expertise of stakeholders on specific issues. Standards protect public health and safety, improve product quality, help to advance the growth of new technologies, and foster international trade. It is important that students get familiar with standards while in school.
A feasibility study of neoadjuvant talazoparib for early-stage breast cancer patients with a germline BRCA pathogenic variant: NCT02282345.

TPS595Background: Poly-(adenosine diphosphate [ADP]-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is a family of enzymes responsible for DNA repair via base excision repair as well as maintenance of genetic stability. BRCA mutation carriers appear to have significant sensitivity to PARP inhibitors, not only from synthetic lethality but also potentially PARP trapping in the metastatic setting. A 2-month window study of talazoparib was reported at ESMO in 2016. In 13 patients treated, the median % tumor shrinkage by ultrasound was 88% (range 30-98%) and the study was halted early to allow for this expansion of neoadjuvant talzoparib as the only treatment prior to surgery to evaluate pathologic response. Primary Objective: Evaluate the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR)/RCB-0 + residual cancer burden (RCB)-I responses in patients with early stage breast cancer and a known BRCA pathogenic variant. Methods: 20 patients with stage I-III breast cancer and a known BRCA mutation will be accrued on this IRB-approved study. Pat...
What Must be Done: Sustaining New Political Science After America’s Decades of Decline

This analysis provisionally outlines a critical analysis of the American presidential elections of 1912 and 2016. While the 1912 contest is not identical to 2016, Wilson’s victory introduced a Prog...
Gender disparities in the associations of behavioral factors, serious psychological distress and chronic diseases with type 2 diabetes screening among US adults

The increasing prevalence of undiagnosed and diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2D) posed a major challenge for public health and thus screening for T2D becomes essentially important. The social-demographical factors associated with the use of T2D screening have been widely studied, however, little is known about the impact of behavioral factors, mental health and chronic diseases on prevalence of screening, especially by gender and age groups. We investigated the impact of behavioral factors, mental health and chronic diseases across gender and age groups on the usage rate of T2D screening. To analyze the likelihood of the use of T2D screening, we performed weighted binomial logistic regression analyses. Obesity, physical activity and smoking increased the use of T2D screening for females more than for males, and alcohol use increased screenings only for females. Serious psychological distress (SPD) was found to have a positive association with the use of T2D screening for females rather than for males; whereas hypertension and diabetes increased the use of T2D screening for males more than for females. Physical activity was an effective predictor of screening for T2D in the groups of 45–64 years and 65 years or older. Former drinking was positively associated with T2D screening for people aged 65 or older, and smoking was found to increase the odds of screening for T2D for people aged less than 65. Behavioral factors, mental health, and chronic diseases were significantly associated with the use of T2D screening and further demonstrated that gender differences exist in the role of above factors.
Interactive SVBRDF Modeling from a Single Image

In this chapter, an interactive system called AppGen is presented for modeling material appearance from a single example image. Given a texture image of a nearly planar surface lit with directional lighting, this system models the detailed spatially-varying reflectance properties and surface normal variations with minimal user interaction. Users are asked to provide simple shading and reflectance information via a few roughly marked strokes on the image, and the system uses this information together with some image analysis to assign reflectance properties and surface normals to each pixel. This system generates convincing results within minutes of interaction and works well for a variety of material types that exhibit different reflectance and normal variations, including natural and man-made surfaces.
The Truth About Truth Commissions: Why They Do Not Function Optimally in Post-Conflict Societies

Using insights from the legal transplant literature to analyze the transplanting of truth commissions, this paper finds that truth commissions will face more challenges carrying out their mandates in post-conflict versus post authoritarian societies. In post-conflict societies, the combination of weak institutions to support a truth-telling process, combined with large numbers of victims and perpetrators will tend to overwhelm truth commissions. These factors concomitant with lower levels of moral consensus surrounding mass violence interact to make truth commissions function less optimally in post-conflict contexts. Truth commissions can be more successful carrying out institutional mandates in post-conflict contexts when combined with a court because of mutually-reinforcing effects. It concludes that, much more experimentation needs to be done in order to formulate effective and contextually appropriate responses to mass violence instead of the current “one-size-fits-all” approach in transitional justice.
Query learning using an ANN with adaptive architecture

An artificial neural network for probabilistic information retrieval is extended with adaptive edge growing capability, equivato query expansion, and results show that it is effective.
A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Male and Female Fertility in 43 Countries and Places, 1990–1998

The analysis of this chapter moves to an empirical investigation of male fertility as compared to female fertility at the aggregate level. The chapter studies male fertility, measured by the total fertility rate (TFR) and the age-specific fertility rate (ASFR), as compared to female fertility in 43 countries and places during 1990–1998. Several important findings emerge from the analysis. The most important finding drawn from this chapter is that a TFR value of 2,200 or replacement-level fertility defines the correlation of male and female fertility at the aggregate level. The significance of this finding is discussed in a greater detail in the chapter. Moreover, the chapter exhibits that the male and female age-specific fertility differentials can interact with the level of total fertility. In terms of male and female age-specific fertility differentials, a greater fertility variation is shown to occur among females than among males at younger age groups. This result challenges the general statement of previous research that male fertility varies to a greater extent than female fertility. In the end, the chapter proposes several rationales to elucidate why male fertility rates differ from those of females in a variety of societies.
Intermittent theta burst stimulation enhances upper limb motor function in patients with chronic stroke: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction/Background Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial stimulation to enhance upper limb (UL) motor recovery. However, only limited studies have examined its efficacy in patients with chronic stroke and therefore it remains controversial. Material and method This was a double-blind randomized controlled trial that enrolled patients from a rehabilitation department. Twenty-two patients with first-ever chronic and unilateral cerebral stroke, aged 30–70 years, were randomly assigned to the iTBS or sham group. All patients received 10 daily sessions of either iTBS or sham stimulation over the ipsilesional primary motor cortex in addition to conventional neurorehabilitation. Outcome measures were implemented before and immediately after the intervention period: Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), Box and Block test (BBT), and Motor Activity Log (MAL). Analysis of covariance was used to compare treatment effects between groups. Results The iTBS group showed greater improvement in the MAS and FMA than the sham group (η2 = 0.151–0.233; P Conclusion The iTBS induced greater gains in spasticity decrease and UL function improvement, especially in fine motor function, than sham TBS. This is a promising finding because patients with chronic stroke generally have a low potential for fine motor recovery. Overall, iTBS may be a beneficial adjunct therapy to neurorehabilitation for enhancing UL function.
A database of metazoan cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences derived from GenBank with CO-ARBitrator

The Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I gene (“COI”) is the de facto standard for animal DNA barcoding. Organism identification based on COI requires an accurate and extensive annotated database of COI sequences. Such a database can also be of value in reconstructing evolutionary history and in diversity studies. Two COI databases are currently available: BOLD and Midori. BOLD’s submissions conform to stringent sequence and metadata requirements; BOLD is specific to COI but makes no attempt to be comprehensive. Midori, derived from GenBank, has more sequences but less stringent standards than BOLD, resulting in higher error rates. To address the need for a comprehensive and accurate COI database, we adapted the ARBitrator algorithm, which classifies based only on sequence properties and has successfully auto-curated bacterial genes mined from GenBank. The adapted algorithm, which we call CO-ARBitrator, built a database of over a million metazoan COI sequences. Sensitivity and specificity are significantly higher than Midori. Specificity is comparable to what BOLD achieves with data quality prerequisites. Results and software are publicly available. Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data (ISA-Tab format)
A New Integrated K-Band Analog Vector Sum Phase Shifter

This paper presents a new analog vector sum phase shifter where the phases of the orthogonal vectors $I$ and $Q$ as well as their amplitude ratio are varied simultaneously to control the vector sum phase. As a proof of concept, a phase shifter with a single-ended input and differential outputs is fabricated at K-band in 130-nm CMOS process. All the tasks of vector (I and Q) generation, vectors' amplitude and phase variation, and vector summation are performed in a single block (phase shifter core) to reduce power consumption and chip real estate. The phase shifter provides 300° of continuous phase tuning with an average insertion loss of 6.7 dB at 23 GHz and total power consumption of 18.5 mW while occupying an on-chip area of $\mathbf{0.64\times0.68\ mm^{2}}$ (excluding the pads). The phase shifter core consumes only 7.8 mW, and its corresponding area is $\mathbf{0.15\times 0.3\ mm^{2}}$ .
Cannabidiol modulation of antinociceptive tolerance to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol

Humans typically self-administer cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) together repeatedly (as in cannabis, cannabis extract, or Sativex®) to relieve pain. It has been suggested that one benefit of the drug combination may be decreased tolerance development. The present study compared the development of tolerance to the antinociceptive effects of THC given alone versus combined with CBD, in rats. THC dose-effect curves on tail withdrawal and paw pressure tests were obtained before and after twice-daily treatment with vehicle or CBD (10 mg/kg), plus vehicle or THC (3.6 mg/kg females; 9.3 mg/kg males) for 4 days. On the first day, THC was more potent in females than males on both nociceptive tests. From pre- to post-chronic (day 1 to day 6), THC potency on the tail withdrawal test decreased more in females than males, and rats that had been treated with CBD + THC repeatedly showed greater rightward/downward shifts of the THC dose-effect curve than rats that had been treated with THC alone. Analysis of blood samples taken after day 6 testing showed that serum THC levels were higher in CBD + THC-treated females than in vehicle + THC-treated females, and THC’s active metabolite 11-OH-THC and its inactive metabolite THC-COOH were lower in CBD + THC-treated rats than in vehicle + THC-treated rats of both sexes. CBD also increased serum levels of the active metabolite cannabinol in both sexes. The decrease in THC’s antinociceptive effects after repeated CBD exposure may be due to CBD-induced inhibition of THC metabolism, and/or antagonism of THC effects that emerges with repeated CBD treatment.
Deep Learning Based Identity Verification in Renaissance Portraits

The identity of subjects in many portraits has been a matter of debate for art historians that relied upon subjective analysis of facial features to resolve ambiguity in sitter identity. Developing automated face verification technique has thus garnered interest to provide a quantitative way to reinforce the decision arrived at by the art historians. However, most existing works often fail to resolve ambiguities concerning the identity of the subjects due to significant variation in artistic styles and the limited availability and authenticity of art images. To these ends, we explore the use of deep Siamese Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to provide a measure of similarity between a pair of portraits. To mitigate limited training data issue, we employ CNN based style-transfer technique that creates several new images by recasting an art style to other images, keeping original image content unchanged. The resulting system thereby learns features which are discriminative and invariant to changes in artistic styles. Our approach shows significant improvement over baselines and state-of-the-art methods on several examples which are identified by art historians as being very challenging and controversial.
Traumatic brain injury and age of onset of dementia with lewy bodies

Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with loss of consciousness (LOC) has been associated with earlier onset of mild cognitive impairment, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease (AD), but has not been examined as a risk factor for earlier onset of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the association between a history of TBI and the age of onset of DLB. Method Data from 576 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of DLB were obtained from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC). Analyses of Covariance examined whether self-reported history of remote TBI with LOC (i.e., >1 year prior to the first Alzheimer's Disease Center visit) was associated with earlier DLB symptom onset. Results Controlling for sex, those with a history of remote TBI had an approximately 1.5-year earlier clinician-estimated age of onset (F = 0.87, p = 0.35) and 0.75-years earlier age of diagnosis (F = 0.14, p = 0.71) of DLB compared to those without a history of TBI, though the differences did not reach statistical significance. Analysis of subjects with autopsy-confirmed diagnoses was underpowered due to the low number of TBI+ subjects. Conclusions Remote TBI with LOC was not significantly associated with DLB onset, despite being a significant risk factor for cognitive decline and earlier age of onset in other neurodegenerative conditions. Replication of these results using a larger cohort of DLB subjects with and without a TBI history who have undergone autopsy is indicated, as our TBI+ subjects did show a slightly earlier onset of about 1.5 years. Further investigations into other potential DLB risk factors are also warranted.