cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the design of electronic automotive engine controls using linear quadratic control theory

This paper describes the application of linear quadratic (LQ) optimal control theory to the design of electronic automotive engine controls. The resulting structure of the control is different from conventional controls in that the accelerator pedal is connected to the microcomputer control rather than directly to the fuel metering device. This strategy is analogous to the "fly-by-wire" aircraft concept. Simulation results indicate that this approach has better engine torque and speed responses to driver commands. This suggests the possibility of improved vehicular driveability. An LQ tracking controller was designed using constant coefficient state variable models (17 states) obtained by linearizing about nomional operating points. Time delays were modeled by first-order Pade approximations. Carburetor throttle blade position, spark advance, exhaust gas recirculation, and fuel flow were defined as controls and output variables include speed, torque, manifold vacuum, fuel and air flows, and exhaust emissions (carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and oxides of nitrogen). It is assumed that both engine torque and exhaust emissions are Similarly affected by actuator, intake, and combustion dynamics, thereby allowing the experimental models to be derived from torque response data. Parameter values for the models are derived from measured static data and perturbation frequency response tests about the nominal operating conditions. Simulations show that the optimal design has superior driver command step response performance. Whereas the conventionally controlled lean calibrated engine has a torque sag (suggestive of poor driveability), the optimal design yields a smooth torque increase with no torque undershoot. This explained physically by the fact that the LQ controller slows down the air control loop (throttle) to match line slower fuel control loop dynamics, thereby avoiding the lean air-fuel ratio transients which are the main cause of the torque sag. In addition, the spark is advanced rapidly to achieve the initial torque increase.
Influence of Clinical and Sociodemographic Characteristics on Early Intervention Enrollment After NICU Discharge

This study aims to characterize participation of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates in early intervention (EI). We used data from the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study. We f...
Histological demonstration of mucosal invasion by Giardia lamblia in man.

Summary 1.Mucosal suction biopsies from the duodenum and proximal jejunum were studied in 10 patients with documented Giardia infection. Invasion of the intestinal mucosa was demonstrated in 6 of the patients having diarrhea and trophozoites in the stool. We feel that we have established Giardia as an invasive organism in man. 2.The difficulties in identifying the organism in extraluminal sites are briefly discussed. 3.While the significance of this invasion is not as yet known, we suggest that the organism is potentially an important pathogen.
An empirical study of communication media and issues in globally distributed software development

It is known that distributed software development is risker and more challenging than collocated software development. Previous research has suggested that there are several factors that cause delay in distributed development including cultural differences, lacking common ground, communication and coordination overhead [4]. We use data collection forms and interviews to gather data from a course on distributed software development (DSD), collaborated among four universities in four widely-separated countries to do an empirical case study. We try to evaluate communication media effects on DSD and verify hypotheses and issues about communication among distributed sites. We found that selecting correct communication media is helpful in solving communication issues and decreasing development delay. We also evaluate the effects of common ground, human resources, team culture, module structure distribution and time zone on project time and effort. Further, we found several communication issues in this DSD case study and present a strategy to improve DSD and avoid these communication issues.
Tanagra: an intelligent level design assistant for 2D platformers

We present a demonstration of Tanagra, an intelligent level design assistant for 2D platformers. Tanagra integrates reactive planning and constraint programming to automatically generate levels and respond to designer changes in realtime. A reactive planning language, ABL, allows us to easily express hierarchical patterns of level geometry, from simple patterns such as a jump over a gap, to more complex patterns such as staircases and pits. A model of player movement and constraints within and between geometry components ensure that the levels created by our system are always playable.
An Expanded Assessment of Data Mining Approaches for Analyzing Actuarial Student Success Rate

This paper aims to maximize the profitability of a set of brand SKUs stocked at a particular retailer by optimizing the number of facings for each product. Based on the past data, a set of variables such as retail price of different SKUs, linear footage that a particular manufacturer manages from the retailer, number of facings for each SKU and volume of sales for each SKU are identified. We develop a set of models, which will measure the volumetric impact of these instances on the overall revenue dollars and volume of sales in particular. One of the major issues in this problem is the relationship between Volume of Sales Vi and the number of facings Xi. If this relationship were linear, this optimization problem could have been treated as a MIP and solved accordingly. We treat this non-linear program by an innovative approximation technique and solve the objective using a piecewise approximation function.
From Structural Units to Materials Engineering via Soft Chemistry

We have discussed the structural evolution in oxide functional materials which, in many cases, can be complex, but a complex structure can always be elucidated from the topological structural evolution of the basic building modules. The properties of a compound are dominated by its composition and structure, including electron configuration, valence states, and bonding characters of cations and anions that determine the configurations of the fundamental structural mosaics of different atoms and the structural building modules (or blocks). The energetically and topologically favored packing of cations and anions is the fundamental principle for building a basic structure. This is the reason that we have explored the basic stacking layers in sodium chlorite, rutile, perovskite, and fluorite structures. A complex structure can usually be constructed from the basic modules. In other words, a new structure can be designed if these basic modules are assembled elegantly with considerations about the constrains of symmetry, coordination, and bonding.
The floating gardens of Chan Cahal: Soils, water, and human interactions

Abstract Ancient Maya wetland agriculture has been studied since the 1960s, but there are still too few multiproxy excavations to adequately portray this phenomenon. This paper builds on multidisciplinary and multiproxy research near the ancient Maya site of Chan Cahal, near Blue Creek, Belize, with two new excavations, four new cores, 22 new AMS dates, and a new review of the site's water chemistry and archeology. A long-term study of the site's water chemistry has shown its pervasive impacts on wetland formation and limits to agricultural uses. We argue that a reservoir in the midst of the wetlands became inundated above a paleosol during the earliest Maya occupation in the Middle Preclassic, was dredged out during a time of population expansion sometime in the Late Preclassic to Early Classic, and was filled again with ‘Maya clay’ during and after the Classic period. Vibracores through two wetland fields and one canal corroborated our earlier model of Preclassic through Classic inundation of a paleosol by peat formation, flood sands, clay deposition, and gypsum precipitation. These cores produced new evidence for field and canal construction starting in the Late Preclassic. A later addition was a platform added at the very end or after the main occupation ended in the Terminal Classic. A new excavation at Sayap Ha on the Coastal Plain wetlands 7 m lower than Chan Cahal experienced a similar history of inundation and aggradation. Here, Maya farmers reclaimed these wetlands with canals and raised fields late in the Late or Terminal Classic and abandoned them soon thereafter. The Sayap Hah fields thus parallel the BOP fields 9 km south since both were built and abandoned at a late stage. As a comparison with other wetland field studies, the stable C isotopes of soil humin through soil profiles showed a strong Classic period to present influence of C 4 species at Sayap Hah and an increase in C 4 inputs in the upper 25 cm at both Sayap Hah and the Chan Cahal platform, perhaps due to tropical pasture grasses prevalent here for the last 50 years.
Portfolio Mining

Portfolio mining facilitates the creation of actionable knowledge, catalyzes innovations, and sustains research communities.
Unacknowledged rape : How much do we know about the hidden rape victim?

Research suggests that over half of the women who have experienced forced, unwanted sex do not label this experience as rape. Given this strikingly high prevalence, a better understanding of why victims do not acknowledge rape as well as the implications for the victim of not acknowledging rape seems imperative. The present article reviews what is known about unacknowledged rape and discusses potential theories for understanding the phenomenon, including script theory, which posits that victims do not acknowledge their rape experience because it does not match their event-related ideas about rape. The potential impact of not acknowledging rape on the recovery process and implications of this research for the clinician are also discussed, and directions for future research are proposed.
AgNOR area measurements differentiate benign and malignant melanocytic lesions more accurately than simple counting

Comparison of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) counts has been found to yield statistically significant differences between benign and malignant conditions albeit with considerable overlap. In this study we compared the size of AgNORs and the nuclear areas, as well as the AgNOR count in 23 benign melanocytic lesions and 9 melanomas. Of these parameters, the ratio AgNOR area/nuclear area was found to be the main discriminating factor between melanoma and all the other benign groups studied, with p values of < 0.01 and no overlap. Next to it was the nuclear area, which in our study gave significant differences between the groups evaluated. The total AgNOR area and the largest AgNOR gave results comparable to the simple AgNOR counting in all groups studied, except in Spitz nevus, in which the AgNOR counts were less significant than the other parameters (p = 0.0420). We conclude that the ratio AgNOR area/nuclear area discriminates benign from malignant melanocytic lesions better than AgNOR counts or other parameters studied.
MULE DEER FORAGING PREFERENCE AMONG FIVE SAGEBRUSH (ARTEMISIA L.) TAXA

The hypothesis that sagebrush taxa are equally utilized by mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus hemionus ) on winter range was tested. Five taxa were studied for 10 years at 2 locations. The taxa were Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata (basin big sagebrush), A. t. ssp. wyomingensis (Wyoming big sagebrush), A. t. ssp. vaseyana (mountain big sagebrush), A. tripartita ssp. tripartita (tall threetip sagebrush), and A. arbuscula ssp. arbuscula (low sagebrush). Possible mule deer preferences were determined each year individually for the 2 sites. Utilization was high enough to conclude all taxa are important forage, but not excessive enough to mask preference. Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana (34.4%) and A. arbuscula ssp. arbuscula (35.6%) were preferred over A. t. ssp. wyomingensis (10.9%) and A. t. ssp. tridentata (6.8%) at the Ashbough site. At the Scudder site there were few differences in preference for A. t. ssp. vaseyana (32.1%), A. t. ssp. wyomingensis (28.8%), and A. tripartita ssp. tripartita (32.0%). While ungulates often demonstrate a preference among taxa, all sagebrush taxa are a potentially valuable forage source.
Diabetes and Cardiovascular Care Among People with Severe Mental Illness: A Literature Review

Close to 19 million US adults have severe mental illnesses (SMI), and they die, on average, 25 years earlier than the general population, most often from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Many of the antipsychotic medications used to treat SMI contribute to CVD risk by increasing risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Based on compelling evidence, the American Diabetes Association and the American Psychiatric Association developed guidelines for metabolic screening and monitoring during use of these medications.In this manuscript, we have reviewed the evidence on diabetes and other CVD risk screening, prevalence, and management among populations with SMI. We also review differences in screening among subpopulations with SMI (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, women, and children). We found that despite national guidelines for screening for diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors, up to 70 % of people taking antipsychotics remain unscreened and untreated. Based on estimates that 20 % of the 19 million US adults with SMI have diabetes and 70 % of them are not screened; it is likely that over 2 million Americans with SMI have unidentified diabetes. Given that undiagnosed diabetes costs over $4,000 per person, this failure to identify diabetes among people with SMI represents a missed opportunity to prevent morbidity and translates to over $8 billion in annual preventable costs to our healthcare system.Given the high burden of disease and significant evidence of suboptimal medical care received by people with SMI, we propose several clinical and policy recommendations to improve diabetes and other CVD risk screening and care for this highly vulnerable population. These recommendations include reducing antipsychotic medication dose or switching antipsychotic medications, enhancing smoking cessation efforts, sharing electronic health records between physical and mental health care systems, and promoting integration of care.
Study on the positional ultrasonic defect-inspection of nozzle composite divergence cone

The feasibility and judgement standard of the positional defect inspection of nozzle composite divergence cone of SRM by means of dry coupling single side ultrasonic detection are investigated.The inspection ability of the method and optimal operation conditions for specimen are discussed and some tested results are given.
Probability of cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C is a growing health concern. An estimated 3.9 million persons in the United States are infected with hepatitis C virus; 2.7 million of these persons have chronic infection. Cirrhosis develops in approximately 7 percent of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
Targeting T Cell Co-receptors for Cancer Therapy

Checkpoint-blocking antibodies can generate potent anti-tumor responses by encouraging the immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells. At this time, the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved three checkpoint-blocking antibodies in three disease indications, and additional approvals are expected to broaden the clinical scope of immunotherapy. Herein, we review the clinical development of CTLA-4-, PD-1-, and PD-L1-blocking antibodies across tumor types and briefly discuss areas of active investigation of potential biomarkers.
Automatically Detecting Acute Myocardial Infarction Events from EHR Text: A Preliminary Study.

The Worcester Heart Attack Study (WHAS) is a population-based surveillance project examining trends in the incidence, in-hospital, and long-term survival rates of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among residents of central Massachusetts. It provides insights into various aspects of AMI. Much of the data has been assessed manually. We are developing supervised machine learning approaches to automate this process. Since the existing WHAS data cannot be used directly for an automated system, we first annotated the AMI information in electronic health records (EHR). With strict inter-annotator agreement over 0.74 and un-strict agreement over 0.9 of Cohen’s κ, we annotated 105 EHR discharge summaries (135k tokens). Subsequently, we applied the state-of-the-art supervised machine-learning model, Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) for AMI detection. We explored different approaches to overcome the data sparseness challenge and our results showed that cluster-based word features achieved the highest performance.
Where can your passport take you? Teaching citizenship, mobility, and identity

Courses: Intercultural Communication, Culture and Conflict, International Conflict and Alliance BuildingObjectives: After completing this single-class activity, students should be able to (1) describe the concepts of identity, citizenship, and mobility; (2) empathize with the everyday struggles of students who hold citizenship outside of their “homeland”; and (3) explain how intersectionality influences an individual’s ability to traverse national borders.
Pros vs Joes: Agent Pricing Behavior in the Sharing Economy

One of the major differences between markets that follow a “sharing economy” paradigm and traditional two-sided markets is that the supply side in the sharing economy often includes individual nonprofessional decision makers, in addition to firms and professional agents. Using a data set of prices and availability of listings on Airbnb, we find that there exist substantial differences in the operational and financial performance of professional and nonprofessional hosts. In particular, properties managed by professional hosts earn 16.9% more in daily revenue, have 15.5% higher occupancy rates, and are 13.6% less likely to exit the market compared with properties owned by nonprofessional hosts, while controlling for property and market characteristics. We demonstrate that these performance differences between professionals and nonprofessionals can be partly explained by pricing inefficiencies. Specifically, we provide empirical evidence that nonprofessional hosts are less likely to offer different rates across stay dates based on the underlying demand patterns, such as those created by major holidays and conventions. We develop a parsimonious model to analyze the implications of having two such different host groups for a profit-maximizing platform operator and for a social planner. While a profit-maximizing platform operator should charge lower prices to nonprofessional hosts, a social planner would charge the same prices to professionals and nonprofessionals.
Anesthesia for Composite Tissue Allografts

Composite tissue allografts (CTA) transplants, unlike other solid tissue transplants involve multiple tissues including skin, muscle, tendons, blood vessels, nerves, lymph nodes, bone, and bone marrow. Each of these tissues has distinct immunogenicity posing more complex considerations regarding immunologic and graft survival. CTA have been performed for upper extremities, vascularized joints, craniofacial tissue, larynx, trachea, and abdominal wall. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss anesthetic management for these highly complex procedures.
High Dispersion Spectra of Planetary Nebulae

Determinations of the plasma diagnostics and chemical compositions of planetary nebulae require ultimately high dispersion spectra. For objects of high surface brightness the Hamilton Echelle Spectrograph at Lick Observatory is satisfactory for the region 3650–10100A which involves the 168th to 56th echelle orders. For a slit width of 640 μm amounting to 1.15 arcsec at the Coude focus, the actual spectral resolution (FWHM) is about 0.2A at 8850A. The length of the slit is chosen as 4.0 arcsec. Hyung (1994) & Aller (1994) describe the observing procedure. Since the Hamilton echelle was designed primarily for star-like sources, it is not useful for extended low surface brightness PN. The earlier observations were obtained with an 800 × 800 chip that did not cover the echelle field, so several settings were needed. Later, we used a slower 2048 × 2048 chip which covered the whole field and was somewhat more efficient at longer wavelengths. The program has been completed and definitive measurements have obtained for NGC 2440, NGC 6543, NGC 6741, NGC 6818, NGC 7026, NGC 7662, and Hu 1–2. All of these PN display particularly rich, interesting spectra. Previously observed and published objects include IC 351, IC 418, IC 2149, IC 4997, NGC 6567, NGC 6572, NGC 6790, NGC 6886, NGC 7009, BD +30 3639, & Hubble 12. NGC 6884 is in press. Additional nebulae which are yet to be discussed are IC 4634, IC 4846, IC 5117, NGC 6210, & NGC 6803.
Evaluation of the aging effect on mild steel (E 6013) welded areas using Hilbert Huang Transform on UT signals

The welding inspector ensures the integrity of weld joints since the structural stability mainly depends on it. Welded joints are tested for the prediction of remaining useful life using different Non Destructive Testing (NDT) schemes such as Ultrasonic Testing (UT). In this proposed study, possible classification of UT signals acquired from weld areas in terms of different levels of thermal fatigue were explored using Hilbert Huang Transform (HHT). The HHT was used to assess the aging effect by characterizing the ultrasonic backscattered echoes of scanned welded materials. The HHT being an empirical based method can generate meaningful representation of data from non-stationary and nonlinear system. Firstly, the ultrasonic signals were decomposed into a set of simpler signals called Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF). Based on the Hilbert spectrum of these IMF, time-frequency analysis was conducted. Energy Frequency distribution based feature extraction was proposed for determining the aging effect of the welded material at particular locations.
Stable Coronary Artery Disease in the Elderly

History and physical examination as well as an electrocardiogram (EKG) should be obtained in all patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines also recommend checking hemoglobin, fasting blood glucose, and a fasting lipid panel in new patients presenting with angina (1). Co-morbid conditions that may precipitate functional angina should be considered (i.e., anemia, hyperthyroidism, tachyarrhythmias, heart failure, uncontrolled hypertension, etc.). One study in the elderly revealed a significantly elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism evidenced by an elevated thyrotropin and normal thyroid function tests (2).
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Genotype Prediction Models in a Pediatric Population

The Toronto Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) Genotype Score and Mayo HCM Genotype Predictor are risk assessment models developed to estimate a patient's likelihood of testing positive for a pathogenic variant causative of HCM. These models were developed from adult populations with HCM based on factors that have been associated with a positive genotype and have not been validated in external populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the overall predictive abilities of these models in a clinical pediatric HCM setting. A retrospective medical record review of 77 pediatric patients with gene panel testing for HCM between September 2005 and June 2015 was performed. Clinical and echocardiographic variables used in the developed models were collected and used to calculate scores for each patient. To evaluate model performance, the ability to discriminate between a carrier and non-carrier was assessed by area under the ROC curve (AUC) and overall calibration was evaluated by the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic. Discrimination assessed by AUC was 0.72 (P < 0.001) for the Toronto model and 0.67 (P = 0.004) for the Mayo model. The Toronto model and the Mayo model showed P values of 0.36 and 0.82, respectively, for model calibration. Our findings suggest that these models are useful in predicting a positive genetic test result in a pediatric HCM setting. They may be used to aid healthcare providers in communicating risk and enhance patient decision-making regarding pursuit of genetic testing.
Effect of mild hyperglycemia +/- meta-iodo-benzylguanidine on the radiation response of R3230 Ac tumors.

The effects of glucose or meta-iodo-benzylguanidine (MIBG) on oxygen utilization (QO2) of several tumor cell lines were studied using a Clark-type electrode chamber. For in vivo studies, rats bearing R3230 Ac rat mammary adenocarcinomas were utilized. To evaluate changes in tumor oxygenation induced by glucose or MIBG, intratumoral pO2 and skeletal muscle pO2 were measured using Eppendorf Histography. To find the effect of mild hyperglycemia (i.p., 1 g/kg) ± MIBG (i.p., 20 mg/kg) on the radiation response, a growth delay assay was used. Glucose alone produced a ~20% inhibition of QO2 in several tumor cells we tested except Q7 tumor cells. MIBG inhibited QO2 in R3230 Ac tumors. The median tumor pO2 for glucose + MIBG was increased from 5.3 mm Hg to 13.8 mm Hg. We hypothesized that combined treatment with glucose + MIBG significantly enhanced radiation-induced tumoricidal effects on R3230 Ac tumors, mainly due to reduction in QO2 and increase in tumor pO2.
Matrix isolation study of the red light-induced reaction of triethylborane with ozone

Abstract The thermal and red photochemical reaction of triethylborane and ozone has been explored in argon matrices with infrared detection. Using both twin jet and merged jet deposition, no significant thermal reaction was observed. In contrast, red light irradiation of the twin jet-deposited matrix led to the formation of the novel H 5 C 2 BO species, ethyloxoborane. A strong, broad absorption was observed at 1963 cm −1 after irradiation and assigned to the 11 B = O stretching mode, with a 10 B counterpart at 2027 cm −1 . Two additional bands of lower intensity were also assigned to C 2 H 5 BO. Band assignments for this species were supported by 18 O isotopic labeling experiments. Computational studies further supported the band assignments and confirmed that H 5 C 2 BO plus butane is the thermodynamically favored reaction pathway. Kinetic considerations for this reaction are also presented.
Beta dispersion and portfolio returns

As any well-versed investor should know, there are many ways in which beta can be calculated based on factors such as the choice of time interval and market proxy used in the estimation process. Of course, this can lead to wide variation in beta estimates reported through publication sources. In this paper, we create portfolios based on the dispersion in the estimate of 27 different beta calculations. Defining stocks with higher variation in their beta estimates as higher risk, and consistent with risk-return theory, we find that portfolios of stocks with high dispersion across beta estimates outperform portfolios of stocks with low dispersion regardless of their level of systematic risk.
Importance of Heterogeneity in Asphalt Pavement Modeling

AbstractCommon practice overlooks the highly heterogeneous nature of asphalt concrete (AC). Doing so equates to disregarding the effect of material properties’ spatial variability on the field beha...
Glioblastoma that Arises from Tumefactive Multiple Sclerosis (P6.096)

Objective: N/A Background: The diagnosis of tumefactive multiple sclerosis (TMS) can be challenging because of radiographic similarities it shares with an intracranial neoplastic process. However, in rare occasions, the two can be found together. Described in literature as early as 1912, the presence of concomitant MSTMS and brain tumor has been described less than 50 times since then. We present a case of glioblastoma developing from a region of longstanding stable TMS. Design/Methods: N/A Results: A 67-year old female with significant past medical history for TMS presented to our institution for treatment options of newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Symptoms of MS dated back to teenage years but she did not seek formal diagnosis or treatment until her 40’s when she was started on dimethyl fumarate achieving good clinical control and stable plaque burden. This included a stable heterogeneous enhancing lesion extending posteriorly to the corpus callosum, superiorly to the adjacent right parietal lobe and involving the left cingulate gyrus. Two months prior to her initial presentation to our institution, she was having worsening difficulty with ambulation followed by acute left sided weakness. Subsequent imaging revealed interval progression of the aforementioned lesion and biopsy that followed was consistent with glioblastoma. She was treated for glioblastoma with radiation and concurrent temozolomide. Conclusions: This case is an example of glioblastoma diagnosis from a biopsied region of previously diagnosed tumefactive multiple sclerosis. The patient had remained clinically and radiographically stable for years prior to the acute decompensation which lead to her diagnostic biopsy. This makes the likelihood that the area deemed TMS had been misdiagnosed longstanding untreated very unlikely. Whether their coexistence represents a transformative neoplastic process triggered by reactive glial cells in demyelinating regions or purely coincidental, this possible association should be considered within the differential. Study Supported by: N/A Disclosure: Dr. Johnson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Metrus has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kamiya Matsuoka has nothing to disclose.
Learning Styles: Rx for Mathophobia

he can't cope - which is all the time in mathematics. It was 10:00 a.m. Louie's mathematics class had begun, but he felt only half awake. The flourescent lights were giving him a headache. He tried to complete the fraction problems but kept getting peculiar answers. His mathematics tutor had made yesterday's lesson so simple to understand with diagrams and games. That made sense. This fraction sheet did not! Louie looked around for some help and noticed that the teacher was busy with another student. He began to squirm in his seat (which became more uncomfortable as the period continued). He just couldn't concentrate. "Is it lunchtime yet?", he
Private Implementation of Global and EU Administrative Law: The Case of Certification in the Climate Change Regime

Administrative law beyond the state knows a vast participation of private parties in its mechanisms both for rulemaking and for implementation. One of the major private implementation mechanisms used by Global and European administrative law is the certification and accreditation system. In this respect, the climate change regime is of one the fields of reference. On the global level, the Kyoto Protocol makes reference to the certification system. Not only the approval of projects but also the verification of emission reductions of greenhouse gases is being carried out by private companies instead of either national administrations or the global administration itself. The EU law, partly forced by the global level, introduces the certification system in order to guarantee for cost efficiency and accuracy of the emission reductions of greenhouse gases. The Global and European Administrative Law are partly implemented by a common administrative private structure: very often a single body verifies the compliance with the two kinds of obligations. After describing the two systems, the chapter discusses the features of this kind of administration and draws lessons from these legal tools for the elaboration of a common legitimacy model for administrative law beyond the state.
A Study of Customers' Trusting Beliefs in Government-to-Customer Online Services

This study examines online transaction web sites of the US government and provides an understanding on the effect of government authority on customers’ perception of trust in G2C online services. Though government web sites are expected to have advantages over private organizations in public reputation and trust, our preliminary study shows that this may not always be true. In this study, government authority as an antecedent of trust and transaction intention is empirically tested, and other factors that might affect the advantage of authority in government sites are explored. We build on previous trust and information assurance research, and present research hypotheses for further development.
Outcome Measures After Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

Prostate cancer is the third most common malignancy in men worldwide, and the second most frequent cause of death from cancer in the United States. The introduction and evolution of the robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has challenged the open radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) as the gold standard treatment for organ-confined disease worldwide. As with any new technology, comparison to the standard operative technique is imperative to determine its overall utility and justify its continued use. To this end, we compare short and long-term perioperative, oncologic, and quality of life outcomes of RARP to RRP. Given the lack of standardization of outcomes definitions and clinical assessment, we suggest methods for improvement of the academic assessment of surgical techniques and outcomes of radical prostatectomy. Standardization of data collection will not only facilitate accurate comparison of outcomes but will aid in the improvement of surgical technique and the individual surgeon’s ability to perform self-assessment. Before RARP can attain widespread acceptance as the alternative to the current gold standard, comparable or improved perioperative, oncologic, and quality of life outcomes must be assured.
Developmental transitions in amygdala PKC isoforms and AMPA receptor expression associated with threat memory in infant rats

Although infants learn and remember, they rapidly forget, a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. While myriad mechanisms impact this rapid forgetting, the molecular events supporting memory maintenance have yet to be explored. To explore memory mechanisms across development, we used amygdala-dependent odor-shock conditioning and focused on mechanisms important in adult memory, the AMPA receptor subunits GluA1/2 and upstream protein kinases important for trafficking AMPAR, protein kinase M zeta (PKMζ) and iota/lambda (PKCι/λ). We use odor-shock conditioning in infant rats because it is late-developing (postnatal day, PN10) and can be modulated by corticosterone during a sensitive period in early life. Our results show that memory-related molecules did not change in pups too young to learn threat (PN8) but were activated in pups old enough to learn (PN12), with increased PKMζ-PKCι/λ and GluA2 similar to that observed in adult memory, but with an uncharacteristic decrease in GluA1. This molecular signature and behavioral avoidance of the conditioned odor was recapitulated in PN8 pups injected with CORT before conditioning to precociously induce learning. Blocking learning via CORT inhibition in older pups (PN12) blocked the expression of these molecules. PN16 pups showed a more adult-like molecular cascade of increased PKMζ-PKCι/λ and GluA1–2. Finally, at all ages, zeta inhibitory peptide (ZIP) infusions into the amygdala 24 hr after conditioning blocked memory. Together, these results identify unique features of memory processes across early development: AMPAR subunits GluA1/2 and PKC isoform expression are differentially used, which may contribute to mechanisms of early life forgetting.
Pathologic T3a renal cell carcinoma: a classification in need of further refinement

Kidney cancer is associated with a significant global disease burden (1,2). Although mortality rates for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the United States remain stable, the incidence of RCC continues to rise, largely due to increased incidental detection on routine abdominal imaging (1,3). Ultimately, both treatment recommendations and patient prognosis are based on the stage of disease (4,5). Pathologic staging of RCC continues to be refined, especially for the characterization of pathologic T3a (pT3a) disease, which represents locally advanced disease with invasion of the fat or vasculature of the kidney, and is associated with worse oncologic outcomes compared to organ confined disease (6,7).
Space-Borne Electron Accelerator Design

Renewed interest in active experiments with relativistic particle beams in space has led to the development of solid-state radio-frequency (RF) linear accelerators (linac) that can deliver MeV electron beams but operate with low-voltage DC power supplies. The solid-state RF amplifiers used to drive the accelerator are known as high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), and at C-band (5-6 GHz) are capable of generating up to 500 watts of RF power at 10% duty factor in a small package, i.e., the size of a postage stamp. In operation, the HEMTs are powered with 50V DC as their bias voltage; they thus can tap into the spacecraft batteries or electrical bus as the primary power source. In this paper we describe the initial testing of a compact space-borne RF accelerator consisting of individual C-band cavities, each independently powered by a gallium nitride (GaN) HEMT. We show preliminary test results that demonstrate the beam acceleration in a single C-band cavity powered by a single HEMT operating at 10% duty factor. An example of active beam experiments in space that could benefit from the HEMT-powered accelerators is the proposed Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Connection (CONNEX) experiment [Dors et al., 2017].
Consequential Validity and Science Identity Research

While my research focuses on the science identities performed by women of color, my overarching concern is with social justice. Thus, the first thing I want to ensure about my own work is that it can be used to increase equity, in or out of science, in some way. I think of this as ensuring that it has consequential validity. Consequential validity usually refers to whether test score use is valid (Popham, 2005).
An Approach to T-Way Test Sequence Generation With Constraints

In this paper we address the problem of constraint handling in t-way test sequence generation. We develop a notation for specifying sequencing constraints and present a t-way test sequence generation that handles the constraints specified in this notation. We report a case study in which we applied our notation and test generation algorithm to a real-life communication protocol. Our experience indicates that our notation is intuitive to use and allows us to express important sequencing constraints for the protocol. However, the test generation algorithm takes a significant amount of time. This work is part of our larger effort to make t-way sequence testing practically useful.
Factorization of the local exterior square L-function of \(GL_m\)

Let \(\pi \) be an irreducible generic representation of \(GL_m(F)\), where F is a non-Archimedean local field. In 1990, Jacquet and Shalika established an integral representation of exterior square L-functions of \(GL_m(F)\). Following the works of Cogdell and Piatetski-Shapiro, we characterize exceptional poles in terms of certain Shalika functionals on the derivatives of \(\pi \), where “derivatives” are in the sense of Bernstein and Zelevinsky. We prove the factorization of local L-functions, which was originally observed by Cogdell and Piatetski-Shapiro: local exterior square L-functions can be expressed in terms of exceptional L-functions of the derivatives of \(\pi \).
Is Contact Nucleation Caused by Pressure Perturbation

The reason why ice nucleation is more efficient by contact nucleation than by immersion nucleation has been elusive for over half a century. Six proposed mechanisms are summarized in this study. Among them, the pressure perturbation hypothesis, which arose from recent experiments, can qualitatively explain nearly all existing results relevant to contact nucleation. To explore the plausibility of this hypothesis in a more quantitative fashion and to guide future investigations, this study assessed the magnitude of pressure perturbation needed to cause contact nucleation and the associated spatial scales. The pressure perturbations needed were estimated using measured contact nucleation efficiencies for illite and kaolinite, obtained from previous experiments, and immersion freezing temperatures, obtained from well-established parameterizations. Pressure perturbations were obtained by assuming a constant pressure perturbation or a Gaussian distribution of the pressure perturbation. The magnitudes of the pressure perturbations needed were found to be physically reasonable, being achievable through possible mechanisms, including bubble formation and breakup, Laplace pressure arising from the distorted contact line, and shear. The pressure perturbation hypothesis provides a physically based and experimentally constrainable foundation for parameterizing contact nucleation that may be useful in future cloud-resolving models.
Incidence of Pulmonary GVHD Is Increased and Incidence of Late Infection and Pulmonary Embolism Is Comparable Comparing Adult MRD Versus Cord Transplant Patients

Pulmonary GVHD (bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) and bronchiolitis obliterans (BO)), infection, and pulmonary embolism (PE) are the most common late pulmonary complications of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. We compared outcomes of these pulmonary complications among adult patients undergoing first double unit cord blood transplant (CBT) or matched related donor transplant (MRD) at our center between July 2013 and July 2018. Patients experiencing death or relapse before 100 days post-transplant were excluded; 153 CBT and 77 MRD patients were included. Only events occurring after day 100 were included. Patient details are summarized in Table 1. Incidence of complications were described using the Kaplan-Meier method and comparisons were made using a log-rank test. Incidence of BOOP and BO were higher in the MRD group versus the CBT group (for BOOP p=0.004, 2 yr incidence 15% for MRD and 3% for CBT; for BO P=0.015 2 yr incidence 9% for MRD and 1% for CBT.) Incidence of first infection and PE were comparable for each group (for first infection p=0.65, 2 yr incidence 16% for MRD and 20% for CBT; for PE 0=0.74 2 yr incidence 3% for MRD and 7% for CBT.) 10 CBT (7%) and 6 MRD patients (8%) had more than one infection. During the period reviewed, 9 CBT (6%) and 6 MRD (8%) patients died of issues related directly to these pulmonary complications. MRD patients have a higher rate of BO and BOOP than CBT patients and a comparable rate of late infections and PE. Comprehensive review all pulmonary outcomes for MRD and CBT patients undergoing transplant at our center, including early complications, is ongoing.
Control of nonideal grid-forming inverter in islanded microgrid with hierarchical control structure under unbalanced conditions

Abstract Research on continued penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) from both power system and power electronics perspectives has been ongoing but the two approaches are largely exclusive of one another. This article aims to unite the two perspectives by using real-time simulation to model both the microgrid network and the individual grid-forming inverters responsible for supplying its power during islanded operation. Multi-scale simulations require fine-tuning of central control parameters, and similar care must be taken for transient durations relative to selected simulation step size. Instability can be introduced by lack of careful consideration of the aforementioned items, as well as unforeseen interactions between the selected inverter model and the larger microgrid model. Furthermore, model order requires appropriate attention to ensure a proper mix of simulation fidelity and stability. This work contributes a real-time simulation of a moderately sized network including state space models of typical grid-forming inverters, inclusive of nonidealities, and their associated controllers to demonstrate stability and performance in a microgrid featuring 100% photovoltaic generation penetration in islanded operation.
Actionable biomarkers: the key to resolving disorders of gastrointestinal function.

A valid biomarker is defined as ‘a characteristic that is measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention’.1 The advent and validation of biomarkers based on identification of organic mechanisms, pathogenesis or pathophysiology have the potential to introduce individualisation in management of disorders of lower gastrointestinal function. An actionable biomarker is a biomarker that is associated with a directed treatment to prevent or reverse symptoms or disease, and this has resulted in a paradigm shift in oncological treatment from a tumour type-focussed approach to a molecularly-directed agnostic one, exploring the role of biological agents targeted to the driver genomic alteration irrespective of the cancer histology.2 Such actionable biomarkers have been introduced in functional lower gastrointestinal disorders.3 Importantly, this approach also provides opportunity to provide patients with personalised approach to treatment. This article highlights the diverse methods to identify the organic pathogenesis (figure 1) and to choose treatments based on approved treatments, off-label treatment with approved medications or, in the future, experimental medications. The a priori criteria for inclusion was based on the evidence of pathobiological relevance, extensive data on normal values, performance characteristics of the biomarker, availability of treatment directed to the biomarker, as well as evidence of efficacy of treatment directed at the specific biomarker. For example, the normal value data in adults for cited measurements are based on the following numbers: gastric emptying (319 (214 females, 105 males));4 colonic transit (220 (145 females, 75 males); 5 colonic compliance (n = 40);6 anorectal manometry with normal balloon expulsion (143 (96 females and 47 males));7 gastric accommodation (354 (230 females, 120 males));8 48 hours faecal bile acid excretion (96 (60 females and 36 males))9 and serum 7αC4 for bile acid diarrhoea (184 …
Prevention and treatment of urethral stricture after hypospadias repair in children

Urethral stricture is one of the common complications after hypospadias repair, and it is related with the blood supply of materials used in urethra formation.The more severe and proximal hypospadias is, the higher possibility of stricture is.The patients with urethral stricture have the symptoms of stranguria and urinary retention, and they usually need re-surgery.The repair with well vascularized flap can decrease the occurrence of urethral stricture after hypospadias repair. Key words: Hypospadias; Urethral stricture; Child
Abnormal disclosure tone and going concern modified audit reports

Abstract The evaluation of going-concern uncertainties and the issuance of going-concern modified audit opinions (GCOs) continue to be of significant interest to the public and the accounting profession. We examine the association between the abnormal tone of disclosures in 10-K filings and GCOs using data from the years 2000 to 2014. We find that abnormal positive disclosure tone is associated with a higher likelihood of a GCO. We also find that the abnormal tone of disclosures is associated with lower type II and type I errors for GCOs (i.e., bankrupt companies without a prior GCO and GCOs without subsequent failure, respectively).
Suzanne Césaire’s Posthumanism: Figuring the Homme-plante

Suzanne Cesaire’s essays for the Martinican journal Tropiques (1941–1945) provide a necessary intervention into current discussions of the posthuman, feminist new materialism, and the Anthropocene....