cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Infrared studies of conformational changes in polyvinyl chloride

Analysis of the infrared spectrum of polyvinyl chloride has permitted the identification, from the frequencies of the several CCl stretching bands, of the chain conformations which are associated with particular chlorine pair configurations. These results have made it possible to establish that changes in conformational structure accompany certain changes in physical state of the polymer. Possible interpretations of the origins of these structural changes are considered.
Reduced-order observers for linear discrete-time systems

Luenberger's observer is considered as an alternate to the Kalman filter for obtaining state estimates in linear discrete-time stochastic systems. An interesting new solution to the problem of constructing optimal and suboptimal reduced-order observers is presented. The solution contains as special cases both Kalman's optimal filter and the optimal minimal-order observer of Leondes and Novak. Also, the Tse and Athans observer is obtained as a special case of the reduced-order observer solution.
Moment filters for high precision computation of focus and stereo

Many low level visual computation problems such as focus, stereo, etc. can be formulated as problems of extracting one or more parameters of a non-stationary transformation between two images. Because of the non-stationary nature, finite-width windows are widely used in various algorithms to extract spatially local information from images. While the choice of window width has a very profound impact on the quality of results of algorithms, there has been no quantitative way to measure or eliminate the negative effects of finite width windows. To address this problem, we introduce a new set of filters, moment filters. Due to their recursiveness in the Fourier and spatial domains, these filters allow the effects of finite-width windows and fore-shortening to be explicitly analyzed and eliminated.
Losing ground: Farmland preservation, economic utilitarianism, and the erosion of the agrarian ideal

The trajectory of the public discourse on agriculture in the twentieth century presents an interesting pattern:shortly after World War II, the manner in which farming and farmers were discussed underwent a profound shift. This rhetorical change is revealed by comparing the current debate on farmland preservation with a tradition of agricultural discourse that came before, known as “agrarianism.” While agrarian writers conceived of farming as a rewarding life, a public good, and a source of moral virtue, current writers on farmland preservation speak of farming almost entirely in utilitarian terms describing its productive capacity and its economic returns. Proponents of farmland preservation use essentially the same underlying framework as critics of preservation:n “economic utilitarian” paradigm that purports to eschew normative values and evaluate land use decisions based on economic criteria only. I argue that, despite their good intentions, farmland preservationists are doomed to piecemeal victories at best, because their arguments, which rely on a utilitarian justification and disregard the agrarian ethic, are inadequate. Without expanding its focus beyond farmland to encompass farming and farmers, the movement risks losing both integrity and effectiveness.
KLF2 Is a novel transcriptional regulator of endothelial proinflammatory activation.

The vascular endothelium is a critical regulator of vascular function. Diverse stimuli such as proinflammatory cytokines and hemodynamic forces modulate endothelial phenotype and thereby impact on the development of vascular disease states. Therefore, identification of the regulatory factors that mediate the effects of these stimuli on endothelial function is of considerable interest. Transcriptional profiling studies identified the Kruppel-like factor (KLF)2 as being inhibited by the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β and induced by laminar shear stress in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Overexpression of KLF2 in umbilical vein endothelial cells robustly induced endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and total enzymatic activity. In addition, KLF2 overexpression potently inhibited the induction of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and endothelial adhesion molecule E-selectin in response to various proinflammatory cytokines. Consistent with these observations, in vitro flow assays demonstrate that T cell attachment and rolling are markedly attenuated in endothelial monolayers transduced with KLF2. Finally, our studies implicate recruitment by KLF2 of the transcriptional coactivator cyclic AMP response element–binding protein (CBP/p300) as a unifying mechanism for these various effects. These data implicate KLF2 as a novel regulator of endothelial activation in response to proinflammatory stimuli.
In vitro analysis of boundary identification techniques used in quantification of two-dimensional echocardiograms

Abstract Echocardiographic cross-sectional areas of 10 formalin-fixed animal left ventricles were determined by 5 independent observers using black-white (B-W) and mid-spot (M-S) endocardial boundary identification techniques. The echocardiographic cross-sectional areas were compared with the true anatomic cross-sectional areas of the same 10 hearts to determine the accuracy, variability and reliability of each technique. The results of these comparisons revealed that the M-S technique was more accurate than the B-W technique (3.3 ± 7.2 vs 34.9 ± 8.6% error). However, the B-W technique was more reliable in that it had a smaller interobserver and estimated intraobserver variability. The M-S technique had a 6% greater intraobserver variability.
The developmental progression of age 14 behavioral disinhibition, early age of sexual initiation, and subsequent sexual risk-taking behavior

Background Research has demonstrated a consistent relationship between early sexual experience and subsequent sexual risk-taking behaviors. We hypothesized that this relationship is due to a general predisposition toward behavioral disinhibition (BD), and that relationships among BD, early sex, and subsequent risky sexual behavior may be influenced by common genetic influences for males and common environmental influences for females. Methods A prospective sample of 1,512 same-sex adolescent twins (50.2% female) was used. Adolescent BD was measured by clinical symptom counts of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and self-reported delinquent behavior (age 14). Age of sexual initiation was defined as first age of consensual oral or penetrative sex (mean age ~17). Adult risky sexual behavior was defined by sexual behaviors under the influence of drugs and alcohol and number of casual sexual partners in the past year (age 24). Results Multivariate analyses showed evidence for substantial common genetic variance among age 14 BD, age at sexual initiation, and adult risky sexual behavior for males, but not females. There was no significant difference in the degree of common environmental influence on these variables for females compared to males. Notably, age of sexual initiation was not significantly correlated with age 24 risky sexual behavior for females. Conclusion The relationship between early sex and later risky sex can be better understood through a general liability toward BD, which is influenced primarily by genetic factors for males. The association between age 14 BD and age of sexual initiation was influenced through a combination of genetic and environmental factors for females; however, age of sexual initiation does not appear to be a salient predictor of adult women's sexual risk-taking behavior. Findings suggest that prevention programs aimed at reducing sexual risk behavior might target youth exhibiting BD by age 14, particularly males. More research is needed on what predicts adult sexual risk-taking behavior for females.
DNA Immunoprecipitation (DIP) for the Determination of DNA-Binding Specificity

INTRODUCTIONKnowledge of the DNA-binding specificity of a transcription factor aids in understanding the function of that factor in the regulation of gene transcription. One popular method of identifying the genomic DNA sites bound by a given protein in vivo is the Chromatin ImmunoPrecipitation with microarray analysis (ChIP-chip) technique. However, this method reveals a binding pattern influenced by in vivo phenomena that may mask the actual DNA-binding specificity of the factor, such as chromatin effects and competitive or cooperative protein-protein interactions. ChIP-chip also requires adequate expression of the protein in the cell type chosen to create the extract used for immunoprecipitation. DNA Immunoprecipitation (DIP) is an alternative technique that allows one to take advantage of the favorable properties of both in vivo and traditional in vitro techniques (e.g., electromobility shift assay [EMSA] and binding site selection [SELEX]). DIP utilizes naked genomic DNA as a binding substrate for one or more purified recombinant proteins. Because genomic DNA is used as a template in DIP reactions, the results are directly comparable to ChIP-chip or ChIP-seq data. DIP can be carried out in the presence of cofactors such as heterodimer partners, competitors, or small molecule binding inhibitors. After DNA is isolated by DIP, it is most efficiently detected using a highly parallel genomic technique such as a DNA microarray (DIP-chip) or high-throughput sequencing (DIP-seq). In this protocol, we describe a DIP of a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) protein with yeast genomic DNA.
Graph cover ensembles of non-binary protograph LDPC codes

This paper introduces a novel class of non-binary graph-based codes, built upon graph covers of non-binary protograph LDPC codes. This new ensemble is more restrictive than previously considered constructions, but in turn is much simpler to design and implement. The simplifications in design allow for the enumeration of codeword weight, trapping set size, stopping set size, and pseudo codeword weights, both as exact quantities in the finite-length regime and as corresponding growth rates in the asymptotic setting. The presented construction and the accompanying enumerations enhance the analytical toolbox of non-binary LDPC codes.
Accuracy of pharmacy and coded‐diagnosis information in identifying tuberculosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Purpose Previous studies suggest that disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) increase tuberculosis (TB) risk. The accuracy of pharmacy and coded-diagnosis information to identify persons with TB is unclear. Methods Within a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (2000–2005) enrolled in Tennessee Medicaid, we identified those with potential TB using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD9-CM) diagnosis codes and/or pharmacy claims. Using the Tennessee TB registry as the gold standard for identification of TB, we estimated the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and the respective 95% confidence intervals for each TB case-ascertainment strategy. Results Ten of 18 094 RA patients had confirmed TB during 61 461 person-years of follow-up (16.3 per 100 000 person-years). The sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) and respective 95% confidence intervals were low for confirmed TB based on ICD9-CM codes alone (60.0% (26.2–87.8) and 1.3% (0.5–2.9)), pharmacy data alone (20% (2.5–55.6) and 4.1% (0.5–14.3)), and both (20% (2.5–55.6) and 25.0% (3.2–65.1)). Conclusions Algorithms that use administrative data alone to identify TB have a poor PPV that results in a high false positive rate of TB detection. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Adaptive Tracking Control for a Class of Nonaffine Nonminimum Phase Systems

A neural control synthesis method for output regulation based on backstepping combined with inverting design is considered for a class of single-input single-output nonaffine nonminimum phase nonlinear systems. Most previous backstepping approaches for nonminimum phase systems have been restricted to stabilization problems. By applying output regulation approach for nonminimum phase systems to a low dimensional auxiliary system, we show how the overall design procedure can be performed by recursive backstepping. At the final stage of backstepping, a controller is obtained by statically inverting a model and the modelling error is compensated by use of a neural network. The method does not need a fixed-point assumption nor a boundedness assumption on the time derivative of a control effectiveness term. Using Lyapunov's direct method, it is shown that all the signals of the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation results illustrate the approach.
Equivalent temperature of hot electrons

Abstract The two extensions of the Einstein relation qDpar = kTeμpar and qDpar = kT′eμ′and define, in the case of hot electrons, two different electron temperatures Te and T′e. It is shown here that the two interpretations are fully equivalent in that they lead to the noise expressions S I (0)=4kT( I V and S I (0) = 4kT′ e ( d I d V ) , respectively. The T′e interpretation, however, is slightly favored, since it leads to the simple expression S V (0) = 4kT′ e / d I d V ) for the open-circuit noise.
Pedagogy of wireless fading channels: A MATLAB® demo:

Courses in wireless communication systems are offered at undergraduate level electrical engineering programs. One of the topics of study in this course is the signal strength fluctuations in wireless channels referred to as fading arising from the existence of multiple paths between the transmitter and receiver. MATLAB® which is extensively used in engineering courses is an ideal tool to significantly enhance the pedagogy of fading. A demo based on MATLAB® has been developed offering a comprehensive tutorial view of fading. It takes into account several models frequently used to describe fading, such as the Rayleigh, Rician, Nakagami and Gaussian ones. Distributing the p-coded MATLAB® script to the students and allowing them to explore the various aspects of fading and refining the script to include additional elements based on their responses, the demo was simplified, expanded and thus, made more demonstrative of the concepts. The final version of MATLAB® demo allows the users to understand and appreciat...
Measurement of Digital Noise in MixedSignal Integrated Circuits

This paper proposes a method of measuring the influence of digital noise on analog circuits using wide-band voltage comparators as noise detectors. Noise amplitude and rms voltage are successfully measured by this method. A test chip is fabricated to measure the digital noise influence. From the experimental results, it is shown that the digital noise influence can be considerably reduced by using a differential configuration in analog circuits for mixed-signal IC's. The digital noise influence can be further reduced by lowering the digital supply voltage. These results show that the voltage-comparator-based measuring method is effective in measuring the influence of digital noise on analog circuits.
Phytoestrogens and vascular therapy.

Phytoestrogens are a group of plant-derived natural products which include lignans, isoflavones, coumestans, and resorcyclic acid lactones. Dietary consumption of lignans and isoflavones has been postulated to play a role in the protection of humans against development of coronary heart disease [(1
Nonlinear optics in birefringent fibers: modulational instability for normal dispersion

Optical modulational instability (MI),1 the spontaneous generation of intensity modulation on a cw, has received much attention recently as a novel nonlinear optical process and as a source of high repetition rate subpicosecond pulses.
Cooperating to Compete: Determinants of a Sanctuary Strategy among Japanese Firms

This paper addresses the puzzle inherent in cooperative export strategies: to be successful, firms have to cooperate in one market in order to compete in another. Such strategies are exemplified by export associations on the one hand, frequent in the early 20th century and first regulated by the US Webb-Pomerene Act in 1918, and by the sanctuary strategy on the other, whereby companies maintain prices at home and price their products aggressively abroad. This paper discusses the sanctuary strategy as employed by Japanese firms in the 1990s, in light of multimarket contact theory (Barnett and Carroll, 1993, Barnett et al., 1994), and makes a first step to a better understanding of the foundations of this strategy by looking at data collected on Japanese industries in 1995. The paper tests standard notions of cooperation and collusion and also develops new hypotheses to analyze the relevance of internal features of trade associations for self-regulation. The results suggest a set of specific industry and organizational indicators of domestic cooperation. As companies in other Asian countries as well as in transition economies engage in cooperative export strategies to increase competitiveness, these indicators provide a useful tool in determining the likelihood of domestic cooperation that makes such strategies possible.
Exhibiting pride in the profession: Making the case for continued professional development.

Nursing is a profession. Although the art and science has become more science than art due to advances in technology and regulatory requirements, the profession of nursing is among the most trusted in modern society. How do we continue to earn that trust and respect? One could argue that looking after our professional development through ongoing education and certification gives us the confidence to move forward and meet any challenge that we encounter in this complex healthcare environment. Investing in professional development is not only beneficial to nurses practicing in today's healthcare environment, but is also a way to practice safely while protecting patients. Caring for patients in a safe and compassionate manner is a herculean task. Nurses need every advantage at their disposal to keep up with practice and regulatory demands. Participating in and seeking out new challenges through continuing education and specialty certification provides a strong and expanding foundation of knowledge to afford nurses the tools to remain at the top of their game. Because one has gained, through sheer longevity, expert status in their chosen area of practice; does not mean that additional expertise can neither be attained nor utilized through ongoing professional development. From the patient's perspective, having nurses who care about competence in their role by participating in continuing education and certification, is comforting. Ongoing professional development sends a message to patients that their caregiver is committed to provide the best care possible by constantly striving for more education in their chosen specialty. While studies have not been able to prove unequivocally that certification results in improved patient outcomes, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that nurses who regularly participate in continuing education will have a better skill set that they can employ in their everyday practice. Finally, because the nursing profession is one of great diversity, it is conceivable and even likely that nurses will move into different specialty areas of nursing through their career. It is unlikely, however, that nurses who change direction in specialties will want to remain novices in their new area of practice. This then puts a nurse on a trajectory of life-long learning and ongoing professional development. And that perhaps, is as it should be. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.
Scattering Theory and Volterra Renormalization for Wave Modeling in Heterogeneous Acoustic Media

Scattering theory is a promising tool for seismic modeling and inversion. However, the Born series related to the governing Lippmann Schwinger equation(LSE) is limited by convergence. Various partial series summations are developed to separately model specific primary or multiple events. However, these nonlinear approximations also have limitations when the perturbation is large and/or spatially extended. We propose a novel renormalization technique to LSE for full wavefield modeling. The renormalized LSE is a Volterra type and possesses absolute convergence properties. The related renormalized Green’s function is one-way in space and two-way in time and has a set of unique properties, e.g., real value, triangular, etc. By introducing wavefield separation, the renormalized LSE is divided into two sub-Volterra type integral equations, which can be solved non-iteratively. The study has the potential to make the scattering theory into a useful component of seismic forward modeling methods. Besides, it also provides insight for developing a different inverse scattering based inversion method.
Cobb Syndrome: New Case and Historical Review

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/30-1-16290 Cobb syndrome is a combination of a skin nevus and a spinal angioma in the same segmental distribution. Although this syndrome originally was thought to be rare, its prevalence has been reported to be as high as 20% of patients with spinal angiomas in some series. We report on a case and provide an historical review of the literature to emphasize the importance of recognizing Cobb syndrome, which can lead to early diagnosis and treatment of spinal angiomas, helping to improve the prognosis.
Combined effects of scattering and absorption on laser speckle contrast imaging

Several variables may affect the local contrast values in laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), irrespective of relative motion. It has been suggested that the optical properties of the moving fluid and surrounding tissues can affect LSCI values. However, a detailed study of this has yet to be presented. In this work, we examined the combined effects of the reduced scattering and absorption coefficients on LSCI. This study employs fluid phantoms with different optical properties that were developed to mimic whole blood with varying hematocrit levels. These flow phantoms were imaged with an LSCI system developed for this study. The only variable parameter was the optical properties of the flowing fluid. A negative linear relationship was seen between the changes in contrast and changes in reduced scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient, and total attenuation coefficient. The change in contrast observed due to an increase in the scattering coefficient was greater than what was observed with an increase in the absorption coefficient. The results indicate that optical properties affect contrast values and that they should be considered in the interpretation of LSCI data.
Beat-to-beat control of human optokinetic nystagmus slow phase durations.

This study provides the first clear evidence that the generation of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) fast phases is a decision process that is influenced by performance of a concurrent disjunctive react...
Hospital transfer associated with increased mortality after endovascular revascularization for acute ischemic stroke

Background Patients with an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to large vessel occlusion often require transfer to an endovascular center for treatment. Objective To assess the effect of hospital transfer on outcomes after endovascular revascularization. Methods Outcomes of endovascular revascularization were compared between directly admitted and transferred patients using data from a national database and our own institution. Results 118 institutions within the database reported outcomes of 8533 inpatient admissions for endovascular treatment of AIS. Mortality rate (14.9% vs 18.6%; p=0.049) and mortality index (1.1 vs 1.6; p=0.048) were significantly lower among directly admitted patients than among transferred patients. Within our institutional cohort of 140 patients who underwent endovascular therapy, directly admitted patients had a significantly faster time to revascularization than transferred patients (277.4 vs 420.4 min; p≤0.0001). Among transferred patients, an increasing distance of transferred hospital to our home institution was associated with an increasing risk of mortality (unit OR=1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.54; p=0.0061). Conclusions Outcomes of revascularization may improve with methods to identify patients with large vessel occlusion before hospital admission, thus increasing the likelihood of initial triage to a comprehensive stroke center for patients eligible for endovascular intervention.
Simulating synchrotron radiation in accelerators including diffuse and specular reflections

Accurate modeling of synchrotron-radiation photon flux inside the vacuum chamber is important for mitigating electron-cloud effects at future accelerators.
Uncertainty quantification of phase-based motion estimation on noisy sequence of images

Optical measurement and motion estimation based on the acquired sequence of images is one of the most recent sensing techniques developed in the last decade or so. As a modern non-contact sensing technique, motion estimation and optical measurements provide a full-field awareness without any mass loading or change of stiffness in structures, which is unavoidable using other conventional transducers (e.g. accelerometers, strain gauges, and LVDTs). Among several motion estimation techniques prevalent in computer vision, phase-based motion estimation is one of the most reliable and accurate methods. However, contamination of the sequence of images with numerous sources of noise is inevitable, and the performance of the phase-based motion estimation could be affected due to the lighting changes, image acquisition noise, and the camera’s intrinsic sensor noise. Within this context, the uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the phase-based motion estimation (PME) has been investigated in this paper. Based on a normality assumption, a framework has been provided in order to characterize the propagation of the uncertainty from the acquired images to the estimated motion. The established analytical solution is validated via Monte-Carlo simulations using a set of simulation data. The UQ model in the paper is able to predict the order statistics of the noise influence, in which the uncertainty bounds of the estimated motion are given, after processing the contaminated sequence of images.
Lao-Zhuang in the vernacular: two evolutionary readings

ABSTRACTThis article examines evolutionary thinking in Yan Fu and Hu Shi’s readings of the Laozi and the Zhuangzi. While Yan Fu employed a traditional exegetical form and Hu Shi wrote in journals and textbooks, both scholars employed a new, vernacular mode of reading classical texts. This new mode of reading is characterized by four primary features: commensurability, comprehensibility, fallibility, and contemporaneity. Unlike scholars of earlier generations, Yan and Hu treated classical Chinese texts as commensurable with Western thought and readily comprehensible in terms of modern ideas. Yan and Hu approached the Laozi and Zhuangzi as fallible texts subject to evaluation in light of Western ideas and contemporary conditions. Yan argued that the sages should be subjected to the same scrutiny as morally neutral modern scientists, while Hu urged readers to evaluate texts in terms of their pragmatic effects. Both writers highlighted areas of evolutionary thinking in the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, while evalua...
Comparison of a paediatric emergency ruler with a digital algorithm for weight and age estimation.

Background Emergency tapes like the “Paediatric-Emergency-Ruler” (PaedER) provide drug dosing and recommend medical airway equipment based on estimated patient bodyweight and age. Previous studies have revealed unsatisfactory accuracy in bodyweight estimation, due to the tapes′ length-based weight categories. Therefore, we developed a digital algorithm allowing continuous length-based estimation of weight and age. The aim of this study was to compare the new algorithm with the PaedER regarding accuracy in estimating bodyweight and recommendation of medical airway equipment. Methods Patients with a body length suitable for the PaedER were included in this single centre, prospective clinical observation trial after obtaining informed written parental consent. Bodyweight estimations by the algorithm and PaedER within ± 10% and ± 20% of the actual bodyweight were compared. Furthermore, medical airway equipment suggested by the PaedER and algorithm were compared with the equipment actually used for anaesthesia. Wilcoxon- and McNemar-Tests were used for statistical analysis. Results are median (interquartiles), P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results In total, 489 patients aged 2.0 years (0.4–5.9), with a body length of 89.0 cm (63.5–114.5), weighing 12.8 kg (6.3–19.6), were included. The algorithm′s precision of bodyweight estimation within ± 10%/± 20% was significantly higher at 64.0%/91.6% than the PaedER at 55.4%/81.8% (P < 0.001). Compared to PaedER the algorithm showed a higher incidence of correctly recommended medical airway equipment based on its accuracy for age and bodyweight estimation. Conclusion The new digital algorithm is an alternative to conventional emergency tapes, showing improved accuracy regarding length-based estimation of bodyweight and recommendation of medical airway equipment.
Organic Catalysis: A New and Broadly Useful Strategy for Living Polymerization

Significant effort has gone into the development of biodegradable polymers over the past few decades with the purpose of designing resorbable biomaterials, and, more recently, for designing commodity thermoplastics from renewable resources. Aliphatic polyesters, particularly polylactide, combine biocompatibility and biodegradability with remarkable physical properties and have the requisite thermal stability at processing temperatures. One of the most common synthetic routes to polyesters uses transition metal initiation compounds to affect the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of the cyclic ester monomer. Advances in organometallic chemistry in the design and synthesis of single-site metal catalysts for ROP techniques1 has enabled the preparation of well-defined functional polymeric materials with predictable molecular weights, narrow polydispersities, architectural and stereochemical control. The ring-opening (ROP) polymerization of lactide has been accomplished from a variety of metal catalysts including aluminium, tin, zinc and yttrium through a coordination-insertion mechanism.2 Removal of the metal contaminant, bound to the chain-end, must be considered for many applications.
A Diagnostic Tool for Ad-Hoc and Delay-Tolerant Networks

Ad-Hoc and Delay-Tolerant Networks (AHDTNs) can be very useful in environments where more traditional networking technologies fail. Determining the practical effectiveness of AHDTNs can however be challenging. We review design considerations and practical experience with a novel mechanism for monitoring and analyzing the performance of AHDTNs. This new mechanism, AllNet Trace, somewhat resembles a combination of ping and traceroute, and can be used for the same purposes as either ping, with or without IP record route, or traceroute. AllNet Trace can be used to obtain information about networks where packets may be forwarded to next-hop destinations more than once, or may be arbitrarily delayed. We describe the design, implementation, and performance of AllNet Trace within the context of the AllNet protocol, which is designed to securely deliver interpersonal data over both AHDTNs and the Internet.
Mathematical model of perineural tumor spread: a pilot study.

Perineural spread (PNS) of pelvic cancer along the lumbosacral plexus is an emerging explanation for neoplastic lumbosacral plexopathy (nLSP) and an underestimated source of patient morbidity and mortality. Despite the increased incidence of PNS, these patients are often times a clinical conundrum—to diagnose and to treat. Building on previous results in modeling glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), we present a mathematical model for predicting the course and extent of the PNS of recurrent tumors. We created three-dimensional models of perineurally spreading tumor along the lumbosacral plexus from consecutive magnetic resonance imaging scans of two patients (one each with prostate cancer and cervical cancer). We adapted and applied a previously reported mathematical model of GBM to progression of tumor growth along the nerves on an anatomical model obtained from a healthy subject. We were able to successfully model and visualize perineurally spreading pelvic cancer in two patients; average growth rates were 60.7 mm/year for subject 1 and 129 mm/year for subject 2. The model correlated well with extent of PNS on MRI scans at given time points. This is the first attempt to model perineural tumor spread and we believe that it provides a glimpse into the future of disease progression monitoring. Every tumor and every patient are different, and the possibility to report treatment response using a unified scale—as “days gained”—will be a necessity in the era of individualized medicine. We hope our work will serve as a springboard for future connections between mathematics and medicine.
Spatiotemporal 3D Models of Aging Fruit from Multi-view Time-Lapse Videos

We provide an approach to reconstruct spatiotemporal 3D models of aging objects such as fruit containing time-varying shape and appearance using multi-view time-lapse videos captured by a microenvironment of Raspberry Pi cameras. Our approach represents the 3D structure of the object prior to aging using a static 3D mesh reconstructed from multiple photographs of the object captured using a rotating camera track. We manually align the 3D mesh to the images at the first time instant. Our approach automatically deforms the aligned 3D mesh to match the object across the multi-viewpoint time-lapse videos. We texture map the deformed 3D meshes with intensities from the frames at each time instant to create the spatiotemporal 3D model of the object. Our results reveal the time dependence of volume loss due to transpiration and color transformation due to enzymatic browning on banana peels and in exposed parts of bitten fruit.
Biomedical Engineering Inspired by Nature: Biomimetics

In Biomimetics, one studies how nature, building atom by atom, i.e., through bottom-up manufacturing, through eons of evolution of life, developed materials, structures, processes and intelligence to inspire and improve the engineering and design of artificial materials, man-made structures and processes (e.g., software). Human manufacturing technology works in the opposite direction, i.e., it builds topdown; in most current manufacturing we tend to start with larger building blocks and use stiff materials (e.g., Si or stainless steel), whereas nature prefers small building blocks and mostly soft, low Young’s modulus materials (e.g., muscle or skin).
Question, Reflection, and Philosophical Method in Heidegger’s Early Freiburg Lectures

Being and Time can be read as a treatise on transcendental method investigating the conditions of possibility for philosophical knowledge. As such, it finds its model in the transcendental-logical tradition, specifically in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason which “is a treatise on the method, not a system of the science itself.”1 “Method” here does not denote a procedure which would be applicable indifferently to any subject-matter but rather the way in which a particular sort of subject-matter becomes scientifically accessible in the first place. In this sense, Heidegger’s considerations of method in Being and Time are not limited to the sections explicitly so identified, but consist in the entire spiralling movement from everyday being-in-the-world to the authentic temporalizing of anticipatory resoluteness. The question of how philosophical inquiry is possible governs the general structure of the book, Heidegger’s choice of phenomena to investigate, and the limits within which he pursues the investigation. Dasein’s structure is articulated only so far as is necessary for understanding how philosophical knowledge of being is possible, that is, only so far as Dasein (like Kant’s apriori synthesis) is to be seen as the transcendental condition for ontological knowledge.2 Anthropological interpretations of Being and Time—e.g., those that bemoan its one-sidedly gloomy picture of “man”—fail to appreciate the significance of these limits.
Gender Difference in Verbal Performance: a Meta-analysis of United States State Performance Assessments

A comprehensive, statistical review of gender differences in verbal performance has not been conducted in several decades and the majority of previous work on this topic used published studies that often include small, non-representative samples. The introduction of national legislation in US public schools required schools to assess and publicly report verbal performance, thus providing verbal assessment data for millions of American students. The current study presents a meta-analysis of gender differences in US state verbal assessments. Data were collected from the departments of education in 16 states representing more than 10 million US students in grades 3 through 11. Results indicated a small gender difference favoring females for overall verbal performance (d = 0.29). However, when type of assessment was considered, the female advantages in reading (d = 0.19) and language arts (d = 0.29) were smaller than in writing performance (d = 0.45). The small gender differences in verbal performance increased in a linear pattern from grades 3 to 8 and then remained steady in high school.
Don't Wake Daddy: Martin Kippenberger and the Schreber Case

In the later years of his work, Martin Kippenberger made a number of paintings, multiples, and works on paper that referred to both Daniel Paul Schreber—a German judge whose Memoirs of My Nervous Illness (1903) became a subject of considerable commentary by psychoanalysts and critical theorists throughout the twentieth century—and his father, physician Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber. Nathan Stobaugh offers an analysis of these works from the 1990s and argues that Kippenberger's engagement with this case, when placed in the context of his larger body of work, demonstrates the necessity of scrutinizing the Schreber father and son together. While this scrutiny might cast Kippenberger's observers themselves as paranoiacs, such a position might be necessary to apprehend a cultural predicament in which authoritarian power seems equally likely to congeal in the form of a patriarchal master as it is to spread throughout a world in which children of all ages are forced, through the management of their desire, into...
The Limited Value of Non-Replicable Field Experiments in Contexts With Low Temporal Validity:

My first publication as a grad student was a field experiment using Twitter “bots” to socially sanction users engaged in racist harassment. The ascendant paradigm in quantitative social science emp...
Lung and Respiratory Tract Cytology

Lung and respiratory tract cytology evaluates specimens including sputum, bronchial washings, bronchial brushings, bronchoalveolar lavage, and transbronchial or transthoracic fine-needle aspirations, to diagnose non-neoplastic processes and neoplastic lesions of the lung. This chapter discusses commonly encountered questions in lung cytology practice and encompasses the whole spectrum of morphologic findings from normal elements, reactive conditions, infectious lesions, and neoplasms. Common differential diagnoses, immunohistochemical staining utilization, and diagnostic pitfalls are emphasized. The updated knowledge on molecular testing in lung cancer is reviewed. Five illustrative cases are presented with take-home messages from each case.
Non-Perturbative JT Gravity

Recently, Saad, Shenker and Stanford showed how to define the genus expansion of Jackiw-Teitelboim quantum gravity in terms of a double-scaled Hermitian matrix model. However, the model's non-perturbative sector has fatal instabilities at low energy that they cured by procedures that render the physics non-unique. This might not be a desirable property for a system that is supposed to capture key features of quantum black holes. Presented here is a model with identical perturbative physics at high energy that instead has a stable and unambiguous non-perturbative completion of the physics at low energy. An explicit examination of the full spectral density function shows how this is achieved. The new model, which is based on complex matrix models, also allows for the straightforward inclusion of spacetime features analogous to Ramond-Ramond fluxes. Intriguingly, there is a deformation parameter that connects this non-perturbative formulation of JT gravity to one which, at low energy, has features of a super JT gravity.
Reinventing Mechatronics—Final Thoughts

The chapters in this book were selected from papers presented at the 16th Biannual Mechatronics Forum Conference held at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in September 2018 on the basis of current interests and are by no means to be construed as an exhaustive work. However, the underlying principles in each chapter are very similar and important. Each points to the future and how the reinvention of many aspects of mechatronic systems is critical if only to avoid repeating the same mistakes as previously made by others. This concluding chapter is therefore deliberately not overly technical, with just a few references to encourage interested readers to delve deeper into specific areas of reinvention.
Electrophotocatalytic C-H Functionalization of Ethers with High Regioselectivity.

The highly regioselective electrophotocatalytic C–H functionalization of ethers is described. These reactions are catalyzed by a trisaminocyclopropenium (TAC) ion at mild electrochemical potential ...
Development and Analysis of TREAT Neutronics Benchmarks

The Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) was designed in the late 1950s to test nuclear fuels and materials under extreme conditions and has been recently restarted by the U.S. Department of Ene...
Landscape Analysis of Breastfeeding-Related Physician Education in the United States.

Background: Breastfeeding is the preferred form of infant nutrition supporting optimal health of mothers and children. Research shows that medical training is deficient in preparing physicians to develop the knowledge base, clinical management skills, and attitudes to provide optimal support for breastfeeding families. We developed this project to assess the current gaps in breastfeeding education during medical training for physicians and to inform the plan to address those gaps. Materials and Methods: We conducted key informant interviews with nine professionals representing medical education, physician professional membership organizations, and ancillary stakeholders with an interest in improving physician education and training with respect to breastfeeding. Using those results, we developed and conducted a survey of physicians to identify training in breastfeeding received during medical school, residency/fellowship, and continuing medical education; confidence in managing breastfeeding; and attitudes about breastfeeding training. A total of 816 respondents completed the survey from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Results: Gaps exist in the training of physicians in terms of knowledge base, and clinical skills in breastfeeding support as highlighted through detailed key informant interviews and physician surveys. Physicians surveyed in the disciplines of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and family medicine indicated a desire to have more breastfeeding education integrated into their training, especially addressing clinical evaluation and management of breastfeeding problems. Conclusion: The landscape analysis demonstrates that medical education in breastfeeding remains inadequate despite previous efforts to address the gaps and that physicians desire more training in breastfeeding, especially clinical skills training, to improve provider confidence and competence. The analysis provides the foundation for further efforts to develop a comprehensive plan to enhance physician education in breastfeeding.
Tactile active sensing in insect-plant pollination

The interaction between insects and the flowers they pollinate has driven the evolutionary diversity of both insects and flowering plants, two groups with the most numerous species on earth. Insects use vision and olfaction to localize their host plants, but to feed from the flower, they must find the tiny nectary opening, which can be well beyond their visual resolution. When vision is limited, the sense of touch becomes especially crucial, yet very few studies have investigated the role of rapid and precise tactile feedback in successful feeding and pollination interactions. In this paper, we study the remarkable feeding behavior of flying insects that use their proboscis, a flexible mouthpart often longer than their entire body length when unfurled, to expertly explore floral surfaces. Specifically, we observed how the crepuscular hawkmoth Manduca sexta interacts with artificial, 3D-printed flowers of varying shapes. We found that moths actively explore the flower for tactile features, systematically sweeping their proboscis from edge to center repeatedly until they locate the nectary. Moreover, naive moths rapidly learn to exploit flowers, and they adopt a tactile search strategy to more directly locate the nectary in as few as three to five consecutive visits. We suggest moths wield their proboscis to extract salient tactile features, such as floral edges and corolla curvature. Our results highlight the proboscis as a unique sensory structure and emphasize the central role of touch in insect-plant pollination interactions.
Accounting for Changing Structure in Functional Network Analysis of TBI Patients

Over the last 15 years, network analysis approaches based on MR data have allowed a renewed understanding of the relationship between brain function architecture and consciousness. Application of this approach to Disorders of Consciousness (DOC) highlights the relationship between specific aspects of network topology and levels of consciousness. Nonetheless, such applications do not acknowledge that DOC patients present with a dramatic level of heterogeneity in structural connectivity (SC) across groups (e.g., etiology, diagnostic categories) and within individual patients (e.g., over time), which possibly affects the level and quality of functional connectivity (FC) patterns that can be expressed. In addition, it is rarely acknowledged that the most frequently employed outcome metrics in the study of brain connectivity (e.g., degree distribution, inter- or intra-resting state network connectivity, and clustering coefficient) are interrelated and cannot be assumed to be independent of each other. We present empirical data showing that, when the two points above are not taken into consideration with an appropriate analytic model, it can lead to a misinterpretation of the role of each outcome metric in the graph's structure and thus misinterpretation of FC results. We show that failing to account for either SC or the inter-relation between outcome measures can lead to inflated false positives (FP) and/or false negatives (FN) in inter- or intra-resting state network connectivity results (defined, respectively, as a positive or negative result in network connectivity that is present when not accounting for SC and/or outcome measure inter-relation, but becomes not significant when accounting for all variables). Overall, we find that unconscious patients have lower rates of FP and FN for within cortical connectivity, lower rates of FN for cortico-subcortical connectivity, and lower rates of FP for within subcortical connectivity. These lower rates in unconscious patients may reflect differences in their triadic closure and SC metrics, which bias the interpretations of the inter- or intra-resting state network connectivity if the SC metrics and triadic closure are not modeled. We suggest that future studies of functional connectivity in DOC patients (i) incorporate where possible SC metrics and (ii) properly account for the intercorrelated nature of outcome variables.