cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flow-induced deformation of an elastic membrane adhering to a wall

The flow-induced deformation of a two-dimensional membrane with a circular unstressed shape clamped at the two ends on a plane wall at an arbitrary contact angle is considered. Working under the auspices of generalized shell theory, the membrane is allowed to develop in-plane tensions, transverse tensions, and bending moments determined by the curvature of the resting and deformed shapes. A system of ordinary differential equations governing the membrane shape is formulated, and the associated boundary-value problem is solved by numerical methods. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the deformation of a clamped membrane due to gravity or a negative transmural pressure. The shell formulation is coupled with a boundary-integral formulation for Stokes flow, and an efficient iterative scheme is developed to describe deformed equilibrium shapes of a membrane attached to a plane wall in the presence of an overpassing shear flow. Computations for different contact angles and shear rates reveal a wide variety of profiles and illustrate the distribution of the membrane tension developing due to the flow-induced deformation.
Mortality from asthma, 1979–1984

Review of data from the National Center for Health Statistics to characterize deaths from asthma disclosed increases in rates of death from 1.2 per 100,000 in 1979 to 1.5 in 1983 and 1984. For black subjects, rates of death from asthma increased from 1.8 in 1979 to 2.5 in 1984; for white subjects, from 1.1 in 1979 to 1.4 in 1984. Age-adjusted rates of death from asthma increased from 1.9 in 1979 to 2.8 in 1983 and 2.6 in 1984 for black subjects, and from 0.8 to 1979 to 1.0 in 1984 for white subjects. Rates for other minority groups have been lower than rates for white subjects. A modest increase in prevalence of asthma among black subjects is insufficient to account for their much higher rate of death from asthma. Increases in rates of death have occurred in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in all regions of the country and in all but a few states. At least half the deaths from asthma have occurred at hospitals: this proportion did not change from 1979 to 1984. Increases in deaths from asthma have occurred in several other countries as well. Other reviews of deaths from asthma have implicated undertreatment and delays in treatment with bronchodilators and adrenal corticosteroids as factors contributing to death. High rates of death among black subjects suggest underutilization or lack of accessibility of health care. The large proportion of deaths that have occurred at hospitals suggests delays or other inadequacies of treatment at hospitals.
Structural signatures for tree data structures

Data sharing with multiple parties over a third-party distribution framework requires that both data integrity and confidentiality be assured. One of the most widely used data organization structures is the tree structure. When such structures encode sensitive information (such as in XML documents), it is crucial that integrity and confidentiality be assured not only for the content, but also for the structure. Digital signature schemes are commonly used to authenticate the integrity of the data. The most widely used such technique for tree structures is the Merkle hash technique, which however is known to be "not hiding", thus leading to unauthorized leakage of information. Most techniques in the literature are based on the Merkle hash technique and thus suffer from the problem of unauthorized information leakages. Assurance of integrity and confidentiality (no leakages) of tree-structured data is an important problem in the context of secure data publishing and content distribution systems.In this paper, we propose a signature scheme for tree structures, which assures both confidentiality and integrity and is also efficient, especially in third-party distribution environments. Our integrity assurance technique, which we refer to as the "Structural signature scheme", is based on the structure of the tree as defined by tree traversals (pre-order, post-order, in-order) and is defined using a randomized notion of such traversal numbers. In addition to formally defining the technique, we prove that it protects against violations of content and structural integrity and information leakages. We also show through complexity and performance analysis that the structural signature scheme is efficient; with respect to the Merkle hash technique, it incurs comparable cost for signing the trees and incurs lower cost for user-side integrity verification.
Random walk in extreme conditions - an agent based simulation of suicide bombing

This paper presents a Monte-Carlo simulation tool based on stationary multi-agent system. The agents are constrained by physical characteristics and mechanics of blast waves. The proposed tool examines the impact of blast waves in an event of suicide bombing on human body. The tool is capable of assessing the impact of crowd formation patterns and their densities on the magnitude of injury and number of casualties during a suicide bombing attack. While various attempts have been made to assess the impact of blast waves and its overpressure on buildings and animals, little has been done on crowd formation, crowd density and underlying geometry to mitigate the effects. Results indicated that the worst crowd formation is street (Zig-Zag) where 30% crowd can be dead and 45% can be injured, given typical explosive carrying capacity of a single suicide bomber. Row wise crowd formations was found to be the best for reducing the effectiveness of an attack with 18% crowd in lethal zone and 38% in injury zones. For a typical suicide bombing attack, we can reduce the number of fatalities by 12%, and the number of injuries by 7%. The simulation results were compared and validated by the real-life incidents and found to be in good agreement. Line-of-sight with the attacker, rushing towards the exit, and stampede were found to be the most lethal choices both during and after the attack. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for emergency response and counter terrorism.
DNA polymerases that propagate the eukaryotic DNA replication fork

Three DNA polymerases are thought to function at the eukaryotic DNA replication fork. Currently, a coherent model has been derived for the composition and activities of the lagging strand machinery. RNA-DNA primers are initiated by DNA polymerase ot-primase. Loading of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen, PCNA, dissociates DNA polymerase ca and recruits DNA polymerase S and the flap endonuclease FEN1 for elongation and in preparation for its requirement during maturation, respectively. Nick translation by the strand displacement action of DNA polymerase 8, coupled with the nuclease action of FEN1, results in processive RNA degradation until a proper DNA nick is reached for closure by DNA ligase I. In the event of excessive strand displacement synthesis, other factors, such as the Dna2 nuclease/helicase, are required to trim excess flaps. Paradoxically, the composition and activity of the much simpler leading strand machinery has not been clearly established. The burden of evidence suggests that DNA polymerase E normally replicates this strand,but under conditions of dysfunction, DNA polymerase 8 may substitute.
Reasoning-and-proving opportunities in elementary mathematics textbooks

Abstract Over the past two decades, standards documents have emphasized the importance of developing students’ abilities to generate and critique mathematical arguments across all grade levels. However, little is known about the opportunities elementary textbooks provide for students to learn mathematical argumentation. We analyzed seven upper elementary (ages 9–11) mathematics textbooks published in the U.S., focusing specifically on reasoning-and-proving opportunities in written tasks, and found that the average percentage of such tasks was 3.7%. Further, analyses of the task purpose and type of justification warranted revealed distinctions between the text materials in terms of the kinds of reasoning-and-proving activities prompted and the placement of tasks in the lesson sections. Specifically, textbooks developed based on research and written to align with curriculum and instruction standards were more likely to have reasoning-and-proving tasks within the narrative and student exercise sections than other texts. We discuss implications for the opportunities to learn reasoning-and-proving in elementary classrooms.
Construction of a main memory database testbed

Performance of the shadow-copy update method in a memory-resident database environment has previously been studied analytically and by simulation. However, not all of the several possible shadow memory architectures have been investigated thoroughly. The article describes a transaction processing testbed facility that has been constructed to examine performance of database operations using actual shadow memory implementations. >
Essential role for interleukin-2 for CD4(+)CD25(+) T regulatory cell development during the neonatal period.

Although many aspects of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory (Treg) cell development remain largely unknown, signaling through the IL-2R represents one feature for the production of Treg cells. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to further define early developmental steps in the production of Treg cells, including a more precise view on the role of interleukin (IL)-2 in this process. After adoptive transfer of wild-type Treg cells into neonatal IL-2Rβ−/− mice, only a small fraction of donor Treg cells selectively seeded the lymph node (LN). These donor Treg cells underwent rapid and extensive IL-2–dependent proliferation, followed by subsequent trafficking to the spleen. Thus, IL-2 is essential for Treg cell proliferation in neonatal LN. The number and distribution of Treg cells in the periphery of normal neonatal mice closely paralleled that seen for IL-2Rβ−/− mice that received Treg cells. However, for normal neonates, blockade of IL-2 decreased Treg cells in both the thymus and LN. Therefore, two steps of Treg cell development depend upon IL-2 in neonatal mice, thymus production, and subsequent expansion in the LN.
Post-transcriptional regulation of syndecan-1 expression by cAMP in peritoneal macrophages

Syndecan-1 is a cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan that is proposed to serve in cell-cell adhesion, cell-matrix anchorage, and growth factor signaling. Its expression is temporally and spatially regulated during epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in many developing tissues. In some cases, this regulation appears to be achieved at the level of transcription. However, induction of syndecan-1 expression in the embryonic kidney mesenchyme is suggested to occur at the level of mRNA translation (Vainio, S., M. Jalkanen, M. Bernfield, and L. Saxen. 1992. Dev. Biol. 152:221-232). To identify a system in which the regulatory mechanisms controlling syndecan-1 expression can be studied, cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage, which regulate the expression of many cell surface receptors, were screened for syndecan-1 expression. The syndecan-1 gene is active in blood monocytes as well as resident and thioglycollate-elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages, but expression of the proteoglycan is regulated at two levels. First, elicited macrophages accumulate nine-fold more syndecan-1 mRNA than do resident macrophages or circulating blood monocytes. Another member of the syndecan family of proteoglycans, syndecan-4, shows a distinct pattern of expression, suggesting that this regulation is specific for syndecan-1. Second, utilization of the mRNA for syndecan-1 production encounters a post-transcriptional block in the elicited macrophages that can be overcome by triggering agents such as E-type prostaglandins or dibutyryl cAMP, which raise intracellular cAMP levels. Dibutyryl cAMP does not induce syndecan-1 expression in resident peritoneal macrophages, which lack a pool of stored mRNA. This suggests that this agent promotes the post-transcriptional utilization of stored syndecan-1 mRNA. The induced proteoglycan appears at the cell surface as a integral of 100-kD heparan sulfate-rich isoform of syndecan-1. This suggests that a cAMP-dependent post-transcriptional control mechanism may be present in a variety of tissues when syndecan-1 expression is regulated.
Slow Conduction and Reentry in the Ventricular Conducting System: II. SINGLE AND SUSTAINED CIRCUS MOVEMENT IN NETWORKS OF CANINE AND BOVINE PURKINJE FIBERS

Depression of excitability and responsiveness provoked by the action of high K+ and epinephrine on short bundles of excised canine Purkinje fibers yields reentrant excitation. An impulse entering a depressed area undergoes marked slowing of conduction; the impulse then may continue forward while also returning through the pathway by which the initiating impulse entered the depressed area. The impulse may be delayed or blocked in either the forward or the retrograde direction. The reentrant excitation can occur in the absence of premature excitation. Various methods of depression of excitability produce return extrasystoles in Purkinje fibers. The common factor is very slow conduction which depends upon the abolition of the fast upstroke and the appearance of a low-voltage, slowly propagated action potential that is readily blocked.
Silent Spring (1962)

When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring she challenged DDT, a “war hero,” a “magic” insecticide that saved the lives of both soldiers and civilians from insect-borne diseases in World War II and promised to solve mankind’s insect problems (Maguire 196). At a time when science and technology were hailed as the tools that had won World War II (the war that many believed would end all wars) and now would lead America forward to even greater heights of power and well-being, her work challenged the beliefs about science and technology. She questioned the practices and belief systems of economic entomologists, pesticide manufacturers, agribusiness, government regulatory agencies and common citizens.
Routine 24-Hour Computed Tomography Brain Scan is not useful in stable patients Post Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator.

Background Obtaining a routine computed tomography (CT) brain scan 24 hours after treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV-tPA) is included in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association acute stroke guidelines. The usefulness of the test in stable patients is not known. We hypothesized that the results of routine, 24-hour post-treatment neuroimaging (CT or magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] brain scans) would not alter the management of clinically stable patients. Methods Patients treated with IV-tPA between January 2011 and December 2013 were identified from a single hospital's stroke registry. All patients were closely monitored for changes in stroke severity. Demographics, changes in neurological status, neuroimaging results, and changes in therapy were abstracted from the patients' medical records. Patients having a neuroimaging study because of neurological deterioration were excluded. Results Of 136 patients treated with IV-tPA, 131 met criteria for inclusion. Of these, 86.7% had moderate to severe neurological deficits (i.e., initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score > 5 points; median 8 points). All patients had routine imaging ~24 hours after treatment (CT brain 62.6%, MRI brain 12.4%, both CT and MRI brain 25%). Asymptomatic hemorrhagic transformation occurred in 6.7% and potentially changed management in a single patient (target systolic blood pressure was lowered from 185 to 180 mmHg). Conclusions Over a 3-year period, routine neuroimaging ~24-hours after IV-tPA in clinically stable patients was associated with a change in therapy in only 1 (.95%) patient. If confirmed in other cohorts, these results suggest that routine neuroimaging after IV-tPA may be safely avoided in clinically stable patients, eliminating unnecessary radiation exposure in those having CT brain and reducing costs.
Firms in Corrupt Environments and the Value of Corporate Governance

We present evidence on the relation between local corruption and firm value in the United States. We find that firm value (Tobin’s Q) is significantly lower in more corrupt areas, after controlling for endogeneity. However, firms that sell goods and services to the government (i.e., “government-dependent firms”) are less negatively affected by local corruption. Further, firms in more corrupt environments are informationally less transparent. Importantly, we find that stronger corporate governance (either internal to the firm or due to an exogenous regulatory change in governance standards) benefits firm value but largely in more corrupt areas. Overall, we find that corruption matters for firm value even in the U.S.; however, stronger corporate governance mechanisms can overcome some of the ill-effects of corruption.
Rapid Phenotypic Response of LSMMG-“Primed” Candida albicans

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen responsible for a wide range of illnesses, including oral thrush, onychomycoses, vaginitis, and disseminated candidiasis. As an opportunistic pathogen, C. albicans is capable of sensing and responding to a variety of environmental stresses, perhaps even microgravity. Research has suggested that some, but not all, microbial pathogens respond to microgravity with increased virulence and virulence-associated phenotypes (Nickerson, et al., 2004; Rosenzweig, et al., 2010). This is troubling from the perspective of astronaut health, particularly as spaceflight missions become potentially longer and exposure to the extreme environment of microgravity increases. Furthermore, immunological research has indicated that spaceflight adversely affects the human immune system, possibly leaving astronauts more susceptible to infections that would otherwise be limiting in a healthy host (Kaur, et al., 2005). Fungal infections are difficult to treat, resulting in a high mortality rate from disseminated disease. Therefore it is important to better understand the response of C. albicans to microgravity from the perspective of maintaining astronaut health.
Multiple Barriers Delay Care Among Women with Abnormal Cancer Screening Despite Patient Navigation

Background: While there is widespread dissemination of patient navigation programs in an effort to reduce delays in cancer care, little is known about the impact of barriers to care on timely outcomes. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of the Boston Patient Navigation Research Program (PNRP) to examine the effect that the presence of barriers had on time to diagnostic resolution of abnormal breast or cervical cancer screening tests. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression with time to diagnostic resolution as the outcome to examine the effect of the number of barriers, controlling for demographic covariates and clustered by patients' primary navigator. Results: There were 1481 women who received navigation; mean age was 39 years; 32% were White, 27% Black, and 31% Hispanic; 28% had private health insurance; and 38% did not speak English. Overall, half (n=745, 50%) had documentation of one or more barriers to care. Women with barriers were more likely to be older, non-White, non-English language speakers, and on public or no health insurance compared with women without barriers. In multivariable analyses, we found less timely diagnostic resolution as the number of barriers increased (one barrier, adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.81 [95% CI 0.56–1.17], p=0.26; two barriers, aHR 0.55 [95% CI 0.37–0.81], p=0.0025; three or more barriers, aHR 0.31 [95% CI 0.21–0.46], p<0.0001)]. Conclusion: Within a patient navigation program proven to reduce delays in care, we found that navigated patients with documented barriers to care experience less timely resolution of abnormal cancer screening tests.
Observation or Interpretation? Demonstrating Unintentional Subjectivity and Interpretive Variance

People often make interpretations when they believe they are providing factual descriptions. To demonstrate unintentional interpretation, I showed a brief ambiguous video clip and asked students to write descriptions of what they saw and heard. When students evaluated their responses, they discovered that 96% of the class wrote interpretations rather than strictly factual descriptions. Furthermore, the content of students' interpretations varied widely. Analyses of a qualitative measure of 3 dimensions of student learning (subsequent behavior, success at articulating the purpose of the exercise, and self-reported personal impact) supported the effectiveness of this exercise in increasing students' understanding of unintentional interpretation.
Who’s Left in the Family?

Left-handers are often classified by the presence or absence of other left-handers in their families. Familial (FS+) versus non-familial sinistrality (FS−) may indicate differences in the degree to which speech and language processing is lateralized in the left hemisphere. It is not surprising to find families with multiple left-handed members if one assumes a genetic influence on the determination of handedness. The appearance of left-handers in families composed completely of right-handers (FS−) may arise from pathological familial influences that switch natural right-handedness to the left side. Left-handedness resulting from birth complications has been studied extensively, but there is little empirical evidence to link increases in rates of left-handedness to varieties of birth stress events. Also, familial socioeconomic factors and whether an infant is held on the parent’s right or left side are not associated with variations in right- versus left-handedness. Maternal handedness and postural asymmetries during and after birth are better at predicting later handedness patterns in children.
Different Service, Same Experience: Documenting the Subtlety of Modern Racial Discrimination in U.S. Restaurants

Restaurant servers’ negative sentiments toward Black customers have been well documented. Further, existing research has shown that a large proportion of waiters/waitresses confess that they someti...
Biphasic effects of carbachol on stimulated cAMP accumulation in mouse parotid acini.

Carbachol (0.1-10 microM) augmented the isoproterenol-stimulated adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation by approximately 50% in mouse parotid acini; at carbachol concentrations > ...
Ovarian torsion in a premenopausal woman treated with tamoxifen for breast cancer

Tamoxifen therapy in premenopausal women with breast cancer may be associated with the development of ovarian cysts. In this report, a case of ovarian torsion associated with TAM therapy is described.
Network Structure among Brain Systems in Adult ADHD is Uniquely Modified by Stimulant Administration.

Current research in connectomics highlights that self-organized functional networks or "communities" of cortical areas can be detected in the adult brain. This perspective may provide clues to mechanisms of treatment response in psychiatric conditions. Here we examine functional brain community topology based on resting-state fMRI in adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; n = 22) and controls (n = 31). We sought to evaluate ADHD patterns in adulthood and their modification by short term stimulants administration. Participants with ADHD were scanned one or two weeks apart, once with medication and once without; comparison participants were scanned at one time-point. Functional connectivity was estimated from these scans and community detection applied to determine cortical network topology. Measures of change in connectivity profile were calculated via a graph measure, termed the Node Dissociation Index (NDI). Compared to controls, several cortical networks had atypical connectivity in adults with ADHD when withholding stimulants, as measured by NDI. In most networks stimulants significantly reduced, but did not eliminate, differences in the distribution of connections between key brain systems relative to the control sample. These findings provide an enriched model of connectivity in ADHD and demonstrate how stimulants may exert functional effects by altering connectivity profiles in the brain.
Synthesis gas production via the solar partial oxidation of methane-ceria redox cycle: Conversion, selectivity, and efficiency

Abstract The importance of methane conversion, syngas selectivity, and oxidizer conversion for efficient syngas production by the partial oxidation of methane using a metal oxide redox cycle is quantified. The operating conditions which enable high conversion of methane to syngas over cerium oxide and conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide in the subsequent oxidation reaction are identified experimentally. The parametric study considers operating temperatures of 900 and 1000 °C and methane flow rates from 1 to 15 mL min−1 g−1 in a fixed bed of porous ceria particles. The reduced ceria is reoxidized in a flow of 10 mL min−1 g−1 CO2 to produce CO. A trade-off of achieving high methane conversion is observed. For example, at 1000 °C, the cycle-averaged methane conversion increases from 13% for reduction in 15 mL min−1 g−1 to 60% in 1 mL min−1 g−1. For the same change in methane flow rate, the cycle-averaged selectivities decrease from 78% to 39% (CO) and 77% to 40% (H2) and the oxidizer conversion decreases from 93% to 48%. The maximum projected solar-to-fuel thermal efficiency is 27% for cycling at 1000 °C with reduction in 5 mL min−1 g−1 methane.
Growth and Characterization of Single Crystalline InN Grown on GaN by RF Sputtering for Robust Schottky Contacts

High-quality, single crystal wurtzite InN films were fabricated by radio-frequency magnetron reactive sputtering on GaN templates. The sputtered InN films in this study were about 100 nm thick. Atomic force microscopy analysis revealed the sputtered InN film had root-mean-square surface roughness of about 0.4 nm, which is comparable to the underlying GaN template. Coupled x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements confirmed the (0001) preferred growth orientation and ω-rocking curve full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) = 0.85° for the symmetrical (0002) diffraction peak. The present InN film has the best crystal quality in terms of narrower FWHM of XRD rocking curve among reported sputtered InN thin films. In-plane and out-of-plane XRD measurements revealed a relaxed film. Room temperature Hall Effect measurements showed mobility of 110 cm2/V.s and electron concentration of 1–2 × 1020/cm3. The feasibility of utilizing a cost effective and productive method of sputtering to form robust Schottky contacts to GaN using InN, an immiscible and metallic-like semiconductor, was explored.
An Assessment of Host Associations, Geographic Distributions, and Genetic Diversity of Avian Chewing Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from Benin

Abstract Host associations of highly host-specific chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) across multiple avian species remains fairly undocumented in the West African country of Benin. Two hundred and seventeen bird specimens collected from multiple localities across Benin and housed at the Texas A&M University Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections were examined for lice. Lice were identified and genetic data (mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1α genes) were obtained and phylogenetically analyzed. In total, we found 15 host associations, 7 of which were new to science. Genetically, most lice from Benin were unique and could represent new species. Based on host associations and unique genetic lineages, we estimate we discovered a minimum of 4 and possibly as many as 8 new chewing louse species. Given the lack of current data on chewing louse species distributions in Benin, this study adds to the knowledge of host associations, geographic distribution, and genetic variability of avian chewing louse s...
Event Coreference Resolution with Multi-Pass Sieves

Multi-pass sieve approaches have been successfully applied to entity coreference resolution and many other tasks in natural language processing (NLP), owing in part to the ease of designing high-precision rules for these tasks. However, the same is not true for event coreference resolution: typically lying towards the end of the standard information extraction pipeline, an event coreference resolver assumes as input the noisy outputs of its upstream components such as the trigger identification component and the entity coreference resolution component. The difficulty in designing high-precision rules makes it challenging to successfully apply a multi-pass sieve approach to event coreference resolution. In this paper, we investigate this challenge, proposing the first multi-pass sieve approach to event coreference resolution. When evaluated on the version of the KBP 2015 corpus available to the participants of EN Task 2 (Event Nugget Detection and Coreference), our approach achieves an Avg F-score of 40.32%, outperforming the best participating system by 0.67% in Avg F-score.
Robust second-order scheme for multi-phase flow computations

A robust high-order scheme for the multi-phase flow computations featuring jumps and discontinuities due to shock waves and phase interfaces is presented. The scheme is based on high-order weighted-essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite volume schemes and high-order limiters to ensure the maximum principle or positivity of the various field variables including the density, pressure, and order parameters identifying each phase. The two-phase flow model considered besides the Euler equations of gas dynamics consists of advection of two parameters of the stiffened-gas equation of states, characterizing each phase. The design of the high-order limiter is guided by the findings of Zhang and Shu (2011) [36], and is based on limiting the quadrature values of the density, pressure and order parameters reconstructed using a high-order WENO scheme. The proof of positivity-preserving and accuracy is given, and the convergence and the robustness of the scheme are illustrated using the smooth isentropic vortex problem with very small density and pressure. The effectiveness and robustness of the scheme in computing the challenging problem of shock wave interaction with a cluster of tightly packed air or helium bubbles placed in a body of liquid water is also demonstrated. The superior performance of the high-order schemes over the first-order Lax-Friedrichs scheme for computations of shock-bubble interaction is also shown. The scheme is implemented in two-dimensional space on parallel computers using message passing interface (MPI). The proposed scheme with limiter features approximately 50% higher number of inter-processor message communications compared to the corresponding scheme without limiter, but with only 10% higher total CPU time. The scheme is provably second-order accurate in regions requiring positivity enforcement and higher order in the rest of domain.
Making a Mark: Relationships for Establishing a Business Presence in Emerging Markets

This study analyzes qualitative data collected on ventures launched in Belarus between 1990 and 1995 to identify characteristics of business relationships in the post-authoritarian emerging market....
Simulation of the operation of a DC–DC converter containing an inductor of planar type

This paper presents the design of a square planar spiral inductor, to integrate it into a DC–DC converter. The process of dimensioning of this integrated inductor has led us to identify all geometric parameters that are linked by a set of equations dedicated to this topology and to resolution of problems related to the substrate (skin effect, effect proximity, etc.). The equivalent electrical model adopted of the integrated inductor takes into account all the technological parameters which are described by analytic expressions. The results of different simulations concern the influence of geometry on the inductance value, on the different technological parameters and finally on its quality factor. In order to validate our dimensioning, we conducted simulations on the operating of our converter containing initially a conventional inductor and then a integrated inductor. Simulation results have shown that the waveforms of the current and output voltage in both cases are similar. This demonstrated the proper sizing of our integrated inductor.
Biofiltration: An Attractive Extractive Solution

Not only are oysters a tasty treat packed with iron and omega 3, but researchers are hoping that this powerful filtering dynamo will also help clean up one of the most important U.S. waterways. Rec...
Measuring the value of information – revealed preferences for country of origin information

Abstract Standard economic theory assigns a value to information based solely on its ability to improve decision-making, assuming information generates a positive value if it changes behavior. But evidence from recent behavioral economic studies finds that information can evoke negative emotions. This suggests information may harm some consumers, even if it changes their behavior. In this study, we design an economic experiment to more directly test information preferences – we examine consumers’ revealed choices to take or ignore information on country of origin. As expected from standard economic theory, we find the majority of consumers (80 percent) positively value free origin information. Second, the value of learning the origin increases as food safety benefits of local products are communicated, i.e. as the utility gain of making the “right” choice increases, so does the value of information that ensures this choice. Third, we find no evidence that observed origin information avoidance is driven by emotional costs of the information. Our results support the standard assumptions of information primarily as a means to optimal decision-making. Further, mandatory origin information policies may benefit consumers, and this benefit increases as consumers are made aware of the food safety benefits of local production.
Learning to Write Like a Scientist: A Writing-Intensive Course for Microbiology/Health Science Students †

Learning the tools and conventions of expert communication in the sciences provides multiple benefits to bioscience students, yet often these skills are not formally taught. To address this need, we designed a writing-intensive microbiology course on emerging infectious diseases to provide upper-division students with science-specific writing skills along with disciplinary course content. The course followed the guidelines of our university's Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) program. Students wrote a press release, a case study, a controversy/position paper, and a grant prospectus, and revised drafts after feedback. To assess the course, in 2015 and 2016 we administered pre-post surveys and collected writing samples for analysis. Students reported on their experience, training, skills, and knowledge before taking the course. They then rated the extent to which the assignments, lectures, in-class activities, and writing activities contributed to their attainment of the learning outcomes of the course. Students entering the class were inexperienced in tools of science writing and the specific genres covered by the class. Their confidence levels rose in both skills and knowledge. Feedback from instructors was cited as most helpful in the majority of the areas where students reported the most gains. The survey provided evidence that discipline-specific knowledge had been acquired through writing activities. Teaching science writing by allowing the students to write "fiction" (e.g., a case report about a fictional patient) was effective in maintaining a high level of interest, both in learning the conventions of the genre and in seeking out detailed information about emerging infectious diseases. Both the course structure and the specific assignments would be useful at other institutions to teach science writing.
Reconsidering the Nobel Prize

Losing the Nobel Prize , by astrophysicist Brian Keating, offers a riveting account of the rise and fall of the seeming confirmation of the cosmological theory of inflation. Occluding Keating9s account, however, are his personal beefs about "losing" the Nobel Prize. Such gripes taint Keating9s otherwise thoughtful analysis of ways the Nobel committee9s selection process could be improved.
Decentralization in Uganda: Towards Democratic Local Governance or Political Expediency?

Since the 1980s and 1990s, a number of developing countries in Africa and the former communist countries in Eastern Europe have embraced fundamental political, economic, administrative, and institutional reforms. In Eastern and Central Europe, winds of change signaled the end of the communist era, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, the calls for democracy and good governance became undeniable. This period also ushered in the realization that prior economic development efforts in the countries have been hampered by the national governments’ monopolization and centralization of administrative, economic, and political fiscal power. Although belatedly, many countries appreciated that radical changes and alterations were necessary in order to decentralize and devolve administrative, fiscal, and political authority to local governments. During the same period, international organizations and donor agencies too, notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), had a role in nudging these countries toward the reform path.
The Adverse Effects of Economic Inequality on Educational Outcomes: An Examination of PISA Scores, 2000–2015:

One of the most important economic trends of the past 30 years has been the escalating levels of within-country income inequality. Much of the developed world is currently experiencing large increa...
Natural Z ′ -portal Majorana dark matter in alternative U(1) extended standard model

We consider a nonexotic gauged ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ extension of the Standard Model (SM), where the ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ charge of a SM field is given by a linear combination of its hypercharge and baryon-minus-lepton ($B\ensuremath{-}L$) number. All the gauge and mixed gauge-gravitational anomalies are canceled in this model with the introduction of three right-handed neutrinos (RHNs). Unlike the conventional minimal ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ model, where a universal ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ charge of $\ensuremath{-}1$ is assigned to three RHNs, we consider an alternative charge assignment, namely, two RHNs (${N}_{R}^{1,2}$) have ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ charge $\ensuremath{-}4$ while one RHN (${N}_{R}$) has a $+5$ charge. With a minimal extension of the Higgs sector, the three RHNs acquire their Majorana masses associated with ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ symmetry breaking. While ${N}_{R}^{1,2}$ have Yukawa coupling with the SM lepton doublets and play an essential role for the ``minimal seesaw'' mechanism, ${N}_{R}$ is isolated from the SM particles due to its ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ charge and hence it is a natural candidate for the dark matter (DM) without invoking additional symmetries. In this model context, we investigate the ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$-portal RHN DM scenario, where the RHN DM communicates with the SM particles through the ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ gauge boson (${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ boson). We identify a narrow parameter space by combining the constraints from the observed DM relic abundance, the results of the search for a ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ boson resonance at the Large Hadron Collider Run-2, and the gauge coupling perturbativity up to the Planck/grand unification scale. A special choice of ${\mathrm{U}(1)}_{X}$ charges for the SM fields allows us to extend the model to $\mathrm{SU}(5)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{U}(1{)}_{X}$ grand unification. In this scenario, the model parameter space is more severely constrained, which will be explored at future high energy collider experiments.
Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Welfare Impacts of Global Warming on Agriculture and Its Drivers

This paper explores the interplay between the biophysical and economic geographies of climate change impacts on agriculture. It does so by bridging the extensive literature on climate impacts on yields and physical productivity in global crop production, with the literature on the role of adaptation through international trade in determining the consequences of climate change impacts. Unlike previous work in this area, instead of using a specific crop model or a set of models, we employ a statistical meta‐analysis that encompasses all studies available to the IPCC‐AR5 report. This permits us to isolate specific elements of the spatially heterogeneous biophysical geography of climate impacts, including the role of initial temperature, differential patterns of warming, and varying crop responses to warming across the globe. We combine these climate impact estimates with the Global Trade Analysis Project model of global trade in order to estimate the national welfare changes that are decomposed into three components: the direct (biophysical impact) contribution to welfare, the terms of trade effect, and the allocative efficiency effect. We find that when we remove the spatial variation in climate impacts, the terms of trade impacts are cut in half. Given the inherent heterogeneity of climate impacts in agriculture, this points to the important role of trade in distributing the associated welfare impacts. When we allow the biophysical impacts to vary across the empirically estimated uncertainty range taken from the meta‐analysis, we find that the welfare consequences are highly asymmetric, with much larger losses at the low end of the yield distribution. This interaction between the magnitude and heterogeneity of biophysical climate shocks and their welfare effects highlight the need for detailed representation of both in projecting climate change impacts.
Stabilizing stretch reflexes are modulated independently from the rapid release of perturbation-triggered motor plans

Responses elicited after the shortest latency spinal reflexes but prior to the onset of voluntary activity can display sophistication beyond a stereotypical reflex. Two distinct behaviors have been identified for these rapid motor responses, often called long-latency reflexes. The first is to maintain limb stability by opposing external perturbations. The second is to quickly release motor actions planned prior to the disturbance, often called a triggered reaction. This study investigated their interaction when motor tasks involve both limb stabilization and motor planning. We used a robotic manipulator to change the stability of the haptic environment during 2D arm reaching tasks, and to apply perturbations that could elicit rapid motor responses. Stabilizing reflexes were modulated by the orientation of the haptic environment (field effect) whereas triggered reactions were modulated by the target to which subjects were instructed to reach (target effect). We observed that there were no significant interactions between the target and field effects in the early (50–75 ms) portion of the long-latency reflex, indicating that these components of the rapid motor response are initially controlled independently. There were small but significant interactions for two of the six relevant muscles in the later portion (75–100 ms) of the reflex response. In addition, the target effect was influenced by the direction of the perturbation used to elicit the motor response, indicating a later feedback correction in addition to the early component of the triggered reaction. Together, these results demonstrate how distinct components of the long-latency reflex can work independently and together to generate sophisticated rapid motor responses that integrate planning with reaction to uncertain conditions.
Idle Talk, Deadly Talk: The Uses of Gossip in Caribbean Literature

Chaucer called it "spiritual manslaughter"; Barthes and Benjamin deemed it dangerous linguistic nihilism. But gossip-long derided and dismissed by writers and intellectuals-is far from frivolous. In Idle Talk, Deadly Talk, Ana Rodriguez Navas reveals gossip to be an urgent, utilitarian, and deeply political practice-a means of staging the narrative tensions, and waging the narrative battles, that mark Caribbean politics and culture. From the calypso singer's superficially innocent rhymes to the vicious slanders published in Trujillo-era gossip columns, words have been weapons, elevating one person or group at the expense of another. Revising the overly gendered existing critical frame, Rodriguez Navas argues that gossip is a fundamentally adversarial practice. Just as whispers and hearsay corrosively define and surveil identities, they also empower writers to skirt sanitized, monolithic historical accounts by weaving alternative versions of their nations' histories from this self-governing discursive material. Reading recent fiction from the Hispanic, Anglophone, and Francophone Caribbean and their diasporas, alongside poetry, song lyrics, journalism, memoirs, and political essays, Idle Talk, Deadly Talk maps gossip's place in the Caribbean and reveals its rich possibilities as both literary theme and narrative device. As a means for mediating contested narratives, both public and private, gossip emerges as a vital resource for scholars and writers grappling with the region's troubled history.
Surface Soil Moisture Retrievals Under Forest Canopy for $L$ -Band SAR Observations Across a Wide Range of Incidence Angles by Inverting a Physical Scattering Model

Surface soil moisture retrievals were performed by inverting physical scattering models for forests over $\text{30}^\circ$ to $\text{50}^\circ$ incidence angle range and 0.05 to 0.40 m $^3$ /m $^3$ soil moisture range using $L$ -band airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data during a 28-day period. The forward models implemented single-scattering of discrete elements of trees and were validated at $F$ 2 site within 1.5 dB rmse of observation for VV-pol, which was enabled by introducing the gaps between trees. The physical forward models were inverted using the time-series SAR data to retrieve soil moisture and soil surface roughness, which were validated with in situ data at four sites $F$ 1, $F$ 2, $F$ 3, and $F$ 5. Retrievals using VV input over the full dynamic ranges of wetness are accurate to 0.044 m $^3$ /m $^3$ unbiased rmse with correlations of 0.71 to 0.84, which is very encouraging for retrieval under forest canopy. The conditions of these results are the vegetation water content varied from 7.3 to 25.6 kg/m $^2$ and the sensitivity of VV to soil moisture changes ranged from 0.64 to 2.27 dB/(0.1 m $^3$ /m $^3$ ). When both HH and VV were used as inputs to retrieval, the performance did not improve because the benefit of the multichannels was offset by the larger uncertainties in HH modeling. Due to the short duration of in situ data, the efficacy of commonly used relative change index retrieval is diminished. In comparison, the inversion of the scattering model is found to be an effective way to estimate forest soil moisture, it is capable of systematic correction of vegetation effect, and offers accurate retrieval of the dynamic ranges of soil moisture values in terms of unbiased rmse. The retrieval with the physical forward model provides a first step toward global application for the future NISAR satellite.
Respiratory effects of low and high doses of fentanyl in control and β-arrestin 2-deficient mice.

When life-threatening doses of fentanyl are used in mice, the β-arrestin 2 pathway appears to play a critical role in the recovery from opioid overdose. This observation calls into question the use...
Unruly Borders, Bodies, and Blood: Mexican “Mongrels” and the Eugenics of Empire

This essay connects the lynching of Mexican men and poor Mexican women to marriage between wealthy Mexican women and Anglo settlers to argue that these practices composed bodily rhetorics that sanc...