cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Segmenting high-cost Medicare patients into potentially actionable cohorts

Abstract Background Providers are assuming growing responsibility for healthcare spending, and prior studies have shown that spending is concentrated in a small proportion of patients. Using simple methods to segment these patients into clinically meaningful subgroups may be a useful and accessible strategy for targeting interventions to control costs. Methods Using Medicare fee-for-service claims from 2011 (baseline year, used to determine comorbidities and subgroups) and 2012 (spending year), we used basic demographics and comorbidities to group beneficiaries into 6 cohorts, defined by expert opinion and consultation: under-65 disabled/ESRD, frail elderly, major complex chronic, minor complex chronic, simple chronic, and relatively healthy. We considered patients in the highest 10% of spending to be “high-cost.” Results 611,245 beneficiaries were high-cost; these patients were less often white (76.2% versus 80.9%) and more often dually-eligible (37.0% versus 18.3%). By segment, frail patients were the most likely (46.2%) to be high-cost followed by the under-65 (14.3%) and major complex chronic groups (11.1%); fewer than 5% of the beneficiaries in the other cohorts were high-cost in the spending year. The frail elderly ($70,196) and under-65 disabled/ESRD ($71,210) high-cost groups had the highest spending; spending in the frail high-cost group was driven by inpatient ($23,704) and post-acute care ($24,080), while the under 65-disabled/ESRD spent more through part D costs ($23,003). Conclusions Simple criteria can segment Medicare beneficiaries into clinically meaningful subgroups with different spending profiles. Implications Under delivery system reform, interventions that focus on frail or disabled patients may have particularly high value as providers seek to reduce spending. Level of evidence IV.
Rethinking Legislative Prayer after Town of Greece: How Ceremonial Deism Would Include More and Exclude Less

Should sectarian prayer before legislative sessions be the proper practice to solemnize members of the legislature? The Supreme Court in Town of Greece v. Galloway held that the history of the practice and the non-coercive nature of the invocations allowed it to be constitutional under the Establishment Clause. This is not the most inclusive way that legislatures could begin sessions, and the Supreme Court reached the wrong conclusion when it held the practice constitutional.This Article is the first to suggest that ceremonial deist invocations would be a better alternative to sectarian legislative prayer before legislative sessions. States should protect its citizens from a government establishment of religion by utilizing less religious and more inclusive invocations. First, because states can have stricter guidelines under their own constitutions and statutes, they could protect their citizens from Establishment Clause problems by allowing ceremonial deist invocations instead of sectarian prayer. Similar to the reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision with RFRA, states could take action to protect more citizens under their own statutes. Second, because the Supreme Court misapplied the proper Establishment Clause precedent and used the Coercion Test in Town of Greece and found sectarian prayer constitutional, states should not follow that decision. State courts should utilize more established precedential tests such as the Lemon Test and the Endorsement Test to analyze legislative prayer to find it unconstitutional. Third, ceremonial deism is a constitutional alternative to sectarian prayer that would include more observers and legislators. Ceremonial deism is constitutional because of its history and ubiquity, absence of worship or prayer, absence of reference to a particular religion, and minimal religious content. Further, states should protect their citizens under their own constitutions and statutes by utilizing ceremonial deist invocations instead of sectarian prayers. Because the Supreme Court departed from long-standing precedent, states should follow the precedent and remain within Establishment Clause jurisprudence. Ceremonial deism would exclude less and include more, and it achieves the same purpose of solemnizing legislative sessions in the same way that sectarian prayer would.
Evidence for anisotropic scattering of short-period P phases in the upper mantle

abstract In an attempt to isolate the transmission effects of the upper mantle and crust on short-period compressional phases, amplitude ratios ( pPcP/pP )/( PcP/P ) were studied from 18 earthquakes using steered beams of LASA data. This ratio eliminates the source radiation pattern and earth transmission effects below the earthquake focus including spherical spreading and Q in the lower mantle, the core-mantle reflection, and the upper mantle and crust structure under LASA. What remains can be attributed to geometric spreading, attenuation and scattering along the two-way ray paths of pPcP and pP from focus to surface. The measured ratios vary from ~1 for shallow events to ~4 or greater for deep events independently of epicentral distance. This strong depth effect cannot be due to geometric spreading or attenuation using a typical low Q model (60 Q Q 9s dT / d Δ are attenuated more severely than those of low dT / d Δ. This agrees with an earlier study of PcP / P ratios at LASA, which had a similar though less severe depth effect.
Shop floor lot-sizing and scheduling with a two-stage stochastic programming model considering uncertain demand and workforce efficiency

Abstract Efficient and flexible production planning is necessary for the manufacturing industry to stay competitive in today’s global market. Shop floor lot-sizing and scheduling is one of the most challenging and rewarding subjects for the management. In this study, a two-stage stochastic programming model is proposed to solve a single-machine, multi-product shop floor lot-sizing and scheduling problem. Two sources of uncertainties – product demand from the market, and workforce efficiency – are considered simultaneously, which is the major contribution of this study. The workforce efficiency affects the system productivity, and we propose different distributions to model its uncertainty given insufficient information. The model aims to determine optimal lot sizes and the production sequence that minimizes expected total system costs over the planning horizon, including setup, inventory, and production costs. A case study is performed on a supply chain producing brake equipment in the automotive industry. The numerical results illustrate the usefulness of the stochastic model under volatile environment, and the solution quality is analyzed.
Review of Varieties of Dream Characters’ Presence in Non-lucid Dreams

Besides dream selves—the experiencing individual dreamers—non-lucid dreams are often populated by characters. Because it is not yet known what could be the dream characters’ involvement and range of capacities in non-lucid problem-solving dreams, this paper focuses, in the preparation for the second part of this article, on the applicable literature about characters’ presence in non-lucid dreams. The aim of the present paper is thus to briefly review the variety of forms in which dream characters appear; the uncontrollable occurrences they are exposed to; the activities, abilities, or skills they demonstrate; and their ways of involvement with dreamers’ selves.
Freud, Dora, and Compulsory Sexuality:

In this examination of Freud’s Dora, I show that Freud insisted that Dora’s comments and gestures reflected her underlying sexual motivations, despite her repeated denials and objections. The main ...
An explicit hybridized discontinuous Galerkin method for Serre–Green–Naghdi wave model

Abstract Simulation of coastal water waves requires a relevant mathematical model and a proper numerical technique which can be used in irregular geometries. In this paper, we study the numerical solution to a class of irrotational Green–Naghdi (GN) equation using the hybridized discontinuous Galerkin method (HDG). We first use Strang splitting to decompose this problem into a hyperbolic and a dispersive sub-problem. For the hyperbolic sub-problem, we use an explicit HDG with Lax–Friedrichs numerical fluxes. We also include different types of boundary conditions in our formulation. Similar to other HDG implementations, our global unknowns are the numerical traces, i.e. the unknowns on the mesh skeleton. This choice can significantly reduce the number of global degrees of freedom. Solving this part of the problem involves Newton iterations at each time step. However, unlike the implicit versions of HDG, the element equations are decoupled and we do not need to solve a large global system of equations. On the other hand, for the dispersive sub-problem we need to solve a global system of equations, implicitly. Since HDG, only involves unknowns on the mesh skeleton, it can be a very efficient alternative for this implicit solve step. By coupling these two solvers, we obtain the solution to the Green–Naghdi equation. Next, we use this technique to solve a set of verification and validation examples. In the first example we show the convergence properties of the numerical method. Next, we compare our results with a set of experimental data for the nonlinear water waves in different situations. Finally, we present a two dimensional simulation result for a solitary wave passing over a cosine bump. We observe close to optimal convergence rates and a good agreement between our numerical results and the experimental data.
microRNAs and cardiac stem cells in heart development and disease

Cumulative evidence has proven that proliferation, differentiation and migration of cardiac stem cells (CSCs) dominate early heart development and contribute to the later occurrence of heart disease. Among other mechanisms, microRNAs work as the 'fine-tuning' to modulate the levels of target genes in a specific cell type. The distinct microRNA signatures in CSCs reveal the stages and functions of CSCs. The focus of this review is to summarize recent knowledge advances in CSC proliferation, differentiation and migration and to discuss how microRNAs regulate these processes during heart development and in heart disease. Better understanding of microRNA regulation on CSCs under different situations will enable the unveiling of the mechanisms of heart disease and open new avenues in the therapeutic potentials of microRNA modulation to treat heart disease.
Climate Change, Globalization, and the Double Exposure Challenge to Sustainability: Rolling the Dice in Coastal New Jersey

Climate change and globalization present significant challenges for ­sustainability. Both processes enhance connections across space and time, such that actions taken in one part of the world have increasingly visible impacts in other parts of the world. The processes also magnify risks and uncertainties, exacerbate vulnerabilities, and undermine resilience to many types of shocks and stresses. This chapter explores how climate change and globalization are together influencing sustainability in urbanized coastal zones with particular emphasis on coastal New Jersey. While urban coastal zones have long confronted a multitude of development-related stresses including reductions in quantity and quality of freshwater flow into estuaries, destruction and degradation of wetlands, and dredging and development of harbor areas, climate change and globalization represent new and interconnected sources of stress. Under climate change, altered temperature regimes, shifts in the variability and seasonality of precipitation, increases in the frequency and magnitude of extreme events, and sea level rise are together transforming the environmental baseline of coastal areas. At the same time, processes of globalization are contributing to growth of coastal tourism, intensification of coastal property investment, expansion of port facilities and shipping traffic, and changes in the availability of public funds needed to manage these complex, coupled systems.
Adding Versus Subtracting What Might Have Been: The Impact of Counterfactual Activation on Integrative Negotiations

We explored the relationship between counterfactual thinking and the construction of integrative negotiation agreements. Building on past research demonstrating that counterfactual mind-sets promote a structured imagination (Kray, Galinsky, & Wong, 2006), we hypothesized that priming a counterfactual mind-set would impair the construction of novel solutions to conflict at the bargaining table. To test this hypothesis, in Experiment 1 we manipulated counterfactual thinking prior to a dyadic negotiation task. We showed that dyads primed to think counterfactually prior to the negotiation were less likely to create integrative agreements. In Experiment 2 we examined whether this effect was moderated by the additive versus subtractive nature of counterfactual thoughts. By directing participants to generate upward counterfactual thoughts about a previous negotiation that specified what they might versus might not have done to improve their performance, we tested this hypothesis. Dyads that produced subtractive counterfactuals prior to negotiating were less like to create integrative agreements than dyads that produced additive counterfactuals.
REFLECTIONS ON THE NATURE OF ASL AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASL LINGUISTICS: COMMENTS ON CORINA'S ARTICLE

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the development of ASL, the signed language of the American Deaf, linguistics. In the history of ASL, many have tried to cope with issues like that of phonetics–semantics relation in ASL. One of the most interesting such attempts was the work of Boyes–Braem, work that can be generalized to the claim that, in ASL, phonetic features are associated in a principled way with aspects of meaningful metaphors. This association gives a characteristic systematicity to the ASL phonetics–morphology–semantics mapping that is inherit in the claim of semantic perspicuity. Such a property, if indeed it exists, is surely ripe with important implications for linguistic theory and claims about the nature of language and cognition. The property of semantic perspicuity can be quite lost in an analysis of ASL phonology which otherwise fits quite neatly with current theoretical apparatus.
Filtering Films: An Empirical Study of What Consumers Would Mute and Excise from Hollywood Fare if Only They Could

In 2016, the technology startup VidAngel offered a movie streaming service that empowered users to mute potentially offensive audio and cut potentially offensive video from Hollywood films. Copyright litigation forced VidAngel’s service offline in December of that year. But, in the preceding eleven-and-a-half months, VidAngel manage to transmit roughly four million filtered streams and, for each of them, recorded not only which filters were applied, but also how many minutes of the resulting films each user then in fact watched. In this Article, we use the VidAngel data to study the market for filtered motion picture content. Among our findings, we find that video filters were primarily used to filter scenes involving intimacy, rather than those related to violence; and that, while the most common filtered audio was the word “f*ck,” users were even more likely to mute the words “Christ” and “dink” if they were uttered in a film. Overall, even the most cautious viewers used filters as scalpels, not sledgehammers, muting and excising only a tiny fraction of a film’s content. And, perhaps most surprisingly, despite the imperfections inevitably introduced by unscripted interruptions in a movie’s audio and video presentation, users who watched filtered films turned out to enjoy them to roughly the same degree as did users who watched the corresponding unedited equivalents.
Segmental 13 C‑Labeling and Raman Microspectroscopy of α‑Synuclein Amyloid Formation

Mapping conformational changes of α-synuclein (α-syn) from soluble, unstructured monomers to β-sheet- rich aggregates is crucial towards understanding amyloid formation. Raman microspectroscopy is now used to spatially resolve conformational heterogeneity of amyloid aggregates and monitor amyloid formation of segmentally 13 C-labeled α-syn in real-time. As the 13 C-isotope shifts the amide-I stretching frequency to lower energy, the ligated construct, 13 C1-86 12 CS87C-140 -α-syn, exhibits two distinct bands allowing for simultaneous detection of secondary structural changes in N-terminal 1-86 and C-terminal 87-140 residues. The disordered-to-β-sheet conformational change is first observed for the N-terminal followed by the C-terminal region. Finally, Raman spectroscopic changes occurred prior to Thioflavin T fluorescence enhancement, indicating that the amide-I band is a superior probe of amyloid formation.
Investigation of levoglucosan decay in wood smoke smog-chamber experiments: The importance of aerosol loading, temperature, and vapor wall losses in interpreting results

Abstract Levoglucosan has been extensively used as a molecular marker of biomass burning in source-apportionment studies over the last few decades. However, recent studies suggest that the atmospheric lifetime of levoglucosan may be in the order of only 1–2 days under summertime conditions relevant to prescribed/wildfires. Implications of levoglucosan reactivity to wintertime conditions, however, remain uncertain despite significant contributions of domestic wood combustion to wintertime air quality. This study presents smog chamber experiments to investigate levoglucosan decay during photo-oxidation of wood smoke over a temperature range between −8 and 10 °C. Significant decay in particle wall-loss corrected levoglucosan is only observed around 10 °C in these experiments. Theoretical analysis shows that the apparent chemical lifetime of levoglucosan increases at lower temperatures as well as at higher organic aerosol mass concentrations as a result of smaller vapor fractions. The chemical lifetime of a molecular marker is commonly interpreted by a relationship between relative decay in particle wall-loss corrected marker concentrations versus integrated OH exposure. However, this relationship strongly depends on vapor wall-loss rates in addition to temperature, organic aerosol concentrations, and OH concentrations. Therefore, inferred lifetimes from a small set of experiments from a single chamber cannot easily be generalized for the full range of atmospheric smoke conditions.
Effects of Drug-Polymer Interactions on Tablet Properties During the Development of Abuse-Deterrent Dosage Forms

The objective of the present study is to understand the effects of drug-PEO interactions during the thermal treatment of polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based, directly compressed, abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs). The drugs studied were dextromethorphan HBr monohydrate, ketoprofen, promethazine HCl, and anhydrous theophylline. Thermal treatment above the melting point of PEO resulted in tablets with higher crushing strength (> 500 N). It was observed that drug-PEO interactions during thermal treatment (80°C) led to solubilization of the incorporated drug. Drugs with higher solubility in the molten PEO, when added at higher weight fractions, interfered with the process of tablet densification which led to an increase in tablet dimensions and created defects in the fused matrix. These changes resulted in the formation of a more porous matrix. Thermal treatment led to a decrease in PEO crystallinity. The decreased crystallinity led to differences in the hydration and dissolution properties of the PEO. The change in dissolution properties of PEO accompanied with the dimensional and microstructural changes resulted in a greater drug release for some of the studied drugs. In conclusion, although thermal treatment above the melting point of PEO is an efficient manufacturing process in imparting crush-resistant features, drug-PEO interactions during the thermal treatment and the impact of thermal treatment on the properties of formulation components may impact tablet properties and lead to potential performance differences.
Real Gas Model Parameters for High-Density Combustion from Chemical Kinetic Model Data.

Low emissions and high efficiencies can be realized in combustion systems that operate at high-pressure and low-temperature conditions (high densities). The design of such engines relies on accurate models of the physical processes involved. Under these conditions, the ideal gas model widely used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations fails to properly capture the relation among pressure, density, and temperature as well as inter-relations among other thermodynamic and transport properties. As such, discrepancies between experimental observations and CFD simulations cannot only be traced to uncertainties from experiments, turbulent, or combustion models. This paper offers a possible solution to the implementation of the real gas equation of state models in combustion simulations. The large number of species in combustion simulations requires effort to provide the relevant real gas properties. A method is suggested for incorporating these properties in simulations based on available transport an...
Medical Marijuana-Induced Tacrolimus Toxicity

Abstract As both recreational and therapeutic marijuana use increases in the US, more attention is being paid to its direct medical and psychoactive effects. One crucial dimension is the potential for marijuana or marijuana-derived therapies to interact with other prescribed medications. Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressant medication prescribed to prevent rejection in patients receiving solid organ and bone marrow transplants. Clinically, it is characterized by a narrow therapeutic index and multiple drug-drug interactions. Constituents in marijuana are known to inhibit cytochrome P-450 3A, which is normally responsible for metabolizing tacrolimus, leading to the potential for a dangerous interaction. Though this phenomenon has been described previously in a stem cell transplant patient 1 , we present the case of medical marijuana induced tacrolimus toxicity in a patient who recently received an orthotopic liver transplant.
Ipilimumab plus nivolumab (Ipi/Nivo) as salvage therapy in patients with immunotherapy (IO)-refractory metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

669Background: Ipi/Nivo is now FDA approved for the first line treatment of patients (pts) with intermediate and poor risk mRCC but activity in IO refractory mRCC patients is still not well reporte...
Review of Essentials of International Relations: Seventh Edition

While some textbooks sprawl and attempt to be comprehensive to such an extent that students may find themselves overwhelmed by their sheer size and copiousness, this volume is concise, comprehensiv...
Inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition exerts sex-specific stimulatory effect on fracture repair

Abstract Bone fracture is accompanied by mechanical stresses and inflammation – conditions that impair mitochondria via the phenomenon of permeability transition. This phenomenon occurs due to opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) promoted by cyclophilin D (CypD). MPTP opening exacerbates inflammation and cell death and, thus can disrupt fracture repair. Here we tested a hypothesis that protecting mitochondria from MPTP opening via inhibition of CypD improves fracture repair. Our data indicate that osteoblast activity, bone formation, and biomechanical properties of repaired bones were significantly increased in CypD knock-out mice when compared to controls during fracture repair. These effects were observed in male but not female mice, thus showing sexual dimorphism. Pharmacological inhibition of CypD with NIM811 in male mice also stimulated fracture repair. In addition, CypD knock-out or pharmacological inhibition produced pro-osteogenic effect in isolated bone marrow osteoprogenitors. This in vitro effect was associated with higher mitochondrial respiration and increased β-catenin activity regulated by mitochondria-dependent acetylation. Our findings implicate a sex-specific role of MPTP in bone fracture and suggest CypD inhibition as a modality to promote fracture repair.
Diverse Energy-Conserving Pathways in Clostridium difficile: Growth in the Absence of Amino Acid Stickland Acceptors and the Role of the Wood-Ljungdahl Pathway.

ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired antibiotic-associated diarrhea and is the only widespread human pathogen that contains a complete set of genes encoding the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP). In acetogenic bacteria, synthesis of acetate from 2 CO2 molecules by the WLP functions as a terminal electron accepting pathway; however, C. difficile contains various other reductive pathways, including a heavy reliance on Stickland reactions, which questions the role of the WLP in this bacterium. In rich medium containing high levels of electron acceptor substrates, only trace levels of key WLP enzymes were found; therefore, conditions were developed to adapt C. difficile to grow in the absence of amino acid Stickland acceptors. Growth conditions were identified that produce the highest levels of WLP activity, determined by Western blot analyses of the central component acetyl coenzyme A synthase (AcsB) and assays of other WLP enzymes. Fermentation substrate and product analyses, enzyme assays of cell extracts, and characterization of a ΔacsB mutant demonstrated that the WLP functions to dispose of metabolically generated reducing equivalents. While WLP activity in C. difficile does not reach the levels seen in classical acetogens, coupling of the WLP to butyrate formation provides a highly efficient system for regeneration of NAD+ “acetobutyrogenesis,” requiring only low flux through the pathways to support efficient ATP production from glucose oxidation. Additional insights redefine the amino acid requirements in C. difficile, explore the relationship of the WLP to toxin production, and provide a rationale for colocalization of genes involved in glycine synthesis and cleavage within the WLP operon. IMPORTANCEClostridium difficile is an anaerobic, multidrug-resistant, toxin-producing pathogen with major health impacts worldwide. It is the only widespread pathogen harboring a complete set of Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) genes; however, the role of the WLP in C. difficile is poorly understood. In other anaerobic bacteria and archaea, the WLP can operate in one direction to convert CO2 to acetic acid for biosynthesis or in either direction for energy conservation. Here, conditions are defined in which WLP levels in C. difficile increase markedly, functioning to support metabolism of carbohydrates. Amino acid nutritional requirements were better defined, with new insight into how the WLP and butyrate pathways act in concert, contributing significantly to energy metabolism by a mechanism that may have broad physiological significance within the group of nonclassical acetogens.
Empowering Real-Time Traffic Reporting Systems With NLP-Processed Social Media Data

Current urbanization trends are leading to heightened demand of smarter technologies to facilitate a variety of applications in intelligent transportation systems. Automated crowdsensing constitutes a strong base for ITS applications by providing novel and rich data streams regarding congestion tracking and real-time navigation. Along with these well-leveraged data streams, drivers and passengers tend to report traffic information to social media platforms. Despite their abundance, the use of social media data in ITS has gained more and more attention as of now. In this article, we develop an automated Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based framework to empower and complement traffic reporting solutions by text mining social media, extracting desired information, and generating alerts and warning for drivers. We employ the fine-tuned Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers classification model to filer and classify data. Then, we apply the Question-Answering model to extract necessary information characterizing the reported incident such as its location, occurrence time, and nature of the incidents. Afterwards, we convert the collected information into alerts to be integrated into personal navigation assistants. Finally, we compare the recently posted incident reports from both official authorities and social media in order to provide more complete incident pictures and suggest some open research directions.
Critical ranking of steam handling unit using integrated cloud model and extended PROMETHEE for maintenance purpose

To determine the critical component in an industry is one of the most important tasks performed by maintenance personnel to choose the best maintenance policy. Therefore, the purpose of the current paper is to develop a methodology based on integrated cloud model and extended preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) method for finding the most critical component of the framework by ranking the failure causes of the system from multiple decision maker perspective. For this purpose, ranking of failure causes is performed by taking into account five factors namely chances of occurrence of failure (F0), non-detection probability (Nd), downtime duration (Dd), spare part criticality (Spc) and safety risk (Sr). In this paper, first the primary and secondary weight of decision makers are calculated based on the uncertainty degree and divergence degree, respectively, to determine overall weight using cloud model theory by converting the uncertain linguistic evaluation matrix into interval cloud matrix, and then ranking of the steam handling subunit of paper making unit in a paper mill using extended PROMETHEE. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is explained by considering steam handling subunit of paper making unit to find the critical component.
Named Entity Recognition in the Style of Object Detection

In this work, we propose a two-stage method for named entity recognition (NER), especially for nested NER. We borrowed the idea from the two-stage Object Detection in computer vision and the way how they construct the loss function. First, a region proposal network generates region candidates and then a second-stage model discriminates and classifies the entity and makes the final prediction. We also designed a special loss function for the second-stage training that predicts the entityness and entity type at the same time. The model is built on top of pretrained BERT encoders, and we tried both BERT base and BERT large models. For experiments, we first applied it to flat NER tasks such as CoNLL2003 and OntoNotes 5.0 and got comparable results with traditional NER models using sequence labeling methodology. We then tested the model on the nested named entity recognition task ACE2005 and Genia, and got F1 score of 85.6$\%$ and 76.8$\%$ respectively. In terms of the second-stage training, we found that adding extra randomly selected regions plays an important role in improving the precision. We also did error profiling to better evaluate the performance of the model in different circumstances for potential improvements in the future.
Extending Micromobility Deployments: A Concept and Local Case Study

Micromobility is a recent phenomenon that refers to the use of small human- or electric-powered vehicles such as scooters and bikes to travel short distances, and sometimes to connect with other modes of transportation such as bus, train, or car. Deployments in major cities of the world have been both successful and challenging. This paper reviews the evolution of micromobility services from shared bicycles, dockless systems, and shared electric scooters. The authors evaluated benefits, deficiencies, and factors in adoption to inform more rigorous and extensive geospatial analysis that will examine intersections with land-use, public transit, socio-economic demographics, road networks, and traffic. This work conducted exploratory spatial data analysis and correlation of publicly available datasets on land use, trip production, traffic, and travel behavior. Data from Washington D.C. served as a case study of best practices for scaling deployments to meet the social, economic, and mobility needs of the city.
Round Cell Vaginal Malignant Melanoma: A rare entity.

Malignant melanoma is predominantly a skin disease but in rare instances it may occur at other sites. A vaginal melanoma is a rare clinical entity and the round cell type is an uncommon variant. Although the present case was clinically diagnosed as a urethral caruncle, on histopathological examination and immunostaining it was diagnosed as a round cell pigmented malignant melanoma. The patient refused radical surgery and was given a full course radiotherapy treatment but died a year later. Malignant vaginal melanoma carries a very poor prognosis even when lesion is localised at the time of presentation. The five-year survival rate ranges from 10–20% with the prognosis being influenced by tumour size. A tumour size ≥3cm has a poor prognosis. Age, mitotic count, stage, and location of the lesion do not influence survival rates.
The Timing of Generative Concern: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey

Longitudinal data taken at a ten year interval from a large, nationally representative sample were used to examine whether generative concern, as measured by a reduced form of the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS), changed through the life course. Men aged 25-30 in 1995 scored significantly higher on the LGS in 2005 (p < .05), and women aged 41-50 and 61-74 in 1995 experienced slight but statistically significant (p < .05) decreases. With these exceptions, mean levels of generative concern remained constant, suggesting that generative concern may be a stable personality trait, not associated with a particular life stage.
System Simulation by Recursive Feedback: Coupling a Set of Stand-Alone Subsystem Simulations

Conventional construction of digital dynamic system simulations often involves collecting differential equations that model each subsystem, arran g them to a standard form, and obtaining their numerical gin solution as a single coupled, total-system simultaneous set. Simulation by numerical coupling of independent stand-alone subsimulations is a fundamentally different approach that is attractive because, among other things, the architecture naturally facilitates high fidelity, broad scope, and discipline independence. Recursive feedback is defined and discussed as a candidate approach to multidiscipline dynamic system simulation by numerical coupling of self-contained, single-discipline subsystem simulations. A satellite motion example containing three subsystems (orbit dynamics, attitude dynamics, and aerodynamics) has been defined and constructed using this approach. Conventional solution methods are used in the subsystem simulations. Distributed and centralized implementations of coupling have been considered. Numerical results are evaluated by direct comparison with a standard total-system, simultaneous-solution approach.
State Implementation of the Optional Provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act

Although mandated by federal law, Medicaid always has been fundamentally a matter of state business, primarily because states administer the program and receive only partial federal reimbursement for state expenditures. As health care costs have burgeoned over the past few decades, states have encountered growing pressure on numerous areas of their economies and budgets. In response, states increasingly desire permissible ways to reduce Medicaid costs, lobbying intensely for increased flexibility within federal Medicaid standards. The push for Medicaid reform is evident in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), which developed in part as a response to state-level dissatisfaction with existing Medicaid program options such as waivers. The DRA spells significant changes for Medicaid, as it institutes deep revisions of some of the program's core elements. The most significant components of the DRA's reforms include the expansion of state options and the simplification of the option approval process. This article examines the newly available options that will most notably affect Medicaid services to the elderly, especially long-term care services, and it summarizes program revisions under consideration or active development.
An antenna engineering handbook for army and marine field communication applications

There is currently interest in modeling various antennas chosen to be used in field communication scenarios in the HF range by both the Army and Marine Corps. An engineering antenna handbook and computer database program has been produced at LLNL which will be used in producing an ultimate field antenna handbook. A host of antenna types and configurations have been studied for characteristics which can be used for optimizing best performance when interfaced with existing propagation codes and models. A parameter variation study has been undertaken with frequencies varied from 2 to 30 MHz and ground conductivities and dielectric constants varied for all possible ground conditions. Antenna parameters such as length, height, number of wires, ground stake length, and screen radius variation about some nominal have been looked at. Figures of merit have been devised for both surface and sky wave propagation. Various ways of presenting final results have been explored such as tables, graphs, databases, and parametric lookup tables.
Choosing among signalling equilibria in lobbying games: A reply to Sloof

Randolph Sloof has written a comment on the lobbying-as-signalling model in Rasmusen (1993) in which he points out an equilibrium I missed and criticizes my emphasis on a particular separating equilibrium (see this issue). In this response, I discuss how to interpret multiple equilibria in games and how to interpret mixed strategy equilibria in which two types of player with identical incentives must pick different mixing probabilities.
Object impersonation: Towards effective interaction in tablet- and HMD-based hybrid virtual environments

In virtual reality, hybrid virtual environment (HVE) systems provide the immersed user with multiple interactive representations of the virtual world, and can be effectively used for 3D interaction tasks with highly diverse requirements. We present a new HVE metaphor called Object Impersonation that allows the user to not only manipulate a virtual object from outside, but also become the object, and maneuver from inside. This approach blurs the line between travel and object manipulation, leading to efficient cross-task interaction in various task scenarios. Using a tablet- and HMD-based HVE system, two different designs of Object Impersonation were implemented, and compared to a traditional, non-hybrid 3D interface for three different object manipulation tasks. Results indicate improved task performance and enhanced user experience with the added orientation control from the object's point of view. However, they also revealed higher cognitive overhead to attend to both interaction contexts, especially without sufficient reference cues in the virtual environment.
Digital Control Algorithms for Electrohydraulic Machine Tool Feed Drive Servomechanisms

New digital control algorithms for improving the stiffness of electrohydraulic machine tool feed drive position servomechanisms are examined and compared with currently used analog and digital feed drive control algorithms, based on a digital computer simulation. The controller form considered is restricted to series digital compensation in the position loop. Some of the controller design considerations are described. The computational capabilities of current generation microcomputers are shown to be adequate for the application.
Inborn errors of metabolism: some thoughts about their basic mechanisms.

The question of whether, in the inborn errors of metabolism, genetic information is absent or coded incorrectly (structural mutations), or whether the gene itself is normal but is not activated (regulatory defects) is extremely important in the directions taken for the future consideration of such problems. The problem of introducing new, well defined, genetic information into a human cell which is either lacking such information or has abnormal genetic information appears formidable at the current time. However, the existence of regulatory defects would imply that the correct information to make the deficient enzyme (s) is available to the cell, and we need only find ways of activating (inducing) this genetic information.
Information Technology in Librarianship: New Critical Approaches by G. J. Leckie and J. E. Buschman

Information technology pervades present day librarianship: new technologies replace older technologies, formats are born and die, laws and regulations bend to proprietary and public sentiment, and ...
A Longitudinal Study of Self-Esteem: Implications for Adolescent Development

This study used a cluster analytic approach to identify self-esteem trajectories among adolescents over a four-year period from sixth to tenth grades (N = 1,160). Four self-esteem trajectories were identified that replicated previous research: (1) consistently high, (2) moderate and rising, (3) steadily decreasing, and (4) consistently low. Female adolescents were more likely to be in the steadily decreasing self-esteem group while male adolescents were more likely to be in the moderate and rising group. African American and white youth were equally distributed across groups. Using repeated measures analysis, we found that youth with consistently high and moderate and rising self-esteem reported developmentally healthier outcomes in Grade 10 than youth in the other two clusters. Outcomes included susceptibility to peer pressure, school grades, and alcohol use. Implications of these results for studying self-esteem and developmental change more generally are discussed.
Henry George and Organized Labor

. Henry George supported labor unions and was proud of his membership in the Printers' Union. But he did not regard them as the final solution of labor exploitation. He championed labor as one of the producing classes. His foray into politics as the candidate of organized labor's third party was characteristic; he had had much involvement in politics earlier. Although he supported labor's immediate demands, he sought mainly to use his candidacy to build a constituency for the single tax. Samuel Gompers, then head of the American Federation of Labor, at first worked for George's election but came to the belief that the unions alone should direct and control their political efforts. This view prevailed, though he and George remained good friends. But it is now a question whether Gompers' policy, at this time, serves labor's best interests.
Process knowledge based rapid prototyping for requirements engineering

Rapid prototyping offers an iterative approach to requirements engineering to alleviate problems such as uncertainty, ambiguity, and inconsistency inherent in the process. As the systems development process is characterized by changing requirements and assumptions, involving multiple stakeholders with often differing viewpoints, it will be beneficial to capture in a structured manner the history of the development process. The authors describe how CAPS (computer aided prototyping system) as a prototyping tool, augmented with REMAP (representation and maintenance of process knowledge) framework for reasoning with process knowledge, helps firm up software requirements. This is accomplished by iterative negotiations between various customers and by examination of executable prototypes in the context of evolving requirements. >
Plume Rise Calculations Using a Control Volume Approach and the Damped Spring Oscillator Analogy

The PUFF code was originally written and designed to calculate the rise of a large detonation or deflagration non-continuous plume (puff) in the atmosphere. It is based on a buoyant spherical control volume approximation. The theory for the model is updated and presented. The model has been observed to result in what are believed to be unrealistic plume elevation oscillations as the plume approaches the terminal elevation. Recognizing a similarity between the equations for a classical damped spring oscillator and the present model, the plume rise model can be analyzed by evaluating equivalent spring constants and damping functions. Such an analysis suggests a buoyant plume in the atmosphere is significantly under-damped, explaining the occurrence of the oscillations in the model. Based on lessons learned from the analogy evaluations and guided by comparisons with early plume rise data, a set of assumptions is proposed to address the excessive oscillations found in the predicted plume near the terminal elevation, and to improve the robustness of the predictions. This is done while retaining the basic context of the present model formulation. The propriety of the present formulation is evaluated. The revised model fits the vast majority of the existing data to +/− 25%, which is considered reasonable given the present model form. Further validation efforts would be advisable, but are impeded by a lack of quality existing datasets.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Special session 11B: Hot topic hardware security: Design, test and verification issues

Security is rapidly becoming a critical factor in the IC design and test cycle. To provide higher levels of assurance and trust to designers, manufacturers and end users of integrated circuits (ICs), there is a need to integrate security measures during design, validation, and manufacturing test covering all aspects of security threats in hardware. These threats include secret information leakage, malicious hardware modifications in an untrusted foundry, hardware IP piracy and reverse engineering efforts. This session will have three presentations focusing on the design, validation, and test challenges for attack-resistant secure hardware systems.
VIBRATION OF RECTANGULAR PLATES BY REDUCTION OF THE PLATE PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION INTO SIMULTANEOUS ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

The extended Kantorovich approach is modified to determine the optimum separable solutions of the partial differential equation describing the plate vibrations. In the modificiation, the variational method is used to reduce the partial differential equation into two simultaneous ordinary differential equations which are solved exactly in terms of four unknown modal parameters. Four algebraic equations necessary for the solution of these unknown parameters are then derived from the ordinary differential equations and their boundary conditions
The deglaciation of Clyde Inlet, northeastern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada†

The behaviour of ice sheets as they retreated from their Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) positions provides insights into Lateglacial and early Holocene ice-sheet dynamics and climate change.ThepatternofdeglaciationoftheLaurentideIceSheet(LIS)inarcticfiordlandscapescannow bewelldatedusingcosmogenicexposuredating.Weusecosmogenicexposureandradiocarbonages to constrain the deglaciation history of Clyde Inlet, a 120km long fiord on northeastern Baffin Island. The LIS reached the continental shelf during the LGM, retreated from the coastal lowlands by 12.5! 0.7ka (n" 3), and from the fiord mouth by 11.7! 2.2ka (n" 4). Rapid retreat from the outer fiord occurred 10.3! 1.3ka (n" 6), with the terminus reaching the inner fiord shortly after 9.4ka (n" 2), where several moraine systems were deposited between ca. 9.4 and ca. 8.4ka. These moraines represent fluctuations of the LIS during the warmest summers since the last interglaciation, and this suggests that the ice sheet was responding to increased snowfall. Before retreating from the head of Clyde Inlet, the LIS margin fluctuated at least twice between ca. 7.9 and ca. 8.5ka, possibly in response to the 8.2ka cold event. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.