cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Observation and Origin of Self-Organized Textures in Agates

One of the most impressive manifestations of spontaneous pattern generation in natural materials is iris agate, which contains submicrometer concentric striations that may cycle several thousand times within an individual specimen. Analysis by secondary ion mass spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy identified the iris texture as alternating layers of fine-grained, highly defective chalcedony and coarse-grained low-defect quartz. This oscillatory zonation in defect concentration may be ascribed to Ostwald-Liesegang crystallization cycles from silica-rich fluids that are variably polymeric and monomeric. Periodic changes in defect concentration and grain size also are observed with wavelengths of hundreds of micrometers and of centimeters, so that agates reveal textural self-similarity over three length scales.
Party Politics and Fiscal Discipline in a Federation Evidence from the States of India

Theoretical and empirical analysis suggests that federations are prone to fiscal indiscipline, because of intergovernmental bargaining over the allocation of national resources. What role do political parties play in mediating this bargain? If the national government is dominated by a single political party, does the party discipline those states where its affiliates are in power? If the national government consists of a coalition of political parties, do states ruled by coalition partners bargain for higher deficits? This article provides evidence on these questions from India, a large federation in the developing world that serves as a valuable laboratory for this purpose. The authors find that those state governments that belong to the same party as that leading the national government run higher than average deficits; correspondingly, states governed by rival political parties have lower deficits, even if these parties are members of a coalition government at the center.
Intracranial hemorrhage in newborns with hemophilia: The role of screening radiologic studies in the first 7 days of life

In newborns with hemophilia, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a potentially life-threatening event and in those who survive, there is a risk of long-term neurologic sequelae. A single-center retrospective chart review was performed to look at the utility of central nervous system screening of babies
Capitalism, Commitment, and Peace

This paper builds on the growing capitalist peace research program by examining how large quantities of public property influence the likelihood of conflict between states. Drawing on the logic of the commitment problem, it develops two explanations linking the predominance of public property in an economy to the likelihood of being the target of military conflict, defined to include both militarized disputes and war. Empirical support for this hypothesis is generated with a brief illustrative case and a series of statistical tests with monadic and directed dyadic research designs. A final section discusses how these findings suggest that capitalism plays a larger role than democracy in limiting military conflict between states.
Consumer anticipation of income tax changes

Abstract The paper synthesizes existing consumption theories to suggest that consumers modify their consumption, savings, debt, and asset acquisition behavior in advance of well-publicized changes in federal personal income tax changes. Existing cross-section and time series data document such adjustments prior to enactment of the 1964, 1968, and 1975 federal income tax revisions. Uncertainty reinforces tax-increase anticipation effects and moderates tax decrease anticipation effects. Further, the response to actual tax changes is reduced, and may even be offset, by consumers' anticipatory actions. The theory and data presented help resolve controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the 1968 tax increase.
Observations on the effect of hypotonic solutions on the myelin sheath in the central nervous system.

When soaked in hypotonic solutions, the myelin sheath of rat optic nerve expands. However, the optic nerve myelin swells in a different manner than the myelin of sciatic or other peripheral nervous system nerves. While peripheral nerve myelin expands in units containing pairs of membranes, the predominant swelling unit of optic nerve myelin contains four membranes. Electron micrographs indicate that the optic nerve myelin expands primarily at alternate intraperiod lines. The lamellae do not swell apart around the entire circumference of the sheath and radially oriented membrane specializations are observed in the discrete areas where the lamellae remain compacted.
Common Electrophilic Addition Reactions at the Phenol Ring: The Chemistry of TpW(NO)(PMe3)(η2-phenol)

The complex TpW(NO)(PMe3)(η2-benzene) was treated with an excess of phenol to generate TpW(NO)(PMe3)(η2-2H-phenol) as a mixture of two stereoisomers. This complex in the presence of base undergoes reactions with several common classes of electrophiles, including benzaldehyde, alkyl iodides, and Michael acceptors, to form new C−C bonds. Methyl and ethyl iodide react at C2 to form 2-alkyl-2H-phenol complexes, whereas the Michael acceptors react at C4 to give 4-alkyl-4H-phenol complexes. In both cases, the electrophile adds to the complexed phenol stereoselectively, anti to the metal. In the case of benzaldehyde, an aldol condensation reaction occurs at C2 to form a rare example of a thermally stable o-quinone methide complex. Crystal structures of the 2-ethyl-2H-phenol and the phenyl o-quinone methide complexes are included.
Accuracy of velocity and shear rate measurements using pulsed Doppler ultrasound: a comparison of signal analysis techniques.

Abstract An experimental investigation was instituted to evaluate the performance of Doppler ultrasound signal processing techniques for measuring fluid velocity under well-defined flow conditions using a 10-MHz multigated pulsed ultrasound instrument. Conditions of fully developed flow in a rigid, circular tube were varied over a Reynolds number range between 500 and 8000. The velocity across the tube was determined using analog and digital zero crossing detectors and three digital spectrum estimators. Determination of the Doppler frequency from analog or digital zero crossing detectors gave accurate velocity values for laminar and moderately turbulent flow away from the wall (0.969 ≤ r ≤ 0.986). Three digital spectrum estimators, Fast Fourier Transform, Burg autoregressive method, and minimum variance method, were slightly more accurate than the zero crossing detector (0.984 ≤ r ≤ 0.994), especially at points close to the walls and with higher levels of turbulence. Steep velocity gradients and transit-time-effects from high velocities produced significantly larger errors in velocity measurement. Wall shear rate estimates were most precise when calculated using the position of the wall and two velocity points. The calculated wall shears were within 20%–30% of theoretically predicted values.
The loop fallacy and deterministic serialisation in tracing intrusion connections through stepping stones

In order to conceal their identity and origin, network based intruders seldom attack directly from their own hosts, but rather stage their attacks through intermediate 'stepping stones'. To identify attackers behind stepping stones, it is necessary to be able to trace and correlate attack traffic through the stepping stones and construct the correct intrusion connection chain. A complete solution to the stepping stones tracing problem consists of two complementary parts. Firstly, the set of correlated connections that belongs to the same intrusion connection chain has to be identified; secondly, those correlated connections need to be serialised in order to construct the accurate and complete intrusion connection chain. Existing approaches to the tracing problem of intrusion connections through stepping stones have focused on identifying the set of correlated connections that belong to the same connection chain and have overlooked the serialisation of those correlated connections. In this paper, we use set theoretic approach to analyse the theoretical limits of the correlation-only approach, demonstrate the gap between the perfect stepping stone correlation solution and the perfect solution to the stepping stones tracing problem, and we show what it takes to fill the gap. Firstly, we identify the serialisation problem and the loop fallacy in tracing connections through stepping stones. We formally demonstrate that even the perfect correlation solution, which gives us all and only those connections that belong to the same connection chain, does not guarantee to be able to serialise the correlated connections deterministically. Secondly, we show that the complete set of correlated connections, even with loops, could be serialised deterministically without synchronised clock.We present an efficient intrusion path construction method based on adjacent correlated connection pairs. Finally, we show that the incomplete set of correlated connections due to limited observing area of stepping stones only provides enough information to construct a partial-order of subsequences of the connection chain in general, and we present an efficient way to determine when the incomplete set of correlated connections could be serialised deterministically.
Some characterizations of the hereditary pretorsion class of semigroup automata

Let S be a semigroup. A class of S-automata is called a hereditary pretorsion class (HPC) if it is closed under quotients, subautomata, coproducts (disjoint unions) and finite products. In this paper we present two characterizations of HPC. Specifically, we show that there is a bijective correspondence between the HPCs of S-automata, the right linear topologies on S′ and the idempotent preradicals r on the category of S-automata such that the set of automata {M|r(M) = M} is closed under subautomata and finite products.
Multistructural hot spot characterization with FTProd

Summary: Computational solvent fragment mapping is typically performed on a single structure of a protein to identify and characterize binding sites. However, the simultaneous analysis of several mutant structures or frames of a molecular dynamics simulation may provide more realistic detail about the behavior of the sites. Here we present a plug-in for Visual Molecular Dynamics that streamlines the comparison of the binding configurations of several FTMAP-generated structures. Availability: FTProd is a freely available and open-source plug-in that can be downloaded at http://amarolab.ucsd.edu/ftprod Contact: [email protected] Supplementary Information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online
Discrete local application of corticotropin-releasing factor increases locus coeruleus discharge and extracellular norepinephrine in rat hippocampus.

The most prominent afferents impinging upon the noradrenergic neu- rons of the locus coeruleus (LC) utilize GABA and glutamate. However, peptide neurotransmitters such as galanin, neuropeptide Y, and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) have also been localized to LC afferents. The evidence for CRF modulation of LC activity was examined in the present studies. Specifically, the impact of local CRF administration on both LC-NE discharge characteristics and release of norepinephrine (NE) in hippocampus was determined. First, the ability of CRF microinfused into the LC area to increase NE efflux in the dorsal hippocampus was determined using in vivo microdialysis techniques in awake rats. CRF into the LC dose-dependently increased extracellular NE in the ipsilateral hippocampus. Second, a more detailed analysis was performed in halothane-anesthetized rats by characterizing the electrophysiological activity of LC-NE neurons in response to local application of CRF. Changes in the firing rate and pattern of single LC-NE neurons were measured while simultaneously monitoring the extracellular level of NE in hippocampus. A dose of 30 ng CRF applied directly into LC via pressure ejection elicited an 88% increase in the discharge rate of LC-NE neurons and increased the incidence of burst firing from 14% to 33%. This manipulation simultaneously increased extracellular NE in hippocampus by 63%. The CRF-induced increases in discharge rate of LC-NE neurons and extracellular NE efflux in hippocampus were prevented by prior i.c.v. administration of the CRF antagonist, d-PheCRF 12-41 (3 µg / 3 µl). The present findings demonstrate that CRF applied directly into the LC increases both the activity of LC-NE neurons and the release of NE in an LC terminal region. The shift in activity of LC-NE neurons to more burst-like firing in response to CRF may provide a means for enhanced release of NE in LC projection fields. This is the first report to demonstrate a dose-dependent increase in extracellular NE levels evoked by intra-LC infusion of CRF in unanesthetized animals. Synapse
More Japanese than the Japanese: Translations of interviews with foreigners

A striking feature in interviews of non-Japanese speakers is that the translations of the interviewees' answers use more gender markers than would currently be heard in the replies of native speakers. Sentence-final particles such as ze and zo (indicating strong assertion, and used by men), and wa and yo (indicating mild assertion and establishing an emotional connection, and used by women) are employed much more often, almost to the point of exaggeration. This paper will explore the reasons why, and the extent to which, gender in the Japanese language is magnified in the interpreted utterances of those who don't speak the language.
From slowing down to stopping of electromagnetic waves within ultrawide bandwidth based on plasmonic graded metallic gratings: A novel scheme for “trapped rainbow”

We demonstrate that since the group velocity of spoof surface plasmon polariton modes at the cutoff frequency is extremely low, electromagnetic waves with different frequencies can be slowed down or even stopped at different positions.
Acceleration of finite field arithmetic algorithms in embedded processing platforms utilizing instruction set extensions

Finite field arithmetic is essential to error correction and cryptography. Instruction set extensions are an alternative to ASICs and DSPs while providing the same performance with embedded CPUs. An instruction set extension is presented that handles various fields in GF(2m). A MIPS DLX processor core is accelerated using an auxiliary processing interface to a finite field arithmetic unit. Additional instructions are added to the DLX core set which are used to create finite field arithmetic benchmarks. The processor core and extensions datapath are synthesized in a standard cell 0.18μm CMOS process achieving a 233MHz clock. The combined DLX and FFU system demonstrates a 355× speed-up when performing elliptical curve projective point doubling in GF(2163).
Stochastic Compounding and Uncertain Valuation

Exploring long-term implications of valuation leads us to recover and use a distorted probability measure that reects the long-term implications for risk pricing. This measure is typically distinct from the physical and the risk neutral measures that are well known in mathematical nance. We apply a generalized version of Perron-Frobenius theory to construct this probability measure and present several applications. We employ Perron-Frobenius methods to i) explore the observational implications of risk adjustments and investor beliefs as reected in asset market data; ii) catalog alternative forms of misspecication of parametric valuation models; and iii) characterize how long-term components of growth-rate risk impact investor preferences implied by Kreps-Porteus style utility recursions.
MR image analytics to characterize upper airway architecture in children with OSAS

Mechanisms leading to Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in obese children are not well understood. We previously analyzed polysomnographic and demographic data to study the anatomical characteristics of the upper airway and body composition in two groups of obese children with and without OSAS, where object volume was evaluated. In this paper, in order to better understand the disease we expand the analysis considering a variety of features that include object-specific features such as size, surface area, sphericity, and image intensity properties of fourteen objects in the vicinity of the upper airway, as well as inter-object relationships such as distance between objects. Our preliminary results indicate several interesting phenomena: volumes and surface areas of adenoid and tonsils increase statistically significantly in OSAS. Standardized T2-weighted MR image intensities differ statistically significantly between the two groups, implying that perhaps intrinsic tissue composition undergoes changes in OSAS. Inter-object distances are significantly different between the two groups for object pairs (skin, oropharynx), (skin, fat pad), (skin, soft palate), (mandible, tongue), (oropharynx, soft palate), (left tonsil, oropharynx), (left tonsil, fat pad) and (left tonsil, right tonsil). We conclude that treatment methods for OSAS such as adenotonsillectomy should respect proportional object size relationships and spatial arrangement of objects as they exist in control subjects.
Quality Management Programs: Designed to Increase Competitive Advantage

Total quality management (TQM) programs have been shown to lead to significantly higher levels of organizational performance excellence, increased competitive advantage, and higher profitability. In order to determine if an organization is continuously improving its performance and working toward higher levels of excellence, a program of regular performance assessments is recommended. One assessment tool that has been widely used over the past six years is the survey called "Are We Making Progress", which was developed by the US Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The survey consists of 40 questions that ask probing questions in organizational areas corresponding to the seven Baldrige categories: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and business results. In Arizona, 94 of these NIST surveys have been administered to selected organizations of all sizes and from many different sectors of the economy. Taken together, they form a baseline for comparison with survey results of similar organizations.
Steady-State Creep of Thick and Thin-Film Multilayers

The steady-state creep response of multilayered polycrystalline materials subjected to cyclic variations in temperature is analyzed. The approach presented here is capable of predicting the evolution of curvature, the thermal stresses, and the dominant deformation mechanisms at any through-thickness location of each layer for prescribed layer geometries and thermo-mechanical properties of the constituent layers. The A1-A12O3 model system is considered, where the dominant relaxation mechanism in Al is studied as the layer thickness is systematically varied. Creep due to grain boundary diffusion is found to become more significant in thin layers with a three-dimensional equiaxed grain structure. The effects of columnar grain structure in Al thin films on the thermal cycling response are also discussed.
Modeling of137Cs as a Tracer in a Regional Model for the Western Pacific, after the Fukushima–Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident of March 2011

AbstractIn this study, results are presented from the first operational ocean tracer dispersion model operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NOAA/NWS/NCEP). This study addresses the dispersion of radionuclide contaminants after the Fukushima–Daiichi nuclear accident that was triggered by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The tracer capabilities of the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) were used in a regional domain for the northwestern Pacific, with nesting lateral boundary conditions using daily nowcast–forecast fields from the global operational Real-Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS-Global), a ° HYCOM global forecast from NCEP, based on data-assimilative ° HYCOM Global Ocean Forecast System (GOFS) analyses from the Naval Research Laboratory/Naval Oceanographic Office (NRL/NAVOCEANO). This regional model, RTOFS Episodic Tracers for a region of the North West Pacific (RTOFS-ET_WPA), was in operati...
The effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin on molar and mandible traits in congenic mice: a test of the role of the Ahr locus.

Abstract 2,3,7,8-Tetracholorodibenzo- p -dioxin is a highly toxic substance that can cause a variety of adverse effects on organisms. While it has been shown that TCDD acts mainly through the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), the mechanism of toxicity is not completely clear. To test the role of the AHR in mediating the effects of TCDD, we exposed two congenic strains of mice differing only at the Ahr locus ( Ahr b / Ahr b and Ahr d / Ahr d ) to TCDD (0, 0.01, 0, or 1 μg/kg body weight) in utero on gestation day 13 and examined the developmental effects on mandible and mandibular tooth row size and shape. Our hypothesis was that TCDD would significantly affect one or more of these endpoints in Ahr b / Ahr b mice, previously shown to be sensitive to the effects of TCDD, while causing little or no effect in mice carrying the less sensitive Ahr d allele. At the doses used in this study, TCDD did not alter the size of mandibles or molars in either Ahr b / Ahr b or Ahr d / Ahr d mice. However, we did find that the highest dose of TCDD altered mandible shape, but only in Ahr b / Ahr b (not Ahr d / Ahr d ) male mice. Similarly, the highest dose of TCDD significantly altered molar shape in Ahr b / Ahr b but not Ahr d / Ahr d male mice, although females in both congenic strains were affected. These results suggest that the effects of TCDD on molar and mandible shape are influenced by the Ahr genotype but that males and females differ in sensitivity to both of these effects.
Chandler's Living History: The Visible Hand of Vertical Integration in Nineteenth Century America Viewed Under a Twenty‐First Century Transaction Costs Economics Lens

Alfred Chandler's recent passing is cause to review and celebrate his many contributions to business history. It also presents an opportunity to highlight links between his rich historical analyses concerning organizational and industrial innovation and contemporary management studies of the firm and industrial organization. We illustrate this point by applying transaction costs theory to several case studies from his 1977 masterwork narrating the emergence of vertically-integrated firms in nineteenth-century America, The Visible Hand. Vertical integration, organizational control, and innovation in manufacturing at McCormick Harvester and Singer Sewing Machines, and in transportation and distribution at Swift and United Fruit reflect managerial responses to classic transaction costs considerations including commercial relationships requiring the creation of specialized equipment and knowledge. Transaction costs analysis provides complementary historical insight on organizational innovation at these and other firms in the nineteenth century, and suggests when and where we might expect vertical integration strategies in emerging industries of the twenty-first century.
Defense of differfing body weight set points in diet-induced obese and resistant rats

Among outbred Sprague-Dawley rats, approximately one-half develop diet-induced obesity (DIO) and one-half are diet resistant (DR) on a diet relatively high in fat and energy content (HE diet). Here we examined the defense of body weight in these two phenotypes. After HE diet for 13 wk, followed by chow for 6 wk, DR rats gained weight comparably but their plasma leptin levels fell to 54% of chow-fed controls. When a palatable liquid diet (Ensure) was added for 13 wk, other DR rats became obese. But when switched to chow, their intakes fell by 60%, and body and retroperitoneal (RP) fat pad weights and plasma leptin and insulin levels all declined for 2 wk and then stabilized at control levels after 6 wk. In contrast, comparably obese DIO rats decreased their intake by only 20%, and their weights plateaued when they were switched to chow after 13 wk on HE diet. When a subgroup of these DIO rats was restricted to 60% of prior intake, their weights fell to chow-fed control levels over 2 wk. But their leptin and insulin levels both fell disproportionately to 30% of controls. When no longer restricted, their intake and feed efficiency rose immediately, and their body and RP pad weights and leptin and insulin levels rose to those of unrestricted DIO rats within 2 wk. Thus diet and genetic background interact to establish high (DIO) or low (DR) body weight set points, which are then defended against subsequent changes in diet composition and/or energy availability. If leptin affects energy homeostasis, it does so differentially in DIO vs. DR rats since comparably low and high levels were associated with differing patterns of weight change between the two phenotypes.
P11 – 2238: Long-term outcome in pyridoxine-responsive infantile epilepsy

Objective To assess long-term outcome of infantile epilepsy responsive to pyridoxine (vitamin B6). Methods We inquired all pediatric neurologists treating pediatric epilepsy in Finland if they had seen pyridoxine responsive patients with infantile epilepsy. Five children with infantile spasms and hypsarrhythmia and one with focal epilepsy were reported as pyridoxine responders. Data on clinical presentation was collected from patient charts. Results All B6 responders had unknown etiology. Ages at seizure onset ranged from 4 to 7 months. The patients had been treated with p.o. pyridoxine 150 mg/day or i.v. 50 mg pyridoxal phosphate and responded within 1 to 14 days (mean 6 days). Two patients were treated with concomitant antiepileptic drugs. Duration of pyridoxine therapy varied from 6 weeks to 4 years (mean 26 months). Four patients had later seizure relapses: one at 15 months with motor seizures (stopped By valproate), another two in adolencence with focal epilepsy and one at 20 years with unclassified epilepsy. Intelligence was normal in five patients and one had a mild mental deficiency. Follow-up ranged from 8.5 to 24 years. Conclusion This study showed that long-term cognitive outcome is good for the rare patients with infantile epilepsy who respond to B6 therapy but later seizure recurrence occur. So far it is unknown, if the response is determined by genetic traits or disease-related factors.
Learning from a real-world analysis of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients: comorbidities matter.

With a 90% near-instantaneous mortality rate, sudden cardiac arrest may be the human disease condition with the most potential of benefiting from preventive interventions. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), one of the more remarkable therapeutic advances of the 20th century, is
Single Incision Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery: Lessons Learned over 500 Operations

n (%) Ileus 72 (14) Abdomino-pelvic abscess 32 (6) Wound infection 24 (5) Anastomotic leak 18 (5)y Venous thromboembolism 15 (3) Bowel obstruction 14 (3) Sepsis 13 (3) Hemorrhage 10 (2) Stoma complications 6 (3)z Rectal stump leak 4 (1) Ureter injury 3 (1) Fascial dehiscence 3 (1) Per operation. yPatients who had end stoma or fecal diversion only were excluded. zIn patients who had stoma only. Vol. 221, No. 4S1, October 2015 Scientific Forum Abstracts S37
USING THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE IN TEACHING LAWYERING SKILLS: MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEW ABA STANDARDS *

The article discusses how law schools can satisfy the new ABA standards for legal education, which require law students to receive expanded professional training. The article suggests that training students in therapeutic jurisprudence constitutes an excellent way of meeting the new ABA standards and moves legal education into the modern era in a manner that will significantly increase the quality of lawyering and both client and professional satisfaction.
Basin self-similarity, Hack’s law, and the evolution of experimental rill networks

While the hierarchical organization of river basins has been well described, little physical evidence exists on how such signatures change in time as a function of drainage network evolution. Using a soil-mantled experimental landscape, a fourth-order rill network was developed in response to applied rainfall and base-level lowering. Drainage basin area and tributary length scales were determined at discrete times during the evolution of the rill network. Results show that rill basin area exhibited self-similarity across rill order (space) and as the network grew in time, and that the coefficient of Hack9s law, once the network began to grow, also was invariant with time. This experimental evidence strongly supports the use of scaling arguments for drainage basin evolution and for the prediction of rill network development and organization on hillslopes and agricultural fields.
Where Would You Go this Weekend? Time-Dependent Prediction of User Activity Using Social Network Data.

Predicting user activities and interests has many applications, for example, in contextual recommendations. Although the problem of predicting interests in general has been studied extensively, the problem of predicting when the users are likely to act on those interests has received considerably less attention. Such predictions of timing are extremely important when the application itself is time-sensitive (e.g., travel recommendations are irrelevant too far in advance and after reservations have already been made). Particularly important is the ability to predict likely future activities long in advance (as opposed to short-term prediction of imminent activities). In this paper we describe a comprehensive study that addresses this problem of making long-term time-dependent predictions of user interest. We have conducted this study on a large collection of visits to various venues of interest performed by users of Foursquare. We have built models that, given a user's history, can predict whether or not the user will visit a venue of a particular type on a given day. These models provide useful prediction accuracy of up to 75% for up to several weeks into the future. Our study explores and compares various feature sets and prediction methods. Of particular interest is the fact that venues interact with each other: to predict visits to one type of venue, it helps to use the history of visits to all venue types.
Densities of states for disordered systems from free probability

We investigate how free probability allows us to approximate the density of states in tight binding models of disordered electronic systems. Extending our previous studies of the Anderson model in one dimension with nearest-neighbor interactions [J. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 036403 (2012)], we find that free probability continues to provide accurate approximations for systems with constant interactions on two- and three-dimensional lattices or with next-nearest-neighbor interactions, with the results being visually indistinguishable from the numerically exact solution. For systems with disordered interactions, we observe a small but visible degradation of the approximation. To explain this behavior of the free approximation, we develop and apply an asymptotic error analysis scheme to show that the approximation is accurate to the eighth moment in the density of states for systems with constant interactions, but is only accurate to sixth order for systems with disordered interactions. The error analysis also allows us to calculate asymptotic corrections to the density of states, allowing for systematically improvable approximations as well as insight into the sources of error without requiring a direct comparison to an exact solution.
Epilogue: Of Federalization, Families, and a Quest for Policy

The turn of the century provides us with a unique opportunity to evaluate where we have been. As lawyers, we have seen expanding definitions of what constitutes a "family," the shift from state to federal and international regulation of many family matters, and dramatic changes in the practice of law. Where we are going depends on our ability as individuals, as a profession, and as a nation to reconcile some of the conflicting ideals that exist at the end of the century.
Hierarchical Hybrid Predictive Control of an Autonomous Road Vehicle

This paper presents a hierarchical hybrid predictive control framework for an autonomously controlled road vehicle. At the top, an assigner module is designed as a finite state machine for decision-making. Based on the current information of the controlled vehicle and its environment (obstacles, and lane markings, etc), the assigner selects discrete maneuver states through pre-defined switching rules. The several maneuver states are related to different setups for the underlying model predictive trajectory guidance module. The guidance module uses a reduced-order curvilinear particle motion description of the controlled vehicle and obstacle objects as well as a corresponding description of the reference path, lane and traffic limits. The output of the guidance module interfaces with the lower level controller of the continuous vehicle dynamics. The performance of the proposed framework is demonstrated via simulations of highway-driving scenarios.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Mining the Forgotten: Manuscript Sources for Black Women's History

Ten years ago an article in a major historical journal on manuscript collections on black women would have been unlikely. Not only was interest in doing black women's history minimal, but some collections that exist today did not even exist then. This article, therefore, owes a debt to the emergence of Afro-American history and women's history. It also is in debt to historians who, having researched either or both histories, have found that in the vast body of literature generated in the decade of the 1970s there is a missing characterthe black woman. This is by no means a comprehensive survey of manuscript collections on black women; it is intended rather as a point of departure for those still in search of that missing character.
Selected Social Psychologica Models for Analyzing Buyers

Philip Kotler, in an oft-quoted article, presented five classic behavioral theorists—Marshall, Pavlov, Freud, Veblen, and Hobbes—and put them in the context of marketing. This article extends his a...
INFLUENCE OF ORIENTATION AND POST-TREATMENT OF DIAMOND THIN FILMS ON ITS RESPONSE TO X-RAY

Diamond thin films were grown by the microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition(MWPCVD) process and modification MWPCVD process by cyclic deposition and the in-situ plasma post-treatment, the quality of diamond films was improved. Simple ra- diation dosimeters were fabricated in a sandwich configuration. The influence of orientation and in-situ plasma post-treatment of the diamond films on the sensitivity of the dosimeters was studied. The results indicate that orientation and in-situ plasma post-treatment have great effects on the response of diamond films to X-rays. The response of the devices is linear with the X-ray flux. With a similar film resistivity, the dosimeter based on 100 diamond film has higher sensitivity than that based on 111 diamond film. In addition, the X-ray photoelectron spectroscope analysis shows that the surface content of diamond C of the film can be increased from 69.9% to 93.5% by in-situ oxygen plasma post-treatment. The characterization of the response to X-rays shows that in-situ oxygen plasma proc- essing can increase the sensitivity of the radiation dosimeters to X-rays by a factor of 2. It also shows that in-situ oxygen plasma proc- essing leads to the higher sensiti- vity of dosimeters compared with in-situ nitrogen or hydrogen plasma processing.
The Importance of a Successful Initial Bladder Closure in the Surgical Management of Classical Bladder Exstrophy: Analysis of 144 Patients Treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Between 1975 and 1985

AbstractThe staged functional closure of classical bladder exstrophy has produced improved results for many urologists involved in the surgical management of this congenital anomaly. To determine which factors are most important for achieving a successful outcome (urinary continence with preservation of normal renal function) the 144 patients treated at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1975 and 1985 were reviewed. Of these patients 51 were managed entirely at our institution, while 93 had had the initial surgical treatment elsewhere.All patients who had undergone primary bladder closure and bladder neck reconstruction were divided into 2 groups: group 1—patients who had a successful initial bladder closure (an exstrophied bladder that is converted into a complete epispadias without wound infection, dehiscence or any degree of bladder prolapse on the first attempt) and group 2—children whose initial bladder closure was not successful. Both groups were analyzed with respect to bladder capacity at the time...
War as Haiku: The Politics of Don DeLillo’s Late Style

In the wake of Underworld (1997), Don DeLillo’s work has been cast largely in a minor key. In this essay, I will focus on Point Omega, the work that I believe most clearly illuminates the political implications of DeLillo’s late style as it tackles the consequences of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. More broadly, I hope to connect Point Omega to the work of DeLillo’s contemporaries that have also speculated on the historical and political implications of the War on Terror. Centering on Point Omega, I am interested in how DeLillo has adopted a distinctive narrative form in his most recent fiction that frequently unsettles and complicates the historical narratives that he had established in his earlier work.
Abstract 293: EGFR inhibition generates drug-tolerant persister cells by blocking AKT activity and thus inactivating Ets-1 function

In non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—the leading cause of cancer death worldwide—about 10-20% harbor mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). Although treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) had shown promise, drug resistance has been the most important determinant limiting its success. Recent studies have identified the mechanisms of drug resistance to TKIs, but the origin of acquired resistant cells remains to be elucidated. We consider that they must arise from a small subset of surviving populations after EGFR inhibition. Thus, we have studied the mechanism by which the subset remains viable after EGFR inhibition, despite cell death in the vast majority. Our study demonstrates that EGFR inhibition in lung cancer cells generates a drug-tolerant subpopulation by blocking AKT activity and thus inactivating Ets-1 function. The remaining cells enter a dormant, non-dividing state because of the inhibited transactivation of Ets-1 target genes cyclins D1, D3, and E2. Moreover, Ets-1 inactivation inhibits transcription of dual specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6), a negative regulator specific for ERK1/2. As a result, ERK1/2 is activated, which combines with c-Src to renew activation of the Ras/MAPK pathway, causing increased cell survival by accelerating Bim protein turnover. Conversely, inhibition of elevated ERK1/2 by the addition of a MEK inhibitor enhances programmed cell death through rewiring apoptotic signaling. These observations may explain why a small subset of quiescent cells can tolerate TKIs, and might suggest that combined treatment of TKI and MEK inhibitor could overcome drug resistance in the population. Citation Format: Janyaporn Phuchareon, David W. Eisele, Frank McCormick, Osamu Tetsu. EGFR inhibition generates drug-tolerant persister cells by blocking AKT activity and thus inactivating Ets-1 function. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 293.
Contemporary Discourses about Animals

In Chapter 1, the idea that animals were the appropriate subjects of criminal punishment for their actions was introduced as a way of illustrating how animals were once understood in a different time and in a different place. This conceptualization of animals, along with the attendant power apparatuses that generated and perpetuated it – such as use of the courts, executioners, jailers, and letters of pardon – has been essentially forgotten. The discourse about animals has changed. Reality has changed. But once-knowledge that animals could be held liable for their criminal acts is an example of a discourse within our inventory of what once passed for knowledge. Our job here is to accept that way of knowing on its face, to recognize that the truth claims made within that way of knowing were subject to evaluations for veracity based upon that particular way of knowing, and to resist inclinations to rationalize that way of knowing as an aberration or as evidence of widespread delusion in our predecessors. It emerged as an historical contingency, and the conditions that allowed it to emerge may not be discernible.
Elevated Nicotine Dependence Scores among Electronic Cigarette Users at an Electronic Cigarette Convention.

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) conventions are trade shows held across the globe to promote e-cigarette products and provide a venue for users to socialize. E-cigarette users that attend these events likely represent the most intensive e-cigarette user group. No study has characterized addiction and behavior characteristics in this population. We surveyed 131 e-cigarette users attending a large Southeastern e-cigarette convention in Fall 2015. All questions from the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), select questions from the Penn State Electronic Cigarette Dependence Index, and novel user behavior questions were included. In total, 25 questions were included in the survey. FTND scores were calculated for each respondent who answered all six FTND questions (n = 117). Fisher’s Exact Chi square test was used to assess the relationship between addiction and behavior characteristics and FTND scores. Most respondents were classified as moderately dependent (score 5–7, 45.3% of respondents). Length of use, waking at night to use an e-cigarette, strength of cravings, strength of urges over the past week, and frequency of visiting e-cigarette blogs were significantly associated with FTND scores. E-cigarettes users have average FTND scores higher than tobacco smokers. Scores were not significantly associated with prior tobacco cigarette use. Characteristics associated with tobacco smokers’ nicotine addiction, such as waking at night to smoke and strength of cravings experienced, are relevant to e-cigarette users. E-cigarettes do not contain the magnitude of toxicants in tobacco cigarettes, but e-cigarettes may produce new chemical exposures evidenced by the adverse health effects reported by some respondents.
Zero-Valent Iron Enhances Biocathodic Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Methane

Methanogenic bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), which convert carbon dioxide (CO2) directly to methane (CH4), promise to be an innovative technology for anaerobic digester biogas upgrading. Zero-valent iron (ZVI), which has previously been used to improve CH4 production in anaerobic digesters, has not been explored in methanogenic biocathodes. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the effect of biocathode ZVI on BES performance at 1 and 2 g/L initial ZVI concentrations and at various cathode potentials (−0.65 to −0.80 V versus SHE). The total CH4 produced during a 7-day feeding cycle with 1 and 2 g/L initial ZVI was 2.8- and 2.9-fold higher, respectively, than the mean CH4 production in the four prior cycles without ZVI addition. Furthermore, CH4 production by the ZVI-amended biocathodes remained elevated throughout three subsequent feeding cycles, despite catholyte replacement and no new ZVI addition. The fourth cycle following a single ZVI addition of 1 g/L and 2 g/L yielded 123% and 231% more...
Neuromuscular Blocking and Reversal Agents

Although age-related changes in hepatic, renal, and cardiac function slow the onset and clearance of many nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) in geriatric patients, extensive changes at the neuromuscular junction do not increase sensitivity to these compounds. Decreased clearance mandates that neuromuscular block be maintained and subsequent doses administered only after documentation of return of muscle strength with a monitor of neuromuscular blockade. Except in rare cases, antagonism of residual NMB will be required. Dosing of reversal agents, whether anticholinesterases or the selective relaxant binding agent, sugammadex, should, as it is with NMBAs, be based on the results of monitoring of neuromuscular function.
Comparing Amazon’s Mechanical Turk Platform to Conventional Data Collection Methods in the Health and Medical Research Literature

The goal of this article is to conduct an assessment of the peer-reviewed primary literature with study objectives to analyze Amazon.com ’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) as a research tool in a health services research and medical context. Searches of Google Scholar and PubMed databases were conducted in February 2017. We screened article titles and abstracts to identify relevant articles that compare data from MTurk samples in a health and medical context to another sample, expert opinion, or other gold standard. Full-text manuscript reviews were conducted for the 35 articles that met the study criteria. The vast majority of the studies supported the use of MTurk for a variety of academic purposes. The literature overwhelmingly concludes that MTurk is an efficient, reliable, cost-effective tool for generating sample responses that are largely comparable to those collected via more conventional means. Caveats include survey responses may not be generalizable to the US population.
Conscious awareness is necessary for affective faces to influence social judgments

Abstract A growing body of research claims that stimuli presented outside conscious awareness can influence affect, speech perception, decision-making, eating behavior, and social judgments. However, research has shown that conscious awareness is a continuous phenomenon. Using a continuous flash suppression (CFS) paradigm to suppress awareness of affective faces (smiling and scowling), we demonstrate that some awareness of suppressed stimuli is required for the stimuli to influence social judgments. We discovered this using a rigorous within-participants psychophysics method that allowed us to assess awareness at very low levels, which is difficult using traditional methods. Our findings place boundary conditions on claims (made previously by us and others) that stimuli presented completely outside conscious awareness influence judgments. This work contributes to the literature highlighting the need to study conscious awareness as a continuous phenomenon and provides a framework for researchers to ask and answer questions regarding conscious awareness and its relation to judgment and behavior.