cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RAIM with Multiple Faults

: Contemporary Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) algorithms such as that developed by Brown and Chin [1] are designed to allow the user's receiver to supply its own integrity and protect against the development of excessive noise as well as bias, both originating from the ranging measurements. Past RAIM protection levels have assumed that there is at most one ranging source with bias. This work is focused on extending RAIM protection levels to account for multiple biases.
A Visualization Framework for Self-Monitoring of Web-Based Information Disclosure

Free online tools such as search, email and mapping come with a hidden cost. Web users obtain such services by making micropayments of personal and organizational information to the Web service providers. Web companies use this information to create customized advertising and tailored user experiences. Individually, each transaction appears innocuous, but when aggregated, the result is often highly sensitive. The impact of AOL's inadvertent disclosure of 20 million nominally anonymized search queries underscores the pressing need for increasing Web privacy and raising user awareness of the problem. Rather than advocate extreme legal and policy measures to address the dilemma, this paper proposes an equitable self- monitoring solution. Self-monitoring allows individual users and large enterprises to regulate their Web-based interactions intelligently and still allow online companies to innovate and flourish. The primary contributions of our work include exploration of visualization techniques that support self-monitoring based on a user requirements survey, a human-centric evaluation, and a Firefox extension based on one of the visual monitoring solutions developed.
Effective Team Building: The Role of Coaches

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” -Henry Ford The quote by Henry Ford sums up the process of team work. It starts by coming together a...
RegReS: Adaptively maintaining a target density of regional services in opportunistic vehicular networks

Pervasive vehicle-mounted mobile devices are increasingly common, and can be viewed as a large-scale ad hoc network on which collaborative, location-based services can be directly supported. In order to support such services within a geographic region, a certain number of computational, storage and sensing mobile devices need to be carriers of the services. This paper introduces and evaluates Region-Resident Services (RegReS), a middleware that supports such regional services by maintaining, in a fully distributed fashion, a targeted density of service carriers. Carriers collaborate opportunistically to estimate the current service density in the region and coordinate the spawning of new service carriers when necessary. Unlike previous approaches that are static, RegReS adapts to dynamic conditions such as node speed, effectively maintaining the targeted density of service carriers in highly volatile vehicular networks. Results from the ORBIT testbed, using synthetic and real bus mobility traces, show that RegReS adapts to different system configurations, preserving the desired service density with less than 16% mean absolute error. We deployed an outdoor collaborative parking availability service atop RegReS and demonstrated RegReS's ability to maintain the target service density with only 10% error.
Specificity and efficiency of Cre-mediated recombination in Emx1-Cre knock-in mice.

Emx1 is a mouse homologue of the Drosophila homeobox gene empty spiracles and its expression is restricted to the neurons in the developing and adult cerebral cortex and hippocampus. We reported previously the creation of a line of transgenic mice in which the cre gene was placed directly downstream of the putative Emx1 promoter using ES cell technology. We showed that Cre protein was present in the cerebral cortex of the transgenic mice and was able to mediate loxP-specific recombination in vitro. In the present study, the specificity and efficiency of the cre-mediated recombination were determined using three independent lines of reporter mice and a combination of histochemical staining, neuronal culture, and Southern detection of the genomic DNA. Our results showed that the recombination was highly efficient in all three lines of reporter mice tested and confirmed that the deletion was restricted to the neurons in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Furthermore, we have determined that the recombination efficiency in the cerebral cortex was 91%. Our results suggest that Emx1 is not expressed in every neuron in the developing and adult cerebral cortex. This line of cre mice should contribute to the studies of cortical development and plasticity.
Technology enhanced cooperative learning

The University of Tennessee has initiated a yearlong set of projects related to Wireless Instructional Initiatives. The project has provided a set of wireless laptops for student use in several classes. The courses for this paper have been organized into structured groups for both in class and out of class projects. During class, the groups may be required to develop approaches to problems, answer and present solutions, and assess the work of other groups. The use of wireless laptops combined with a Blackboard course web site provides an opportunity to have an available documented group solution for discussions. The initial applications were with junior - senior course, where the students provide approaches to realistic problems, which were available to all groups. The students reported that they gained significant insight from reading other groups. The next course will be a sophomore course with over 9-10 student groups and a more general application.
Consequences of the Serial Nature of Linguistic Input for Sentenial Complexity

All other things being equal the parser favors attaching an ambiguous modifier to the most recent possible site. A plausible explanation is that locality preferences such as this arise in the service of minimizing memory costs-more distant sentential material is more difficult to reactivate than more recent material. Note that processing any sentence requires linking each new lexical item with material in the current parse. This often involves the construction of long-distance dependencies. Under a resource-limited view of language processing, lengthy integrations should induce difficulty even in unambiguous sentences. To date there has been little direct quantitative evidence in support of this perspective. This article presents 2 self-paced reading studies, which explore the hypothesis that dependency distance is a fundamental determinant of reading complexity in unambiguous constructions in English. The evidence suggests that the difficulty associated with integrating a new input item is heavily determined by the amount of lexical material intervening between the input item and the site of its target dependents. The patterns observed here are not straightforwardly accounted for within purely experience-based models of complexity. Instead, this work supports the role of a memory bottleneck in language comprehension. This constraint arises because hierarchical linguistic relations must be recovered from a linear input stream.
The Alvarez–Lohmann lens as a do-nothing machine

Abstract A do-nothing machine uses complex methods to convert an input pattern or function into an identical output pattern or function. They are of great interest because a selective modification somewhere within that machine can often accomplish useful results. Here, we start with the simplest possible optical system—a piece of glass split between the top and bottom by some simple or complex cut and rejoined perfectly. To light passing through, the cut does nothing. But, if we displace the top and bottom parts by some small amount, the combined system can serve as a variable thickness plate, a variable deflection angle prism, a variable focal length lens, etc. as first shown independently by Alvarez and Lohmann. This appears to be the first explanation of Alvarez–Lohmann lenses in such a simple way and it leads to the possibility of new structures not contemplated by either of the inventors.
The Structure of the Psychology Undergraduate Curriculum.

A review of 500 college catalogs for 4 institutional types found the modal undergraduate psychology program follows the traditional model. It is taught in the liberal arts tradition as recommended by the St. Mary's Conference (Brewer et al., 1993), balancing natural and social science content. The major typically requires 34 credits including introductory, statistics, and a capstone course (either a senior seminar, colloquium or history); at least one content course; and limited laboratory experience. It neither necessarily requires the integrative capstone course nor psychometric methods courses recommended by the St. Mary's Conference. Prerequisites for methodology and capstone courses are limited.
Motivational Pursuits in the Context of Human Sexual Relationships

The current article examines how close relationships combine with individual differences in sex motives (Cooper, Shapiro, & Powers, 1998) to shape sexual experience. We first provide an overview of the motivational approach as it relates to sexual behavior and then describe 2 broad mechanisms (1 transactional, the other interactional) by which motives and relational context combine to shape behavior. Drawing on our past research, we review evidence showing that people select relationship contexts based partly on their motives and that these contexts in turn shape future motives and behavior; that partner motives shape sexual experience above and beyond one's own motives; and that both the broader relationship context and partner motives moderate the effects of one's own motives on sexual experience. We conclude that the nature of motivational pursuits cannot be adequately understood in the abstract, but rather we must take into account the relational context in which one's needs are pursued.
Fascists or Revolutionaries? Left and Right Politics of the Rural Poor

This article compares rural support for authoritarian populism in the new democracies in western Europe and Latin America. Literature on mass-based peasant revolutions sees the rural poor as revolutionaries, but an earlier, Marxist view saw them as counter-revolutionary. What can we expect of rural people in new democracies? The article examines four cases of rural support for authoritarian populism and contrasts them with patterns of peasant leftism. Two factors explain the difference: (1) background factors (economic and social relations, the nature of land tenure) and (2) foreground factors (political leadership, organizational style, and rhetoric). The article considers these conclusions for the contemporary international context and draws implications for democratization today.
Exploring adaptive turbo coded modulation for flat fading channels

This paper considers different adaptive modulation techniques for flat fading channels when turbo codes are used as channel codes. The optimal adaptive TuCM scheme is determined subject to various system constraints. It is shown that adapting both the turbo-encoder and the transmit power achieves a performance within 3 dB of the fading channel capacity.
Properties of unidirectional kenaf fiber–polyolefin laminates

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of kenaf fiber orientation and furnish formulation on the properties of laminated natural fiber–polymer composites (LNPC). The uniaxial fiber orientation provided property enhancement of the LNPC. The randomly oriented kenaf fibers, regardless of fiber contents in the laminates, provided an equal performance compared to the composites made of 25% fiber glass reinforced polyvinyl ester resin in the same laboratory processing conditions. Thermal properties of the laminates obtained from thermal gravimetry with differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) showed that the melting point (Tm) of the polypropylene (PP) film laminates decreased, and the crystallization peak increased as the kenaf fiber content in the laminates increased. The surface morphology results of the kenaf fiber and fractures of the laminates showed that some fibers pulled out from the matrix. The mechanical properties increased as the kenaf fiber content increased. The tensile stress of the laminated composites fabricated with unidirectional fiber orientation was about 2–4 times higher than those with the randomly oriented samples. POLYM. COMPOS., 00:000–000, 2009. a 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers
Rattlesnake venom-induced thrombocytopenia response to Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent: a case series

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that rattlesnake venom-induced thrombocytopenia would improve following Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent administration, and that the degree of platelet increase would correlate with the dosage of antivenom. METHODS The authors conducted a retrospective review of all patients admitted for rattlesnake envenomation at two southern California hospitals between 1980 and 1998. Patients were included if platelet count was less than 150 x 10(9)/L following a rattlesnake bite. Patients were excluded if they received platelet transfusion. The relationship between Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent administration and venom-induced thrombocytopenia was evaluated by linear regression and paired t-test. RESULTS The authors identified 103 cases of rattlesnake envenomation. Seventeen cases met inclusion criteria for thrombocytopenia. Two patients were excluded because they received platelet transfusions. One additional patient was excluded from paired t-test only because no antivenom was given. Thrombocytopenia usually improved between presentation and discharge (mean difference, 44 x 10(9)/L), although complete resolution was often not achieved. A statistically significant partial improvement in platelet counts immediately after antivenom administration was observed in a subset of patients with severe thrombocytopenia (platelet count <100 x 10(9)/L) (mean difference, 64 x 10(9)/L). Using regression analysis, the authors did not detect a linear relationship between the amount of Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent administered and the degree of improvement. CONCLUSIONS Although rattlesnake venom-induced thrombocytopenia usually improves immediately after Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent administration and by the time of discharge, the degree of improvement is frequently incomplete and of uncertain clinical significance in the absence of life-threatening bleeding. The authors found no correlation between the degree of improvement and the dosage of Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent.
Real-time video abstraction

We present an automatic, real-time video and image abstraction framework that abstracts imagery by modifying the contrast of visually important features, namely luminance and color opponency. We reduce contrast in low-contrast regions using an approximation to anisotropic diffusion, and artificially increase contrast in higher contrast regions with difference-of-Gaussian edges. The abstraction step is extensible and allows for artistic or data-driven control. Abstracted images can optionally be stylized using soft color quantization to create cartoon-like effects with good temporal coherence. Our framework design is highly parallel, allowing for a GPU-based, real-time implementation. We evaluate the effectiveness of our abstraction framework with a user-study and find that participants are faster at naming abstracted faces of known persons compared to photographs. Participants are also better at remembering abstracted images of arbitrary scenes in a memory task.
The Effects of Cyclophosphamide on Mitogen-Induced and Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity in Guinea Pigs

AbstractLymph node cells from normal guinea pigs, when stimulated with the non-specific mitogen PHA were transformed to activated killer cells, capable of lysing 51Cr labeled mouse fibroblasts. Similarly, these lymphoid cells effected lysis of antibody coated chicken red cells in an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity assay. Following cyclophosphamide, 150 mg/kg IP, the reactivity of an aliquot of lymph node cells to effect either cytotoxic reaction was not diminished. These results indicate that this immunosuppressant does not promote a selective decrease in either lymphoid effector. Rather, they are diminished in parallel with the generalized lympholysis resulting from drug administration. During the recovery phase, lymph node cells showed increased ability to lyse target cells, suggesting a rebound phase of heightened activity. Thymic cells from normal and cyclophosphamide treated animals were poor effectors in either cytotoxic assay. The addition of an equal number of thymocytes to lymph node cel...
Hypercapnia-Induced Cerebral Hyperperfusion: An Underrecognized Clinical Entity

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The incidence of cerebral hyperperfusion and hypoperfusion, respectively, resulting from hypercapnia and hypocapnia in hospitalized patients is unknown but is likely underrecognized by radiologists and clinicians without routine performance of quantitative perfusion imaging. Our purpose was to report the clinical and perfusion imaging findings in a series of patients confirmed to have hypercapnic cerebral hyperperfusion and hypocapnic hypoperfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Conventional cerebral MR imaging examination was supplemented with arterial spin-labeled (ASL) MR perfusion imaging in 45 patients during a 16-month period at a single institution. Patients presented with an indication of altered mental status, metastasis, or suspected stroke. Images were reviewed and correlated with arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis and clinical history. RESULTS: Patients ranged in age from 1.5 to 85 years. No significant acute findings were identified on conventional MR imaging. Patients with hypercapnia showed global hyperperfusion on ASL cerebral blood flow (CBF) maps, respiratory acidosis on ABG, and diffuse air-space abnormalities on same-day chest radiographs. Regression analysis revealed a significant positive linear relationship between cerebral perfusion and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO 2 ; β, 4.02; t , 11.03; P 2 . CONCLUSIONS: With the inception of ASL as a routine perfusion imaging technique, hypercapnic-associated cerebral hyperperfusion will be recognized more frequently and may provide an alternative cause of unexplained neuropsychiatric symptoms in hospitalized patients. In a similar fashion, hypocapnia may account for a subset of patients with normal MR imaging examinations with poor ASL perfusion signal.
Is antipsychotic medication stigmatizing for people with mental illness

Antipsychotic medications are clearly identified as important in the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia and with bipolar disorder. However, negative societal reaction related to having a serious mental illness and the socially undesirable side effects associated with antipsychotic medication treatment may combine to worsen stigma associated with treatment for mental illness. Specific stigmatizing effects of antipsychotic therapy may be difficult to evaluate independently from factors such as symptoms, insight into illness and side effects. Attitudes towards antipsychotic medication may be positive in individuals who recognize therapeutic drug effects, however other individuals may view medications negatively due to a sense of stigma. Stigma among individuals with bipolar disorder in relation to treatment with antipsychotic medication has not been well addressed in the literature. An additional concern among individuals with bipolar disorder who receive antipsychotic medications may be the notion that antipsychotics are ‘schizophrenia drugs’, and thus an inappropriate treatment for their condition. Antipsychotic medications can be stigmatizing for patients with serious mental illness, however the roots of stigma are extensive, and efforts to minimize stigma can only be successful when addressed by the individual with illness, their families and loved ones, treatment providers and society at large.
Abusing cloud-based browsers for fun and profit

Cloud services have become a cheap and popular means of computing. They allow users to synchronize data between devices and relieve low-powered devices from heavy computations. In response to the surge of smartphones and mobile devices, several cloud-based Web browsers have become commercially available. These "cloud browsers" assemble and render Web pages within the cloud, executing JavaScript code for the mobile client. This paper explores how the computational abilities of cloud browsers may be exploited through a Browser MapReduce (BMR) architecture for executing large, parallel tasks. We explore the computation and memory limits of four cloud browsers, and demonstrate the viability of BMR by implementing a client based on a reverse engineering of the Puffin cloud browser. We implement and test three canonical MapReduce applications (word count, distributed grep, and distributed sort). While we perform experiments on relatively small amounts of data (100 MB) for ethical considerations, our results strongly suggest that current cloud browsers are a viable source of arbitrary free computing at large scale.
The menstrual cycle and plasma testosterone levels in women with acne

A prospective study of the ovarian function and plasma testosterone levels was conducted in a group of 139 women presenting with a chief complaint of acne. In 90% of the patients the plasma testosterone levels were above the normal mean. Amenorrhea was present in 17.2%, anovulation in 18.4%, and variable degree of ovulatory dysfunction in 57.2% of the patients. The severity of ovarian dysfunction was directly proportional to the plasma testosterone levels. Age was inversely related to both plasma testosterone levels and severity of ovarian dysfunction. The results of this study suggest that acne may be associated not only with a hyperandrogenic state but also with ovarian dysfunction. They emphasize the need for a careful investigation of androgen levels and ovarian function in women with chief complaint of acne.
Problem of diffuse cardiac uptake of technetium-99m pyrophosphate in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction: enhanced scintigraphic accuracy by computerized selective blood pool subtraction.

Abstract Because considerable controversy attends the interpretation of the diffuse uptake pattern of technetium-99m pyrophosphate scintigraphy, a practical computerized method for selective subtraction of the cardiac blood pool from these equivocal technetium-99m pyrophosphate scintigrams is described. The technique employs injection of a readily available radiopharmaceutical (technetium-99m pertechnetate) and standard computer software. The subtraction process allows subclassification of the equivocal scintigrams into two groups: one with definite myocardial localization of radioactivity, and the other without evidence of myocardial labeling. The clinical utility of this selective subtraction technique was assessed in 35 patients with equivocal pyrophosphate scintigrams and in an additional 13 patients with probably abnormal scintigrams by comparing the results of the subtraction scintigraphy with the final clinical diagnosis based on history, serial electrocardiograms and serial cardiospecific serum enzyme determinations. The results demonstrated that the subclassification based on computerized selective blood pool subtraction is clinically useful: If definite myocardial localization is demonstrated after subtraction, acute infarction is likely, whereas, if no myocardial localization is evident after subtraction, acute infarction is highly unlikely. Therefore, the addition of this simple selective blood pool subtraction technique to standard pyrophosphate imaging has been found to improve the overall effectiveness of pyrophosphate scintigraphy in the detection of acute myocardial infarction.
Breaking the Enzymatic Latch: Impacts of Reducing Conditions on Hydrolytic Enzyme Activity in Tropical Forest Soils

The enzymatic latch hypothesis proposes that oxygen (O2) limitation promotes wetland carbon (C) storage by indirectly decreasing the activities of hydrolytic enzymes that decompose organic matter. Humid tropical forest soils are often characterized by low and fluctuating redox conditions and harbor a large pool of organic matter, yet they also have the fastest decomposition rates globally. We tested the enzymatic latch hypothesis across a soil O2 gradient in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, USA. Enzyme activities expressed on a soil mass basis did not systematically decline across a landscape O2 gradient, nor did phenolics accumulate, the proposed mechanism of the enzymatic latch. Normalizing enzyme activities by C concentrations did suggest a decline in several enzymes as mean soil O2 decreased. However, relationships between hydrolytic enzymes and reducing conditions were scale-dependent: enzymes displayed neutral to strongly positive relationships with reducing conditions and phenolics when comparing samples within sites, and enzyme activities in 18-d anaerobic incubations generally exceeded those in aerobic soils despite a fourfold increase in phenolics. In summary, although O2 availability and the activities of some enzymes appeared to be related at landscape scales after accounting for differences in organic matter, reducing conditions and phenolic compounds did not appear to constrain soil hydrolytic enzyme activity at the scale of soil microsites, challenging the enzymatic latch hypothesis. Hydrolytic enzymes can be resilient to periodic anaerobiosis and may actually stimulate O2 consumption at the microsite scale. We suggest a critical re-examination of mechanisms and the scale dependence of couplings between O2 and decomposition in terrestrial soils.
Garbled RAM Revisited, Part II.

In EUROCRYPT 2013, Lu and Ostrovsky proposed the notion of Garbled RAM (GRAM) programs. These GRAM programs are analogous to the classic result of Yao’s garbled circuits: a large encrypted memory can rst be provided to evaluator, and then a program can separately be garbled and sent to an evaluator to securely execute while learning nothing but the output of the program and its running time. The key feature of GRAM is that it harnesses the natural complexity-theoretic power that Random Access Memory (RAM) programs have over circuits, such as in binary search or randomized algorithms, where program can be executed in a garbled way without \unrolling" it into a circuit. The candidate Lu-Ostrovsky GRAM scheme proposed in that paper is based on the existence of one-way functions, but due to an implicit reliance on a complex \circular" use of Yao garbled circuits, the scheme requires an additional circularity assumptions and may not be secure otherwise. In this paper, we show how to construct ecient GRAM without circularity and based solely on the existence of any one-way function. The novel approach that allows us to break the circularity is a modication of the Goldreich-Goldwasser-Micali (PRF) construction. More specically, we modify the PRF to allow PRF-keys to be \adaptively revoked" during run-time at the additive cost of roughly logn per revocation. Then, to improve the overhead of this scheme, we apply a delicate recursion technique that bootstraps mini-GRAM schemes into larger, more powerful ones while still avoiding circularity in the hybrid arguments. This results in secure GRAM with overhead of poly( )(min(t;n )) for any constant > 0 where n is the size of memory and t is the running time. In a companion work (Part I), Gentry, Halevi, Raykova, and Wichs show an alternative approach using identity-based encryption to solve the circularity problem 1 . Their scheme achieves overhead of poly( )polylog(n) assuming the existence of IBE.
Enhanced Tuberculosis Infection Treatment Outcomes after Implementation of QuantiFERON®-Gold Testing.

Background Use of the tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among individuals who received the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is complicated by its potential cross-reaction with TST antigens which may cause false-positive results and lead to patient and physician reluctance to initiate LTBI treatment. QuantiFERON®-TB Gold (QFT-G) lacks this cross-reaction. We sought to study the impact of implementing QFT-G testing in 2006 on LTBI treatment initiation and completion at NYC chest clinics. Methods QFT-G results from 10/2006–12/2008 in NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene chest clinics were obtained from the electronic medical record system. The proportions of patients who initiated and completed treatment among patients tested with QFT-G were compared to those tested with TST from 10/2004–9/2006. Results Among 36,167 patients tested with QFT-G, 2,300 (6%) tested positive, 33,327 (93%) tested negative, and 540 (1%) had an indeterminate result. Among those who had a positive QFT-G test and deemed eligible, 985 (80%) initiated LTBI treatment and 490 (40%) completed treatment. Historically, among patients tested with TST, 7,073 (19%) tested positive (p<0.0001 compared to QFT-G); 3,182 (79%) of those eligible initiated LTBI treatment and 1,210 (30%) completed treatment (p<0.0001 compared to QFT-G). Conclusions QFT-G implementation increased the proportion of patients completing LTBI treatment. Additional studies are needed in more settings to determine whether using QFT-G leads to a sustained increase in treatment completion.
Implied Aesthetics: A Sensor-Based Approach towards Mobile Interfaces

This article focuses on the implied aesthetics resulting from the affordances of 4th generation mobile devices, and in particular: motion-awareness. It draws connections between web standards, open source platforms, and their implications on diverse output media. Motion-awareness is rooted in the possibility to detect and interpret device orientation and acceleration — thus by extension the movements and gestures of individuals interacting with handheld devices. The article introduces the KETAI platform, designed to aid mobile applications that rely on motion analysis. Faster and more accurate detection of device attitude, context, and transportation mode enables a variety of novel applications in the traffic, gaming, and heath care sectors.
Mechanism of Smoke Inhibition by Hydrated Fillers

Abstract The smoke inhibitory activity of hydrated fillers in SBR is centered primarily in condensed-phase processes and is analogous to the generally accepted mechanism of flame retardation by the hydrates. Dissipation of heat, which disfavors pyrolysis and favors competing crosslinking reactions is probably involved. These reactions should occur chiefly among polybutadiene segments of the polymers. In addition, the smoke-suppressant efficiency of hydrated fillers should depend upon the crosslinking efficiency of the rubber. Finally, although smoke generation in latex rubber goods presents a challenge, substantial practical reductions in visible smoke can be achieved through the selection of proper hydrated fillers.
Effect of Ionic Groups on Polymer-Grafted Magnetic Nanoparticle Assemblies

Conductivity in ionomer melts is governed by the density of conducting ions and ionic aggregation within low dielectric polymers. New material design strategies are needed to direct ion aggregation by utilizing low ion densities that will improve ion conductivity in polymer composite films. Here, we report the dispersion of ionomer-grafted magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) in polymers to explore their potential in energy applications. Iron oxide NPs coated with a uniform silane layer are grafted with polystyrene (PS) chains and are randomly sulfonated to various extents. We examine the interplay between ionic interactions and chain repulsion by varying the ion concentration and length of grafted chains. Transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering results show that ion-containing polymer-grafted NPs form highly ordered chain-like structures below 3 mol % sulfonation in bulk at two particle loadings (5 and 15 wt %). Moreover, increasing grafted chain length leads to long-range spacing corre...
Mechanistic investigation of the nickel-catalyzed Suzuki reaction of N,O-acetals: evidence for boronic acid assisted oxidative addition and an iminium activation pathway.

The mechanism of a recently reported Suzuki coupling reaction of quinoline-derived allylic N,O-acetals has been studied using a combination of structural, stereochemical, and kinetic isotope effect experiments. The data indicate that C–O activation is facilitated by Lewis acid assistance from the boronic acid coupling partner and an ionic SN1-like mechanism accounts for oxidative addition. In this context, we demonstrate the first direct observation of oxidative addition to a quinolinium salt. Notably, this mechanism is distinct from the more commonly described SN2(′)-type oxidative addition of low-valent transition metals to most allylic electrophiles.
Nanocrystalline Doped Cerium Oxide as a Catalyst for SO2 Reduction by Co

Nanocrystalline processing by inert gas condensation has the inherent advantages of generating: (1) high surface area nanoclusters, (2) non-stoichiometric oxides, and (3) high dispersions of dopants. This approach is exploited in the synthesis of fluorite-structured catalysts for SO2 reduction by CO. Nanocrystalline CeO2-x, La-doped CeO2-x, and Cu-doped CeO2-x were produced by magnetron sputtering from a pure or mixed metal target, followed by controlled oxidation of the metallic clusters. The as-prepared doped and undoped nanocrystalline CeO2-x materials were found to be excellent catalysts for complete SO2 conversion to elemental sulfur. Undoped nanocrystalline CeO2-x enabled light-off at 460 °C, a temperature ~120 °C lower than that over polycrystalline CeO2, which is a novel effective catalyst itself. The high catalytic activity of the nanocrystals was associated with their high concentration of oxygen vacancies. Excellent poisoning resistance was also exhibited by the nanocrystalline CeO2-x samples. These materials have stable activity in the presence of excess CO2.
Fuzzy Facebook privacy boundaries

Managing privacy in the interconnected digital interaction environment of Facebook can be a complex yet vital endeavor. This study utilizes the theoretical framework of Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory to explore relationships between concern about mediated lurking, strategic ambiguity (or vague-booking) on Facebook, and Facebook privacy management. The study explores three hypotheses. Overall, 383 participants completed an online survey instrument. Greater concern about mediated lurking was related to more Facebook privacy management. More frequent use of strategic ambiguity on Facebook was related to less Facebook privacy management. Individuals who were more highly concerned about mediated lurking were also more likely to employ more frequent use of strategic ambiguity on Facebook. Men engaged in significantly greater use of strategic ambiguity on Facebook and enacted significantly less Facebook privacy management than did women. Implications and future research related to Facebook privacy management from a CPM perspective are explored. We use communication privacy management theory to explore Facebook privacy.Greater concern about mediated lurking is related to more privacy management.More frequent use of vague-booking is related to less privacy management.Concern about mediated lurking is related to use of vague-booking on Facebook.Men use more vague-booking and enact less privacy management than do women.
Political Parties and the Party System

Juan Albarracin examines the range of political parties in Brazil. In this article, he discusses the most important and sometimes contradictory findings about Brazilian political parties, the party system itself and its development since 1985. First, he presents a portrait of the fragmentation, polarization, and institutionalization of the party system and then turns to the legal framework and the new developments since 2002. Albarracin questions the assumptions made about the deficient role of political parties in the Brazilian Congress as well as the stabilization of the party system for they were based on analyses that had been solely centered on the defects. He concludes that Brazilian parties have a different purpose and meaning within the political system than they do in Western Europe—but this does not mean that they are automatically deficient. This is clearly demonstrated by the stabilization of the party system and the position of the parties in Congress.
Energy at a Plane, Free Surface

In this section the solution is given for the displacement, polarization, potential and surface energy of deformation and polarization in the half-space of a centrosymmetric cubic crystal bounded by a free (100) face. The same solution applies to the isotropic half-space if the conditions (6.1) are applied.
From Rabun County to Yonji County

These students have participated in similar projects before as part of an initiative by the Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) in collaboration with rural teachers to promote learning that is community-based and centered on student inquiry.
The Time-Cost Trade-Off Function, Overlapping Stages, and the Timing Decision

The previous chapter described the concept of the time-cost trade-off function and presented data concerning the shape of this function for twenty-nine product innovations. In this chapter, we explore this topic more fully. We analyze the determinants of the shape of the time-cost trade-off function, particular attention being given to the determinants of the elasticity of cost with respect to time. Also, we describe the extent to which various stages of the innovation process are carried out in parallel, and the relationship between such overlap and a project’s cost structure. Finally, we see how rapidly these projects should have been carried out, if the object was to maximize expected profits (and if the managers’ estimates of the relevant variables were correct); and we compare these durations with the actual durations. Our results shed new light on the nature, determinants, and application of the time-cost trade-off function.
Gene Expression Differences Between Fetal Liver-Derived and Adult Bone Marrow-Derived Murine Megakaryocyte Progenitors: Implications for DS-TMD.

About ten percent of infants with Down syndrome are born with a transient myeloproliferative disorder (DS-TMD) that spontaneously resolves within the first few months of life. Twenty to thirty percent of these infants subsequently develop acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (DS-AMKL), typically within a year or two following resolution of their DS-TMD. Recent work has shown that both DS-TMD and DS-AMKL cells harbor acquired mutations in the key megakaryocyte transcription factor GATA-1 that lead to the exclusive production of a short GATA-1 isoform (GATA-1s). The mechanism by which GATA-1s acts in DS-TMD/AMKL remains incompletely understood. Mice engineered to produce only GATA-1s exhibit hyperproliferation of fetal liver-derived megakaryocytes, but normal growth of post-natal bone marrow-derived megakaryocytes. This suggests that unique microenvironmental features of fetal liver compared to bone marrow differentially influence the effects of GATA-1s on megakaryopoiesis. In order to further understand the mechanisms involved in these stage-specific effects, we compared gene expression profiles of wild type megakaryocyte progenitors (MkPs) isolated directly from embryonic day 13.5 (e13.5) murine fetal liver (FL) and from adult bone marrow (BM). Cells were FACS sorted based on the immunophenotype lin-sca-1-c-kit+ CD41+ CD150+, which has recently been shown to mark megakaryocyte-selective progenitors. Colony forming assays of the sorted cells revealed 92–100% growth of megakaryocyte colonies in culture medium containing multilineage cytokines (SCF, IL3, IL11, GM-CSF, EPO and TPO), confirming strong enrichment for megakaryocyte lineage cells. RNA from sorted FL and BM MkPs was then used to perform Affymetrix 3′ cDNA expression microarray analysis. Expression of early-stage megakaryocyte factors, such as c-mpl, FOG1, GATA1, Runx-1 and Fli-1 were found in both sets of samples, confirming selection of megakaryocyte progenitor cells. Importantly, we observed a striking up regulation of interferon alpha (IFN alpha) inducible genes belonging to the p200 family in BM MkPs compared to FL MkPs. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) confirmed broad up regulation of the IFN alpha pathway, and as well up regulation of the JAK-STAT pathway in BM MkPs compared to FL MkPs. These findings were validated by quantitative RT-PCR and in situ immunohistochemistry. Given that STAT1 is a direct GATA-1 target gene and a major downstream effector of IFN alpha signaling, we hypothesize that enhanced IFN alpha signaling in the bone marrow may compensate for potential deficiencies of STAT1 during fetal liver megakaryopoiesis in the setting of GATA-1s. Experiments are underway to test this hypothesis.
Integrated Dynamic Optimization and Scheduling of Polymerization Processes with First Principle Models

An integrated dynamic optimization strategy is presented for block copolymerization processes. First the reactor model, which has unstable modes and may lead to unbounded profiles under certain design and operating conditions, is derived. Second, optimal recipes for operating of the copolymerization process are determined. Finally, an optimization strategy for the integration of scheduling and dynamic process operation for general continuous/batch processes is considered. The resulting approach leads to significant improvements in productivity, while maintaining safe operation and satisfaction of product specifications.
The rise of the Arab American left: activists, allies and their fight against imperialism and racism, 1960s–1980s

A historical account of Arab American activism in the United States (US) comes to life in Pamela E. Pennock’s The Rise of the Arab American Left. As faculty at a regional university located in the ...
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF WHEAT PRODUCTION ACROSS CROPPING SYSTEMS IN NORTH - WEST INDIA

The variable cost constitutes nearly 46% of total cost involved in wheat production in North-west India. The study revealed that the cost of wheat production was well below the Minimum Support Price but the farmers’ margin obtained by adding the value of family labour and rental for owned land was only Rs. 18538/ha which was hardly sufficient to sustain a family for six months in cotton - wheat region of Punjab state. The figure for rice- wheat region was Rs. 18853/ha making no significant difference from cotton-wheat system. The cost of production was less in cotton - wheat system but rice - wheat system was more productive. The yield of crops was affected significantly by operational holding, seed and land preparation. Analysis of variability and cost structure revealed that threshing, harvesting and land preparation were the variables which affected the working cost and in turn cost of cultivation the most. So these variables should be chosen as policy objects for the purpose of devising new technologies and to lower the cost of production.
Techniques and Circuits for Electromagnetic Instrument Actuation

There is growing interest in the field of augmented musical instruments, which extend traditional acoustic instruments using new sensors and actuators. Several designs use electromagnetic actuation to induce vibrations in the acoustic mechanism, manipulating the traditional sound of the instrument without external speakers. This paper presents techniques and guidelines for the use of electromagnetic actuation in augmented instruments, including actuator design and selection, interfacing with the instrument, and circuits for driving the actuators. The material in this paper forms the basis of the magnetic resonator piano, an electromagnetically-augmented acoustic grand piano now in its second design iteration. In addition to discussing applications to the piano, this paper aims to provide a toolbox to accelerate the design of new hybrid acoustic-electronic instruments.
Tensor Components of Stress

So far in our discussion of stress we have made as much use as possible of stress vectors, because vector quantities are relatively easy to understand and to visualize. We have pointed out, however, that there is a fundamental distinction between describing stress on a single plane using a stress vector and describing stress on the infinite collection of planes at a point using a stress tensor. We now describe the tensor further, in particular the significance of the tensor components. Fortunately this aspect of stress can still be discussed in terms of stress vectors. As we will see, the tensor components of stress are nothing more than the components of three specially chosen stress vectors.
Nevus of Ota associated with intracranial melanoma: Case report and review of the literature

There is a known association between nevus of Ota and melanomas involving the brain parenchyma and/or the meninges. We present the unusual case of a 32-year-old African-American female with a nevus of Ota and a contralateral parenchymal, primary CNS melanoma. We discuss the unique features of this case and provide a brief review of the literature regarding nevi of Ota and associated CNS melanoma. Our patient is a 32 year-old, African-American female with a left-sided nevus of Ota who presented with a three month history of headaches and paresthesias involving her left face and arm. An MRI of the brain revealed a hemorrhagic mass in the right temporal lobe, which, after craniotomy, was determined to be a melanoma. Extensive imaging, ophthamologic examination and full-body skin examination revealed no other foci of melanoma. To our knowlege, this is the only case of a nevus of Ota associated with contralateral parenchymal melanoma in an African-American patient. The association of contralateral parenchymal primary CNS melanoma with nevus of Ota is extremely unusual. Futhermore, despite the association of nevus of Ota with CNS melanoma, the literature does not support routine screening of patients with nevus of Ota for CNS melanoma with imaging modalities.
Self-measured wrist range of motion by wrist-injured and wrist-healthy study participants using a built-in iPhone feature as compared with a universal goniometer

Abstract Study Design Cross-sectional cohort. Introduction Smartphone gyroscope and goniometer applications have been shown to be a reliable way to measure wrist ROM when used by researchers or trained staff. If wrist-injured patients could reliably measure their own ROM, rehabilitation efforts could be more effectively tailored. Purpose of the Study To assess agreement of self-measured ROM by wrist-injured and wrist-healthy study participants using a built-in iPhone 5 level feature as compared to researcher-measured ROM using a universal goniometer (UG). Methods Thirty wrist-healthy and 30 wrist-injured subjects self-measured wrist flexion, extension, supination, and pronation ROM using the built-in preinstalled digital level feature on an iPhone 5. Simultaneously a researcher measured ROM with a UG. Results Average absolute deviation between the self-measured iPhone 5 level feature and researcher-measured UG ROM was less than 2° for all 4 movements individually and combined was found to be 1.6° for both populations. Intraclass correlation coefficient showed high correlation with values over 0.94 and Bland-Altman plots showed very strong agreement. There was no statistical difference in the ability of wrist-injured and healthy patients to self-measure wrist ROM. Discussion Both populations showed very high agreement between their self-measured ROM using the built-in level feature on an iPhone 5 and the researcher-measured ROM using the UG. Both populations were able to use the iPhone self-measurement equally well and the injury status of the subject did not affect the agreement results. Conclusion Wrist-healthy and wrist-injured subjects were able to reliably and independently measure ROM using a smartphone level feature.