cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rapid thermal annealing of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite thin films by intense pulsed light with aid of diiodomethane additive

The organic metal halide perovskite material is capable of high throughput manufacturing via traditional deposition processes used in roll-to-roll, yet thermal annealing post deposition may require long ovens. We report rapid annealed perovskite thin films using intense pulsed light (IPL) to initiate a radiative thermal response that is enabled by an alkyl halide additive that collectively improves the performance of a device processed in an ambient environment from a baseline of 10 to 16.5% efficiency. Previous reports on CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite films using IPL processing achieved functional devices in milli-second time scales and are promising for high throughput manufacturing processes under ambient conditions. In this study, we found that the addition of diiodomethane (CH2I2) as an additive to the methylammonium iodide (MAI)/lead iodide (PbI2) precursor ink chemistry and subsequent IPL thermal annealing are inter-dependent. The concentration of CH2I2 and IPL processing parameters have a direct effect on the surface morphology of the films and performance within a perovskite solar cell (PSC). The CH2I2 dissociates under exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the IPL source liberating iodine ions in the film, influencing the perovskite formation and reducing the defect states. We anticipate that these results can be utilized to further develop different ink formulations using alkyl halides for the IPL technique to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells processed in ambient conditions.
Hydrothermal systems and the emergence of life.

The author reviews current thought about life originating in hyperthermophilic microorganisms. Hyperthermophiles obtain food from chemosynthesis of sulfur and have an RNA nucleotide sequence different from bacteria and eucarya. It is postulated that a hyperthermophile may be the common ancestor of all life. Current research efforts focus on the synthesis of organic compounds in hydrothermal systems.
Outcome prediction for patients with severe traumatic brain injury using permutation entropy analysis of electronic vital signs data

Permutation entropy is computationally efficient, robust to noise, and effective to measure complexity. We used this technique to quantify the complexity of continuous vital signs recorded from patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using permutation entropy calculated from early vital signs (initial 10˜20% of patient hospital stay time), we built classifiers to predict in-hospital mortality, and mobility measured by 3-month Extended Glasgow Outcome Score (GOSE). Sixty patients with severe TBI produced a skewed dataset that we evaluated for accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. With early vital signs data, the overall prediction accuracy achieved 91.67% for mortality, and 76.67% for 3-month GOSE in testing datasets, using the leave-one-out cross validation. We also applied Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis to compare classifiers built from different learning methods. Those results support the applicability of permutation entropy in analyzing the dynamic behavior of biomedical time series for early prediction of mortality and long-term patient outcomes.
Plasma Behavior in Magnetically Protected Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Cavities

Investigations of the feasibility of commercial inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactors have led to studies of a variety of plasma regimes and behaviors. Presented in the paper are 1. a general ...
Evolutionary Sensor Fusion for Security

A robust moving object detection system for an outdoor scene must be able to handle adverse illumination conditions such as sudden illumination changes or lack of illumination in a scene. This is of particular importance for scenarios where active illumination cannot be relied upon. Utilizing infrared and video sensors, we develop a novel sensor fusion system that automatically adapts to the environmental changes that affect sensor measurements. The adaptation is done through a cooperative coevolutionary algorithm that fuses the scene contextual and statistical information through a physics-based method. The sensor fusion system maintains high detection rates under a variety of conditions. The results are shown for a full 24-hour diurnal cycle.
Civil infrastructure resilience: state-of-the-art on transportation network systems

This paper presents a synthesis of the state-of-the-art on transportation network resilience. The socio-technical approach associated with resilience evaluation is broad and multidisciplinary, focu...
Greenspace and Infant Mortality in Philadelphia, PA

Despite mounting evidence that urban greenspace protects against mortality in adults, few studies have explored the relationship between greenspace and death among infants. Here, we describe results from an analysis of associations between greenness and infant mortality in Philadelphia, PA. We used images of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), derived from processed satellite data, to estimate greenness density in each census tract. We linked these data with census tract level counts of total infant mortality cases (n = 963) and births (n = 113,610) in years 2010–2014, and used Bayesian spatial areal unit, conditional autoregressive models to estimate associations between greenness and infant mortality. The models included a set of random effects to account for spatial autocorrelation between neighboring census tracts. Infant mortality counts were modeled using a Poisson distribution, and the logarithm of total births in each census tract was specified as the offset term. The following variables were included as potential confounders and effect modifiers: percentage non-Hispanic black, percentage living below the poverty line, an indicator of housing quality, and population density. In adjusted models, the rate of infant mortality was 27% higher in less green compared to more green tracts (95% CI 1.02–1.59). These results contribute further evidence that greenspace may be a health promoting environmental asset.
Complete and Near-Optimal Path Planning for Simultaneous Sensor-Based Inspection and Footprint Coverage in Robotic Crack Filling

A simultaneous robotic footprint and sensor coverage planning scheme is proposed to efficiently detect all the unknown targets with range sensors and cover the targets with the robot’s footprint in a structured environment. The proposed online Sensor-based Complete Coverage (online SCC) planning minimizes the total traveling distance of the robot, guarantees the complete sensor coverage of the whole free space, and achieves near-optimal footprint coverage of all the targets. The planning strategy is applied to a crack-filling robotic prototype to detect and fill all the unknown cracks on ground surfaces. Simulation and experimental results are presented that confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed online planning algorithm.
A Comparison of Coronary Artery Stenosis Estimates Made by Forensic Pathologists and Medical Students

Previous studies suggest cardiovascular pathologists are less accurate than noncardiovascular pathologists (e.g., clinical pathologists) in estimating the degree of coronary artery stenosis. To further investigate the effect of training on accurate estimation of coronary artery stenosis, we designed a study to compare the accuracy of estimates made by forensic pathologists versus medical students. Six forensic pathologists and twelve medical students each independently examined 24 images of coronary artery cross sections and gave an estimate of the degree of stenosis. When comparing all 24 images, the forensic pathologists had a median difference between the estimated percentage of stenosis and actual percentage of stenosis of -12.380 and the medical students had a median difference of -16.50 (p-value of 0.08542). In estimating the percentage of stenosis, training in forensic pathology does not guarantee significantly improved accuracy compared with medical students. Our study showed no consistent statistically significant difference between estimates given by forensic pathologists and by medical students.
Sensitivity Analysis of Personal Rapid Transit Parameters in Urban Setting: Case Study: Beirut Central District

Personal rapid transit (PRT) is a novel system that is recognized for its personal commute potential for people who seek private transport across an urban area. It provides the efficiency experienced by other public transport modes like buses and rail system, while offering the more preferred experience of an automobile. This research paper concentrates on analyzing the effects different system variables (ie, berths, speed, headway, and mode share) have on the PRT efficiency within an urban area. The system efficiency is determined based on several key performance indicators, such as the average waiting time, percentage of people who have to wait for a vehicle, how long they have to wait on average for the vehicles and the empty to full distance ratio. These indicators are obtained from the simulations results. The urban setting was chosen to be Beirut Central District (BCD), due to its crucial economic well-being for the country of Lebanon and to its current need of an efficient public transport system. PRT alignments was designed with stations locations determined based on, existing right-of-way, the land-use and the density of the area. For most of the parameters, the speed had potent effect on the results, while the mode share altered the values majorly, which was expected. However, with regards to the other variables, no correlation was witnessed.
Transcriptomics in RCC

Improvements in chemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and bioinformatics have allowed broad use of transcriptomic profiling. Understanding the population of ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcripts can provide important clinical information relevant to kidney cancer care. This includes a better understanding of kidney cancer subtype and distinct clusters within these categories. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is typically done on a region within the tumor, which represents thousands to millions of heterogeneous cells and various components of the microenvironment. Computational tools can deconvolute these populations to provide insight into the microenvironment. Specific signatures of hypoxia, proliferation, angiogenesis and immune infiltration can predict response and survival. Prognostic signatures can risk stratify tumors to aid in identification of patients who might derive benefit from adjuvant therapy. As the cost of sequencing continues to decline and improved bioinformatic tools are developed, the barriers to clinical use of transcriptomic data continue to crumble. Here we review the current literature around the use of transcriptomics in kidney cancer diagnosis and management.
The Decay of 144Ce

The energies and relative intensities of the gamma rays of 144 Ce have been determined with use of a Ge(Li) detector. The quantum energies are 33.7, 40.8, 53.4, 80.1, 99.8, and 133.5 keV, the associated relative intensities being 2.3±0.2, 5±4, 1.1±0.1, 16±1, 0.39±0.04, and 100±6. These data have been interpreted to indicate excited nuclear energy states in 144 Pr at 59.03, 80.1, 99.8 and 133.5 keV.
Scheduling Computational and Energy Harvesting Tasks in Deadline-Aware Intermittent Systems

The sporadic nature of harvestable energy and the mutually exclusive computing and charging cycles of intermittently powered batteryless systems pose a unique and challenging real-time scheduling problem. Existing literature focus either on the time or the energy constraints but not both at the same time. In this paper, we propose two scheduling algorithms, named Celebi-Offline and Celebi-Online, for intermittent systems that schedule both computational and energy harvesting tasks by harvesting the required minimum amount of energy while maximizing the schedulability of computational jobs. To evaluate Celebi, we conduct simulation as well as trace-based and real-life experiments. Our results show that the proposed Celebi-Offline algorithm has 92% similar performance as an optimal scheduler, and Celebi-Online scheduler schedules 8% - 22% more jobs than the earliest deadline first (EDF), rate monotonic (RM), and as late as possible (ALAP) scheduling algorithms. We deployed solar-powered batteryless systems where four intermittent applications are executed in the TI-MSP430FR5994 microcontroller and demonstrate that the system with Celebi-Online misses 63% less deadline than a non-realtime system and 8% less deadline than the system with a baseline (as late as possible) scheduler.
Quasi-Bernoulli Stick-breaking: Infinite Mixture with Cluster Consistency

In mixture modeling and clustering application, the number of components is often not known. The stick-breaking model is an appealing construction that assumes infinitely many components, while shrinking most of the redundant weights to near zero. However, it has been discovered that such a shrinkage is unsatisfactory: even when the component distribution is correctly specified, small and spurious weights will appear and give an inconsistent estimate on the cluster number. In this article, we propose a simple solution that gains stronger control on the redundant weights -- when breaking each stick into two pieces, we adjust the length of the second piece by multiplying it to a quasi-Bernoulli random variable, supported at one and a positive constant close to zero. This substantially increases the chance of shrinking {\em all} the redundant weights to almost zero, leading to a consistent estimator on the cluster number; at the same time, it avoids the singularity due to assigning an exactly zero weight, and maintains a support in the infinite-dimensional space. As a stick-breaking model, its posterior computation can be carried out efficiently via the classic blocked Gibbs sampler, allowing straightforward extension of using non-Gaussian components. Compared to existing methods, our model demonstrates much superior performances in the simulations and data application, showing a substantial reduction in the number of clusters.
Early experience with oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) with posterior percutaneous screw placement (OLIFwPPS): Case series with clinical and radiographic outcomes

Abstract Background Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion (OLIF) is a relatively new approach which allows for access to the intervertebral disk space anterior to the psoas muscles, while remaining posterior to the more anterior vascular structures. Compared to posterior only fusion, OLIF results in reduced muscle dissection and preserved spinal anatomy, all while maximizing fusion surface area and providing indirect decompression. Methods Thirteen patients treated by OLIF with percutaneous posterior screw placement since 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Post-operative outcomes evaluated included fusion, adjacent segment degeneration, and pain scores. Spinopelvic parameters were analyzed pre and postoperatively. Results The average number of vertebral levels treated was 2 (1–3), all between L2 and L5. Fusion was confirmed in all patients with an available CAT scan (7 of 7 patients). Adjacent segment degeneration was seen in 0 of the 13 patients. VAS showed an average improvement of 3.8 (2–8), with 11 out of 13 patients experiencing an improvement in pain. All 11 patients with multilevel fusions showed an improvement in pain. 8 of the 13 patients had mild degenerative scoliosis defined as a cobb angle >10°. All five of these patients showed improvement in postoperative pain scores. Conclusion OLIF with percutaneous posterior screws can be considered a safe and effective treatment option for lumbar disk degeneration, with complication rates and improvement comparable to those seen with alternative approaches. Further studies are warranted to evaluate outcomes in larger samples with longer follow up data.
Family Functioning and Migration: Considerations for Practice

Le domaine de la migration internationale est domine de maniere croissante par des considerations d'ordre familial. En depit des conflits et des tensions, le systeme de soutien de la famille est le principal agent au moyen duquel l'adaptation a la migration se produit. Les travailleurs sociaux sont au premier plan pour la gestion et l'acculturation des nouveaux immigres. La presente etude examine la maniere dont 145 travailleurs sociaux dont 70% s'occupent des nouveaux arrivants (en provenance d'ex-URSS ou d'Ethiopie) dans la partie nord d'Israel, percoivent le fonctionnement de la famille. Les resultats indiquent que les praticiens ont percu ces familles comme moins adaptables et plus cohesives que la norme. Les familles de l'ex-Union sovietique apparaissent en fait plus adaptables et moins cohesives que celles venants d'Ethiopie
Baseline Concussion Testing Increases Agreement With Favorable Concussion Safety Decisions in Hypothetical Scenarios.

BackgroundDangers of sports-related concussion are well documented, and those participating in sports involving significant contact are at an even higher risk relative to the general population. De...
Usurpers of Technology: Train Robbery and Theft in Egypt, 1876–1904

This article examines banditry, embezzlement, and other insider crimes along Egyptian railway lines during a period when British officials exerted centralized control over the Egyptian railway and financial austerity had a negative impact on the rail sector. By exploring the motives and tactics of railway crimes, I posit that criminals, by making claims on and use of the technology outside the purview of state regulations, expressed their heterogeneous desires to redistribute social wealth, repurpose the technological promise of modern railways, and confound intentions of colonial governance. Using new archival materials, this article utilizes a bottom-up approach to examine grassroots activism, everyday knowledge, informal networks, and the social mores and norms that criminals harnessed to discern infrastructural vulnerabilities and elude surveillance from the colonial state. Ultimately, I contend that criminal acts uncovered social crises otherwise hidden under the shadow of the exterior prosperity and stability of late 19th-century Egypt.
Promotion of Student Metacognition in ELL: A Distant Dream or a Near Reality

Second language is effectively learnt only when learners own learning process. No learning can take place without the active cooperation and participation of learners. All teacher efforts, preparation, motivation, and execution can not automatically and causally lead to learning unless learners take efforts to learn At the most, learners can be taught how to learn, but learning how to learn cannot be abandoned with a fond hope that learner will eventually learn it. Even teachers undergo training in teaching before or after appointment through in-service programmes. Hence, the two main arguments developed in the present paper are 1) because a vast majority of ELLs are not aware of their own learning processes, they have not made any significant progress in English from the school days to college days; and 2) teachers do not promote student metacognition by not stressing its importance in the learning process. The empirical study is an attempt to gauge and quantify students’ metacognition in terms of planning, monitoring, and evaluating their learning processes.
Emotion Regulation for Neurodiversity through Wearable Technology

Emotion regulation is an essential skill for young adults in employment, education and interpersonal relationships. For neurodiverse individuals, self-regulation of emotion is challenging. To provide support for emotion regulation caregivers often rely on one-on-one support. Such an approach is effective, but it is also limited. Wearable technology has promising potential to address such limitations, helping individuals on demand, recognizing their affective state, and also suggesting coping strategies in a personalized, consistent and unobtrusive way. To fully realize the potential of wearable applications to this end, first we conducted an in-depth systematic characterization of emotion regulation. To formally characterize caregivers’ perspectives about emotion regulation, we collected 61 responses from parents through an online questionnaire. Then, we conducted a thematic analysis of the questionnaire’s responses and propose a design space that characterizes trigger events, emotional responses as well as coping strategies of emotion regulation for neurodiverse adults. Lastly, we implemented a prototype of a wearable application and tested its feasibility in a field study. We conclude the paper discussing the role of technology in delivering the elicited strategies, their benefits and limitations in addressing emotion regulation, as well as end users’ perspectives about the technology.
Origins of Os-isotope and platinum-group element compositions of metasomatized peridotite and cumulate pyroxenite xenoliths from Kharchinsky Volcano, Kamchatka

Abstract Platinum-group element (PGE) + Re abundances and Os isotopic compositions were determined for metasomatized peridotite and cumulate pyroxenite xenoliths from Kharchinsky Volcano, Kamchatka. Two peridotites have moderately high PGE concentrations with 2.9–3.3 ppb Os and smoothly variable PGE patterns similar to abyssal peridotites and encompassing primitive and depleted mantle compositions. One of these has unradiogenic Os (187Os/188Os = 0.1148) at the lower limit of compositions observed in abyssal peridotite which results in a time of Re depletion (TRD) model age of ∼1.8 Ga. These contrasts Kharchinsky peridotites that are Pt-Ir enriched with sharply fractionated PGE patterns with Pt/Pd = 132–168 and Ir/Ru ∼ 4.0. This pattern of enrichment in the heavier and more highly siderophile Pt and Ir over the lighter and more siderophile-chalcophile Ru and Pd ( Fleet and Stone, 1991 , Fleet et al., 1991 ) is consistent with sulfur depletion under oxidizing metasomatic conditions that leave a residue with PGE host minerals that are dominantly alloys. A single Ru-enriched peridotite with low PGE abundances is interpreted to reflect advanced stages of paragenesis driven by metasomatism and resulting in the loss of all PGE and Re relative to Ru. All Kharchinsky peridotites included in this study have relatively unradiogenic Os (187Os/188Os = 0.1148–0.1314) but some are coupled to PGE and lithophile element characteristics that require oxidizing metasomatic conditions (Ce/Ce*≪1.0) and desulfurization leading to a general loss of PGE and data patterns that are consistent overall with low abundances of relatively radiogenic Os in arc peridotites globally ( Brandon et al., 1996 , Widom et al., 2003 , Saha et al., 2005 ). Kharchinsky pyroxenites, which are relatively undeformed and only weakly metasomatized, have similarly fractionated PGE patterns with enrichments in Pt (5.7–46 ppb) and Pd (0.5–2.7 ppb) but with Os, Ir, and Ru abundances 20 that will produce rapid ingrowth of 186Os relative to 187Os. Deep recycling and storage of such subduction-modified rocks might preclude the need for core-mantle exchange to explain 186Os-enrichments in komatiites and Hawaiian picrites originating in the deep mantle ( Brandon et al., 1998 , Brandon and Walker, 2005 ).
Muskingum-Cunge Method with Variable Parameters

The Muskingum-Cunge method in which the parameters K and X are allowed to vary in time and space is investigated. A three-point approach and an iterative four-point approach to the calculation of the variable parameters are shown to be sufficiently accurate in the simulation of flood flows. A two-point approach is shown to be inaccurate in the calculation of peak discharge and travel time. Furthermore, the two-point method results in a significant loss of mass.
Super — Strong Focusing of an Intense Relativistic Electron Beam by an Annular Laser Beam

It is shown that by the nonlinear transverse radiation pressure within a plasma of a pulsed convergent annular high power laser beam it is possible to focus an intense relativistic electron beam down to a radius of ~ 10−4 cm. The transverse radiation pressure results from the dielectric property of a plasma in conjunction with the phenomena of the self-focusing of intense laser light. The tightly focused electron beams make possible the release of thermonuclear energy by micro-explosions. The components for such a system consisting of a ~ 104 Joule IR laser and a ~ 106 Ampere relativistic electron beams are already available.
Voting Across Time and Generations

This paper uses long-term panel data to explore the implications of an individual’s vote history for their subsequent partisan orientations and voting choices. We consider how recent vote history and lifelong vote history articulate with current partisan identification, and how the development of the former appears to help us understand the development of the latter. We also examine vote history effects by asking how past votes help predict future votes even after taking into account party ID. We pay special attention to three other topics best investigated with long-term panel data: whether the voting choices of “pure independents” prove to be harbingers of future partisan loyalties; whether the first presidential vote cast has special influence on succeeding indicators of partisanship; and whether support for third party candidates boosts partisan detachment. Throughout, we maintain a focus on the fact that this history is being developed at particular moments of the life cycle, which brings to the fore twin developmental expectations: (1) that the potency of the adjustment wrought by vote history will be most pronounced in the early adult years as individuals enter the electorate, experience their first elections as voters, and are forging and refining their political selves; and (2) that as the march through the life cycle proceeds, partisan orientations as manifested in party affiliation and in vote history become more meaningful and reliable guides to future choices.
On the Distributional Effects of Political Decisionmaking, An Overview and Synthesis of Public Choice Research

This paper provides an overview of public choice models of policy formation in areas that affect the distribution of income and wealth within and among nations. Three broad areas of policy are analyzed: (i) economic liberalization and public education, (ii) corruption and rent seeking, and (iii) the welfare state. Public choice analysis shows how ideology, economics, and institutions affect the distribution of wealth by affecting policy decisions. Policy choices (indirectly) determine rates of return from human and physical capital at the margin, and thereby (indirectly) determines economic growth and the distribution of income. Public economics demonstrates that factor endowments only partially determine differences in income within and among countries, because public policies affect rates of return at the margin. Public choice analysis assumes that neither public policy, nor the distribution of income, is entirely exogenous, but rather are influenced by the interests and choices of government policy makers. A careful analysis of the settings in which policy choices are made implies that the policy preferences of policy makers are, however, partly consequences of institutional and economic interests, partly by the knowledge and ideology of policymakers, and partly by the procedures through which public policies choices are made.
Standard Multiple Compartment Analysis with the Deterministic Model

Compartmental modeling is widely used in pharmacokinetics and in physiological modeling, for which there is a vast literature. In addition to Jacquez [28], leading texts include [3, 22, 85]. As a simple example, the mercury bioaccumulation problem in Section 4.2.2 illustrates the need for a multi-compartment analysis. The techniques have also been applied to ecosystem modeling (see e.g. [52]).
Intranasal immunization with C5a peptidase prevents nasopharyngeal colonization of mice by the group A Streptococcus

Early inflammatory events are initiated by phased production of C5a and interleukin-8 in tissue. Most serotypes of group A streptococci express a surface-bound peptidase (SCPA) which specifically cleaves mouse and human C5a chemotaxins. This study investigates the impact of SCPA on colonization of the nasopharyngeal mucosa of mice and evaluates its potential to induce protective immunity. Two strains, serotypes M6 and M49, which contain insertion and deletion mutations in the SCPA gene (scpA) and represent the two major subdivisions of group A streptococci, were characterized and compared in a mouse intranasal infection model. In this model, SCPA mutants were more rapidly cleared from the nasopharynges of inoculated mice compared with wild-type strains. A 2,908-bp fragment of scpA49 gene, obtained by PCR, was ligated to the expression vector pGEX-4T-1 and expressed in Escherichia coli. The affinity-purified deltaSCPA49 protein proved to be highly immunogenic in mice and rabbits. Although the purified deltaSCPA49 immunogen lacked enzymatic activity, it induced high titers of rabbit antibodies which were able to neutralize peptidase activity associated with M1, M6, M12, and M49 streptococci in vitro. This result confirmed that antipeptidase antibodies lack serotype specificity. Intranasal immunization of mice with the deleted form of the SCPA49 protein stimulated significant levels of specific salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) and serum IgG antibodies and reduced the potential of wild-type M1, M2, M6, M11, and M49 streptococci to colonize. These experiments suggest a new approach to vaccine development for prevention of streptococcal pharyngitis.
Introduction: Moving the Historiography West

Twenty years ago, a graduate orals field in modern Chinese history—however that term was defined—would probably not have included more than a handful of works on any area, other than the Northeast, that had not been ruled by the Ming or any area that lay west of today’s Lanzhou-Chongqing railway. Today, research on West China abounds. Some of the reasons for that development come straight from contemporary headlines. They include the “Develop the West” program that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has put in place since 1999; unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang; spectacular (and controversial) infrastructural projects like the railroad to Lhasa, huge southwestern dams, and oil and gas pipelines linking Xinjiang to East China; and stories about the economic, environmental, and geopolitical significance of enormous mining concentrations like the rare earths complex at Bayan Obo (白云鄂博) and the coal boom in the Ordos (鄂尔多斯; both in Inner Mongolia). Other reasons are historiographic. The new Qing history, 1 emphasizing the Manchu-ness of that empire and the relationship of that heritage to the empire’s success, has quite naturally increased interest among non-PRC scholars in thinking about the Republic and the PRC as successors to that dynasty in particular. In contrast, PRC historiography has more often treated the Qing as the culmination of a less differentiated “traditional” legacy that arises from the entire imperial period, generating a narrative that has considerable overlap with the “sinification” thesis to which the new Qing history is often contrasted. 2 Meanwhile, the increasingly
The corticotropin releasing factor stimulation test in patients with major depression: Relationship to dexamethasone suppression test results

Depressed patients have been reported to exhibit both a blunted ACTH response to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and abnormal suppression of plasma cortisol following the administration of dexamethasone. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between these two abnormalities. Twenty-three depressed patients and eighteen control subjects received both a standard CRF stimulation test and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Nonsuppressors on the DST exhibited a blunted ACTH response to CRF; DST suppressors exhibited a normal ACTH response to CRF. This suggests that the two abnormalities of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are related and may be due to similar pathopbysiological mechanisms. Depression 1:133–136 (1993). © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Subgroup-specific antigenic determinants of avian RNA tumor virus structural proteins: Analysis of virus recombinants

Abstract Two nonglycosylated structural proteins of avian RNA tumor viruses, p15 and p19, were examined for the presence of subgroup-specific antigenic determinants by using competition radioimmunoassays. A comparison of viruses from subgroups A, B, and C revealed that subgroup B and C virus proteins were equally efficient in inhibiting the homologous radioimmunoassays which used antiserum against B77 and iodinated p15 and p19 from B77. On the other hand, subgroup A virus proteins were less efficient than subgroup C viruses in causing inhibition in these assays. That these differences in inhibition were due to true immunological differences was confirmed by using heterologous competition radioimmunoassays. Since it was possible to distinguish the p19 or p15 of subgroup A viruses from the corresponding proteins of either subgroup B or subgroup C virus, recombinant viruses from crosses between leukosis viruses of subgroup A and sarcoma viruses of subgroups B or C were examined. The recombinant viruses have the envelope glycoprotein gene (env) of the subgroup A virus and the sarcoma gene (src) of the subgroup B or C virus. The results show that 14 clones out of 17 examined had p19 from the sarcoma virus. RNA fingerprinting has shown that the src gene is located close to the 3′ end of the genome and is closely followed towards the 5′ end by the env gene. The observed linkage between src and p19 can be explained by postulating that the gene for p19 is located close to the 5′ end of the genome and that recombination takes place between circular forms of the virus genome.
Serotonergic modulation of the cerebellar granule cell network

Abstract The effects of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) on a transient outward potassium current ( I A ) and on synaptically evoked IPSCs were simulated in a cerebellar granule cell (GC) model that included both feedforward and feedback inhibition. Responses of a GC to synaptic inputs of 10–100 Hz were evaluated. Serotonergic modulation of I A reduced the GC firing rate only at low input frequencies. By its actions on IPSC amplitude, 5-HT was able to reduce GC firing rate even at higher input frequencies. Thus, the additive effect of 5-HT on intrinsic and extrinsic membrane currents effectively resets the GC firing threshold to high-pass filter the input signal.
Studies on structure–electrochemical conduction relationships in doped-zirconia thin films

Microstructural studies have been carried out on yttria doped zirconia (YDZ) thin films grown on MgO(100) and Ge(100) single crystal substrates using in-situ transmission electron microscopy. Microstructure evolution is strongly impeded in films grown on Ge (100) when thickness is less than 30 nm. Electrical studies show one order of enhancement in total conductivity in films of thickness less than 20 nm grown on MgO substrate. For 17 nm films that show enhanced conductivity, the activation energy obtained from electrical relaxation is ∼ 1.7 eV while it is ∼ 1.1 eV for 933 nm thick films.
The Rise of the BRICS and American primacy

The importance of rising powers has become an increasingly remarked upon phenomenon in international politics. The BRICS (Brazil Russia, India, China and South Africa) and others represent an increasing presence in economic, security, political and even cultural terms, while the relative weight of Europe and Japan, traditional centers of power, has appeared to recede. Scholars and political observers have tended to assess these changes as heralding a new era in which the BRICS not only become far more influential in world affairs, but also respond by reshaping, sustaining and promoting international institutions and regimes in an increasingly multipolar world. However, are the BRICS increasingly acting as stakeholders or is the international order becoming more multipolar without becoming more multilateral? In practice, across a wide range of issue areas the BRICS have more often been free riders, less rather than more cooperative in maintaining or enhancing international institutions and international order. In these circumstances, the international engagement of the United States as the world’s principal provider of public goods remains vital for global order. The material underpinnings for this role are still viable and even robust, but the determinants of whether it can or will continue to do so are as much ideational, in terms of policy, leadership and political will, as they are material. The American role has included creating and sustaining international institutions, supporting regional stability, security and nonproliferation, underpinning the global economy, and encouraging human rights and democratization. Consequently, a combination of American retrenchment and BRICS abdication would be likely to result in a weakening not only of multilateral institutions but of these elements of international order as well.
Facility Level Energy and Cost Analyses for Water Cooled Supercomputer Systems

This paper describes the facility level design of future water cooled supercomputers with an emphasis on the energy efficiency opportunities related to the use of water cooled economizer based facility cooling in lieu of traditional refrigeration chiller architectures. A hybrid cooled 80kW server rack with both air and water cooled components is considered for the analyses. In this system, 90% of the rack heat load is rejected directly to pumped water lines via CPU cold plates and conduction cooling and the remaining 10% rack power is rejected to the room ambient air and is subsequently transferred to the water loop via air to liquid heat exchanger based devices. Air to water heat exchangers are not included in the server racks. The facilities cost for water cooling of high power computer racks has been analyzed for data centers situated in two different geographic locations. The study takes into account both the energy savings resulting from the loop design as well as the duration of time for which these savings can be realized at the selected locations. Test data for the water cooled CPU modules is used to project the maximum chip junction temperature for different chilled water temperatures which are in turn determined using the outdoor air temperatures for different times of the year. After calculating the 5 year energy consumption savings over the traditional plant design for each location, for the two different geographic locations in the US considered, it was found that the outdoor weather permitted the use of the economizer based configuration for 53–76% and 60–80% of the time for A and B locations, respectively, yielding per rack energy related savings of $6–21k and $17–26k, respectively, for the thermal conditions considered.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
A multi-fidelity software framework for interactive modeling of advective and diffusive contaminant transport in groundwater

Groundwater currently accounts for over 20% of the daily water usage in the United States. As the contamination of groundwater reserves also continues to increase from a variety of pollutants, remediation becomes necessary. Whether the remediation method involves containing or cleaning, a fundamental understanding of the groundwater flow patterns is necessary. This can now be gained through predictive models due to advances in groundwater simulation research. One such method, the Superblock Analytical Element Method (AEM) is capable of capturing both large-scale trends and small-scale variations in complex, heterogeneous flow fields. These trends and variations are not captured by current numerical solutions, typified by finite difference and finite element formulations. The Superblock AEM, as with many groundwater solvers, has a substantial number of input parameters and produces large amounts of 3D output. Thus, an intuitive, 3D visual framework would greatly enhance the usability of the method. With the Superblock AEM as a core solver, Groundwater TRANsport 3D (GTRAN3D) has been developed to provide a platform for modeling and viewing advective and diffusive contaminant spreading over non-intersecting spheroidal in-homogeneities in groundwater. The developed system allows a user to create an input scenario through an interactive three-dimensional graphical user interface (GUI), send that input to the solver, and then view the results on systems ranging from desktop computers to immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments. In addition, the software can be used on any operating system or even accessed via a web interface. The development of the software framework is discussed along with the presentation of several test cases.
Approaches to life cycle cost analysis with system availability constraints — A review

Abstract Life Cycle Costing (LCC) has attracted growing attention as a tool for choosing between designs of operational facilities and between modes of operating them. Since failures, repairs, and replacements are major contributors to life cycle costs, it has become apparent that R eliability, A vailability, and M aintainability (RAM) modeling techniques should be incorporated into LCC modeling. A variety of approaches to combining these techniques have appeared in the technical literature. This paper is a state-of-the art review of the literature pertaining to availability-based life cycle cost analysis.
Lags in the response of gasoline prices to changes in crude oil prices: The role of short-term and long-term shocks

Abstract Using weekly data for the period March 1991 to August 2002, we estimate the response of retail gasoline prices to changes in crude oil and spot gasoline prices in the US allowing for a possibility of two types of cost shocks to the gasoline market: long-term and short-term shocks. Our conclusion is that theoretical models should be developed that allow more than one type of input price changes and the different effect of input price changes on output prices. The empirical results support the conjecture of two types of cost shocks. As such, we find that lags in the response of retail gasoline prices to changes in crude oil prices may be due to the fact that approximately 97% of changes in crude oil prices are viewed as short-term by the market participants. When two types of shocks are considered, there is large difference between the cumulative response function of gasoline prices to long-term and short-term shocks to crude oil prices. As such, this paper adds to our understanding of the price stickiness of gasoline prices.
Analyzing expert behaviors in collaborative networks

Collaborative networks are composed of experts who cooperate with each other to complete specific tasks, such as resolving problems reported by customers. A task is posted and subsequently routed in the network from an expert to another until being resolved. When an expert cannot solve a task, his routing decision (i.e., where to transfer a task) is critical since it can significantly affect the completion time of a task. In this work, we attempt to deduce the cognitive process of task routing, and model the decision making of experts as a generative process where a routing decision is made based on mixed routing patterns.In particular, we observe an interesting phenomenon that an expert tends to transfer a task to someone whose knowledge is neither too similar to nor too different from his own. Based on this observation, an expertise difference based routing pattern is developed. We formalize multiple routing patterns by taking into account both rational and random analysis of tasks, and present a generative model to combine them. For a held-out set of tasks, our model not only explains their real routing sequences very well, but also accurately predicts their completion time. Under three different quality measures, our method significantly outperforms all the alternatives with more than 75% accuracy gain. In practice, with the help of our model, hypotheses on how to improve a collaborative network can be tested quickly and reliably, thereby significantly easing performance improvement of collaborative networks.
Rent-seeking contests with incomplete information

We consider rent-seeking contests with two players who each have private information about their own cost of effort. We consider both discrete and continuous distributions of costs and give results for each case, focusing on existence of equilibrium.
Clinical experience with decitabine in North American patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

Recent evidence demonstrates that epigenetic silencing of genes is associated with myelodysplasia and that a worse prognosis may be correlated with hypermethylation of certain genes, such as the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p15. 5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine (decitabine, DAC) is a nucleoside analog, which, at low doses, acts as a hypomethylating agent and is fivefold to tenfold more active than 5-azacytidine (azacitidine, Vidaza)—currently the only approved drug for treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Clinical studies have demonstrated that decitabine has activity in patients with MDS. Preliminary results of a phase III multicenter North American trial comparing low-dose decitabine to supportive care verified that therapy with decitabine resulted in higher response rates, improved quality of life, and prolonged time to leukemic transformation and/or death. However, further elucidation of its mechanism of action is required, as clinical response to decitabine does not correlate with demethylation of the p15 gene promoter or the repetitive DNA element LINE. Decitabine appears to upregulate both hypermethylated and nonmethylated genes. Ongoing studies aim to determine the optimal dose, schedule, and route of administration of decitabine, and to evaluate whether efficacy can be improved by using it in combination with other agents, such as histone deacetylase inhibitors.
Some remarks on Scheiblechner's treatment of isop models

Scheiblechner (1995) proposes a probabilistic axiomatization of measurement called ISOP (isotonic ordinal probabilistic models) that replaces Rasch's (1980) specific objectivity assumptions with two interesting ordinal assumptions. Special cases of Scheiblechner's model include standard unidimensional factor analysis models in which the loadings are held constant, and the Rasch model for binary item responses. Closely related are the doubly-monotone item response models of Mokken (1971; see also Mokken & Lewis, 1982; Sijtsma, 1988; Molenaar, 1991; Sijtsma & Junker, 1996; and Sijtsma & Hemker, in press). More generally, strictly unidimensional latent variable models have been considered in some detail by Holland and Rosenbaum (1986), Ellis and van den Wollenberg (1993), and Junker (1990, 1993). The purpose of this note is to provide connections with current research in foundations and nonparametric latent variable and item response modeling that are missing from Scheiblechner's (1995) paper, and to point out important related work by Hemker, Sijtsma, Molenaar, & Junker (1996, 1997), Ellis and Junker (in press) and Junker and Ellis (1997). We also discuss counterexamples to three major theorems in the paper. By carrying out these three tasks, we hope to provide researchers interested in the foundations of measurement and item response modeling the opportunity to give the ISOP approach the careful attention it deserves.