cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and degradation of protein of visual receptor membranes in lateral eyes of Limulus.

—The spatial and temporal distribution of labelled protein in lateral eyes of Limulus polyphemus has been followed after injection of l-[3H]leucine into the pericardial sinus. Labelled protein in the eyes rises for 3 h, for the first hour more rapidly in the cytoplasm but thereafter preferentially in the rhabdomal membranes of the visual receptor cells. In light, the label in the membrane reaches a peak at 3 h whereas in dark the peak is at 6 h. The subsequent decrease in label in light has a half life of about 2 h, but in dark is biphasic with halflives of 2 h and 8 days. These results can be interpreted on the basis that the major labelled protein in the rhabdomal membrane is rhodopsin, the degradation rate of which is enhanced when the membranes are depolarized by light.
Digital optical modified signed-digit arithmetic based on symbolic substitution and its encoding scheme

The authors propose an encoding scheme suitable for a digital optical modified signed-digit arithmetic processor that is based on symbolic substitution. The processor performs binary addition and subtraction in an extremely parallel manner; i.e. the desired result is obtained in three steps, independent of word and array size of the input operands. The encoding scheme is designed to prevent the crosstalk problem. >
Superior laryngeal nerve section alters responses to upper airway distortion in sleeping dogs.

Curran, Aidan K., Peter R. Eastwood, Craig A. Harms, Curtis A. Smith, and Jerome A. Dempsey. Superior laryngeal nerve section alters responses to upper airway distortion in sleeping dogs.J. Appl. P...
Common waterhemp (Amaranthus rudis) interference in corn

Abstract Knowing the interference potential of common waterhemp in corn could be beneficial in planning waterhemp management strategies. In 2000, 2001, and 2002, field studies were conducted to examine both early- and late-season common waterhemp interference in corn. Early-season interference was determined by removing common waterhemp at the VE (vegetative emergence), V4 (four visible leaf collars), V6, V8, V10, V12, and V14 growth stages of corn for the entire season, and late-season interference was determined by allowing common waterhemp to emerge and compete from the VE, V4, V6, V8, V10, V12, and V14 corn growth stages. The interference potential of common waterhemp varied between the year 2000 and the combined years of 2001–2002. This is probably due to differences in precipitation in May and June in these two environments (297 mm in 2000 compared with 198 mm in 2001–2002). An excess of 590 g m−2 of dry matter and 13,000 and 1,200 seeds per female plant were produced when common waterhemp emerged a...
Beyond Corporate Governance: Why a New Approach to the Study of Corporate Law is Needed to Address Global Inequality and Economic Development

For more than forty years, corporate law scholars have been focused principally on issues of “corporate governance” understood as the study of rules governing the internal allocation of power among shareholders and managers within a single firm, and its global corollary, “comparative corporate governance” exploring the impact of domestic share ownership patterns in different countries. In the development field, corporate scholars have largely focused on identifying “best practice” corporate governance rules designed to lead to the productive efficiency of individual domestic firms or to patterns of share ownership that increase the efficiency of domestic capital markets. While the questions traditionally taken up by scholars of corporate law and economic development are not unimportant ones, the author argues that engaging issues of inequality and growth under conditions of modern capitalism will require a different approach. Specifically, using global textile production and the recent spate of catastrophic incidents in textile factories in Bangladesh as a representative example, the author suggests that attention in corporate law scholarship to “systemic governance” in the relations between firms in global value chain structures and between firms and states as they adapt to these chain structures are crucial to addressing issues of corporate power, distributional equity and economic growth in the modern global economy.
Rogue Z-Wave controllers: A persistent attack channel

The popularity of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is increasing in critical infrastructure, smart metering, and home automation. Of the numerous protocols available, Z-Wave has significant potential for growth in WSNs. As a proprietary protocol, there are few research publications concerning Z-Wave, and thus little is known about the security implications of its use. Z-Wave networks use a gateway controller to manage and control all devices. Vulnerabilities have been discovered in Z-Wave gateways, all of which rely on the gateway to be consistently connected to the Internet. The work herein introduces a new vulnerability that allows the injection of a rogue controller into the network. Once injected, the rogue controller maintains a stealthy, persistent communication channel with all inadequately defended devices. The severity of this type of attack warrants mitigation steps, presented herein.
Index to The International Journal on Media Management: Volumes 1–8, 1999–2006

Akthar, S. Transparency, accountability and good governance role of new information and communication technologies and the mass media, 2(3&4), 124–132. Albarran, A. B. Regulatory changes and impact...
Physiological Effects of Near-Ultraviolet Radiation on Bacteria

Near-ultraviolet (near-UV) radiation (also called “UV-A”) can be considered to lie in the wavelength range 320–400 nm. The long-wavelength limit represents the beginning of the visible spectrum, while the short-wavelength limit corresponds roughly to the point below which proteins and nucleic acids begin to absorb significantly. Below this region is the “mid-UV” region or UV-B (290–320 nm), where proteins and nucleic acids begin to absorb, and where sunburn and skin cancer are most effectively produced. “Solar-UV radiation” (UV radiation present in sunlight at the surface of the Earth at noon in clear weather) includes both the near-UV and the mid-UV regions.* Because nucleic acid and protein do not absorb significantly in the near-UV region, one can expect a wide variety of other chromophores to become important in this region, producing a wide variety of biological effects. It is also expected that the fluences required to produce these effects will be considerably higher than those required for killing by far-UV radiation (“UV-C”; 190–280 nm), because the target molecules are not as crucial to the cell as nucleic acid.
Kestrel Ventures, Llc: August 1999

In late 1999, three young entrepreneurs are evaluating which, if any, of four companies to buy. They have been searching for a small business to acquire, using the "search fund" concept to raise capital to finance their acquisition search and, ultimately, their acquisition. The case relates the concept of the search fund and the experience of the three entrepreneurs in their first nine months of operation. The tasks for the student are to evaluate the progress of the entrepreneurs to date and to recommend action on the four investment opportunities. Little numerical figure-work is required; rather, the analytical challenge is in testing the suitability of investments against strategic and financial criteria. The objectives of the case are to: (1) Explore the attributes of efficient and effective acquisition search, (2) Illuminate the concept of a search fund and the requisites for search-fund success, and (3) Exercise students’ skills in the analysis of investment opportunities.
The politics of insight

Previous studies showed that liberals and conservatives differ in cognitive style. Liberals are more flexible, and tolerant of complexity and novelty, whereas conservatives are more rigid, are more resistant to change, and prefer clear answers. We administered a set of compound remote associate problems, a task extensively used to differentiate problem-solving styles (via insight or analysis). Using this task, several researches have proven that self-reports, which differentiate between insight and analytic problem-solving, are reliable and are associated with two different neural circuits. In our research we found that participants self-identifying with distinct political orientations demonstrated differences in problem-solving strategy. Liberals solved significantly more problems via insight instead of in a step-by-step analytic fashion. Our findings extend previous observations that self-identified political orientations reflect differences in cognitive styles. More specifically, we show that type of p...
Comparison of Redigel Media Performance With Conventional Media

Redigel, a unique pectin-based media system, was compared with various conventional media using American Type Culture Collection organisms. The system consists of a liquid inoculating medium for isolation and identification and a calcium-coated plastic Petri dish. When the pectin medium is poured into the Petri dish, the calcium causes the pectin to harden. Results with the Redigel pectin media showed that the various gram-negative, grampositive, and yeast cultures all gave acceptable reactions when compared with conventional media. The Mueller-Hinton medium, however, is not recommended for use in the disk diffusion test when susceptibility data for Pseudomonas aeruginosa against aminoglycosides is desired. The calcium ions used for solidification will interfere with the zone sizes.
Time Synchronization and Its Application in Smart Substation

Smart substation has higher demand on time synchronization compared with the conventional substation.In this paper,time synchronization technique are deliberately analyzed,which are currently used in the substation such as NTP,IRIG-B and PTP.The compartment is given at the same time.The technique need on time synchronization is discussed on smart substations.The current application of time synchronization on smart substation is also demonstrated in this paper and the development direction is presented.
Life-threatening toxicity of cancer therapy.

The use of chemotherapeutic agents in the therapy of cancer has led many physicians to increase the dose of these agents in the hopes of increasing efficacy Increasing dosages caused an increase in the toxicity, which was occasionally life threat¬ening and required aggressive therapeutic measures.
On the Learnability of Quantifiers (Update of Chapter 19)

The appendix considers the learnability of quantifier types (specifically denotations of natural language determiners) as a computational problem. First-order determiners are shown to be learnable in the limit. An approach to higher-order determiners using techniques from PAC (“probably approximately correct”) learning is outlined.
Inhibition of fatty acid metabolism alters myocardial high-energy phosphates in vivo.

We previously observed that isoproterenol (ISO) stimulation of the in situ porcine right ventricle (RV) increases the ratio of phosphocreatine (PCr) to ATP, accompanied by marked augmentation of my...
Hedge Fund Activism, Poison Pills, and the Jurisprudence of Threat

This chapter reviews the single high profile case in which twentieth century antitakeover law has come to bear on management defense against a twenty-first century activist challenge — the Delaware Court of Chancery’s decision to sustain a low-threshold poison pill deployed against an activist in Third Point LLC v. Ruprecht. The decision implicated an important policy question: whether a twentieth century doctrine keyed to hostile takeovers and control transfers appropriately can be brought to bear in a twenty-first century governance context in which the challenger eschews control transfer and instead makes aggressive use of the shareholder franchise. Resolution of the question entails evaluation of the gravity of two sets of threats, one at the doctrinal level and the other at the policy level. The doctrinal threats are exterior threats to corporate policy and effectiveness on which managers justify defensive tactics under Unocal v. Mesa Petroleum Co. Because some threats have greater justificatory salience under Unocal than do others, a question arises as to the nature and characterization of the threats allegedly held out by activist intervention. The policy threats implicate the new balance of power between managers and shareholders. The chapter appraises the threats. As regards Unocal, it demonstrates a serious problem of fit. The chapter goes on to conduct a thought experiment that reshapes and extends Unocal so that it does provide a robust basis for sustaining management defense against activist hedge funds, even shielding poison pills with 5 percent triggers. The extension amounts to radical reformulation of the conceptual framework of corporate law, thereby posing the policy threat. But the policy threat, on examination, proves uncompelling, today’s corporate managers being disinclined to traverse shareholder preferences by promulgating standing poison pills. Given that, the chapter asks whether 5 percent poison pills could hold out policy benefits in the form of company-by-company shareholder-manager engagement on the question of suitability for activist intervention.
On the design of an educational game for a Data Structures course

In this paper we present work-in-progress on developing an educational game for teaching Stacks as part of a Data Structures course. We first present a review of the published related work and then describe our approach to the development of the Stack game. As an essential part of the design, we discuss in detail the requirements to the game. We also describe the developed parts of this intriguing puzzle game with realistic 3D graphics that covers all aspects of teaching the Stack data structure, from concept to use to implementation.
Application of Signal Processing in GPS Signal Detection Using USRP

The Universal Software Radio Peripheral USRP is slowly becoming a very popular piece of hardware used in different universities and research labs across the world. It is inexpensive, which attracts a lot of attention, along with its variety of applications and capabilities. The USRP connects to a host-computer through a high-speed USB or Gigabit Ethernet interface. Another reason for the increasing popularity of the USRP is its ability to respond to multiple programming software such as GNU Radio, Matlab/Simulink, and LabView. There is a broad range of capabilities of the USRP one of which includes receiving GPS signals. Each GPS satellite transmits data on two frequencies, L1 1575.42 MHz and L2 1227.60 MHz. We focused on the L1 band that transmits at 1575.42 MHz. The main objective was to engage in signal analysis with the carrier signal of the L1 band. This task proved to be challenging but not impossible. The carrier signal is essentially to carry information modulated on to it; in this case the navigation message from the GPS satellite along with other codes that are irrelevant to use at this point. After receiving the signal via USRP and with a simple extraction of the carrier signal, we were able to record the signal and reconstruct it using its In-phase and Quadrature phase IQ data. With just the carrier signal, one is able to do multiple things. One can modulate his/her own information onto the signal and transmit it through the USRP. Further analysis on the characteristics of the signal can be done. For example, one can compare the strength of a direct to the indirect signal. In theory, one can determine the characteristics of the surrounding area when comparing direct and indirect carrier signal. The possibilities are endless.
Postmortem Change and its Effect on Evaluation of Fractures

Postmortem changes can both mask and mimic trauma, impairing interpretation of the injuries. Bones, while capable of surviving the postmortem period relatively intact, are not immune from these effects. Without attached soft tissue to aid an examiner, it can be difficult to determine the time frame of a fracture's occurrence (i.e., before death, at death, or after death). Bones are composed of both organic and inorganic material, each of which contribute to the biomechanical properties of the bones. With the loss of organic material, the biomechanical response of bones to trauma changes; however, the organic material can remain a part of the bone for an extended period after death. Bone with intact organic material is wet bone, and bone without the organic material is dry bone, and because of this difference, fractures of wet bone can appear different than fractures of dry bone. Important in distinguishing the two are differential coloration, various features of the fracture itself (e.g., angle, surface, outline), surrounding flaking of the cortex, and incomplete separation of bone fragments from the fracture. However, the changes are not absolute, and determination of the two types of fractures can be problematic. Although the terms antemortem, perimortem, and postmortem have been used to describe the general time frame of fractures in relation to the time of death of the individual, because of confusion among specialties regarding the definition of "perimortem," its use may best be discontinued in favor of a descriptive approach when fractures are identified in skeletal remains.
The Sayyid Qutb Reader: Selected Writings on Politics, Religion and Society, by Albert J. Bergesen, ed.: New York: Routledge, 2008. 186 pp., $25.16 paperback. ISBN: 978-0415954259

Since September 11, 2001, the name Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) has become well-known among those interested in the ideas that drive Islamist terrorism. Though Qutb does not have the public name recogni...
Big data and cloud identity service for mobile authentication

Increased individual mobility has pushed the modern society needs for a reliable individual identity verification system as a critical component in many transactions in commercial industries, public sectors and government domains. The requirement for an ideal human identity verification is critical to security and prevention of identity fraud. Thus, trusted identity management has become an essential part of contemporary system infrastructure. It is now well accepted that biometrics-the science of identifying a person (or verifying their identity) based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics-can provide significant value when building such systems. Three key cornerstones in a trusted biometrics-based identity system include the following: (a) A trusted identity enrollment process (b) A trusted identity verification process (c) An identity credential management mechanism. In this chapter, we present several emerging developments in mobile biometrics technologies with particular focus on futuristic cognitive authentication systems for enabling large-scale trusted identity management systems based on biometrics and also biometrics identity services in the cloud. Biometrics is excellent mechanisms for the authentication or identification of individuals because of the credential's uniqueness and persistence almost over the lifetime of the person. Biometric identity services in the cloud enable mobile biometrics wide adoption economically and also take advantages of adjacent technology advancements.
Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science

In the past few years, we have witnessed some astonishing moments in the hitherto stagnant politics of agrochemical regulation, pivoting around glyphosate. In 2015, the International Cancer Researc...
The Importance of Hip Shape in Predicting Hip Osteoarthritis

This narrative review summarizes the evidence relating hip shape and risk of osteoarthritis at the hip, with a focus on the most recent body of work. Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent and potentially disabling condition with few effective non-surgical treatment options. Risk factors for hip OA appear to differ somewhat from those at other sites. Variations in hip morphology, whether assessed through standard geometric measures or statistical modeling methods, seem to increase hip OA risk and may provide a novel approach to interventions to reduce or prevent OA. Such variations have also led to focused surgical interventions to “correct” abnormal shape, although comparisons with non-surgical management are lacking. There remains a lack of understanding regarding the optimal management, whether surgical, non-surgical, or a combination, for FAI syndrome. Even less is known regarding other potential morphologic variations that may contribute to OA risk. Additionally, many individuals who have shape variations that would seem to increase their risk will never develop hip OA. Questions remain regarding key risk factors for hip OA development, which individuals should be targeted for therapies, whether directed at symptoms, function, or prevention, and which therapies should be studied and offered. Trials are underway to help address some of these questions.
Synergistic Toxicity Produced by Mixtures of Biocompatible Gold Nanoparticles and Widely Used Surfactants

Nanoparticle safety is usually determined using solutions of individual particles that are free of additives. However, the size-dependent properties of nanoparticles can be readily altered through interactions with other components in a mixture. In applications, nanoparticles are commonly combined with surfactants or other additives to increase dispersion or to enhance product performance. Surfactants might also influence the biological activity of nanoparticles; however, little is known about such effects. We investigated the influence of surfactants on nanoparticle biocompatibility by studying mixtures of ligand-stabilized gold nanoparticles and Polysorbate 20 in embryonic zebrafish. These mixtures produced synergistic toxicity at concentrations where the individual components were benign. We examined the structural basis for this synergy using solution-phase analytical techniques. Spectroscopic and X-ray scattering studies suggest that the Polysorbate 20 does not affect the nanoparticle core structure....
Poliovirus and Other Picornaviruses

Poliovirus is an epidemic virus of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although there were infections of polio in ancient times, the improvement in sanitation in the twentieth century led to epidemic outbreaks, particularly in western Europe and the U.S. Panic often accompanied outbreaks, particularly in the U.S., with demands for strict quarantine, prohibition of movement of people, and closing of places of recreation. Public interest in eradication of the virus led to fund-raising with the “March of Dimes,” whose aim was to alleviate suffering and develop a vaccine. The fact that President Roosevelt was a victim of polio helped with the campaign. The treatment of patients with polio was controversial; Sister Kenny claimed that exercise was important, while other physicians recommended rest. Patients were often kept in iron lungs for a long time. In 1955 the USPHS licensed an inactive virus vaccine, the Salk vaccine, which was used in mass vaccination of children in the U.S. Albert Sabin and Hilary Koprowski independently developed two attenuated viral vaccines, which were taken orally and replaced the Salk vaccine in the 1960s. Poliovirus belongs to the family of viruses known as picornavirus; this includes foot and mouth disease, which is of great economic importance and outbreaks of which have plagued the British cattle industry, and rhinoviruses—the common cold virus.
GFP-labelling of 26S proteasomes in living yeast: insight into proteasomal functions at the nuclear envelope/rough ER.

26S proteasomes are multisubunit protease complexes that play the central role in the ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation pathway. The proteolytically active core is formed by the 20S proteasome. Regulatory subunits, principally the 19S cap complex, confer the specificity towards ubiquitinated substrates and an ATP-dependence on proteolysis. Green fluorescence protein (GFP)-tagged versions of either an α-subunit of the 20S core or an ATPase subunit of the 19S cap complex were functionally incorporated into the protease complex, thus allowing to monitor the subcellular distribution of 26S proteasomes in living yeast. Our localization studies suggest that proteasomal proteolysis mainly occurs at the nuclear envelope (NE)/rough ER. Implications of proteasomal functions at the NE/rough ER are discussed in the context of published work on ER degradation and with regard to possible targeting mechanisms.
Quantitative Studies of Rodent and Primate Neocortex: Central Monoamine and Peptide Neurons

The objectives of our cytochemical investigations of neurotransmitter systems have been to use cellular circuitry in the mammalian brain as a basis for functional insight. It has been our view that the most meaningful analysis of transmitter actions at the cellular level rely on an accurate determination as to the origin and targets of a specific transmitter containing system (Bloom, 1975). As a result, we have frequently resorted to detailed manual quantitative analysis of cytochemical features as possible indices to the identification of GABA (Iversen and Bloom, 1972) or noradrenergic terminals (Bloom and Aghajanian, 1968a; Koda and Bloom, 1977), or for the temporal development of synaptic systems (Aghajanian and Bloom, 1967; Bloom and Aghajanian, 1968b; Woodward et al, 1971). The utility of such enterprises, suggests that there is a highly useful purpose to be served by quantitative studies of neurotransmitter distribution and synaptic density. Acquiring similar data sets is time-consuming, labor intensive, and open to the problems of human error, thus limiting the application of such methods. A solution to this quandry can only be accomplished by computers.
Dependently-Typed programming in GHC

Is Haskell a dependently-typed programming language?The Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC) type-system extensions, such as Generalized Algebraic Datatypes (GADTs), multiparameter type classes and type families, give programmers the ability to encode domain-specific invariants in types. Clever functional programmers have used these features to enhance the reasoning capabilities of static type checking. But really, how far have we come?In this talk, I will (attempt to) answer the question "Is it Dependent Types Yet?", through examples, analysis and comparisons with modern full-spectrum dependently-typed languages, such as Agda and Coq. What sorts of dependently-typed programming can be done? What sorts of programming do these languages support that Haskell cannot? What should GHC learn from these languages, and conversely, what lessons can GHC offer in return?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia: Sensitivity, Specificity, and Observer Variability of Fat Detection Versus Functional Analysis of the Right Ventricle

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine interobserver agreement for interpretation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) and to determine sensitivity and specificity of fat detection versus functional parameters measured by MRI. BACKGROUND The interobserver variability of MRI and the relative importance of different MRI parameters (fat detection, regional and global right ventricular [RV] function) for ARVD diagnosis is unknown. METHODS Two experienced observers blinded to the clinical history independently analyzed MRI datasets obtained from 40 patients evaluated for ARVD. Twenty normal subjects underwent MRI and served as control subjects. The MRI scans were performed according to a standard protocol on a 1.5-T scanner. The observers reported on fat infiltration, global and regional RV function, myocardial thinning, and chamber dilatation qualitatively. The RV volumes were measured on the cine sequences. RESULTS Interobserver kappa scores for fat infiltration, global and regional RV function, wall thinning, and RV outflow dilatation were 0.74, 0.94, 0.89, 0.93, and 0.93, respectively. Correlation coefficients between observers for RV end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, and ejection fraction were 0.93, 0.94, and 0.95, respectively (p < 0.001). Fifteen patients were diagnosed with ARVD using Task Force criteria. Sensitivity of fat infiltration, RV enlargement, and regional RV dysfunction for diagnosing ARVD was 84%, 68%, and 78%, and specificity was 79%, 96%, and 94%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Qualitative assessment of RV structure and function is highly reproducible for experienced observers. Among the qualitative parameters, fat infiltration is less reproducible and lacks specificity compared with RV kinetic abnormalities.
Regulation of TGF-β Signaling and Metastatic Progression by Tumor Microenvironments

The TGF-β signaling system comprises a complex and dynamic cascade of molecular interactions that invoke a variety of intracellular and extracellular reactions that coalesce to maintain tissue homeostasis. A rapidly accumulating body of scientific literature clearly demonstrates a conversion in TGF-β function from that of a powerful tumor suppressor in normal epithelium and early-stage carcinomas to that of a prometastatic molecule in their late-stage counterparts. Collectively, this malicious switch in TGF-β behavior is termed the “TGF-β Paradox.” Historically, cell autonomous changes that transpire during tumor development and progression have been studied extensively as a means to decipher the “TGF-β Paradox.” Although highly informative and intriguing, these findings have yet to unravel the molecular underpinnings of the “TGF-β Paradox,” thereby suggesting involvement of additional signaling components and players that originate beyond the confines of developing carcinomas. Indeed, recent studies have been directed at interrogating the microenvironments of developing carcinomas and how changes within this unique cellular niche manifest the “TGF-β Paradox.” For instance, tumor microenvironments house an array of essential cellular, structural, and humoral factors that include stromal cells and altered elastic moduli, integrins and their engagement of matrix proteins, hypoxic zones, and a host of cytokines, growth factors, and chemokines that collectively influence the response of carcinoma cells to TGF-β. Here we review recent findings demonstrating the importance of the tumor microenvironment to regulate TGF-β signaling and its stimulation of metastatic progression. In addition, we also highlight recent in vitro and in vivo scientific advances capable of recapitulating various aspects of the metastatic process and its regulation by TGF-β. Indeed, incorporating and extending these novel systems to analyses of the “TGF-β Paradox” may offer new inroads in resolving this enigma and improving the overall survival of cancer patients.
FNDSB: A fuzzy-neuro decision support system for back pain diagnosis

Abstract Back pain is a common pain felt in the back. In the world, it is the fifth common reason for physician visits and in the U.S. about 90% of human adults have back pain at some time in their life. In this paper, we proposed a decision support system for intelligent diagnosis of back pain using a fuzzy-neuro technique to manage the fuzzy concepts. It is also provide an intelligent decision support platform that can assist physicians to diagnose and produce accurate medical advices. The proposed system consists of a user interface that receive symptoms and produce accurate diagnosis with its severity, a fuzzy inference system which contains the strategies of reasoning process based on fuzzification and defuzzification techniques, a fuzzy-neuro system that composed of neural network with fuzzy logic concepts, and a knowledge base which collects of linguistic fuzzy rules. The FNDSB describe knowledge acquisition and representation methods, a way of production linguistic fuzzy rules organization, fuzzification and defuzzification of clinical parameters as input and output values using a Triangular Membership Function (TMF) and Centroid of Area (CoA) techniques respectively. The FNDSB was evaluated using a case study of 10 patients from Al-diwaniyah teaching hospital. According to the evaluation results the system performance around 83.6% efficiency in producing accurate back pain diagnosis.
The Use of Cluster Expansions To Predict the Structures and Properties of Surfaces and Nanostructured Materials

The construction of cluster expansions parametrized by first-principles calculations is a powerful tool for calculating properties of materials. In this Perspective, we discuss the application of cluster expansions to surfaces and nanomaterials. We review the fundamentals of the cluster expansion formalism and how machine learning is used to improve the predictive accuracy of cluster expansions. We highlight several representative applications of cluster expansions to surfaces and nanomaterials, demonstrating how cluster expansions help researchers build structure-property relationships and enable rational design to accelerate the discovery of new materials. Potential applications and future challenges of cluster expansions are also discussed.
A Peer Mentored Physical Activity Intervention: An Emerging Practice for Autistic College Students

Abstract Many autistic individuals are less fit and have more health problems than their nonautistic peers. These findings suggest a need to develop effective physical activity interventions. Motor...
A life course approach to total tooth loss: Testing the sensitive period, accumulation, and social mobility models in the Health and Retirement Study.

Objectives Childhood socio-economic status (SES) has long been associated with later-life oral health, suggesting that childhood is a sensitive period for oral health. Far less attention has been given to the long-term impact of childhood trauma, abuse, and smoking on later-life oral health. This study fills the gap in the literature by examining how adverse childhood experiences-social, psychological, and behavioral-shape total tooth loss over the life course, with an assessment of the sensitive period, accumulation, and social mobility models from life course research. Methods Data are drawn from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) merged with multiple HRS data sources to obtain childhood information (N = 6,427; age > 50). Adverse childhood experiences include childhood financial hardship, trauma, abuse, and smoking. Total tooth loss is measured to assess poor oral health in later life. Educational attainment and poverty status (since age 51) are measured as adult adversity. Current health conditions and health behaviors are assessed to reflect the correlates of oral health in later life. Results The sensitive period model indicates that childhood trauma such as parental death or divorce (odds ratio [OR] = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04, 1.80), physical abuse (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.34), and low educational attainment (≤ high school; OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.04, 2.22) are associated with higher odds of total tooth loss in later life. Poverty status was not associated with the outcome. There was a clear graded relationship between accumulation of adverse experiences and oral health, which supports the accumulation model. In the social mobility model, older adults who occupied a stable disadvantageous position were more likely to be toothless (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.08, 2.90) compared to those who did not face adversity in any case. Neither upward nor downward mobility mattered. Conclusions Failing oral health in older adults, especially total tooth loss, may have its roots in adverse experiences such as childhood trauma, abuse, and low educational attainment. Findings also suggest that oral health in later life may be more influenced by accumulation of adversity rather than changes in social and economic position over the life course.
Vertical and Horizontal Discourse: A Bernsteinian Perspective of Preservice Teachers' Conceptualizations of Using iPads in Early Elementary Teaching Environments.

Policymakers’ neoliberal education reforms, which define education through economic rather than democratic principles, continue to promote the integration of mobile devices into early child...
OPTIMUM DETECTION AND ESTIMATION IN STOCHASTIC TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Publisher Summary A problem of great practical importance is the detection of distributed, fluctuating targets in reverberation limited, randomly time and space varying transmission media. An approach to this problem is formulated in terms of medium and target scattering functions. It is shown that the same problem formulation can be used for optimum target-parameter estimation. The target and medium scattering functions are stochastic Green's functions that completely determine the second order statistics of stochastic transmission channels and targets. The formulation of optimum detection and estimation problem in terms of scattering functions relates this problem to the theory of stochastic Green's functions. This relationship provides a fundamental and unified approach to the detection system optimization theory. This chapter discusses the concepts of random Green's functions and stochastic Green's function as originally defined by Adomian. It also discusses a number of specific random and stochastic Green's functions that are used for design of optimal detectors and estimators.
Conservation of Atypical Allostery in C. elegans UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenase

Human UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (hUGDH) oxidizes uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid, an essential substrate in the phase II metabolism of drugs. The activity of hUGDH is contr...
A Possible Relation Between the Magnetic Pole and the Gravitational Field

We reformulate the quantization of the gravitational field and its sources, including the electric and magnetic fields as they appear in the knot algebra.
Stenting-induced Vasa Vasorum compression and subsequent flow resistance: a finite element study

Vascular stenting is a common intervention for the treatment for atherosclerotic plaques. However, stenting still has a significant rate of restenosis caused by intimal hyperplasia formation. In this study, we evaluate whether stent overexpansion leads to Vasa Vasorum (VV) compression, which may contribute to vascular wall hypoxia and restenosis. An idealized multilayered fibroatheroma model including Vasa Vasorum was expanded by three coronary stent designs up to a 1.3:1 stent/artery luminal diameter ratio (exp1.1, exp1.2, exp1.3) using a finite element analysis approach. Following Poiseuille's law for elliptical sections, the fold increase in flow resistance was calculated based on VV compression in the Intima (Int), Media (Med) and Adventitia (Adv). The VV beneath the plaque experiences the smallest degree of compression, while the opposite wall regions are highly affected by stent overexpansion. The highest compressions for Adv, Med and Int at exp1.1 are 60.7, 65.9, 72.3%, at exp1.2 are 62.1, 67.3, 73.5% and at expp1.3 are 63.2, 68.7, 74.8%. The consequent fold increase in resistance to flow for Adv, Med and Int at exp1.1 is 3.3, 4.4, 6.6, at exp1.2 is 3.5, 4.7, 7.2 and at exp1.3 is 3.8, 5.1, 7.9. Stent overexpansion induces significant VV compression, especially in the Intima and Media layers, in agreement with previously observed Media necrosis and loss in elasticity after stenting. The observed steep increase in flow resistance suggests the blood flow and associated oxygen delivery would drop up to five times in the Media and almost eight in the Intima, which may lead to intimal hyperplasia and restenosis.
Survey of Cryogenic Power Electronics for Hybrid Electric Aircraft Applications

The design considerations for power converters operating at room or at ultra-low temperatures are the same in terms of power density, reliability, and efficiency. In order to design power converters at cryogenic temperatures, the passive and active components should be carefully selected. Understanding the behavior of the components at cryogenic temperatures leads to power converter systems that have many superior advantages such as high power density (reduced size and volume), higher efficiency (reduced system losses), and even increased system reliability. This paper reviews the status of the recent research on the cryogenic temperature behavior of Si semiconductor devices, wide bandgap semiconductor devices, passive components, and power converter topologies.
Gain Margins in a Class of Nonlinear Systems: Lyapunov approach

In this paper, a novel concept of Gain Margin is defined and studied for a class of Nonlinear Systems specifically the Lur'e type. The corresponding algorithms for computing practical Gain Margins in such systems, based on Lyapunov's Second Method and Linear Matrix Inequalities, are introduced. The efficacy of the proposed algorithms is illustrated in tutorial examples.
National Institute on Drug Abuse International Fellowships: Research Training for Addiction Specialists

Despite the widespread prevalence and increasing risk of disability or death associated with drug use disorders, access to evidence-based treatment is rare. The United Nations estimates that only one in six people who need drug treatment receive it, and cites the lack of research and training as barriers to expanding evidence-based treatment. Professional associations in the United States and the United Kingdom call for mentored research training to help health care professionals learn how to conduct research and understand and implement research findings in practice. Recent evaluations of research training programs found that physicians, service planners, and policymakers benefitted from mentored research training. Effective mentoring programs helped trainees conduct research, analyze data, publish findings, present at scientific meetings, collaborate with senior researchers, meet government officials, and continue networking after the conclusion of the fellowship. These components of effective research training programs are available through fellowships offered by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) International Program. The NIDA fellowships for postdoctoral, mid-career, and senior addiction specialists are reviewed, including credential and citizenship requirements for applicants, and professional advantages are described. Former fellows head academic research centers and nongovernmental organizations, provide addiction treatment, serve as government officials, and play key roles in international drug policy. NIDA fellows collaborate with international partners, receive grants from NIDA and other funders, publish articles, and present at conferences. They form a global network of drug abuse scientists working collaboratively to develop, validate, and implement evidence-based treatment and prevention programs around the world.
Spatio-Temporal Statistical Sequential Analysis for Temperature Change Detection in Satellite Imagery

The analysis of remote sensing data enables us to detect changes and monitor land surface temperature (LST). However, analysis of times series data poses some challenges, including weather conditions, seasonality and noise, that limit the effectiveness of change detection algorithms. While existing algorithms perform relatively well for detecting abrupt transitions, reliable detection of gradual changes is more difficult. In this paper, we formulate the problem of spatiotemporal LST detection as a statistical sequential change detection problem. LST images are modeled as stochastic processes, with temperature changes reflected as changes in the parameters (i.e., mean) of the process. A generalized likelihood ratio test is used to detect these changes and estimate the exact time/space where they occur. To minimize processing time and memory requirements, we represent LST images by their reduced dimensionality using direct cosine transformation followed by principal component analysis. Statistical sequential analysis is used to provide a unified mathematical framework for the detection of both abrupt and gradual changes in LST observations of Bridgeton Missouri landfill over 17 years.
Effect of Copper-Based Fungicide Treatments on the Quality of Hop Produced in the Northeastern United States

The quality of hops is dictated in large part by the content of flavor and aroma compounds. These compounds vary in concentration and are affected by agricultural practices. Previous research has f...
A Unifying Framework to Construct QC-LDPC Tanner Graphs of Desired Girth.

This paper presents a unifying framework to construct low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with associated Tanner graphs of desired girth. Towards this goal, we highlight the role that a certain square matrix that appears in the product of the parity-check matrix with its transpose has in the construction of codes with graphs of desired girth and further explore it in order to generate the set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a Tanner graph to have a given girth between 6 and 12. For each such girth, we present algorithms to construct codes of the desired girth and we show how to use them to compute the minimum necessary value of the lifting factor. For girth larger than 12, we show how to use multi-step graph lifting methods to deterministically modify codes in order to increase their girth. We also give a new perspective on LDPC protograph-based parity-check matrices by viewing them as rows of a parity-check matrix equal to the sum of certain permutation matrices and obtain an important connection between all protographs and those with variable nodes of degree 2. We also show that the results and methodology that we develop for the all-one protograph can be used and adapted to analyze the girth of the Tanner graph of any parity-check matrix and demonstrate how this can be done using a well-known irregular, multi-edge protograph specified by the NASA Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). Throughout the paper, we exemplify our theoretical results with constructions of LDPC codes with Tanner graphs of any girth between 6 and 14 and give sufficient conditions for a multi-step lifted parity-check matrix to have girth between 14 and 22.
Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World

Chapter 1. "I Hate Books": Words Go Digital Chapter 2. Reading Evolves Chapter 3. tl dr: Readers Reshape Writing Chapter 4. The Appeal of Words Onscreen Chapter 5. The Web Ate My Print Button: One-Off Reading Chapter 6. How Social is Reading? Chapter 7. "It's Not a Book": The Physical Side of Reading Chapter 8. Your Brain on eText Chapter 9. Faxing Tokyo: When Cultures and Markets Meet Chapter 10. The Future of Reading in a Digital World
Dynamic Analysis of Encephalic Activity

The application of nonlinear dynamical analysis techniques to electroencephalograms (EEGs) and evoked potentials (EPs) is described. The first method involves the extraction of features from state-space trajectories reconstructed from EEG segments recorded immediately prior to the presentation of a light flash. The feature vectors were used in a clustering procedure to produce classes of similar prestimulus EEG segments. Averaged evoked potentials were computed for each class and distinct differences between EPs were observed. In a second experiment, a neurophysiologically-based model of EEG generation was tested to determine its response to impulse-like inputs. It was found that this model produced EP-like activity. This suggests that the generators of the EP are located in the cortex.