cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF ADVECTIVE FLUXES TO NET ECOSYSTEM EXCHANGE IN A HIGH-ELEVATION, SUBALPINE FOREST

The eddy covariance technique, which is used in the determination of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), is subject to significant errors when advection that carries CO2 in the mean flow is ignored. We measured horizontal and vertical advective CO2 fluxes at the Niwot Ridge AmeriFlux site (Colorado, USA) using a measurement approach consisting of multiple towers. We observed relatively high rates of both horizontal (F(hadv)) and vertical (F(vadv)) advective fluxes at low surface friction velocities (u(*)) which were associated with downslope katabatic flows. We observed that F(hadv) was confined to a relatively thin layer (0-6 m thick) of subcanopy air that flowed beneath the eddy covariance sensors principally at night, carrying with it respired CO2 from the soil and lower parts of the canopy. The observed F(vadv) came from above the canopy and was presumably due to the convergence of drainage flows at the tower site. The magnitudes of both F(hadv) and F(vadv) were similar, of opposite sign, and increased with decreasing u(*), meaning that they most affected estimates of the total CO2 flux on calm nights with low wind speeds. The mathematical sign, temporal variation and dependence on u(*) of both F(hadv) and F(vadv) were determined by the unique terrain of the Niwot Ridge site. Therefore, the patterns we observed may not be broadly applicable to other sites. We evaluated the influence of advection on the cumulative annual and monthly estimates of the total CO2 flux (F(c)), which is often used as an estimate of NEE, over six years using the dependence of F(hadv) and F(vadv) on u(*). When the sum of F(hadv) and F(vadv) was used to correct monthly F(c), we observed values that were different from the monthly F(c) calculated using the traditional u(*)-filter correction by--16 to 20 g C x m(-2) x mo(-1); the mean percentage difference in monthly Fc for these two methods over the six-year period was 10%. When the sum of F(hadv) and F(vadv) was used to correct annual Fc, we observed a 65% difference compared to the traditional u(*)-filter approach. Thus, the errors to the local CO2 budget, when F(hadv) and F(vadv) are ignored, can become large when compounded in cumulative fashion over long time intervals. We conclude that the "micrometeorological" (using observations of F(hadv) and F(vadv)) and "biological" (using the u(*) filter and temperature vs. F(c) relationship) corrections differ on the basis of fundamental mechanistic grounds. The micrometeorological correction is based on aerodynamic mechanisms and shows no correlation to drivers of biological activity. Conversely, the biological correction is based on climatic responses of organisms and has no physical connection to aerodynamic processes. In those cases where they impose corrections of similar magnitude on the cumulative F(c) sum, the result is due to a serendipitous similarity in scale but has no clear mechanistic explanation.
Prosecuting Nazi Collaborators and Terrorists: Eli Rosenbaum and Managing the Office of Special Investigations

This Administrative Profile charts the remarkable career of Eli Rosenbaum, currently the director of human rights enforcement strategy and policy in the Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section of the Criminal Division in the United States Department of Justice. Until very recently he served as the director of the DOJ’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI)that was recently merged into Human Rights and Special Prosecutions. He held the OSI Directorship since 1995 and this essay focuses on his accomplishments as the OSI director. The prosecution of Nazi collaborators now is situated in Human Rights and Special Prosecutions. During the OSI directorship, he successfully targeted and prosecuted Nazi collaborators as well as global terrorists. Mission-specific recruitment and team building by Rosenbaum were key factors in his effective leadership at OSI. Managing this unique agency required affective (emotional) skills in addition to cognitive and technical expertise.
Microkernels should support passive objects

We believe that a passive object model, in which the active entities or threads migrate between passive objects, is more appropriate than an active object model, as the basic structure of a microkernel-based operating system. A passive object model provides enhanced performance and simplicity because it is more closely matched to the basic nature of microprocessors and the requirements of applications. It also provides more functionality by making the flow of control between objects a first-class abstraction which can be examined, manipulated, and used to carry information about the operation in progress. >
Low-Dose Salmonella Infection Evades Activation of Flagellin-Specific CD4 T Cells

Many pathogens can establish a lethal infection from relatively small inocula, yet the effect of infectious dose upon CD4 T cell activation is not clearly understood. This issue was examined by tracking Salmonella flagellin-specific SM1 T cells in vivo, after i.v. and oral challenge of mice with virulent Salmonella typhimurium. SM1 T cells rapidly expressed activation markers and expanded in response to high-dose infection but remained completely unresponsive in mice challenged with low doses of Salmonella. SM1 T cells, in these mice, remained unresponsive, despite massive bacterial replication in vivo. Naive SM1 T cells in low-dose Salmonella-infected mice were activated rapidly after the injection of flagellin peptide, demonstrating that these T cells were fully capable of responding, ruling out the possibility of a bacterial-induced suppressive environment. The inability of flagellin-specific SM1 T cells to respond to low-dose infection was not due to Ag down-regulation, because flagellin expression was detected using a functional assay. Together, these data suggest that low-dose Salmonella infection can evade flagellin-specific CD4 T cell activation in vivo.
The Pinto shear zone; a Laramide synconvergent extensional shear zone in the Mojave Desert region of the southwestern United States

The Pinto shear zone is one of several Late Cretaceous shear zones within the eastern fringe of the Mesozoic magmatic arc of the southwest Cordilleran orogen that developed synchronous with continued plate convergence and backarc shortening. We demonstrate an extensional origin for the shear zone by describing the shear-zone geometry and kinematics, hanging wall deformation style, progressive changes in deformation temperature, and differences in hanging wall and footwall thermal histories. Deformation is constrained between w74 and 68 Ma by 40 Ar/ 39 Ar thermochronology of the exhumed footwall, including multi-diffusion domain modeling of K-feldspar. We discount the interpretations, applied in other areas of the Mojave Desert region, that widespread Late Cretaceous cooling results from refrigeration due to subduction of a shallowly dipping Laramide slab or to erosional denudation, and suggest alternatively that post-intrusion cooling and exhumation by extensional structures are recorded. Widespread crustal melting and magmatism followed by extension and cooling in the Late Cretaceous are most consistent with production of a low-viscosity lower crust during anatexis and/or delamination of mantle lithosphere at the onset of Laramide shallow subduction. q 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
The BAO* algorithm for stochastic shortest path problems with dynamic learning

Suppose a spatial arrangement of possible obstacles needs to be traversed as swiftly as possible, and the status of the obstacles may be disambiguated en route at a cost. The goal is to find a protocol that decides what and where to disambiguate en route so as to minimize the expected length of the traversal. We call this problem the stochastic shortest path problem with dynamic learning (SDL), which has been shown to be intractable in many broad settings. In this manuscript, we establish a framework for SDL in both continuous and discrete settings and cast the problem as a Markov decision process. The state space, however, is too large to efficiently utilize the stochastic dynamic programming paradigm. We introduce an algorithm for a discretized version of the continuous setting, called the BAO* Algorithm, which is a new improvement on the AO* search algorithm that employs stronger pruning techniques, including utilization of upper bounds on path lengths (in addition to lower bounds as in AO*), and uses significantly less computational resources. The BAO* Algorithm is not polynomial-time, but it can dramatically shorten the execution time needed to find an exact solution to moderately-sized instances of the problem.
Rewarding Healthy Food Choices in SNAP: Behavioral Economic Applications

Context American obesity rates continue to escalate, but an effective policy response remains elusive. Specific changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have been proposed as one way to improve nutrition and combat obesity among lower-income populations. While current SNAP proposals hold promise, some important challenges still remain.
Knowledge-based IMRT treatment planning for prostate cancer

The goal of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plan optimization is to produce a cumulative dose distribution that satisfies both the dose prescription and the normal tissue dose constraints. The typical manual treatment planning process is iterative, time consuming, and highly dependent on the skill and experience of the planner. We have addressed this problem by developing a knowledge based approach that utilizes a database of prior plans to leverage the planning expertise of physicians and physicists at our institution. We developed a case-similarity algorithm that uses mutual information to identify a similar matched case for a given query case, and various treatment parameters from the matched case are then adapted to derive new treatment plans that are patient specific. We used 10 randomly selected cases matched against a knowledge base of 100 cases to demonstrate that new, clinically acceptable IMRT treatment plans can be developed. This approach substantially reduced planning time by skipping all but the last few iterations of the optimization process. Additionally, we established a simple metric based on the areas under the curve (AUC) of the dose volume histogram (DVH), specifically for the planning target volume (PTV), rectum, and bladder. This plan quality metric was used to successfully rank order the plan quality of a collection of knowledgebased plans. Further, we used 100 pre-optimized plans (20 query x 5 matches) to show that the average normalized MI score can be used as a surrogate of overall plan quality. Plans of lower pre-optimized plan quality tended to improve substantially after optimization, though its final plan quality did not improve to the same level as a plan that has a higher pre-optimized plan quality to begin with. Optimization usually improved PTV coverage slightly while providing substantial dose sparing for both bladder and rectum of 12.4% and 9.1% respectively. Lastly, we developed new treatment plans for cases selected from an outside institution matched against our sitespecific database. The knowledge-based plans are very comparable to the original manual plan, providing adequate PTV coverage as well as substantial improvement in dose sparing to the rectum and bladder. In conclusion, we found that a site-specific database of prior plans can be effectively used to design new treatment plans for our own institution as well as outside cases. Specifically, knowledge-based plans can provide clinically acceptable planning target volume coverage and clinically acceptable dose sparing to the rectum and bladder. This approach has been demonstrated to improve the efficiency of the treatment planning process, and may potentially improve the quality of patient care by enabling more consistent treatment planning across institutions.
Varieties of Consistency

In this chapter, interpretations for the various types of consistency named and implied in Table 3 will be provided. The reader is invited to once more examine the equations in Table 3, and to note how the generalizability coefficients are computed. The generalizability coefficient associated with any given variance component is the ratio of that variance component to a weighted sum of all variance components which include the term in question. Thus, G(P) in PxSxRxT assesses the degree to which a person effect (consistent ordering of persons) occurs across all levels of S, R, and T. Interaction terms appear in the denominator of G(P) because interaction effects are disturbances, albeit systematic ones, in the consistent ordering of persons.
Making the Most of Mess: Reliability and Policy in Today's Management Challenges

Editor: LOUISE K. COMFORTUniversity of Pittsburgh, USAJournal of Comparative Policy Analysis (2013)http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2013.803700 In his book, Making the Most of Mess: Reliability a...
A nocturnal dispersal rhythm in the quill mite, Syringophiloidus minor (Berlese) (Prostigmata: Syringophilidae).

Syringophiloidus minor is a parasitic mite that lives inside the quills of the primaries, secondaries, alulars, rectrices, and major wing and tail coverts of the House Sparrow, Passer domesticus (Linnaeus). At the time of host brooding and the period of molt, mites must disperse from infested quills to enter developing feathers. From these original founders, new populations of mites wili arise.
Magnetic Behavior of Ultrathin Films of Pseudomorphic Binary Alloys

In this work we compare the ferromagnetic behavior of ultrathin FexNi(1-x) and CoxNi(1-x) films grown on Cu(100) epitaxially with varying stoichiometry. The thickness regime chosen was 1 to 5 ML over a wide range of alloy composition. Using a finite-size scaling law we proposed for the Curie temperature vs. film thickness measurements, we extrapolate and plot the bulk fee Curie temperature as a function of composition. The results suggest that the growth of these films is pseudomorphic with the films adapting a fee structure and the Cu lattice constant. Besides, the Invar effect is not observed in these ultrathin films of FexNi(1-x) alloys and the magnetic phase of Fe atoms is the low-spin ferromagnetic phase. The CoxNi(1-x) films show the expected monotonic decrease in Tc with increasing Ni content.
Energy Storage, Release, And Dissipation In The Gecko Adhesion System

Different types of biological adhesion can be categorized according to the length scales, structures, and materials involved. The setal adhesion system of the gekkonid lizards occupies a hierarchy of scales from the toes (~ 1 cm) to the terminal spatular pads on the setal branches (~ 100 nm). This unique combination of scale and foot-hair morphology allow the animal robust, controllable, and near-universal adhesion via van der Waals attraction, but it is also apparent that the mechanical behavior of the β-keratin plays an important role in an animal’s climbing ability. Experimental results show a four-fold increase in the viscoelastic loss tangent of β-keratin, alongside a substantial increase in adhesion of setal arrays, over a range of relative humidity from 10 to 80%. A model of single-spatular deformation predicts that the elastic energy stored in the setal branches, energy which is not completely recovered on detachment, is strongly influenced by these properties changes. The enhanced dissipation characteristics of the system explain the effects of environmental humidity on the clinging ability of geckos.
Analysis on the use of food additives and non-edible substances in Shenzhen City in 2012

[Objective]To understand the use status of food additives and non-edible substances in Shenzhen City,provide the scientific basis for strengthening food safety supervision and management.[Methods]According to the Shenzhen food safety risk monitoring plan in 2012,14 kind of food samples,which included cereal products,cooked meat products,pickles,salad,etc. were randomly collected to detect food additives( such as benzoic acid and sorbic acid) and non-edible substances( such as borax and potassium bromate). [Results]1 910 food samples were tested,1 818 samples were qualified with the qualification rate of95. 18%. The food additives and non-edible substances were found in 448 samples,with the detection rate of 23. 46%.[Conclusion]The exceeding standard rates of food additives and non-edible substances are low in Shenzhen City,while the detection rates are higher relatively. It is necessary to take the targeted measures to improve the food safety.
The NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery for intellectual disabilities: three preliminary studies and future directions

Recent advances in understanding molecular and synaptic mechanisms of intellectual disabilities (ID) in fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS) through animal models have led to targeted controlled trials with pharmacological agents designed to normalize these underlying mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes. However, several human clinical trials have failed to demonstrate efficacy of these targeted treatments to improve surrogate behavioral endpoints. Because the ultimate index of disease modification in these disorders is amelioration of ID, the validation of cognitive measures for tracking treatment response is essential. Here, we present preliminary research to validate the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognitive Battery (NIH-TCB) for ID. We completed three pilot studies of patients with FXS (total n = 63; mean age 19.3 ± 8.3 years, mean mental age 5.3 ± 1.6 years), DS (n = 47; mean age 16.1 ± 6.2, mean mental age 5.4 ± 2.0), and idiopathic ID (IID; n = 16; mean age 16.1 ± 5.0, mean mental age 6.6 ± 2.3) measuring processing speed, executive function, episodic memory, word/letter reading, receptive vocabulary, and working memory using the web-based NIH-TB-CB, addressing feasibility, test-retest reliability, construct validity, ecological validity, and syndrome differences and profiles. Feasibility was good to excellent (≥80 % of participants with valid scores) for above mental age 4 years for all tests except list sorting (working memory). Test-retest stability was good to excellent, and convergent validity was similar to or better than results obtained from typically developing children in the normal sample for executive function and language measures. Examination of ecological validity revealed moderate to very strong correlations between the NIH-TCB composite and adaptive behavior and full-scale IQ measures. Syndrome/group comparisons demonstrated significant deficits for the FXS and DS groups relative to IID on attention and inhibitory control, a significant reading weakness for FXS, and a receptive vocabulary weakness for DS. The NIH-TCB has potential for assessing important dimensions of cognition in persons with ID, and several tests may be useful for tracking response to intervention. However, more extensive psychometric studies, evaluation of the NIH-TCB’s sensitivity to change, both developmentally and in the context of treatment, and perhaps establishing links to brain function in these populations, are required to determine the true utility of the battery as a set of outcome measures.
West Coast Communities and Catch Shares: The Early Years of Social Change

ABSTRACTThe Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery transitioned to a catch shares program in January 2011. The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Social Study was designed to measure associated social changes and impacts on individuals and communities. Selected survey and interview data from the baseline data collection in 2010 and the first supplemental data collection effort in 2012 are aggregated at the community level and analyzed for initial signs of social change.Communities are sorted into top-, mid-, and low-tier communities based on the percentage of quota share (QS) permit owners that live in each community. A higher number of QS permit owners in a place is expected to result in relatively greater benefits to those communities. Questions analyzed include percent of income from fishing, multiple jobs worked, job stability, job satisfaction, standard of living, and how individuals were personally affected. Significant results for TOP-tier communities include increases in working multiple jobs, which...
Redox Potential-Sensitive N-Acetyl Cysteine-Prodrug Nanoparticles Inhibit the Activation of Microglia and Improve Neuronal Survival.

One hallmark of neuroinflammation is the activation of microglia, which triggers the production and release of reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitrate, nitrite, and cytokines. N-Acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a free radical scavenger that is involved in the intracellular and extracellular detoxification of reactive oxygen species in the brain. However, the clinical application of NAC is limited by its low bioavailability and short half-life. Herein, NAC was conjugated to a polymer through a disulfide bond to form a NAC-prodrug nanoparticle (NAC-NP). Dynamic light scattering found that the NAC-NP has a size of around 50 nm. In vitro studies revealed that the release of NAC from NAC-NP is responsive to its environmental redox potential. For mimicking neuroinflammation in vitro, microglial cells were stimulated by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the effect of NAC-NP on activated microglia was investigated. The study found that the morphology as well as the expression of microgliosis marker Iba-1 of the cells treate...
An apparent case of non-accidental injury

A 4-year-old girl of mixed race origin presented with a 1-month history of spontaneous bruising and occasional gum bleeding raising concerns of non-accidental injury (NAI). There was no family history of bleeding tendencies. She was admitted for further investigations. Examination revealed a thriving girl with multiple bruises over her lower limbs. (figures 1 and 2). There was no hepatosplenomegaly or lymphadenopathy. Her initial full blood count is as follows: haemoglobin 12.1 g/dL, total white blood cell count 14.72x109/L (neutrophil 38%, lymphocyte 29%, monocyte 3%, eosinophil 28% and absolute eosinophil count 4.1x109/L). Her platelet count was slightly low at 135x109/L. Prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) were normal. ### Apart from investigating for NAI, what features on investigation would distinguish between the differentials below? 1. Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). 2. Congenital platelet disorders. 3. Acquired platelet dysfunction disorders. …
Integrated gas hydrate-membrane system for natural gas purification

Significant efforts are being made to make natural gas processing energy-efficient and environmentally friendly by utilizing membrane based separation processes. While membranes (polymer/zeolite/metal-organic framework) are effective in separating CO2 and N2 from CH4, their separation performance is negatively affected when natural gas contains high concentrations of higher hydrocarbons (propane, butane, etc.) and H2S. Interestingly, higher hydrocarbons and H2S form gas (clathrate) hydrates at much milder conditions compared to CH4, CO2, and N2 and could thus act as a separation step before membranes. In this perspective, gas separation using membranes and gas hydrates is briefly reviewed, and the challenges of developing an integrated gas hydrate-membrane process are discussed. Such a process could be an energy efficient approach to reduce the costs associated with natural gas purification. The proposed system can also serve as a model for other challenging molecular gas separations relevant to the energ...
Interpreting 123I-ioflupane dopamine transporter scans using hybrid scores.

Dopamine transporter (DaT) 123I–FP-CIT scans most commonly are interpreted visually. Alternatively, absolute quantitation of radiopharmaceutical uptake may improve scan accuracy. However, neither approach accomodates dependence of striatal uptake on age and gender. We investigated whether demographic indexing of visual and numerical variables improve discrimination of patients with essential tremor (ET), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Data of 132 consecutive patients undergoing DaT SPECT scans were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical impression in the latest neurology note was utilized as the final clinical diagnosis. Caudate and putamen specific binding ratio (PSBR) were computed. 123I calibration phantoms were constructed to enable absolute quantitation of putamen radiopharmaceutical uptake. A single experienced nuclear medicine physician graded visual certainty on a 3-level scale. Demographic indexing normalized metrics to published normal PSBR values. Methods were compared by simultaneous ROC analyses to identify the technique of maximal accuracy. Thirty-four patients (26%) were diagnosed with ET, 85 (64%) with PD, 6 (5%) with multiple system atrophy, and 7 (5%) with DLB. For discriminating DLB from PD, visual analysis was significantly less specific and accurate than the other techniques. However, indexing significantly improved specificity and accuracy of visual scores, such that indexed visual scores were statistically equivalent to all other methods. Indexed PSBR yielded essentially the same results as non-indexed PSBR, for which highest overall test efficacy was achieved. Our results in this small series of patients with DLB suggest that if 123I–FP-CIT visual scores are to be used to discriminate DLB from other neurologic disorders, demographic indexing should be applied. However, best results overall are obtained using quantified parameters, regardless of whether or not demographic indexing is applied to these values.
Behavioral Models with Alternative Alphabets

Scenarios and properties are used to describe requirements specifications. Behavioral models can be synthesized from these scenarios and properties. New scenarios and properties are usually added to requirements specification after the creation of the behavioral models. Alphabet is the set of actions/events used to describe scenarios and properties. Alternative alphabets arise when a new scenario or property is added to the requirements with a new alphabet. Modifying behavioral models in the case of alternative alphabets need more considerations because existing synthesis algorithms must be rerun with the new alphabet. We propose additional steps that modify the behavioral model of properties to reflect new actions/events discovered in scenarios (or properties). Similarly, we propose additional steps that modify the behavioral model of scenarios to reflect new events (actions) discovered in properties.
How to Reduce Practically Any Problem to One Dimension

A large number of interesting problems of theoretical physics are exactly soluble in one spatial dimension (1D). These include studies in statistical mechanics of interacting or of random systems (solved by diagonalization of a transfer matrix), many-body problems (solved by a Bethe ansatz), nonlinear dynamics (leading to solitons), magnetism (reducible by the Jordan-Wigner transformation to a many-fermion problem), etc. Some of these studies apply to physically interesting systems such as polymers, magnetic molecules, and energy transport in long chain molecules, yet others might appear to be of academic interest only. Surprisingly, even some far-fetched work in 1D may ultimately find important physical applications in three spatial dimensions. In this paper I shall endeavor to demonstrate what sorts of problems, arising in arbitrary dimensions, can be successfully reduced to 1D where they can be analyzed and ultimately solved.
Survey of Illinois Law: Statutory Damage Exclusions

The Illinois General Assembly may limit damages for certain claims by setting caps or by recognizing exclusions for certain or all damages via no duty or immunity statutes. Caps have been successfully challenged on separation of powers grounds. Exclusions have traditionally been challenged on Illinois constitutional right to a remedy grounds, with early success in 1946 but with failures since 1958. The most recent failure occurred in the Second District in October, 2013 in Murphy v. Colson. Unfortunately, that ruling and its predecessors leave some continuing uncertainties about right to remedy constraints on statutory damage exclusions and even greater uncertainties about other constitutional constraints. This paper explores how the right to remedy constrains future statutory damage exclusions for certain injuries or for certain claims, as well as examines briefly other constraining constitutional principles.While the paper demonstrates how the Illinois constitutional remedial right limits General Assembly authority to exclude certain actual damages for certain claimants, or to exclude all actual damages for certain claimants via no duty or immunity laws, it also shows that the constraints are not wholly clear. Too often it finds that Illinois courts make overly broad pronouncements about legislative authority. A close examination of Murphy v. Colson, and of earlier Illinois Supreme Court precedents, reveals that significant limits on damage statutes inhere in the Illinois constitutional remedial right. The breadth of further constitutional constraints, especially those involving special legislation/equality and jury trial, remain unclear.
Digital and Physical Fabrication as Multimodal Learning: Understanding Youth Computational Thinking When Making Integrated Systems Through Bidirectionally Responsive Design

This article proposes and explores the kinds of computational thinking, creative practices, design activities, and inclusive learning opportunities provided to diverse high school youth when designing integrated systems through simultaneously physically and digitally responsive wearable games and systems. Previous work in this area, conducted by Richard, coined the term “bidirectionally responsive design” (BRD) to describe the design of dual-feedback systems using multiple digital and physical interfaces. BRD also emphasizes using simplified fabrication tools, media and coding platforms, and microcontrollers common in youth content creation communities and makerspaces. This study provides a framework to analyze computational concepts, practices, and perspectives that leverage an integrated systems and multimodal learning approach, such as BRD, adding to, building on, and integrating previous analytic approaches to looking at Scratch coding, media design, physical computing and e-textiles. Using a detailed case study of one team during one of the early workshop iterations, we conduct a multimodal analysis of bidirectionally responsive making activities and discuss the ways that they present novel understanding of integrating diverse interests and encouraging collaborative and distributed computational thinking. We further examine how BRD operationalizes and extends multimodal learning theory by adding tangible and integrative dimensions as additional modalities learners can leverage to facilitate meaning making, metacognition, and agency. We also discuss how designing integrated systems, as facilitated through BRD, provides an opportunity to engage in authentic practices around the design of complex systems.
BFab for Faculty: Using Making to Empower Entrepreneurially-Minded Learning

Work in progress (innovative practice). Availability of campus maker-spaces has grown significantly over the past decade. While students make use of these tools for their own curiosity, research, and senior design courses, the potential for use of these spaces across the engineering curriculum goes unrealized. With tools such as laser-cutters and 3-D printers readily available to students, faculty need no longer wait for senior design to ask students to physically realize a design that’s relevant to a class topic. Our hypothesis was that the primary barrier preventing faculty from assigning in-depth prototype-based class projects was their own unfamiliarity with the tools the students would need to use to create those prototypes. We created a summer workshop on the fabrication capabilities of our maker-spaces and entrepreneurially-minded learning (EML) and delivered it to over 30 faculty and staff in the summer of 2017. Our workshop aimed to increase faculty familiarity with these tools and with the pedagogical approaches that leverage them and thereby empower faculty to assign open-ended, prototype-based experiences that center value-creation. Faculty were further coached on inductive pedagogical approaches such as problem-based learning. The subset of faculty that attended at least three different topical workshops and the pedagogy workshop went on to develop and share new assignments for their courses. This paper describes the workshop content and structure, results of the post-workshop survey, and an overview of the student assignments generated in the workshop. Results to date suggest that faculty did create assignments reaching higher levels within Bloom’s taxonomy as a result of the workshop and more fully implement the “value-creation” aspect of EML
Cooperative Optimal Collision Avoidance Laws for a Hybrid-Tailed Robotic Fish

This brief addresses the problem of collision avoidance by robotic fish that have a single caudal fin. The fish is hybrid-tailed in that the caudal fin is driven by a double-jointed mechanism. One joint is driven by a servomotor and the second joint is driven by an ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuator, which is often called an artificial muscle. For this type of robotic fish, collision avoidance is performed by employing a collision cone approach. Within the framework of the collision cone approach, Lyapunov-based methods are employed to determine analytical expressions of nonlinear guidance laws with which cooperative collision avoidance can be achieved. It is shown how these cooperative collision avoidance laws can be made optimal in the sense of minimizing an energy-like performance index. The conditions under which the developed guidance laws are robust to sensor measurement errors are determined. Simulations and experiments are performed to validate the guidance laws.
Local almost periodicity and direct limits of semigroup compactifications

A direct limit \(S := \lim _\rightarrow S_i\) of semitopological semigroups \(S_i\) is again a semitopological semigroup and so has a weakly almost periodic (WAP) compactification \(S^w\). However, the usefulness of \(S^w\) is limited since much of the information regarding the weakly almost periodic properties of the direct system \((S_i)_I\) is obscured in this compactification. To ameliorate this one can instead form the direct limit \({{\overline{S}}}^w := \lim _\rightarrow S_i^w\) of the \(\mathrm{WAP}\) compactifications of the semigroups \(S_i\). While this semigroup is not compact, it nevertheless has many of the properties of WAP compactifications. In this paper we consider these properties as well as those of related constructions.
Establishing nurse practitioner clinical practicums: Addressing fiscal realities

As demand expands for nurse practitioner clinical practicum sites, the supply of preceptors is decreasing. The traditional model of in-kind clinical training is losing its foothold for a variety of reasons. A looming question is how quickly a "pay to precept" norm will grow and what will be the costs. The pay for precepting movement is discussed including current trends, costs, and emerging compensation models. To adapt to this trend, alternative ways of drawing the precepting value proposition are suggested, particularly decreasing preceptor and site demands while increasing students' readiness to enter clinical practicum and tapping into faculty expertise to add value to the partnership. The authors provide suggestions on building a strategy for rethinking the structure of student precepting arrangements and compensation models.
Assessing the hydrologic impact of historical railroad embankments on wetland vegetation response in Canaan Valley, West Virginia: the value of high‐resolution data

The recovery of natural ecological processes after disturbance is poorly understood. Some disturbances may be so severe as to set ecosystems onto a new trajectory. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia protects a unique high‐altitude wetland that was heavily disturbed by logging 100 years before present (BP) and has since transitioned to a new ecological state (shrub wetland). Refuge managers interested in preserving and restoring ecosystem states expressed concern about lingering impacts of previous disturbances (logging, railroads, beaver, deer, fire). Available data suggested hydrologic impacts from a remnant railroad grade, but managers had insufficient quantitative data to assess these impacts. We initiated a fine‐scale assessment of topography, vegetation distribution, and hydrology to assess impacts from the remnant rail grade using lidar data, vegetation surveys, and piezometers. We developed topographic models, hydrological models, and mapped vegetation distribution. We developed statistical models to assess relationships between vegetation communities, hydrology, and distance to the rail grade. Surprisingly, we found that hydrologic flow paths did not conform to expectation and were not restricted by remnant land use features. For the most part, vegetation communities are responding to topographic and environmental gradients that existed prior to disturbance. Use of highly detailed topographic data (lidar), field hydrology, and vegetation studies allowed us to more accurately assess hydrologic and vegetation regimes, eliminating the need for mitigation, thus saving significant resources.
Monoclonal anti-idiotype antibody therapy of B-cell lymphoma: the addition of a short course of chemotherapy does not interfere with the antitumor effect nor prevent the emergence of idiotype-negative variant cells

The Ig idiotype of B-cell lymphoma can be used as a tumor-specific target. Prior trials with monoclonal anti-idiotype antibodies alone and combined with alpha-interferon have shown significant antitumor activity. In some patients, idiotype-negative tumors emerged after treatment. In this trial, patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were treated with two identical courses of monoclonal anti-idiotype anti-body therapy. Concurrent with the second course, at a time when idiotype-negative cells were suspected to be proliferating, a pulse dose of chlorambucil was administered. Tumor biopsies obtained before the first and second courses of treatment and at relapse were analyzed for idiotype expression and proliferation. Thirteen patients received 24 courses of antibody with minimal toxicity. Eleven had tumor regression, with 1 complete remission, 8 partial remissions, and 2 minor remissions, with freedom from progression lasting a median of 7 months in responding patients. Idiotype-negative tumor cells appeared in some relapse specimens despite the use of chlorambucil. In retrospect, this was not surprising because there was no increase in the proliferative rate of these tumors at the time the drug was used. Anti-idiotype antibodies continue to demonstrate antitumor activity against B-cell lymphoma with minimal toxicity. The mechanism of the effect is presumed to involve both direct antiproliferative effects of the antibody on the tumor cells as well as indirect, more long-lasting effects on the host. The addition of a mild chemotherapeutic agent in the dose and schedule used here to the second cycle of antibody therapy did not interfere with the antitumor effect, nor did it decrease the emergence of idiotype-negative cells.
Hope and Forgiveness: Reply to Davies and Hirsch

As I had hoped, each of the discussants on the idea of forgiveness in the consulting room approached it from their own very different theoretical and personal slant. Davies (this issue) offered the...
Family Sense-Making After a Down Syndrome Diagnosis:

The script of parenting shifts when parents learn of their child's Down syndrome diagnosis. To build a theory of the diagnostic experience and early family sense-making process, we interviewed 33 parents and nine grandparents living in the United States who learned prenatally or neonatally of their child's diagnosis. The core category of rescuing hope for the future encompassed the social process of sense-making over time as parents managed their sorrow, shock, and grief and amassed meaningful messages that anchored them as they looked toward the future. Application of the theory to practice underscores the import of early professional support offered to parents at key points in the sense-making process: Early as they disclose the news of the diagnosis to family and friends, and later close friends and kin assimilate meaningful messages about what the diagnosis means as they recalibrate expectations for a hopeful future.
Low-Dimensional Discrete Systems

In this Chapter, as in Luo (2019, 2020) one-dimensional and two-dimensional nonlinear discrete systems are discussed from the local theory of stability and bifurcations in Chap. 1. The linear discrete systems are discussed first, and the higher order singularity and stability for one-dimensional and two-dimensional nonlinear discrete systems are presented. A few special cases in 1-dimensional maps are discussed for a better understanding of the local theory.
The Role of Thrombin in Brain Injury After Hemorrhagic and Ischemic Stroke

Thrombin is increased in the brain after hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke primarily due to the prothrombin entry from blood either with a hemorrhage or following blood-brain barrier disruption. Increasing evidence indicates that thrombin and its receptors (protease-activated receptors (PARs)) play a major role in brain pathology following ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke (including intracerebral, intraventricular, and subarachnoid hemorrhage). Thrombin and PARs affect brain injury via multiple mechanisms that can be detrimental or protective. The cleavage of prothrombin into thrombin is the key step of hemostasis and thrombosis which takes place in every stroke and subsequent brain injury. The extravascular effects and direct cellular interactions of thrombin are mediated by PARs (PAR-1, PAR-3, and PAR-4) and their downstream signaling in multiple brain cell types. Such effects include inducing blood-brain-barrier disruption, brain edema, neuroinflammation, and neuronal death, although low thrombin concentrations can promote cell survival. Also, thrombin directly links the coagulation system to the immune system by activating interleukin-1α. Such effects of thrombin can result in both short-term brain injury and long-term functional deficits, making extravascular thrombin an understudied therapeutic target for stroke. This review examines the role of thrombin and PARs in brain injury following hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke and the potential treatment strategies which are complicated by their role in both hemostasis and brain.
Multinational Firms and Technology Transfer

The authors construct an oligopoly model in which a multinational firm has a technology superior to those of local firms in the host country. Workers employed by the multinational acquire knowledge of the superior technology and can spread their knowledge to local firms by switching employers. The multinational chooses to pay a wage premium to prevent local firms from hiring away its workers if the local firms are sufficiently disadvantaged or if there are enough local firms. Diffusion of the superior technology benefits local firms at the expense of workers, whose wages suffer. The host government might have an incentive to attract foreign direct investment even when technology transfer will not result, because of the wage premium local employees of the multinational firm earn. Also, foreign direct investment with technology transfer may reduce the total economic rent the host country earns.
Earnings skewness and analyst forecast bias

Abstract We argue that if analysts’ objective is to provide the most accurate forecast by minimizing the mean absolute forecast error, then the optimal forecast is the median instead of the mean earnings. Forecast bias is observed when the median is different from the mean in a skewed earnings distribution. Thus, part of the observed analyst forecast bias could be a result of analysts’ efforts to improve forecast accuracy when the earnings distribution is skewed. We find that earnings skewness is significantly related to analyst forecast bias. We also provide evidence that the market adjusts for part of the skewness-induced bias.
Competition and Strategic Information Acquisition in Credit Markets

We investigate the interaction between banks’ use of information acquisition as a strategic tool and their role in promoting the efficiency of credit markets when a bank’s ability togather informationvarieswithitsdistancetotheborrower. We showthatbanks acquire proprietary information both to soften lending competition and to extend their market share. As competition increases, investments in information acquisition fall, leading to lower interest rates but also to less efficient lending decisions. Consistent with the recent wave of bank acquisitions, we also find that merging for informational reasons with a competitor is an optimal response to industry consolidation.
Control of a programmed cell death pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa by an antiterminator.

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa the alp system encodes a programmed cell death pathway that is switched on in a subset of cells in response to DNA damage and is linked to the virulence of the organism. Here we show that the central regulator of this pathway, AlpA, exerts its effects by acting as an antiterminator rather than a transcription activator. In particular, we present evidence that AlpA positively regulates the alpBCDE cell lysis genes, as well as genes in a second newly identified target locus, by recognizing specific DNA sites within the promoter, then binding RNA polymerase directly and allowing it to bypass intrinsic terminators positioned downstream. AlpA thus functions in a mechanistically unusual manner to control the expression of virulence genes in this opportunistic pathogen. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the protein AlpA activates the expression of the alp locus in response to DNA damage, leading to lysis in a subset of cells and enhancing virulence of other, surviving cells. Here, the authors show that AlpA acts as an antiterminator rather than a transcriptional activator.
Mass-Shootings and Peer-to-Peer Lending

This paper analyzes the effect of mass-shootings on peer-to-peer lending behavior. Using US data from 2014-2018, we implement both an event study and a difference-in-differences methodology to exploit the quasi-experimental nature of mass-shooting incidents on local credit markets. Our findings indicate that immediately after a mass-shooting event, borrowing costs increase (higher interest rates and lower loan amounts) for individuals in affected communities relative to those in non-affected communities. These findings highlight that online credit marketplaces are reactive to random local shocks of violence at the community level.