cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On a class of nonlinear max-type difference equations

We investigate the solutions to the following system of nonlinear difference equations, xn+1=maxyn-12,Ayn-1,yn+1=maxxn-12,Axn-1forn∈N0, where x-1=α, y-1=β, x0=λ, and y0=μ are constants and A>0.
Diagnosed HIV Infection in Transgender Adults and Adolescents: Results from the National HIV Surveillance System, 2009-2014.

Publications on diagnosed HIV infection among transgender people have been limited to state- or local-level data. We analyzed data from the National HIV Surveillance System and present results from the first national-level analysis of transgender people with diagnosed HIV infection. From 2009 to 2014, HIV surveillance jurisdictions from 45 states plus the District of Columbia identified and reported at least one case of newly diagnosed HIV infection for transgender people; jurisdictions from 5 states reported no cases for transgender people. Of 2351 transgender people with newly diagnosed HIV infection during 2009–2014, 84.0% were transgender women (male-to-female), 15.4% were transgender men (female-to-male), and 0.7% were additional gender identity (e.g., gender queer, bi-gender). Over half of both transgender women (50.8%; 1002/1974) and men (58.4%; 211/361) with newly diagnosed HIV infection were non-Hispanic black/African American. Improvements in data collection methods and quality are needed to gain a better understanding of HIV burden among transgender people.
A Self-Assembled Cofacial Cobalt Porphyrin Prism for Oxygen Reduction Catalysis

Herein we report the first study of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyzed by a cofacial porphyrin scaffold accessed in high yield (overall 53%) using coordination-driven self-assembly with no chromatographic purification steps. The ORR activity was investigated using chemical and electrochemical techniques on monomeric cobalt(II) tetra(meso-4-pyridyl)porphyrinate (CoTPyP) and its cofacial analogue [Ru8(η6-iPrC6H4Me)8(dhbq)4(CoTPyP)2][OTf]8 (Co Prism) (dhbq = 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinato, OTf = triflate) as homogeneous oxygen reduction catalysts. Co Prism is obtained in one self-assembly step that organizes six total building blocks, two CoTPyP units and four arene–Ru clips, into a cofacial motif previously demonstrated with free-base, Zn(II), and Ni(II) porphyrins. Turnover frequencies (TOFs) from chemical reduction (66 vs 6 h–1) and rate constants of overall homogeneous catalysis (kobs) determined from rotating ring–disk experiments (1.1 vs 0.05 h–1) establish a cofacial enhancement upon compar...
Two Sides to Scale

This column discusses the unprecedented scale reached by several current technology firms and examines the benefits and concerns generated by such scale.
Plasmonic-enhanced Metallic Nanogratings for Ultrahigh Q-factor Resonances

We analytically, numerically, and experimentally investigate the formation of ultra-sharp plasmonic bandgaps, namely, the omnidirectional and quasi-omnidirectional bandgaps in thin plasmonic nanogratings formed by a pair of graded metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) structure.
The hidden burden of influenza: A review of the extra-pulmonary complications of influenza infection

Severe influenza infection represents a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Although influenza is primarily considered a viral infection that results in pathology limited to the respiratory system, clinical reports suggest that influenza infection is frequently associated with a number of clinical syndromes that involve organ systems outside the respiratory tract. A comprehensive MEDLINE literature review of articles pertaining to extra-pulmonary complications of influenza infection, using organ-specific search terms, yielded 218 articles including case reports, epidemiologic investigations, and autopsy studies that were reviewed to determine the clinical involvement of other organs. The most frequently described clinical entities were viral myocarditis and viral encephalitis. Recognition of these extra-pulmonary complications is critical to determining the true burden of influenza infection and initiating organ-specific supportive care.
“I knew that I was a hybrid”: An interview with Kiran Nagarkar

AbstractKiran Nagarkar is a well-known bilingual novelist in Marathi and in English who has written several notable and award-winning novels as well as plays. In this interview conducted in August 2016, the novelist discusses his background and his beginnings in Marathi writing, and his years in advertising and working with Kersy Katrak. The novelist discusses the biographical connection to the chawls in Bombay and the role of excrement in his own work. Nagarkar also explains the early popular and literary influences on his work, the sense of his own hybridity across the writing in two languages, and his refusal to search for an originary past.
Evaluation of an Intensive Outpatient Program for Combat Veterans With PTSD

ABSTRACTThere is an identified need within the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System to provide robust treatment for combat veterans with PTSD. Although empirically supported treatments for PTSD are available within the VA system, the dropout rate is high and many veterans remain symptomatic after treatment has ended, indicating a need for further treatment development. In addition, some veterans require a higher level of care over the course of treatment but a stay at a residential facility is often not feasible. The purpose of this article is to present a newly developed intensive outpatient program, designed to bridge the gap between inpatient and outpatient levels of care, for combat veterans with PTSD. The program provides intensive psychoeducation on PTSD and associated symptoms such as guilt, shame, moral injury and avoidance, skill building to cope with intensive emotions, and in-vivo exposure activities delivered in an intensive group format. Initial results indicate that it may be feasible to ...
Accuracy of recovered moments for narrow mobility distributions obtained with commonly used inversion algorithms for mobility size spectrometers

ABSTRACTAerosol mobility size spectrometers are commonly used to measure size distributions of submicrometer aerosol particles. Commonly used data inversion algorithms for these instruments assume that the measured mobility distribution is broad relative to the DMA transfer function. This article theoretically examines errors that are incurred for input distributions of any width with an emphasis on those with mobility widths comparable to that of the DMA's transfer function. Our analysis is valid in the limit of slow scan rates, and is applicable to the interpretation of measurements such as those obtained with tandem differential mobility analyzers as well as broader distributions. The analysis leads to expressions that show the relationship between the inverted number concentration, mean size, and standard deviation and true values of those parameters. For narrow distributions (e.g., for a mobility distribution produced by a DMA with a 1:10 aerosol:sheath air flow ratio) under typical operating conditi...
Direct and Indirect Effects of Case Complexity, Guilty Pleas, and Offender Characteristics on Sentencing for Offenders Convicted of a White-Collar Offense Prior to Sentencing Guidelines

Previous research on the punishment of offenders convicted of a white-collar offense estimated models that specify only direct effects of defendant characteristics, offense-related variables, and guilty pleas on sentence severity. Drawing from conflict or labeling theories, much of this research focused on the effects of offender's socioeconomic status on sentence outcomes. Findings from this research are inconsistent about the relationship between defendant characteristics and sentence severity. These studies overlook how differences in case complexity of white-collar offense and guilty pleas may intervene in the relationship between offender characteristics and sentence outcomes. This study seeks to contribute to an understanding of federal sentencing prior to the federal sentencing guidelines by testing a legal-bureaucratic theory of sentencing that hypothesizes an interplay between case complexity, guilty pleas and length of imprisonment. This interplay reflects the interface between the legal ramifications of pleading guilty, prosecutorial interests in efficiency and finality of case disposition in complex white-collar cases, and sentence severity. Using structural equation modeling, a four-equation model of sentencing that specifies case complexity and guilty pleas as intervening variables in the relationship between offender characteristics and length of imprisonment is estimated. Several findings are noteworthy. First, the hypothesized interplay between case complexity, guilty pleas, and sentence severity is supported. Second, the effect of offender's educational attainment on sentence severity is indirect via case complexity and guilty pleas. Third, offender's race and gender effect length of imprisonment both directly and indirectly through the intervening effect of case complexity and guilty pleas. These findings indicate the need to specify sentencing models that consider the direct and indirect effects of offender characteristics, offense characteristics, and guilty pleas on judicial discretion at sentencing.
Quantification of Qualitative Data for MCDM Problems

The first step in any MCDM problem is to define the set of alternatives and the set of decision criteria that the alternatives need to be evaluated with. Although this is an enormously critical step, its formulation cannot easily be captured with a standard modeling procedure. This task appeals more to the art aspect of MCDM than to the science one. It is this realization that makes most experts in this area to preach that the single most important step in solving any MCDM (and for that reason any decision making) problem is to first correctly define the problem. The interested reader may want to refer to the classic book with the characteristic fables by Russell L. Ackoff [Ackoff, 1978] on the art and science of decision making.
Behavior Modification and Black Populations

Over the past decade, behavior modification has gained widespread acceptability and respectability, both as a theoretical approach to understanding various aspects of pathological behavior and as a system of therapy. But the influence of behavioral theory has not been limited strictly to pathological behavior in the clinical arena. Behaviorists have applied their technology in a wide variety of areas including the improvement of health habits (Matarazzo, 1980), education (Semb, 1972), the environment (Witmer & Geller, 1976), economics (Agras, Jacob, & Lebedeck, 1980), communities (Liberman & Bryan, 1977), and even problems of race relations (Jones & Haney, 1981; Williams, Cromier, Sapp, & Andrews, 1971). With such widespread applicability in helping to resolve human problems, behavioral theory and practice has established itself as a useful way of conceptualizing and changing behavior on an individual, group or system-wide basis. Thus, behavior modification has proved more than a passing fad as predicted by some and is not dead as lamented by others (Krasner, 1976).
Surgeon Assessment of Gastric Cancer Lymph Node Specimens with a Video of Technique

In the majority of US institutions, gastrectomy specimens are sent for pathologic examination without surgeon assessment or standardized technique of lymph node (LN) assessment for gastric cancer. We conducted a quality improvement project at a US cancer center utilizing surgeon assessment of gastric LNs, and created a video to illustrate a technique of standardized lymph node assessment. Convenience sampling was employed among patients with gastric adenocarcinomas who underwent curative-intent D2 gastrectomy between July 2016 and June 2017. For each patient, a surgeon assessed gastric LNs by harvesting individual LNs, followed by conventional evaluation by a pathologist. We enrolled 17 patients for this quality improvement project. Eight patients underwent total gastrectomy, and nine patients underwent subtotal gastrectomy. Twelve patients underwent preoperative chemoradiation therapy, three underwent preoperative chemotherapy alone, and two underwent upfront surgery. The median number of examined LNs was 43. All patients had ≥ 16 LNs examined, and 88% of patients had ≥ 30 LNs examined. Surgeon assessment of gastric LN specimens was feasible and effective to provide high-quality pathologic LN assessment after gastrectomy in gastric adenocarcinoma patients. Standardization of the technical methods for gastric LN evaluation is needed to improve the accuracy and quality of gastric cancer staging in the US. The provided video can help inform standardization of gastric LN assessment.
Blind equalization and automatic modulation classification of underwater acoustic signals

Automatic characterization of underwater acoustic signals enables better use of the acoustic spectrum through activities such as interference avoidance and marine mammal protections. Determining the modulation of a received waveform can permit sonar and communications within the same bandwidth with minimal collisions, and it can identify systems operating outside their permitted regime. The characterization system determines the signal modulation in the presence of an unknown, time-varying channel impulse response. The work presented here demonstrates the use of blind equalization along with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for automatic classification of underwater signals. The current research focuses on classification of constant modulus signals since these signals are widely used for acoustic communications. The proposed approach provides an approximate 24 percent improvement in modulation classification compared to approaches without equalization and requires less training data than previous approaches. The constant modulus modulations examined here are binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), minimum shift keying (MSK), frequency shift keying (FSK) and 8 phase shift keying (8PSK). Simplified channels were simulated in MATLAB and the data were passed through the channels to analyze the approaches. Future work will include improving classification on more realistic channel models simulated via the Sonar Simulation Toolkit, verifying the results on underwater acoustic data collected from open water experiments, and expanding the types of signals analyzed.
Decisional Balance and Contemplation Ladder to Support Interventions for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Uptake and Persistence.

Fewer than 60,000 males-inclusive of all sexual identities-were prescribed HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by mid-2017 in the United States. Efforts to increase PrEP uptake among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM), in particular, are ongoing in research and practice settings, but few tools exist to support interventions. We aimed to develop and validate tools to support motivational interviewing interventions for PrEP. In 2017, a national sample of HIV-negative GBM of relatively high socioeconomic status (n = 786) was asked about sexual behaviors that encompass Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for PrEP use, a 35-item decisional-balance scale (i.e., PrEP-DB) assessing benefits and consequences of PrEP use, and questions assessing location on the motivational PrEP cascade and derivative-the PrEP contemplation ladder. Principal axis factoring with oblique promax rotation was used for PrEP-DB construct identification and item reduction. The final 20-item PrEP-DB performed well; eigenvalues indicating a 4-factor solution provided an adequate fit to the data. Factors included the following: health benefits (α = 0.91), health consequences (α = 0.82), social benefits (α = 0.72), and social consequences (α = 0.86). Ladder scores increased across the cascade (ρ = 0.89, p 0.05) and social consequences (β = -0.05, p > 0.05) in the fully adjusted regression model. The PrEP-DB demonstrated good reliability and predictive validity, and the ladder had strong construct validity with the motivational PrEP cascade. PrEP uptake and persistence interventions and additional empirical work could benefit from the utility of these measures.
Experimental Validation of Super-Resolution Beamforming Using Multiplicative Array Processing

Beamforming with conventional array processing utilizes linear, additive processing techniques to combine the signals from the different array elements. In previous work, a multiplicative processing technique was proposed for combining the signals from sensor arrays for super-resolution beamforming. The multiplicative processing technique is derived from standard linear array processing concepts and was shown to emulate the performance of larger array apertures. In this paper, experimental measurements from an acoustic sensor array are used to validate the proposed method for direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation by comparing these results with those from linear processing of measurements from much larger aperture arrays. The processing results show that the multiplicative processing of experimental measurements from smaller apertures perform as well as linear processing of measurements from larger apertures.
29P(p, γ)30S in explosive hydrogen burning

The reaction rate of29P(p,γ)30S has been reexamined. New experimental results about the level structure of S above the -proton threshold have been used to estimate the resonance strengths in the (p,γ) channel.
Reclaiming the aesthetic of women: de-colonizing land ownership

This paper engages with the study of the aesthetic as an embodied form and offers a critique of the study of value and commodification that emerges in the global spatial imagination. I explore the ...
Addressing misconceptions of fast mapping in adults.

ABSTRACTStudies of fast mapping (FM) in adults have included both positive results and failures to replicate. I argue that although conflicting studies warrant caution, FM findings are nonetheless ...
Prediction of mortality associated with early onset pneumonia in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) is a serious heart condition, affecting about 1 million Americans each year. AMI is generally followed by an emergency revascularization to restore blood flow and minimize heart damage; however, even when the procedure is successful, patients are still prone to infectious diseases, such as pneumonia. The objective of this study is to develop a mathematical model to predict in-hospital mortality caused by Early Onset Pneumonia (EOP) in patients with AMI. We identified and collected 14 clinically important parameters from 101 EOP patients. Using logistic regression analysis, we developed a prediction model with three statistically significant parameters: diabetes, low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (
The extant telephone-pole beetle genus Micromalthus discovered in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Archostemata: Micromalthidae)

ABSTRACTThe telephone-pole beetle family Micromalthidae has attracted the attention of entomologists and biologists because of its enigmatic morphology, systematic position, and complex life cycle....
Dataset: User side acquisition of People-Centric Sensing in the Internet-of-Things

We envision a world where people-centric sensing and personalized services can be achieved without centralized data collection and processing or the reliance on video-based surveillance. To help assess the feasibility of building context-aware applications while allowing users to fully control their potentially sensitive data, we studied the feasibility of people-centric sensing using only user-side data acquisition. Using only off-the-shelf, energy restricted sensor kits in a smart environment together with an energy-efficient message exchange scheme implemented on top of Bluetooth Low Energy, the collected dataset provides insight on a continuous cyber-physical view from users' individual perspectives. The availability of the dataset encourages further studies of users' activities, for instance to perform distributed inference on users' social interactions and activity trajectories.
Constitutional Change and Direct Democracy: Modern Challenges and ExcitingOpportunities

A description of today’s symposium announced that “[c]ontributors will focus on the structural, normative and contextual factors that distinguish state constitutions from their federal counterpart and the effects that these differences may have on the nature and significance of state constitutional change.” I want to broaden the focus just a bit, to discuss how the differences between state constitutions and their federal counterpart can affect the course of federal constitutional change, for I think the interplay (rather than just a comparison) between the two kinds of constitutions is an important but underappreciated topic of inquiry within American democracy. When we speak of federal constitutional change, we are, of course, talking about a very wide subject. Many people are inclined to think of federal constitutional change in terms of landmark Supreme Court rulings. To be sure, seminal cases like Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, concerning, respectively, racial equality, reproductive autonomy, and free political speech, are important. But our instinctive recognition of the centrality of path-breaking Supreme Court decisions sometimes causes us to overlook equally important (if not more so) constitutional change that takes place outside of courts and that may or may not even generate enforceable judicial doctrine. These developments include what I and other participants in this conference sometimes refer to as “formal” and “informal” constitutional amendments. Both kinds of federal amendments have tended to be very populist in character, a populism that has been reinforced by other legal trends.
Social Security Reform and Growth in an Overlapping Generations Economy with Heterogeneous Agents

Considerable attention has been paid to the many problems inherent to the US Social Security system over the past several decades. This study investigates the redistributive and efficiency consequences of introducing a subsidy-based pension system in an endogenous growth setting with income and mortality inequality. My analysis suggests that both current and future generations are better off without Social Security regardless of skill level. More significantly, I find that replacing the US Social Security system with capital subsidies is Pareto optimal for all generations and skill groups for a given set of subsidy rates. The existence of income and mortality inequality reduces the range of Pareto optimal capital subsidy rates, implying that a public pension system based on capital subsidies is less costly to implement in an economy with inequality than in an economy with homogeneous agents.
Dissemination of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research on Social Media Platforms Is Associated With Increased Citation Count.

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to find out whether dissemination of gastroenterology and hepatology (GI) research on social media networks correlates with citation count at 5 years. METHODS We correlated the Altmetric Attention Score with Web of Science citation counts at 5 years for scholarly work published in the 10 highest impact factor GI journals in 2014. RESULTS In 4,026 analyzed items, the correlation (r) between Altmetric Attention Score and citations at 5 years was 0.62 (P < 0.001), representing strong correlation. Twitter was the platform with the strongest correlation with citations. DISCUSSION Social media attention garnered by GI scholarly work strongly correlates with the number of citations at 5 years.
Building coalitions: A statewide nursing organization's role in changing nursing education regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic

The California Association of Colleges of Nursing (CACN), representing California's baccalaureate and higher degree nursing education programs, has raised concerns for over two-years about the number, relevance, and legitimacy of nursing education regulations. Formal CACN letters to state regulators did not affect change. While California nursing education regulations require 75% direct patient contact for all clinical courses, meeting this requirement became impossible as clinical agencies closed to nursing students during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing regulatory change was urgently needed to provide greater flexibility in meeting clinical course objectives using simulation and other online learning modalities. At stake was the graduation of over 14,971 RN students from public and private nursing programs. While state regulators opposed a legislative approach, CACN collaborated with stakeholders to support legislation that led to a reduction in direct patient care hours, allowing nursing students to progress and graduate. This longstanding advocacy work was accelerated by the pandemic and required leadership and knowledge about the legislative process for nurse educators to succeed. The ultimate goal for CACN is to forge a more respectful relationship and greater collaboration between educators and regulators to enhance quality, reduce costs, and redundancies in nursing education in this state.
Health-Promoting Behaviors of Low-Income Adults in a Community Health Center.

Health-promoting behaviors improve health, prevent disease, and decrease healthcare costs. This study describes the health-promotion behaviors and identifies influencing factors of health-promoting...
Closing Open Government: Grassroots Policy Conversion of China’s Open Government Information Regulation and Its Aftermath:

How and when do opportunities for political participation through courts change under authoritarianism? Although China is better known for tight political control than for political expression, the...
Defining the social determinants of health for nursing action to achieve health equity: A consensus paper from the American academy of nursing.

Abstract Background The 2019-2020 American Academy of Nursing (Academy, 2019) policy priorities document states that “they have a clear and distinct focus on social determinants of health and uses this lens to advance policies and solutions within each of the three overarching priorities” Purpose This consensus paper seeks to establish conceptual clarity and consensus for what social determinants of health mean for nursing, with emphasis on examples of health policies that advance planetary health equity and improve planetary health-related quality of life. Methods Volunteers from five Expert Panels of the Academy met via videoconference to determine roles and refine the focus of the paper. After the initial discussion, the first draft of the conceptual framework was written by the first three authors of the paper and, after discussion via videoconference with all the co-authors, successive drafts were developed and circulated for feedback. Consensus was reached when all authors indicated acceptance of what became the final version of the conceptual framework. Discussion A conceptual framework was developed that describes how the social determinants of health can be addressed through nursing roles and actions at the individual, family, and population levels with a particular focus on the role of health policy. The paper provides a specific health policy example for each of the six key areas of the social determinants of health to illustrate how nurses can act to improve population health. Conclusion Nursing actions can support timely health policy changes that focus on upstream factors in the six key areas of the social determinants of health and thus improve population health. The urgent need to eliminate systematic and structural racism must be central to such policy change if equity in planetary health-related quality of life is to be attained.
Precision Medicine and Physical Therapy: A Healthy Living Medicine Approach for the Next Century.

There is a reciprocal relationship between common health conditions encountered in physical therapist practice, disability, and healthy living factors, such as physical inactivity, blood pressure, sleep quality, diet, and obesity. This relationship is apparent across all practice settings. Physical therapists are well positioned in the health care system to mitigate chronic disease by routinely screening and addressing healthy living factors to improve overall health and lower the risk for chronic disease (healthy living medicine). However, there are several challenges to the successful implementation of this framework in physical therapist practice. This Perspective will elucidate this relationship between HL behaviors and physical therapist practice, review the current state of practice regarding screening and intervention of 5 key healthy living behaviors, and outline future steps the profession can take toward implementing precision medicine using a healthy living medicine approach.
In vivo photoacoustic flowmetry at depths of the diffusive regime based on saline injection.

We propose a saline injection-based method to quantify blood flow velocity in vivo with acoustic-resolution photoacoustic tomography. By monitoring the saline–blood interface propagating in the blood vessel, the flow velocity can be resolved. We first demonstrated our method in phantom experiments, where a root mean square error of prediction of 0.29 mm/s 0.29 mm/s was achieved. By injecting saline into a mouse tail vein covered with 1 mm chicken tissue, we showed that the flow velocity in the tail vein could be measured at depths, which is especially pertinent to monitoring blood flow velocity in patients undergoing intravenous infusion.
Key aspects for successful immunoglobulin therapy of primary immunodeficiencies

Immunoglobulin (Ig) therapy is the mainstay for treatment in the majority of primary immune deficiencies. While B cell defects are the predominant conditions in man, other diseases in which T cell dysfunction is severe also require antibody replacement. In many medical practices the phenotypic overlap between immune deficiency and symptoms of asthma leads to both missed opportunities for diagnosing immune defects and inappropriate Ig treatment of asthmatic patients with normal B cell function. As steroid therapy can lower serum IgG levels, this finding alone is an insufficient indicator for Ig replacement. In the past 3 decades, there has a gradual increase in recommended and commonly used doses of parenteral immune globulin, often based on both IgG trough levels and clinical responses. Special attention to Ig doses is needed for growing children, in cases of weight loss or gain, pregnancy and for subjects in whom more rapid consumption of Ig is likely, including febrile patients or those with gastrointestinal or lung disease. While acute bacterial infections are much less common in Ig-treated subjects, a number of reports note continued evidence of inflammatory complications. Monitoring patients over time includes, at minimum, physical examination, blood counts and chemistry screening tests and IgG trough levels, at 6-12-month intervals. Other monitoring tools include spirometry and at wider intervals with those with lung disease, carbon monoxide diffusion capacity and chest computed tomography scans. With careful selection of patients and adequate therapy, an improved quality of life is possible.
Defending embedded systems with software symbiotes

A large number of embedded devices on the internet, such as routers and VOIP phones, are typically ripe for exploitation. Little to no defensive technology, such as AV scanners or IDS's, are available to protect these devices.We propose a host-based defense mechanism, which we call Symbiotic Embedded Machines (SEM), that is specifically designed to inject intrusion detection functionality into the firmware of the device. A SEM or simply the Symbiote, may be injected into deployed legacy embedded systems with no disruption to the operation of the device. A Symbiote is a code structure embedded in situ into the firmware of an embedded system. The Symbiote can tightly co-exist with arbitrary host executables in a mutually defensive arrangement, sharing computational resources with its host while simultaneously protecting the host against exploitation and unauthorized modification. The Symbiote is stealthily embedded in a randomized fashion within an arbitrary body of firmware to protect itself from removal. We demonstrate the operation of a generic whitelist-based rootkit detector Symbiote injected in situ into Cisco IOS with negligible performance penalty and without impacting the routers functionality. We present the performance overhead of a Symbiote on physical Cisco router hardware. A MIPS implementation of the Symbiote was ported to ARM and injected into a Linux 2.4 kernel, allowing the Symbiote to operate within Android and other mobile computing devices. The use of Symbiotes represents a practical and effective protection mechanism for a wide range of devices, especially widely deployed, unprotected, legacy embedded devices.
Summaries of Twenty Cases of Successful Private Antitrust Enforcement

This document summarizes twenty cases of successful private antitrust enforcement. These twenty summaries build on earlier summaries of forty additional cases of successful private enforcement available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1105523. An analysis of the data from the original forty cases is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1090661 (published as Robert L. Lande and Joshua P. Davis, Benefits From Private Antitrust Enforcement: An Analysis of Forty Cases, 42 U.S.F. L. REV. 879 (2008)) and an argument based on the forty cases that private antitrust enforcement has greater deterrence effects than criminal enforcement by the Department of Justice is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1565693 (published as Robert L. Lande and Joshua P. Davis, Comparative Deterrence from Private Enforcement and Criminal Enforcement of the U.S. Antitrust Laws, Brigham Young University Law Review, 315, 2011).
Mazzasprunígliola: Tradizione del Racconto nel Chianti Senese

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Fabio Mugnaini Year: 1999 Pages: 304 Details: Preface by Rudolf Scheda Publisher: Editrice L'Harmattan Italia
Increase in the length of incarceration and the subsequent labor market outcomes: Evidence from men released from Illinois state prisons

The sharp rise in U.S. incarceration rates has heightened long-standing concerns among scholars and policymakers that lengthy incarceration permanently harms the future labor market outcomes of prisoners. If true, then lengthy prison sentences will not only punish criminals for crimes committed, but will also make it far more difficult for ex-prisoners to reenter society as productive citizens. To investigate this claim I examine how increase in duration of incarceration affects subsequent earnings and employment. Comparing long-serving prisoners with short-serving ones in the Illinois state prison system, I find that the length of incarceration is positively associated with earnings and employment, even though these effects attenuate over time. The positive effects are stronger for individuals convicted of economically motivated and less violent crimes (such as property- and drug-related offenses) than for those convicted of violent crimes (such as person-related offenses). The effect is also stronger for prison entrants with self-reported drug addiction problems. The deterrent effect of lengthy incarceration and rehabilitation during incarceration are possible reasons for this positive effect. However, because this paper analyzes men who served less than four years in Illinois prison and excludes the population of men who served their terms exclusively in jail, readers should be cautious about generalizing findings of this paper. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Language: en
Potential of the bioflavonoids in the prevention/treatment of ocular disorders

Objectives Flavonoids are a common group of plant polyphenols that give colour and flavour to fruits and vegetables. In recent years, flavonoids have gained importance in the pharmaceutical field through their beneficial effects on human health and are widely available as nutritional supplements. Several pharmacological actions of the bioflavonoids may be useful in the prevention or treatment of ocular diseases responsible for vision loss such as diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and cataract. This review aims to summarize the potential therapeutic applications of various bioflavonoids in different ocular diseases and also discusses delivery of these agents to the ocular tissues. Key findings It is apparent that the flavonoids are capable of acting on various mechanisms or aetiological factors responsible for the development of different sight threatening ocular diseases. From a drug delivery perspective, ocular bioavailability depends on the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical characteristics of the selected flavonoids and very importantly the route of administration. Summary The potential therapeutic applications of various bioflavonoids in ocular diseases is reviewed and the delivery of these agents to the ocular tissues is discussed. Whereas oral administration of bioflavonoids may demonstrate some pharmacological activity in the outer sections of the posterior ocular segment, protection of the retinal ganglionic cells in vivo may be limited by this delivery route. Systemic or local administration of these agents may yield much higher and effective concentrations of the parent bioflavonoids in the ocular tissues and at much lower doses.
Complexity and Democracy: Pathologies of Modern Governance

Conventionally, democratic theory holds that simplicity is more conducive to democracy than complexity. Rousseau and Montesquieu saw small, homogeneous communities as the only place where democracy was likely to thrive. Empirical studies of democracy complement this idea, presenting a public ill-informed and thus not competent to handle the business of governing. As the world becomes increasingly complex, the capacity of the public to manage with rapidly changing conditions is strained. The only possible form of democracy therefore is some version of elite democracy where the people cede the power of government to one or another of competing elites. As non-democratic forms of government receded in respectability, elite democracy emerged in contrast to what is unflatteringly called mass democracy, perhaps best articulated at Putney in 1647. Elite democracy gives the people some say in which elites govern. But in so doing, the role of the public is thus reduced to that of a rubber stamp, lacking even real veto power. Thus, elite democracy is hardly to be considered democracy at all, and has more in common with rule of the one or the few, rather than the rule of the many. Even if elite democracy is still considered a form of democracy, its pathologies are different from the pathologies of mass democracy, and have very different origins. The pathologies of elite democracy have grown acute over the last several decades as elites struggle to cope with increases in complexity and the technical demands of governance. I want to suggest a reverse of this common account. Rather than being unsuited to modern complexity, mass democracy is the only form of government capable of coping with the challenges of complex policy issues. Characteristics of the politically sophisticated, particularly the ability to think in increasingly abstract or theoretical categories, are especially ill-equipped to deal with increasing levels of complexity. In a complex world, “ideological constraint” or dogmatism is especially ill suited to even acknowledge rapidly changing conditions and can be recognized as one of the causes of our current political malaise. Alas, the kind of democracy that emerges from complexity may not be the kind enamored by democratic theorists. For one, it may be at times wrongheaded and foolish. Second, such democracy will often entail little more than the aggregation of individual or local interests rather than the communal pursuit of some common good. However, a democratic government has greater capacity for self-correction than ideologically constrained experts. Thus, rather than being antagonistic or in tension with one another, democracy is well suited to provide governance under conditions of increasing complexity and interdependence. However, to make appropriate adjustments, it is important to understand the specific elements that are conducive to effective democracy under conditions of complexity.
Checkpointing in Distributed Computing Systems

This paper examines the performance of synchronous checkpointing in a distributed computing environment with and without load redistribution. Performance models are developed, and optimum checkpoint intervals are determined. The analysis extends earlier work by allowing for multiple nodes, state-dependent checkpoint intervals, and a performance metric which is coupled with failure-free performance and the speedup functions associated with implementation of parallel algorithms. The analytic results for synchronous checkpointing without load redistribution are compared to measurements of a synthetic parallel algorithm with user-level checkpointing. Expressions for the optimum checkpoint intervals for synchronous checkpointing with and without load redistribution are used to determine when load redistribution is advantageous.
The development of decoding of emotions in children with externalizing behavioral disturbances and their normally developing peers.

Abstract This investigation examined children’s capacity to decode verbal and nonverbal emotional stimuli. Children with externalizing behavioral symptoms were compared to two types of controls, including chronically ill and normally developing children. Children were requested to identify whether video scenes were happy, angry, sad, or neutral, across four different modalities including verbal, prosody, facial, and combined. Findings were that chronological age was a significant predictor of children’s ability to decode emotions with older children having better developed abilities than their younger peers. Verbal intelligence also was found to be a significant predictor of the ability to decode facial expressions and combined scenes. Although the data did not support the original hypotheses that children with externalizing behavior disorders would be less accurate than controls in the decoding of emotions, findings did support a developmental progression of decoding accuracy. Recommendations within the limitations of the study design are provided which support a developmental framework in children’s acquisition of the decoding of emotions.
A Sensitive Method for Determination of Low Concentrations of Diquat and Paraquat

DETERMINATION of residues has become an important aspect of herbicidal research. Efforts are continually being made to increase the sensitivity of known tests for the chemical analysis of a large number of herbicides. Aquatic herbicides must be effective and used in small quantities (usually 1.0–5.0 p.p.m.) to be economically feasible; consequently, their residues are usually very small.
Cooling of Vertical Shrouded-Fin Arrays of Rectangular Profile by Natural Convection: An Experimental Study

Abstract Experiments have been performed to determine the natural-convection heat transfer characteristics of vertically oriented shrouded heat sinks (finned surfaces) of rectangular profile under uniform heat flux condition applied to the base. The size and configuration of the heat sink, the power dissipated, and the clearance gap between the shroud and the fin tips were varied during the experiments. The heat transfer medium was air. The temperatures were maintained below 150° during the experiments, which is the maximum allowable operation temperature for most silicon-based electronic components. It was found that shrouding, in general, significantly enhances heat transfer from the heat sinks. For a fixed heat flux and heat sink configuration, the maximum temperature on the heat sink dropped as the clearance was increased, attained a minimum, and then started to rise again. The effect of the shroud on 'the maximum temperature and the average Nusselt number is illustrated
Micro-Damage Constitutive Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Perforation of Targets by Projectiles

The effective use of existing Finite Element Codes in the direct simulation of hypervelocity impacts by projectiles is limited by the dependence of the size of localized failure regions on the mesh size and alignment. This gives rise to a non-physical description of the penetration and perforation processes. A micromechanical constitutive model that couples the anisotropic thermo-viscodamage mechanism with the thermo-hypoelasto-viscoplastic deformation will be presented as a remedy to this situation. Explicit and implicit microstructural length scale measures, which preserve the well-posed nature of the differential equations, are introduced through the use of the viscosity and gradient localization limiters. Simple and robust numerical algorithms for the integration of the constitutive equations will be also presented. The proposed unified integration algorithms are extensions of the classical rate-independent return mapping algorithms to the rate-dependent problems. A simple and direct computational algorithm is also used for implementing the gradient-dependent equations. This algorithm can be implemented in the existing finite element codes without numerous modifications as compared to the current numerical approaches for integrating gradient-dependent models. Model capabilities are preliminarily illustrated for the dynamic localization of inelastic flow in adiabatic shear bands and the perforation of Weldox 460E steel plates with various thicknesses by a deformable blunt projectile at various high impact speeds.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Novel pharmacotherapeutic strategies for treatment of opioid-induced neonatal abstinence syndrome

The non-medical use of prescription drugs, in general, and opioids, in particular, is a national epidemic, resulting in enormous addiction rates, healthcare expenditures, and overdose deaths. Prescription opioids are overly prescribed, illegally trafficked, and frequently abused, all of which have created a new opioid addiction pathway, adding to the number of opioid-dependent newborns requiring treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), and contributing to challenges in effective care in maternal and fetal/neonatal (M-F/N) medicine. The standard of care for illicit or prescription opioid dependence during pregnancy is opioid agonist (methadone or buprenorphine) substitution therapy, which are also frequently abused. The next generation of pharmacotherapies for the treatment of illicit or prescription opioid addiction in the M-F/N interactional dyad must take into consideration the interplay between genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Addiction to illicit drugs during pregnancy presents unique challenges to effectively treat the mother, and the developing fetus and infant after delivery. New pharmacotherapies should be safe to the developing fetus, effective in treating the physical and psychological consequences of addiction in the mother, and reduce the incidence and severity of NAS in the infant after birth. More pharmacotherapeutic options should be available to the physician such that a more individualized rather than a one-drug/strategy-fits-all approach can be used. A myriad of new and exciting pharmacotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of opioid dependence and addiction are on the horizon. This review focuses on such three strategies: (i) pharmacotherapeutic targeting of the serotonergic system; (ii) mixed opioid immunotherapeutics (vaccines); (iii) pharmacogenomics as a therapeutic strategy to insure personalized care. We review and discuss how these strategies may offer additional treatment modalities for the treatment of M-F/N during pregnancy and the treatment of the infant after birth.