cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ability of very young children to produce reliable isometric force measurements.

PURPOSE This study was designed to examine the reliability of measuring isometric muscle force in very young children with a hand-held dynamometer (HHD). METHODS Forty-five children aged two, three, or four years old and with typical development, were divided into three groups of 15 subjects each. Group 1 included two-year-old children (X age = 32 +/- 2.4 months), group 2 contained three-year-old children (X age = 43 +/- 3.8 months), and group 3 included four-year-old children (X age = 54 +/- 3.7 months). Isometric force for shoulder flexion, elbow flexion, elbow extension, knee flexion, and knee extension were measured with a HHD on two occasions separated by five to nine days. The frequency of challenging child behaviors and extra test trails also were recorded. RESULTS Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (2, 1) for the combined group (n = 45) ranged from 0.90 to 0.95. The ICCs (2, 1) for the two-year-old children ranged from 0.76 to 0.91, for the three-year-old group from 0.85 to 0.92, and for the four-year-old children from 0.54 to 0.94. The frequency of challenging behaviors did not appear to be related to the level of reliability. CONCLUSION Using a HHD and standardized procedures, isometric force of children who are typically developing and as young as two years of age can be measured with fair to excellent reliability.
Governor System for 300MW Hydraulic Generator in Xiangshuijian Pumped-Storage Power Station

This paper describes the 300MW pumped storage governor system which is applied in Xiangshuijian power station and is featured with State-owned independent intellectual property rights from three aspects. Firstly, this paper describes the principle and configuration of the pumped storage governor system; secondly, it describes some features for the application of the system in Xiangshuijian power station and advanced control strategies thereof; and thirdly, it describes the implementation of some special features of application of the system in Xiangshuijian power station. Through this article, we hope for further exploration of the system in the industry and hope the application of the system can be further popularized in the design and implementation of localization governor system of large pumped storage power station in the future.
Correlated calcium and titanium isotopic anomalies in Allende inclusions

The isotopic anomalies recently observed in Ca(Z=20) and Ti(Z=22) in the Allende inclusions are related to each other and can be explained as due to a combined effect of mass-fractionation and cosmic-ray irradiation processes which occurred during the early history of the solar system.
Diagnostics of a thermal plasma jet by optical emission spectroscopy and enthalpy probe measurements

An accurate determination of electron density, temperature, and velocity distributions is of primary interest for the characterization of steady-state thermal plasma spray jets. Our diagnostic capabilities based on optical emission spectroscopy include measurements of absolute emission coefficients and Stark broadening. In addition, enthalpy probe diagnostics has also been used for temperature and velocity measurements. Observation of large discrepancies between temperatures derived from absolute emission coefficients, Stark broadening, and from enthalpy probe measurements indicate that severe deviations from LTE (local thermal equilibrium) exist in various regimes of plasma spray jets. Nonequilibrum characterization of such turbulent thermal plasma jets suggests that diffusion of high-energy electrons into the fringes of plasma jets and deviations from chemical equilibrium due to high velocities in the core of plasma jets and entrainment of cold gas, are the main reasons for these discrepancies. The establishment of a reliable data base, taking these nonequilibrium effects into account, is a prerequisite for meaningful modeling of real plasma jets.
New neuroprotective approaches for stroke: use of decoy peptides targeting specific molecular events

Stroke is characterized by the relatively rapid onset of neurological impairment, most often caused by the reduction or abrupt cessation of blood flow to the brain (cerebral ischemia). The interruption of cerebral blood flow is generally caused by a thrombus formed in an artery or the lodging of an embolus from a distant site. Behind heart disease and cancer, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the USA and is considered to be the most common cause of disability in adults [1–3]. Despite years of research and millions of dollars invested in finding an appropriate therapy, pharmacological intervention has made little, if any, impact in preventing neurological damage in patients suffering an acute stroke [4]. Thus, stroke clearly qualifies as a severe and prevalent national health problem with inadequate existing therapies. It is now generally believed that irreversible neurological damage occurs over a period of hours following stroke [1]. During this time, a cascade of cellular and biochemical events, triggered by the initial vascular insult, leads to the production of neurotoxic mediators and, ultimately, a continuing wave of destruction of neural tissue. This cascade is believed to cause neurological damage that spreads beyond the initial necrotic core (i.e., the tissue directly supplied by the occluded vasculature) into the surrounding penumbral tissue [1]. Some therapeutic strategies for stroke, such as the use of the thrombolytic enzyme tissue plasminogen activator, have focused on removing the initial vascular obstruction. Another class of strategies has been directed at more ‘downstream’ events, and aimed at blocking or reversing steps hypothesized to be crucial in the cascade of tissue destruction that occurs in the hours following the occlusion. The hope is that the latter type of intervention will halt or reduce neurological damage, even if administration is delayed until hours after stroke has occurred. This is important because clinical studies have shown that, most often, hours have elapsed by the time a stroke is diagnosed [2]. This implies that, in many clinical circumstances, removal of the vascular obstruction might not be accomplished early enough to prevent significant neurological impairment. Thus, pharmacological strategies for blocking later neurotoxic events might serve to increase the crucial ‘window of opportunity’ for the treatment of stroke. To facilitate design of such downstream therapeutic strategies, much research has been devoted to understanding the cascade of events that are responsible for brain-tissue destruction following the initial stroke, and on identifying key steps for potential intervention. Not surprisingly, this research has shown that the cascade is extremely complicated [5]. Nonetheless, several potential targets of intervention have been identified.
Sperm protein 17 is expressed on normal and malignant lymphocytes and promotes heparan sulfate-mediated cell-cell adhesion.

Sperm protein 17 (Sp17) is a highly conserved mammalian protein present on acrosome-reacted sperm that is thought to promote fertilization by binding sulfated carbohydrates of the oocyte zona pellucida. Although Sp17 was originally described as a testis-specific antigen, emerging evidence indicates that it may be more ubiquitously expressed than was previously thought. With the use of a specific antiserum, Sp17 was found to be present on the surface of malignant lymphoid cells, including B- and T-lymphoid cell lines, and on the surface of primary cells isolated from 2 patients having B-lymphoid tumors. Surprisingly, circulating B lymphocytes isolated from healthy volunteers also expressed Sp17, while circulating T lymphocytes exhibited only very weak expression. The role of Sp17 in promoting lymphoid cell adhesion was addressed with the use of recombinant Sp17 (rSp17). The rSp17 binds to the surface of myeloma cells but not to cells pretreated with heparitinase, an enzyme that removes heparan sulfate from the cell surface. Moreover, rSp17 promotes extensive aggregation of cells that express the syndecan-1 heparan sulfate proteoglycan, but in contrast, cells lacking syndecan-1 expression fail to aggregate in the presence of rSp17. These findings suggest that Sp17 promotes heparan sulfate–mediated cell aggregation and thereby plays a role in regulating adhesion and migration of normal and malignant lymphocytes.
The Signal Loss Advisor-a knowledge-based command decision aid

Describes the design and development efforts associated with the Signal Loss Advisor (SLA). SLA is a command decision aid that is used to diagnose the cause for loss of an acoustic signal. The system utilizes several AI technologies. SLA has been implemented in a blackboard architecture. Within that architecture, there are two components which make the most significant contribution to the signal loss analysis problem. They correspond to steps in the signal loss analysis process. The first component is a set of rule based knowledge sources which transform low level data into evidence or qualitative descriptions of that data. The second component is a degree of belief matrix based on which transforms evidence into a diagnosis. >
Electronically switchable and tunable coplanar waveguide-slotline band-pass filters

A coplanar waveguide (CPW)-slotline bandpass filter is described. The circuit allows planar integration of active and passive semiconductor devices both in series and in shunt. A microstrip-to-slotline transition designed to test the filter is also described. Two of the transitions exhibit an insertion loss of less than 1.0 dB over the 2.0-4.0-GHz range. A three-section CPW-slotline bandpass filter demonstrates an insertion loss of less than 0.2 dB over the passband centered at 2.9 GHz. A three-section CPW-slotline switchable bandpass filter integrated with three p-i-n diodes is discussed. It has a 0.7-dB insertion loss in the passband when the p-i-n diodes are off and a 25.0-dB isolation across the entire band when the p-i-n diodes are on. A three-section CPW-slotline varactor-tunable filter integrated with three varactor diodes is presented, showing a 2.0-dB insertion loss and over 20% electronic tuning range. Simple transmission line circuit models are used to optimize the design. >
Quality Improvement in the National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program: The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Experience

Using the NCCCP as a paradigm, QOPI metrics provide a useful platform for group-wide measurement of quality performance. Additionally, these measurements can assess the effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives.
The End of the Long-term Decline in Stroke Mortality in the United States?

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States.1 2 3 4 A decline in the age-adjusted death rate for nonwhite women began in 1924, for nonwhite men in 1930, and for whites by 1918.5 The rate of decline accelerated in the 1970s, probably because of improved hypertension control, but slowed in the 1980s for reasons that remain unclear.6 Recently published statistics suggest that the long-term decline in stroke mortality rates in the United States may have ceased. There is unmistakable evidence for a marked slowdown in the decline in stroke mortality.6 The age-adjusted US stroke mortality rate increased between 1992 and 1993; a recent report documented another rise in the preliminary rate for 1995 (percent change from 1994 to 1995, +0.8).7 Age-adjusted rates per 100 000 for 1991 to 1995 were 26.8, 26.2, 26.5, 26.5, and 26.7, respectively (Table 1⇓). It is important to view these increases in proper perspective while in no way diminishing the serious impact of the slowdown in the decline of stroke mortality in the United States since 1978.6 To this end, we tested the hypotheses (1) that the rate of decline of age-adjusted mortality rates in 1987 to 1994, the period since the previous report,6 has returned to that seen in the 1960s before the widespread availability of antihypertensive therapy, and (2) that this occurred in each sex/race group. In 1987 to 1994, the mean annual absolute and percent decline in age-adjusted death rates for stroke was less than observed in 1979 to 1986 for each sex/race group (Table 2⇓).6 It was comparable to that observed in the 1960s, before the rapid decline of the 1970s that was commonly attributed to marked improvements in hypertension detection and treatment.2 This …
Semiautomatic Registration of Pre- and Postbrain Tumor Resection Laser Range Data: Method and Validation

This paper presents a semiautomatic method for the registration of images acquired during surgery with a tracked laser range scanner (LRS). This method, which relies on the registration of vessels that can be visualized in the pre- and the post-resection images, is a component of a larger system designed to compute brain shift that occurs during tumor resection cases. Because very large differences between pre- and postresection images are typically observed, the development of fully automatic methods to register these images is difficult. The method presented herein is semiautomatic and requires only the identification of a number of points along the length of the vessels. Vessel segments joining these points are then automatically identified using an optimal path finding algorithm that relies on intensity features extracted from the images. Once vessels are identified, they are registered using a robust point-based nonrigid registration algorithm. The transformation computed with the vessels is then applied to the entire image. This permits establishment of a complete correspondence between the pre- and post-3-D LRS data. Experiments show that the method is robust to operator errors in localizing homologous points and a quantitative evaluation performed on ten surgical cases shows submillimetric registration accuracy.
Balancing organization and flexibility in foraging dynamics.

Proper pattern organization and reorganization are central problems facing many biological networks which thrive in fluctuating environments. However, in many cases the mechanisms that organize system activity oppose those that support behavioral flexibility. Thus, a balance between pattern organization and pattern flexibility is critically important for overall biological fitness. We study this balance in the foraging strategies of ant colonies exploiting food in dynamic environments. We present discrete time and space simulations of colony activity that uses a pheromone-based recruitment strategy biasing foraging towards a food source. After food relocation, the pheromone must evaporate sufficiently before foraging can shift colony attention to a new food source. The amount of food consumed within the dynamic environment depends non-monotonically on the pheromone evaporation time constant—with maximal consumption occurring at a time constant which balances trail formation and trail flexibility. A deterministic, ‘mean field’ model of pheromone and foragers on trails mimics our colony simulations. This reduced framework captures the essence of the flexibility-organization balance, and relates optimal pheromone evaporation to the timescale of the dynamic environment. We expect that the principles exposed in our study will generalize and motivate novel analysis across a broad range systems biology.
Version spaces and the consistency problem

A version space is a collection of concepts consistent with a given set of positive and negative examples. Mitchell [Artificial Intelligence 18 (1982) 203-226] proposed representing a version space by its boundary sets: the maximally general (G) and maximally specific consistent concepts (S). For many simple concept classes, the size of G and S is known to grow exponentially in the number of positive and negative examples. This paper argues that previous work on alternative representations of version spaces has disguised the real question underlying version space reasoning. We instead show that tractable reasoning with version spaces turns out to depend on the consistency problem, i.e., determining if there is any concept consistent with a set of positive and negative examples. Indeed, we show that tractable version space reasoning is possible if and only if there is an efficient algorithm for the consistency problem. Our observations give rise to new concept classes for which tractable version space reasoning is now possible, e.g., 1-decision lists, monotone depth two formulas, and halfspaces.
Defects and transport in the solid solution (Co,Fe)1−Δ O at 1200°CI. Nonstoichiometry

Abstract Thermogravimetric measurements of the deviation from stoichiometry in the solid solution (CoxFe1−x)1−ΔO at 1200°C and x = 0.6, 0.8, 0.925 and 0.97 have been carried out. The results obtained are compared with data available from the literature. A simple thermodynamic modeling of the nonstoichiometry data for (CoxFe1−x)1−ΔO with x ⩾ 0.6 is presented.
Gender differences in patients with binge eating disorder

Objective This study examined gender differences in patients with binge eating disorder (BED). Method Participants were 182 adults (35 male, 147 female) who were consecutively evaluated for outpatient clinical trials and met criteria for BED as outlined in the 4th ed. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They were administered a battery of measures to examine developmental, eating and weight-related disturbances, and psychological features associated with BED. Results Men and women did not differ significantly on several developmental variables (age at first overweight, age at first diet, age at onset of regular binge eating, or number of weight cycles). Men had significantly higher current body mass index (BMI), highest adult BMI, and were significantly more likely to be classified as obese. Men and women did not differ significantly on measures of current eating disorder features (binge eating, eating concerns, weight or shape concerns) but women reported significantly greater body image dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. Men and women did not differ significantly on current depression or self-esteem but men reported a greater frequency of past drug abuse problems. Discussion Although men and women who present for treatment for BED show many similarities in current eating disorder features, we observed a number of gender differences on important developmental and physical variables as well as associated psychological features. © 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 31: 63–70, 2002.
The Disappearing Minority Educator-No Illusion A Practical Solution

A new and unconventional teacher preparation program, the joint effort of universities, school systems, and a community college, is intended to provide minority students with skills and incentive to be educators.
Structural Constraints in Code-Switched Advertising

Code switching, the use of mixed-language expressions, is gaining prominence in advertising targeting linguistic minorities. Two studies investigate the existence of linguistic rules governing the use of code switching and identify situations in which those rules have a greater impact on persuasion. The studies extend Myers-Scotton's 1995 model of code switching by revealing an interaction between linguistic correctness and type of processing. More specifically, breaking the linguistic rules of code switching results in less persuasive messages but only when consumers process the ads in a highly data-driven mode. When consumers do not engage in highly data-driven processing, breaking linguistic rules does not influence persuasion.
A Report On Anomuran and Brachyuran Crabs Collected in Peru During Cruise 12 of R/v aNton Bruun 1)

Cette note concerne les Anomoures et les Brachyoures recueillis au Perou au cours de la douzieme croisiere du vaisseau scientifique "Anton Bruun". La collection comprend cinq familles et treize especes d'Anomoures, et sept familles et quinze especes de Brachyoures. Les distributions connues de Pagurus perlatus et de Pseudocorystes sicarius sont etendues vers le nord; Pagurus perlatus et Mursia gaudichaudii sont signales pour la premiere fois des eaux peruviennes. Des notes de couleurs sont donnees pour quelques especes.
A data throughput prediction and optimization service for widely distributed many-task computing

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a network throughput prediction and optimization service for many-task computing in widely distributed environments. This service uses multiple parallel TCP streams to improve the end-to-end throughput of data transfers. A novel mathematical model is used to decide the number of parallel streams to achieve best performance. This model can predict the optimal number of parallel streams with as few as three prediction points. We implement this new service in the Stork data scheduler, where the prediction points can be obtained using Iperf and GridFTP samplings. Our results show that the prediction cost plus the optimized transfer time is much less than the unoptimized transfer time in most cases.
A New Optimal Policy for Service System with Nonstationary Stochastic Demand

The performance of service system is especially low when demand is stochastic and nonstationary. This paper considers an inventory control problem with multiple-period replenishment lead time and nonstationary stochastic demand, and provides an optimal policy for this kind of problem. The problem is formulated as a stochastic dynamic programming model, then a solution algorithm which can obtain the optimal solution is developed. Numerical comparisons verify the effectiveness of the proposed policy.
MbSRT2: Model-Based Selective Regression Testing with Traceability

Widespread adoption of model-centric development has created opportunities for software testing, with Model-Based Testing (MBT). MBT supports the generation of test cases from models and the demonstration of model and source-code compliance. Models evolve, much like source code. Thus, an important activity of MBT is selective regression testing, which selects test cases for retest based on model modifications, rather than source-code modifications. This activity explores relationships between model elements and test cases that traverse those elements to locate retest able test cases. We contribute an approach and prototype to model-based selective regression testing, whereby fine-grain traceability relationships among entities in models and test cases are persisted into a traceability infrastructure throughout the test generation process: the relationships represent reasons for test case creation and are used to select test cases for re-run. The approach builds upon existing regression test selection techniques and adopts scenarios as behavioral modeling perspective. We analyze precision, efficiency and safety of the approach through case studies and through theoretical and intuitive reasoning.
Recognizing English queries in Mandarin Voice Search

Recent improvements in speech recognition technology, along with increased computing power and bigger datasets, have considerably improved the state of the art in the field, making it possible for commercial apps such as Google Voice Search to serve users in their everyday mobile search needs. Deploying such systems in various countries has shown us the extent to which multilingualism is present in some cultures, and the need for better solutions to handle it in our speech recognition systems. In this paper, we describe a few early data sharing and model combination experiments we did to improve the recognition of English queries made to Mandarin Voice Search, in Taiwan. We obtained a 12% relative sentence accuracy improvement over a baseline system already including some support for English queries.
Complete Genome of Bacillus pumilus Siphophage Blastoid

ABSTRACT Phage Blastoid is a siphophage that infects Bacillus pumilus. B. pumilus is widely used in agriculture but has recently been linked to cases of food poisoning. Here, we report the complete genome of Blastoid and discuss unique genomic characteristics.
Early onset of increased transcapillary albumin escape in awake diabetic rats.

Alteration in transcapillary albumin escape rate (TERalb) is an indicator of changes in macromolecular movement at the capillary filtering bed, which can change the balance of Starling forces for fluid movement from the vasculature to the interstitium and has an impact on volume homeostasis. TERalb can be affected by morphological changes in the capillary membrane and/or alterations in the Starling forces driving larger solutes across the capillary membrane via convection. Previous studies have demonstrated an increased TERalb in established insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM); however, whether increased TERalb is the result of morphological alterations in the microvasculature or contributes to microangiopathies could not be resolved. TERalb was examined in awake Wistar rats with untreated IDDM induced by streptozocin infusion (65 mg/kg body wt i.v.) at 24 h and 7 and 15 days and compared with control and insulin-treated 7-day IDDM rats. Increased TERalb occurred at the 24-h time point and remained elevated at 7 and 15 days of IDDM (P less than 0.05). Blood volume remained unchanged; however, systemic protein concentration increased from 4.9 +/- 0.1 g/dl in controls to 6.4 +/- 0.4 g/dl in 15-day IDDM rats. Blood glucose was significantly increased, and glycosuria was evident at all three time points of IDDM. The observed increase in TERalb within 24 h of IDDM is indicative of a functional change in the Starling forces in the capillaries, because specific morphological capillary damage is not evident at this time point in the model. The early onset of TERalb in IDDM could indicate functional changes, such as capillary hypertension, and may contribute to future vascular complications in established IDDM.
Quasi-decentralized control of process systems using wireless sensor networks with scheduled sensor transmissions

This paper develops a model-based networked control and scheduling framework for plants with interconnected units and distributed control systems that exchange information using a resource-constrained wireless sensor network (WSN). The framework aims to enforce closed-loop stability while simultaneously minimizing the rate at which each node in the WSN must collect and transmit measurements so as to conserve the limited resources of the wireless devices and extend the lifetime of the network as much as possible. Initially, the exchange of information between the local control systems is reduced by embedding, within each control system, dynamic models that provide forecasts of the evolution of the plant units when measurements are not transmitted through the WSN, and updating the state of each model when communication is re-established at discrete time instances. To further reduce WSN utilization, only a subset of the deployed sensor suites are allowed to transmit their data at any given time to provide updates to their target models. By formulating the networked closed-loop plant as a combined discrete-continuous system, an explicit characterization of the maximum allowable update period is obtained in terms of the sensor transmission schedule, the transmission times of the different sensor suites, the uncertainty in the models as well as the controller design parameters. It is shown that by judicious selection of the transmission schedule and the models, it is possible to enhance the savings in WSN resource utilization over what is possible with concurrent transmission condigurations. Finally, the results are illustrated using a network of chemical reactors with recycle.
Achieving optimal elastic traffic rewards in dynamic multichannel access

This paper proposes objective functions for dynamic multi-channel access (DMA) networks that enable spectrum users (SUs) to assess, locate, and exploit available spectrum opportunities effectively, thereby maximizing the SU's rewards measured in terms of the average received throughput. We show that the proposed objective functions are: near-optimal, as they achieve high rewards; scalable, as they perform well in small- as well as large-scale DMA networks; learnable, as they allow SUs to reach up near-optimal rewards very quickly; and distributive, as they are implementable by requiring local information sharing only.
A History of Working Landscapes: The Altar Valley, Arizona, USA

How ranchers have shaped the West?and continue to do so. DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v29i3_sayre
How Much Power Does a Labor Arbitrator Have? What the Latest Court Decisions Mean for Arbitrators, Employers, Unions and National Labor Policy?

In 2009, in 14 Penn Plaza L.L.C. v. Pyett, the Supreme Court threw a curve at the collective bargaining world by holding (5-4) that unions could waive the rights of individual bargaining unit members to go to court to resolve employment-related statutory disputes and, instead, could require that such disputes be arbitrated. Pyett raised the specter of the Court taking the final step in merging the legal treatment of arbitration in the collective bargaining world with the treatment of non-labor arbitration, despite the clear points of tension between the basic public policy goal behind labor arbitration, which is to promote industrial peace, and the basic public policy goal behind all other kinds of contractual arbitration, which is to support and encourage private parties' freedom to contract for alternative ways in which to resolve contractual disputes. This paper clarifies what the legal trends really are and what they mean for the 'big picture' in arbitration as well as for labor arbitrators and the parties who appear before them. After reviewing the history of labor and non-labor arbitration and outlining and comparing the core principles of each type of arbitration, I trace how recent arbitration jurisprudence has crossed the historical divide between labor and commercial arbitration and explore the problems that this creates for labor arbitration as an institution. The trend towards the convergence of labor and non-labor arbitration is not unstoppable, however, and I highlight the ways in which the courts have continued to view arbitration under collective bargaining agreements and non-labor contracts as dichotomous systems with different rules. I also discuss how to deal with the reality of the new hybrid commercial/labor arbitrator that Pyett appears to contemplate and address the ways in which employers, employees and unions can help to retain the procedural and collective bargaining benefits of labor arbitration.
Alkali Promoter Synergism in Selective Oxidation

Abstract Individual alkali metals (as various salts) have been used as promoters to improve selectivity in a variety of oxidation processes. Typically, selectivity and/or activity response of an oxidation system to changes in alkali concentration is nonlinear and large amounts of alkali can act as a poison. To date mixtures of alkali have not been explored in a systematic manner. It will be shown that thru the use of well planned, statistically designed experiments, mixtures of alkali gave synergistic selectivities higher than that obtainable from even the best of the individual promoters. Mathematical models will be presented that describe such beneficial synergistic selectivity (and activity) improvements alongwith their experimental confirmation.
On the deformation mechanisms and electrical behavior of highly stretchable metallic interconnects on elastomer substrates

Flexible metallic interconnects are highly important in the emerging field of deformable/wearable electronics. In our previous work [Arafat et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 081906 (2015)], interconnect films of Indium metal, periodically bonded to an elastomer substrate using a thin discontinuous/cracked adhesion interlayer of Cr, were shown to sustain a linear strain of 80%–100% without failure during repeated cycling. In this paper, we investigate the mechanisms that allow such films to be stretched to a large strain without rupture along with strategies to prevent a deterioration in their electrical performance under high linear strain. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Digital Image Correlation are used to map the strain field of the Cr adhesion interlayer and the In interconnect film when the elastomer substrate is stretched. It is shown that the Cr interlayer morphology, consisting of islands separated by bi-axial cracks, accommodates the strain primarily by widening of the cracks between the islands a...
Double Camera Systems

In this chapter we shall deal principally with stereoscopic systems that use two television cameras to generate images which are viewed in real time by the left eye and the right eye of a human observer. However, there are a number of photographic systems that use two cameras, or the equivalent of two cameras, to take two photographs which are subsequently viewed by the left eye and the right eye of a human observer.
Experimental and Theoretical Assessment of Thin Glass Substrate for Low Warpage

This paper compares the warpage after lead-free solder assembly of ultrathin glass and organic substrates for microelectronic packages. Smart mobile devices demand packages to be thinner, which exacerbates warpage, which in turn affects interconnect pitch scaling and reliability. Although low-coefficient-of-thermal-expansion (CTE) organic laminates have been developed to reduce the warpage during assembly, glass substrates offer added benefits of much higher modulus and thermo-mechanical stability, with the potential to reduce warpage beyond low-CTE organic materials. The focus of this paper is on modeling and measurements to quantify the warpage of glass and organic laminates at 100- $\mu \text{m}$ core thickness after thermo-compression bonding at 260 °C peak temperature. In the experiments, four-metal-layer glass substrates were fabricated at the panel level, diced into $18.4 \times 18.4$ -mm2 coupons, 10-mm $\times $ 10- $\text {mm}\,\,\times 630-\mu \text{m}$ silicon dies were thermo-compression bonded, and the warpage of the assembled packages was measured using shadow moire interferometry. In parallel to the experiments, numerical models that account for the viscoplastic behavior of the solder as well as the sequential build-up materials and processes have been developed. The predicted warpage from the models was compared to the experimental measurements. It was seen that the low-CTE glass had lower warpage than the organic core of equivalent CTE, while increasing the CTE of the glass increased the warpage. Also, the underfill fillet size was found to influence the warpage for thin substrate packages, and an optimal fillet size has been identified for minimizing warpage. B-staged and capillary underfill materials were compared and found to have similar warpage values.
Clinical Aspects of Glucose Transporter Type 1 Deficiency: Information From a Global Registry.

Importance Case reports regularly document unique or unusual aspects of glucose transporter type 1 deficiency (G1D). In contrast, population studies from which to draw global inferences are lacking. Twenty-five years after the earliest case reports, this deficiency still particularly affects treatment and prognostic counseling. Objective To examine the most common features of G1D. Design, Setting, and Participants In this study, data were collected electronically from 181 patients with G1D through a web-based, worldwide patient registry from December 1, 2013, through December 1, 2016. The study used several statistical methods tailored to address the age at onset of various forms of G1D, associated manifestations, natural history, treatment efficacy, and diagnostic procedures. These factors were correlated in a predictive mathematical model designed to guide prognosis on the basis of clinical features present at diagnosis. Results A total of 181 patients with G1D were included in the study (92 [50.8%] male and 89 female [49.2%]; median age, 9 years; age range, 0-65 years). As previously known, a relatively large variety of common phenotypes are characteristic of the G1D syndrome, including movement disorders, absence epilepsy (typical and atypical), and myoclonic and generalized epilepsies. The 3 main novel results are (1) the feasibility of effective dietary therapies (such as the modified Atkins diet) other than the ketogenic diet, (2) the relatively frequent occurrence (one-fourth of cases) of white matter magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities, and (3) the favorable effect of early diagnosis and treatment regardless of treatment modality and mutation type. In fact, the most important factor that determines outcome is age at diagnosis, as reflected in a predictive mathematical model. Conclusions and Relevance The results reveal several changing notions in the approach to G1D syndrome diagnosis and treatment, such as the perceived absolute requirement for a ketogenic diet, the assumed lack of structural brain defects, and the potential existence of genotype-phenotype correlations, all of which are contested by the registry data.
Trends in Local Park and Recreation Department Finances and Staffing in the Early Twenty-First Century

This paper is a replication of a 2003 study by Crompton and Kaczynski, analyzing local park and recreation agency financing and staffing trends. Whereas the original analysis examined data from 1964–1965 to 1999–2000, this paper covers financial data from 2000–2001 to 2013–2014, and employment data from 2000–2001 to 2014–2015. In light of the housing crisis, Great Recession, and subsequent economic recovery, the early twenty-first century provides a compelling backdrop for this replication analysis. Although the American economy experienced smaller economic downturns during the original study period, the recession that occurred during the current period was the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Utilizing census data, the current analysis monitors four areas identified in the original analysis: i) self-generated revenue, ii) operating expenditures, iii) capital expenditures, and iv) employment. Crompton and Kaczynski (2003) postulated that based on unprecedented annual expenditures, the latter half of the 1990s would eventually be considered the “golden era” of local parks and recreation. Data from the current analysis indicate that high levels of support continued until the Great Recession, which impacted local government spending as a whole, and particularly parks and recreation. In adjusted dollars, total park and recreation agency expenditures fell annually every year in the post-recession period, by more than $6.5 billion from 2007-2008 to 2013-2014. Park and recreation expenditures were reduced by a greater amount relative to competing services, accounting for a smaller proportion of total local government spending. Park capital expenditures were disproportionately cut during this period, falling by more than $5 billion from 2007–2008 to 2013–2014. Self-generated revenue accounted for approximately one-quarter of total, and one-third of operational expenditures by park and recreation agencies, lending support for trends identified in the original analysis. Local park and recreation agencies disproportionately cut full-time positions in response to the economic downturn, with more than 14,000 full-time positions lost in the post-recession period. More than 17,000 part-time positions were added post-recession, indicating an acceleration of the shift away from full-time employment noted by Crompton and Kaczynski (2003). Implications for park professionals and researchers, as well as the need for ongoing trend analysis, are discussed. Subscribe to JPRA
4H-SiC MOSFETs With Borosilicate Glass Gate Dielectric and Antimony Counter-Doping

In this letter, it is demonstrated that 4H-SiC MOSFETs with borosilicate glass (BSG) as the gate dielectric result in significantly higher channel mobility than standard nitride oxide annealed devices, due to lower density of near-interfacial traps at the BSG/SiC interface. Using a thin Antimony-doped surface layer in conjunction with the BSG dielectric results in higher channel mobility at room temperature. The field-effect channel mobility of such devices is found to be 180 ${\rm {cm}}^{{2}}/{\text {V}}\cdot \text {s}$ at low transverse electric fields (close to threshold) and 94 ${\text {cm}}^{\text {2}}/{\text {V}}\cdot \text {s}$ at high fields (~2 MV/cm), which is about a factor of five higher than the state-of-the-art. This, along with a tunable threshold voltage, could make this approach very attractive for power MOSFET applications. However, the poor bias temperature instability of BSG is a big challenge for utilization of this dielectric.
Improved microRNA biomarkers for pathological stages in lung adenocarcinoma via clustering of dysregulated microRNA-target associations

Most of cancer-related deaths are due to lung cancer, and there is a need for reliable prognosis biomarkers to predict stages in lung adenocarcinoma cases. Recently, microRNAs are found to have potential as both biomarkers and therapeutic targets for lung cancer. As evidence suggests microRNA dysregulations are implicated in many cancer malignancies, it is important to consider the changes in miRNA-target associations among different lung cancer biological states. We proposed a novel clustering strategy to identify groups of miRNAs with similar dysregulated targets. Then, we incorporated the learned clusters of miRNA as prior knowledge to a Sparse Group Lasso classifier to improve classification results, thereby leading to more relevant selection of microRNA biomarkers. We apply the method to the TCGA Lung Adenocarcinoma dataset. In cross-validation tests, the AUC rate for each stages is 1.0, 0.71, 0.68, 0.64, and 0.90 for normal, Stage I, Stage II, Stage III, and Stage IV, respectively. Among the candidate miRNAs selected in the model, 87% are reported to be related to Lung Adenocarcinoma. Further result demonstrates that clustering miRNAs by considering the dysregulation between miRNAs and mRNA targets leads to biomarkers with higher precision and recall rate to known lung adenocarcinoma miRNAs.
Calculating Earnings Growth Rates for Indexes That Include Unprofitable Companies

This article provides empirical evidence that the expected earnings growth rate used to value an index is the expected earnings growth rate of the index composed only of companies with positive earnings. In addition, this article provides evidence that the market multiple on an index’s aggregate earnings is an increasing function of the losses reported by the unprofitable companies in the index. The difference between conventionally calculated earnings growth rate forecasts and our computation of earnings growth forecasts is greatest in times of economic weakness, when the conventional approach results in earnings growth forecasts that are significantly higher than warranted. Likewise, the magnitude of reported losses is typically higher at market troughs, so market multiples should also be higher at market troughs. Therefore, before one infers that an index is too expensive or has a very strong earnings growth profile, one needs to adjust index earnings and earnings growth rates for the companies with losses.
Bilingual Episodic Memory Processes

This chapter reviews some of the major theoretical approaches to encoding (e.g., levels of processing, the generation, distributed-practice, and repetition effects) and retrieval (e.g., encoding specificity principle and transfer appropriate processing) in bilingual episodic memory. An overview of the published findings suggests that, like the classic monolingual general findings, bilingual retrieval is enhanced by such factors as deep processing, elaboration, distinctiveness, and spaced practice repetitions, as opposed to shallow processing and massed repetitions. Moreover, there is a propensity for between-language conditions (i.e., translations) to enhance memory retrieval, relative to within-language conditions (i.e., monolingual conditions), suggesting that translations are more distinctive and require more mental effort and mental elaboration. Bilingual memory retrieval appears to be language-dependent, and retention is enhanced to the extent to which the retrieval contextual properties (i.e., language) and processes (i.e., perceptual vs. semantic) match those employed during the encoding process. Bilingual memory effects are related to existing bilingual models, and methodological and empirical concerns are discussed and underscored.
Average Run Lengths of Cumulative Sum Control Charts for Controlling Normal Means

A computer program to calculate the average run lengths of cumulative sum control charts for controlling normal means is presented.
On the complexity of shark bite wounds: From associated bacteria to trauma management and wound repair.

The mouth of a shark is a breeding ground for a large variety of bacteria which can easily get transferred onto a human body in the event of a shark bite. Here, we review infections originating from shark oral bacterial flora, which originate from the microbiome of its prey, as well as from the surroundings where an incident takes place. We use the example of an incident which occurred in an aquarium involving a sandtiger shark, Carcharias taurus. In addition to a succinct analysis and interpretation of the wound and recovery process, an overview of currently known bacteria associated with shark bite wounds is given, as well as a summary of the effects of various previously tested antibiotics on bacteria derived from blacktip sharks, Carcharhinus limbatus, bull sharks, C. leucas, and tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic study, level V.
Coaching for Organizational Change

I stumbled into organizational consulting and coaching quite by accident. One day, late in the 1980s, I got an unexpected phone call from Lucy C, the Director of Corporate Services at the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing Education. She requested that I teach a one-day seminar for business leaders on the topic of “Doing What You Love, Loving What You Do.”
Mendelssohn’s Spinozistic Alternative to Baumgarten’s Pietist Project of Aesthetics

It is the aim of my paper to show that Moses Mendelssohn is an opponent of Alexander Baumgarten and that his aesthetics is a Spinozistic alternative to that of Baumgarten (and Kant), – against the prevailing and longstanding narratives in history of philosophy, literature, and aesthetics since Hegel.
Excursions in Algebra

Let us try to solve Grand Problem I. You may recall (Figure 2.2) that every triangle can be cut into n triangles congruent to each other if n is a perfect square (i.e., n = 1, 4, 9, 25, …). The “only” question that remains is whether a partition into n congruent triangles exists only for perfect squares n.
LiquID: A Wireless Liquid IDentifier

This paper shows the feasibility of identifying liquids by shining ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless signals through them. The core opportunity arises from the fact that wireless signals experience distinct slow-down and attenuation when passing through a liquid, manifesting in the phase, strength, and propagation delay of the outgoing signal. While this intuition is simple, building a robust system entails numerous challenges, including (1) pico-second scale time of flight estimation, (2) coping with integer ambiguity due to phase wraps, (3) pollution from hardware noise and multipath, and (4) compensating for the liquid-container's impact on the measurements. We address these challenges through multiple stages of signal processing without relying on any feature extraction or machine learning. Instead, we model the behavior of radio signals inside liquids (using principles of physics), and estimate the liquid's permittivity, which in turn identifies the liquid. Experiments across 33 different liquids (spread over the whole permittivity spectrum) show median permittivity error of 9%. This implies that coke can be discriminated from diet coke or pepsi, whole milk from 2% milk, and distilled water from saline water. Our end system, LiquID, is cheap, non-invasive, and amenable to real-world applications.