cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Viterbi algorithm with ARQ for bounded complexity decoding

Adaptive bounded computational and memory requirements for a Viterbi decoder can be achieved using an error trapping Viterbi decoder algorithm initially develop for hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) implementations. Partial path metrics and a sliding window are used to eliminate unreliable paths in the decoder trellis thus reducing the computational and memory requirements. An ARQ is issued if all paths are eliminated. The algorithm is adaptive allowing the receiver to dynamically allocate memory and processing, to improve reliability or received packets, or to reject packets with lower reliability to avoid buffer overruns. The result is the ability to trade off resources versus delay and throughput.
Impact of Obtaining Medications from Pharmaceutical Company Assistance Programs on Therapeutic Goals

Background:Limited data exist regarding whether improved access to medications for indigent persons through pharmaceutical company assistance programs (PCAPs) leads to attainment of therapeutic goals.Objective:To evaluate the impact of obtaining medications through PCAPs with pharmacist assistance versus prescription insurance on the likelihood of achieving therapeutic goals.Methods:A retrospective chart review was conducted in a private family practice clinic. Individuals prescribed one or more drugs for the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia and receiving medication through a PCAP or prescription insurance were included. Eligible records were reviewed for pertinent laboratory and medication information and to assess achievement of hypertension, diabetic, and dyslipidemia goals.Results:A total of 458 persons were eligible for inclusion: 250 with prescription insurance and 208 using a PCAP. The PCAP group was older, with more females and multiple disease states. There was no significant ...
Cutaneous Ulceration in Dermatomyositis: Association With Anti–Melanoma Differentiation–Associated Gene 5 Antibodies and Interstitial Lung Disease

Objective To identify clinical and serologic correlates of cutaneous ulcers in dermatomyositis (DM).
A histological study of gametogenesis in captive red snapper Lutjanus campechanus.

Gametogenesis was monitored histologically in wild-caught red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus, Poey) maintained in captivity under simulated natural photothermal conditions. Gonads were collected every 2–3 weeks (average n = 14) for histology during the pre-spawning season (February to May, temperature increasing from 16°C to 24°C). Primary vitellogenic oocytes were first observed in one female when temperature reached 20°C. Subsequent samples revealed females in pre-vitellogenesis or at early stages of vitellogenesis, although one female had tertiary vitellogenic (Vtg3) oocytes. The first histological signs of spermatogenesis were observed when temperature reached 17°C. Spermatozoa were observed in testicular lobules of all males sampled on 14 May (24°C) but little or no sperm was released during manual stripping. Ten males and 10 females were left in tanks and monitored for spawning. No egg release was observed during the monitoring period that encompassed the natural spawning season of wild red snapper. Ovarian biopsies taken during the late spawning season (16 July) revealed that four of eight sampled females had Vtg3 oocytes. Males were manually stripped but released no sperm. These results indicate that captive red snapper can complete gametogenesis in photothermal controlled systems. Additional research is needed to develop procedures that will achieve reliable maturation and spawning.
Menstrual and reproductive history, postmenopausal hormone use, and risk of benign proliferative epithelial disorders of the breast: a cohort study

Menstrual and reproductive history and postmenopausal hormone use are well-established risk factors for breast cancer. However, previous studies that have assessed these factors in association with risk of benign proliferative epithelial disorders (BPED) of the breast, putative precursors of breast cancer, have yielded inconsistent findings. To investigate these associations, we conducted a cohort study among 68,132 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative randomized clinical trials. Women were prospectively followed and those reporting an open surgical biopsy or a core needle biopsy had histological sections obtained for centralized pathology review. Over an average of 7.8 years of follow-up, we identified 1,792 women with BPED of the breast. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence limits (CLs) for the associations of interest. Menstrual and reproductive histories were not associated with risk of BPED of the breast, overall or by histological subtype. Women who had used postmenopausal hormones for 15 years or more had a two-fold increase in risk of BPED of the breast compared to women who had never used postmenopausal hormones (HR = 2.03 95% CL = 1.73, 2.38) and the increase in risk was observed for both BPED of the breast without atypia and for atypical hyperplasia. Furthermore, the risk of BPED of the breast decreased with time since cessation of use so that there was essentially no increase in risk 5 or more years after ending use (HR for stopping ≥5 years earlier = 0.96, 95%CL = 0.79, 1.16; HR for stopping <5 years earlier = 1.32, 95% CL = 1.08,1.61).
Does Ekman Friction Suppress Baroclinic Instability

Abstract The effect of Ekman friction on baroclinic instability is reexamined in order to address questions raised by Farrell concerning the existence of normal mode instability in the atmosphere. As the degree of meridional confinement is central to the result, a linearized two-dimensional (latitude-height) quasi-geostrophic model is used to obviate the arbitrariness inherent in choosing a channel width in one-dimensional (vertical shear only) models. The two-dimensional eigenvalue problem was solved by pseudospectral method using rational Chebyshev expansions in both vertical and meridional directions. It is concluded that the instability can be eliminated only by the combination of strong Ekman friction with weak large-scale wind shear. Estimates of Ekman friction based on a realistic boundary-layer model indicate that such conditions can prevail over land when the boundary layer is neutrally stratified. For values of Ekman friction appropriate to the open ocean, friction can reduce the growth rate of ...
The population genetics of drug resistance evolution in natural populations of viral, bacterial and eukaryotic pathogens

Drug resistance is a costly consequence of pathogen evolution and a major concern in public health. In this review, we show how population genetics can be used to study the evolution of drug resistance and also how drug resistance evolution is informative as an evolutionary model system. We highlight five examples from diverse organisms with particular focus on: (i) identifying drug resistance loci in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using the genomic signatures of selective sweeps, (ii) determining the role of epistasis in drug resistance evolution in influenza, (iii) quantifying the role of standing genetic variation in the evolution of drug resistance in HIV, (iv) using drug resistance mutations to study clonal interference dynamics in tuberculosis and (v) analysing the population structure of the core and accessory genome of Staphylococcus aureus to understand the spread of methicillin resistance. Throughout this review, we discuss the uses of sequence data and population genetic theory in studying the evolution of drug resistance.
Research Strategy: Approach

This section, previously titled “Research Design and Methods,” is obviously central to the application and will receive heavy scrutiny during review. However, the emphasis of the reviewers will vary depending on the type of grant. For training grants (F and K series), this section will be judged primarily on whether these experiments will be a useful exercise in learning skills and providing experience that will foster independence as an investigator; for independent investigator grants (R series), the emphasis will be on the appropriateness of the plans to address the stated specific aims. In all of these cases, this section should be highly organized and clear.
Measurement and Simulation of Moisture Induced Die Stresses in Flip Chip on Laminate Assemblies

In this work, an investigation has been performed on hygrothermally induced die stresses in flip chip assemblies caused by moisture absorption by the underfill encapsulant. Silicon test chips were first applied to perform a variety of measurements of moisture and thermally induced die stresses in flip chip on laminate assemblies. The sample die stresses were first measured after underfill encapsulation and cure, and then subsequently after long term storage (10 years) at room temperature and ambient humidity. The assemblies were then exposed to and 85 °C and 85% RH high humidity harsh environment for various durations, and the die stresses were evaluated as a function of the exposure time. Finally, reversibility tests were conducted to see whether the effects of moisture uptake were permanent. After long term storage, the experimental measurements showed that the normal stresses in the flip chip die relaxed significantly, while the shear stresses exhibited only small variations. In addition, the 85/85 hygrothermal exposure had strong effects, generating tensile die normal stress changes of up to 30 MPa in the flip chip assemblies. Thus, the initial compressive die normal stresses due to flip chip assembly were found to relax significantly during the moisture exposure. Upon fully redrying, it was observed that the moisture-induced stress changes were fully recovered.The results of the experimental measurements were subsequently correlated with predictions from finite element numerical simulations. When performing moisture diffusion modeling, the conventional method is to use a thermal analogy based on the similarity of governing equations of heat transfer and moisture diffusion. However, this method has some drawbacks including giving incorrect results when dealing with time- and temperature-dependent problems or discontinuities in the moisture concentrations at material boundaries. In this study, we have used a new feature in ANSYS v14 to perform coupled multi-physics simulations of the moisture diffusion process without the aforementioned limitations. The simulation results were found to show strong correlations with experimental measurements.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Elastic Deformations in 2D van der waals Heterostructures and their Impact on Optoelectronic Properties: Predictions from a Multiscale Computational Approach

Recent technological advances in the isolation and transfer of different 2-dimensional (2D) materials have led to renewed interest in stacked Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. Interlayer interactions and lattice mismatch between two different monolayers cause elastic strains, which significantly affects their electronic properties. Using a multiscale computational method, we demonstrate that significant in-plane strains and the out-of-plane displacements are introduced in three different bilayer structures, namely graphene-hBN, MoS2-WS2 and MoSe2-WSe2, due to interlayer interactions which can cause bandgap change of up to ~300 meV. Furthermore, the magnitude of the elastic deformations can be controlled by changing the relative rotation angle between two layers. Magnitude of the out-of-plane displacements in graphene agrees well with those observed in experiments and can explain the experimentally observed bandgap opening in graphene. Upon increasing the relative rotation angle between the two lattices from 0° to 10°, the magnitude of the out-of-plane displacements decrease while in-plane strains peaks when the angle is ~6°. For large misorientation angles (>10°), the out-of-plane displacements become negligible. We further predict the deformation fields for MoS2-WS2 and MoSe2-WSe2 heterostructures that have been recently synthesized experimentally and estimate the effect of these deformation fields on near-gap states.
Weathering a Cytokine Storm A Case of EBV-Induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare but life-threatening disease caused by excessive immune activation. Acquired HLH is seen in adults and is often caused by infection or malignancy. Diagnosis is difficult and usually missed as clinical and laboratory findings are nonspecific. Moreover, the pathophysiology of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and/or sepsis is remarkably similar to HLH. Thus, in patients presenting with presumed severe sepsis or septic shock complicated by multiorgan failure without a clear infectious source, HLH should be considered. A disproportionately high ferritin may be one of the earlier laboratory findings to suggest HLH. We discuss a case of a young male who presented with presumed septic shock with multiorgan failure who was eventually found to have Epstein-Barr virus-induced HLH.
Why Multinational Companies Doing Business in China Fall into the Trap of Making Payments to China's Police

Multinational Companies (MNCs) doing business in China often fall into the trap of making payments to the Public Security Bureau (PSB), China’s Police, in order to enlist the help of the PSB in law enforcement. The MNC might have suffered a theft of intellectual property rights or might be faced with an issue of unfair competitor involving an ex-employee and a competing business operator. The MNC believes that criminal enforcement will send a stiff message and will be a more effective deterrent against future offenses. Under China’s laws, many economic offenses can give rise to criminal liability but in order to initiate a criminal investigation, the MNC is often asked by the PSB for the payment of an administrative fee, often couched as advanced payment for the reimbursement of expenses needed for the investigation. The payment is usually small, several thousand dollars, and seems innocuous to the MNC. Although the initial payment may seem harmless, it might lead to a string of additional demands by the PSB for more and larger payments and the MNC might become enmeshed in entanglements with other PRC authorities, brought in by the PSB, that also demand payments. A string of multiple payments then becomes much more problematic for the MNC and the entanglements might become hostile as the MNC feels increasingly trapped and exploited.
Iron–Nickel Alloys for Carbon Dioxide Activation by Chemical Looping Dry Reforming of Methane

Chemical looping combustion is a clean combustion technology for fossil or renewable fuels. We have previously shown that the process can also be used to enable CO2 activation through reduction to CO with Fe oxygen carriers in so-called “chemical looping dry reforming” (CLDR). Although Fe shows good reactivity with CO2, its reactivity with methane as a fuel is low. In contrast, Ni is highly reactive for methane conversion but cannot be oxidized with CO2. Here, we demonstrate that Fe–Ni alloys combine the reactivities of each metal synergistically. By combining materials synthesis and characterization with reactive evaluation in multicycle CLDR operation, we demonstrate that relatively low amounts of Ni suffice to activate the carrier for methane conversion and that the presence of Fe enables the reoxidation of Ni with CO2. Moreover, the weak oxidant CO2 allows the controlled oxidation of the Fe–Ni alloy, which enables CH4 upgrading through syngas (CO+H2) production.
The Spectroscopy of Nuclear Gamma-Rays by Direct Crystal Diffraction Methods

This report contains the first comprehensive account of a new technique developed at the California Institute of Technology (and to date duplicated nowhere else) for the measurement, with high absolute precision, by means of a focusing curved crystal diffraction spectrometer, of the wavelengths and energies of gamma-rays from natural and artificial emitters over a wide range of quantum energies from 1.3 Mev (wavelength, 9 x-units) to 25 kev (wavelength 500 x-units).
An Investigation on the Climatic Effect of Contrail Cirrus

High cloud cover in the absence of middle and low clouds for Salt Lake City, Utah, during the period 1949–1982 has been analyzed. A significant increase of the mean annual high cloud cover is evident from 1965 to 1982, This increase appears to coincide with the anomalous jet aircraft traffic increase during that period. Analysis of the annual surface temperature for Salt Lake City shows a noticeable increase on the mean annual basis for the period 1965–1982. We have developed a two-dimensional (2-D) cloud-climate model to investigate the perturbation of high cloud cover on the temperature fields. The model consists of a 2-D climate model and a cloud formation model that are interactive through the radiation program. The cloud covers and radiation budgets at the top of the atmosphere computed from the present model compare reasonably well with observations, A 5% uniform increase in high cloud cover at the latitudes between 20° to 70° N would produce an increase in surface temperature by about 1°K with small variations across the latitudes, The positive surface temperature feedback associated with the high cloud cover increase is due to enhanced infrared emission from the additional high cloud cover and specific humidity produced from the 2-D model.
Monolithic process for co-integration of GaAs and silicon circuits

A monolithic process to co-integrate Si and GaAs circuits on a single chip is described. The co-integration has been realized through the epitaxial growth of a GaAs layer on a prefabricated Si wafer, resulting in a coplanar structure appropriate for IC processing. A composite ring oscillator consisting of Si CMOS and GaAs MESFET inverters connected in a ring was fabricated as a demonstration. >
Glial Glutamate and Metabolic Transporters as a Target for Neurodegenerative Therapy and Biomarkers

Glial cells play a significant functional role in neuronal function and synaptic transmission and glial dysfunction contributes greatly to the development and progression of a large number of chronic and acute neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we report the importance of two glial plasma membrane transporter proteins, the astroglial glutamate/excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) and the oligodendroglial lactate/monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs), both of which have been shown to be dysregulated in disease. As action potentials invade presynaptic neuronal terminals, glutamate gets released into the synaptic cleft, where it binds and opens postsynaptic onotropic glutamate receptors. To limit excessive postsynaptic stimulation, glutamate is taken up by astrocytes through EAATs, a process coupled to Na+ uptake and increased Na+/K+ pump activity leading to an increased metabolic demand, i.e. the production of ATP. To enhance ATP generation, glucose is taken up from blood vessels into the astrocytes through glucose transporters. The astrocytes convert glucose to pyruvate and lactate , generating ATP through glycolysis. Lactate, the end product of glycolysis could diffuse through gap junctions to oligodendrocytes. Alternatively, oligodendrocytes might generate lactate through glycolysis after glucose uptake from the blood stream. Oligodendrocytes export lactate through MCT1 transporters upon which neurons can import lactate through lactate transporters and use as a metabolic substrate. Any imbalance of the glutamate and/or lactate homeostasis can lead to neuronal degeneration, as shown in a number of neurodegenerative disorders .
Screening of high-arsenic water resources in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan

Objective To find out the distribution characteristics of drinking water with high arsenic in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan. Methods General investigation plus sampling survey was adopted in the city of Dali and 11 counties. The arsenic content in water was tested by half-quantitative fast reagent-box method. The water samples exceeding the standard(≥0.03 mg/L) were re-tested by silver diethyldithiocarbamate eolorimetric method or mercury-atomic fluorescence spectrometric method. Population and children exposed by high-arsenic were statistically analyzed. Results Arsenic content in 15 180 samples from 2639 villages are screened, of which 14 976 samples were less than 0.01 mg/L, reaching 98.66% (14 976/15 180); 110 samples was no less than 0.05 mg/L, only accounting for 0.72%(110/15 180). Water sources with excessive arsenic was found in 29 villages, in a percentage of 1.1% of all covered villages(29/2639). The samples were constituted of 10 399 portions of well water(well was less than 10 m deep), 3903 from spring, 93 from river water, 69 from hot spring water, 26 from reservoir water and 690 from surface water. And for the samples which arsenic content were ≥0.05 mg/L, 89 samples(0.86%, 89/10 399) were from well water, 15 from spring water(0.38%, 15/3903) and 6 from spring water(8.70%, 6/69). A total of 1 561 553 individuals were investigated, in a percentage of 67.83%(1 561 553/2 302 156) of the whole population, among those 420 513 were children, rating 26.93% of the investigated population(420 513/1 561 553); 27 865 were exposed to arsenic, accounting for 1.78% of the investigated population 27 865/1 561 553; 8993 children were exposed, rating 2.14% of the investigated population(8993/420 513). Conclusions There exists high-arsenic water resources in Dali Prefecture, Yunan, so the local inhabitants are in the danger of high-arsenic exposure. Urgent attention shall be paid for the endemic arsenic including investigation, prevention and control. Key words: Arsenide; Drinking; Screening
Metabolism and pharmacokinetics of zearalenone following oral and intravenous administration in juvenile female pigs

Abstract Zearalenone (ZEN) is a well-studied mycotoxin whose potent estrogenic properties have been used by international regulatory bodies to set health-based guidance values for ZEN exposure in grain-based foods from changes in hormonally responsive tissues of juvenile female pigs. The role of metabolism in determining estrogenic responses in vivo is a major uncertainty in inter-species extrapolation to humans and in assessing the potential for added susceptibility in sensitive subpopulations. This study evaluated the metabolism of ZEN and pharmacokinetics in ∼2 month-old female pigs using oral and intravenous dosing. The absolute bioavailability (AUCoral/AUCIV) of receptor-active ZEN aglycone was 1.8 ± 0.80%, consistent with extensive pre-systemic Phase II conjugation. Reductive metabolism to α-zearalenol (α-ZEL) was extensive, with smaller amounts of β-ZEL. When combined with its higher binding affinity, relative to ZEN and β-ZEL, α-ZEL was the predominant contributor to total estrogen receptor ligand activity (∼90%) after oral dosing with ZEN. The apparent similarities of reductive and Phase II conjugation metabolism of ZEN between pigs and humans support the use of juvenile female pigs as a sensitive model for risk assessments of estrogenic effects from dietary ZEN.
Prospective molecular analysis of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) using next generation sequencing (NGS).

7518 Background: Recent studies using NGS on resected SCLC have provided insights into the landscape of genetic alterations in this disease. We report our experience with prospective genomic profil...
What Goes Up Must Come Down: Military Expenditure and Civil Wars

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of civil war on military expenditure. We employ two measures of military expenditure: the share of military expenditure in general government expenditure and ...
The effect of clear speech on listener perception of nonnative speech

Listener perception of nonnative speech may be measured as intelligibility, ease of understanding, or accentedness. The relationship among these variables is complex, as is the influence of clear speech on these measures. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect on listener perception of clear speech produced by Spanish-accented talkers of American English. Specifically, four questions guided this study: Does clear speech enhance intelligibility and ease of understanding? What is the effect of clear speech on accentedness? How does speaking style (conversational versus clear) influence the relationship among these perceptual variables? Does the presence or absence of supporting contextual information modify the relationship among intelligibility, ease of understanding, and accentedness? Twenty-eight female talkers of American English (half native English-speaking and half Spanish-accented) read aloud 56 short sentences using conversational and clear speech. The 56 sentences were comprised of 28 pairs, each containing a high- or low-probability final word. Young, normal-hearing, monolingual English listeners transcribed and rated ease of understanding for sentences presented in 12-talker babble, and then rated accentedness for sentences presented in quiet. Listeners assigned ratings using visual analog scales. Results and their implications for models of listener perception and clinical management of accentedness will be discussed.
Supercanonical probability distributions.

The canonical probability distribution describes a system in thermal equilibrium with an infinite heat bath. When the bath is finite the distribution is modified. These modifications can be derived by truncating a Taylor-series expansion of the entropy of the heat bath, but their form depends on the expansion parameter chosen. We consider two such expansions, which yield supercanonical (i.e., higher-order canonical) distributions of exponential and power-law form. The latter is identical in form to the ``Tsallis distribution,'' which is therefore a valid asymptotic approximation for an arbitrary finite heat bath, but bears no intrinsic relation to Tsallis entropy.
Adherence and resource use among psoriasis patients treated with biologics

Introduction: The emergence of immune-modulating drugs such as biologics has altered the treatment landscape for psoriasis. However, their use presents high financial costs to patients and healthca...
Efficient geometry of flexible solar panels optimized for the latitude of New York City

The long-term goal of the project is to create and justify a reliable mathematical model that expresses the efficiency of geometrical shapes of non-tracking flexible solar panels. However, the amount of solar energy absorbed by a non-tracking flexible solar panel depends on many parameters: the direction of the sun beam, reflected light, and temperature, etc., which would make a complete model mathematically complicated. In the current model, we limit our consideration to the direction of the sunbeam. In order to simulate the exposure of the panel, we describe the trajectory of the Sun and base the model on the mathematical flux that uses the sun rays as the vector field. To be precise, the efficiency of a geometrical panel is defined as the flux density, which is the ratio of the mathematical flux and the surface area. Our current model was evaluated for the latitude of New York City and we determined the efficiency of the optimized at panels, cylindrical panels, and conical panels. The analysis was largely done through geometrical studies and numerical integration with software programs Python, Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB.
Lifting high-dimensional non-linear models with Gaussian regressors

We study the problem of recovering a structured signal $\mathbf{x}_0$ from high-dimensional data $\mathbf{y}_i=f(\mathbf{a}_i^T\mathbf{x}_0)$ for some nonlinear (and potentially unknown) link function $f$, when the regressors $\mathbf{a}_i$ are iid Gaussian. Brillinger (1982) showed that ordinary least-squares estimates $\mathbf{x}_0$ up to a constant of proportionality $\mu_\ell$, which depends on $f$. Recently, Plan \& Vershynin (2015) extended this result to the high-dimensional setting deriving sharp error bounds for the generalized Lasso. Unfortunately, both least-squares and the Lasso fail to recover $\mathbf{x}_0$ when $\mu_\ell=0$. For example, this includes all even link functions. We resolve this issue by proposing and analyzing an alternative convex recovery method. In a nutshell, our method treats such link functions as if they were linear in a lifted space of higher-dimension. Interestingly, our error analysis captures the effect of both the nonlinearity and the problem's geometry in a few simple summary parameters.
The effect of the cost of obstetric care on antenatal and postnatal healthcare utilization: Evidence from Armenia

Abstract The high cost of obstetric care is a common reason for late or no detection of preventable preterm labor, serious complications, long-term disabilities, and neonatal and maternal death. To resolve the debate of whether affordable, high-quality healthcare can be used as a policy tool to incentivize timely and more frequent checkups during and after pregnancy, we examine the causal effect of the Obstetric Care State Certificate (OSCS) program, which fully covered the costs of all antenatal services, consultations, medical exams, delivery and postnatal care in Armenia after 2008, on utilization of prenatal and postnatal care in the country. Evidence suggests that the reform had a significant, positive effect on care utilization during and after pregnancy, with the largest effects being elicited in the subsamples of women at high risk pregnancies, and mothers who have had a miscarriage or an abortion.
Investigating the impact of advertising during economic shocks on firm performance in the hospitality industry

This study examines the impact of advertising to determine whether advertising expenditure after economic shocks is associated with hospitality firm performance. Using the ordinary least squares (O...
The Critical Educators of Color Pipeline: Leveraging Youth Research to Nurture Future Critical Educators of Color.

This research study explores a teacher pipeline program intent on developing critical educators among minoritized high school students aspiring to become teachers. Critical educators typically employ critical perspectives, foreground the notion of carino, and possess agentive qualities to create transformative learning experiences for students of color, especially in under-resourced communities. This teacher pipeline program leverages youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a pedagogy for minoritized high school students to engage in original research studying critical educators in their schools. Findings illustrate that through YPAR, young people surface key perspectives aligned with those of critical educators: the role of institutionalized racism in exacerbating the opportunity gap and the centrality of building relationships in classrooms. In the discussion, the author elaborates on how YPAR advances the pedagogy in teacher pipeline programs, promotes critical perspectives amongst secondary students, and positions these emergent teachers to envision critical educators as making a substantive difference in the lives of marginalized students. The author concludes with implications for educational leaders in P-20 settings to consider in the promotion of a critical educators of color pipeline.
Observing Privilege: Examining Race, Class, and Gender in Health and Human Service Organizations

Race, class, and gender dynamics can result in power differentials and discrimination in organizations. Such deleterious effects are particularly troubling for non-profit agencies with diverse employee and community bases and that endeavor to redress social inequality through service and program provision. Foucault (1975, 1980) as well as Andersen and Collins’s (2007) theories provide a means to conceptualize race, class, and gender as power processes that contribute to the production and maintenance of organizational privilege (unearned benefits and advantages). This study uses bivariate and multivariate analyses and data from five health and human service organizations to assess employee perceptions about dynamics that foster organizational privilege. Modeling results indicate that although organizational position is the most influential indicator in explaining perceptions about participation in decision-making, race is the most important predictor of perceptions about access to learning resources and influential relationships. These results also suggest that formally educated White employees are best positioned to access privilege. Thus, such organizations may be fostering social injustices with detrimental effects for employee culture and the communities they serve.
Low-cost, high-speed near infrared reflectance confocal microscope

We have developed a low-cost, near-infrared (NIR) reflectance confocal microscope (RCM) to overcome challenges in the imaging depth and speed found in our previously-reported smartphone confocal microscope. In the new NIR RCM device, we have used 840 nm superluminescent LED (sLED) to increase the tissue imaging depth and speed. A new confocal detection optics has been developed to maintain high lateral resolution even when a relatively large slit width was used. The material cost of the NIR RCM device was still low, ~$5,200. The lateral resolution was 1.1 µm and 1.3 µm along the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. Axial resolution was measured as 11.2 µm. In vivo confocal images of human forearm skin obtained at the imaging speed of 203 frames/sec clearly visualized characteristic epidermal and dermal cellular features of the human skin.
Injection of multiple shattered pellets for disruption mitigation in DIII-D

Plasma shutdown experiments in DIII-D have injected multiple shattered pellets at different toroidal locations for the first time, as is planned for the ITER disruption mitigation system. Systematically varying the relative timing of the two pellets suggests that simultaneously injected pellets may influence the assimilation of each other, altering the resulting disruption characteristics compared to a single pellet injecting similar neon quantities. Thermal quench (TQ) radiation measured near the injection location is reduced with the dual pellets, contrary to TQ radiation measured away from the injection ports, which does not show a clear difference between single or dual pellet injections. The mitigation of other disruption loads, such as the current quench duration and divertor heat loads, decrease when the pellets enter the plasma simultaneously compared to single shattered pellet injections with similar neon quantities. This similar reduction in mitigation of current quench and conductive loads is consistent with the observed reduction in total TQ radiation. The time between initial pellet injection and the end of the TQ is shorter when both pellets are injected simultaneously compared to a single pellet. This lower cooling duration may limit the amount of the neon assimilated by the plasma prior to the end of the TQ, consistent with the observed reduction in radiation. The injected impurities spread primarily in the parallel direction, away from the source at the injection location. The addition of two shattered pellet injectors shows that the initial poloidal radiation is spread out into two distinct regions, cooling multiple flux tubes simultaneously, which may induce global MHD instabilities more rapidly than a single flux tube of impurities leading to a shorter cooling duration. The electron density increased by approximately a factor of two with the addition of multiple pellets, but is highly sensitive to the time between injections. A maximum density increase is found when both pellets arrive at the plasma prior to the start of the TQ.
Self-Assembly and Crystallization of DNA-Coated Colloids via Linker-Encoded Interactions

Coating colloidal particles with DNA is a promising strategy to make functional nanoscale materials because the particles can be programmed to spontaneously self-assemble into complex, ordered structures. In this Article, we explore the phase behavior and types of structures that can be formed when interactions between DNA-coated colloids are specified by linker DNA strands dispersed in solution. We show that linker-mediated interactions direct the self-assembly of colloids into equilibrium crystal structures. Furthermore, we demonstrate how different linker sequences and concentrations produce different crystal lattices, whose symmetry and compositional order are encoded exclusively by the linker-mediated interactions. These results illustrate how linkers can be used to separate the assembly instructions, encoded in the linkers, from the colloids themselves. We also examine the phase behavior of asymmetric linkers, which bind more strongly to one colloidal species than the other. We find that asymmetry strongly influences the concentration dependence of the colloidal interactions, which we explain using a mean-field model. We also find evidence that asymmetric linkers might help to reduce kinetic bottlenecks to colloidal crystallization. Together, our findings expand the design rules of linker-mediated self-assembly and make connections between the various schemes for programming assembly of DNA-coated colloids reported in the literature.
Noninvasive Vascular Blood Sound Monitoring Through Flexible Microphone

An arteriovenous vascular access is used to provide hemodialysis to people suffering from acute or chronic kidney disease. Monitoring of vascular access is essential to reduce the risk of sudden clotting caused by vascular stenosis, to maintain patency of the access, and to avoid hospitalization or central catheter placement. Current imaging technologies are unsuitable for widespread monitoring of vascular access at a frequency greater than monthly and cannot detect rapidly progressing access dysfunction. Early detection can identify patients for imaging and enable surgical treatment planning.
Revisiting the attitudes toward health care teams scale: Developing a short version for graduate health care education

As interprofessional education (IPE) becomes more common in student training programs, reliable and valid scales are needed to measure students’ perceptions of the experience. The Attitudes Toward ...
Effects of a high-protein corn product compared with soy and canola protein sources on nutrient digestibility and production responses in mid-lactation dairy cows

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of a novel and proprietary high-protein corn product [56% crude protein (CP)] relative to other common sources of protein on the lactation performance of dairy cows. Twenty-four Holstein cows (620 ± 47.7 kg of body weight, 111 ± 34 d in milk, 2.28 ± 0.46 lactations; mean ± standard deviation) were randomly assigned to treatment sequence in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design balanced for carryover effects. Cows were individually fed 1 of 4 diets with a different protein concentrate source during each 28-d period, including soybean meal (SBM), high-protein corn product (HPCP), soybean meal with rumen-bypass soy protein (SBMBP), and canola meal with rumen-bypass soy protein (CANBP). Diets were formulated for equal concentrations of CP and balanced to meet predicted lysine and methionine requirements. The SBM diet was formulated to provide 5.7% rumen-undegradable protein (RUP), whereas SBMBP and CANBP diets were formulated for 6.8% RUP to match HPCP. Data were analyzed using mixed models with the fixed effects of treatment, period, square, the interactions of treatment and period and of treatment and square, and the random effect of cow. The CANBP diet increased dry matter intake (DMI) compared with SBM and HPCP. Treatment affected milk yield, as SBMBP and CANBP increased yield compared with SBM, but HPCP decreased milk yield compared with all treatments. The HPCP diet reduced CP intake as a percent of total DMI and increased the CP content of orts, indicative of selection against HPCP. The HPCP diet also decreased apparent total-tract and CP digestibility, leading to less urine nitrogen excretion and greater fecal nitrogen output. The SBMBP and CANBP diets performed similarly in nearly every variable measured, except that SBMBP increased milk urea nitrogen. In conclusion, the HPCP diet reduced yield of milk and milk components, likely because of reduced apparent total-tract dry matter and CP digestibility.
Data Fast Transmission Method in Wireless Vehicle Ad-hoc Network

In vehicular ad hoc networks, the current method does not consider the delay of data transmission, resulting in slower vehicle data transmission speed. A vehicle data transmission method based on backbone network is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the characteristics of vehicle ad hoc network are analyzed. Based on the statistics of the road, the vehicle cluster is composed of the vehicles parking on the roadside and no roadside according to the different directions of the vehicle driving. The backbone network is constructed on the basis of the cluster of vehicles, and the data transmission between the vehicles is implemented by the data transmission method of overlay network. This method can overcome the disadvantages of traditional data transmission methods, improve the efficiency of on-board data transmission, and complete the research on fast data transmission method in wireless vehicle ad hoc network. The experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve higher data transmission success rate with lower data transmission overhead and smaller transmission delay.
Estimating the circuit De-obfuscation runtime based on graph deep learning

Circuit obfuscation has been proposed to protect digital integrated circuits (ICs) from different security threats such as reverse engineering by introducing ambiguity in the circuit, i.e., the addition of the logic gates whose functionality cannot be determined easily by the attacker. In order to conquer such defenses, techniques such as Boolean satisfiability-checking (SAT)-based attacks were introduced. SAT-attack can potentially decrypt the obfuscated circuits. However, the deobfuscation runtime could have a large span ranging from few milliseconds to a few years or more, depending on the number and location of obfuscated gates, the topology of the obfuscated circuit and obfuscation technique used. To ensure the security of the deployed obfuscation mechanism, it is essential to accurately pre-estimate the deobfuscation time. Thereby one can optimize the deployed defense in order to maximize the deobfuscation runtime. However, estimating the deobfuscation runtime is a challenging task due to 1) the complexity and heterogeneity of the graph-structured circuit, 2) the unknown and sophisticated mechanisms of the attackers for deobfuscation, 3) efficiency and scalability requirement in practice. To address the challenges mentioned above, this work proposes the first machine-learning framework that predicts the deobfuscation runtime based on graph deep learning. Specifically, we design a new model, ICNet with new input and convolution layers to characterize the circuit's topology, which is then integrated by composite deep fully-connected layers to obtain the deobfuscation runtime. The proposed ICNet is an end-to-end framework that can automatically extract the determinant features required for deobfuscation runtime prediction. Extensive experiments on standard benchmarks demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency beyond many competitive baselines.
Fast and Accurate Forecasting of COVID-19 Deaths Using the SIkJ$α$ Model

Forecasting the effect of COVID-19 is essential to design policies that may prepare us to handle the pandemic. Many methods have already been proposed, particularly, to forecast reported cases and deaths at country-level and state-level. Many of these methods are based on traditional epidemiological model which rely on simulations or Bayesian inference to simultaneously learn many parameters at a time. This makes them prone to over-fitting and slow execution. We propose an extension to our model SIkJ$\alpha$ to forecast deaths and show that it can consider the effect of many complexities of the epidemic process and yet be simplified to a few parameters that are learned using fast linear regressions. We also present an evaluation of our method against seven approaches currently being used by the CDC, based on their two weeks forecast at various times during the pandemic. We demonstrate that our method achieves better root mean squared error compared to these seven approaches during majority of the evaluation period. Further, on a 2 core desktop machine, our approach takes only 3.18s to tune hyper-parameters, learn parameters and generate 100 days of forecasts of reported cases and deaths for all the states in the US. The total execution time for 184 countries is 11.83s and for all the US counties ($>$ 3000) is 101.03s.
Why did the United States Evolve from the Largest International Creditor in 1980 to the Largest International Debtor in 1990

Remarkable transformation of the U.S. international investment position occurred over the last 40 years. U.S. net foreign assets were larger than combined net foreign assets of all other creditors. By 1990, foreign-owned U.S. securities and real assets were larger than U.S. owned foreign securities and assets. This change occurred without the U.S. Treasury borrowing in foreign currency and few U.S. firms borrowing, reflecting a surge in foreign purchases of U.S. securities. Inferences from the currency composition of portfolio changes of those who acquired U.S. dollar securities suggest that foreign savers took the initiative on cross-border investment inflows. The U.S. could not have developed a larger capital account surplus after 1980 unless a similar increase in the U.S. current account deficit occurred. The primary factor that led to the U.S. current account deficit increase was the surge in U.S. stocks and other asset prices, resulting in a U.S. household wealth surge and consumption boom. The foreign saving inflow displaced domestic saving. In addition, an increase in the price of the U.S. dollar led to expenditure-switching from U.S. goods to increasingly less expensive foreign goods. When investor demand for U.S. dollar securities declined, the U.S. dollar price fell in 1992, 2002, and 2020 and the price of U.S. dollar securities declined. The paper discusses the source of the change in the U.S. international investment position, the flow of foreign saving to the U.S., cyclical variability in the foreign saving flow to the U.S., and the potential impact of an adjustable parity arrangement.