cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of Policymaking: Stepping Back to Leap Forward, Stepping Forward to Keep Back 1

We study dynamic policy-making when: today’s policy agreement becomes tomorrow’s status quo; agents account for the consequences of today’s policies for future policy outcomes; and there is uncertainty about who will hold future political power to propose and veto future policy changes. Today’s agenda-setter holds back from fully exploiting present opportunities to move policy toward her ideal point whenever future proposer and veto players are likely to be aligned either in favor of reform, or against it. Otherwise, agenda-setters advance their short-run interests. Optimal proposals can vary discontinuously and non-monotonically with political fundamentals.
Coamoebas of polynomials supported on circuits

We study coamoebas of polynomials supported on circuits. Our results include an explicit description of the space of coamoebas, a relation between connected components of the coamoeba complement and critical points of the polynomial, an upper bound on the area of a planar coamoeba, and a recovered bound on the number of positive solutions of a fewnomial system.
Conformational change of human lens insoluble alpha-crystallin.

Human lens α-crystallin becomes progressively insoluble with age and is the major crystallin component in the water-insoluble (WI) fraction. The mechanism that causes the originally water-soluble (WS) α-crystallin to become insoluble is unknown. A conformational change by chemical modification may be the cause, but the nature of insolubility renders it impossible to study protein conformation in the WI fraction by most spectroscopic measurements. In the present study, α-crystallin in the WI fraction was extracted by urea and reconstituted to a folded protein by dialysis. The refolded urea-soluble (US) α-crystallin was compared with WS α-crystallin. The US α-crystallin has a greater amount of polymeric species, but fewer degraded subunits than the WS α-crystallin as shown by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Circular dichroism (CD) measurements indicate that they have the same secondary structure but a different tertiary structure, possibly a partial unfolding in the US α-crystallin. This is supported by fluorescence measurements: Trp residues are more exposed and protein has a more-hydrophobic surface in the US than in the WS α-crystallin. Blue fluorescence further indicates that the US α-crystallin has a greater amount of pigment than the WS α-crystallin. Together, these results indicate that the US α-crystallin is a chemically and conformationally modified protein.
Evaluation of the Performance of Dialdehyde Cellulose Filters against Airborne and Waterborne Bacteria and Viruses

The filtration efficiency and the inactivation performance of a dialdehyde cellulose (DAC) filter against airborne and waterborne bacteria and viruses were investigated. The DAC filter was synthesized by periodate oxidation of a cellulose filter. To evaluate the performance, the inactivation efficiency (determined by comparing the concentration of viable microbes obtained from control and experimental samples) and the relative survival fraction (calculated by comparing the viable microbes from an untreated filter and a treated filter) were introduced. For water filtration tests, the viable removal efficiency and the relative survival fraction of untreated and treated filters of different treatment times were investigated by testing with E. coli and MS2 bacteriophage. The treated filter presented a slightly higher viable removal efficiency and a significantly lower relative survival fraction as treatment time increased. Increasing the residence time by lowering the filtration velocity resulted in a higher ...
Materializing Ancient Documents

Two materially oriented revolutions have transformed the study of ancient documents in recent decades: first, a new interest in the ancient production of written artifacts; and second, the concern with the archaeological contexts, and more particularly the taphonomy–that is, the processes at work in the burial–of those same objects. The first, largely driven by the availability of digital images, has given life to the study of ancient writing as a cultural and social phenomenon and to the social life of written objects. In the process, connections between literary and documentary texts have come to the fore and distinctions between these categories have eroded. The second revolution began with an interest in what archaeological contexts of excavated papyri could tell us about the history of the texts, but it has evolved to see the texts themselves as artifacts engaged in an iterative dialogue with both the contexts and other objects found in them.
Research of Large Size Al Profile Extrusion Press

The concept of large-size compact Al profile extrusion press has been introduced,with two different structures of front loading and back loading.The advantages of front loading compact extrusion press have been analysed emphatically.The key technology of front loading compact extrusion press has been introduced. The dead cycle time has been researched. Based on above research,a 55 MN oil-driven extrusion press with double-action has been designed.
Osama’s body: death of a political criminal and (Re)birth of a nation

AbstractSome criminal bodies are so saturated with social and political meaning; they achieve an afterlife of symbolic desecration that is both public and celebratory. While the West has a legacy of public execution and bodily display as spectacle, these events were typically meant to be sombre platforms for redemption and moral instruction. Indeed, the abolishment of public execution occurred within the rhetoric of a civilising, modern Western society that purports to treat any death as a sacred event. The announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death was followed by spontaneous public celebration, official narratives about his death and the management of his body and vivid reproductions of his body in popular culture. This paper explores the public afterlife of Osama Bin Laden in relation to nationalism and political effigy and cultural ambivalence and taboos surrounding the dead body in the West.
The Changing Context for Efforts to Avoid the 'Curse of Oil'

The concept of the resource curse provides a useful framework for understanding the unintended consequences of oil production in developing countries. A consensus has emerged over the past decade regarding the key strategies needed to avoid this ‘curse’. The core elements are economic policies to spread the benefits of oil wealth over time and limit the de-stabilising effects of revenue volatility, transparency about oil revenues and their use in order to increase political accountability, and environmental and social standards for exploration and production projects to reduce the risk of damage, particularly from land use or pollution. However, since the mid-2000s, the context of the global oil economy has changed drastically. Increasing demand and higher prices have brought new companies into the international oil business and new countries into the ranks of producers. The balance of power between governments of oil-rich countries and oil companies, donors and NGOs has shifted in favour of governments. In particular, Chinese oil companies, supported by the Chinese government, have grown very quickly to match the size and international reach of the largest Western oil companies. These companies are investing in the oil and minerals sector and providing loans to governments to finance large-scale development of national infrastructure. This offers oil-rich countries an alternative approach to revenue management, complicating but potentially enriching the efforts to avoid the curse of oil.
New Pharmacological Approaches to Treating Non-Motor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

Non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are better predictors of quality of life changes, caregiver burden, and mortality than motor symptoms. Levodopa has limited, and sometimes detrimental, effects on these symptoms. In this review, we discuss recent evidence on pharmacological treatments for non-motor symptoms. Breakthroughs have been made in the treatment of psychosis and sleep dysfunction. Pimavanserin has become the first FDA approved drug for PD psychosis. There is also new research supporting cholinesterase inhibitors for sleep disorders in PD. Other studies, including several novel treatments, have shown mixed results for apathy, depression, and fatigue. Further research is needed to develop treatments for non-motor symptoms in PD. Preclinical and postmortem studies indicate that non-motor symptoms in PD may arise from pathology in non-dopamine systems. Although sometimes used off-label, therapies that target such systems have been underutilized in treating non-motor symptoms and warrant further clinical investigation.
Heuristics in Context

A growing literature in political science has pointed to the importance of heuristics in explaining citizens’ political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. At the same time, the multidisciplinary research on heuristics in general has revealed that individuals seem to use heuristics sensibly—applying them (perhaps subconsciously) when they are likely to be helpful but not otherwise. We extend this multidisciplinary work to political behavior and present a general theory of contextual variation in political heuristic use applied to discover under what conditions (i.e., what political contexts) voters will use a partisanship heuristic to infer the legislative votes of their legislators in imperfectly disciplined voting contexts. More specifically, we predict that US constituents of loyal partisan senators will use the partisanship heuristic more often than constituents of less loyal senators. Our empirical analysis reveals strong support for our theory, contributing to our understanding of political heuristics in general and adding nuance to our understanding of the partisanship heuristic in particular.
Nutlin-3: A novel potential therapeutic in p53 wild-type ovarian carcinomas.

e15583 Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (OC) is a molecularly and clinically heterogeneous disease, yet treatment is the same for all subtypes. Type I carcinomas, including low grade serous, mucinous, clear cell, and endometrioid OCs, are relatively chemoresistant. In contrast, Type II or high grade serous OCs are more aggressive yet responsive to chemotherapy. Molecularly, 96% of high grade serous OCs harbor p53 mutations, whereas Type I carcinomas are more frequently p53 wild-type. Nutlin-3 is a novel therapeutic which inhibits MDM2, activates wild-type p53, and induces apoptosis. We therefore sought to validate nutlin-3 as a therapeutic compound for p53 wild-type OCs. Methods: Two low grade serous, 2 clear cell, 2 endometrioid, 3 mucinous, and 4 high grade serous OC cell lines were treated with varying concentrations of nutlin-3, and proliferation assays were performed. A p53-null cell line was used as a negative control. The cells were then treated with nutlin-3 at their IC50s, and qRT-PCR and We...
Physician Reimbursement in Medicare Advantage Compared With Traditional Medicare and Commercial Health Insurance

Importance Nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, yet little is known about the prices that MA plans pay for physician services. Medicare Advantage insurers typically also sell commercial plans, and the extent to which MA physician reimbursement reflects traditional Medicare (TM) rates vs negotiated commercial prices is unclear. Objective To compare prices paid for physician and other health care services in MA, traditional Medicare, and commercial plans. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective analysis of claims data evaluating MA prices paid to physicians and for laboratory services and durable medical equipment between 2007 and 2012 in 348 US core-based statistical areas. The study population included all MA and commercial enrollees with a large national health insurer operating in both markets, as well as a 20% sample of TM beneficiaries. Exposures Enrollment in an MA plan. Main Outcomes and Measures Mean reimbursement paid to physicians, laboratories, and durable medical equipment suppliers for MA and commercial enrollees relative to TM rates for 11 Healthcare Common Procedure Coding Systems (HCPCS) codes spanning 7 sites of care. Results The sample consisted of 144 million claims. Physician reimbursement in MA was more strongly tied to TM rates than commercial prices, although MA plans tended to pay physicians less than TM. For a mid-level office visit with an established patient ( Current Procedural Terminology [ CPT ] code 99213), the mean MA price was 96.9% (95% CI, 96.7%-97.2%) of TM. Across the common physician services we evaluated, mean MA reimbursement ranged from 91.3% of TM for cataract removal in an ambulatory surgery center ( CPT 66984; 95% CI, 90.7%-91.9%) to 102.3% of TM for complex evaluation and management of a patient in the emergency department ( CPT 99285; 95% CI, 102.1%-102.6%). However, for laboratory services and durable medical equipment, where commercial prices are lower than TM rates, MA plans take advantage of these lower commercial prices, ranging from 67.4% for a walker (HCPCS code E0143; 95% CI, 66.3%-68.5%) to 75.8% for a complete blood cell count ( CPT 85025; 95% CI, 75.0%-76.6%). Conclusions and Relevance Traditional Medicare’s administratively set rates act as a strong anchor for physician reimbursement in the MA market, although MA plans succeed in negotiating lower prices for other health care services for which TM overpays. Reforms that transition the Medicare program toward some premium support models could substantially affect how physicians and other clinicians are paid.
Stability of exercise identity and healthy-eater identity over six months among rural hospital employees

Due to the health crises in the United States, there is a need to better understand health behavior patterns and how they are developed and maintained. Therefore, there is a need to better understand exercise patterns and healthy eating behaviors and how they are developed and maintained. Many scholars have suggested that an individual’s concept of self is composed of numerous identities. As role identities motivate behavior consistent with the identity, role-identity salience may predict future exercise or healthy eating behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine exercise identity, healthy-eater identity and frequency of exercise and healthy-eating behaviors, as well as the stability and frequency of these behaviors during six months of a worksite health promotion program. This study was also exploratory in nature, as the relationship between exercise identity and healthy-eater identity and the respective behaviors were examined, as well as the relationship between exercise identity, healthy-eater identity and affect. Two waves of data collection, separated by 6 months, were performed with employees of a rural community hospital located in the Midwest who were enrolled in an employee health program. Attrition rate was 38% resulting in a final sample of 83 respondents. The average age was 42 years with a range of 24 to 69 years. Exercise identity was measured by the average of nine Likert-type items (Anderson & Cychosz, 1994) designed to measure the extent to which exercise was descriptive of the concept of self (α=.95). Healthy-eater identity was measured by modifying the nine items in the Exercise Identity Scale (Strachan & Brawley, 2009) (α=.89).
PERFUSION CULTURE OF SUSPENDED CHO CELLS EMPLOYING INCLINED SEDIMENTATION

Abstract Perfusion of cultures of suspended recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was accomplished through the use of an external, 3-port inclined settler which was shown to preferentially retain viable cells in the bioreactor. By vibrating the settler and cooling it to 4°C, an average of 89% of viable cells were returned to the bioreactor while the return of nonviable cells was only 72%, with the rejected cell population being only 36% viable when settler feed contained 78% viable cells. The residence time of CHO cells in the cooled, vibrated settler was determined by flow cytometric discrimination of tracer recombinant CHO cells. Cells returning to the bioreactor through the underflow had an average residence time of 1.46 hours in the settler. During perfusion cultures with cell densities above 106 cells/mL, cells seen to be stalled within the settler were easily dislodged by periodic air bubbling using a simple backflushing procedure in which headspace gas was brought through the settler underflow port. 87% of the nonretuming cells, which represented about 25% of the cells which settled, were returned to the bioreactor after bubbling within an average of 32 minutes after bubbling.
Optimal Institutional Architecture of Farmer Producer Organizations for Sustainable Value Creation for Small and Marginal Farmers

This article argues that the assumptions for an industrial model of value addition on size, scope, technology, management, ownership, market landscape and governance structure are different to agriculture models for sustainability of small and marginal farmers. It has been based on a pan-India survey of over 250 producer organizations and case studies of 20 producer organizations across India during 2011–2014. In addition, the findings and suggestions of this paper are informed by an action research on developing a sustainable producer organization for over 8 years (2008–2017). Product-specific value chain as in industrial production system has its own dynamics and complexities. This approach makes a producer company a product company over a period of time and loses the focus of the producer. With greater value addition, it becomes financier centric owing to the technology-capital-ownership lock-up effect. Unlike in industrial products, high-value addition in agricultural produce can lead to value destruction in terms of the nutritional value of whole grain pulses versus polished pulses. Further, instead of selling in distant markets with high transaction costs, an FPO, selling surplus produce in the local market ensures better net price to the small farmers.
A Developmental Perspective on Young Adult Romantic Relationships: Examining Family and Individual Factors in Adolescence.

The ability to develop and maintain healthy romantic relationships is a key developmental task in young adulthood. The present study investigated how adolescent interpersonal skills (assertiveness, positive engagement) and family processes (family climate, parenting practices) influence the development of young adult romantic relationship functioning. We evaluated cross-lag structural equation models with a sample of 974 early adolescents living in rural and semi-rural communities in Pennsylvania and Iowa, starting in sixth grade (mean age = 12.4, 62.1% female) and followed into young adulthood (mean age = 19.5). Findings revealed that adolescents who had experienced a more positive family climate and more competent parenting reported more effective problem-solving skills and less violent behavior in their young adult romantic relationships. Adolescent assertiveness was consistently positively associated with relationship problem-solving skills, and adolescents’ positive engagement with their family was associated with feeling more love in young adult romantic relationships. In addition, family functioning and adolescent interpersonal skills exhibited some reciprocal relations over the adolescent years. In summary, family processes and interpersonal skills are mutually influenced by each other across adolescence, and both have unique predictive implications to specific facets of young adult romantic relationship functioning.
Developing a screening platform for genetic and small molecule targets of cancer immunotherapy.

66Background: The success of checkpoint blockade therapy is often dependent on CD8 T cell activation against tumor antigens. However, clinical benefit is only seen in a subset of patients, suggesting that there are other possibly targetable immunosuppressive pathways that are allowing the tumor to escape immune surveillance. Methods: A CD8 T cell that recognizes the EGFP200-208 peptide epitope allowed for the use of EGFP as a model tumor antigen while monitoring expression levels at the single cell resolution. Using a lymphoma line expressing EGFP or mCherry as our antigen-positive and -negative cancer models, we employed 3 screening strategies: 1) a forward genetics approach in which we selected for tumor cells that had naturally developed resistance to killing by CD8 T cells; 2) a reverse genetics approach that involved the use of pooled CRISPR libraries to identify knockout clones with a selection advantage or disadvantage when pressured by activated T cells; and 3) small molecule libraries, including ...
Cognitive Decision Theory

That scientists make decisions no one doubts. They allocate research funds, in effect deciding which problems are most worth attacking, they decide how large a sample to observe, which experimental methods to use, and even which outlying observations to reject or discount. These are all garden-variety decisions of a well understood sort, even though some of the utilities that enter might be deemed ‘epistemic’. It is thought, however, that other decisions lurk back of all these which are far more germane to the scientific enterprise. I mean, of course, decisions to accept or reject hypotheses. These decisions are held by Levi (1967) to be purely cognitive in the sense that all the pertinent utilities are epistemic. Levi’s program is to develop an appropriate cognitive decision theory which will enable scientists to compute and compare the expected epistemic utilities associated with the acceptance of different hypotheses.
Low-Frequency Raman Spectra of Liquids

Since 1964 it has been possible to observe,1,2 clearly, low-frequency (less than 100 to 150 cm− 1) Raman lines from liquids. Previous observations3–5 of this low-frequency Raman spectral region from liquids were, in general, subject to disagreements, both theoretical and experimental.4,5
Current practice trends in microvascular free flap reconstruction by fellowship-trained otolaryngologists.

Abstract Purpose In the field of head and neck microvascular surgery, there are currently no clear, universally accepted recommendations on the intraoperative, preoperative, and postoperative management of these patients. Materials and methods A 23-question cross-sectional survey was distributed to otolaryngologists who perform microvascular reconstruction. Information about practice setting, fellowship training background, intraoperative practice, postoperative practice, and surgical complications were analyzed. Results Complete survey responses were received from 102 (32.8% response rate) of surveyed otolaryngologists who perform microvascular surgery. A great degree of variability was noted in intraoperative and postoperative care of free flap patients. Overall, self-reported free flap survival-rates were relatively high, despite the variability in practice, with the majority of surgeons (74%) reporting flap survival rate of 96–100%. Complication rates requiring return to the operating room were low; all respondents reported Conclusion An increasing number of microvascular-trained otolaryngologists are performing free flaps. Self-reported free flap survival rates are high and complication rates are low, despite significant variability in intraoperative and postoperative practices among otolaryngologists performing microvascular flap reconstruction. By identifying these differences among surgeons, we hope to provide the impetus for further academic dialog and prospective trials.
Forced use of paretic leg induced by constraining the non-paretic leg leads to motor learning in individuals post-stroke.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether applying repetitive constraint forces to the non-paretic leg during walking would induce motor learning of enhanced use of the paretic leg in individuals post-stroke. Sixteen individuals post chronic (> 6 months) stroke were recruited in this study. Each subject was tested in two conditions, i.e., applying a constraint force to the non-paretic leg during treadmill walking and treadmill walking only. For the constraint condition, subjects walked on a treadmill with no force for 1 min (baseline), with force for 7 min (adaptation), and then without force for 1 min (post-adaptation). For the treadmill only condition, a similar protocol was used but no force was applied. EMGs from muscles of the paretic leg and ankle kinematic data were recorded. Spatial–temporal gait parameters during overground walking pre and post treadmill walking were also collected. Integrated EMGs of ankle plantarflexors and hip extensors during stance phase significantly increased during the early adaptation period, and partially retained (15–21% increase) during the post-adaptation period for the constraint force condition, which were significantly greater than that for the treadmill only (3–5%) condition. The symmetry of step length during overground walking significantly improved (p = 0.04) after treadmill walking with the constraint condition, but had no significant change after treadmill walking only. Repetitively applying constraint force to the non-paretic leg during treadmill walking may lead to a motor learning of enhanced use of the paretic leg in individuals post-stroke, which may transfer to overground walking.
Less invasive left ventricular assist device implantation may reduce right ventricular failure.

OBJECTIVES Right ventricular (RV) failure after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation continues to be a morbid complication. In this study, we hypothesized that a less invasive approach to implantation would preserve RV function relative to a conventional sternotomy (CS) approach. METHODS All patients (2013-2017) who underwent LVAD implantation were reviewed. Patients were stratified by surgical approach: less invasive left thoracotomy with hemi-sternotomy (LTHS) and CS. The primary outcome was severe RV failure. RESULTS Eighty-three patients (LTHS: 37, CS: 46) were identified. The median Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) score was significantly worse in the LTHS compared to the CS cohort, and there was a trend towards higher RV failure scores and HeartMate II mortality scores. Preoperative RV dysfunction, in pulmonary artery pulsatility index and RV stroke work index were similar between the 2 groups. Though operative time did not significantly differ between the 2 groups, cardiopulmonary bypass time was significantly shorter in the LTHS group (61 vs 95 min, P < 0.001). The incidence of postoperative severe RV failure was significantly reduced in the LTHS group (16% vs 39%, P = 0.030), along with the need for temporary right ventricular assist device (3% vs 26%, P = 0.005). Improvement in RV function, along with a change in pulmonary artery pulsatility index, was significantly greater in the LTHS cohort. There was a trend towards improved Kaplan-Meier 1-year survival in the LTHS cohort (91% vs 56%, P = 0.056). CONCLUSIONS In this cohort, less invasive LVAD implantation appears to be associated with reduced postoperative RV failure, and equivalent or improved survival compared to conventional LVAD implantation.
Theory of computation: nifty tools and assignments

Theory of computation is a standard course in the computer science curriculum; it introduces students to the use of formal abstract models of computation for understanding the fundamental capabilities and limitations of computers
Dramatic alteration of sphingolipid bases of Hansenulaciferrii by exogenous fatty acid

Abstract Hansenula ciferrii , a yeast which normally excretes large amounts of C18-phytosphingosine in the form of its tetra-acetyl derivative, was grown in basal medium containing added pentadecanoic acid (0.1%) and Brij 58 (1%). Analyses of the sphingolipid bases recovered from the culture medium indicated the presence of significant quantities of C17-phytosphingosine (39%) and C19-phytosphingosine (15%) in addition to the normal C18-phytosphingosine (46%). The sphingolipid bases were characterized by gas-liquid chromatography combined gasliquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and chemical degradation.
Detecting shared independent selection

Signals of selection are not often shared between populations. When a mutual signal is detected, it is often not known if selection occurred before or after populations split. Here we develop a method to detect genomic regions at which selection has favored different haplotypes in two populations. This method is verified through simulations and tested on small regions of the genome. This method was then expanded to scan the phase 3 genomes of the 1000 Genomes Project populations for regions in which the evidence for independent selection is strongest. We identify several genes which likely underwent selection independently in different populations.
Programmed Electrical Stimulation-Guided Pharmacotherapy

To avert spontaneous ventricular tachycardia (VT) from occurring was a challenging undertaking since VT episodes occurred sporadically and unpredictably. Thus, in the past, the few patients lucky enough to survive cardiac arrest or recurrent VT were treated with AADs. Hence, three approaches would emerge for prevention of VT and sudden cardiac death (SCD): (1) an age-old empiric approach, (2) a noninvasive approach, and (3) an invasive approach used rather extensively by American electrophysiologists. This chapter details the historical evolution of programmed ventricular stimulation (PVS) in the treatment of survivors of SCD and symptomatic VT, the limitations of PVS, and comparison of the three methods for drug testing.
Introduction to the Interstellar Medium

The gas and dust between the stars emit across the electromagnetic spectrum and are found in a range of physical conditions from diffuse plasmas to cold, dense molecules. Through their study we see how quantum processes shape the structure of our Galaxy and fluid mechanics sets the stellar mass scale. The Interstellar Medium is a very broad subject with layers of complexity, a long history and a steady flow of new results. This comprehensive yet accessible textbook provides a self-contained one-semester course for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students. It is written in a style that students can follow by themselves and allows instructors to use class time to go deeper into the details or show applications to current research. It makes extensive use of publicly accessible data to illustrate specific points and to encourage students to learn by performing their own analyses.
λ-NIC: Interactive Serverless Compute on Programmable SmartNICs

There is a growing interest in serverless compute, a cloud computing model that automates infrastructure resource- allocation and management while billing customers only for the resources they use. Workloads like stream processing benefit from high elasticity and fine-grain pricing of these serverless frameworks. However, so far, limited concurrency and high latency of server CPUs prohibit many interactive workloads (e.g., web servers and database clients) from taking advantage of serverless compute to achieve high performance.In this paper, we argue that server CPUs are ill-suited to run serverless workloads (i.e., lambdas) and present λ-NIC, an open- source framework, that runs interactive workloads directly on a SmartNIC; more specifically an ASIC-based NIC that consists of a dense grid of Network Processing Unit (NPU) cores. λ- NIC leverages SmartNIC’s proximity to the network and a vast array of NPU cores to simultaneously run thousands of lambdas on a single NIC with strict tail-latency guarantees. To ease the development and deployment of lambdas, λ-NIC exposes an event-based programming abstraction, Match+Lambda, and a machine model that allows developers to compose and execute lambdas on SmartNICs easily. Our evaluation shows that λ- NIC achieves up to 880x and 736x improvements in workloads’ response latency and throughput, respectively, while significantly reducing host CPU and memory usage.
Effective Pavement Crack Delineation Using a Cascaded Dilation Module and Fully Convolutional Networks

Crack detection in concrete surfaces is a critical structural health monitoring task. In fact, cracks are an early indication of the decaying of the structure that can lead to severe consequences. Manual inspection is time-consuming, costly, and contingent on the subjective judgment of inspectors. To address these challenges, we propose to use state-of-the-art techniques in computer vision to approach the crack delineation problem as a semantic segmentation task where pixels of the same class (background or crack) are clustered together. Our proposed method uses dilated convolution to enlarge the receptive field and preserve the spatial resolution. In this work, we present a fully convolutional network that consists of an encoder, a cascaded dilation module, and a decoder. While the encoder extracts the feature maps from input images, the cascaded dilation module aggregates multi-scale contextual information and finally, the decoder fuses low-level features, performs pixel-wise classification, restores the initial resolution of the images and subsequently outputs the segmentation results. Based on the same meta-architecture, we compare three different dilated encoder-decoder (DED) models: DED-VGG16, DED-ResNet18, and DED-InceptionV3. The three models have been trained and validated using a dataset comprised of 40000 images. For evaluation purposes, we used common performance metrics for semantic segmentation tasks: Precision, Recall, F1-score, IoU, and ROC curves. Our results show that DED-VGG16 achieved the highest accuracy (91.78%) and generated precise visual semantic segmentation results.
To Ship or Not to Ship: An Extensive Evaluation of Automatic Metrics for Machine Translation

Automatic metrics are commonly used as the exclusive tool for declaring the superiority of one machine translation system's quality over another. The community choice of automatic metric guides research directions and industrial developments by deciding which models are deemed better. Evaluating metrics correlations has been limited to a small collection of human judgements. In this paper, we corroborate how reliable metrics are in contrast to human judgements on - to the best of our knowledge - the largest collection of human judgements. We investigate which metrics have the highest accuracy to make system-level quality rankings for pairs of systems, taking human judgement as a gold standard, which is the closest scenario to the real metric usage. Furthermore, we evaluate the performance of various metrics across different language pairs and domains. Lastly, we show that the sole use of BLEU negatively affected the past development of improved models. We release the collection of human judgements of 4380 systems, and 2.3 M annotated sentences for further analysis and replication of our work.
Optimal (plastic) life histories in growing versus stable populations

Question: What is the effect of population dynamics on the evolutionarily optimal life history with metabolic (allometric) production constraints? Mathematical methods: Optimization of a phenotype’s intrinsic rate of increase r with respect to adult mass, m. Results: The change in optimal adult size (m) between growing (r > 0) and stable (r = 0) populations is hard to predict, but reproductive effort (and lifetime reproductive effort) in the growing population is predicted to be 1 + r ·E times larger, where E is the average adult life span.
The School Psychologist in the Rural Education Context

Rural school psychologists face unique challenges because of inherent rural attributes including sparse populations, geographic and climatic barriers, and traditional value systems. Mental health r...
Can Economic Policy Uncertainty in the United States Predict the Performance of Stock Markets in South America

This paper investigates if the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the United States can predict the performance of stock markets in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela). Based on the analyses of monthly returns of the Buenos Aires SE Merval Index from 1988:4 to 2012:5 and Colombia IGBC General Index, Brazil Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo Index, Santiago SE IPSA Index from 1985:2 to 2012:5, Venezuela Stock Return Index from 1988:1 to 2007:12, and Peru Stock Return Index from 1993:1 to 2012:12, the results show that the increase in the changes of economic policy uncertainty in the US negatively predict stock market performance in Chile, Colombia, Peru. Although the performance of stock markets in Brazil and Argentina are negatively affected by the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the US, the effect is not statistically significant. The performance of stock market in Venezuela positively responds to the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the US; this response is not statistically significant. The findings suggest a mixture of reactions of the stock markets in South America to the economic policy uncertainty in the US.
Directed interaction networks and their impact on social media

This paper discusses how gossip propagates through modern social media. We simulate 80 random directed interaction networks to address three questions: 1)Does information propagation and consumption impact network structure? 2)Does network structure impact information propagation and consumption? 3)How do information propagation, information consumption and network structure affect the ability to synchronize innovation? We find that network structure and synchronization of innovation are distinct phenomena. Information flow influences network structure, and conversely. Thus both virtuous and vicious cycles of innovation are possible. Furthermore, the ability to synchronize innovation goes up with network density, but the efficiency of the network decreases once the number of shortest paths decrease. These findings are of particular importance to marketing experts who want to propagate their messages through modern social media.
Unapplied ethics: On the need for classical philosophy in professional ethics education

The central claim of this essay is that thoseof us who teach applied ethics courses shouldconsider infusing those courses withdiscussions of central issues in classicalphilosophy, issues which lie beneath thesurface of contemporary ethical problems in theprofessions. I will argue that the current,widely-used approach of discussing traditionalethical theories as an introduction to andfoundation for such courses may not adequatelyserve what should be the overarching goal ofpre-professional ethics education which is toteach a kind of ethical thinking which is notto be identified exclusively with ethical``decision-making''. Such thinking, it will beargued, is both practical and theoretical innature and therefore has a greater breadth thanthe more delimited ethical decision-makingoften taught in applied ethics courses. In whatfollows, I will therefore advocate thatteachers include a substantive ``unapplied''component in professional ethics educationcourses. While I believe that my argument foran unapplied approach to professional ethicseducation is relevant to many professionalfields, I will focus on business ethicseducation.
Exposure-Based CBT for Older Adults After Fall Injury: Description of a Manualized, Time-Limited Intervention for Anxiety

Fall accidents among older adults can be devastating events that, in addition to their physical consequences, lead to disabling anxiety warranting the attention of mental health practitioners. This article presents "Back on My Feet," an exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol that is designed for older adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), subthreshold PTSD, or fear of falling resulting from a traumatic fall. The protocol can be integrated into care once patients have been discharged from hospital or rehabilitation settings back to the community. Following a brief description of its development, the article presents a detailed account of the protocol, including patient evaluation and the components of the eight home-based sessions. The protocol addresses core symptoms of avoidance, physiological arousal/anxiety, and maladaptive thought patterns. Because older patients face different coping challenges from younger patients (for whom the majority of evidence-based CBT interventions have been developed), the discussion ends with limitations and special considerations for working with older, injured patients. The article offers a blueprint for mental health practitioners to address the needs of patients who may present with fall-related anxiety in primary care and other medical settings. Readers who wish to develop their expertise further can consult the online appendices, which include a clinician manual and patient workbook, as well as guidance on additional resources.
Microsyntaxy and polytypism in SiC

An interesting type of syntaxy has been observed by transmission electron microscopy where two different polytypes of SiC, 6H and 15R in one case and 6H and 4H in another case, coexist as alternating parallel bands of 200∼500A in width with the common c-axis. It is pointed out that this phenomenon is very closely related to an extensive formation of twin bands during the growth of β-SiC and to the coexistence of two kinds of martensite of close packed structure as alternating parallel bands in the transformation products of β-phase noble metal base alloys.
Synaptic organization in the neuropile of the lateral eye of Limulus

Abstract Serial sections of the lateral plexus and neuropile of the compound eye of Limulus reveal apparent synaptic structures near the center of the neuropile at sites where three axon collaterals meet. The possibility of reciprocal synaptic action is suggested by the frequent occurrence of apparent synaptic contacts in at least two of the three apposed processes. Synaptic contacts have been observed directly opposite each other, and we speculate that the membrane around the synaptic contacts may contain both release and receptor sites for transmitter.
Consequences of Corporal Punishment Among African Americans: The Importance of Context and Outcome

Corporal punishment is a controversial practice used by the majority of American parents and is especially prevalent among African Americans. Research regarding its consequences has produced mixed results although it is clear that there is a need for considering the context within which corporal punishment is administered. To assess the impact of spanking, we employed an expanded parenting typology that includes corporal punishment. Longitudinal self-report data from a sample of 683 African American youth (54% female) were utilized to evaluate the relative impact of the resulting eight parenting styles on three outcomes: conduct problems, depressive symptoms, and school engagement. Results from Negative Binomial Regression Models indicate that the effect of corporal punishment depends upon the constellation of parenting behaviors within which it is embedded and upon the type of outcome being considered. While it is never the case that there is any added benefit of adding corporal punishment, it is also the case that using corporal punishment is not always associated with poor outcomes. Overall, however, our findings show that parenting styles that include corporal punishment do not produce outcomes as positive as those associated with authoritative parenting.
Light and heavy rare gases in four fragments of the St. Severin meteorite

Abstract Light and heavy rare gases were analyzed in four of the five recovered fragments of the St. Severin meteorite and in separated iron-enriched fractions. St. Severin is a typical amphoterite with respect to rare gas content. Variations in the absolute amount of rare gas isotopes (radiogenic, cosmogenic and 129 Xe-excess) indicate a very heterogeneous mineralogical composition. The exposure age is 11 m.y.: the potassium-argon age is 4.4 b.y. (1028 ppm K), and the uranium-helium age is estimated to be 4.2 b.y. A small amount of primordial rare gas is evident in both silicate and iron phases.
Measurement of substance P and met-enkephalin in the serum of violent death victims

Very often the allocation of putative damages for wrongful death and the determination of aggravating factors in the sentencing of an individual convicted of homicide by a jury is based on a subjective determination of the amount of pain suffered by the victim. This study was designed to determine whether the quantitative determination of peptides involved in nociception and inflammation offer the potential to provide an objective basis for an assessment of pain prior to death. Two peptides. substance P and met-enkephalin, were quantitated using radioimmunoassay (RIA) in the serum of 131 autopsy subjects. Cases were selected that presented decedents who underwent a violent death resulting in extensive trauma to tissue. Only decedents with no known prior clinical manifestation and no indication of prior drug use were selected. Of 131 cases selected, 59 died from blunt trauma deaths, 47 from gunshot deaths, and 25 from stabbing deaths. Cases were selected without regard to whether the death was accidental, or by homicide or suicide. Values from cases having similar incident-death time intervals were pooled and then compared. Results show that an observable pattern exists between the concentrations of substance P and met-enkephalin and the incident-death time interval. Data showed that the concentrations of substance P and met-enkephalin vary with the incident-death time interval. The amount of serum substance P initially increases with increasing incident-death time interval but begins to decrease at longer incident-death time intervals. In contrast, the serum concentration of met-enkephalin continues to show increased concentration as the incident-death time intervals become greater. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to determine the level of significance of the variation in both peptide concentrations within four consecutive time intervals. Variation in substance P concentration was statistically significant in all comparisons performed with 0.01 being the lowest level of significance of any four consecutive groups tested. Conversely, intervals encompassing incident-death time intervals of 1-2 hours to 5-10 days did not demonstrate significant variation in met-enkephalin concentration. However, groups with smaller and larger time intervals than the nonsignificant groups did show statistical variation. Although owing to a number of variables, a direct correlation between peptide concentrations and the level of pain may not be possible, the results of the study indicate that a presumption of antemortem pain may be possible with future study.