cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Skutterudites: promising power conversion thermoelectrics

The past dozen years or so have witnessed a major resurgence of interest in thermoelectrics and specifically in identifying novel, potentially promising materials that might deliver better performance than the existing thermoelectric structures. Among the materials that have generated considerable interest are skutterudites. The open crystal environment of skutterudite compounds typified by the presence of structural voids offers a terrific opportunity to modify the material by inserting foreign species into the voids and thus dramatically alter both electronic and phonon transport. With a judicious choice of the filler species one can prepare both n- and p-type filled skutterudites that display exceptionally high thermoelectric figure of merit ZT in excess of unity in the range of temperatures between 700K-1000K. Filled skutterudites are therefore excellent candidates for thermoelectric power generation applications in the intermediate to high temperature regime of operation. In this paper I will briefly review the progress made in improving the thermoelectric properties of filled skutterudites and point out areas where I believe further improvement is likely to be achieved.
Specifying Properties of Concurrent Computations in CLF

CLF (the Concurrent Logical Framework) is a language for specifying and reasoning about concurrent systems. Its most significant feature is the first-class representation of concurrent executions as monadic expressions. We illustrate the representation techniques available within CLF by applying them to an asynchronous pi-calculus with correspondence assertions, including its dynamic semantics, safety criterion, and a type system with latent effects due to Gordon and Jeffrey.
The Application of Time Delay Control to an Intelligent Cruise Control System

This paper presents an application of Time Delay Control to an intelligent automotive cruise control system. In this system, a vehicle is equipped with a ranging sensor which measures the distance between a preceding car and itself. The relative distance between the two vehicles is the control output [the state] of the system and the dynamics of the leading car are treated as a disturbance. The performance of the Time Delay Control Method in this intelligent longitudinal cruise control system was evaluated using a one-fifth scale car model. Through simulations and experiments, the Time Delay Control technique is shown to be well suited for intelligent cruise controls because of its rapid estimation of system dynamics changes and ease of implementation.
An empirical study of regression testing techniques incorporating context and lifetime factors and improved cost-benefit models

Regression testing is an important but expensive activity, and a great deal of research on regression testing methodologies has been performed. In recent years, much of this research has emphasized empirical studies, including evaluations of the effectiveness and efficiency of regression testing techniques. To date, however, most studies have been limited in terms of their consideration of testing context and system lifetime, and have used cost-benefit models that omit important factors and render some types of comparisons between techniques impossible. These limitations can cause studies to improperly assess the costs and benefits of regression testing techniques in practical settings. In this paper, we provide improved cost-benefit models for use in assessing regression testing methodologies, that incorporate context and lifetime factors not considered in prior studies, and we use these models to compare several common methodologies. Our results show that the factors we consider (in particular, time constraints and incremental resource availability) can affect assessments of the relative benefits of regression testing techniques, and suggest that particular classes of techniques may compare differently across different types of test suites.
Parents' Incomes and Children's Outcomes: A Quasi-Experiment Using Transfer Payments from Casino Profits †

We examine the role an exogenous increase in household income, due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics, plays in children's long-run outcomes. Children in affected house - holds have higher levels of education in their young adulthood and a lower incidence of criminality for minor offenses. Effects differ by initial household poverty status. An additional $4,000 per year for the poorest households increases educational attainment by one year at age 21, and reduces the chances of committing a minor crime by 22 percent for 16 and 17 year olds. Our evidence suggests improved parental quality is a likely mechanism for the change. (JEL D14, H23, I32, I38, J13)
A NOTE ON THE RESPIRATION OF ARBACIA EGGS.

Methods used in preparing Arbacia eggs for respiration studies, in carrying through the manometric determinations, and in estimating egg quantities have been reexamined. Discrepancies in previous results are almost entirely due to a steady error in measuring egg volume by centrifuging. Volumes so obtained averaged 80 per cent too high. The respiration of unfertilized eggs of Arbacia punctulata at 21°C. is 0.9 c.mm. O2 per hour per 10 c.mm. of eggs.
A 3.2Gb/s Oversampling CDR with Improved Jitter Tolerance

A 3.2 Gbps CDR circuit employs an oversampling architecture to decouple the tradeoff between jitter generation and jitter tolerance. The test chip fabricated in a 0.13 mum CMOS process achieves a 30times increase in the jitter tolerance corner without increasing recovered clock jitter. Power consumption is 19.5 mW from a 1.4 V supply at 3.2 Gbps and die area is 0.081 mm2.
BIM1 encodes a microtubule-binding protein in yeast.

A previously uncharacterized yeast gene (YER016w) that we have named BIM1 (binding to microtubules) was obtained from a two-hybrid screen of a yeast cDNA library using as bait the entire coding sequence of TUB1 (encoding alpha-tubulin). Deletion of BIM1 results in a strong bilateral karyogamy defect, hypersensitivity to benomyl, and aberrant spindle behavior, all phenotypes associated with mutations affecting microtubules in yeast, and inviability at extreme temperatures (i.e., >/=37 degrees C or </=14 degrees C). Overexpression of BIM1 in wild-type cells is lethal. A fusion of Bim1p with green fluorescent protein that complements the bim1Delta phenotypes allows visualization in vivo of both intranuclear spindles and extranuclear microtubules in otherwise wild-type cells. A bim1 deletion displays synthetic lethality with deletion alleles of bik1, num1, and bub3 as well as a limited subset of tub1 conditional-lethal alleles. A systematic study of 51 tub1 alleles suggests a correlation between specific failure to interact with Bim1p in the two-hybrid assay and synthetic lethality with the bim1Delta allele. The sequence of BIM1 shows substantial similarity to sequences from organisms across the evolutionary spectrum. One of the human homologues, EB1, has been reported previously as binding APC, itself a microtubule-binding protein and the product of a gene implicated in the etiology of human colon cancer.
Immediate postoperative parastomal end sigmoid hernia resulting in evisceration and strangulation.

Parastomal evisceration is a very rare complication occurring after stoma formation. We report the case of this complication which occurred within 3 days status post end sigmoid colostomy in a 69-year-old male who initially presented with perianal infection–severe necrotizing fasciitis. This case highlights the significance of the size of a stomatal aperture and should remind general surgeons of the one of dangerous complications indicated by a stomatal aperture that is just a centimeter larger than the accepted ideal size.
Fairness of optimal routing in virtual circuit data networks

Fairness in multiple-path optimal routing algorithms in virtual circuit data networks is investigated. Fairness measures are developed to evaluate optimal routings. Several objective functions are considered to be possible replacements of the average packet delay objective function that is widely used in optimal routing algorithms, and evaluated for various network and traffic configurations. A numerical study using the fairness measures developed shows that the objective function which is in the integral form of the average packet delay achieves perfect fairness while sacrificing only a nominal increase in the average packet delay. The numerical study also confirms the conjecture by D.P. Bertsekas and R.G. Gallager (1987) that the form of objective function does not affect the average packet delay in any significant way. >
Fast Clustering with Lower Bounds: No Customer too Far, No Shop too Small

We study the \LowerBoundedCenter (\lbc) problem, which is a clustering problem that can be viewed as a variant of the \kCenter problem. In the \lbc problem, we are given a set of points P in a metric space and a lower bound \lambda, and the goal is to select a set C \subseteq P of centers and an assignment that maps each point in P to a center of C such that each center of C is assigned at least \lambda points. The price of an assignment is the maximum distance between a point and the center it is assigned to, and the goal is to find a set of centers and an assignment of minimum price. We give a constant factor approximation algorithm for the \lbc problem that runs in O(n \log n) time when the input points lie in the d-dimensional Euclidean space R^d, where d is a constant. We also prove that this problem cannot be approximated within a factor of 1.8-\epsilon unless P = \NP even if the input points are points in the Euclidean plane R^2.
Teaching Primary Children the Location of Neighborhood Services

Abstract The study of community helpers in second grade can be enriched by a unit on the location of neighborhood services. The school itself is a community service. Within a short distance of the school are located such services as a post office, a police station, a fire station, and a library. In addition to these public services, there are many small business establishments. Second-grade teachers can take advantage of these enterprises to help pupils learn the reasons for their locations. Additional benefits can be derived from this study; for instance, young children will be able to gather information from primary sources and to extract relationships from the data.
From ASIC to ASIP: the next design discontinuity

A variety of factors is making it increasingly difficult and expensive to design and manufacture traditional Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). This has started a significant move towards the use of programmable solutions of various forms - increasingly referred to as programmable platforms. For the platform manufacturer, programmability provides higher volume to amortize design and manufacturing costs, as the same platform can be used over multiple related applications, as well as over generations of an application. For the application implementer, programmability provides a lower risk and shorter time-to-market implementation path. The flexibility provided by programmability comes with a performance and power overhead. This can be significantly mitigated by using application specific platforms, also referred to as Application Specific Instruction Set Processors (ASIPs). This paper details the reasons for this significant change in application implementation philosophy, provides illustrative contemporary evidence of this change, examines the space of application specific platforms, outlines fundamental problems in their development, and finally presents a methodology to deal with this changing design style.
“Eating the food of our place”: Sociolinguistic loyalties in multidialectal Sui villages

Among the Sui people of rural southwestern China, descent-group loyalties are closely tied to linguistic features. In every village, long-term dialect contact occurs between local villagers and in-marrying women from different clans, yet most speakers maintain their original dialect features to a high degree. The present study conducts ethnographic interviews to more deeply understand why such behavior occurs. Most current, practice-based models of identity tend to emphasize dynamic, flexible, individualistic choices - an approach that suits variation on many levels in many societies. However, to understand the descent-group loyalties particular to indigenous, non-Western, clan-based cultures like Sui, a more tempered, culturally sensitive model is necessary. Speakers show a deep sense of stability, permanence, and collective loyalty to communities of descent, (re)produced through stable linguistic expressions: acts of loyalty. The study also highlights the use of indigenous minorities' own categories (place, toponyms, lineage) rather than non-indigenous categories. (Language and identity, place, dialect contact, clan, indigenous minority, acts of identity, acts of loyalty, community of practice, community of descent)
Health-related quality of life in women with nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: the importance of psychosocial context.

To test whether women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) demonstrated lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores compared with those with nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). Women with HG or NVP were examined during the first trimester. Multivariate models identified characteristics of women at risk for low HRQoL, as measured by an NVP-specific HRQoL test and a generic HRQoL test, the Short Form (SF)-36. Although the SF-36 assessment did not discriminate between the two groups, the NVP-specific test showed that women with HG (N=29) were 3–6 times more likely than women with NVP (N=48) to have low HRQoL. Both tests demonstrated that perceived physical symptoms and multiple psychosocial factors, such as depression and marital status, seemed to be equally or more important than having HG. Although a low HRQoL was associated with an HG diagnosis, multiple physical symptoms and psychosocial factors placed both groups of women at risk.
Humor and Social Movements

At first glance, humor and politics may appear oppositional. Politics is often understood as serious, important, and grave, while humor is perceived as lighthearted and frivolous. Beneath the surface, however, it is evident that humor and politics are actually inextricably linked and have been throughout political history. This paper interrogates the tensions between humor and seriousness, importance and frivolity, and legitimate and dismissible to examine the manifestations of humor in social movement protest. I discuss how humor is used as a communicative and emotional strategy for social movement activists and organizations and focus on two constellations of movement humor: humor directed outside the group in the forms of tactics and frames, which I term external humor, and the role of humor in leadership, collective identity, and emotional labor, termed internal humor. To illustrate the role of humor in protest, I integrate examples from scholarly research, media depictions, and participant observation data to provide examples of how humor is manifest as an external tactic, social movement frame, and its potential role in strengthening ties to leadership and collective identity. The essay concludes by highlighting some potential paths for future study about the relationship between humor, ideology, identity, and power.
Optical selection rule based on valley-exciton locking in monolayer TMDC (Presentation Recording)

Layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) with hexagonal lattice structure has six valleys at corners of the Brillouin zone. The nontrivial Berry curvature distribution renders the adjacent valleys with distinguishable valley angular momentum, which enables itself as an ideal 2D valleytronic platform. Recent studies reported strong excitonic effect in monolayer WS2 and each excitonic state is identified with a well-defined orbital angular momentum, however the anticipated selection rules involve nonlinear optical processes are not clear. Here we show valley angular momentum (VAM) together with exciton angular momentum (EAM) impose different valley-exciton locked selection rules for second harmonic generation (SHG) and two photon luminescence (TPL) in monolayer WS2. Moreover, the two-photon induced valley populations yield net circular polarized photoluminescence after a sub-ps interexciton relaxation. The work demonstrates a new approach to control valley population at different excitonic states for next generation of optical circuits and quantum information computing.
Distribution of Cyclocephala spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Kansas

A 4-yr blacklight trapping project involving 18 trapping sites was conducted in Kansas. From 1996 through 1999, six species of Cyclocephala were recorded: Cyclocephala borealis Arrow, Cyclocephala hirta LeConte, Cyclocephala longula LeConte, Cyclocephala lurida Bland, Cyclocephala melanocephala (F.), and Cyclocephala pasadenae (Casey). Cyclocephala pasadenae and C. lurida were the most plentiful species (132,915 and 93,799 specimens, respectively) with the former being most dominant in western Kansas, and the latter dominating eastern Kansas. Cyclocephala borealis was most concentrated at the southeastern trapping site. The highest concentrations of C. longula and C. hirta were in a pocket of counties in southcentral Kansas. Whereas C. hirta and C. melanocephala were captured only in 1999, all other species were active during each year of the study.
Emblemática, mnemotecnia y el arte de narrar: El episodio de Everardo en El peregrino en su patria de Lope de Vega

ABSTRACT: This essay examines an aspect of Lope de Vega’s iconographic program in The Pilgrim, or Stranger in His Own Country by focusing on the interpolated tale of Everardo, a Christian knight who has been confined to a prison cell that is painted with «hieroglyphs and verses». The episode combines rhetorical and dialectical aspects of memory and establishes a connection between artificial memory systems, emblems, secular meditational practices, and story telling. I propose that Everardo’s tale displays a mnemonic intentionality that connects it with artificial systems of memory developed in classical antiquity and later used as prototypes during the early modern period. The episode not only emphasizes the importance of images as a stimulus for memory but also generates a sequential dual narrative in which the mental processes associated with rhetorical and dialectical memory coincide around specific images. KEYWORDS: Mnemotechnics, Art of Narration, Everardo, El Peregrino en Patria , Lope de Vega. RESUMEN: Este ensayo examina un aspecto del programa iconografico del Peregrino en su patria de Lope de Vega al enfocarse en el relato intercalado de Everardo, un caballero preso en una celda cuyas paredes se encuentran dibujadas con «hieroglificas y versos». El episodio combina aspectos retoricos y dialecticos de la memoria y propicia la conexion entre sistemas de memoria artificial, emblemas, practicas meditativas de corte secular y estrategias narrativas. Propongo que el relato de Everardo puede entenderse a la luz de cierta intencionalidad mnemonica, que lo vincula con los sistemas de memoria artificial desarrollados en la antiguedad clasica y posteriormente usados como prototipos durante la temprana modernidad. Este episodio no solo destaca la importancia de la imagen como estimulo para la memoria sino que tambien genera una narracion secuencial a dos voces donde los procesos mentales asociados con la memoria retorica y la dialectica encuentran resolucion. PALABRAS CLAVES: mnemotecnia, arte de narrar, Everardo, El Peregrino en Patria , Lope de Vega.
DIFICULDADE PARA EMENDAR E ESCOLHA INTERPRETATIVA

The extreme difficulty of amending the U.S. Constitution plays a central but largely unexamined role in theoretical debates over interpretive choice. In particular, conventional wisdom assumes that the extreme difficulty of Article V amendment weakens the case for originalism. This view might ultimately be correct, but it is not the freestanding argument against originalism it is often presumed to be. Rather, it depends on contestable normative and empirical premises that require defense. If those premises are wrong, the stringency of Article V might actually strengthen the case for originalism. Or Article V might have no impact on that case one way or another. This “complexity thesis” highlights and clarifies the role that difficulty of amendment plays across a range of significant interpretive debates, including those surrounding writtenness, John Hart Ely’s representation-reinforcement theory, interpretive pluralism, and originalism as a theory of positive law. It also has important implications for the under-studied relations between statutory and constitutional interpretation and federal and state constitutional interpretation.
The demacrofier

C++ programs can be rejuvenated by replacing error-prone usage of the C Preprocessor macros with type safe C++11 declarations. We have developed a classification of macros that directly maps to corresponding C++11 expressions, statements, and declarations. We have built a set of tools that replaces macros with equivalent C++ declarations and iteratively introduces the refactorings into the software build.
Cytochrome c folds through foldon-dependent native-like intermediates in an ordered pathway

Previous hydrogen exchange (HX) studies of the spontaneous reversible unfolding of Cytochrome c (Cyt c) under native conditions have led to the following conclusions. Native Cyt c (104 residues) is composed of five cooperative folding units, called foldons. The high-energy landscape is dominated by an energy ladder of partially folded forms that differ from each other by one cooperative foldon unit. The reversible equilibrium unfolding of native Cyt c steps up through these intermediate forms to the unfolded state in an energy-ordered sequence, one foldon unit at a time. To more directly study Cyt c intermediates and pathways during normal energetically downhill kinetic folding, the present work used HX pulse labeling analyzed by a fragment separation–mass spectrometry method. The results show that 95% or more of the Cyt c population folds by stepping down through the same set of foldon-dependent pathway intermediates as in energetically uphill equilibrium unfolding. These results add to growing evidence that proteins fold through a classical pathway sequence of native-like intermediates rather than through a vast number of undefinable intermediates and pathways. The present results also emphasize the condition-dependent nature of kinetic barriers, which, with less informative experimental methods (fluorescence, etc.), are often confused with variability in intermediates and pathways.
Update on the prevention of local recurrence and peritoneal metastases in patients with colorectal cancer

The prevention of a disease process has always been superior to the treatment of the same disease throughout the history of medicine and surgery. Local recurrence and peritoneal metastases occur in approximately 8% of colon cancer patients and 25% of rectal cancer patients and should be prevented. Strategies to prevent colon or rectal cancer local recurrence and peritoneal metastases include cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic perioperative chemotherapy (HIPEC). These strategies can be used at the time of primary colon or rectal cancer resection if the HIPEC is available. At institutions where HIPEC is not available with the treatment of primary malignancy, a proactive second-look surgery is recommended. Several phase II studies strongly support the proactive approach. If peritoneal metastases were treated along with the primary colon resection, 5-year survival was seen and these results were superior to the results of treatment after peritoneal metastases had developed as recurrence. Also, prophylactic HIPEC improved survival with T3/T4 mucinous or signet ring colon cancers. A second-look has been shown to be effective in two published manuscripts. Unpublished data from MedStar Washington Cancer Institute also produced favorable date. Rectal cancer with peritoneal metastases may not be so effectively treated. There are both credits and debits of this proactive approach. Selection factors should be reviewed by the multidisciplinary team for individualized management of patients with or at high risk for peritoneal metastases.
Setting Material Function Design Targets for Linear Viscoelastic Materials and Structures

Rheologically complex materials are described by function-valued properties with dependence on a timescale (linear viscoelasticity), input amplitude (nonlinear material behavior), or more generally both (nonlinear viscoelasticity). This complexity presents a difficulty when trying to utilize these material systems in engineering designs. Here, we focus on linear viscoelasticity and a methodology to identify the desired viscoelastic behavior. This is an early-stage design step to optimize target (function-valued) properties before choosing or synthesizing a real material. In linear viscoelasticity, it is not obvious which properties can be treated as independent design variables. Thus, it is nontrivial to select the most design-appropriate constitutive model, to be as general as possible, but not violate fundamental restrictions. We use the Kramers–Kronig constraint to show that frequency-dependent moduli (e.g., shear moduli G′(ω) and G″(ω)) cannot be treated as two independent design variables. Rather, a single function such as the relaxation modulus (e.g., K(t) for force-relaxation or G(t) for stress relaxation) is an appropriate function-valued design variable. A simple case study is used to demonstrate the framework in which we identify target properties for a vibration isolation system. Viscoelasticity improves performance. Different parameterizations of the kernel function are optimized and compared for performance. While parameterization may limit the generality of the kernel function, we do include a nonobvious representation (power law) that is found in real viscoelastic material systems and in the spring-dashpot paradigm would require an infinite number of components. Our methodology provides a means to answer the question, “What viscoelastic properties are desirable?” This ability to identify targeted behavior will be useful for subsequent stages of the design process including the selection or synthesis of real materials.
Drivers of compensation of heads of procurement units, supervisors, and materials managers in the public sector

This article examines the determinants of salaries of heads of public procurement units. Specifically, it investigates the effect of gender, budget size, supervisory responsibilities, experience, authority level, education, certification, age, cost of living and labor market competition on the compensation of purchasing supervisors and heads of purchasing units. The article uses multiple linear regression and analysis of variance to conclude that drivers of compensation of public procurement executives and managers in the public sector are different than those in the private sector or in other industries.
Medullary cystic disease of the kidney: study of a case with scanning and transmission electron microscopy and light microscopy.

A case of medullary cystic disease of the kidney with uremia and salt-wasting, treated by nephrectomy and renal transplantation at the age of 14 years, was studied by light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results confirm previous findings of excessive basement membrane production around renal tubules and cysts, free communication between cysts and nondilated tubules, and a corticomedullary inflammatory infiltrate unlike that of pyelonephritis. The epithelial cells lining the cysts were not typical of those of any one particular segment of the nephron. A finding not previously reported is the presence of numerous intracytoplasmic vesicles and dilated intercellular spaces among the cells lining the cysts, suggesting that abnormally active fluid transport plays a role in the salt-losing syndrome of this disorder.
High mechanical fMQM product tuning fork cavity optomechanical transducers

We present monolithic cavity optomechanical transducers combining microdisk optical cavities with tuning fork mechanical resonators to achieve high mechanical frequency (fM ) and high quality factor (QM ), with a measured fMQM product of 6.35×1012 Hz.
The Role of Preventive Nutrition in Clinical Practice

The function of protecting and developing health must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired.
Derivation of an equation to estimate marrow content of bovine cervical vertebrae.

Marrow content of bovine cervical vertebrae from Choice- and Select-grade carcasses weighing 294 to 343 kg was determined so that a method to monitor the amount of marrow in meat from advanced meat/bone separation machinery and recovery (AMR) systems could be developed. The marrow determination requires cleaning and then ashing bones. Because a large difference in ash content of bone and bone marrow exists and because cartilage content of cervical vertebrae in Choice and Select beef is relatively constant, it was possible to derive the following equation: Weight of marrow = [weight of cartilage (% ash in cartilage - % ash in bone) + % ash in bone (total weight) - (total ash)]/[(% ash in bone - % ash in marrow)]. Constants for ash in fresh bone, marrow, and cartilage were 58.51, .57, and 2.14% with SD of 2.23, .15, and .30%, respectively. A cartilage content of 9.5% along with cervical vertebrae weight and total ash weight were also used to calculate 33.9% marrow in cervical vertebrae. Means for marrow pressed or centrifuged from bovine cervical vertebrae were lower than those obtained from the equation. Therefore, pressing and centrifuging left some marrow in spongy bone. Our ashing method for determining the amount of marrow in whole cervical vertebrae should be useful for determining marrow remaining in cervical vertebrae of bone cakes from AMR systems. Percentage ash in pressed bones is higher and the calculated marrow content is lower when pressed bones are compared to cervical vertebrae that are not pressed. The amount of marrow in whole cervical vertebrae minus the amount left in cervical vertebrae from bone cakes equals the amount in meat from AMR systems.
SU-F-T-225: Is It Time to Have Pre-Configured Therapeutic Beams Available in Commercial Treatment Planning Systems?

Purpose: Commissioning radiation beams requires considerable effort to obtain the beam data for beam configuration in a commercial treatment planning system. With the advances in technology, the manufacturer of accelerators now has the ability to adjust radiation beam parameters to meet pre-determined specifications with high precision. This study aims to illustrate the feasibility of making pre-configured radiation beams available in commercial treatment planning systems. Methods: In recent years, Varian has made a set of measured beam data from the TrueBeam accelerator available to users. Although the beam data are provided as “suggestive data” without warranty, the commissioned data measured by users have been shown to be in excellent agreement with the data set provided when the beams from the installed Linacs were adjusted to meet the beam specifications. An unofficial survey among Varian Linac TrueBeam users shows that the suggestive data set has been used with validation by users in some clinics. This indicates that radiation beams from a specified Linac can be standardized and pre-configured in a treatment planning system. Results: Two newly installed Varian TrueBeam accelerators at two different centers were examined in which one set of commissioned beam data was obtained from measurements performed by an independent physics consulting company and the other was measured by local physicists in the department. All beams from both accelerators were tuned to meet the manufacturer's specifications. Discrepancies of less than 1% were found between the commissioned beam data from both accelerators and the suggestive data set provided by Varian. Conclusion: It may be feasible that radiation beams can be pre-configured in commercial treatment planning systems. The radiation beam users will perform the beam validation and end-to-end tests instead of configuring beams. This framework can increase both the efficiency and the accuracy in commercial radiation treatment planning systems.
A low-level approach to semantic classification of mobile multimedia content

Pseudo-semantic labeling is a novel approach to organize mobile multimedia content such as images and videos. We have developed low-complexity algorithms to derive labels, such as "indoor/outdoor", "face/not face", that can be run on the mobile device. "Indoor/outdoor" classification is done based on the presence of sky in the images. Skin like pixels are detected based on the color information and if present they are matched to a pre-defined "facetemplate" to detect the presence of faces in images. We have developed an initial framework for finding the degree of blurriness in an image, which can be used for labels like "blurry/not blurry".
Abstract 2359: Adrenergic regulation of MCP-1 leads to enhanced macrophage recruitment and ovarian carcinoma growth

Increased adrenergic signaling is known to promote tumor progression, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) are key components of the tumor microenvironment that contribute to pro-inflammatory processes and tumor growth. Recently, it has been reported that patients with higher levels of adrenergic signaling have higher counts of MMP-9-producing TAMs. Here, we examined factors responsible for stress-mediated effects on monocyte/macrophage recruitment into the tumor microenvironment and the resultant effects on tumor growth. Conditioned media from norepinephrine- or epinephrine-treated ADRB positive SKOV3ip1 ovarian cancer cells had significantly increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as MCP1, fractalkine, IL6, IL8 and VEGF. MCP1, a key modulator of monocyte/macrophage recruitment, gene and protein levels were significantly increased in vitro after catecholamine exposure, which was mediated by cAMP and PKA, while this effect was abrogated by a beta-blocker. SKOV3ip1 tumor samples from mice, subjected to daily restraint stress, had elevated MCP1 gene and protein expression levels, increased CD14+ cells, and increased infiltration of CD68+ cells. Both, propranolol, a non-specific beta-blocker, and hMCP1 siRNA packaged in DOPC nanoparticles significantly abrogated daily restraint stress-induced tumor growth and inhibited infiltration of CD68+ and F4/80+ cells. Of patient samples evaluated (n = 462), 28% had elevated absolute peripheral blood monocyte (>0.7 × 106/μL) and 43% had high peripheral blood monocytes when measured as the percent of white blood cell content (>8%). Elevated peripheral blood monocytes and increased CD68+ cells (>15/hpf) in samples from ovarian cancer patients were significantly associated with advanced disease and worse overall survival. In summary, increased adrenergic signaling is associated with enhanced macrophage infiltration mediated by tumor cell-derived MCP1 production. Citation Format: Guillermo N. Armaiz-Pena, Vianey Gonzalez-Villasana, Archana S. Nagaraja, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Piotr Dorniak, Rebecca Previs, Nouara Sadaoui, Rebecca Stone, Koji Matsuo, Heather J. Dalton, Susan K. Lutgendorf, Anil K. Sood, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein. Adrenergic regulation of MCP-1 leads to enhanced macrophage recruitment and ovarian carcinoma growth. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2359. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2359
Crime and The Fear of Crime

This chapter discusses how crime and fear have changed over time, but still remains a problem that needs to be addressed. The extent of the crime problem is hard to accurately gauge and is multifaceted. Attempts to measure the level of crime present a variety of findings and anomalies. While these various counting procedures may not agree on the numerical magnitude of crime and victimization, there is consensus that crime remains a major social problem. The chapter examines the level and change in actual crime in society, the impact of crime on victims and society, and the related issue of fear of crime. Beyond the enumeration of criminal acts, the economic, psychological, and time losses due to crime are significant for both the individual victims and the society at large. Another problematic factor is the inordinate level of fear of crime. The fear far exceeds the actual amount of crime, and affects many individuals who never have been, and may never be, victims of a crime. Crime prevention must be cognizant of both the real and perceived levels of crime and must be prepared to attack crime in all its aspects.
A fast and fit-for-purpose arsenic speciation method for wine and rice

This fit-for-purpose method was designed in response to recent and proposed food standards, both international and national, that limit inorganic arsenic rather than total, organic, or individual arsenic species such as arsenite (AsIII) and arsenate (AsV). In this method, AsIII is intentionally oxidized to AsV with H2O2 during sample preparation, converting all inorganic arsenic (the sum of AsIII and AsV) to the AsV form. Arsenic species were separated in less than 2 minutes using a short, narrow bore, 5 μm chromatography column. This analysis time is 10× faster than the current FDA regulatory method. The use of O2 reaction gas with inductively coupled plasma triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QQQ with MS/MS capability) avoided spectral interferences and dramatically increased sensitivity, allowing for low volume injections. The small injection volume and modified mobile phase composition mitigate non-spectral interferences such as carbon enhanced ionization. Furthermore, the shortened analysis time significantly increases sample throughput. Validation data from two laboratories demonstrate the method's accuracy and reproducibility of both wine and rice matrices in a single analytical batch.
Surrogate-assisted transformation optics inspired GRIN lens design and optimization

It has been shown that Transformation Optics (TO)-derived gradient-index (GRIN) lenses often outperform more traditional GRIN designs. In order to better understand the origins of this performance improvement, such TO-derived solutions have previously been decomposed into a 2D-polynomial basis, which unveiled the presence of large radial-axial “cross-term” contributions to the index profile. While these terms are crucial in maximizing the performance of GRIN lenses, finding the optimal index profile becomes a more challenging problem due to the expanded number of input variables. However, this optimization process can be considerably accelerated through the introduction of surrogate models at several stages of the design process.
Beyond the “Revolving Door?”: Incentives and Criminal Recidivism in a Mental Health Court:

Specialized mental health courts (MHCs) address the growing problem of defendants with mental illness cycling through the criminal justice system. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this article explores if MHCs can slow the “revolving door” of criminal justice involvement. We use quantitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of one MHC on different measures of criminal recidivism with logistic regression, event history analysis, and negative binomial regression. Modeling strategies report that graduates of MHC, defendants offered a dismissal of criminal charges, and defendants who maintained the same noncrisis mental health treatment while in court as they had prior to court had lower odds of new criminal charges, a longer time to a new criminal charge, and fewer new criminal charges. Qualitative data—court observations and interviews—suggest that providing incentives for program compliance, connecting defendants to planned mental health treatment services, and court completion are central to reducing...
ICSGC-based dynamic spectrum access algorithm for cognitive radio

The dynamic spectrum access, as one of the core technologies of Cognitive Radio (CR) system is an important step for users to realize the utilization of idle spectrum resources. To solve the problem of multi-user dynamic spectrum access in CR system, a dynamic spectrum access algorithm is proposed based on improved color sensitive graph coloring model. In this algorithm, the cognitive user power matrix and the interference threshold matrix constraint are added to the color-sensitive graph-based coloring model to achieve the effective control of the cognitive user power and the quantization of the interference between the cognitive users. Based on this, this paper design access criterion with the purpose of maximizing throughput of system, and then obtained optimal spectrum by using color-sensitive coloring theory, thus achieve multi-user dynamic spectrum access. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm not only has a good command of the interference between cognitive users, but also can improve the throughput of the whole network effectively.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Posterolateral Rotatory Instability

Posterolateral rotatory instability is caused by insufficiency of the lateral stabilizers of the elbow. Acute instability occurs as a consequence of trauma and is best treated by primary repair. Chronic instability may be a consequence of trauma, but has also been described in the setting of corticosteroid injections for lateral epicondylitis and repetitive varus load. In this setting, ligament reconstruction is typically required.
$K$ -Band CMOS-Based MESFET Cascode Amplifiers

Cascode amplifiers consisting of a common-source MOSFET integrated with a common-gate metal–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) have been manufactured using a commercial 45-nm silicon-on-insulator RF CMOS process. The enhanced breakdown voltage of the MESFETs combined with the high speed of the RF MOSFETs, results in a maximum cutoff frequency of up to 70 GHz, with a maximum available gain of 18 dB at K-band frequencies (18–27 GHz) using a 6-V supply. This high-frequency operation makes the proposed amplifier a prospective candidate for 5G and millimeter wave applications.
The Planar Separator Theorem

The Planar Separator Theorem of Lipton and Tarjan [73] says that in any undirected planar graph G there exists a small separator \( S\; \subseteq {\rm{ }}V \) whose removal leaves two disjoint sets of vertices \( A,\;B \subseteq {\rm{ }}V \) with no edge between them; moreover, each of A and B is at most a constant fraction of the size of V.
Why don't young adults protect themselves against sexual transmission of HIV? Possible answers to a complex question.

Using theories of health behavior, this study aimed to advance the understanding of risk-taking regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among young adults by describing: (a) their representation (i.e., schema) about HIV infection, (b) their problems with use of condoms and comfort with safe-sex practices, and (c) situations associated with risky sexual behavior and reported reasons for risk-taking. Participants were 272 young adult college students whose average age was 19.3 years (SD = 2.4). They completed an extensive questionnaire developed for the study. The representation of HIV infection in this sample lacked the specific and detailed information necessary to guide sexual behavior. For example, participants were aware of the causes of sexual transmission of HIV, but many persons indicated uncertainty about the effectiveness of various preventive strategies (e.g., latex condoms, birth control devices). A number of specific problems with using condoms were identified or expected by participants. These included inadequate lubrication, poor fit, and breaks or leaks during intercourse. The majority of the sample (85.3%) reported at least one occurrence of unprotected sexual intercourse. For 60% of them, the stated reason for the risk-taking was that the intercourse was unplanned or spontaneous; 50% reported that they "just knew" the partner was safe and not infected with HIV. Implications for health education programs are discussed.
Advanced machine learning techniques for building performance simulation: a comparative analysis

Energy consumption predictions for buildings play an important role in energy efficiency and sustainability research. Accurate energy predictions have numerous application in real-time performance monitoring, fault detection, identifying prime targets for energy conservation, quantifying savings resulting from energy efficiency projects, etc. Machine learning-based energy models have proved to be more efficient and accurate where historical time series data is available. This paper presents various machine learning concepts that will aid in the generation of more accurate and efficient energy models. We have shown in detail the development of energy models using extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), artificial neural network (ANN), and degree-day-based ordinary least square regression. We have presented a thorough description of the workflow, including intermediate steps for feature engineering, feature selection, hyper-parameter optimization and the Python source code. Our results indicate that XGBoost pr...
Waste is information: infrastructure legibility and governance

In this well-researched and wide-ranging text, Offenhuber blends theory and empirics to argue that as urban design is a form of governance (Offenhuber, 2017, p. 11), it should increasingly be handl...
Closing the Gender Pay Gap: New Approaches to an Old Problem:

This article addresses new approaches to address a long-standing employment compensation problem—the gender pay gap. Existing approaches, including the Equal Pay Act and Title VII, are more than 50...
Masculinidades y cultura popular en Guayaquil

El trabajo explora las nociones de masculinidad manejadas por Pancho Jaime, un controversial personaje local, cuyas revistasÂ polA­ticas fueron Aividamente consumidas durante los aA±os ochenta. El argumento es que Jaime, para ser reconocido como un maestro en la manipulaciA³n de gA©neros "populares" tales como cA³digosÂ de oralidad, variaciones lingA¼A­sticas particulares, chismes, apodos e insultos, entre otros, explotA³ discursos dominantes sobre masculinidadÂ como la principal estrategia pala cautivar a su audiencia. Al mismo tiempo de que A©sta era predominantemente masculina pero de diversos estratos sociales y orA­genes locales, los materiales culturales movilizados por Pancho Jairne sirvieron tambiA©n para construir una imagen de "macho", reconocida como tal, en la escena local. Es por lo tanto en la dialA©ctica de producciA³n y consumo de estas revistas en tanto materiales culturales, donde los significados de "lo popular" emergen siruacional y selectivamente.
Early Second Trimester Maternal Serum Steroid-Related Biomarkers Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Epidemiologic studies link increased autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk to obstetrical conditions associated with inflammation and steroid dysregulation, referred to as prenatal metabolic syndrome (PNMS). This pilot study measured steroid-related biomarkers in early second trimester maternal serum collected during the first and second trimester evaluation of risk study. ASD case and PNMS exposure status of index offspring were determined through linkage with autism registries and birth certificate records. ASD case (N = 53) and control (N = 19) groups were enriched for PNMS exposure. Higher estradiol and lower sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were significantly associated with increased ASD risk. Study findings provide preliminary evidence to link greater placental estradiol activity with ASD and support future investigations of the prenatal steroid environment in ASD.