cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Resonantly enhanced semiconductor lasers for efficient transmission of millimeter wave modulated light

External cavity semiconductor lasers with resonantly enhanced modulation response are shown to be suitable for efficient narrowband data transmission in the millimeter-wave range (35 GHz) at frequencies beyond the intrinsic modulation bandwidth of the diode. A small-signal rate equation model is presented to analyze the modulation response as well as the amplitude noise in such a resonant transmitter system. Analysis and measurements show that the relative intensity noise is also resonantly enhanced, but the signal-to-noise ratio is not degraded. >
Pooling biospecimens and limits of detection: effects on ROC curve analysis.

SUMMARY Frequently, epidemiological studies deal with two restrictions in the evaluation of biomarkers: cost and instrument sensitivity. Costs can hamper the evaluation of the effectiveness of new biomarkers. In addition, many assays are affected by a limit of detection (LOD), depending on the instrument sensitivity. Two common strategies used to cut costs include taking a random sample of the available samples and pooling biospecimens. We compare the two sampling strategies when an LOD effect exists. These strategies are compared by examining the efficiency of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, specifically the estimation of the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for normally distributed markers. We propose and examine a method to estimate AUC when dealing with data from pooled and unpooled samples where an LOD is in effect. In conclusion, pooling is the most efficient cost-cutting strategy when the LOD affects less than 50% of the data. However, when much more than 50% of the data are affected, utilization of the pooling design is not recommended.
An Elasmosaur with Stomach Contents and Gastroliths from the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous) of Kansas

Abstract A nearly complete skeleton of an elasmosaurid plesiosaur (NJSM 15435) from the Sharon Springs Member (Middle Campanian) of the Pierre Shale, Logan County, Kansas, is associated intimately with fragmentary fish remains and numerous gastroliths. The fish bones and gastroliths were located just behind the pectoral girdle in the abdominal region. Identifiable prey includes Enchodus and other small clupeomorph fishes. An isolated tooth of the anacoracid shark Squalicorax cf. S. pristodontus also was recovered in this area. Ninety-five gastroliths (6.8 kg) were present, with the largest stone measuring 15.1 × 8.5 × 5.7 cm (5.0 × 3.3 × 2.2 in.) and weighing 1.06 kg (2.3 lb.). Many of the gastroliths are composed of pink or gray Sioux Quartzite, which suggests that the source of these stones was about 600 km (475 mi) to the northeast of where the elasmosaur remains were discovered. The association of fragmentary fish remains and gastroliths within the abdomen of NJSM 15435 supports the contention that th...
Voltage Scalable Switched Capacitor DC-DC Converter for Ultra-Low-Power On-Chip Applications

This paper presents a voltage scalable switched capacitor (SC) DC-DC converter which employs on-chip charge- transfer capacitors. The DC-DC converter makes use of multiple topologies to achieve scalable voltage generation while minimizing conduction loss and a technique called divide-by-3 switching to minimize the loss due to bottom-plate parasitics. It also uses automatic frequency scaling to reduce switching losses. The converter employs an all digital control which consumes no static power. The voltage scalable SC DC-DC converter with integrated on-chip charge-transfer capacitors was implemented in a 0.18 mum CMOS process and achieves above 70% efficiency over a wide range of load powers from 5 muW to 1 mW, while delivering load voltages from 300 mV to 1.1 V. The active area consumed by the converter is 0.57 mm2.
Strain dependence and magnetic anisotropy in chromium dioxide thin films

Field-dependent transverse susceptibility measurements based on a novel tunnel-diode oscillator (TDO) method were used to probe the magnetic anisotropy and switching in epitaxially grown CrO2 films on TiO2 substrates. The static field was applied in three different orientations (0°, 45° and 90°) with respect to the magnetic easy axis. Singular peaks in the transverse susceptibility were observed that are associated with the anisotropy and switching fields in CrO2. Theoretical calculations based on a coherent rotation model display remarkable agreement with the experimental data. A new peak emerges at low temperatures and is identified to be a consequence of temperature-dependent magnetoelastic contributions resulting from the in-plane tensile strain in the films due to varying coefficients of thermal expansion in the film and the substrate.
Extremum seeking with bounded update rates

a b s t r a c t In this work, we present a form of extremum seeking (ES) in which the unknown function being mini- mized enters the system's dynamics as the argument of a cosine or sine term, thereby guaranteeing known bounds on update rates and control efforts. We present general n-dimensional optimization and stabi- lization results as well as 2D vehicle control, with bounded velocity and control efforts. For application to autonomous vehicles, tracking a source in a GPS denied environment with unknown orientation, this ES approach allows for smooth heading angle actuation, with constant velocity, and in application to a unicycle-type vehicle results in control ability as if the vehicle is fully actuated. Our stability analysis is made possible by the classic results of Kurzweil, Jarnik, Sussmann, and Liu, regarding systems with highly oscillatory terms. In our stability analysis, we combine the averaging results with a semiglobal practical stability result under small parametric perturbations developed by Moreau and Aeyels. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Pathologic Mineralization, Nucleation, Growth, and Retention

Many different materials have been identified as being involved in mineralizations in mammals. Although solubility properties of these materials are known, their kinetics of formation in vivo are largely unknown. A general paradigm for the study of in vivo mineralization has yet to be developed. The whole subject area is rife with speculation and half-baked ideas, some of which are my own. Some kinetic and mechanistic data about urinary stones are discussed.
The North American Sukhovey

Abstract. Brief spells of desiccation known by the Russian term, “sukhovey,” occur throughout much of the United States. Although they occur most frequently in the southern intermontane region of Arizona and surrounding states, their effects on crops are most pronounced in unirrigated agricultural regions of the Great Plains, Middle West, and Southeast. Their spotty occurrence in space and time seems to be related to adiabatic heating caused by strong subsidence ahead of slowly moving cold fronts, sometimes enhanced by thunderstorm wakes. The summer of 1980 produced the hottest, driest weather in eastern Kansas, much of Missouri, northern Arkansas, and portions of adjoining states since the great drought years of the 1930s.
The Sexual Policies and Sexual Realities of the German Occupiers in Poland in the Second World War

Sexual policies were a core component of the National Socialist racial policies, both in the Altreich (territories considered part of Nazi Germany before 1938), as well as in the occupied territories. In occupied Poland the Germans imposed a ‘prohibition of contact’ (Umgangsverbot) with the local Polish population, a restriction that covered both social as well as sexual encounters. But this model of absolute racial segregation was never truly implemented. This paper attempts to show that there existed a wide range of sexual contacts between the occupiers and the local inhabitants, with the focus here being on consensual and forced contacts (sexual violence) as seen against the backdrop of National Socialist policies. This article positions itself at the intersection of the history of everyday life (Alltagsgeschichte), the history of sexuality and the gender history of the German occupation of Poland – perspectives that have rarely been used with regard to this region.
Temporal variation in contamination of pine engraver beetles with Fusarium circinatum in native Monterey pine forests in California

The relative importance of beetle species associated with Fusarium circinatum -infected Monterey pines was investigated in three Monterey pine forests along the coast of central California, USA from April to November in 2004 and 2005. Fusarium circinatum was frequently isolated from Ips mexicanus and I. plastographus . The mean percentage isolation based upon numbers of I. mexicanus and I. plastographus carrying propagules of F. circinatum was 17·7 and 10·9% in 2004 and 16·7 and 17·3% in 2005, respectively. The mean percentage isolation was high in the spring and early summer and low in late summer and autumn in all three locations for both species. Isolation was higher from beetles emerging from harvested F. circinatum -infected pine-stems than for trapped beetles, 42·4% for I. mexicanus and 45·9% for I. plastographus . The mean ( ± SE) propagule load of trapped I. mexicanus was 269·5 ( ± 14·1) in 2004 and 281·7 ( ± 35·7) in 2005 and was 216·1 ( ± 28·9) in 2004 and 251·9 ( ± 28·4) in 2005 for I. plastographus . Mean propagule loads decreased from May to November in all locations for both species. Propagule loads of beetles emerged from infected stems were lower than that of trapped beetles, with means of 89·4 ( ± 23·2) and 93·0 ( ± 23·2) for I. mexicanus and I. plastographus , respectively. Thus beetles must acquire fungal propagules from more than one infected host. These results also suggest that higher contamination rates and propagule loads in spring and early summer may indicate a higher risk of pitch canker transmission, relative to late summer or autumn.
Grain orientation effects on delamination during fatigue of a sensitized Al–Mg alloy

Fatigue crack growth experiments were conducted in humid air (RH~45%) at 25 °C on 29-mm-thick plate samples of an aluminium–magnesium (Al–Mg) 5083-H131 alloy in the long transverse (LT) direction. Samples were tested in both the as-received condition and after sensitization at 175 °C for 100 h. Delamination along some grain boundaries was observed in the short transverse plane after fatigue testing of the sensitized material, depending upon the level of ΔK and Kmax. Orientation microscopy using electron backscattering diffraction and chemical analyses using transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy of grain boundaries revealed that Mg segregation and the orientation of grains had key roles in the observed grain boundary delamination of the sensitized material.
White matter stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy

Electrical stimulation in the treatment of epilepsy has been tried in numerous forms and with a variety of targets. Some of these, such as anterior thalamic stimulation, responsive cortical stimulation, and vagal nerve stimulation, have shown promise. A relatively novel concept, that of white matter stimulation, offers a different mechanism in that a small population of stimulated axons can transmit current to a large population of epileptogenic neurons. In theory, this allows for the modulation of seizure circuits and neural networks using lower stimulation volumes. Although clinical data is currently sparse, we review the relevant studies pertaining to white matter stimulation in epilepsy thus far, and offer explanations as to its effects, potential advantages, and utility.
Fitting graph models to big data

Many big data applications collect large numbers of time series. A first task in analyzing such data is to find a low- dimensional representation, a graph, which faithfully describes relations among the measured processes and through time. The processes are often affected by a relatively small number of unmeasured trends. This paper presents a computationally tractable algorithm for jointly estimating these trends and underlying weighted, directed graph structure from the collected data. The algorithm is demonstrated on simulated time series datasets.
Efficient evaluation of object-centric exploration queries for visualization

The most effective way to explore data is through visualizing the results of exploration queries. For example, an exploration query could be an aggregate of some measures over time intervals, and a pattern or abnormality can be discovered through a time series plot of the query results. In this paper, we examine a special kind of exploration query, namely object-centric exploration query. Common examples include claims made about athletes in sports databases, such as "it is newsworthy that LeBron James has scored 35 or more points in nine consecutive games."We focus on one common type of visualization, i.e., 2d scatter plot with heatmap. Namely, we consider exploration queries whose results can be plotted on a two-dimensional space, possibly with colors indicating object densities in regions. While we model results as pairs of numbers, the types of the queries are limited only by the users' imagination. In the LeBron James example above, the two dimensions are minimum points scored per game and number of consecutive games, respectively. It is easy to find other equally interesting dimensions, such as minimum rebounds per game or number of playoff games.We formalize this problem and propose an efficient, interactive-speed algorithm that takes a user-provided exploration query (which can be a blackbox function) and produces an approximate visualization that preserves the two most important visual properties: the outliers and the overall distribution of all result points.
Detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type-1 IgG and IgM antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

A sensitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is described for detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1, IgG and IgM antibodies. The antigen consisted of a crude extract of HSV infected human foreskin fibroblast cells. Specific horseradish peroxidase conjugated antisera were used to detect total immunoglobulin, IgG and IgM antibodies bound to viral antigen. The substrate was a solution of 5-aminosalicylic acid and hydrogen peroxide, which yielded a readily visible endpoint. Results obtained by the ELISA method were compared with the micro-complement fixation (CF) method on 36 sera. ELISA was shown to be at least 10-20 fold more sensitive than CF, with a correlation coefficient of 0.752 (p less than .001). HSV antibodies in these sera were mainly IgG, although IgM antibodies could also be detected by ELISA. HSV antibodies were not found in 16 cerebrospinal fluids from patients without HSV encephalitis (HSVE). ELISA appears to be a rapid, sensitive, and specific method for demonstration of IgG and IgM HSV antibodies. It may have possible application in the diagnosis of HSVE.
LIPIDS OF SMITTIUM CULISETAE

SUMMARY Neutral and polar lipids of Smittium culisetae were separated by silicic acid column and thin-layer chromatography. 76.3% of the total lipids was found to be neutral lipids and 23.7% was polar. Triglycerides were the most abundant (26.6%) of the lipids with lesser amounts of free fatty acids, steroids and diglycerides. The major phosphatide was phosphatidyl choline (17.8%) while phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl serine were present in smaller amounts. Gas chromatography of methyl esters of the fatty acids obtained from the individual lipid classes showed that the most abundant unsaturated fatty acid was palmitoleic (38.7%) and the predominant saturated fatty acid was palmitic (34.3%). The genus Smittium is included in the Harpellales of the Trichomycetes. The latter comprise a group of unusual fungi typically found in various arthropods as commensals in the digestive tract (Litchwardt, 1960). Species of Smittium like all other Harpellales are restricted to the guts of Diptera larvae where they complete their life cycle attached to the chitinous gut lining. Smittium culisetae Lichtwardt was first isolated by Lichtwardt (1964) from mosquito larvae. Smittium remains the only endozoic genus of the Trichomycetes cultured axenically and to our knowledge no information is available in the literature on the lipid composition of any of the species of Smittium. This report presents an examination of the lipid composition of Smittiumz culisetae. The individual lipid classes and phosphatides were separated and a quantitative determination was made. The total fatty acid content and the fatty acids in each class were determined.
Experimental Investigation of Dynamic out of Plane Displacement Error in 3D Digital Image Correlation

With the development and implementation of digital image correlation (DIC) in static and dynamic experimentation, a deeper understanding of the variation of measurement error due to the experimental setup is sought. In this investigation, dynamic rigid body motion is measured using two high speed digital CMOS cameras paired with 3D digital image correlation (3D-DIC), a single point laser vibrometer, and a single axis accelerometer. To determine measurement error, a comparison is made between the measured displacement, velocity, and acceleration in the frequency domain. Prior to dynamic testing, characterization experiments with no motion were performed to determine potential sources of noise in a static environment. It was shown that the camera cooling fans and source of lighting can contribute to measurement noise. Dynamic experiments were designed to investigate the potential effect camera angle, sampling rate, and shutter speed have on measurement error. In addition to the 3D-DIC setup, speckle patterns with varying size, distribution, and randomness were investigated. Results show that the 3D-DIC setup and speckle pattern characteristics can affect the measurement error and measurement quality
Monte Carlo Simulations of Defect Relaxation in Amorphous Silicon

The structural memory model of slow defect relaxation in a-Si:H is extended to the limit of long defect filling times. The model was proposed in order to explain unusual, defect filling-time dependent capacitance transients that were observed for short defect filling times. For long defect filling pulses however, the experiments show normal charge emission transients that saturate into filling-time independent transients. We present two possibilities for explaining the approach to saturation within the structural memory model. Results of Monte Carlo simulations of the models are discussed.
GELL, Alfred. A antropologia do tempo: construções culturais de mapas e imagens temporais. Tradução de Vera Joscelyne. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2014. 327 p.

O interesse em ler o livro de Alfred Gell sobre o tempo sustenta-se em pelo menos dois motivos. Primeiro, para conhecer melhor o autor de Art and agency (Gell, 1998). Apenas na aparencia as problematizacoes e proposicoes de Gell sobre o tempo nao se relacionam com estudiosos da antropologia ou da historia da arte: em verdade, as conviccoes kantianas, cognitivistas e fenomenologicas do autor revelam-se em uma nova dimensao nesta obra – conviccoes que, como se sabe, sao fundamentais na apresent...
Astroviruses as Foodborne Infections

Astroviruses are one of the leading causes of viral gastroenteritis in the young, elderly, and immunocompromised. Although the prevalence is unknown, they are also thought to be associated with food- and waterborne outbreaks of acute diarrhea. This chapter will introduce readers to astroviruses, including the extensive diversity in humans; summarize what is known about food- and waterborne outbreaks; and conclude with where the field needs to go to better understand this important virus in food safety.
Evaluation and Classification of Pediatric Headache

A 15-year-old overweight girl was referred to the emergency room for complaints of double vision for 2 days, and worsening headache for 2 weeks. The headache started several weeks ago and has gotten worse last 2 weeks. She describes it as a constant, pounding headache all over the head. She does not have a prior history of migraines. Headache is getting worse with strong lights. Two days ago she also developed double vision and it is worse when she looks to the right.
Global Risk Assessment to Guide Blood Pressure Management in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epidemiological analyses have established the graded and continuous association between higher BP and CVD. Moreover, randomized clinical trials among individuals with hypertension have demonstrated, in aggregate, a reduction in CVD events by 20%, coronary heart disease (CHD) by 17%, stroke by 27%, and heart failure by 28% for every 10 mm Hg systolic BP (SBP) lowering with medical therapy.1 Therefore, prevention, detection, treatment, and control of elevated BP, and its clinical correlate hypertension, is an important public health priority and a primary target for CVD prevention. Although national health surveys have demonstrated improvements in hypertension awareness and treatment, strategic opportunities to improve the efficiency and efficacy of applying BP-lowering therapy in patients most likely to benefit remain.2 Global CVD risk assessment, using multivariable prediction models that estimate absolute CVD risk from routinely measured clinical variables, has been promulgated in several CVD prevention guidelines for cholesterol management to target the most intensive preventive therapies to those at highest absolute CVD risk.3–5 Hypertension guidelines, however, have instead relied solely on isolated BP thresholds and BP goals to guide treatment initiation and intensity. In this review, we provide a rationale for incorporating global CVD risk assessment in BP treatment decision-making and propose a framework to guide its implementation in future CVD prevention guidelines. Epidemiological analyses have firmly established that CVD is a multifactorial condition and that modest increases of several CVD risk factors can often lead to greater overall risk than a severe elevation of a …
The Role of Business Enterprise in Christian Mission

Power is now measured by economic strength. The world is becoming more integrated. Europe and the Pacific are challenging US dominance. The debt crisis is a crisis in capital and job creation. In the future, key economic issues will be job creation, increased production, grassroots development and safeguarding the poor from the debt crisis. The most viable form of employment will be in small scale enterprises. These meet the real needs of the poorest, are locally owned and controlled, produce products for a local market and use locally available resources. They contribute to economic stability, are not subject to international currency fluctuations and use an environmentally sustainable technology.
The Prized Connection: Portugueseness in Brazilians

Portugal and Brazil are historically linked. Few individuals will challenge whether most Brazilians have Portuguese blood in them. How much Brazilians understand the influence of their heritage is less known. Is their Portugueseness an expression of their social identity simply because of their heritage? Drawing on information from a broader study on Brazilians, I examine what having Portuguese blood means to them through their construction of a virtual social identity. The results suggest that most Brazilians of Portuguese descent emphasized their Portuguese heritage to me, particularly through discussion of history, language, and food. Having Portuguese lineage potentially enables them to apply for Portuguese citizenship. I further discuss the implications of this connection and how it relates to Brazilians’ social identity.
Origin, paleoecology, and extirpation of bluebirds and crossbills in the Bahamas across the last glacial-interglacial transition.

Abstract On low islands or island groups such as the Bahamas, surrounded by shallow oceans, Quaternary glacial–interglacial changes in climate and sea level had major effects on terrestrial plant and animal communities. We examine the paleoecology of two species of songbirds (Passeriformes) recorded as Late Pleistocene fossils on the Bahamian island of Abaco—the Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) and Hispaniolan crossbill (Loxia megaplaga). Each species lives today only outside of the Bahamian Archipelago, with S. sialis occurring in North and Central America and L. megaplaga endemic to Hispaniola. Unrecorded in the Holocene fossil record of Abaco, both of these species probably colonized Abaco during the last glacial interval but were eliminated when the island became much smaller, warmer, wetter, and more isolated during the last glacial–interglacial transition from ∼15 to 9 ka. Today’s warming temperatures and rising sea levels, although not as great in magnitude as those that took place from ∼15 to 9 ka, are occurring rapidly and may contribute to considerable biotic change on islands by acting in synergy with direct human impacts.
Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Content Analysis of United States Magazine Advertising, 1980–2009

There has been widespread and growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study examines how CSR practices have changed, corresponding to the changes in social issues by tracking back to the prevalence of CSR advertising in print magazines from 1980 to 2009 when CSR had thrived. Our findings from content analyses of print CSR advertising with Time Magazine and Better Home and Garden suggest that there are significant relationships between social issues and CSR practices by year, target audiences, and industry types. With recent increasing needs for CSR practices in society, this study lays the theoretical and practical groundwork for strategic CSR communication by documenting historical data on CSR advertising.
pyres: a Python wrapper for electrical resistivity modeling with R2

A Python package, pyres, was written to handle common as well as specialized input and output tasks for the R2 electrical resistivity (ER) modeling program. Input steps including handling field data, creating quadrilateral or triangular meshes, and data filtering allow repeatable and flexible ER modeling within a programming environment. pyres includes non-trivial routines and functions for locating and constraining specific known or separately-parameterized regions in both quadrilateral and triangular meshes. Three basic examples of how to run forward and inverse models with pyres are provided. The importance of testing mesh convergence and model sensitivity are also addressed with higher-level examples that show how pyres can facilitate future research-grade ER analyses.
Digital Storytelling and Key Skills: Problems and Opportunities

This paper presents a pilot study conducted at the University Ca’ Foscari – Venice, in Italy, in which a group of pre-service secondary school teachers explored the use of digital storytelling through workshops. The aim of this study was to determine the key skills that teachers employ in the production of DS. To this end, the study investigated in detail: the stages of Digital Storytelling (DS) perceived as difficult; the key skills that teachers are able to develop in their use of DS; the obstacles that may prevent the use of DS in schools. Although teachers have recognized the positive value of DS on the pedagogical and educational levels, the sample shows some resistance to using it at school, not so much due to the lack of technical competence, but for institutional reasons such as time constraints, access to technical equipment and curriculum demands.
Limiting the discourse of computer and robot anthropomorphism in a research group

Social science research on the anthropomorphisms of computers and robots has been devoted to studying intellectual anthropomorphism, emotional anthropomorphism, bodily anthropomorphism, and the limits of computer and robot anthropomorphism. Although these represent important patterns for studying the anthropomorphisms of computers and robots, there are other important patterns. The limitation of anthropomorphism is one of these patterns. The limitation of anthropomorphism is a discursive practice which places limits on anthropomorphism. Discursive practices are interactional and practical activities for making sense of who and what we encounter. In this article, I analyze the limitation of anthropomorphism as another important activity to investigate. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a robotics research group, I show the importance of the limitation of anthropomorphism by documenting how it contributes to research group identity. In the final section, I describe some implications for future studies of the anthropomorphisms of computers and robots.
Social Isolation Co-opts Fear and Aggression Circuits.

Social isolation is a stressful condition that often leads to maladaptive behaviors. In this issue of Cell, Zelikowsky et al. find that chronic social isolation stress triggers an increase in neuronal tachykinin signaling across distinct brain regions that mediate fear and aggression, elucidating the neural basis of these maladaptive responses.
SIN 2 : Stealth infection on neural network — A low-cost agile neural Trojan attack methodology

Deep Neural Network (DNN) has recently become the “de facto” technique to drive the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. However, there also emerges many security issues as the DNN based intelligent systems are being increasingly prevalent. Existing DNN security studies, such as adversarial attacks and poisoning attacks, are usually narrowly conducted at the software algorithm level, with the misclassification as their primary goal. The more realistic system-level attacks introduced by the emerging intelligent service supply chain, e.g. the third-party cloud based machine learning as a service (MLaaS) along with the portable DNN computing engine, have never been discussed. In this work, we propose a low-cost modular methodology-Stealth Infection on Neural Network, namely “SIN2”, to demonstrate the novel and practical intelligent supply chain triggered neural Trojan attacks. Our “SIN2” well leverages the attacking opportunities built upon the static neural network model and the underlying dynamic runtime system of neural computing framework through a bunch of neural Trojaning techniques. We implement a variety of neural Trojan attacks in Linux sandbox by following proposed “SIN2”. Experimental results show that our modular design can rapidly produce and trigger various Trojan attacks that can easily evade the existing defenses.
Economic Operation of a Microgrid Considering Uncertainties

This research presents economic operation of distributed energy resources in an islanded microgrid considering uncertainties associated with forecasting error of load, wind, and solar series. The forecasting is performed using artificial neural networks (ANN). A distribution of the forecasting errors was fitted. A discrete set of probabilities was used to create a set of possible scenarios representing possible deviations from the forecasted outputs of load, wind, and solar. The problem of economical operation of the electric grid was formulated as a stochastic optimization model to minimize expected total cost (ETC). The ETC expression consists of (a) expected operating cost of the generators, which includes linearized fuel cost and startup costs (b) expected operating costs of energy storage system and (c) expected interruption cost. Load demand data from New England area was tested to study the efficacy of this approach. A test system consisting of 10 conventional generators, 100 wind turbines at a maximum of 0.14 MW each, totaling 14 MW and 100 solar panels at a maximum of 0.36 MW each, totaling 36 MW was considered. Simulations were carried out in MATLAB and the results show that coordinating all energy resources (1) significantly enhances the power management capability of the grid (2) reduces the ETC in addition to (3) maintaining grid balance under high penetration of renewable energy sources.
The utility of current criteria for split-night polysomnography for predicting CPAP eligibility

Traditionally, evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has consisted of a diagnostic polysomnogram (PSG), followed by a continuous positive pressure (CPAP) titration. However, to reduce costs, many third-party payers mandate performance of split-night studies (SPL), combining diagnostic and CPAP titration testing. We ascertained the utility of performing SPL for diagnosis and treatment of OSA. We reviewed the PSG records of 200 patients suspected of having OSA. Using both American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and Medicare (CMS) criteria for scoring, we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the AHI in the first 2 h of sleep for predicting an overall AHI > 15. For predicting an overall AHI > 15, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of an AHI (AASM criteria) > 40 in the first 2 h were respectively: 0.304, 1.000, 1.000, and 0.335. For an AHI > 20 in the first 2 h, the corresponding values were 0.770, 0.962, 0.983, and 0.595. Corresponding values using CMS criteria were 0.347, 1.0, 1.0, and 0.6 for AHI > 40, and 0.693, 0.99, 0.986, and 0.76 for AHI > 20, respectively. For justification of CPAP (overall AHI > 15), the sensitivity is slightly lower when using an AHI > 40 vs AHI > 20, but the specificity and PPV are much higher. Using AHI > 20 as criteria for SPL as opposed to the guideline criteria of AHI > 40 may be more effective in obtaining CPAP for patients with moderate to severe OSA.
Ian McHarg’s enduring influence on the ecological planning and design of Washington’s waterfront

Ian McHarg collaborated on two important planning reports in the mid-1960s: the Potomac Report and Toward a Comprehensive Landscape Plan for Washington, DC. This work was foundational to the formulation of his ecological method as applied to cities and was the basis for several chapters of his influential book, Design with Nature (1969). Less understood is the impact of these reports on the planning and design of Washington itself. While the environmental and cultural consciousness of the nation’s capital was awakening when McHarg arrived in the city, his ecological approach enhanced the work of National Capital Planning Commission at the time. Though it has taken over 50 years to realize some of the recommendations derived from McHarg and his colleagues’ analysis of the District, Washington’s waterfront is in the midst of a riverside renaissance. McHarg’s ecological method has been a steady undercurrent in the planning of Washington. A shortcoming of the reports is their failure to consider the issue of social equity in the city. Fortunately, current efforts on the Anacostia, in particular, have begun to remedy this oversight.
Quantification of Poinsettia Root Growth by Image Scans or X-ray Computed Tomography Scans in Three Propagation Substrates at Varied Moisture Levels

The objective was to refine protocols to quantify rooting of plant cuttings and the water/air microenvironment of substrates using x-ray computed tomography (CT). Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) cuttings were propagated in three substrates (peat, rockwool, and phenolic foam) at varied moisture levels. In Experiment 1, adventitious rooting occurred in cuttings grown in rockwool or foam from 12% to 86% volumetric water content (VWC) and 12% to 80% volumetric air content (VAC). The highest root growth occurred in rockwool at 59% VWC and 33% VAC. There was an advantage to quantifying root growth by CT in rockwool and foam, in contrast to peat, because of clear differences in material density between root and substrate during image processing. In Experiment 2, root growth was quantified in peat by two-dimensional image scans under similar growth chamber environments, with rapid root growth from 52% to 63% VWC and 16% to 26% VAC. In Experiment 3, CT was used to quantify the substrate microenvironment at 0.5 cm slices to further describe the environment at the base of the plant cutting. Rapid rooting occurred in microenvironments above 56% VWC and 14% VAC, whereas the low 3% VAC in foam at high moisture may limit root growth. Abbreviations: volumetric water content (VWC), volumetric air content (VAC), volumetric solid content (VSC)
Automated cell stage predictions in early mouse and human embryos using convolutional neural networks

During in-vitro fertilization, the timings of cell divisions in early human embryos are important predictors of embryo viability. Recent developments in time-lapse microscopy (TLM) allows for observing cell divisions in much greater detail than before. However, it is a time-consuming process relying on highly trained staff and subjective observations. We present an automated method based on a convolutional neural network to predict cell divisions from original (unprocessed) TLM images. Our method was evaluated on two embryo TLM image datasets: a public dataset with mouse embryos and a private dataset with human embryos up to 4-cell stage. Compared to embryologists' annotations, our results were almost 100% accurate for mouse embryos and accurate within five frames in 93% of cell stage transitions for human embryos. Our approach can be used to improve consistency and quality of existing annotations or as part of a platform for fully automatic embryo assessment.
Carotid Vessel Wall Imaging on CTA

Vessel wall imaging has been increasingly used to characterize plaque beyond luminal narrowing to identify patients who may be at the highest risk of cerebrovascular ischemia. Although detailed plaque information can be obtained from many imaging modalities, CTA is particularly appealing for carotid plaque imaging due to its relatively low cost, wide availability, operator independence, and ability to discern high-risk features. The present Review Article describes the current understanding of plaque characteristics on CTA by describing commonly encountered plaque features, including calcified and soft plaque, surface irregularities, neovascularization, and inflammation. The goal of this Review Article was to provide a more robust understanding of clinically relevant plaque features detectable on routine CTA of the carotid arteries.
Chapter 8 – Strain-Based Multiaxial Fatigue Analysis

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the strain-based multiaxial fatigue analysis. Strain tensor components can be used as damage parameters for multiaxial fatigue analysis. To capture physical features of the cracking behavior of the materials, the strain terms are often used in conjunction with stress terms to account for mean stresses or hydrostatic stresses. Strain-based damage parameters can be used for high-, mid-, and low-cycle fatigue life regimes with the proper selection of damage parameter. Fatigue life estimates for proportional multiaxial loading can be obtained with equivalent strain equations based on a yield criterion. For damage parameters that include stress terms, an accurate calculation of the stress tensor history from the strain tensor history requires sophisticated multiaxial material models and material constants. These material constants and damage parameter material constants can be challenging to obtain for an absolute fatigue life prediction, although comparative analysis can be conducted to examine general trends in fatigue life using multiple damage parameters.
Agile beam laser radar using computational imaging for robotic perception

This paper introduces a new concept that applies computational imaging techniques to laser radar for robotic perception. We observe that nearly all contemporary laser radars for robotic (i.e., autonomous) applications use pixel basis scanning where there is a one-to-one correspondence between world coordinates and the measurements directly produced by the instrument. In such systems this is accomplished through beam scanning and/or the imaging properties of focal-plane optics. While these pixel-basis measurements yield point clouds suitable for straightforward human interpretation, the purpose of robotic perception is the extraction of meaningful features from a scene, making human interpretability and its attendant constraints mostly unnecessary. The imposing size, weight, power and cost of contemporary systems is problematic, and relief from factors that increase these metrics is important to the practicality of robotic systems. We present a system concept free from pixel basis sampling constraints that promotes efficient and adaptable sensing modes. The cornerstone of our approach is agile and arbitrary beam formation that, when combined with a generalized mathematical framework for imaging, is suited to the particular challenges and opportunities of robotic perception systems. Our hardware concept looks toward future systems with optical device technology closely resembling modern electronically-scanned-array radar that may be years away from practicality. We present the design concept and results from a prototype system constructed and tested in a laboratory environment using a combination of developed hardware and surrogate devices for beam formation. The technological status and prognosis for key components in the system is discussed.
Methods for training collaborative biostatisticians

The emphasis on team science in clinical and translational research increases the importance of collaborative biostatisticians (CBs) in healthcare. Adequate training and development of CBs ensure appropriate conduct of robust and meaningful research and, therefore, should be considered as a high-priority focus for biostatistics groups. Comprehensive training enhances clinical and translational research by facilitating more productive and efficient collaborations. While many graduate programs in Biostatistics and Epidemiology include training in research collaboration, it is often limited in scope and duration. Therefore, additional training is often required once a CB is hired into a full-time position. This article presents a comprehensive CB training strategy that can be adapted to any collaborative biostatistics group. This strategy follows a roadmap of the biostatistics collaboration process, which is also presented. A TIE approach (Teach the necessary skills, monitor the Implementation of these skills, and Evaluate the proficiency of these skills) was developed to support the adoption of key principles. The training strategy also incorporates a "train the trainer" approach to enable CBs who have successfully completed training to train new staff or faculty.
Application of the Risk Principle in the Supervision and Treatment of Individuals Who Have Sexually Offended: Does “Oversupervision” Matter?:

Individuals who sexually offend are commonly misunderstood as being high risk. According to the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) principles, treatment and supervision levels should be determined by act...
Problems of Minorities at Majority Institutions: A Student’s Perspective

The hardest burden that a minority student at a majority institution has to bear is the alienation felt when one realizes that few share one’s point of view. It is not the academic competition that one faces, since one also competes with the brightest students in the country when enrolled at Howard or Meharry; rather it is that of being different and misunderstood It is that self-esteem and self-respect are repeatedly challenged on a racial basis, as well as on a personal basis. There is repeated challenge in all conceivable situations from the first day of med school, when your white lab partner wonders aloud whether one has to keep the same partner throughout the year, until graduation when one sees fewer black classmates than were there on the first day. The challenge is internal as well as external. One is forced into a long “Are you who you think you are?” period and there is little help around to see you through. Many times in the process you want to give up and say that you tried, but more often, fortunately, you try harder and keep going.
Effect of Actinomycin D on Virus-induced Ribonucleic Acid Polymerase Formation in Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus-Infected Baby Hamster Kidney Cells

Actinomycin D, at a concentration that inhibits cellular ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesis, inhibited the production of foot-and-mouth disease virus-induced RNA polymerase in baby hamster kidney cells. Inhibition was proportional to exposure time and reached 85% when actinomycin D was added 90 min before infection. Polymerase production was inhibited to the same extent in growth and minimal media, and the kinetics of its appearance were slightly different than in untreated cells. Enzyme preparations from actinomycin-treated cells having one-third to one-tenth the activity of untreated samples gave products with RNA profiles similar to those of controls. The 37S viral peak, 20S ribonuclease-resistant peak, and 26 to 28S peaks were present in all cases. Actinomycin D did not consistently inhibit virus production in either medium. Insulin did not prevent the actinomycin induced inhibition of polymerase and virus production from occurring.
Ring-assisted Sagnac frequency discriminator

We experimentally demonstrated that the linearity of Sagnac frequency discriminator could be improved by adding an intra-cavity ring.
The Relationship of Analysis of Variance to Regression: Part 1. Balanced Designs

The relationship of analysis of variance to regression is well-known and is usually set forth in terms of the general linear hypothesis model. Presented in this way, an understanding of the consanguinity of the two methods requires a knowledge of statis..
Machine learning comprehension grammars for ten languages

Comprehension grammars for a sample of ten languages (English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) were derived by machine learning from corpora of about 400 sentences. Key concepts in our learning theory are: probabilistic association of words and meanings, grammatical and semantical form generalization, grammar computations, congruence of meaning, and dynamical assignment of denotational value to a word.
Testing marine conservation applications of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in a remote marine protected area1

In 2014, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) utilized unique partnerships with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the US Coast Guard ...
Left Atrial Volume Determination by Three-dimensional Echocardiography Reconstruction: Validation and Application of a Simplified Technique

Abstract Left atrial (LA) size assessment by anteroposterior dimension is limited in accuracy. Conventional 3-dimensional (3D) reconstruction has been validated, but the process is time-consuming and the 3D system is not widely available. We developed an algorithm to simplify 3D reconstruction of LA on the basis of 3 standard apical views, tested it in 44 hemodynamic stages of 8 open-chest dogs, and compared it with LA volumes assessed by conventional 3D reconstruction. Simplified 3D reconstruction provided an accurate LA volume measurement (y = 0.93x + 0.7, r = 0.95, standard error of the estimate [SEE] = 3.6) with more than 60% of time saved. Cubic equation of anteroposterior dimension and biplane modified Simpson's method were less accurate (for biplane modified Simpson's method, y=0.8x + 2.6, r=0.88, SEE=5.0; for cubic equation of anteroposterior dimension, y=0.65x + 2.6, r=0.76, SEE=8.2). Without the need for a 3D-imaging acquisition tool, simplified 3D reconstruction can be applied in the clinical setting for LA size quantitation with significant time saved. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2002;15:1051-6.)