cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethnic Living Arrangements: Cultural Convergence or Cultural Minifestation?

Two competing hypotheses based on the relationship between living arrangements, social class, and cultural factors are developed. These hypotheses are examined for a sample of unmarried elderly Hispanic females, employing logistic regression techniques with data from the 1980 census. Support is found for the hypothesis that as economic status increases, the impact of cultural factors on living arrangement status diminishes. This result holds for Mexican American and Puerto Rican women but not for Cuban women. Two hypotheses have dominated the literature concerning Hispanic living arrangements. One hypothesis suggests that cultural values related to familism and normative patterns of support for family members are most salient in determining living arrangements. Others argue that social class (i.e., economic status) plays the major role, especially in light of the economies of scale that can be attained through household complexity. Although both hypotheses have received some support in the literature, our understanding of the determinants of household composition among Hispanics remains inconclusive. Further insight is necessary to assist in the development and evaluation of sociological theory pertaining to ethnic households and families, as well as to contribute to a broader understanding of the nature of the relationship between cultural factors and social class. The purpose of this article is to extend the recent work of Burr and Mutchler (1992) by developing and testing hypotheses about how economic resources condition cultural factors as determinants of Hispanic living arrangements. As suggested above, some analysts argue that members of Hispanic populations differ from the majority population in their preferences regarding living arrangements. The cultural explanation holds that because people from some cultures have greater attachments to nonnuclear kin than those from other
Purification of human renal renin.

1. Human renal renin has been purified 200 000-fold from cadaver kidney cortex by a method which employs affinity chromatography on aminohexyl pepstatin. 2. The product of this purification has a specific activity of 400 Goldblatt units/mg when compared with Haas human renin standard. 3. This product appears as a single band on sodium dodecyl sulphate gel and polyacrylamide-disc gel electrophoresis. Renin enzymatic activity was recovered after elution from a polyacrylamide-disc gel run at pH 7·8. 4. Yield with this method was 1%.
Investigation of measles,epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis antibody levels among children between 1 ~ 7 years old in Liyang city

Objective To investigate the IgG levels of measles,epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis among children between 1 ~ 7 years old in Liyang city,so as to provide effective and scientific evidence for immunization of population. Methods A total of 12 816 serum samples were collected from children between 1 ~ 7 years old to detect the IgG antibodies of measles,epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA). Results The IgG antibodies positive rates of measles,epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis were 99. 56%,94. 49%,99. 03% and 97. 46% respectively,and all had no statistical significance between genders. While the antibody positive rates of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis had statistical significance among children at different ages. There was no statistical significance in the antibody positive rate of measles among children at different ages. Conclusion The IgG antibody levels of measles,epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis,Japanese encephalitis and poliomyelitis were higher among children between 1 ~ 7 years old in Liyang city,showing better immune effect.
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENDITURES OF OUTPATIENTS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To examine the magnitude of out-of-pocket expenditures for patients undergoing chemotherapy in an outpatient clinic. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING An urban outpatient chemotherapy clinic. SAMPLE Convenience sample of 20 adult patients with cancer. METHODS Birenbaum's Cost Interview Schedule was administered to patients as they awaited treatment in the chemotherapy clinic; demographic data were collected from patients' charts. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLE Out-of-pocket expenditures incurred during a one-month period of chemotherapy treatment. FINDINGS Estimated out-of-pocket expenses, excluding lost income, ranged widely from $12-$3,130. CONCLUSIONS Out-of-pocket expenses come from multiple sources over time and can be more costly than previously recognized. Extent of out-of-pocket expenditures may depend on treatment protocol, ease of symptom management, functional status, and nonclinical elements such as socioeconomic factors. Additional investigation can identify which patients are most vulnerable to excessive out-of-pocket expenses and who may be at risk for treatment delay or withdrawal because of difficulties in meeting expenses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE Recognition of the hidden costs incurred by patients with cancer as they undergo treatment enables nurses to anticipate the financial burden of illness, make necessary referrals, address quality-of-life issues because of financial distress, and avert critical delays in treatment related to overwhelming healthcare costs.
When and how to treat childhood immune thrombocytopenia.

Abstract:Childhood immune thrombocytopenia is an autoimmune process resulting in an isolated thrombocytopenia that puts the child at risk for bleeding and can negatively impact quality of life. Pharmacologic intervention aims to stabilize the platelet count, with the goal of achieving hemostasis and
William Makepeace Thackeray, [‘Impressions of Charlotte Brontë’] (1847–1853), in The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray, edited by Gordon N. Ray (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 4 volumes, 1945), vol. ii, 1841–1851, pp. 318–19, 340–1; vol. iii, 1852–1856, pp. 232–3

I wish you had not sent me Jane Eyre. It interested me so much that I have lost (or won if you like) a whole day in reading it at the busiest period, with the printers I know waiting for copy. Who the author can be I can’t guess — if a woman she knows her language better than most ladies do, or has had a ‘classical’ education. It is a fine book though — the man & woman capital — the style very generous and upright so to speak. I thought it was Kinglake for some time. The plot of the story is one with wh I am familiar. Some of the love passages made me cry — to the astonishment of John who came in with the coals. St John the Missionary is a failure I think but a good failure there are parts excellent I dont know why I tell you this but that I have been exceedingly moved & pleased by Jane Eyre. It is a womans writing, but whose? Give my respects and thanks to the author — whose novel is the first English one (& the French are only romances now) that I’ve been able to read for many a day.
The Primate Body

This chapter reviews general aspects of primate anatomy that will be discussed throughout the book. It covers many features of gross morphology in which there are difference among primates, and that play a role in primate systematics and in understanding behavioral and ecological adaptations. These include aspects of body size, cranial morphology, dental anatomy, and postcranial anatomy.
Parametric Covariance Model for Horizon-Based Optical Navigation

This Note presents an entirely parametric version of the covariance for horizon-based optical navigation measurements. The covariance can be written as a function of only the spacecraft position, two sensor design parameters, the illumination direction, the size of the observed planet, the size of the lit arc to be used, and the total number of observed horizon points. As a result, one may now more clearly understand the sensitivity of horizon-based optical navigation performance as a function of these key design parameters, which is insight that was obscured in previous (and nonparametric) versions of the covariance. Finally, the new parametric covariance is shown to agree with both the nonparametric analytic covariance and results from a Monte Carlo analysis.
Managing Risk in a Derivative IaaS Cloud

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud platforms rent computing resources with different cost and availability tradeoffs. For example, users may acquire virtual machines (VMs) in the spot market that are cheap, but can be unilaterally terminated by the cloud operator. Because of this revocation risk, spot servers have been conventionally used for delay and risk tolerant batch jobs. In this paper, we develop risk mitigation policies which allow even interactive applications to run on spot servers. Our System, SpotCheck is a derivative cloud platform, and provides the illusion of an IaaS platform that offers always-available VMs on demand for a cost near that of spot servers, and supports unmodified applications. SpotCheck’s design combines virtualization-based mechanisms for fault-tolerance, and bidding and server selection policies for managing the risk and cost. We implement SpotCheck on EC2 and show that it i) provides nested VMs with 99.9989 percent availability, ii) achieves upto 2-5 $\times$ cost savings compared to using on-demand VMs, and iii) eliminates any risk of losing VM state.
Synergistic Effects on the Elderly People's Motor Control by Wearable Skin-Stretch Device Combined with Haptic Joystick.

Cutaneous sensory feedback can be used to provide additional sensory cues to a person performing a motor task where vision is a dominant feedback signal. A haptic joystick has been widely used to guide a user by providing force feedback. However, the benefit of providing force feedback is still debatable due to performance dependency on factors such as the user’s skill-level, task difficulty. Meanwhile, recent studies have shown the feasibility of improving a motor task performance by providing skin-stretch feedback. Therefore, a combination of two aforementioned feedback types is deemed to be promising to promote synergistic effects to consistently improve the person’s motor performance. In this study, we aimed at identifying the effect of the combined haptic and skin-stretch feedbacks on the aged person’s driving motor performance. For the experiment, fifteen healthy elderly subjects (age 72.8±6.6 years) were recruited and were instructed to drive a virtual power-wheelchair through four different courses with obstacles. Four augmented sensory feedback conditions were tested: no-feedback, force feedback, skin-stretch feedback, and a combination of both force and skin-stretch feedbacks. While the haptic force was provided to the hand by the joystick, the skin-stretch was provided to the steering forearm by a custom-designed wearable skin-stretch device. We tested two hypotheses: i) an elderly individual’s motor control would benefit from receiving information about a desired trajectory from multiple sensory feedback sources, and ii) the benefit does not depend on task difficulty. Various metrics related to skills and safety were used to evaluate the control performance. Repeated measure ANOVA was performed for those metrics with two factors: task scenario and the type of the augmented sensory feedback. The results revealed that elderly subjects’ control performance significantly improved when the combined feedback of both haptic force and skin-stertch feedback was applied. The proposed approach suggest the feasibility to improve people’s task performance by the synergistic effects of multiple augmented sensory feedback modalities.
Scaling of thermal stratification or mixing in outlet plena of SFRs

Abstract Sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) have a tendency for thermal stratification in the hot or outlet plena especially during shut-down and loss of forced convection transients. The formation of thermally stratified zones in the outlet plena can: lead to thermal fatigue in adjoining solid structures; and impact passive heat removal capabilities. There are limited number of experimentally validated models in literature for thermal stratification or mixing in liquid metal pools. A high fidelity scaled-down experimental facility is required to address these needs and capture the physical phenomenon close to what is expected in a real system. The design of experimental facility and instrumentation becomes complicated with use of liquid sodium, so a surrogate fluid can simplify the design and operation considerably, providing flexibility to obtain high quality measurements. Similarity analysis based scaling methodology is used to design a scaled-down model of outlet plenum with liquid gallium ( Pr ∼ 0.025) as a surrogate for liquid sodium ( Pr ∼ 0.005 ) . However, reduction in size and different choice of coolant must be handled carefully to maintain relevance and reliability of the experimental facility. The possible differences in thermal stratification or mixing physics in the scaled-down model and the prototype SFR are evaluated by quantifying eddy thermal diffusivity and mixing efficiency. Empirical models are used to correlate these quantities as a function of Richardson number and turbulent Reynolds number, and verified using computational fluid dynamics simulations. The verified empirical model is used to construct mixing efficiency for the prototypical conditions and the scaled-down model conditions. For low flow rates in both geometries, the results show thermal profiles dominated by molecular thermal diffusivity resulting into a fully stratified interface. The full flow cases for both geometries show energetic mixing, characteristic of eddy thermal diffusivity dominated, mixed temperature profiles. These results provide evidence of accurate scaling analysis by capturing the thermal stratification or mixing physics representing the dominant physical modes of those of the prototype SFR.
Demographic differences in perceptions of media brand personality: a multilevel analysis

Empirical studies from a variety of fields suggest that perceptions of the same stimuli can vary across gender, race/ethnicity, political ideology, or other demographic dimensions. This may also be...
Scattering of He 6 from Au 197 , Ti nat , Al 27 , C nat , and Be 9 at E =8–9 MeV

Beams of $^{6}\mathrm{He}$ ions having E=8.8--9.3 MeV and intensity up to 2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{4}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ have been produced via the $^{9}\mathrm{Be}$${(}^{7}$Li${,}^{6}$He${)}^{10}$B reaction. The beams had an energy resolution of 0.8 MeV full width at half maximum, 1-cm-diam spot size, and \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}3\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} angular divergence. The first elastic-scattering data for $^{6}\mathrm{He}$ from several targets are presented as examples of the use of this radioactive beam in secondary scattering experiments and their potential use for transfer or breakup reactions. Optical model parameters for $^{6}\mathrm{He}$ are deduced by comparison with calculations using $^{6,7}\mathrm{Li}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ parameters. The data are well reproduced with $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ or $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ optical model parameters but not with those from $^{4}\mathrm{He}$.
Plasmon-enhanced triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion of post-modified polymeric acceptors

We report the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)-enhanced triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) of polymeric acceptors containing high percentages of acceptor units. A poly[(methyl methacrylate)-co-(glycidyl methacrylate)] copolymer series with increasing glycidyl methacrylate ratio was prepared using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. After post-modification of the glycidyl group with anthracene, the acceptor unit, a series of poly[(methyl methacrylate)-co-(2-hydroxypropyl-9-anthroate methacrylate)] (polyACA) was produced with different numbers of acceptor units. These polymeric acceptors were grafted to silver nanoparticles in order to enhance the TTA-UC intensity in the polymers with higher percentages of acceptor units, where concentration quenching usually dominates. With the assistance of the silver nanoparticle LSPR, TTA-UC intensity was enhanced from the polymeric acceptor nanocomposites using platinum octaethylporphyrin as the sensitizer to form the TTA-UC systems. This method is anticipated to improve TTA-UC in the solid-state, where higher percentages of acceptor units are required, but usually cause chromophore concentration quenching, reducing TTA-UC efficiency.
A study on the tie-set graph theory and network flow optimization problems: Research Articles

Aiming at establishing a firm basic theory to ring-based information network management systems, our paper proposes a tie-set graph theory. We define a binary vector representing a tie-set in a biconnected undirected graph G=(V,E) as a tie-set vector. The set of tie-set vectors forms a vector space over the proposed law of composition, then a basis of the vector space, μ linear independent tie-set vectors, is defined as a tie-set basis. The essential key concept in our theory is a tie-set graph, which has a one-to-one correspondence to a tie-set basis and represents a relation between two tie-set vectors of the basis. Some important properties of tie-set graphs and their application to survivable mesh networks in modern high-speed backbone networks are also presented. Furthermore, as a general approach to network flow optimization problems, tie-set flow vector space is proposed based on the tie-set graph theory. A distributed algorithm for the network flow optimization problems and its application are also presented in this paper. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mid-IR tunable downconversion in Ag 3 AsS 3

Mid-IR solid-state laser sources operating in the range of atmospheric transparency (3–5 and 7.5–9 μm) are of great importance for such applications as molecular spectroscopy, eyesafe medical laser sources, eyesafe laser radar and remote sensing of atmospheric constituents, and for numerous military applications such as target designation, obstacle avoidance and infrared counter measures.
Pre-treatment hematological markers as a predictive biomarker for survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab.

11547Background: The absolute neutrophil count (ANC), absolute monocyte count (AMC) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are known markers of inflammation. We evaluated whether ANC, AMC and NLR...
Experience of End-of-Life Home Care in an Acute General Community Hospital in Japan

We sometimes encounter situations in which it is impossible to find appropriate home care clinics despite patients’ wish of spending end of life (EOL) at home. We herein report our experience in cases of EOL home-based care managed by medical staff in an acute general community hospital. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of five cancer patients who received EOL home care managed by our institution between May 2016 and October 2018. We assessed the background characteristics and clinical course, how medical staff managed the patients and degree of satisfaction in the EOL care we provided, based on impressions interviews with the patients and their families. The median duration between the final examination by doctors in the hospital and death was 5 days (range: 7 h - 5 days). Regarding the visits to the four patients other than the one who died during her outing, home-visit nurses visited the patients’ homes every day in three of four patients, and both a care manager and a medical social worker (MSW) tried to evaluate the condition of the remaining patient by visits and phone calls. Information on the patients’ condition at home was given to the medical staff in order to discuss optimal home care. When they died, a doctor, a home-visit nurse, a nurse belonging to the palliative care team and a MSW visited in all cases. All patients spent their EOL calmly at home, and their families were pleased with their EOL and grateful to the medical staff who supported the patients. We supported patients’ EOL by managing home-based medical care in cooperation with multi-occupational staff. We should organize a system for meeting patients’ changing wishes flexibly. J Med Cases. 2019;10(3):75-77 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3263
Climatically controlled lacustrine clinoforms: Theory and modelling results

Abstract Lacustrine basins and their deposits are good paleoclimate recorders and contain rich energy resources. Shelf‐margin clinoforms do exist in deep lacustrine basins, but with striking differences from those in deep marine basins, caused by a correlation between the river‐derived sediment supply and the lake level. This study uses empirical relationships to calculate the water and sediment discharge from rivers and coeval lake level during wet–dry cycles at 10 s of ky time scale. Sediment supply and lake‐level changes are used for a stratigraphic forward model to understand how lacustrine clinoforms develop under different climate conditions. The results show that both wet and dry cycles can be associated with thick deep‐water fan deposits, supporting the existing climate‐driven lacustrine model proposed based on field data (e.g. Neogene Pannonian Basin and Eocene Uinta Basin). The wet period with high sediment supply and rising lake level creates the highly aggradational shelf, progradational slope and thick bottomset deposits. This is contrary from marine basin settings where the presence of rising shelf‐margin trajectory commonly indicates limited deep‐water fan deposits. This work suggests marine‐based stratigraphic models cannot be directly applied to lacustrine basins.
Analysis of 3D Position Control for a Multi-Agent System of Self-Propelled Agents Steered by a Shared, Global Control Input

This paper investigates strategies for 3D multi-agent position control using a shared control input and self-propelled agents. The only control inputs allowed are rotation commands that rotate all agents by the same rotation matrix. In the 2D case, only two degrees-of-freedom (DOF) in position are controllable. We review controllability results in 2D, and then show that interesting things happen in 3D. We provide control laws for steering up to nine DOF in position, which can be mapped in various ways, including to control the x, y, z position of three agents, make four agents meet, or reduce the spread of ${n}$ agents.
Post-fire carbon dynamics in subalpine forests of the rocky mountains

Forests store a large amount of terrestrial carbon, but this storage capacity is vulnerable to wildfire. Combustion, and subsequent tree mortality and soil erosion, can lead to increased carbon release and decreased carbon uptake. Previous work has shown that non-constant fire return intervals over the past 4000 years strongly shaped subalpine forest carbon trajectories. The extent to which fire-regime variability has impacted carbon trajectories in other subalpine forest types is unknown. Here, we explored the interactions between fire and carbon dynamics of 14 subalpine watersheds in Colorado, USA. We tested the impact of varying fire frequency over a ~2000 year period on ecosystem productivity and carbon storage using an improved biogeochemical model. High fire frequency simulations had overall lower carbon stocks across all sites compared to scenarios with lower fire frequencies, highlighting the importance of fire-frequency in determining ecosystem carbon storage. Additionally, variability in fire-free periods strongly influenced carbon trajectories across all the sites. Biogeochemical trajectories (e.g., increasing or decreasing total ecosystem carbon and carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratios) did not vary among forest types but there were trends that they may vary by elevation. Lower-elevations sites had lower overall soil C:N ratios, potentially because of higher fire frequencies reducing carbon inputs more than nitrogen losses over time. Additional measurements of ecosystem response to fire-regime variability will be essential for improving estimates of carbon dynamics from Earth system models.
Sustainable E-waste supply chain management with price/sustainability-sensitive demand and government intervention

The impact of appropriate E-waste management practices on the environment, human health, and natural resources has made E-waste management an interesting research topic in recent decades. Research also shows that government intervention is an important factor in controlling the emission volume produced by waste management systems. This study considers a base E-waste supply chain in which a collection center is responsible for collecting E-waste and delivering it to a recycling center. The recycling center recovers valuable material and sells it to electronic device manufacturing companies using a price/sustainability-sensitive demand. E-waste material recovery generates emissions that are undesirable for manufacturing companies. Two extended cases regarding the base supply chain are studied, as well: (1) the recycling center is also active in E-waste collection. (2) There are two active recycling centers. Although the sustainability-sensitive demand is a controlling factor for material recovery emissions, government interferences through tariff and emission penalties make sure that sustainable issues are considered in the material recovery process. Each plant in this study makes a marginal profit by processing E-waste; therefore, it is important to know which plant is the primary decision-maker when it comes to price. Because of its capability in terms of solving interactive decision-making problems, game theory is used to model different scenarios in our problem. Equilibrium values are derived, and a numerical example with parameter sensitivity analysis is provided to show the applicability of the proposed models. The results show that the E-waste supply chain makes more profit and selects a higher level of material recovery sustainability if the plants work under a centralized decision-making framework. Moreover, it is more profitable for the entire E-waste supply chain if the recycling center undertakes a portion of the E-waste collection activity.
Impact of the superior cavopulmonary anastomosis on cerebral oxygenation

BACKGROUND Patients with univentricular heart disease may undergo a superior cavopulmonary anastomosis, an operative intervention that raises cerebral venous pressure and impedance to cerebral venous return. The ability of infantile cerebral autoregulation to compensate for this is not well understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS We identified all patients undergoing a superior cavopulmonary anastomosis (cases) and compared metrics of cerebral oxygenation upon admission to the ICU with patients following repair of tetralogy of Fallot or arterial switch operation (controls). The primary endpoint was cerebral venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation measured from an internal jugular venous catheter. Other predictor variables included case-control assignment, age, weight, sex, ischemic times, arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation, mean arterial blood pressure, and superior caval pressure. RESULTS A total of 151 cases and 350 controls were identified. The first post-operative cerebral venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation was significantly lower following superior cavopulmonary anastomosis than in controls (44 ± 12 versus 59 ± 15%, p < 0.001), as was arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation (81 ± 9 versus 98 ± 5%, p < 0.001). Cerebral venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation correlated poorly with superior caval pressure in both groups. When estimated by linear mixed effects model, arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation was the primary determinant of central venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation in both groups (β = 0.79, p = 3 × 10-14); for every 1% point increase in arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation, there was a 0.79% point increase in venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation. In this model, no other predictors were significant, including superior caval pressure and case-control assignment. CONCLUSION Cerebral autoregulation appears to remain intact despite acute imposition of cerebral venous hypertension following superior cavopulmonary anastomosis. Following superior cavopulmonary anastomosis, cerebral venous oxyhaemoglobin saturation is primarily determined by arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation.
Severe Thyrotoxicosis and Thyroid Storm

Thyroid storm is a syndrome of clinical decompensation in a patient with thyrotoxicosis and is counted among the endocrine emergencies due to its high morbidity and mortality. Thyroid storm is a clinical diagnosis, traditionally recognized as a syndrome involving thyrotoxicosis, hyperthermia, altered mentation, and a precipitating event. While laboratory information can be helpful in the evaluation of patients, there is no test that confirms or excludes the diagnosis of thyroid storm. The treatment of thyroid storm should be initiated as early as possible after clinical recognition of the diagnosis. The essential elements in the treatment of thyroid storm involve (1) intensive supportive care, (2) decreasing β-adrenergic receptor stimulation, (3) decreasing thyroid hormone production and release from the thyroid gland, (4) decreasing peripheral availability of thyroid hormones, and (5) providing treatment for acute concurrent illnesses. This chapter provides a concise summary of the clinical assessment of patients with thyrotoxicosis and focuses on clinical features, diagnosis, and management of severe thyrotoxicosis and thyroid storm.
Allies or Adversaries? Making Meaning of the Gig Employment Relationship

Task Rabbit. Doordash. Instacart. The gig economy, a labor market that relies on algorithms to facilitate short-term assignment, has transformed how work is executed and experienced. Algorithms are...
A Water Quality Research Platform for the Near-real-time Buoy Sensor Data

Maintaining environmental sustainability relies on continuously monitoring environmental conditions. Water is an environmental component essential to the survival of all living organisms; hence, to prevent contamination and ensure proper water treatment, persistent observations and measurements of water quality are crucial. Traditionally, the procedure for testing the quality of water involved traveling to designated testing sites, manually collecting surface samples, transporting said samples to a laboratory for analysis, analyzing chemicals and microbial contaminants, and publishing the findings with the community. The technological advances in wireless sensor networks bring forth the opportunity for remote measurement and monitoring of water samples. Not only is the presence of the scientist no longer mandatory on the testing site, but the data can also be automatically collected, visualized, monitored, and shared through sensor recordings. These transitions exhibit a much fine-grained level of spatio-temporal information collection and allow for more comprehensive and long-term studies. Three research buoys, designed to be deployed in both shallow freshwater ecosystems and near-shore marine environments, were launched in different locations of South Florida to tackle complex challenges of environmental contamination. The research presented here designs and deploys a water quality monitoring platform for allowing the scientists to analyze better the near-real-time data collected by the buoys and generate insights. We further demonstrate two engaging near-real-time visualization methods developed to disseminate data trends and findings to a wide range of audiences from diverse backgrounds.
Front Pages, Front Lines: Media and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage: by Linda Steiner, Carolyn Kitch, and Brooke Kroeger, eds., Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 2020, 254 pp.

One hundred years after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, there are many gaps in the literature pertaining to relevant media—media which had a significant role in the years leading up to this ...
Interannual variability in life-stage specific survival and life history diversity of coho salmon in a coastal Oregon basin

We quantified the population dynamics and life history diversity of seven brood years of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) using a life-cycle approach. Four life history patterns, composed of fry,...
Advanced Diagnostic Topic for Austere Providers: Abdominal Pain

Ultrasound (US) is especially useful in abdominal pathology given it provides rapid triage of multiple conditions requiring emergent surgical intervention or hospitalization. As with other applications discussed in this book, when the patient’s disease process becomes more severe, the ultrasound images become more noticeably abnormal. In this chapter, we will explore the use of ultrasound in right upper quadrant (RUQ) pathology (including cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, choledocholithiasis), nephrolithiasis (kidney stone), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), appendicitis, and small bowel obstruction (SBO).
Does preoperative resting genital hiatus size predict surgical outcomes

AIM To determine whether preoperative genital hiatus at rest is predictive of medium-term prolapse recurrence. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study of women who underwent native tissue prolapse surgery from 2002 to 2017 with pelvic organ prolapse quantification data including resting genital hiatus at one of three time points: preoperatively, 6 weeks, and ≥1 year postoperatively. Demographics and clinical data were abstracted from the chart. Prolapse recurrence was defined by anatomic outcomes (Ba > 0, Bp > 0, and/or C ≥ -4) or retreatment. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS Of the 165 women included, 36 (21.8%) had prolapse recurrence at an average of 1.5 years after surgery. Preoperative resting genital hiatus did not differ between women with surgical success versus recurrence (3.5 cm [interquartile range, IQR 2.25, 4.0) vs 3.5 cm (IQR 3.0, 4.0), p = 0.71). Point Bp was greater in the recurrence group at every time point. Preoperative Bp (odds ratio [OR] 1.24, confidence interval [CI] [1.06-1.45], p = 0.01) and days from surgery (OR 1.001, CI [1.000-1.001], p < 0.01) were independently associated with recurrence. Preoperative genital hiatus at rest and strain were significantly larger among women who underwent a colpoperineorrhaphy (rest: 4.0 [3.0, 4.5] cm vs 3.5 [3.0, 4.0] cm, p < 0.01; strain: 6.0 [4.0, 6.5] cm vs 5.0 [4.0, 6.0] cm, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative genital hiatus at rest was not associated with prolapse recurrence when the majority of women underwent colpoperineorrhaphy. Preoperative Bp was more predictive of short-term prolapse recurrence. For every 1 cm increase in point Bp, there is a 24% increased odds of recurrence.
Transforming Grassroots Associations through Community Governance in Nepal

This paper examines the transforming process of grassroots associations through community governance in Nepal based on primary information. Overall 110 community-based organizations from five Village Development Committees of Dang district Nepal was selected for the unit of analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were adopted to collect the information within a framework of six different variables. Weightage Average Index (WAI) method was employed to analyze the quantitative data, which further triangulated through qualitative data measures. Findings indicate that the overall outcome (WAI = 0.78) of community governance was highly effective. First, it contributed to replacing the hierarchical power structure within the community. Second, this new notion contributed to putting a community at centre and helped increasing accessibility on service functions. Nevertheless, some social anomalies imposed to block the voices of marginalized communities, because service functions were influenced by the hierarchical power structure. In these groups, the influence of elites endured in many ways. First, they entered as facilitators, supporters, and enablers. Second, they gradually captured the groups, social capital, and the decision-making process. Third, they began to capture the physical assets mainly natural resources, cooperatives funds, and government and donor’s fund. Finally, they utilized it for their political benefits, which badly affected the governance and vandalized the social capital. Despite these manipulations, internal and external agencies' contributions played an important role in inducing and sustaining grassroots associations, as they are facilitating to downsize the complex issue of community governance.
Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts. Archival Fundamentals Series III, Vol. 2. By Dennis Meissner. [Review]

Dennis Meissner's Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is the fourth manual on the topic to be published by the Society of American Archivists since 1977. A longer volume than its Archival Fundamentals Series II predecessor, Meissner's Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is organized to proceed from basic definitions to the principles of arrangement and description, and then to the practice of each. A chapter on nontextual formats (i.e., photographs, sound and moving image recordings, and digital records) affirms that arranging and describing such materials occurs within the same basic framework as those for traditional paper records. A brief final chapter offers speculation about future change, and a recapitulatory conclusion and six appendices round out the manual. Meissner's clear treatment of fundamental ideas provides a basis for the reader to understand the work of arrangement and description. Throughout, the author offers both concise and practical advice. Among other things, the manual offers lucid descriptions of concepts and practices such as levels of arrangement, multilevel description, and practical and physical requirements for archival processing, as well as a concise guide to arranging and describing born-digital records. Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts successfully fulfills its author's stated goal of providing "a very practical manual" that situates its pragmatic guidance within archival theory (p. 1).
Neural Network Approaches to Data Fusion

The challenge of meeting the increasingly sophisticated industrial inspection needs has led to the development of a number of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methodologies. NDE techniques rely largely on the interaction of some form of energy and the test specimen to provide information relating to the condition of the material. The choice of energy utilized in the inspection process is dictated by the type of material under inspection as well as by the nature and location of the flaw. A variety of energy sources have been employed to interrogate materials. These include acoustic, electromagnetic, optical and x-ray energy sources [1]. Each of these methods brings its own set of advantages and disadvantages and often no single technique offers a full solution to the inspection problem. As an example, ultrasonic imaging techniques offer excellent resolution and sensitivity to both surface breaking as well as subsurface cracks. However, the method is also sensitive to a wide variety of measurement conditions including surface roughness and coupling. In contrast, eddy current techniques do not require contact with the test specimen and are relatively insensitive to surface roughness conditions. The disadvantages associated with the eddy current method lies its insensitivity to defects that lie in the recesses of the material, its poor resolution capabilities, and its sensitivity to variations in liftoff. The energy / material interaction process is also fundamentally different in the two cases. Unlike the ultrasonic method which relies on wave propagation of energy, the eddy current process is essentially diffusive in nature. It can therefore be argued that one could profit from integrating information obtained from the two tests. The challenge lies in isolating components of information that are either complementary or redundant. The complementary segments of information can be utilized to improve the quality of characterization while at the same time using redundant information to improve the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).
Fatigue of composite materials

1. Introduction (K.L. Reifsnider). 2. Damage and Damage Mechanics (K.L. Reifsnider). The fatigue effect in composite materials. The fatigue process. The mechanics of damage development. The mechanics of strength reduction. 3. Damage Characterization (R. Talreja). Damage in composite materials. Internal variable characterization of damage. Vectorial representation of composite damage. A continuum damage theory. Damage evaluation. 4. Fatigue Behaviour of Composite Laminates (W.W. Stinchcomb, C.E. Bakis). Loads, damage, and response - an example. The damage process. Mechanics of stress redistribution. Consequences of cyclic loading: strength, stiffness, and life. 5. Delamination of Composite Materials (T.K. O'Brien). Perspective. Mechanics of delamination. Delamination growth. Characterization of delamination resistance. Conclusions and future directions. 6. Fatigue of Metal Matrix Composites (W.S. Johnson). Matrix-dominated fatigue damage. Fiber-dominated fatigue damage. Self-similar fatigue damage growth. 7. Fatigue Behaviour of Short Fibre Composite Materials (J.F. Mandell). Fatigue lifeline trends. Aligned short fiber composites. Chopped strand composites. Injection molded composites. Summary and recommendations. 8. Viscoelastic Behaviour of Laminated Composite Materials (D.A. Dillard). Linear viscoelastic analysis. Non-linear viscoelasticity. Environmental and time effects. Viscoelastic design philosophy. 9. Moisture in Composites: Sorption and Damage (Y. Weitsman). Elementary considerations. Viscoelastic behaviour. Stress effects on diffusion. Moisture-induced damage. Chemical and physical effects and other observations. 10. Life Prediction for Resin-Matrix Composite Materials (G.P. Sendeckyj). Constant amplitude fatigue theories. Cumulative damage theories. Statistical interpretation of fatigue experiments. Discussion and recommendations. 11. Statistical Considerations (R. Talreja). Fatigue reliability: basic concepts. Fatigue reliability of composites. Probabilistic models for composite strength. Conclusions. References.
Consumer Knowledge of Finance Charges on Credit Card Purchases

Over the last few years, interest rates offered by most lenders across industries have been gradually declining. One industry where no decline in finance charges has taken place is the credit card industry. An explanation for this may be the lack of sensitivity to interest rates by the borrowers. This paper examines the borrowers' awareness of finance charges by demographic variables.
Electron impact, electron capture negative ionization and positive chemical ionization mass spectra of organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers

Phosphate esters are important commercial products that have been used both as flame retardants and as plasticizers. To analyze these compounds by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry, it is important to understand the mass spectra of these compounds using various ionization modes. This paper is a systematic overview of the electron impact (EI), electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) and positive chemical ionization (PCI) mass spectra of 13 organophosphate esters. These data are useful for developing and optimizing analytical measurements. The EI spectra of these 13 compounds are dominated by ions such as H4PO4+, (M − Cl)+, (M − CH2Cl)+ or (M)+ depending on specific chemical structures. The ECNI spectra are generally dominated by (M − R)−. The PCI spectra are mainly dominated by the protonated molecular ion (M + H)+. The branching of the alkyl substituents, the halogenation of the substituents and, for aromatic phosphate esters, ortho alkylation of the ring are all significant factors controlling the details of the fragmentation processes. EI provides the best sensitivity for the quantitative measurement of these compounds, but PCI and ECNI both have considerable qualitative selectivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Women in Law

As mentioned earlier, the Bergmann model predicts that female and male lawyers will be segregated into different areas of practice. If this is the case, what are the forces behind this sector-specific segregation? On the supply side, Becker relies on the Neoclassical theories of utility maximization and human capital theory. These theories suggest that an increase in the store of human capital through training and education will be undertaken by the employee or provided by the employer if the benefits exceed the cost. This article is available in The Park Place Economist: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol3/iss1/16 Barb Kube '94 graduated from IWU last spring with a degree in economics and now attends law school at the University of Illinois. The following paper is from Barb's Research Honors class. While at IWU, Barb was president of the Economics Society and the Intro"to Economics tutor.
Relating Hippocampal Circuitry to Function: Recall of Memory Sequences by Reciprocal Dentate–CA3 Interactions

Summary and Conclusionsbasedonpastevents(Sokolov,1963).Thismodel,which Theviewthatemergesofthehippocampusisarelativelycan be thought of as stored sequences, allows predic- simple one that can be related to the functional require-tion of expected events (if this happens, then I expect ments of episodic memory and more specifically to thethat to happen). The brain continuously compares these storage and retrieval of memory sequences in context.expectations with reality. If the comparison shows a ThedentateandCA3storeautoassociationsandhetero-“mismatch” to expectations or something altogether associations, respectively, in the synapses of their re-novel, memory encoding and attentional processes are current connections. During retrieval, these networkstriggered. Evidence that the human hippocampus is in- worktogethertoproduceanaccuratetime-compressedvolved in such processes comes from brain imaging recall of a stored sequence. The role of the perforant(Dolan and Fletcher, 1997) and electrophysiological stud- path input to CA3 relates to the general problem of howies (Halgren et al., 1980; Knight, 1996). Related experi- episodic memory sequences are linked to their con-ments in rat and rabbit show that hippocampal neurons text. It is proposed that contextual information arrivingbecome habituated to a repetitive stimulus but respond through the perforant path enables a subset CA3 cellsvigorously when the standard stimulus is replaced by (and perhaps also mossy cells). A subset of this subsetan“oddball”stimulus(Buzsa´kietal.,1979;Vinogradova, can be fired by salient memory information represented1984). Other experiments in rat directly show activity by mossy fiber activity. In this way, specific memoriesrelatedtomatch/mismatchconditions(OttoandEichen- can be encoded in context without having to explicitlybaum, 1992). The clearest demonstration of the exis- represent highly redundant and detailed contextual in-tence of an internal model comes from experiments in formation. From CA3, information travels to CA1, a re-which a repetitive stimulus was suddenly omitted. Cells gion that has two functions. First, it converts the hippo-in the mammillary body, one of the recipients of hippo- campal representation back to a more cortical one,campal output, fire in exact registration with the ex- thereby making it possible for the cortex to interpret thepected onset and duration of the absent stimulus (Vino- hippocampal output. Second, CA1 cells compare thegradova, 1984). Because the CA1 region is the site of predictions made by CA3 based on stored memory se-convergence of predictions from CA3 (via the Schaffer quences to sensory reality that arrive through the per-collaterals) and raw sensory information (via the per- forant path input to CA1. If a mismatch is detected,forant path input from the cortex) (Vinogradova, 1984), attentional and learning processes are initiated. To-CA1 is well positioned to perform a match/mismatch gether, these ideas provide a coherent explanation ofcomputation. the function of each of the pathways shown in Figure 1.