cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TWO NEW ALPHA-PARTICLE EMITTING ISOTOPES OF ELEMENT 105, $sup 261$Ha AND $sup 262$Ha.

Two new $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-emitting isotopes of element 105 with mass numbers 261 and 262 have been discovered. The 8.93-MeV 1.8-sec $^{261}\mathrm{Ha}$ was produced by the reactions $^{250}\mathrm{Cf}(^{15}\mathrm{N},4n)^{261}\mathrm{Ha}$ and $^{249}\mathrm{Bk}(^{16}\mathrm{O},4n)^{261}\mathrm{Ha}$, and the 8.45-MeV 40-sec $^{262}\mathrm{Ha}$ by the reaction $^{249}\mathrm{Bk}(^{18}\mathrm{O},5n)^{262}\mathrm{Ha}$. The isotopic assignments are based on both $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-recoil milking and mother-daughter time-correlation measurements. An upper limit of 50% for branching by spontaneous fission was set for $^{261}\mathrm{Ha}$. A so far unassigned 25-sec spontaneous-fission activity was observed in the bombardment of $^{249}\mathrm{Bk}$ with $^{18}\mathrm{O}$ ions.
Internationalism on the Ground: Expatriates in Congo-Brazzaville after the Revolution

During the 1960s and 70s, Congo-Brazzaville became a hub for exiled national liberation fighters, opposition groups from neighboring countries, and representatives from various Communist states. My paper shows that these expatriate activists influenced the sharp political conflicts that arose between Congolese youth organizations and the government in Congo-Brazzaville. After the Congo first independent government was toppled by a general strike in 1963, the leaders of Congolese youth and student organizations grew in influence, and they pressured the new revolutionary  government to host an increasing number of political exiles. By the mid 1960s, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) had made Brazzaville their headquarters, along with political exiles from Cameroon and Congo-Kinshasa, who were engaged in struggles against their national governments. At the same time, Congolese youth organization leaders successfully harnessed Egyptian, Cuban, Chinese, and Soviet military trainers and material support to strengthen their organizations. Using archival research and interviews from Congo and France, I show how mass youth and student organizations developed their local demands through their interaction with exiles, and immersed themselves in debates over Pan-Africanism, Third-World solidarity, and Cold War communism.
Using dynamic occupancy models to inform climate change adaptation strategies for California spotted owls

Management strategies intended to reduce the impacts of future climate change on montane species ought to consider fine‐scale variation in microclimate (e.g. because of topography) and vegetation conditions that create climate refugia. Identifying potential refugia and quantifying their importance is facilitated by analytical approaches that explicitly model associations between dynamic population processes and environmental conditions. We developed a population model to project future site occupancy dynamics in spotted owls Strix occidentalis under climate change and forest‐management scenarios. The model was parameterized with statistical relationships derived from dynamic occupancy analyses applied to 20 years of spotted owl presence/nondetection data in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. This approach allowed us to link colonization and extinction processes with spatial and temporal variation in vegetation characteristics, microclimate and weather while accounting for imperfect detection. Occupancy analyses indicated that greater prevalence of closed‐canopy forest in owl sites was associated with lower extinction and higher colonization rates. Both rates increased following consecutive warm summers, but warm summer temperatures had a greater effect on extinction than colonization. Following the warmest summers, extinction was most likely to occur in owl sites with cool microclimates and relatively little closed‐canopy forest, but extinction became considerably less likely in cool microclimates when greater amounts of closed‐canopy forest were present. By comparison, extinction probability was lower at owl sites with warmer microclimates and relatively invariant to the amount of closed‐canopy forest present. Simulations of our population model suggested that managing for greater amounts of closed‐canopy forest may ameliorate the potential negative effects of warm summer temperatures by the mid‐century, especially at high elevations. The model also allowed us to identify sites where potential management efforts would be most effective. Synthesis and applications. By modelling environmental processes influencing site colonization and extinction dynamics, we were able to identify features of potential climate change refugia for a montane species of management interest that could be promoted by land managers to increase species persistence. We also provided a general, process‐based population modelling approach for projecting changes in animal populations and developing habitat‐based climate change adaptation strategies using presence/nondetection data.
Uptake of nitrogen by flue-cured tobacco during maturation and senescence. I: Partitioning of nitrogen derived from soil and fertilizer sources

A field experiment with flue-cured tobacco,Nicotiana tabacum L., was conducted to estimate the uptake and partitioning of nitrogen during maturation and senescence. On the 83rd day after transplanting (crop day 83), nitrate which had been leached from the plow layer was replaced with an equivalent amount of15N-labeled nitrate. Plants were harvested at crop day 83, 90, 96, 106, 113, and 127, and each of 11 plant parts was analyzed for nitrogen derived from the soil (NDS) and from the applied15N-labeled fertilizer (NDF). Equivalent quantities of NDF and NDS were taken up during the initial week after15N-fertilizer application; in the subsequent 5 weeks, ten times more NDS than NDF were taken up. It appears likely that the leached nitrate (NDS) accumulated below the hard pan where it became available to plants as their roots penetrated this layer via fractures originating from prior deep chiseling. Of the NDF taken up during the initial week, 20% was partitioned to the root and 42%, 24%, 14% respectively, to the upper, middle and bottom node positions (leaves plus stems). The partitioning reflected the respective growth rates of the tissues. Little change in partitioning was evident during the subsequent 5-week period, indicating that little remobilization of NDF from older to younger tissues occurred. In contrast, some remobilization of NDS was apparent between crop day 96 and 106 when the uptake of both NDF and NDS was negligible. During this period root growth was sustained by the apparent transfer of NDS from the root stump and from the adjacent lower leaf and stem tissues. These responses occurred in tobacco grown under higher nitrogen fertility levels than those usually considered optimal for the growth of flue-cured tobacco, but under conditions which are sometimes encountered.
Storage of diapausing tobacco budworm pupae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Diapausing tobacco budworm, Heltothis virescens F., pupae were stored underground in one of three different containers: 30-ml plastic cups (housed in 10.0-liter carboy) containing either sand, corncob grit, or 2% agar; 1.0-liter plastic containers containing sand; or 10.0-liter carboys containing 2% agar and corncob grit. Control pupae were stored in plastic Petri dishes in an environmental chamber at 1°C. Pupae were exhumed after 110 d. Samples from each treatment were placed in a diapause termination environment (27°C and constant light). Ninety percent of the control pupae emerged as adults. Of the pupae stored underground, those stored in 30-ml plastic cups containing either sand or agar had the highest percent emergence (68%).
Development and Investigation of an Air-Breathing, Pulse Detonation Engine-Crossover System

An air-breathing PDE-crossover system is developed to characterize the effect of shock-initiated combustion within an air-breathing PDE. A shockwave is transferred through a crossover tube that connects a spark-ignited, driver PDE to the air-breathing, driven PDE. Detonations in the driven PDE develop from shock-initiated-combustion caused by shockwave reflection. A PDE-crossover system increases system efficiency through decreased deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) time while employing a single spark source to initiate a multi-PDE system. Shock-initiated combustion is researched to evaluate initiation effectiveness in comparison to spark discharge initiation and detonation injection through a predetonator. Increasing Reynolds number enhances combustion wave acceleration. However, the system requires a DDT device to transition the combustion wave to a detonation, for all initiation methods. Shock-initiated combustion and predetonator initiation produce similar results. With an incident shockwave Mach number of MS = 2.36, DDT run-up length is decreased by up to 59.1% compared to the spark discharge method. Similar combustion evolution is observed for an incident shockwave of strength MS = 1.87.
A cannula-based computational fluorescence microscope

We applied nonlinear optimization to convert a rigid cannula into a high-resolution computational-fluorescence microscope. The prototype cannula microscope was used to image fluorescent microspheres and genetically-encoded mouse-brain slices and produced quality images comparable to a conventional widefield microscope.
Analyticity and Smoothness for a Class of First Order Nonlinear PDEs

We study the microlocal analyticity and smoothness for the solutions of a class of first order complex nonlinear partial differential equations of the form \(u_t=f(x,t,u,u_x)\).
Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in children.

This article reviews in detail the evolution of peritoneal dialysis to its current status and presents the authors’ results with this new dialysis technique.
Ethical decision making for children.

Health care decision making in the critical care area has become increasingly complex. Competent adults making decisions for themselves can find the decision-making process cumbersome; for children, the process becomes even more complicated by the need for a surrogate decision maker. Parents as the surrogate decision makers for children must wrestle with uncertain prognoses and lifeprolonging technology. The health care team can facilitate their decisions through recognition of the power inequity and mobilization of resources for family-centered decision making.
Impact of the HITECH financial incentives on EHR adoption in small, physician-owned practices.

Abstract Background Physicians in small physician-owned practices in the United States have been slower to adopt EHRs than physicians in large practices or practices owned by large organizations. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 included provisions intended to address many of the potential barriers to EHR adoption cited in the literature, including a financial incentives program that has paid physicians and other professionals $13 billion through December 2015. Objective Given the range of factors that may be influencing physicians' decisions on whether to adopt an EHR, and given the level of HITECH expenditures to date, there is significant policy value in assessing whether the HITECH incentives have actually had an impact on EHR adoption decisions among U.S. physicians in small, physician-owned practices. This study addresses this question by analyzing physicians' own views on the influence of the HITECH incentives as well as other potential considerations in their decision-making on whether to adopt an EHR. Methods Using data from a national survey of physicians, five composite scales were created from groups of survey items to reflect physician views on different potential facilitators and barriers for EHR adoption as of 2011, after the launch of the HITECH incentives program. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models were specified to test which of these physician-reported considerations have a significant relationship with EHR adoption status among 1043 physicians working in physician-owned practices with no more than 10 physicians. Results Physicians' views on the importance of the HITECH financial incentives are strongly associated with EHR adoption during the first three years of the HITECH period (2010–2012). In the study's primary model, a one-point increase on a three-point scale for physician-reported influence of the HITECH financial incentives increases the relative risk of being in the process of adoption in 2011, compared to the risk of remaining a non-adopter, by a factor of 4.02 (p Conclusions This study's principal finding is that the HITECH financial incentives were influential in accelerating EHR adoption among small, physician-owned practices in the United States. A second finding is that physician decision-making on EHR adoption in the United States has not matched what would be predicted by the literature on network effects. The market's failure to converge on a dominant design in the absence of interoperability means it will be difficult to achieve widespread exchange of patients' clinical information among different health care provider organizations.
Urinary bisphenol-A, phthalate metabolites and body composition in US adults, NHANES 1999-2006

AbstractBackground: Exposure to bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates is highly prevalent. Prior studies have not assessed associations between urinary levels of BPA and phthalate metabolites and body composition. Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999 to 2006 on adults aged ≥20 were analyzed by linear regression for associations between urinary BPA, monoethyl phthalate, monobutyl phthalate (MBP), monoethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), and monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) and lean mass, fat mass, and percent body fat. Results: BPA and phthalate metabolites were not independently associated with fat mass or percent body fat. Significant inverse associations were observed with lean mass, with the strongest association observed for BPA in men (mean lean mass 1.39 kg lower for quartile 4 vs. quartile 1, p trend = 0.02). Conclusions: BPA and some phthalates could have important, negative effects on muscle and may affect conditions related to deficits in lean mass, though additional r...
Non-malignant respiratory disease among workers in industries using styrene-A review of the evidence.

Background Asthma and obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) cases have occurred among styrene-exposed workers. We aimed to investigate styrene as a risk factor for non-malignant respiratory disease (NMRD). Methods From a literature review, we identified case reports and assessed cross-sectional and mortality studies for strength of evidence of positive association (i.e., strong, intermediate, suggestive, none) between styrene exposure and NMRD-related morbidity and mortality. Results We analyzed 55 articles and two unpublished case reports. Ten OB cases and eight asthma cases were identified. Six (75%) asthma cases had abnormal styrene inhalation challenges. Thirteen (87%) of 15 cross-sectional studies and 12 (50%) of 24 mortality studies provided at least suggestive evidence that styrene was associated with NMRD-related morbidity or mortality. Six (66%) of nine mortality studies assessing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related mortality indicated excess mortality. Conclusions Available evidence suggests styrene exposure is a potential risk factor for NMRD. Additional studies of styrene-exposed workers are warranted. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:163–180, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Exposure to Allergens during Development

The development of allergic sensitization can occur as early as fetal life. In fact, the fetal immune system is set up to produce a T helper type 2 cytokine response to foreign antigens, as the alternative T helper type 1 cytokines would facilitate rejection of the fetus by the mother, whose major histocompatibility antigens differ from those of the fetus. Herein we describe human and animal studies that demonstrate how exposure to allergens during fetal and neonatal life can instruct the developing immune system to produce IgE antibodies that will subsequently elicit type 1 hypersensitivity responses to inhaled allergens. The roles of environmental pollutants and the genetics of the individual are closely involved in shaping development of allergic reactivity in the lung.
Improved monostatic pulse radar design using ultra wide band for range estimation

A mono static pulse radar is a type of radar in which its transmitter and receiver are collocated. It uses the same antenna to transmit and receive echo signals. This paper focusses on the design of monostatic pulse radar using Ultra Wide band. In this design, we use the transmitter which sends a pulse that hits the target and the receiver receives the echo signal where it can estimate the target's range. A monostatic radar can track a target from 3 to 5 km without any false alarm. The challenge in this paper is to increase the detection range from 4 km to 8 km and enhance the probability of detection using 10 GHz frequency band. It operates in the range of Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) Spectrum of 10 GHz frequency. Also, it is required to minimize the probability of false alarm which is to be in the order of 10−6. The design is simulated using the MATLAB tool. The simulation results show that the range estimation is increased by at least 200 % maintaining a constant probability of false alarm.
Bus trajectory identification by map-matching

We study the problem of identifying vehicle trajectories from the sequences of noisy geospatial-temporal datasets. Nowadays we witness the accumulation of vehicle trajectory datasets in the form of the sequences of GPS points. However, in many cases the sequences of GPS points are sparse and noisy so that identifying the actual trajectories of vehicles is hard. Although there are many advanced map-matching techniques claiming to achieve high accuracy to deal with the problem, only few public datasets that come with ground truth trajectories for supporting the claims. On the other hand, some cities are releasing their bus datasets for real-time monitoring and analytics. Since buses are expected to run on predefined routes, such datasets are highly valuable for map-matching and other pattern recognition applications. Nevertheless, some buses in reality appear not following their predefined routes and behave anomalously. We propose a simple and robust technique based on the combination of map-matching, bag-of-roads, and dimensionality reduction for their route identification. Experiments on datasets of buses in the city of Rio de Janeiro confirm the high accuracy of our method.
Efficient System Geolocation Architecture in Next-Generation Cellular Networks

We propose a shift in the cellular positioning system paradigm that enables cellular providers to better meet the location-based services (LBS) needs of cellular users using only existing network infrastructure. Focusing specifically on current 4G and next-generation 5G technology, we outline a novel positioning system architecture, which utilizes the timing advance parameter to generate continuous position estimates with modern accuracy, minimum overhead, and improved latency. We highlight key limitations in existing positioning methods—excessive data overhead in positioning management traffic and poor network infrastructure geometry—through a review of the Third Generation Partnership Project's positioning system architecture evolution. We then present our alternative architecture, and demonstrate how our proposed system methodology mitigates these concerns, by comparing our proposed architecture with the existing ones. Finally, through numerical study, we establish that our methodology is able to meet and exceed federal emergency services standards and, thus, also many common LBS service requests. Our architecture is agnostic to mobile devices’ capabilities and has the potential to alleviate computational burden at the mobile device while simultaneously improving data throughput and latency through reduction of control overhead.
Suicide and Early Christian Values

The development of an early Christian position on suicide presents some interesting problems for the historian. In two respects it resembles the ethics of abortion: First, Scripture is silent about both.1 Second, arguments against the moral permissibility of either, formulated inferentially from Scripture by the church fathers, are easily rejected as being heuristic. Suicide, however, differs from abortion in that while even the earliest non-canonical Christian literature denounces abortion in unequivocal terms, condemnations of suicide by the early church fathers are relatively rare and hardly unequivocal.
Exploring Emotional Response To Images Used In Agritourism Destination Marketing

The purpose of this study is to explore the role that photography can play in agritourism destination marketing (ADM). The study utilized photo-elicitation and included five focus groups: two farmer groups, two visitors groups, and one of Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) staff and community members from the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Participants were shown farm images used for agritourism marketing, and their responses were teased into themes. Results indicated that subjects preferred photos portraying animals and farmers together as well as photographs of farmers interacting with tourists. Participants also preferred photographs including children. Related to nostalgia, historical structures and landscapes were favorites. Visitors preferred visually appealing animals while common farm practices (e.g. animal ear tags) were considered unpleasant. The presence of fences evoked negative emotions from tourists and color images were preferred for promotions by farmers and tourists. The results can aid destination marketers by providing insight into the reactions certain photographs elicit for various stakeholders.
Potential Flow Past a Circular Cylinder of a Homogeneous Inviscid Fluid

The steady-state two-dimensional potential flow of an inviscid fluid past a circular cylinder is considered. The resulting Laplace’s equation for the velocity potential is converted to cylindrical coordinates by the Calculus of Variations method of transformation of coordinates introduced in a pastoral interlude and that equation solved by a separation of variables technique. Then integration of the pressure determined by Bernoulli’s relation about the cylinder yields D’Alembert’s paradox for a two-dimensional situation that the drag on the cylinder is zero which is a consequence of the assumption that the small viscosity coefficient can be neglected. The problems fill in some details involving vector identities employing the alternating tensor introduced in Chap. 9, examine the properties of the orthogonal Hermite polynomials similar in behavior to the Legendre polynomials discussed below, and consider the corresponding companion situation of three-dimensional potential flow past a sphere. This requires that the resulting Laplace’s equation for the velocity potential be converted to spherical coordinates by the Calculus of Variations transformation method. Then the separation of variables technique of solution gives rise to Legendre polynomials the properties of which have been deduced by means of the two pastoral interludes that conclude the chapter. Integration of the pressure about the sphere yields D’Alembert’s paradox for a three-dimensional situation that the force on the sphere is zero.
Introduction to HVAC Systems

As we observed in previous Chapter exercises, buildings generally benefit from HVAC systems that are designed to regulate their internal environmental conditions. As the name implies, in addition to heating and cooling, these systems also provide fresh outdoor (ventilation) air to dilute CO2 and other contaminants produced by building occupants, processes, and materials. Modeling HVAC systems correctly is one of the most challenging aspects of energy modeling because of the variety of systems and controls available and the design considerations that drive their selection. The goal of this Chapter is to discuss some of the general concepts needed to understand HVAC system modeling in the context of OpenStudio.
GAP-REMOVAL IMAGE TRANSFORMATION FOR ALIAS

ALIAS, or Adaptive Learning Image Analysis System, is a parallel network implementation of Collective Learning Systems Theory that learns to detect, discriminate, and localize anomalies in otherwise normal images. These images are transformed into several different spatial perspectives, allowing the learning layer of ALIAS to extract those patterns that represent the salient information inherent in each image. Current image transformation methods have resulted in good statistical behavior under many conditions. In some cases, however, they introduce spurious high-frequency components as a result of the poor response characteristics of the simple filters they employ. This paper defines a new image transformation method that totally suppresses all high-frequency components by removing all pixel gaps equal to or less than a specified size in the original image, through dilation or erosion. Preliminary investigation has revealed that this gap-removal approach may yield a general-purpose transformation which functions as a sharp-cutoff, low-pass spatial filter for ALIAS and other image-processing engines.
Outcome of thyroid ultrasound screening in FAP patients with a normal baseline exam

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a hereditary cancer syndrome associated with a substantial lifetime risk for colorectal cancer. The leading extra-colonic causes of cancer in FAP include duodenal and thyroid cancer (TC). Recent guidelines recommend annual thyroid ultrasound (TUS) screening beginning in the teenage years but the evidence to support the interval particularly in FAP patients with a normal baseline ultrasound is lacking. TUS results from FAP patients enrolled in a thyroid screening program from 2006 to 2016 and who had at least 2 TUS were reviewed. TUS findings were classified as normal, low (LR) or high risk (HR) for TC based on nodule characteristics as determined by American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines. We assessed the incidence of TC in patient with normal baseline TUS and factors associated with TC. 264 FAP patients were included. Baseline TUS was normal in 167, LR in 74, and HR in 24 patients. Patients were observed for a mean 4.8 years and underwent an average of 3 TUS. Patients with normal baseline TUS did not develop TC during the course of follow up of 5.1 years. TC developed in 6 patients (2.3%) all with baseline nodules; 5 in the LR group and 1 in the HR group. Factors associated with development of TC were presence of baseline nodule(s) and female sex. The development of TC in FAP patients in a TUS screening program with short term follow up is low and no FAP patient with a normal baseline TUS developed TC during observation. Annual TUS in patients with a normal baseline TUS may not be needed. Extending the screening interval to 2 years may be reasonable until nodules are detected.
Wellness and Obesity: Implications for Health Care Costs Among Restaurant Managers

Overeating, inadequate exercise, work-related stress, and long working hours are accepted issues among restaurant managers. The underlying question was whether such life styles affect employers' health care cost and restaurant managers' health and ability to cope with imposed business requirements. The author discusses strategies to help employers reduce health care costs, increase employee productivity, and improve job satisfaction.
Mining Massive Text Data and Developing Tracking Statistics

This paper outlines a systematic data mining procedure for exploring large free-style text datasets to discover useful features and develop tracking statistics, generally referred to as performance measures or risk indicators. The procedure includes text mining, risk analysis, classification for error measurements and nonparametric multivariate analysis. Two aviation safety report repositories PTRS from the FAA and AAS from the NTSB will be used to illustrate applications of our research to aviation risk management and general decision-support systems. Some specific text analysis methodologies and tracking statistics will be discussed. Approaches to incorporating misclassified data or error measurements into tracking statistics will be discussed as well.
A Micromechanical Fatigue Damage Model for Unidirectional Metal-Matrix Composites

Improvements in design and the enhancement in performance of aerospace vehicles calls for the development of advanced materials capable of sustaining the increasing loading conditions while maintaining their structural integrity. Special consideration must be given to the behavior of such materials under fatigue loading conditions that dominate the flight regime loads. A micromechanical fatigue damage model for unidirectional metal-matrix composites is proposed. Damage evolution is considered at the constituent level through the application of the Mori-Tanaka averaging scheme. Individual damage criteria for the constituents are proposed and employed to define damage evolution equations for each of the consultants. The numerical results for high cycle fatigue loading are presented for variations in the material and model parameters.
Analytic treatment of beam quality and power efficiency in a high-power transverse flow diode pumped alkali laser

The performance of a 100 kW Rb–He diode pumped alkali laser system is predicted, including power scaling, optical efficiency, and beam quality. A transverse flow geometry with longitudinal diode pumping produces a nonlinear temperature profile in the flow direction, with temperature increasing by 124 K for a 0.5 m/s flow rate and a 30 kW/cm2 pump intensity. The optical-to-optical efficiency is 70%, and the tilt-corrected Strehl is 0.545 for this slow flow, 45 ms residence time design. By increasing the flow speed to 15 m/s (1.5 ms residence time), the efficiency is improved to 82%, and the laminar flow beam quality is near the diffraction limit, Strehl>0.99. Beam quality is adversely affected at higher helium pressure for the slow flow conditions.
Toward Efficient Automation of Interpretable Machine Learning

Developing more efficient automated methods for interpretable machine learning (ML) is an important and longterm machine-learning goal. Recent studies show that unintelligible "black" box models, such as Deep Learning Neural Networks, often outperform more interpretable "grey" or "white" box models such as Decision Trees, Bayesian networks, Logic Relational models and others. Being forced to choose between accuracy and interpretability, however, is a major obstacle in the wider adoption of ML in healthcare and other domains where decisions requires both facets. Due to human perceptual limitations in analyzing complex multidimensional relations in ML, complex ML must be "degraded" to the level of human understanding, thereby also degrading model accuracy. To address this challenge, this paper presents the Dominance Classifier and Predictor (DCP) algorithm, capable of automating the process of discovering human-understandable machine learning models that are simple and visualizable. The success of DCP is shown on the benchmark Wisconsin Breast Cancer dataset with the higher accuracy than the accuracy known for other interpretable methods on these data. Furthermore, the DCP algorithm shortens the accuracy gap between interpretable and non-interpretable models on these data. The DCP explanation includes both interpretable mathematical and visual forms. Such an approach opens a new opportunity for producing more accurate and domain-explainable ML models.
Smoothing and parameter estimation by soft-adherence to governing equations

Abstract The analysis of high-dimensional dynamical systems generally requires the integration of simulation data with experimental measurements. Experimental data often has substantial amounts of measurement noise that compromises the ability to produce accurate dimensionality reduction, parameter estimation, reduced order models, and/or balanced models for control. Data assimilation attempts to overcome the deleterious effects of noise by producing a set of algorithms for state estimation from noisy and possibly incomplete measurements. Indeed, methods such as Kalman filtering and smoothing are vital tools for scientists in fields ranging from electronics to weather forecasting. In this work we develop a novel framework for smoothing data based on known or partially known nonlinear governing equations. The method yields superior results to current techniques when applied to problems with known deterministic dynamics. By exploiting the numerical time-stepping constraints of the deterministic system, an optimization formulation can readily extract the noise from the nonlinear dynamics in a principled manner. The superior performance is due in part to the fact that it optimizes global state estimates. We demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of the method on a number of canonical examples, thus demonstrating its viability for the wide range of potential applications stated above.
On WhatsApp, Rumours, Lynchings, and the Indian Government

There are two kinds of problems with rumour over WhatsApp: one is disinformation and the other is incitement to violence. Both are serious in their own ways, but for different reasons. In this essay, I explain why the rumours leading to the lynchings are more appropriately treated as incitement to violence. I also discuss what significance WhatsApp has in this context, and whether the changes made by WhatsApp in reaction to the public criticism and government pressure are likely to put a stop to the lynchings. Finally, I discuss the potential human rights consequences of WhatsApp’s willingness to co-operate with the Indian government.
Mental Health Needs of Aging Veterans: Recent Evidence and Clinical Recommendations

Objectives: Large numbers of older Americans have a history of military service, which may be positively or negatively associated with mental health in late life. We reviewed literature with the aim of better understanding the mental health needs of older Veterans.Methods: Articles included those published in 2009-2018 and focused on prevalence/risk for mental illness and suicide among older Veterans; utilization of mental health services; effectiveness of evidence-based behavioral treatments; and pertinent care delivery models.Results: Older Veterans are generally resilient. A significant minority experience mental health concerns that are associated with poor outcomes including a substantial number of suicides. Most published research is based on the approximately one third of Veterans who use the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for care. Older Veterans with mental health diagnoses are less likely to utilize mental health services compared to younger Veterans, but as likely to benefit once engaged. Integrated care models in primary and geriatric care settings are promising.Conclusions: Aging Veterans are a large subset of Americans whose mental health needs are complex and deserve attention.Clinical Implications: Clinicians should ask about history of military service (i.e., Veteran status) and utilize available resources when providing care for older Veterans.
5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxycytidine and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine are differentially incorporated in cells infected with HSV-1, HCMV, and KSHV viruses.

Nucleoside analogues are a valuable experimental tool. Incorporation of these molecules into newly synthesized DNA (i.e. pulse-labeling) is used to monitor cell proliferation or to isolate nascent DNA. Some of the most common nucleoside analogues used for pulse-labeling of DNA in cells are the deoxypyrimidine analogues 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) and 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxycytidine (EdC). Click chemistry enables conjugation of an azide molecule tagged with a fluorescent dye or biotin to the alkyne of the analog, which can then be used to detect incorporation of EdU and EdC into DNA. The use of EdC is often recommended because of the potential cytotoxicity associated with EdU during longer incubations. Here, by comparing the relative incorporation efficiencies of EdU and EdC during short 30-min pulses, we demonstrate significantly lower incorporation of EdC than of EdU in noninfected human fibroblast cells or in cells infected with either human cytomegalovirus or Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Interestingly, cells infected with herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) incorporated EdC and EdU at similar levels during short pulses. Of note, exogenous expression of HSV-1 thymidine kinase increased the incorporation efficiency of EdC. These results highlight the limitations when using substituted pyrimidine analogues in pulse-labeling and suggest that EdU is the preferable nucleoside analogue for short pulse-labeling experiments, resulting in increased recovery and sensitivity for downstream applications. This is an important discovery that may help to better characterize the biochemical properties of different nucleoside analogues with a given kinase, ultimately leading to significant differences in labeling efficiency of nascent DNA.
The Intellectual Property-Antitrust Interface

There is a tension between the antitrust laws and the intellectual property (IP) laws. Both aim to promote social welfare, but their focus differs. By and large, antitrust law aims to promote competition and static welfare. In contrast, IP law permits static welfare losses in exchange for dynamic welfare gains. Thus, there is a tradeoff between static and dynamic welfare considerations. This tradeoff leads to a natural tension between IP law and antitrust policy. Implicitly, we believe that the benefits of long-term progress outweigh the short-run welfare losses that are due to the misallocation of resources. This can be seen in our Special Issue.
Chapter 2 – Neurobiology and Endocrinology for Animal Behaviorists

Three physiological systems—the nervous system, the endocrine system, and the sensory system—serve as the basis for behavioral mechanisms. In this chapter, which may be a review for students who are well versed in basics of general biology, we provide important information about the structure and function of each of these systems. In coverage of the nervous system, we highlight the axon structure, the electrical and chemical modes of transmitting nervous signals, and the structure and evolution of the brain, which serves as the integrative center for the nervous system. The endocrine system integrates physiological information and uses hormones to regulate physiological processes. Hormones are important in the development of animals and affect, for example, sexual and social maturation. The sensory systems receive information from the environment and convert (transduce) that information into signals within the nervous system. Vision, sound and vibration perception, chemoreception (smell and taste), and touch are the most commonly considered forms of sensation, but we also present the basics of other potentially sensed information, such as magnetic fields and electrical potentials. Understanding these three systems is key to moving on to more advanced topics in animal behavior.
Shape, colour, and distance in weak gravitational flexion

Canonically, elliptical galaxies might be expected to have a perfect rotational symmetry, making them ideal targets for flexion studies - however, this assumption hasn't been tested. We have undertaken an analysis of low and high redshift galaxy catalogs of known morphological type with a new gravitational lensing code, Lenser. Using color measurements in the u-r band and fit Sersic index values, objects with characteristics consistent with early-type galaxies are found to have a lower intrinsic scatter in flexion signal than late-type galaxies. We find this measured flexion noise can be reduced by more than a factor of two at both low and high redshift.
The Value of User Feedback: Academic Library Behaviors and Perceptions of a Community College’s Distance Learners

Over 1,200 community colleges nationwide enroll over ten million students annually, with more than one in four students taking online courses. Given postsecondary education’s increased focus on res...
Cross-talk between Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway and transforming growth factor beta pathways and increased collagen1A1 production in uterine leiomyoma cells

Objective To characterize the potential interaction between interleukin-6 (IL6), Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 (JAK/STAT3) pathway, and Transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)-3 , and to determine whether such cross-talk was a contributing factor in the dysregulation of type I collagen production in leiomyomas. Design Laboratory study. Setting University research laboratory. Patients None. Interventions Exposure of leiomyoma and myometrial cell lines to IL6 and STAT3 activators/inhibitors. Western immunoblot analysis and immunohistochemistry. Main Outcome Measures Expression of STAT3, pSTAT3, SOCS3, COL1A1, and TGFb3. Results We observed that IL6 increased pSTAT3 as well as collagen1A1 in uterine leiomyoma cells. Direct activation of the JAK/STAT3 pathway increased collagen1A1 production in leiomyoma cells, whereas inhibition of the pathway significantly decreased collagen1A1 production. We further observed that modulation of the JAK/STAT3 pathway also increased the expression of TGFβ3 protein. Leiomyoma cells exposed to TGFβ3 demonstrated a significant decrease in pSTAT3 protein. Myometrial cells demonstrated a less sensitive response to STAT3 modulation and collagen production. Conclusion Cross-talk between the TGFβ pathway and JAK/STAT3 pathway contributes to the fibrotic nature of uterine leiomyomas.
Cities V. Big Pharma: Municipal Affirmative Litigation and the Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis has been called the worst drug epidemic in American history. It has already killed thousands and scarred millions more. Over the last few years, there has been a rise in affirmative litigation by municipalities — that is, proactive suits that seek to vindicate some public interest, not merely the municipality’s corporate interests. This article examines the recent wave of lawsuits by cities and counties against the opioid industry. Municipalities face unique challenges in bringing suits. Relative to individual opioid users, municipalities face a complex task when attempting to prove injury and causation for their harms. And unlike states or nations, municipalities lack inherent authority to bring suits on behalf of their residents. The Article first explains the basics of municipal affirmative litigation, including its history, major cases, criticisms, and benefits. It then describes the origins of the opioid crisis and the pharma industry’s complicity in exacerbating it. Next, it examines some of the major obstacles to municipal suits: standing, statutes of limitations, and preemption. Lastly, it describes the five theories most commonly employed in municipal affirmative litigation: (1) public nuisance, (2) Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), (3) negligence, (4) state consumer protection laws, and (5) unjust enrichment. For each theory, it considers potential drawbacks to employing the theory, analogies that may predict its viability, and past opioid cases where it has been tested.
Immigration Policy Through the Lens of Optimal Federalism

The controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070 enacted by the Arizona legislature utilizes local police to enforce Arizona's interpretations of immigration rules. Meanwhile, the "Utah Compact" suggests that all aspects of immigration policy should be handled by the federal government, not by states or localities. In the midst of this contentious debate, this article uses an "optimal federalism" framework to examine the appropriate locus for immigration policy. It compares economies and diseconomies of scale across enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions, in order to determine the appropriate level of government for addressing these institutional aspects of immigration policy. It concludes that due to significant economies of scale in each institutional phase, the federal government should have some dominant role across all phases. However, significant diseconomies of scale appear in both the implementation and enforcement phases, which imply that state and local governments should play important though limited roles in implementing and enforcing immigration policy. The article then offers a complex combination of federal, state, and local authority, in the pursuit of an effective and equitable immigration policy.
From Blocking Shots to Blocking GI Transit, This Professional Basketball Player Does It All: A Case Report on Small Bowel Obstruction.

Small bowel obstructions (SBO) are a commonly encountered diagnosis within emergency departments. Typically, these patients have evident risk factors including, but not limited to, prior abdominal surgery, personal or family history of gastrointestinal disorders, femoral and inguinal hernias, or neoplasm. In this case, we describe an SBO in a female, professional athlete whose swift, severe symptom onset, rapid resolution with conservative treatment, lack of identifiable risk factors, and prompt return to high level competition without recurrence are certainly unique. A female professional basketball player in her mid-20’s with no past medical history presented with a seven-hour history of worsening abdominal pain beginning in the epigastric region and migrating to the right lower quadrant. Physical exam did not reveal abdominal distension, tympany to percussion, or high-pitched bowel sounds. Initial differential diagnosis included appendicitis, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and other genitourinary pathology. Computed tomography with contrast revealed distended loops of small bowel with wall thickening, enhancement, and decompressed loops of bowel distally, consistent with an SBO. Symptoms resolved after 24 hours with conservative treatment, including decompression with a nasogastric tube. The athlete returned to full participation five days after initial presentation without recurrence of symptoms. Outpatient gastroenterology workup was negative for predisposing conditions. This presentation is rare in the absence of bowel pathology, family history, or prior abdominal surgery. Perhaps, her profession as an athlete, with frequent air travel and extensive exercise, may have contributed to this unique presentation. This case report should serve as a reminder to all providers that SBOs can occur in young, active patients devoid of risk factors. Even in the absence of typical signs on physical examination, providers should use imaging as adjuncts based on their clinical gestalt and utilize conservative management, when appropriate, to maximize chances of recovery with minimal morbidity.