cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optical Flow Approximation of Sub-Pixel Accurate Block Matching for Video Coding

Video compression algorithms almost universally rely on block matching algorithms (BMA) to exploit the temporal redundancy in image sequences. However block matching is extremely computationally intensive, especially if sub-pixel accuracy is desired. We propose a fundamentally different approach to obtaining motion vectors using the principles from gradient based optical flow but in a form fully compatible with any macro-block based video compression scheme. Experimental results show that in many cases, the gradient approximation to block matching results in videos within 0.3 dB PSNR to BMA at sub-pixel resolution while being potentially much more computationally efficient and easier to implement at the hardware level.
Feasibility of direct digital sampling for diffuse optical frequency domain spectroscopy in tissue

Frequency domain optical spectroscopy in the diffusive regime is currently being investigated for biomedical applications including tumor detection, therapy monitoring, exercise metabolism, and others. Analog homodyne or heterodyne detection of sinusoidally modulated signals have been the predominant method for measuring phase and amplitude of photon density waves that have traversed through tissue. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing direct digital sampling of modulated signals using a 3.6 Gigasample/second 12 bit Analog to Digital Converter. Digitally synthesized modulated signals between 50MHz and 400MHz were measured on tissue simulating phantoms at six near-infrared wavelengths. An amplitude and phase precision of 1% and 0.6 degrees were achieved during drift tests. Amplitude, phase, scattering and absorption values were compared with a well-characterized network analyzer based diffuse optical device. Measured optical properties measured with both systems were within 3.6% for absorption and 2.8% for scattering over a range of biologically relevant values. Direct digital sampling represents a viable method for frequency domain diffuse optical spectroscopy and has the potential to reduce system complexity, size, and cost.
Controlling the Variance in Action Research

Action research is a process which is subject to error like all other processes. A major source of error—or variance, as we shall call it—arises from the incongruence between the expectations of members of the client or user system and those of the members of the practitioner system. In this chapter we assume that any incongruence between these expectations will act against the successful completion of the project. Congruency does not imply flaccid agreement. It both allows for and encourages the full play of complementary skills that might be fed into the accomplishment of a shared or interdependent objective.
Surgery and physical therapy likely yield similar outcomes in spinal stenosis.

Commentary on : Delitto A, Piva SR, Moore CG, et al. Surgery versus nonsurgical treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2015;162:465–73.[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] The study by Delitto and colleagues gives options to patients who otherwise may feel back surgery is inevitable. Spinal stenosis is common,1 yet there is no professional consensus on diagnostic criteria or indications for surgery. The label is frequently assigned in MRI reports and may quickly lead to surgery. However, arthritic changes in the lumbar spine are common even among asymptomatic individuals,2 so diagnosis based on the pattern and severity of a patient's symptoms.3 Surgery is an option, but treatment choice depends on a patient's knowledge, preferences and values. This randomised controlled trial (RCT) compared outcomes for lumbar decompression versus physical therapy (PT) … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DAnn%2BIntern%2BMed%26rft.volume%253D162%26rft.spage%253D465%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.7326%252FM14-1420%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F25844995%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.7326/M14-1420&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=25844995&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febmed%2F21%2F1%2F31.atom
Community violence concerns and adolescent sleep

Abstract Objective The goal of this study was to examine links between concerns about community violence and objective and subjective sleep parameters in an adolescent sample. Sex was considered as a moderator of effects. Design The study used a cross-sectional design. Participants The community-based sample included 252 adolescents (53% girls) with an average age of 15.79 years (SD = 0.81) from the Southeastern United States. The sample included 34% African American and 66% European American adolescents from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Measurements Adolescent-reported community violence concerns were assessed using a composite of 3 separate subscales that measured perceived community safety and threats of community and school violence. Sleep duration and quality were assessed using actigraphy, and subjective sleep problems and daytime sleepiness were measured with subscales of the School Sleep Habits Survey. Results Community violence predicted lower sleep efficiency, more long-wake episodes, and more sleep/wake problems and sleepiness. Sex-related moderation effects revealed that girls in the sample were more vulnerable to the effects of violence concerns on their objective sleep quality. Conclusions Findings highlight the role of community violence concerns on adolescents’ sleep, revealing that greater community violence concerns are linked with lower levels of actigraphy-based and subjective reports of sleep quality, particularly for adolescent girls. Consideration of the mechanisms by which violence concerns may affect sleep is discussed.
Spin Density Waves in Organic Conductors

In the following we discuss two aspects of the spin density wave (SDW) state in organic conductors like TMTSF salts (Bechgaard salts) and DMET salts at low temperatures. As a model we take an anisotropic Hubbard model and we study the properties of the model within mean field theory. In the first part we describe the collective transport associated with the sliding motion of the SDW (the Frohlich conduction), which shares a number of similarities with the related transport in the charge density wave. So far only a few experiments have been reported on the Frohich conduction in the SDW. But these results are quite encouraging. In the second part we describe the field induced spin density wave (FISDW) in the related systems, which appears only in a strong magnetic field (H>4T) normal to the best conducting plane. The same model describes semi-quantitatively the observed phase diagram and other properties for H ≦ 8T, while the theory appears to fail mysteriously to describe a class of observed phenomena beyond H = 8T.
Sy39-2chronic ethanol consumption: its effects on liver inflammation.

Alcohol-induced alterations in cell function, hepatic inflammation, and fibrosis are prominent features of liver disease in general and of alcoholic liver injury in particular. The link between these processes, however, remains unclear. A virtually universal characteristic of liver injury and subsequent inflammation is the induction of hepatocellular damage, and work from our laboratory has extensively studied the effect of ethanol administration on the hepatocyte and the process of endocytosis by these cells, using the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) pathway as a model. Our recent studies have shown that impaired uptake of several ligands by the ASGP-R (cellular fibronectin, carcinoembryonic antigen, and apoptotic bodies) leads to an ethanol-induced accumulation which then contributes to enhanced activation and cytokine production by non-parenchymal cells such as Kupffer cells and liver endothelial cells. The interaction of these ligands with the sinusoidal cells of the liver, as well as the cooperation and regulation between the different cell types after ethanol administration warrants further investigation and is the focus of talk. In our work we aim to acquire a better understanding of the cross-interactive associations that occur between the cell types following chronic ethanol administration, and which contribute to inflammation.
Concentrations of trace elements in the hair of the guinea pig : a review

Various animal models have been employed for research on the significance of measuring trace element concentrations in the human scalp hair. The objects of such research were the establishment of relationships between the concentrations of trace elements in human scalp hair and (1) their concentrations in other compartments of the human body or (2) specific pathophysiological conditions. The guinea pig appears to be the animal of choice for such studies because the elemental composition and growth pattern of its hair parallel those of the human scalp hair.
Some Physico-Chemical Aspects of Polymeric Liquid Crystals

Apart from their obvious macroscopic differences that follow from their respective molecular dynamical differences, ordinary liquids are readily distinguished from solids on a microscopic scale by the absence of long-range translational and orientational molecular order. Nevertheless, one frequently refers to “structure” in liquids: short-range, near-neighbor spatial and angular correlations which, in the absence of specific intermolecular interactions (e.g. dipolar, hydrogen bonding, etc.) facilitate the “packing” of molecules at liquid densities.(1) Such correlations may be somewhat more exaggerated in liquids composed of anisometric molecules with high aspect ratios (rod-or disclike molecules), but even in such fluids the correlation lengths rarely exceed a very few (two or three) molecular dimensions.
Continuous versus categorical data for ROC analysis: some quantitative considerations.

Abstract Rationale and Objectives Several authors have encouraged the use of a quasi-continuous rating scale for data collection in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of diagnostic modalities, rather than rating scales based on five to seven ordinal categories or levels of suspicion. Although many investigators have gone over to this method, a discussion of the issues continues. The present work provides a quantitative analysis from the viewpoint of measurement science. Materials and Methods A simple model of the effect of data discretization or quantization on the measurement of the variance of noisy data was developed. Then Monte Carlo simulations of multiple-reader, multiple-case ROC experiments were performed and analyzed in terms of components-of-variance models to investigate the effect of data quantization in that more complex setting. Results For single-reader studies, discretization into five categories can reduce the precision of ROC measurements by a large amount. The effect may be attenuated in multireader studies. Conclusion More precise measurements of diagnostic detection performance and thus more efficient use of resources are served by good measurement methods. These are promoted by the use of a quasi-continuous rating scale in ROC studies.
Sexual orientation and treatment-seeking for depression in a multilingual worldwide sample

Abstract Background Prior research has found higher rates of mental health problems among sexual minority individuals. We examine treatment-seeking for depression, as well as its relationship with sexual orientation, in a large, multilingual, international sample. Method Participants in an automated, quintilingual internet-based depression screening tool were screened for depression, and completed several background measures, including sexual orientation (with an option to decline to state) and past and current depression treatment seeking. Results 3695 participants screened positive for current or past depression and responded to the sexual orientation question. Those who declined to state their sexual orientation were far less likely to seek any treatment than individuals endorsing any orientation; they were especially unlikely to seek psychotherapy. Individuals identifying as bisexual sought both psychotherapy and alternative treatments at a higher rate than other groups. An interaction was observed between sexual orientation and gender, such that lesbian women were especially likely to have used psychotherapy. Other variables that emerged as significant predictors of treatment-seeking for depression included age and participant's language. Limitations Limitations include possible misinterpretation of translated terms due to regional differences, and possible limits to generalizability due to this study being conducted on the internet. Conclusions Our results suggest that individuals who decline to state their sexual orientation may be more likely to forgo effective treatments for depression. Further studies of depression service utilization should focus on developing treatment modalities that could better engage sexual minority individuals, especially those who are reluctant to disclose their orientation.
Patrons, Radicals, and the Struggle for Control

When John Beveridge testified before an 1825 parliamentary committee on the act outlawing trade unions, he echoed working people’s understanding of what was happening to customary forms of economic activity. Beveridge, clerk of a seamen’s benefit society in the northeast of England, argued that unemployed sailors ‘must stand on shore; our labour is our merchandise.’1 Without work they would starve because people had become commodities selling their labour power in the marketplace. Beveridge and his mates were participating in a struggle between advocates of wage labour in a free market economy and those who defended customary rights to collective organisation and a place for the state in setting wage levels. Beveridge and his fellow workers sought to revive earlier traditions of reciprocity in which mutual interests generally guided relations between masters and men. Influenced by the changing labour relations environment, the Seamen’s Loyal Standard Association embraced a mixture of moral and market-driven attitudes toward economic exchange.
Auricular Split-Thickness Skin Graft for Ear Canal Coverage

Split-thickness skin graft (STSG) continues to be the preferred means of external auditory canal (EAC) reconstruction. We thus sought to describe our experience using skin from the posterior aspect of the auricle (SPAA) as a donor site in EAC reconstruction. Grafts were, on average, 5 × 10 mm in size and obtained with a No. 10 blade after tumescence injection. The cases of 39 patients who underwent 41 procedures were retrospectively reviewed. Of the 38 patients with both 3- and 6-month follow-ups, no postoperative stenosis or bony exposure occurred. STSG from the SPAA can be a good option in EAC reconstruction. Total EAC/tympanic membrane coverage can be obtained with STSG from the SPAA.
Phospholipid bilayer affinities and solvation characteristics by electrokinetic chromatography with a nanodisc pseudostationary phase.

Phospholipid bilayer nanodiscs composed of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and synthetic maleic acid–styrene copolymer belts have been introduced as a pseudostationary phase (PSP) in electrokinetic chromatography and demonstrated good performance. The nanodiscs provide a suitable migration range and high theoretical plate counts. Using this nanodisc pseudostationary phase, the affinity of the bilayer structure for probe solutes was determined and characterized. Good correlation is observed between retention factors and octanol water partition coefficients for particular categories of solutes, but the general correlation is weak primarily because the nanodiscs show stronger affinity than octanol for hydrogen bond donors. This suggests that a more appropriate application of this technology is to measure and characterize interactions between solutes and lipid bilayers directly. Linear solvation energy relationship analysis of the nanodisc–solute interactions in this study demonstrates that the nanodiscs provide a solvation environment with low cohesivity and weak hydrogen bond donating ability, and provide relatively strong hydrogen bond acceptor strength.
A comparative study of gill ventilation in marine teleosts

1. Movements of the lower jaw and operculum have been recorded simultaneously with the associated pressure changes in the buccal and opercular cavities during breathing of the following species: Trachurus trachurus (L.), Clupea harengus L., Gadus merlangus L., Onos mustela (L.), Crenilabrus melops (L.), Cottus bubalis Euphrasen, Blennius ocellaris L., Trigla gurnardus L., Callionymus lyra L., Pleuronectes platessa L., Microstoinus kitt (Walbaum), Conger conger (L.), Syngnathus acus L. 2. In all species ventilation of the gills is achieved by the action of a buccal pressure pump and of opercular suction pumps. 3. The time course of the pressure changes indicates differences in the relative importance of the two pumps which are related to the habitat of the fish. The suction pump becomes of greatest importance in fishes which spend most of their lives on the sea bottom. 4. In several species the differential pressure curve does not include the brief period of reversal in pressure gradient found in most fishes so far investigated. Notable among these species are the two flatfishes investigated and in which there is some evidence for an active opercular valve. 5. In general, the results confirm the validity of Baglioni9s classification of the respiratory mechanisms of teleost fishes.
Shunt and series conditioning schemes for hybrid matrix converter

This paper is focused on conditioning the voltage and current waveform quality of a hybrid matrix converter that consists of a conventional nine-switch matrix converter and an auxiliary back-to-back voltage source converter. Upon critical evaluation of the existing methods for shunt and series compensation, the fundamental limitations for achieving superior results have been identified. A new strategy based on power averaging for obtaining the reference compensating current and voltage has been proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified by the simulation results for both the shunt and series compensation with concurrent presence of the harmonic components in voltages and currents.
Peningkatan Kinerja Petani Sekitar Hutan dalam Penerapan Sistem Agroforestri di Pegunungan Kendeng Pati

English Critical land areas increase over time due to mismanagement. One of attempts to overcome this problem is through agroforestry system application. It is urgent to improve the farmers’ performance in managing agroforestry sustainability on degraded land areas. Objectives of the research are: (1) To analyze the farmers’ performance, its impacts on agroforestry system sustainability, and its influencing factors; (2) To identify appropriate strategies for extension activities to improve the farmers’ performance. This study is an explanatory research taking 400 respondents as the sample and the unit of the analysis is the household heads. Data are analyzed using descriptive statistics and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). Results of the study are as follows: (i) the farmers’ performance in Kendeng Mountains is relatively low indicated by low income level; limited types of food diversity; and absence of business network in the agroforestry system; but.the farmers ‘motivation to apply the agroforestry system is relatively strong. (ii) agroforestry extension strategy should consider the farmers’ motivation, job opportunities, capabilities, and characteristics. Indonesian Luas lahan kritis di Pulau Jawa semakin bertambah dari tahun ke tahun. Hal ini terjadi karena kesalahan dalam pengelolaan lahan. Salah satu upaya untuk mengatasi hal tersebut dengan menerapkan sistem agroforestri. Untuk itu peningkatan kinerja petani dalam penerapan agroforestri perlu dilakukan. Penelitian ini ditujukan untuk (1) menganalisis tingkat kinerja petani dan dampaknya terhadap keberlanjutan sistem agroforestri serta faktor-faktor penentu tingkat kinerja; serta (2) mengidentifikasi strategi penyuluhan yang tepat guna meningkatkan kinerja petani dalam penerapan sistem agroforestri pada lahan kritis. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan structural equation modeling (SEM). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kinerja petani Pegunungan Kendeng dalam penerapan agroforestri masih rendah. Indikator utamanya adalah pendapatan usahatani, keragaman jenis pangan yang diproduksi, dan jejaring bisnis agroforestri yang masih sangat terbatas. Meskipun demikian, motivasi petani untuk menerapkan agroforestri cukup kuat. Dari penelitian ini juga diperoleh kesimpulan bahwa basis perumusan strategi penyuluhan untuk meningkatkan kinerja petani dalam penerapan agroforestri di lokasi penelitian adalah motivasi, kesempatan, kemampuan, dan karakteristik petani.
Incremental Light Bundle Adjustment: Probabilistic Analysis and Application to Robotic Navigation

This paper focuses on incremental light bundle adjustment (iLBA), a recently introduced [13] structureless bundle adjustment method, that reduces computational complexity by algebraic elimination of camera-observed 3D points and using incremental smoothing to efficiently optimize only the camera poses.We consider the probability distribution that corresponds to the iLBA cost function, and analyze how well it represents the true density of the camera poses given the image measurements. The latter can be exactly calculated in bundle adjustment (BA) by marginalizing out the 3D points from the joint distribution of camera poses and 3D points. We present a theoretical analysis of the differences in the way that light bundle adjustment and bundle adjustment use measurement information. Using indoor and outdoor datasets we show that the first two moments of the iLBA and the true probability distributions are very similar in practice. Moreover, we present an extension of iLBA to robotic navigation, considering information fusion between high-rate IMU and a monocular camera sensor while avoiding explicit estimation of 3D points.We evaluate the performance of this method in a realistic synthetic aerial scenario and show that iLBA and incremental BA result in comparable navigation state estimation accuracy, while computational time is significantly reduced in the former case.
The Pharmacokinetics of Racemic MDPV and Its (R) and (S) Enantiomers in Female and Male Rats

Abstract Background These studies investigated the serum pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of racemic (3,4)-methylenedioxypyrovalerone [( R,S )-MDPV)] and its ( R )- and ( S )-enantiomers in female and male Sprague Dawley rats. Methods Intravenous ( R,S )-MDPV (3 and 5.6 mg/kg) and single enantiomer of ( R )- and ( S )-MDPV (1.5 mg/kg) were administered to both sexes for PK studies. Intraperitoneal (ip) bioavailability was determined at 3 mg/kg ( R,S )-MDPV. Locomotor activity studies were conducted after ip treatment with saline and 0.3-5.6 mg/kg of ( R,S )-MDPV. Results PK values after iv ( R,S )-MDPV showed a significant ( p 0.05) sex-dependent differences in the volume of distribution at steady state (Vd ss ) for ( R )- and ( R,S )-MDPV at both ( R,S )-MDPV doses. The female S/R enantiomeric ratios for area under the concentration time curve (AUC inf ) and clearance were significantly lower and higher, respectively, than values determined in males. Importantly, there was no evidence of in vivo inversion of ( R )-MDPV or ( S )-MDPV to its antipode. There were, however, significant sex-dependent differences in volume of distribution after administration of the ( R )-enantiomer. Bioavailability studies of ip ( R,S )-MDPV showed greater variability and significantly greater bioavailability in male rats. Accordingly, there was a significantly greater maximal distance traveled measurement in male rats at a 3.0 mg/kg dose. Conclusion PK sex differences in ( R,S )-MDPV and enantiomers were most apparent in volume of distribution, which could be caused by differences in drug blood and tissue protein binding. The increased magnitude and variance in ip bioavailability in male compared to female rats could lead to sex-dependent differences in the pharmacological action caused by active enantiomer ( S )-MDPV.
‘‘An Assembly of Peoples in Struggle”: How the Cold War Made Latin America Part of the “Third World’’

When French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term “Third World” in 1952, it sketched the outlines of a vision only beginning to perceive that the impoverished, decolonizing areas of the world did not fit into the bipolar scheme of the Cold War. But this vision did not i nclude Latin America, whose decolonization had unfolded more than a century earlier. As the post-war waves of that process brought dozens of new nation-states into the atlas, its coincidence with the Cold War drew a second set of lines, splitting the earth into three “worlds”—the Third of these eventually comprising most of the Global South. However, the waves of decolonization after 1945 did not produce the full membership of this imagined community. When later married to shared interests in nonalignment, economic development, and race-conscious activism, the result expanded the meaning and membership of “Third World” to include the western hemisphere below the Rio Grande. This essay explores the evolution of the term “Third World” from its original incarnation, denoting the decolonizing European empires, to its fullest iteration at the inclusion of Latin America. The Cold War battle for “hearts and minds”—a contest not just between East and West but between North and South—sparked and shaped this evolution. It created the intellectual and geopolitical space for what would come to be called the Third World. Over time, that space was repossessed and redefined by “native” actors themselves, including those in Latin America. By 1970, a confluence of currents brought Latin America into agreement with the new nation-states of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, whose leaders found enough common ground in the “Third World” to conjoin all their regions within it—an imagined community which itself sought to transcend the Cold War.
Fraud Risk Brainstorming at Tesla Motors

ABSTRACT This instructional case offers students the opportunity to explore the fraud risk assessment process and participate in a simulated fraud brainstorming session as required by AS 2401 (form...
A 78%-efficiency li-ion-compatible fully-integrated modified 4-level converter with 0.01–40mW DCM-operation in 28nm FDSOI

This paper presents a battery-connected DC-DC converter integrated in a scaled CMOS process. To achieve high efficiency while blocking the 2.8–4.2V Li-ion battery voltage range using only 1.5V transistors, a modified 4-level buck converter is proposed. Implemented in 28nm FDSOI, the converter switches at up to 200MHz, regulating down to 0.6–1.0V over a 10μW–40mW output power range via use of DCM-PFM control. The converter occupies 1.5mm2 of silicon area (including a pair of 5nF flying capacitors and a 3nH inductor), and achieves a peak efficiency of 78%.
Just Talk: Public Deliberation After 9/11

Critics of public deliberation as conventionally practiced have charged that it is “just talk” in the sense both that it substitutes sociable conversation for practical deliberation and that it substitutes political talk for political action. I argue that both criticisms rest on unnecessarily restrictive models of talk and politics. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with eighty participants in two forums convened to deliberate about the future of the former World Trade Center, I tease out the variety of models on which people styled their discussions, models that included education, negotiation, and advocacy. In ways not often recognized by deliberative theorists, these models helped participants to hone their own opinions and reach agreement across difference. Participants also perceived less of a conflict between deliberation and advocacy than deliberative theorists have tended to do. Insofar as participants’ understandings of what made for good deliberation and appropriate modes of political influence differed from those of forum organizers, they point both to practical challenges in organizing deliberation and to possibilities for organizing it more effectively.
Small-scale crisis response mapping: comparing user contributions to events in OpenStreetMap

In the last decade, the crowdsourced geographic information platform, OpenStreetMap (OSM), has become a critical tool for emergency response efforts during large-scale crisis events such as hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes. Events such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, have attracted massive organized relief responses on the OSM platform. During these events, new and experienced OSM contributors have helped map critical infrastructure necessary for relief efforts. While much is understood about how OSM users organized and contributed during these large-scale events, little has been researched as to how contributors respond to smaller scale events. This study investigates how OSM users contribute to the map in response to small-scale crisis events by comparing OSM user contributions from four recent building fire incidents located in Western and Non-Western countries and areas of varying degrees of map completeness. Analysis determined whether there was an increase in OSM contributions in the immediate aftermath of an incident and characterized these contributors as serious or casual mappers, local to or remote from the incident, and what kinds of features or attributes are being updated. Results from this research showed an increase in user contributions for most incidents in the 30 days after the incident, with 41–98% of contributions occurring in the first 10 days after an event for some study areas. Based on each contributor editing history, most contributors were classified as being serious, remote mappers. This research contributes to a growing body of evidence that investigates potential motivation factors for contributions to OSM.
A Survey of Knowledge Coordination Issues in Business Process Management

In an era of knowledge economy, knowledge coordination has become an important topic for processoriented management fields, such as project management and supply chain management. However, the concept of knowledge coordination has remained somewhat ambiguous. We first identify the elements of knowledge coordination. Then, we develop a theoretical framework analyzing knowledge coordination issues in business process management and investigating the interrelations among knowledge coordination mechanisms and coordination benefits/outcomes. The framework classifies knowledge coordination issues into three categories: administrative coordination issues, process coordination issues, and measurement issues of coordination effects, and proposes that knowledge process coordination mediates the positive relationship of knowledge administrative coordination with performance outcomes.
Sea Ice Detection Based on Unambiguous Retrieval of Scattering Coefficient from GNSS-R Delay-Doppler Maps

In this paper, a method is proposed for detecting sea ice based on the scattering coefficient $(\sigma^{0})$ retrieved from Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) delay-Doppler maps (DDMs). First, a strategy for unambiguously retrieving the surface scattering coefficients is illustrated, by employing the spatial integration approach (SIA) and the multi-scan technique. Next, the application of this proposed scheme for sea ice remote sensing is demonstrated using DDMs acquired from the U.K. TechDemoSat-l (TDS-l) mission and verified with the collocated reference sea ice concentration (SIC) data obtained by Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS sensors. The test results show that the proposed method offers a new solution to sea ice detection and a feasible aspect for resolving the ambiguity in the retrieval of $\sigma^{0}$ from GNSS-R DDMs.
Specialized strut-and-tie method for rapid strength prediction of bridge pier caps

Abstract Deep pier caps possess additional shear strength due to the formation of the strut action which cannot be captured by the traditional sectional method. The strut-and-tie method (STM) is a suitable method for capturing the deep beam action. The application of the STM, however, has many challenges including creating and optimizing a valid truss model, performing an indeterminate truss analysis, calculation of nodal and elemental stress limits, etc. The objective of this study is to explore innovative strategies to reduce the complexity of the STM by developing a strut-and-tie methodology to rapidly and accurately predict the shear capacities of deep pier caps. A graphical solution algorithm and associated computer code is developed to generate and analyze efficient strut-and-tie models while intuitively educating engineers in the correct use of the methodology. The accuracy of the methodology is assessed by modeling eight existing bridge pier caps with a general-purpose strut-and-tie method. In addition, nonlinear finite element analyses of the same pier caps are performed for an in-depth investigation and comparisons of the governing behaviors, strengths, and modes of failure with those obtained from the proposed methodology. Although not valid for deep beams, the sectional method calculations are performed to demonstrate the consequences of using it. The relationship between the shear span-to-depth ratio and the shear strength predictions from all three methods are compared for twenty-one regions. The proposed methodology has general applicability for modeling deep pier caps and is shown to provide similar modeling time and effort to the sectional method with accuracies comparable to those obtained from the nonlinear finite element analysis.
The Future of Bluefin Tunas: Ecology, Fisheries Management, and Conservation

Bluefin tunas have been fished sustainably for 2,000 years, but the recent demand for sashimi and sushi has led to the incredible price of $3 million for one Pacific Bluefin at the celebratory firs...
Sluggish cognitive tempo and ADHD symptoms in relation to task-unrelated thought: Examining unique links with mind-wandering and rumination.

Abstract Recent theoretical and empirical evidence highlights associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and task-unrelated thought, including mind-wandering and rumination. However, it has been hypothesized that sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT), characterized by daydreaming and staring behaviors, may uniquely relate to task-unrelated thought. The purpose of the present study was to test whether SCT symptoms are associated with greater mind-wandering and rumination, and whether this association remains when controlling for ADHD and internalizing symptoms. Participants (N = 4679; 18–29 years; 69% female; 80.9% White) enrolled in six universities in the United States completed measures of SCT, ADHD symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and rumination, as well as two scales used to assess mind-wandering. Although ADHD symptoms were correlated with greater self-reported mind-wandering and rumination, relations with mind-wandering on the daydreaming frequency scale, reflective rumination, and brooding rumination were attenuated when controlling for SCT and internalizing symptoms. Above and beyond other psychopathology dimensions, SCT symptoms were uniquely associated with greater self-reported mind-wandering and both reflective and brooding rumination. Additionally, SCT symptoms were more strongly associated than other psychopathology dimensions with the mind-wandering measure of daydreaming frequency. Results provide the first empirical support for unique and robust associations between SCT symptoms and task-unrelated thought, while suggesting that the link between ADHD and mind-wandering may be less robust than previously suggested.
Randomised controlled trial of sugammadex or neostigmine for reversal of neuromuscular block on the incidence of pulmonary complications in older adults undergoing prolonged surgery

Abstract Background Residual neuromuscular block has been associated with postoperative pulmonary complications. We hypothesised that sugammadex reduces postoperative pulmonary complications in patients aged ≥70 yr having surgery ≥3 h, compared with neostigmine. Methods Patients were enrolled in an open-label, assessor-blinded, randomised, controlled trial. At surgical closure, subjects were equally randomised to receive sugammadex 2 mg kg−1 or neostigmine 0.07 mg kg−1 (maximum 5 mg) for rocuronium reversal. The primary endpoint was incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications. Secondary endpoints included residual paralysis (train-of-four ratio Results Of the 200 subjects randomised, 98 received sugammadex and 99 received neostigmine. There was no significant difference in the primary endpoint of postoperative pulmonary complications despite a signal towards reduced incidence for sugammadex (33% vs 40%; odds ratio [OR]=0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI]=[0.40, 1.37]; P=0.30) compared with neostigmine. Sugammadex decreased residual neuromuscular block (10% vs 49%; OR=0.11, 95% CI=[0.04, 0.25]; P Conclusions In older adults undergoing prolonged surgery, sugammadex was associated with a 40% reduction in residual neuromuscular block, a 10% reduction in 30 day hospital readmission rate, but no difference in the occurrence of postoperative pulmonary complications. Based on this exploratory study, larger studies should determine whether sugammadex may reduce postoperative pulmonary complications and 30 day hospital readmissions. Clinical trial registration NCT02861131.
Acoustics of the one person space: headphone listening, detachable ambience, and the binaural prehistory of VR

This article traces forgotten debates over the cultural acceptability of headphone listening in order to present an audio-centric history of private virtual space. I focus on how cultural attitudes...
Stable nitrogen and oxygen isotope fractionation during precipitation of nitrate salt from saturated solutions.

RATIONALE Nitrate is an oxyanion similar to CO3- and thus should undergo stable N and O isotope fractionation during dissolution or precipitation. This process should dominate abiotic soil nitrate processes in hyperarid regions of Earth and possibly Mars. METHODS The N and O isotope fractionations during the precipitation of nitrate salt from saturated solutions at ~20°C were determined by two methods: rapid precipitation by antisolvent crystallization and slow uninhibited precipitation in a desiccator. In the antisolvent crystallization procedure, increasing volumes of acetone were added to samples of saturated sodium and strontium nitrate solutions to instantaneously precipitate nitrate salt. In the slow procedure (requiring weeks), slow evaporative water loss drove the process. RESULTS There was little difference between the two procedures. Using a Rayleigh model, the calculated N fractionation (15 eproduct-residual ) ranged from 1.69‰ to 2.77‰, whereas for O, the 18 eproduct-residual values were between 1.27‰ and 4.61‰. The N isotope fractionation between NO3- and the metal solid is similar to that between C in dissolved CO3-2 and carbonates. We found that O versus N isotope plots of soil nitrate in a cold/dry Antarctic chronosequence had slopes similar to those from the experiments, revealing abiotic transport. In the Atacama Desert, where the soil nitrates are a mix of biological and tropospheric nitrate, there is an inverse relationship between soil N and O isotopes. These two relationships were compared with the isotope composition of nitrate from Martian meteorite EETA79001. CONCLUSIONS While the N and O isotope composition of the Martian nitrate is remarkably similar to that of the present Atacama Desert, the interpretation of the slope of the O versus N isotopes remains ambiguous due to the limited number of samples. Additional NO3 samples from Martian meteorites are needed to address the question of abiotic versus biotic alteration of NO3- on Mars.
In-Field Performance Optimization for mm-Wave Mixed-Signal Doherty Power Amplifiers: A Bandit Approach

Advanced power amplifier (PA) architectures are critical for 5G communication which requires PAs to have sufficient output power, high linearity, and high energy efficiency. The time-variant operational environment further demands the self-reconfigurability in the PA design. Recent developments in bandit-problems and reinforcement learning (RL) have led to data-driven control algorithms. This paper presents various RL-based algorithms for Doherty PA control, which achieve robust adaptive operation over environmental changes. Multiple RL frameworks are incorporated in the control algorithms including multi-armed bandit (MAB), continuum-armed bandit (CAB), contextual-bandit (CB), and actor-critic with experience replay (AC). The control algorithms based on the latter three frameworks leverage on the prior information about the Doherty PA’s characteristics to improve learning efficiency. In our simulation test where the optimal policy needs to be adjusted due to transmitter output load impedance mismatch, the MAB-based control learns the optimal policy within 25,000 samples. The control algorithms based on CAB and CB learn the optimal policy within 5,000 samples. The fastest learning rate is achieved by the control algorithm based on AC, which learns the optimal policy within 1,500 samples.
Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal for Coastal Resort Businesses

Onshore commercial or institutional services for the New Jersey barrier island resorts frequently dispose of wastewater onsite, by percolating septic system effluent to the underlying aquifers. However, to protect the groundwater supplying potable water and brackish wetlands, larger onsite systems must now include advanced treatment to remove nitrates. Effluent produced by a mechanical treatment plant at a new nursing home was improved by percolation through a zoned sand mound disposal bed, but operation of the small but complex plant is expensive. Therefore, another system to remove organics and nitrogen was developed for a shopping center, which was expected to have severe seasonal variations in wastewater quality and quantity. Treatment in a series of in-ground and mounded aerobic and anoxic units provides operational economy and flexibility appropriate to resort area commercial establishments.
The Characteristic X-Rays from Boron and Beryllium

Lead stearate and lead lignocerate multilayer soap-film structures are used to disperse the K emission lines of boron and beryllium respectively. Data are presented showing the dependence of the peak height and half-width on the number of layers in the lignocerate structure. Spectra are presented and compared for the pure element and several compounds of each element. Both electron and X-ray excitation are used. Detection is by a thin-window flow-proportional counter.
Chapter 14 Electronic structure of ultrathin magnetic films

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the different studies, both theoretical and experimental, of the properties of magnetic thin films with a particular emphasis on the electronic structure and studies of the latter using various electron spectroscopies. Over the past decade, the increasing demands for new information storage capabilities have lead to an enormous increase for research devoted to the study of the magnetic properties of surfaces and thin films. A number of technological developments allow new magnetic materials to be routinely fabricated and investigated on the atomic scale. Many of the discrepancies may be traced to structural problems relating to the growth procedure. Thus, island formation or inter diffusion often adds complexity to the problem. For both transition and noble metal over layers the polarization induced in the over layer reflects the interaction in the interface. The reflectivity's near the hybridization gaps in the substrate determine the level of confinement of the quantum well states and the associated spin polarization.
Dual Language Proficiency and the Educational Attainment of Latinos

The relationship between Spanish maintenance and the educational attainment of English-speaking Latino students in the United States is investigated using data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey. The analysis indicates that biliterate students are significantly more likely to complete high school compared to their monolingual peers. Those with oral proficiency in Spanish and English are not significantly different in terms of their likelihood of high school completion than were those who spoke only English. Biliterate students are also significantly more likely to enter college than those who speak only English. Overall, this research indicates that bilingualism, offers Latino students an advantage in terms of educational attainment.
Protective Immunity Against Plague

Plague, an infectious disease that reached catastrophic proportions during three pandemics, continues to be a legitimate public health concern worldwide. Although antibiotic therapy for the causative agent Yersinia pestis is available, pharmaceutical supply limitations, multi-drug resistance from natural selection as well as malicious bioengineering are a reality. Consequently, plague vaccinology is a priority for biodefense research. Development of a multi-subunit vaccine with Fraction 1 and LcrV as protective antigens seems to be receiving the most attention. However, LcrV has been shown to cause immune suppression and Y. pestis mutants lacking F1 expression are thought to be fully virulent in nature and in animal experiments. The LcrV variant, rV10, retains the well documented protective antigenic properties of LcrV but with diminished inhibitory effects on the immune system. More research is required to examine the molecular mechanisms of vaccine protection afforded by surface protein antigens and to decipher the host mechanisms responsible for vaccine success.
Applying Diffusion to a Cooperative Coevolutionary Model

Perhaps one the newest and of the more interesting cooperative approaches to evolutionary computation which has been more recently explored is the area of mutualism. In mutualistic methods, the problem is subdivided into modular components where each component evolves separately, but is evaluated in terms of the other components. In this way the problem may be cooperatively solved. In an attempt to give this novel approach more adaptive ability, in this paper we explore the effects of adding varying degrees of population diffusion via a mutatable tagging scheme applied to individual chromosomes.
Interpolation by Bloch functions

A new interpolation problem is defined for the Bloch space and some partial results are obtained. §
Entry on 'Saving' for John King, ed., The Edward Elgar Companion to Post-Keynesian Economics

This encyclopedia entry examines the relationship between saving behavior in capitalist economies and their macroeconomic performance. It first considers various accounting issues in defining "saving" and argues for the significance of these accounting distinctions for understanding how saving affects macroeconomic activity. It then surveys theoretical and empirical issues as to whether, as stated by Meade, "a dog called saving wagged its tail labeled investment," or vise versa. The paper argues for emphasizing the role of financial structure in sorting through this long-standing debate.
Multicenter Trial: Background and Examples†

This article defines and reviews the history of multicenter trials. Several key examples of multicenter trials are provided as well as same suggested readings. Keywords: multicenter trial; study; sponsor