cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Revenue Cycle

The Internet and web enabled technologies have affected numerous accounting processes. Closing of the books at the end of the period, especially fiscal year, is one such accounting process. Closing of the books used to take weeks and months before the advent of the Internet. The accelerated process of closing of the books using the web based technologies is called virtual close. Virtual close is considered to be the ability to close company’s books quickly and generate financial statements. Virtual close can also be viewed as a minimum distance between business activity and reporting of such an activity. However, the quickness or distance has not been defined precisely. The idea of virtual close pioneered by Cisco gained currency in the late 1990s. However, later the rush to accelerate the closing process has slowed down considerably. This paper initially explores the history of virtual close. Next, the lessons learned in virtual close and costs and benefits associated with virtual close are analyzed and evaluated.
Prior knowledge determines interest in learning in physical education: A structural growth model perspective

Research has shown that interest in knowledge facilitates students' academic achievement in learning. Because individual interest is often based on how much one knows, in other words existing or prior knowledge, studying adolescents' interest in health-enhancing physical activity and its benefits should address the relation between the interest and their existing or prior physical activity knowledge. Understanding this relationship may help us facilitate students to not only develop interest in knowing more about but also actual adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. This study used a large-sample structural equation design to identify the relationship between middle school students' interest in physical activity knowledge and their prior physical activity knowledge, and to assess the change of this relationship over time. Guided by the declarative-procedural knowledge framework, latent growth models were developed and tested on data collected from a random sample of 3882 students from ten middle schools. The latent growth curve model indicated that, 1) on average, students experienced a significant interest decline in both procedural and declarative knowledge; 2) prior knowledge helped slow the decline and facilitated interest growth in knowledgeable students. The results suggest that existing knowledge determined the interest change.
Building Positive Relationships in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers in Child Care

Positive relationships are critical for the healthy development of infants and toddlers. This chapter provides an overview of familiar theories of child devel- opment, and brain-based research that supports this view. We then provide practical suggestions for building positive relationships in the lives of infants and toddlers in child care.
Traditional African and Western Modern Cultures

Jomo Kenyatta said it best that when Europeans came to Africa, they taught us to pray by closing our eyes. When we opened our eyes our land was gone. Westernization symbolizes acute keenness to structuralization, streamlined pattern on how things ought to operate. There is also a thin line dividing acquiescence to honor, order, and dignity with individualism. At some point when one is too close with Western culture of regulation, honor, and dignity, you find yourself drifting toward loneliness. This loneliness can breed boredom, and the consequences can be drastic. To live in Europe and America is to pigeon-hole oneself to stringent daily routine of ‘mind your own business’ syndrome. Communal essence has no place especially as monetary quest has overtaken humane love for the common good. It is about competition for the winner and there is no negotiation for a win-win but rather a bargain for a win-lose end result.
Safety in Danger and Privacy in Privation: Ambivalent Fantasies of Natural States Invoked in Reaction to Loss

Bowker’s chapter analyzes experiences of deprivation and fantasies of privation, particularly as they are expressed in the liberal, contractarian heuristic of the state of nature. Bowker argues that state-of-nature fantasies, while not categorically distinct from Edenic and Arcadian ideals known since antiquity, express a wish to return to a “psychic state of nature,” where what is real is the absence and not the presence of selves. Such fantasies, given the tremendous influence of social contract theory on liberal political ideology, not to mention the growing popular fascination with apocalypse and disaster, are morally and politically unfortunate, for they suggest that the state of extreme privation is a state of moral “safety” or innocence.
Parathyroid Diseases and T Cells.

This review summarizes studies into the permissive role of T cells in the bone catabolic effects of hyperparathyroidism and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Work in animals combined with recent translational studies in humans now highlight the potent amplificatory action of T cells on PTH-induced bone resorption. Mechanistic animal studies reveal a complex pathway by which PTH exploits natural self-renewal functions of CD4+ T cells, to drive TNFα production that promotes formation of IL-17A secreting Th17 T cells. TNFα and IL-17 further amplify osteoblastic receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) production and down-modulate osteoprotegerin (OPG), establishing conditions propitious for osteoclastic bone resorption. These findings are consistent with, and add to, the traditional view of PTH-induced bone loss involving only osteoblast-lineage cells. T cells potently amplify traditional pathways and provide permissive costimulatory signals to bone marrow stromal cells, facilitating the development of an increased RANKL/OPG ratio favourable to bone resorption and bone loss.
Frequency of Trypanosoma cruzi parasitemia among infected blood donors with a potential association between parasite lineage and transfusion transmission.

Background Trypanosoma cruzi is endemic to the Americas where it demonstrates multiple lineages over a vast geographic range (i.e., United States to Argentina). These lineages possess divergent geographic and biologic characteristics, including variations in disease manifestations. Herein, we report the frequency of parasitemia among seropositive US blood donors and the potential association between parasite lineage and transfusion transmission. Study design and methods Blood donors identified as T. cruzi seropositive during screening were enrolled in follow-up studies, including hemoculture testing and a risk factor questionnaire. Positive hemocultures were expanded to obtain sufficient parasites for molecular lineage determination and analysis. Country of birth, obtained from the questionnaire, was used to predict parasite lineage in the absence of demonstrable parasitemia for infected donors. Results Eighteen (6.8%) of 263 seropositive donors were hemoculture positive. Among the 17 hemocultures expanded for lineage determination, TcV was identified more frequently (n = 12), compared to TcI (n = 2), TcII (n = 1), and TcVI (n = 2). When presumptive parasite lineages were compared to hemoculture results, only two of 157 (1.3%) TcI versus 13 of 38 (34.2%) TcII/TcV/TcVI non-US donors were parasitemic; three of 44 (6.8%) US donors were TcV or TcVI. Conclusions Based on lineage determination for donors with parasitemia; hemoculture positivity associated with presumptive parasite lineage; and implicated donors from US, Canadian, and Spanish transfusion cases, donors from Southern South America are significantly more likely to have parasitemia and transmit infection to blood recipients (TcII, TcV, or TcVI vs. TcI). Thus, parasite lineage may be associated with risk of transfusion-transmitted T. cruzi.
Rheumatic valvulitis – Forgotten, but not gone

Abstract Acute rheumatic fever is an exceedingly rare condition in the developed world. It is thought to have nearly disappeared in the United States. Through the case of a 41-year-old Caucasian female who presented with progressive dyspnea and symptoms of heart failure, due to subacute rheumatic valvulitis, the importance of multimodality cardiovascular imaging assessment of patients presenting with severe, multi-valvular dysfunction is highlighted. This case also serves as a powerful reminder for clinicians that rheumatic valvulitis should remain in the differential diagnoses for patients with otherwise unexplained severe, multi-valvular dysfunction.
Therapeutic options for treatment of human papillomavirus-associated cancers - novel immunologic vaccines: ADXS11-001.

Survival of patients with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer is suboptimal despite the availability of various treatment modalities. The recently developed bacterial vector Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) activates innate and adaptive immune responses and is expected to offer immunologic advantages. Axalimogene filolisbac (AXAL or ADXS11–001) is a novel immunotherapeutic based on the live, irreversibly attenuated Lm fused to the nonhemolytic fragment of listeriolysin O (Lm-LLO) and secretes the Lm-LLO-HPV E7 fusion protein targeting HPV-positive tumors. Herein are reported the development and recent results of various clinical trials in patients with HPV-associated cervical, head and neck, and anal cancers.
ARCTIC HYDROCARBON BIODEGRADATION

Abstract Supplemented sterile sea water was inoculated with small sample volumes of raw sea water and examined for oil related microbial activity. A ubiquitous Alaskan water microbial population of 103 to 105/1 was indicated. In situ14C-dodecane oxidation rates based on l4CO2 recovery were: Port Valdez, 0.7 g/1 day; Chukchi Sea, 0.05 g/1 day; and Arctic Ocean, 0.001 g/1 day. Computations show that population estimates and oxidation rate measurements are compatible with each other.
Depletion of stercobilin in fecal matter from a mouse model of autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders lacking a clinical biomarker for diagnosis. Emerging evidence shows that intestinal microflora from ASD subjects can be distinguished from controls, suggesting metabolite differences due to the action of intestinal microbes may provide a means for identifying potential biomarkers for ASD. The aim of this study was to determine if quantitative differences in levels of stercobilin and stercobilinogen, metabolites produced by biological action of intestinal microflora, exist in the fecal matter between an ASD mouse model population and controls. Pairs of fecal samples were collected from two mouse groups, an ASD model group with Timothy syndrome 2 (TS2-NEO) and a gender-matched control group. After centrifugation, supernatant was spiked with an 18O-labeled stercobilin isotopomer and subjected to solid phase extraction for processing. Extracted samples were spotted on a stainless steel plate and subjected to matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry using 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid as the matrix (n = 5). Peak areas for bilins and 18O-stercobilin isotopomers were determined in each fecal sample. A 40–45% depletion in stercobilin in TS2-NEO fecal samples compared with controls was observed with p < 0.05; a less dramatic depletion was observed for stercobilinogen. The results show that stercobilin depletion in feces is observed for an ASD mouse model versus controls. This may help to explain recent observations of a less diverse microbiome in humans with ASD and may prove helpful in developing a clinical ASD biomarker.
Approximate Short Vectors in Ideal Lattices of $$\mathbb {Q}(\zeta _{p^e})$$ with Precomputation of $${\text {Cl}}(\mathcal {O}_K)$$Cl(OK)

Let a, b be constants such that \(b\le 7a - 2\) and \(\frac{2}{5}< a < \frac{1}{2}\). We present a classical heuristic PIP resolution method that finds a generator of any input \(\mathfrak {I}\) such that \(\mathcal {N}(\mathfrak {I})\le 2^{n^b}\) in time \(2^{n^{a + o(1)}}\) given a one time classical precomputation of cost and size \(2^{n^{2-3a+o(1)}}\).
Emerging therapeutics in pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive and often fatal illness presenting with nonspecific symptoms of dyspnea, lower extremity edema, and exercise intolerance. Pathologically, endothelial dy...
CHOICES-TEEN: Reducing Substance-Exposed Pregnancy and HIV among Juvenile Justice Adolescent Females.

Objective:The feasibility and acceptability of CHOICES-TEEN—a three-session intervention to reduce overlapping risks of alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP), tobacco-exposed pregnancy (TEP), and HIV—was...
Newcomb's Problem

Newcomb's problem is a decision puzzle in which the possible outcomes are probabilistically dependent on, yet causally independent of, the agent's option. Closely related to the better-known Prisoners' Dilemma, it has been the subject of intense debate in the philosophical literature. Yet the issues remain unresolved. Newcomb's problem is of importance because it poses a challenge to the theoretical adequacy of orthodox Bayesian decision theory. It has led both to the development of a rival decision theory that is causal structure of choice situations, and to efforts aimed at defending the adequacy of the orthodox theory. This article surveys the debate. Newcomb's problem is started and arguments for each of the opposed solution are rehearsed. A sketch of causal decision theory is then followed by an outline of one strategy for defending orthodox Bayesianism
e-review: The Public Administration Teaching Roundtable: www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~ncpp/teaching/index.htm

(2003). e-review: The Public Administration Teaching Roundtable. Journal of Public Affairs Education: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 147-149.
Electrical conductivity and magnetic dynamos in magma oceans of Super-Earths.

Super-Earths are extremely common among the numerous exoplanets that have been discovered. The high pressures and temperatures in their interiors are likely to lead to long-lived magma oceans. If their electrical conductivity is sufficiently high, the mantles of Super-Earth would generate their own magnetic fields. With ab initio simulations, we show that upon melting, the behavior of typical mantle silicates changes from semi-conducting to semi-metallic. The electrical conductivity increases and the optical properties are substantially modified. Melting could thus be detected with high-precision reflectivity measurements during the short time scales of shock experiments. We estimate the electrical conductivity of mantle silicates to be of the order of 100 Ω−1 cm−1, which implies that a magnetic dynamo process would develop in the magma oceans of Super-Earths if their convective velocities have typical values of 1 mm/s or higher. We predict exoplanets with rotation periods longer than 2 days to have multipolar magnetic fields. With the discovery of large rocky exoplanets called Super-Earths, questions have arisen regarding the properties of their interiors and their ability to produce a magnetic field. Here, the authors show that under high pressure, molten silicates are semi-metallic and that magma oceans would host a dynamo process.
The Time Frame Challenge to Retributivism

Retributivists believe that criminal offenders should suffer or be punished in proportion to what they morally deserve. There is, however, an often-ignored debate as to whether desert should be assessed across a person’s life (the “whole life” view) or only for crimes that are the subject of a current sentencing proceeding (the “current crime” view). Both options are unappealing. The whole life view may be superior on theoretical grounds but is hopelessly impractical. The current crime view is somewhat more practical but has no solid theoretical foundation. The lack of a suitable time frame in which to assess desert represents an important challenge to retributivist conceptions of proportionality. Even uncertainty about the proper time frame may itself be detrimental to some retributivists’ hopes of justifying the incarcerative sentences of particular offenders.
Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease

Legg-Calve-Perthes disease is a disorder of the immature hip in which there are necrosis and subsequent repair of the bone and marrow of the femoral capital epiphyseal ossification center accompanied by a variable amount of damage to the epiphyseal and physeal cartilage and by a range of secondary changes in shape and size of the articular cartilage, the epiphyseal model of the femoral head, the bone of the femoral head, the physeal cartilage, and the acetabulum. The structural changes of the femoral head and acetabulum at skeletal maturity can vary from near normal to highly irregular, the more severe of which predispose the hip to degenerative arthritis in later years.
Multi-Cable Rolling Locomotion with Spherical Tensegrities Using Model Predictive Control and Deep Learning

This work presents a model-based approach for creating robust control policies for rolling locomotion with a spherical tensegrity topology. Utilizing the structured dynamics of Class-1 tensegrity systems, we turn to model predictive control (MPC)to generate optimal multi-cable actuation trajectories for dynamic rolling. Although the resulting multi-cable state-action trajectories successfully outperform the benchmark single-cable policy performance in speed, computational constraints prevent MPC from being applied in real-time. To address this, we demonstrate that a contextual policy trained using supervised deep learning on the generated optimal MPC trajectories can be used as an end-to-end feedback policy for real-time directed rolling locomotion.
Evaluation of intermetallic compound layer at aluminum/steel interface joined by friction stir scribe technology

Abstract Heat input and high strain rate deformation during friction stir welding of aluminum and steel resulted in the diffusion-based formation of a FexAly intermetallic compound (IMC) layer. Compared with conventional friction stir welding tools, a friction stir scribe tool can reduce heat input significantly limiting the IMC layer thickness (~100–750 nm). Friction stir scribe joined lap joints fractured either through the welded interface or within the base aluminum alloy on the loading side, depending on IMC layer thickness during tensile lap shear testing. In addition, a modified effective heat of formation model predicted that Al13Fe4 formed first at aluminum/steel interface and, during welding process, was substituted by Al5Fe2 with local silicon enrichment, which was verified via microstructural characterization.
Cost Implications of Varying the Surgical Setting and Anesthesia Type for Trigger Finger Release Surgery.

Background Trigger finger release (TFR) is a common surgical procedure, representing a financial burden to the healthcare system. Our null hypothesis is that the choice surgical setting [operating room (OR) versus procedure room (PR)] and anesthetic type [local-only or monitored anesthesia care (MAC)] do not affect surgical encounter costs for TFR. Methods Adult patients undergoing isolated unilateral TFR between May 2014 and December 2017 by 5 fellowship-trained hand surgeons at a single academic medical center were identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code (26055). We excluded patients undergoing revision surgery, tenosynovectomy, or additional procedures. Using our institution's information technology value tools, we calculated total direct costs for each surgical encounter, which were compared between groups. Univariate and multivariable gamma regression were used to model costs. Results Of 210 included patients, 54% (113/210) of cases were performed in the PR and 46% (97/210) in the OR. No significant differences in demographics were observed between PR and OR groups. Compared to local-only in the PR, the OR with local-only, and OR with MAC, demonstrated 2.2- and 3.2-fold greater median costs. Multivariable models suggested that use of the OR independently led to 221% [95% Confidence interval: 137%-345%; P < 0.01] greater mean costs than the PR, and use of MAC was associated with 30% (95% confidence interval: 13%-49%; P < 0.01) greater mean costs for OR cases than local-only, while controlling for other confounders. Conclusion Performing TFR in the PR setting under local-only anesthesia minimizes surgical encounter direct costs for this common procedure.
From raw to refined: Edouard Duval-Carrié’s Sugar Conventions (2013)

ABSTRACTThis article argues that Sugar Conventions (2013), an unstudied, mixed media work by the Haitian-born artist Edouard Duval-Carrie, challenges established notions of Eurocentric visuality to...
Causes of Free Air

The most common imaging modality used to rule out free air is the upright abdominal radiograph. The most sensitive imaging modality to detect free air is the CT. Perforation or rupture of an air-containing bowel loop is the most common cause of free intraperitoneal air. The three radiologic signs of free air are air beneath the diaphragm, visualization of both sides of the bowel wall, and visualization of the falciform ligament. To see air below the diaphragm, it is important to place the patient in the upright or left lateral decubitus (if the patient is unable to stand) position. To visualize the falciform ligament in a case of free air, the patient should be supine.
Ground Vehicle Driving by Full Sized Humanoid

This paper presents a technical overview of the Team DRC-Hubo@UNLV’s approach to the driving task in DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals (DRC-Finals). First, hardware updates in the main body and the perception head of the contestant robot, DRC-Hubo+, were presented by comparison with the previous platform (DRC-Hubo in DRC-Trials). Then, the control system which enabled the full-sized humanoid to drive the off-the-shelf utility vehicle in the competition was provided. For this, the sensor data fusion process and the advanced driving assistant techniques were emphasized. Next, the driving pattern analysis of other type operators (such as human-drivers or pure tele-operation systems) was provided to demonstrate the performance of the developed system. Lastly, test and evaluation of the built robot and control system was provided via experimentation which DRC-Hubo+ drove the vehicle in a real-world setting. The presented approach was also verified in DRC-Finals as the author’s team was placed in the top record at the driving task in the competition.
Histology of the preparietal: a neomorphic cranial element in dicynodont therapsids

The preparietal, a neomorphic midline ossification on the skull roof, is thought to have evolved three times in therapsids, but its development and homology remain poorly understood. Here, we provi...
SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cells Exhibit Phenotypic Features of Helper Function, Lack of Terminal Differentiation, and High Proliferation Potential.

Convalescing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients mount robust T cell responses against SARS-CoV-2, suggesting an important role of T cells in viral clearance. To date, the phenotypes of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells remain poorly defined. Using 38-parameter CyTOF, we phenotyped longitudinal specimens of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from nine individuals who recovered from mild COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells were exclusively Th1 cells and predominantly Tcm cells with phenotypic features of robust helper function. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells were predominantly Temra cells in a state of less terminal differentiation than most Temra cells. Subsets of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells express CD127, can proliferate homeostatically, and can persist for over 2 months. Our results suggest that long-lived and robust T cell immunity is generated following natural SARS-CoV-2 infection and support an important role of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in host control of COVID-19.
Rising to the challenge: Entrepreneurship ecosystems and SDG success

Most government entities are focused on how they can accomplish two big goals: (a) stimulating their economies and (b) moving the needle in solving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals....
Integration of Smartphones Into Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems to Sense Water in Soil by Using Reflected GPS Signals

We investigate the feasibility of using built-in GNSS sensors within ubiquitous smartphone devices from a small UAS for the purpose of land remote sensing. We summarize the experimental findings and challenges that need to be resolved in order to perform the GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique via smartphones. In late 2018, a series of experiments were conducted and designed by integrating two smartphones into a multicopter UAS by attaching them to ground plates to isolate and record both direct and reflected GNSS carrier-to-noise density ratio ( $C/N_0$ ) separately. It was demonstrated that, first, fluctuations of moving GNSS specular reflections are correlated with spatial ground features with appreciable dynamic range and second, radiation pattern of the smartphone's inbuilt antenna has a significant effect on the received signal strength. In 2020, more experiments were conducted to examine the quality of in-built chip and antenna of a smartphone with regard to the GNSS-R approach as well as the consistency of measurements. These follow-up experiments involved, first, placement of the smartphone on a pan-tilt mechanism on a tripod, second, formation flights with smartphone on a gimbal and a high-quality custom-built dual-channel GNSS-R receiver, and, third, flying the UAS at different times of the day on two consecutive days. It was demonstrated that, first, the radiation pattern of the smartphone's GNSS antenna are observed to be highly irregular, but time-invariant, and, second, internal GNSS chip produces observables of sufficient quality, and, third, the fluctuations of the reflected signal are repeatable under the same configuration at different times.
Multimedia Transmission for V2X Communication over Legacy LTE-A Network Infrastructure - A Performance Evaluation

A significant increase in the popularity of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the last few years is quite evident. At the same time, applications through Internet access in Ad Hoc Networks have evolved remarkably such as Video on Demand, VoIP, and Online Gaming. These applications will not be able to fulfill their potentials without high-speed wireless communication. For most of the cellular carriers across the globe, LTE is the de facto standard to share multimedia data in significantly less time. As LTE has already been tested as a promising candidate for high speed communication in networks like Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) [1], we have tried out the advanced version of LTE which is LTE-A in a simulated VANET environment. The notion of this paper is to evaluate the performance of multimedia transmission over LTE-A for a typical Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) using a popular simulation framework OMNET++. We use the VoIP application as a test-case for this evaluation. Results indicate that the performance of the network is impacted with respect to the number of vehicles as well as the speed of their mobility.
Non-Resonant 2 Color 2-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy Reveals Ground State Coherences of Light Harvesting Complex II

Overlapping contributions from ground and excited state signals cloud interpretation of 2-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy. Using non-resonant interactions to suppress excited state pathways, unambiguous assignment of ground state coherences is obtained for Light Harvesting Complex II.
Conducting Web-Based Focus Groups With Adolescents and Young Adults:

This methodologic paper aims to update researchers working with adolescents and young adults on the potentials and pitfalls associated with web-based qualitative research. We present a case study o...
Application of Artificial Intelligence for Diagnosis and Risk Stratification in NAFLD and NASH: The State of the Art.

The diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and associated fibrosis is challenging given the lack of signs, symptoms and non-existent diagnostic test. Furthermore, follow up and treatment decisions become complicated with a lack of a simple reproducible method to follow these patients longitudinally. Liver biopsy is the current standard to detect, risk stratify and monitor individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. However, this method is an unrealistic option in a population that affects about one in three to four individuals worldwide. There is an urgency to develop innovative methods to facilitate management at key points in an individual's journey with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis. Artificial intelligence is an exciting field that has the potential to achieve this. In this review, we highlight applications of artificial intelligence by leveraging our current knowledge of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to diagnose and risk stratify NASH phenotypes.
Linear Optimal Transport Embedding: Provable Wasserstein classification for certain rigid transformations and perturbations

Discriminating between distributions is an important problem in a number of scientific fields. This motivated the introduction of Linear Optimal Transportation (LOT), which embeds the space of distributions into an $L^2$-space. The transform is defined by computing the optimal transport of each distribution to a fixed reference distribution, and has a number of benefits when it comes to speed of computation and to determining classification boundaries. In this paper, we characterize a number of settings in which LOT embeds families of distributions into a space in which they are linearly separable. This is true in arbitrary dimension, and for families of distributions generated through perturbations of shifts and scalings of a fixed distribution.We also prove conditions under which the $L^2$ distance of the LOT embedding between two distributions in arbitrary dimension is nearly isometric to Wasserstein-2 distance between those distributions. This is of significant computational benefit, as one must only compute $N$ optimal transport maps to define the $N^2$ pairwise distances between $N$ distributions. We demonstrate the benefits of LOT on a number of distribution classification problems.
Least Squares on GPUs in Multiple Double Precision.

This paper describes the application of the code generated by the CAMPARY software to accelerate the solving of linear systems in the least squares sense on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), in double double, quad double, and octo double precision. The goal is to use accelerators to offset the cost overhead caused by multiple double precision arithmetic. For the blocked Householder QR and the back substitution, of interest are those dimensions at which teraflop performance is attained. The other interesting question is the cost overhead factor that appears each time the precision is doubled. Experimental results are reported on five different NVIDIA GPUs, with a particular focus on the P100 and the V100, both capable of teraflop performance. Thanks to the high Compute to Global Memory Access (CGMA) ratios of multiple double arithmetic, teraflop performance is already attained running the double double QR on 1,024-by-1,024 matrices, both on the P100 and the V100. For the back substitution, the dimension of the upper triangular system must be as high as 17,920 to reach one teraflops on the V100, in quad double precision, and then taking only the times spent by the kernels into account. The lower performance of the back substitution in small dimensions does not prevent teraflop performance of the solver at dimension 1,024, as the time for the QR decomposition dominates. In doubling the precision from double double to quad double and from quad double to octo double, the observed cost overhead factors are lower than the factors predicted by the arithmetical operation counts. This observation correlates with the increased performance for increased precision, which can again be explained by the high CGMA ratios.
It's About Time: Examining Inequality in the Time Cost of Waiting

Time spent waiting for services represents unproductive time imposed on individuals trying to fulfill basic needs. While qualitative and ethnographic work has found that income disparities also translate into disparities in time kept waiting for services, little evidence exists to confirm the scale and extent of socioeconomic differences in waiting time. We use time diary data from the nationally representative American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to estimate the difference between high- and low-income people in time spent waiting for basic services. We find that, relative to high-income people, low-income people are 3 percentage-points more likely to spend time waiting on an average day and their waiting spells are 12 minutes longer on average. The income gap in waiting time cannot be explained by differences in family obligations, demographics, education, work time, or travel time. Further, we find that high-income Black people experience the same higher average wait times as low-income people regardless of race. Our results suggest socioeconomic and racial inequalities in neighborhood quality, work schedule flexibility, and access to services exacerbate inequality in daily quality of life and the availability of productive time.
PRECISION CONTROL EFFECTS ON PRODUCTIVITY OF COMPRESSION MOLDING

A precision compression molding press, the press controls, and mold temperature control are described. Controllability of the press motion, press force and the mold temperature have a significant impact on reduced cycle time, reduced material costs and reduced scrap in compression molding of "Class A" finish FRP structural panels. Conceptual ideas on automation of the process are presented that can substantially reduce labor costs and increase consistency of molded SMC panels.
Flat and smooth morphisms

The concept of flatness is a riddle that comes out of algebra, but which technically is the answer to many prayers.
The Physiology and Ecology of Puberty Modulation by Primer Pheromones

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses on the empirical and theoretical information on the pheromones, which accelerate and delay puberty in the house mouse. The difficulty of this task and a desire for brevity contrive to guarantee omissions in this work. Life-history theory provides a rich backdrop against which to study the function of primer pheromones in house mice and for understanding primer pheromone function in general. It is well established that chemical cues from conspecifics alter the timetable of puberty in the young of many species. This cueing system, at least regarding the delay of puberty seems to serve the signal recipients, while the signal senders are little affected. Unwitting release of metabolic correlates of physiological state rather than altruism may explain the presence of the delay pheromone. The benefits gained by the recipients of the puberty pheromones are most easily understood in terms of their life history. Life history provides predictions of the environmental circumstances, social or otherwise, favoring early or delayed maturity.
Stable Isotope Probing Techniques and Bioremediation

This chapter summarizes the state of the art for applications of stable isotope probing (SIP) to bio-degradation and bioremediation research. SIP is one of the many emerging tools of inquiry used by environmental microbiologists. The goals of this chapter are to catalog and analyze trends exhibited by the majority of studies published to date that are pertinent to biodegradation and bioremediation. 14C-based phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA)-SIP showed chromatographic profiles related to but distinct from known type II methanotrophs. Using PLFA-SIP analyses, a variety of comparisons were made between forest, shrubland, and pasture soils; type II methanotrophs were dominant in forest and shrubland, while type I methanotrophs dominated pasture soil. When suitable probes are available, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is an effective means of microscopic identification of microorganisms and can be combined with techniques using radioactive and stable isotopes to identify metabolically active microorganisms. The combined microscopic approaches of FISH and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) have tremendous potential to aid investigations examining the roles of bacteria in biogeochemical processes and in the biodegradation of organic pollutants. SIP is a means toward the goal of improved pollution-control technology. In general, no single technique or piece of evidence is sufficient to advance the discipline of environmental microbiology. But SIP is inherently heuristic—results have the potential to create new information and hypotheses that can be tested and confirmed with multidisciplinary approaches.
Using a decade of data on medical student computer literacy for strategic planning.

Purpose: From 1991 through 2000, incoming medical students (M-Is) at the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University have been surveyed with a written questionnaire on their computer literacy. The survey's purpose is to learn the students' levels of knowledge, skill, and experience with computer technology to guide instructional services and facilities. Methodology: The questionnaire was administered during M-I orientation or mailed to students' homes after matriculation. It evolved from sixteen questions in 1991 to twenty-three questions in 2000, with fifteen questions common to all. Results: The average survey response rate was 81% from an average of 177 students. Six major changes were introduced based on information collected from the surveys and advances in technology: production of CD-ROMs distributed to students containing required computer-based instructional programs, delivery of evaluation instruments to students via the Internet, modification of the lab to a mostly PC-based environment, development of an electronic curriculum Website, development of computerized examinations for medical students to prepare them for the computerized national board examinations, and initiation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) project for students to evaluate PDAs' usefulness in clinical settings. Conclusion: The computer literacy survey provides a snapshot of students' past and present use of technology and guidance for the development of services and facilities.
Effects of temperature on Escherichia coli overproducing beta-lactamase or human epidermal growth factor.

The effects of temperature on strains of Escherichia coli which overproduce and excrete either beta-lactamase or human epidermal growth factor were investigated. E. coli RB791 cells containing plasmid pKN which has the tac promoter upstream of the gene for beta-lactamase were grown and induced with isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside in batch culture at 37, 30, 25, and 20 degrees C. The lower temperature greatly reduced the formation of periplasmic beta-lactamase inclusion bodies, increased significantly the total amount of beta-lactamase activity, and increased the purity of extracellular beta-lactamase from approximately 45 to 90%. Chemostat operation at 37 and 30 degrees C was difficult due to poor cell reproduction and beta-lactamase production. However, at 20 degrees C, continuous production and excretion of beta-lactamase were obtained for greater than 450 h (29 generations). When the same strain carried plasmid pCU encoding human epidermal growth factor, significant cell lysis was observed after induction at 31 and 37 degrees C, whereas little cell lysis was observed at 21 and 25 degrees C. Both total soluble and total human epidermal growth factor increased with decreasing temperature. These results indicate that some of the problems of instability of strains producing high levels of plasmid-encoded proteins can be mitigated by growth at lower temperatures. Further, lower temperatures can increase for at least some secreted proteins both total plasmid-encoded protein formed and the fraction that is soluble. Images
Static Program Transformations for Efficient Software Model Checking

Ensuring correctness of software by formal methods is a very relevant and widely studied problem. Automatic verification of software using model checking suffers from the state space explosion problem. Abstraction is emerging as the key candidate for making the model checking problem tractable, and a large body of research exists on abstraction based verification. Many useful abstractions are performed at the syntactic and semantic levels of programs and their representations.
An Uncluttered Income Tax: The Next Reform Agenda?

Many countries have undertaken major tax revisions in recent years. The old reform theme, broaden the base and lower the rates, has been translated into political results on a remarkable scale. In the case of the United States, having moved steadily in the direction of consumption-based taxation for many years, recent tax legislation has been informed by an academic concept, an ideal notion of income. Unfortunately, when it ceases to be academic, the ideal notion of income is neither simple nor politically appealing in many of its most crucial details. Those details are precisely the elements that separate the academic concepts of income and consumption taxation. Along with many others, I have argued that the consumption tax ideal is superior to the income tax ideal on grounds of equity, simplicity, and efficiency. Recent experience confirms the tendency of an income tax—particularly one enacted in a real political context—to bog down in a morass of complexity. Fortunately, there are long-term steps that can be taken to move the system in a consumption-tax direction, an approach I would recommend to the U.S. and to other countries to simplify their economic rules and enhance economic vitality without sacrificing concern for the poor or other equity objectives.
The Pauli nuclear mean field equation

The Dlrac approach has had impressive success in accounting for nUcleon-nucleus scattering at intermediate energies 1) In Particular, spin-observables are much better accounted for than Wlth a conventional Schroedlnger approach. Now it is well known that a non-relatlvlstlc reduction of the Dlrac equation for the nuclear mean field, l.e. E-M = c << M, Including scalar and vector Potentials, S(r) and V(r), yields the same spln-observables in the low energy llmit as the Dlrac equation and, in particular, the devlatlons from the Schroedlnger results. Since both S and V are linear functions of the nucleon density, the S-V term in the denominator of the Paull equation glves rise to a non-linear dependence of the nucleon mean potential on the density, which can be regarded as due to repulsive effective three body interactions aaong nucleons, such as in the Skyrme interaction 2). Let us write:
The mitral complex. Interaction of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the mitral annulus, mitral valve leaflets, chordae tendineae, and papillary muscles.

Abstract The unimpeded, forward flow of blood across the mitral orifice is contingent upon a coordinated interaction between the mitral annulus, the mitral valve leaflets, the chordae tendineae, and the papillary muscles. An understanding of the functional anatomy and physiology of each of these components of the “mitral complex” is clinically important for derangement of any part may produce obstruction to blood flow or allow mitral regurgitation. The differential diagnosis then of mitral stenosis and mitral regurgitation can be functionally analyzed in terms of diseases of the mitral annulus, diseases of the mitral valve leaflets, diseases of the chordae tendineae, and diseases of the papillary muscles. By this consideration of selective involvement of the mitral complex, certain physical signs, such as the late systolic murmur that may occur in papillary muscle dysfunction, the “murmur on top of the head” heard with a ruptured chordae tendineae to the anteromedial mitral leaflet, the chordal snap of a redundant chordae tendineae, or the atrial gallop of an acutely ruptured chordae tendineae, can be sought for in an attempt to differentiate clinically the possible etiology of the disease and its anatomic area of involvement. This correlation of physical signs with the functional anatomy helps to provide an additional scientific basis to the physical examination.
“The Creation of a Right Public Spirit”: The Hampton Institute's Pioneering Use of Sponsored Films, 1912–1917

Abstract This study documents the Hampton Institute's use of silent films as part of its orchestrated persuasive campaign efforts from 1912 to 1917. Although none of the films produced during this period are known to survive, descriptive accounts indicate the films carried a message of black uplift through black self-help via industrial education to both black and white audiences. With one exception, Hampton's use of promotional films helped it achieve its goals. That one exception was the addition of Hampton footage as an epilogue to The Birth of a Nation. In spite of this one slip, Hampton's commitment to filmmaking represented an early, enlightened vision concerning the potential power of the then fledgling medium as a public relations vehicle.
Specific Heat of Gallium and Zinc in the Normal and Superconducting States

By using a ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}$ cryostat the specific heat of gallium has been measured between 0.35\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K and 4.3\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, and that of zinc between 0.42\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K and 4.2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. Measurements on Ga in the normal state indicate that the coefficient of the electronic specific heat, $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, is 0.601 millijoule/mole ${(\mathrm{\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}}\mathrm{K})}^{2}$ while the Debye characteristic temperature $\ensuremath{\theta}$ at 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K is 317\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. For Zn, $\ensuremath{\gamma}=0.640$ millijoule/mole ${(\mathrm{\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}}\mathrm{K})}^{2}$; $\ensuremath{\theta}=309\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$K. The electronic specific heat in the superconducting state, ${C}_{\mathrm{es}}$, for both metals for $T$ well below the transition temperature, ${T}_{c}$ can be represented by the expression ${C}_{\mathrm{es}}=a\ensuremath{\gamma}{T}_{c}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{b{T}_{\mathrm{c}}}{T}}$. For Ga, ${T}_{c}=1.087\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$K, $a=7.0$, and $b=1.35$. The zinc sample measured has a broad transition, ${T}_{c}$ taken as 0.852\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. Also for Zn, $a=6.4$ and $b=1.27$. The magnetic threshold field curves are calculated from these specific heat results. The critical field at 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K for Ga is 59.4 gauss and for Zn, 53.4 gauss.
CloudHealth: Developing a reliable cloud platform for healthcare applications

Electronic medical systems have become a popular and necessary instrument to the healthcare community in the recent years. These systems however lack a key component: interoperability. The basis of this project was to create a cloud computing platform for the healthcare community that would be able to support the medical records of an entire country. After copious amounts of research, a prototype of such a system was created. Through this process we've learned about the complexities of creating a cloud solution for the healthcare community.
A paradigm for performance studies

This article (1) surveys research exemplars of performance studies by tracing their epistemological claims and methodological assertions through discussions of text, event, performer, and audience and (2) claims a paradigmatic relationship between oral interpretation and performance studies.