cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design economics of product platforms for enterprise sustainability towards mass customization

Being customer centric and producing only what customers really want are considered as a foremost means to increase both financial and economical sustainability for an enterprise. Developing multiple product variants based on product families sharing common platforms has been well recognized as an effective means to cater for product variety while maintaining mass production efficiencies. It provides an important input for increasing the sustainability of value creation along the entire enterprise value chain. Consistent with the options thinking, this paper outlines a research agenda of real option theoretic financial analysis models for product platforms by identifying product variety-related real options.
Figural preference and the visual field

Three experiments tested a hypothesis that the shape and relative dimensions of the binocular visual field determine a preference for rectangles possessing dimensions similar to those of the golden section. The results were that Ss horizontally oriented the rectangles they had drawn in correspondence with the shape of the binocular visual field but when Ss chose the most pleasing rectangles there was no significant preference for rectangles whose long side was horizontal. For all experiments there was little preference for rectangles whose ratio of short to long side approximated the golden section. There was some evidence that the placement of the rectangles with respect to the background affects preference.
Oscillatory forced-convection-cooled compact SMA actuator

A reciprocating forced convection cooling concept for a high frequency hybrid shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator is introduced. The actuator combines resistive heating and reciprocating forced convection cooling. The main barrier to achieving high frequency actuation is the large cooling time of conventional steady unidirectional forced convection. Previous studies show that a reciprocating flow in a channel can be more effective in removing heat from the channel walls than the steady state unidirectional forced convection. Analysis of heat transfer from a SMA strip in steady unidirectional laminar forced convection and pulsating forced convection is undertaken in this study. A parametric study is conducted, with various values of parameters such as wall thickness to channel height ratio, Reynolds number, Prandtl number, fluid inlet temperature and oscillation frequency and amplitude of oscillation (in case of reciprocating flow), to identify the optimum operating conditions.
Effect of acute hyperglycemia on colorectal motor and sensory function in humans

Increased use of laxatives and constipation are more common among people with diabetes mellitus than matched nondiabetic people in the same community. The mechanism of constipation in diabetes is u...
Solution structure of a 2:1 complex of anticancer drug XR5944 with TFF1 estrogen response element: insights into DNA recognition by a bis-intercalator.

XR5944, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) bisintercalator with potent anticancer activity, can bind the estrogen response element (ERE) sequence to inhibit estrogen receptor- activities. This novel mechanism of action may be useful for overcoming drug resistance to currently available antiestrogen treatments, all of which target the hormone-receptor complex. Here we report the nuclear magnetic resonance solution structure of the 2:1 complex of XR5944 with the naturally occurring TFF1-ERE, which exhibits important and unexpected features. In both drug–DNA complexes, XR5944 binds strongly at one intercalation site but weakly at the second site. The sites of intercalation within a native promoter sequence appear to be context and sequence dependent. The binding of one drug molecule influences the binding site of the second. Our structures underscore the fact that the DNA binding of a bis-intercalator is directional and different from the simple addition of two single intercalation sites. Our study suggests that improved XR5944 bis-intercalators targeting ERE may be designed through optimization of aminoalkyl linker and intercalation moieties at the weak binding sites.
Consumption of high ω-3 fatty acid diet suppressed prostate tumorigenesis in C3(1) Tag mice

Prostate cancer incidence and mortality are high in the Western world and high ω-6/ω-3 PUFA in the Western diet may be a contributing factor. We investigated whether changing from a diet that approximates ω-6 fat content of the Western diet to a high ω-3 fat diet at adulthood might reduce prostate cancer risk. Female SV 129 mice that had consumed a high ω-6 diet containing corn oil for 2 weeks were bred with homozygous C3(1)Tag transgenic male mice. All male offspring were weaned to the corn oil diet (CO) until postpuberty when half of the male offspring were transferred to a high ω-3 diet containing canola oil and fish oil concentrate (FS). High ω-3 diet increased ω-3 and decreased ω-6 fat content of mice tissues. Average weights of prostate and genitourinary bloc were significantly lower in mice consuming high ω-3 diet at adulthood (CO-FS) than mice fed a lifetime high ω-6 diet (CO–CO). There was slower progression of tumorigenesis in dorsalateral prostate of CO-FS than in CO–CO mice. CO-FS mice had slightly lower plasma testosterone level at 24 and 40 weeks, significantly lower estradiol level at 40 weeks and significantly less expressed androgen receptor (AR) in the dorsalateral prostate at 40 weeks than CO–CO mice. Consumption of high ω-3 diet lowered the expression of genes expected to increase proliferation and decrease apoptosis in dorsalateral prostate. Our results suggest that consumption of high ω-3 diet slows down prostate tumorigenesis by lowering estradiol, testosterone and AR levels, promoting apoptosis and suppressing cell proliferation in C3(1)Tag mice.
Semiparametric Modeling of Seasonal Time Series

Often, in practice, one may regard an observed time series as being composed of a function that is smooth over years, with additive seasonal effects. As a modification, we formulate a particular multiplicative model that expresses the observed data as a yearly trend function with additive amplitude-modulated seasonal factors. Without smoothness restrictions on the yearly trend and modulation components, the least squares solutions for the seasonal components are shown to be proportional to the eigenvector corresponding to the maximum eigen value of the within-season covariance matrix. If the trend and seasonal modulations are modeled as smooth splines, we give the comparable estimators for the smooth functions and the seasonal factors. We show consistency for the trend, modulation and seasonal factors as well as asymptotic normality for the seasonal estimates. Model selection, fitting and forecasting are considered for a quarterly earnings series that exhibits extreme nonlinear and nonstationary behavior. We compare the results with those obtained using a competing nonstationary multiplicative ARIMA model
Enzymatic and physical factors in house fly resistance to naphthalene.

The nature of the resistance mechanisms in a strain of, Musca domestica L., resistant to naphthalene was investigated after isolating the factors by genetic methods. This study was done by (Tossing the naphthalene-resistant strain with a susceptible strain caning morphological markers for chromosomes II, III, and V and backcrossing the resulting hybrids with the susceptible parent. The progeny were separated according to phenotype, and their resistance characteristics were studied in vitro and in vivo by measuring mortality response to discriminating doses of naphthalene vapors, knock-down rate after treatment wth naphthalene, tributyltin chloride, and dieldrin, and activity of microsomal enzymes. The results indicated that 3 factors are involved in resistance to naphthalene. A factor on chromosome II is related to microsomal cnzymes and endows the strain carrying it with as much as 10 times the normal oxidase activity. The 2nd resistance factor, situated on chromosome III, results in a reduced rate of penetration of the cuticle, knockdown rates of strains carrying this factor being about ½ those of other strains. A factor on chromosome V, less important than the others, could not be so completely characterized, However, its effect in combination with the 2nd and 3rd chromosomal factors was significant. Each of the factors alone, in the respective backcross phenotypes, provided about 2-fold resistance to naphthalene vapors but when combined in the resistant parent gave a protection of 6- to 10-fold, depending upon the age of the insects.
Genome-Wide Identification of Regulatory DNA Elements and Protein-Binding Footprints Using Signatures of Open Chromatin in Arabidopsis

Gene expression and regulation in eukaryotes is controlled by orchestrated binding of regulatory proteins, including both activators and repressors, to promoters and other cis-regulatory DNA elements. An increasing number of plant genomes have been sequenced; however, a similar effort to the ENCODE project, which aimed to identify all functional elements in the human genome, has yet to be initiated in plants. Here we report genome-wide high-resolution mapping of DNase I hypersensitive (DH) sites in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We identified 38,290 and 41,193 DH sites in leaf and flower tissues, respectively. The DH sites were depleted of bulk nucleosomes and were tightly associated with RNA polymerase II binding sites. Approximately 90% of the binding sites of two well-characterized MADS domain transcription factors, APETALA1 and SEPALLATA3, were covered by the DH sites. We demonstrate that protein binding footprints within a specific genomic region can be revealed using the DH site data sets in combination with known or putative protein binding motifs and gene expression data sets. Thus, genome-wide DH site mapping will be an important tool for systematic identification of all cis-regulatory DNA elements in plants.
An Analysis of Simulated Long-Term Soil Moisture Data for Three Land Uses under Contrasting Hydroclimatic Conditions in the Northern Great Plains

Abstract Soil moisture (SM) plays an important role in land surface and atmosphere interactions. It modifies energy balance near the surface and the rate of water cycling between land and atmosphere. The lack of observed SM data prohibits understanding of SM variations at climate scales under varying land uses. However, with simulation models it is possible to develop a long-term SM dataset and study these issues. In this paper a water balance model is used to provide a quantitative assessment of SM climatologies for three land uses, namely, irrigated corn, rain-fed corn, and grass, grown under three hydroclimatic regimes in Nebraska. These regimes are stops along an east–west decreasing precipitation gradient of the Great Plains. The simulated SM climatologies are provided for the root zone as a whole and for the five layers of the soil profile to a depth of 1.2 m. As expected, the soil water content in the root zone of irrigated corn was higher than rain-fed corn or grass. The lowest levels of soil wate...
Total Reward Criteria

This chapter deals with total reward criteria. We discuss the existence and structure of optimal and nearly optimal policies and the convergence of value iteration algorithms under the so-called General Convergence Condition. This condition assumes that, for any initial state and for any policy, the expected sum of positive parts of rewards is finite. Positive, negative, and discounted dynamic programming problems are special cases when the General Convergence Condition holds.
Evidence of Entropy-Driven Bistability through 15N NMR Analysis of a Temperature- and Solvent-Induced, Chiroptical Switching Polycarbodiimide

The thermo- and solvo-driven chiroptical switching process observed in specific polycarbodiimides occurs in a concerted fashion with large deviations in specific optical rotation (OR) and CD Cotton effect as a consequence of varying populations of two distinct polymer conformations. These two conformations are clearly visible in the 15N NMR and IR spectra of the 15N-labeled poly(15N-(1-naphthyl)-N′-octadecylcarbodiimide) (Poly-3) and poly(15N-(1-naphthyl)-15N′-octadecylcarbodiimide) (Poly-5). Using van’t Hoff analysis, the enthalpies and entropies of switching (ΔHswitching; ΔSswitching) were calculated for both Poly-3 and Poly-5 using the relative integrations of both peaks in the 15N NMR spectra at different temperatures to measure the populations of each state. The chiroptical switching (i.e., transitioning from state A to state B) was found to be an endothermic process (positive ΔHswitching) for both Poly-3 and Poly-5 in all solvents studied, meaning the conformation correlating with the downfield chem...
Modeling Hydrolysis and Esterification Kinetics for Biofuel Processes

We determined the kinetics for ethyl oleate hydrolysis in high-temperature water and for the reverse reaction, oleic acid esterification, in near- and supercritical ethanol. Hydrolysis was clearly autocatalytic. The experimental data, from reactions at 150−300 °C, times from 5 to 1440 min, and with different initial concentrations of reactants and products, were used to estimate thermodynamically and thermochemically consistent Arrhenius parameters for the forward and reverse reactions in an autocatalytic reaction model. The model provided a good correlation of the data and also exhibited the ability to make quantitatively accurate predictions within the parameter space investigated. The model also accurately predicted the experimental trends when extrapolated outside the original parameter space. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that data from both fatty acid esterification and fatty acid ester hydrolysis need to be used together if one desires reliable estimates for all of the Arrhenius parameters in the ...
Ion-Selective Electrodes Based on a Pyridyl-Containing Triazolophane: Altering Halide Selectivity by Combining Dipole-Promoted Cooperativity with Hydrogen Bonding

Triazolophanes are ionophores, with preorganized cyclic cavities that have tunable selectivities for halides. The interaction with halides is based on hydrogen bonding between the eight CH hydrogen atoms of the cavity and the halide anion. The rigidity of the cavity in tetraphenylene triazolophane along with the hydrogen bonding favors planar 1:1 complexation of “snugly” encapsulated chloride and bromide. Manipulating the triazolophane’s structure by introducing two pyridyl moieties into the cavity alters the receptor’s binding mode. This change adds a dipole-promoted driving force that combines with hydrogen bonding to favor the formation of 2:1 sandwich complexes around halides. The potentiometric response of electrodes based on this new ionophore was evaluated for optimal halide selectivity. The new triazolophane-based electrode showed an anti-Hofmeister selectivity toward iodide with a submicromolar detection limit. The stoichiometry of complexation and the stability constants with different halides w...
Tariffs and Wages in Trade Theory

The theory of production and trade is motivated in large part by the effects of tariffs on wages. General equilibrium models that examine these effects include constant costs, factor proportions, specific factors, imperfect competition and noncompetitive factor market. The present paper reviews the effects of tariffs on wages in small open economies across this broad range of trade theory. From this wide perspective, tariffs support wages only under narrow sets of assumptions. There should be no presumption that tariffs support wages.
Effects of pyridoxine deficiency and DL-p-chlorophenylalanine administration to rats on 5-hydroxytryptamine and noradrenaline concentrations in brain and 5-hydroxytryptamine concentration in blood.

Pyridoxine deficiency in post-weanling rats caused a marked decrease in body weight and a small but significant decrease in brain weight. Although the concentration of circulating 5-hydroxytryptamine was markedly decreased, the concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine and noradrenaline in the brain were not affected. p-Chlorophenylalanine, an inhibitor of 5-hydroxytryptamine synthesis, decreased the 5-hydroxytryptamine content of brain to very low values in both the deficient and control animals, whereas the noradrenaline contents were not appreciably affected. The concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine in blood, the origin of which is primarily gastrointestinal, was decreased only in the controls but not in the deficient animals after p-chlorophenylalanine treatment. These results suggest that whereas l-tryptophan hydroxylase (EC 1.14.3.2) is rate-limiting in the brain as has been reported by others, the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate-dependent enzyme 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.28) may be more important in the gastrointestinal tract in the regulation of 5-hydroxytryptamine synthesis.
Disentangling the Effects of Robot Affect, Embodiment, and Autonomy on Human Team Members in a Mixed-Initiative Task

Many future robotic scenarios will require robots to work with humans in teams. It is thus critical to ensure that those robots will be able to work effectively with humans. While various dimensions of robots such as autonomy, embodiment or interaction style have been investigated separately, no previous study has looked at those three dimensions together. In this paper, we report results from extensive experiments showing that all three dimensions interact in complex ways, thus demonstrating the insufficiency of exploring these dimensions individually. Based on the results, we conclude with suggestions for interaction designs and for future studies. Keywords-human-robot interaction; adjustable autonomy; embodiment; robot; simulation; affect; user study
The surgical treatment of hallux valgus using the modified Z-osteotomy.

Numerous therapeutic options are available in treating the painful bunion. The procedure that accomplishes the desired results and correction must be carefully matched with the underlying pathologic deformity. For the majority of patients, in the author’s hands, the Silver Triad (eminence resection, lateral release, and medial plication) combined with the Z-lst metatarsal osteotomy is the ideal procedure.
Coordination Without a Coordinator

Should the United States government spend for war or for peace? Crudely expressed, that was a major dividing line in the debates over public policy in the late fifties through the sixties and seventies. The course followed by enlightened liberal opinion was clear: much more for welfare programs designed to help deserving groups, such as the poor, the aged, and minorities; much less for military preparedness or, worse still, for actually fighting wars. Less clear but still pronounced was a preference for a strategy specifying income over service for transferring money rather than goods, so that people could exercise more choice. No specific decision declared that government would do these things and no announcement came that this reallocation of resources would be governmental policy from a chosen day onward. We have no Domestic Welfare Day like an Independence Day. That these trends were not summed up and announced as deliberate governmental policy one day may account for their continued lack of recognition. People are still waiting for this revolution in public policy to come when it has already been. That we may not like it as much as we thought (viz. “Strategic Retreat on Objectives”) doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
USING CONTEXTUAL POSTPROCESSING TO IMPROVE RECOGNITION OF THE ENGLISH TEXT

Abstract A useful role of postprocessing with contextual information has been observed in machine recognition of the English texts. This paper briefly reviews the contextual approaches adopted in the past, and applied them to improve the recognition performance of the texts. A context-based classification system which can be viewed as a composite of three subsystems: a preprocessor, a Single Character Recognition Subsystem (SCRS) and a Contextual Postprocessing Subsystem (CPPS) is developed. The recognition of text using SCRS is equivalent to a system which makes no use of context. CPPS is a context-aided text recognizer. Three algorithms were experimented at this stage. The text recognition experiments using this composite system conducted on three passages collected from the English texts. Using Chi-square test it is shown that the statistical distribution of letters in one passage was significantly different from the distribution of letters in two other passages. These passages were assembled using the upper-case letters from machine-printed OCR B and Munson's multiauthor hand-printed data-sets. The improvement in recognition rates using contextual algorithm (using SCRS only) has shown the robustness of the contextual algorithms.
Reid on Testimony and Perception

Analyse de la theorie de la perception de T. Reid, et en particulier de la maniere dont il transforme la theorie classique des idees de l'empirisme du XVIII siecle : l'originalite de Reid tient dans son analyse du langage, qui garde les elements de la semantique de Berkeley et rejette comme lui la distinction entre qualites premieres et secondes, mais defend une forme de realisme des objets de la perception
Hierarchical Control of a Linear Diffusion Equation

As part of our study of techniques for solving PDE-constrained optimization problems, weinvestigate a pertinent class of hierarchical control problems. In a first step towards addressing the difficultiesencountered in simulating reservoirs for optimal well placement and other multi-objective control problems, we consider the approximate pointwise control of a linear parabolic system with multiple targets. Assuming a hierarchy among the objectives, we derive optimality conditions and obtain numerical results for a particular test problem.
Synovial sarcoma mimicking benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor.

To assess the radiographic and clinicopathologic features of synovial sarcoma of the nerve that were clinically or radiologically interpreted as benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Five patients with synovial sarcoma arising from the peripheral nerve and interpreted clinically and radiologically as peripheral nerve sheath tumors were identified. Clinicopathologic and imaging features were evaluated. There were three females and two males, ranging in age from 28 to 50 (mean 35.8) years. Most patients (4/5) complained of a mass, discomfort or pain. MR images demonstrated a heterogeneous, enhancing, soft tissue mass contiguous with the neurovascular bundle. On histologic examination, most tumors were monophasic synovial sarcoma (4/5). At the time of surgery, all tumors were noted to arise along or within a peripheral nerve. All patients were alive with no evidence of disease with median follow-up of 44 (range 32–237) months. For comparison, approximately 775 benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors of the extremities were identified during the same time period. Primary synovial sarcoma of the nerve can mimic peripheral nerve sheath tumors clinically and on imaging and should be included in the differential diagnosis for tumors arising from peripheral nerves.
Management of Wound Infection and Acute Bacterial Rhinosinusitis After Sinus Elevation Surgery: A Case Report

Introduction: Sinus graft infection with consequent acute bacterial rhinosinusitis (ABRS) is a complication that can occur during the postoperative sequel of sinus augmentation surgery. A small group of bacteria appear to predominate ABRS, and these bacteria are empirically susceptible to tetracycline antibiotics, barring the presence of resistant strains. Historically, clinicians have mixed tetracycline with various biomaterials or hydrated biomaterials in a dilute tetracycline solution in the treatment of periodontal disease and for ridge preservation/augmentation indications.Case Presentation: In the present case, a 39-year-old African American male with sinus graft infection and signs and symptoms consistent with ABRS was successfully treated by removing the initial graft material, thoroughly debriding and irrigating the antrum, and placing a freeze-dried bone allograft hydrated in an aqueous tetracycline solution.Conclusion: Given the typical bacteria present in ABRS, locally applied tetracycline may...
SURE: A Modeling and Simulation Integration Platform for Evaluation of Secure and Resilient Cyber–Physical Systems

The exponential growth of information and communication technologies have caused a profound shift in the way humans engineer systems leading to the emergence of closed-loop systems involving strong integration and coordination of physical and cyber components, often referred to as cyber–physical systems (CPSs). Because of these disruptive changes, physical systems can now be attacked through cyberspace and cyberspace can be attacked through physical means. The paper considers security and resilience as system properties emerging from the intersection of system dynamics and the computing architecture. A modeling and simulation integration platform for experimentation and evaluation of resilient CPSs is presented using smart transportation systems as the application domain. Evaluation of resilience is based on attacker–defender games using simulations of sufficient fidelity. The platform integrates 1) realistic models of cyber and physical components and their interactions; 2) cyber attack models that focus on the impact of attacks to CPS behavior and operation; and 3) operational scenarios that can be used for evaluation of cybersecurity risks. Three case studies are presented to demonstrate the advantages of the platform: 1) vulnerability analysis of transportation networks to traffic signal tampering; 2) resilient sensor selection for forecasting traffic flow; and 3) resilient traffic signal control in the presence of denial-of-service attacks.
Durable response rate as an endpoint in cancer immunotherapy: Insights from oncolytic virus clinical trials

Traditional response criteria may be insufficient to characterize full clinical benefits of anticancer immunotherapies. Consequently, endpoints such as durable response rate (DRR; a continuous response [complete or partial objective response] beginning within 12 months of treatment and lasting ≥6 months) have been employed. There has not, however, been validation that DRR correlates with other more traditional endpoints of clinical benefit such as overall survival. We evaluated whether DRR was associated with clinically meaningful measures of benefit (eg, overall survival [OS], quality of life [QoL], or treatment-free interval [TFI]) in a phase 3 clinical trial of an oncolytic virus for melanoma treatment. To evaluate the association between DRR and OS and to mitigate lead time bias, landmark analyses were used. QoL was evaluated using the FACT-BRM questionnaire (comprising the FACT-BRM Physical, Social/Family, Emotional, and Functional well-being domains, the Additional Concerns, Physical and Mental treatment-specific subscales, and the Trial Outcome Index [TOI]). TFI was defined as time from the last study therapy dose to first subsequent therapy dose (including any systemic anticancer therapy for melanoma after study therapy discontinuation). Four hundred thirty-six patients were included in the intent-to-treat population. Achieving DR was associated with a statistically significant improvement in OS in a landmark analysis at 9 months (HR = 0.07; P = 0.0003), 12 months (HR = 0.05, P < 0.0001), and 18 months (HR = 0.11; P = 0.0002) that persisted after adjusting for disease stage and line of therapy. Achieving a DR was associated with a longer median TFI (HR = 0.33; P = 0.0007) and a higher TOI improvement rate (58.1% versus 30.0%; P = 0.025). Achieving a DR was associated with clinical benefits such as improved OS and QoL and prolonged TFI, thus supporting the usefulness of DR as a meaningful immunotherapy clinical trial endpoint. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT00769704 ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00769704 ) October 7, 2008
Using the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol–Revised to Assess Psychopathy: A Preliminary Investigation:

Assessment of sexual and nonsexual recidivism risk is important for juveniles who have offended sexually (JSOs). It is unclear whether clinicians who assess risk for both types of recidivism should...
Human metapneumovirus - what we know now

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a leading cause of acute respiratory infection, particularly in children, immunocompromised patients, and the elderly. HMPV, which is closely related to avian metapneumovirus subtype C, has circulated for at least 65 years, and nearly every child will be infected with HMPV by the age of 5. However, immunity is incomplete, and re-infections occur throughout adult life. Symptoms are similar to those of other respiratory viral infections, ranging from mild (cough, rhinorrhea, and fever) to more severe (bronchiolitis and pneumonia). The preferred method for diagnosis is reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as HMPV is difficult to culture. Although there have been many advances made in the past 16 years since its discovery, there are still no US Food and Drug Administration-approved antivirals or vaccines available to treat HMPV. Both small animal and non-human primate models have been established for the study of HMPV. This review will focus on the epidemiology, transmission, and clinical manifestations in humans as well as the animal models of HMPV pathogenesis and host immune response.
Arsenic Geochemistry of Alluvial Sediments and Pore Waters Affected by Mine Tailings along the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne River Floodplains

Gold mining operations in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota resulted in the discharge of arsenopyrite-bearing mine tailings into Whitewood Creek from 1876 to 1977. Those tailings were transported further downstream along the Belle Fourche River, the Cheyenne River, and the Missouri River. An estimated 110 million metric tons of tailings remain stored in alluvial deposits of the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers. Pore-water dialysis samplers were deployed in the channel and backwaters of the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers to determine temporal and seasonal changes in the geochemistry of groundwater in alluvial sediments. Alluvial sediment adjacent to the dialysis samplers were cored for geochemical analysis. In comparison to US Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards and reference concentrations of alluvial sediment not containing mine tailings, the Belle Fourche River sites had elevated concentrations of arsenic in pore water (2570 μg/L compared to 10 μg/L) and sediment (1010 ppm compared to < 34 ppm), respectively. Pore water arsenic concentration was affected by dissolution of iron oxyhydroxides under reducing conditions. Sequential extraction of iron and arsenic from sediment cores indicates that substantial quantities of soluble metals were present. Dissolution of arsenic sorbed to alluvial sediment particles appears to be affected by changing groundwater levels that cause shifts in redox conditions. Bioreductive processes did not appear to be a substantial transport pathway but could affect speciation of arsenic, especially at the Cheyenne River sampling sites where microbial activity was determined to be greater than at Belle Fourche sampling sites.
The “Business Sucks” Story

The purpose of this essay is to suggest that one of the dominant modes of thought in our society is a profound mistrust and misunderstanding of the role of business. A dominant myth in society is that business occupies the moral low ground, separate from ethics or a moral point of view. This position is characterized as the “business sucks” story, and the essay shows how the enactment of this story underlies business thinking among managers and business theorists. The essay concludes with a suggestion to rethink and reinvent this story along more realistic and more empowering lines. Values based capitalism, or stakeholder capitalism, offers a better way to understand the complex role that business does and should play in modern society.
Geographic analysis of road accident severity index in Nigeria.

ABSTRACTBefore 2030, deaths from road traffic accidents (RTAs) will surpass cerebrovascular disease, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Yet, there is little knowledge on the geographic distribution of RTA severity in Nigeria. Accident Severity Index is the proportion of deaths that result from a road accident. This study analysed the geographic pattern of RTA severity based on the data retrieved from Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). The study predicted a two-year data from a historic road accident data using exponential smoothing technique. To determine spatial autocorrelation, global and local indicators of spatial association were implemented in a geographic information system. Results show significant clusters of high RTA severity among states in the northeast and the northwest of Nigeria. Hence, the findings are discussed from two perspectives: Road traffic law compliance and poor emergency response. Conclusion, the severity of RTA is high in the northern states of Nigeria, hence, RTA remains a public healt...
Structurally integrated luminescence based oxygen sensors with Organic LED/ oxygen sensitive dye and PECVD grown thin film photodetectors

There have been increasing efforts for the development of compact and miniaturized oxygen sensor for various applications including multianalyte sensor and sensors with a reliable and accurate monitoring of oxygen concentration in controlled environments requiring measurements under low oxygen concentration. This work has been devoted to the development of structurally integrated luminescence quenching based sensors, the structure comprising of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) as excitation source, oxygen sensitive dyes as the sensing element and PECVD based thin film photodiodes for detection. The whole structure can also be extended towards the development on flexible substrates. The developed sensor is less cumbersome and bulky and easy to use compared to the existing sensors. The commonly used Clark electrode for measuring dissolved oxygen suffers from interference from the ambient, requires frequent maintenance and electrolyte change, and also consumes oxygen during the measurement resulting in a little inaccurate measurement and hence restricts the resolution of the sensor. In addition the whole set-up is very bulky, which further motivates the development of these luminescence-based sensors. Another advantage of these luminescence-based sensors is the ease of tunability of sensitivity for different oxygen levels merely by changing the sensor dye. This work has been devoted mainly to the development of appropriate thin film, low temperature grown thin film photodiodes optimized for best possible performance of the whole sensor configuration. In addition the three component integration issues were solved by overcoming all the challenges due to electromagnetic noise generated by the OLED, interfering with the photodiode response and hence limiting the sensitivity. Amorphous silicon/silicon germanium and nanocrystalline silicon thin films were characterized for better performance in photodiodes. The sensitivity spectrums of the photodiodes were engineered to have maximum sensitivity around 640nm and minimum around 535nm, which is the peak emission wavelength of OLED. This process development resulted in enhanced immunity of the photodiode to the background resulting in enhanced sensitivity.
Improved disease detection with fusion of ProstaScint scans and multidetector CT

1040 111-In-labeled capromab pendetide (CYT-356) is utilized in the ProstaScint scan and is a 111-In labeled whole murine IgG1 antibody. The antibody is thought to target the intracellular domain of human prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA). Poorly differentiated and metastatic carcinomas maximally express PSMA, and therapy utilizing hormone deprivation does not show a decrease in antigen expression. Fusion of the radioimmunoscintigraphy images with CT improves detection of disease by providing anatomic correlation for abnormal foci of activity in the prostatic fossa, bone, pelvic lymph nodes, or distant metastasis. We have done over 700 ProstaScint examinations fused with CT over the past couple years with 140 examinations in the past year fused with multidetector CT. Our experience has demonstrated that multidetector CT scans with intravenous contrast fused with ProstaScint scans provide increased specificity and sensitivity for delineation of residual prostate activity and blood vessels from lymphadenopathy and metastatic disease. We previously acquired ProstaScint scans with blood pool imaging performed with Tc labeled red blood to minimize errors in interpretation. Fusion of ProstaScint scans with contrast enhanced multidetector CT erradicates this and blood pool images are no longer obtained with ProstaScint scans at our institution. Examples will be provided of fused ProstaScint-CT images, biopsy positive cases, and total body scans showing the prostate and detected distant metastasis.
The Draft OCI Rule - New Directions and the History of Fear

After years of rancor and debate, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the FAR Councils in April 2011 finally issued a proposed revision to the regulations governing organizational conflict of interests (OCIs) in federal procurement. The proposed rule marked an extraordinary change of direction - in some ways, it would reorder policy priorities built up over years of case law - but also may have reflected the drafters’ nagging ambivalence about the new direction. The proposed OCI rule marked a significant change in direction in part because policymakers’ core concerns - their core fears concerning conflicts of interest - have themselves shifted over time. Because new means of addressing those concerns are constantly emerging and evolving, we know that the rules will continue to evolve. The article argues, however, that as the OCI rules advance, they should be meshed more seamlessly with other advances in procurement law, such as new initiatives in contractor compliance and efforts abroad, for example through the European procurement directives and the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), to regulate conflicts of interest in procurement.
CMOS Optical PUFs Using Noise-Immune Process-Sensitive Photonic Crystals Incorporating Passive Variations for Robustness

This paper introduces a new design methodology for incorporating process-sensitive optical nanostructures in standard CMOS processes to create robust optical physically unclonable functions (PUFs) realized through an electrical-photonic co-design approach. The passive lithographic variations of lower level metal interconnects are exploited to realize resonant photonic crystals on an array of photodetectors to include variations that are robust to noise processes. The chip is realized in a standard 65-nm CMOS process with no additional post-processing. The addition of the structures increases the coefficient of variation by a factor of 3.5 $\times $ compared to only active device variations. This creates extremely robust PUF responses with a native inter-chip Hamming distance (HD) of 49.81% and intra-chip HD of 0.251% with an inter-HD/ intra-HD ratio of 198 $\times $ illustrating the reliability of the design. The native intra-HD can be reduced to 0.06% with 17 mV of thresholding with only 4% of the total combinations discarded. To the best our knowledge, this is also the first demonstration of photonic crystals and an optical PUF in CMOS.
The impact of ankle-foot orthosis stiffness on gait: A systematic literature review.

Abstract Background Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to provide ankle support during walking. Current prescription standards provide general guidelines for choosing between AFO types, but are limited in terms of guiding specific design parameter choices. These design parameters affect the ankle stiffness of the AFO. Research question The aim of this review was to investigate the impact of AFO stiffness on walking mechanics. Methods A literature search was conducted using three databases: Pubmed, Engineering Village, and Web of Science. Results After applying the exclusion criteria, 25 of 287 potential articles were included. The included papers tested a range of stiffnesses (0.02–8.17 Nm/deg), a variety of populations (e.g. healthy, post-stroke, cerebral palsy) and various gait outcome measures. Ankle kinematics were the most frequently reported measures and the most consistently affected by stiffness variations. Greater stiffnesses generally resulted in reduced peak ankle plantarflexion, dorsiflexion, and total range of motion, as well as increased dorsiflexion at initial contact. At the knee, a few studies reported increased flexion at initial contact, and decreased peak extension and increased peak flexion during stance when stiffness was increased. Stiffness did not affect hip kinetics and there was low evidence for its effects on hip or pelvis kinematics, ankle and knee kinetics, muscle activity, metabolic cost, ground reaction forces and spatiotemporal parameters. There were no generalizable trends for the impact of stiffness on user preference. Significance AFO stiffness is a key factor influencing ankle movement. Clear reporting standards for AFO design parameters, as well as additional high quality research is needed with larger sample sizes and different clinical populations to ascertain the true effect of stiffness on gait.
Penetrating Chest Trauma

Penetrating chest trauma (PCT) is typically a result of a stab wound or gunshot wound but may also be the result of impalement injuries. The chest is defined as the torso cephalad to the costal margin and contains vital structures including the heart, great vessels, and lungs. Patients with penetrating wounds to the chest should be transported immediately to a trauma center due to concern for injury to any of these vital structures and major vascular or cardiac injury.
LoCool: Fighting Hot Spots Locally for Improving System Energy Efficiency

Elevated on-chip temperatures significantly degrade performance, energy-efficiency, and lifetime of processors. The cooling system for a chip is typically designed to remove the worst-case heat generated per unit area. Cooling demand, however, spatially and temporally varies across a chip as hot spots occur on different locations with different intensities. Thus, designing a homogeneous cooling system for a chip can be inefficient. Recently, hybrid cooling strategies, such as integrating thermoelectric coolers (TECs) with microchannel liquid cooling, have been explored for hot spot mitigation. The efficiency of such a cooling system strongly depends on the operating point of each cooling method, as well as the locations and intensities of the hot spots. To this end, we first devise a compact thermal modeling method for the design and evaluation of hybrid cooling systems in a fast and accurate way. The proposed model provides up to four orders of magnitude speedup in simulation time compared to COMSOL multiphysics simulations with less than 2.9 °C average temperature error. Leveraging our fast model, we develop LoCool, a hybrid cooling optimization method, which jointly determines the most energy-efficient cooling settings for a given chip power distribution and temperature constraint. LoCool determines the liquid flow rate and the input current for each TEC depending on the cooling requirements for individual hot spots as well as for the background heat. Experimental evaluation shows up to 40% cooling energy savings compared to designing homogeneous cooling systems under the same thermal constraints.
Hybrid Predictive Model: When an Interpretable Model Collaborates with a Black-box Model

Interpretable machine learning has become a strong competitor for traditional black-box models. However, the possible loss of the predictive performance for gaining interpretability is often inevitable, putting practitioners in a dilemma of choosing between high accuracy (black-box models) and interpretability (interpretable models). In this work, we propose a novel framework for building a Hybrid Predictive Model (HPM) that integrates an interpretable model with any black-box model to combine their strengths. The interpretable model substitutes the black-box model on a subset of data where the black-box is overkill or nearly overkill, gaining transparency at no or low cost of the predictive accuracy. We design a principled objective function that considers predictive accuracy, model interpretability, and model transparency (defined as the percentage of data processed by the interpretable substitute.) Under this framework, we propose two hybrid models, one substituting with association rules and the other with linear models, and we design customized training algorithms for both models. We test the hybrid models on structured data and text data where interpretable models collaborate with various state-of-the-art black-box models. Results show that hybrid models obtain an efficient trade-off between transparency and predictive performance, characterized by our proposed efficient frontiers.
Modeling Flexibility in Uncertain Distributed Energy Resources

Integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in grid planning and control requires estimating and aggregating the active and reactive power flexibility offered by an ensemble of DERs. The flexibility of DERs to provide grid services is, however, often uncertain due to insufficient end-use measurements (e.g. power consumption) and inaccurate forecast (e.g. solar irradiance). In this short note, we propose a numerical simulation based framework for modeling the flexibility in uncertain individual continuous DERs.
Effect of Left Atrial Volume on Short Term Outcomes Including Functional Status after Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair

Background Transcatheter mitral valve repair has been increasingly used in patients with high surgical risk with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR). Increased left atrial volume index (LAVI) has been associated with poor long-term prognosis in these patients. Methods We evaluated 43 consecutive patients undergoing mitral valve repair with MitraClip device (Abbott) from 2015 to 2018. Echocardiographic parameters and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire score (KCCQ - a validated patient reported quality of life measure) were analyzed. Patients were divided into 2 groups with either LAVI 48ml/cm2 (severely enlarged). Results Forty-three patients were evaluated with a mean age of 78. There was no difference in baseline comorbidities between the two groups. There was 95.3% procedural success overall. There was no significant difference in procedural duration, length of stay, residual MR and in-hospital adverse events. KCCQ score at 30 days had improved significantly in both groups but there was no difference in magnitude of improvement among the two groups. There was no difference in overall 30 day readmissions/adverse events including heart failure readmissions in the two groups. Conclusion In this single center study, severely enlarged LAVI was not associated with any significant difference in short term outcomes including functional and quality of life outcomes in patients undergoing valve repair.
News in an Era of Content Confusion: Effects of News Use Motivations and Context on Native Advertising and Digital News Perceptions:

This study examined the effects of news use motivations and differing native advertising contexts (hard vs. soft news) on the ability to perceive commercialized content, evaluations of native adver...