cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new system identification technique for harmonic decomposition

An extended and unifying system identification technique is presented for a class of systems that include all main signal models that arise in the harmonic decomposition problem. This technique unifies and extends the previously developed system identification techniques which are improvements on the Pisarenko harmonic decomposition (or, its spatial dual, MUSIC) as they arise in arrays of sensors. The advantages of the technique and some of its specializations include having no assumptions of stationarity on the stochastic processes involved. Another contribution of this technique is that it can also be used without any resort to probability theoretic concepts, thus bypassing the approximation of autocorrelations via time averages, yielding the system parameters exactly. This technique can be utilized to determine the dominant modes of vibrations of flexible structures as well. An analogy is established between arrays of sensors for target signal returns and those that can be used for vibrations in flexible structures. This enables the results developed for each one of these problems to be applied to the other. >
Alcoholism: A family system approach

(1976). Alcoholism: A family system approach. Journal of Family Counseling: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 12-18.
The Cosmopolitan Expression of Josephus's Prophetic Perspective in the Jewish War

Many controversial issues surround the life and work of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, but the question of his dual relationship to the Jewish community and the Roman imperial establishment has been especially contentious. Should Josephus be considered a loyal Jew, or was he a turncoat and a coward who abandoned his people for the sake of a luxurious life in the Flavian imperial court? Josephus's early and late works alike reveal that he had to answer this question himself. The numerous and celebrated apologetic elements of his writings testify to Josephus's need to defend his actions during the war. In J.W. 3.354, for example, he defends his decision to surrender at Jotapata in a prayer that alludes to his prophetic destiny: “I willingly surrender to the Romans and consent to live; but I take you to witness that I go, not as a traitor, but as your minister.” Josephus, then, uses his narratives to address criticisms of his actions. In addition, he explicitly describes his hostile reception by all parties after his surrender at Jotapata. In Life 416, he writes, “my life was frequently in danger, both from the Jews, who were eager to get me into their hands, to gratify their revenge, and from the Romans, who attributed every reverse to some treachery on my part, and were constantly and clamorously demanding of the emperor that he should punish me as their betrayer.” In other words, both the events in the narrative and the apologetic tone in which Josephus narrates such events indicate that Josephus was considered a traitor by both Jews and Romans in his own lifetime.
When Sound Affects Vision: Effects of Auditory Grouping on Visual Motion Perception

Two identical visual targets moving across each other can be perceived either to bounce off or to stream through each other. A brief sound at the moment the targets coincide biases perception toward bouncing. We found that this bounce-inducing effect was attenuated when other identical sounds (auditory flankers) were presented 300 ms before and after the simultaneous sound. The attenuation occurred only when the simultaneous sound and auditory flankers had similar acoustic characteristics and the simultaneous sound was not salient. These results suggest that there is an aspect of auditory-grouping (saliency-assigning) processes that is context-sensitive and can be utilized by the visual system for solving ambiguity. Further-more, control experiments revealed that such auditory context did not affect the perceptual qualities of the simultaneous sound. Because the attenuation effect is not manifest in the perception of acoustic characteristics of individual sound elements, we conclude that it is a genuine c...
Selective switching mechanism in virtual machines via support vector machines and transfer learning

Virtualization is an essential technology in data centers allowing for a single machine to be used for multiple applications or users. With memory virtualization, two approaches, shadow paging (SP) and hardware-assisted paging (HAP), are taken by modern virtual machine memory managers. Neither memory mode is always preferred; previous studies have proposed to exploit the advantages of both modes by dynamically switching between these two paging modes based on the on-the-fly system behavior. However, the existing scheme makes the switching decision based on manual rules summarized for a specific architecture. This paper employs a machine learning approach that learns a decision model automatically and thus can adapt to different systems. Experimental results show that the performance of our switching mechanism can match or outperform either SP or HAP alone. Also, the results demonstrate that a machine learning-based decision model can match the performance of the hand-tuned model. Moreover, we further show that different hardware/software settings can affect on-the-fly system behavior and thus demand different decision models. Our scheme yields two effective decision models on two different machines. Additionally, transfer learning was used in order to efficiently train a model when faced with a new hardware configuration with only a limited number of training samples from the new machine.
New Insights of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Cancer Metastasis

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key step during embryonic morphogenesis, heart development, chronic degenerative fibrosis, and cancer metastasis. Several distinct traits have been conveyed by EMT, including cell motility, invasiveness, resistance to apoptosis, and some properties of stem cells. Many signal pathways have contributed to the induction of EMT, such as transforming growth factor-β, Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch, and nuclear factor-κB. Over the last few years, increasing evidence has shown that EMT plays an essential role in tumor progression and metastasis. Understanding the molecular mechanism of EMT has a great effect in unraveling the metastatic cascade and may lead to novel interventions for metastatic disease.
The Role of MDR-1 in Refractory Lymphoma

Although lymphoma is one of the few solid tumours for which chemotherapy can be curative, the treatment of refractory lymphoma remains a major clinical problem. P-glycoprotein (Pgp), the drug efflux pump encoded by the MDR-1 gene is associated with multidrug resistance in several laboratory models of drug resistance, and a number of investigators have attempted to establish a role for Pgp in refractory lymphoma. Despite a considerable variability in the results of these studies investigating Pgp expression in lymphoma, the preponderance of the data suggests that Pgp may at least in part account for drug resistance in this disease. Several clinical trials using Pgp modulating compounds have attempted to reverse the drug resistant phenotype of refractory lymphoma. These studies, although difficult to interpret because of the effect of Pgp modulators on chemotherapeutic drug pharmacokinetics, also suggest a role for Pgp in mediating drug resistance in a subset of patients with refractory lymphoma. Studies with newer Pgp modulating agents with phase III designs will be needed before Pgp modulation can be considered for incorporation into routine oncologic practice.
Spin saturation and the Skyrme interaction

Abstract Of existing variants of the Skyrme interaction, those with strong three-body terms - in particular the variant SIII that is in best accord with experiment - overbind odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei and produce unstable spin-saturated Hartree-Fock ground states in nuclear matter and in even-even light nuclei. This difficulty can be removed either by imposition of an additional stability condition or by abandoning the three-body term in favor of the two-body density-dependent interaction equivalent to it in spin-saturated HF states.
Studies of Electron Transfer at Aluminum Alloy Surfaces by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has been used to study electron transfer at Al and Al alloy surfaces, employing the mediators hydroquinone, hydroquinone sulfonate, anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate, and anthraquinone-2-sulfonate. Both oxidation and reduction processes are examined. SECM, in combination with scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, reveals that Cu-containing secondary phase particles exhibit the highest electron transfer activity for both oxidation and reduction reactions on the AA 2024-T3 surface. Although electron transfer is fastest at the intermetallic particles, it also occurs on the alloy matrix under acidic conditions. The charge carried by the mediator appears to have little influence on the electron transfer process despite the fact that the matrix oxide surface is positively charged below pH 7.
Fabrication of n-Type Silicon Optical Fibers

In this research, for the first time, an n-type silicon optical fiber is demonstrated. The fiber is fabricated by drawing from a powder-in-tube-type preform. Outside diameters in the range of several hundred micrometers were made with core diameters in the range of tens of micrometers. Optical and material characterizations have been made in order to understand the structural and compositional properties of this device. Fibers fabricated have a polycrystalline core with a few large grains as determined by electron backscatter diffraction analysis. Grains' dimensions in the core are on the order of tens to hundreds of micrometers. The doped silicon optical fiber may pave the way for in-fiber silicon photonics in the near future.
A Cognitive Developmental Study of Children's Attention To Television Commercials

From a cognitive developmental theoretical foundation, an experiment was designed to study the role of stimulus complexity in children's attention to TV commercials. One hundred twenty nursery, kindergarten, and second-grade subjects' attention to twelve commercials was observed. The commercials were controlled for content and manipulated for visual and auditory complexity with an information theory measure of entropy level. We predicted and found that the largest difference in attention to high- versus low-complexity commercials is for nursery schoolers, although in one block of commercials the difference in attention to high- and low-complexity commercials is not statistically significant across the three age groups. The nursery schoolers also are less stable in their attention than are the older children. Further analyses examine the attention profiles of the three age groups and the role of the visual and auditory channels in drawing attention.
Time-multiplexed dual-focal plane head-mounted display with a liquid lens

Focus cues play a significant role in three-dimensional (3-D) depth perception. Conventional stereoscopic displays, however, lack the ability to correctly render these cues, because they present a pair of stereoscopic images on a fixed image plane while forcing the eyes to converge at different distances to view objects at different depths. Using a fast liquid-lens device, we present the design and implementation of a time-multiplexed dual-focal plane display that is capable of rendering correct or near-correct focus cues as well as other depth cues, such as occlusion and shading for a 3-D scene. The focus range of the dual focal planes can vary from infinity to as close as 8 diopters. Two driving mechanisms are proposed to render near-correct focus cues and their effects on image sharpness, flicker, and brightness are compared.
Sandwich injection molding of thermotropic copolyesters and filled polyester

Mold filling studies have shown that thermotropic liquid crystalline copolyesters of p-hydroxybenzoicacid (PHB) and polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) fill by an advancing front mechanism similar to flexible chain polymers. The structure and orientation developed during filling as determined on solid specimens by an etching method, X-ray diffraction, and shrinkage study on thin microtomed samples appear to be most pronounced at the surface. Based on this information copolymers of 60 and 80 mole percent PHB/PET were co-injection molded with filled PET under various processing conditions. Because of the low viscosity of the copolyesters, they readily coated filled PET under most processing conditions to give a sheath/core structure. The bending modulus of co-injection molded bars with as little as 35 percent PHB/PET was as high as the sample consisting of 100 percent liquid crystalline copolyester. Electron micrographs of fracture surfaces revealed excellent adhesion between the two polymers.
ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF PRIMARY AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES BASED ON STRENGTH, MANUFACTURABILITY, AND COST REQUIREMENTS

A methodology for design of aircraft structures based on strength, stiffness, manufacturability, and cost requirements is presented. Simple mathematical models for manufacturability factors and cost elements are developed and combined with existing structural analysis techniques for evaluation of aircraft structures at the preliminary design phase. This methodology is used for the development of a computational design tool for analysis and optimization of primary structural components such as wing spars. A spar design case study is used as an application to demonstrate the effects of manufacturability and cost requirements on the optimal design configuration.
‘Makin’ Somethin’ Outta Little-to-Nufin’’: Racism, Revision and Rotating Records – The Hip-Hop DJ in Composition Praxis

Prompted by a moment in the classroom in which the DJ becomes integral for the writing instructor, this article looks at how the hip-hop DJ and hip-hop DJ/Producer become the intrinsic examples for first-year college writing students to think about how they conduct revision in their writing. After a review of two seminal hip-hop books and other scholarly sources that situate the viability of hip-hop discourse in the classroom, this article frames the hip-hop DJ as critical to the progression of the hip-hop producer and uses the hip-hop DJ/Producer as the catalyst for revision by looking at the original version and remix of two classic hip-hop songs. The unique collaborative investment between the hip-hop DJ/Producer and emcee/MC in creating ‘the remix’ presents an intriguing conundrum for the ways we might envision teaching practices in composition studies. Central to this moment is the way hip-hop flips the script on racist ideologies constructed as anti-hip-hop sentiments in academic spaces and allows s...
Intelligent hybrid load forecasting system for an electric power company

The paper presents a system for day-ahead load forecasting as originally proposed to a regional electric power company. The company provided funding for developing most parts of this software. The system is based on a hybrid approach to intelligent systems design combining a fuzzy heuristic approach based on the knowledge of human experts in load forecasting with a data-driven neural network-based component. To make the system truly useful, considerable emphasis was placed on the user interface including a highly developed explanation module.
The contribution of a history of heavy smoking to Scotland's mortality disadvantage

Scotland has a lower life expectancy than any country in Western Europe or North America, and this disadvantage is concentrated above age 50. According to the Human Mortality Database, life expectancy at age 50 has been lower in Scotland than in any other developed country since 1980. Relative to 15 developed countries that we have chosen for comparison, Scotland's life expectancy in 2009 at age 50 was lower by an average of 2.5 years for women and 1.6 years for men. We estimate that Scottish women lost 3.6 years of life expectancy at age 50 as a result of smoking, compared to 1.4 years for the comparison countries. The equivalent figures among men are 3.1 and 2.1 years. These differences are large enough for the history of heavy smoking in Scotland to account both for most of the shortfall in life expectancy for both sexes and for the country's unusually narrow sex differences in life expectancy.
Knowledge about Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Acceptability of Testing in the 1945-1965 Birth Cohort (Baby Boomers) Presenting to a Large Urban Emergency Department: A Pilot Study.

Abstract Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is responsible for the most common chronic bloodborne infection in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently recommended screening all patients born between 1945–1965 (baby boomers) at least once for HCV infection. New York State has since mandated screening of baby boomers for HCV in nearly all patient care settings and encouraged it in the emergency department (ED). Objectives This pilot study aimed to ascertain acceptability of an HCV screening test among the 1945–1965 birth cohort presenting to the ED in advance of a study investigating the prevalence of HCV infection in this birth cohort in the ED setting. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of health knowledge about HCV and government recommendations regarding HCV testing using a convenience sample of baby boomers in an ED in a large public hospital in the New York metropolitan area. Surveys were administered via a series of semistructured interviews. Results There were 81 patient participants. Fifty-two percent of patients were born outside of the United States, 69% had a high school diploma level of education or lower, and 37% were unemployed. Patients demonstrated misconceptions about HCV transmission and curability and poor knowledge about the necessity of testing in their age cohort. Knowledge that “HCV can cause the liver to stop working” was significantly associated with acceptance of testing. Conclusions Baby boomers showed limited knowledge about the necessity of HCV screening in their age group, but testing for HCV infection in the ED was acceptable for the majority.
Extramedullary Guides Versus Portable Navigation for Tibial Alignment in Total Knee Arthroplasty: a Randomized, Controlled Trial

Background: Conventional, extramedullary (EM) tibial alignment guides are only 65%–88% accurate in creating a tibial resection within 2° of perpendicular to the tibial mechanical axis in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The purpose of this study was to compare the overall, tibial component alignment, and the surgeon9s ability to achieve a specific, intraoperative goal for alignment between a portable, navigation system (KneeAlign™) and conventional, EM alignment guides. Methods: One hundred patients were enrolled in a prospective, randomized controlled study. Fifty patients received a TKA using the KneeAlign™ to perform the tibial resection, and 50 patients an EM alignment guide. Standing AP hip-to-ankle radiographs and lateral knee-to-ankle radiographs were obtained at the first, postoperative visit. Results: 95.7% of tibial components in the KneeAlign™ cohort were within 2° of perpendicular to the tibial mechanical axis, versus 68.1% in the conventional cohort (p The absolute difference between the intraoperative goal (as recorded by the surgeon) and postoperative alignment for tibial component varus/valgus was 0.9° + 0.7° in the KneeAlign™cohort, versus 1.5° + 1.1° in the conventional cohort (p Conclusions: A portable, navigation system improves tibial component alignment, and the surgeon9s ability to achieve a specific, intraoperative goal, when compared to conventional, EM alignment guides in TKA. Level of Evidence: Level I, Prospective, randomized controlled study
$L^2$ stable discontinuous Galerkin methods for one-dimensional two-way wave equations

Simulating wave propagation is one of the fundamental problems in scientific computing. In this paper, we consider one-dimensional two-way wave equations, and investigate a family of L stable high order discontinuous Galerkin methods defined through a general form of numerical fluxes. For these L stable methods, we systematically establish stability (hence energy conservation), error estimates (in both L and negative-order norms), and dispersion analysis. One novelty of this work is to identify a sub-family of the numerical fluxes, termed αβ-fluxes. Discontinuous Galerkin methods with αβ-fluxes are proven to have optimal L error estimates and superconvergence properties. Moreover, both the upwind and alternating fluxes belong to this sub-family. Dispersion analysis, which examines both the physical and spurious modes, provides insights into the sub-optimal accuracy of the methods using the central flux and the odd degree polynomials, and demonstrates the importance of numerical initialization for the proposed non-dissipative schemes. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the accuracy and the long-term behavior of the methods under consideration.
A Generalization of the Geometric Series

(1949). A Generalization of the Geometric Series. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 56, No. 5, pp. 325-327.
EFN-4 Functions in LAD-2-mediated Axon Guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans

During development of the nervous system, growing axons rely on guidance molecules to direct axon pathfinding. A well-characterized family of guidance molecules are the membrane-associated ephrins, which together with their cognate Eph receptors, direct axon navigation in a contact-mediated fashion. InC. elegans, the ephrin-Eph signaling system is conserved and is best characterized for their roles in neuroblast migration during early embryogenesis. This study demonstrates a role for the C. elegans ephrin EFN-4 in axon guidance. We provide both genetic and biochemical evidence that is consistent with the C. elegans divergent L1 cell adhesion molecule LAD-2 acting as a non-canonical ephrin receptor to EFN-4 to promote axon guidance. We also show that EFN-4 probably functions as a diffusible factor because EFN-4 engineered to be soluble can promote LAD-2-mediated axon guidance. This study thus reveals a potential additional mechanism for ephrins in regulating axon guidance and expands the repertoire of receptors by which ephrins can signal.
Crowdsourcing global governance: sustainable development goals, civil society, and the pursuit of democratic legitimacy

To what extent can crowdsourcing help members of civil society overcome the democratic deficit in global environmental governance? In this paper, I evaluate the utility of crowdsourcing as a tool for participatory agenda-setting in the realm of post-2015 sustainable development policy. In particular, I analyze the descriptive representativeness (e.g., the degree to which participation mirrors the demographic attributes of non-state actors comprising global civil society) of participants in two United Nations orchestrated crowdsourcing processes—the MY World survey and e-discussions regarding environmental sustainability. I find that there exists a perceptible demographic imbalance among contributors to the MY World survey and considerable dissonance between the characteristics of participants in the e-discussions and those whose voices were included in the resulting summary report. The results suggest that although crowdsourcing may present an attractive technological approach to expand participation in global governance, ultimately the representativeness of that participation and the legitimacy of policy outputs depend on the manner in which contributions are solicited and filtered by international institutions.
A study of hepatic carbonic anhydrase.

Dog and rat liver contain carbonic anhydrase in supernatant and particulate fractions. Hepatic bile of both species has higher HC03- and lower Cl- concentration than plasma. The enzyme in all fractions of dog liver was inhibited by unsubstituted aromatic sulfonamides at concentrations of 10-6 to 10-9 M. In vivo, administration of these drugs at doses which yield > 99% enzyme inhibition lowered biliary HCO3- and raised biliary Cl- concentrations. Certain of the drugs were secreted by liver and concentrated in the bile of both species. Rat liver supernatant carbonic anhydrase was nearly refractory to sulfonamide inhibition in vitro; this is the first example of such lowered response in the animal kingdom. Biliary electrolytes in the rat were accordingly not altered by high doses of these sulfonamides.
Taking versus taxing: an analysis of conscription in a private information economy

Most countries currently man their militaries through conscription (i.e., a draft). Conventional wisdom suggests that, by lowering the budgetary cost of the military, a draft reduces distortionary taxation, especially when military needs are large. We find that this intuition is misguided. When income taxes are set optimally, voluntary enlistments lead to less distortionary taxation than a draft, because the tax base left behind by a volunteer army tends to be more productive than that after a draft. For reasonable parameter values, drafts are more distortionary (and less socially desirable) when military needs are large.
Progress With a Purpose: Eliminating Suffering and Death Due to Cancer

cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, with more than 500,000 men, women, and children succumbing to the disease each year. The idea, then, that we can eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer in the United States by the year 2015 may appear impractical, if not irrational and impossible. It seems inconceivable that in the first part of the 21st century every patient could survive cancer. Doubt can be attributed to awareness of the biologic complexity of cancer and seeing the pace of clinical progress through the prism of the 20th century.
Structure of ADP x AIF4(-)-stabilized nitrogenase complex and its implications for signal transduction.

The coupling of ATP hydrolysis to electron transfer by the enzyme nitrogenase during biological nitrogen fixation is an important example of a nucleotide-dependent transduction mechanism. The crystal structure has been determined for the complex between the Fe-protein and MoFe-protein components of nitrogenase stabilized by ADP·AIF_4 –, previously used as a nucleoside triphosphate analogue in nucleotide-switch proteins. The structure reveals that the dimeric Fe-protein has undergone substantial conformational changes. The β-phosphate and AIF_4 – groups are stabilized through intersubunit contacts that are critical for catalysis and the redox centre is repositioned to facilitate electron transfer. Interactions in the nitrogenase complex have broad implications for signal and energy transduction mechanisms in multiprotein complexes.
Isolating Blocks, Regularization, and the Three-Body Problem†‡

Publisher Summary If the total angular momentum of the three-bodies is different from zero then a simultaneous collision of all three bodies is impossible. Thus, on integral surfaces with nonzero angular momentum, the only bad behavior of solutions is because of the binary collisions. In view of the result that solutions can be continued through binary collisions, one might hope to modify the integral surface in some way, so that Newton's equations of motion actually give a flow. This chapter describes how this can be done. The techniques used were introduced by Easton. The neighborhood is in the form of an isolating block. The problem of regularization is the problem of showing that the identification of the endpoints of crossing orbits has a continuous, unique extension. This identification is used to close the gap left by the surgery, thus obtaining the regularized phase space for the three-body problem. Regularized integral surfaces are obtained for the problem on which the three-body equations of motion induce flows. The chapter describes the topology of these surfaces answering a question for the planar three-body problem raised by Birkhoff for the full three-body problem and again by Wintner.
Regional Developments: Economic and Social Change

Despite conservative intentions, the conquests, the settlement of large Arab-Muslim populations in numerous garrisons, and the consolidation of a new imperial regime set in motion vast changes in the patterns of international trade, local commerce, and agriculture. The unification of former Sasanian and Byzantine territories removed political and strategic barriers to trade and laid the foundations for a major economic revival. The Euphrates frontier between the Persian and the Roman worlds disappeared, and Transoxania, for the first time in history, was incorporated into a Middle Eastern empire. Commercial considerations inspired Arab-Muslim expansion in Inner Asia and India. Cities prospered in Iraq, Iran, and Transoxania. Basra and later Baghdad became two of the leading trading cities in the world. Samarqand, Bukhara, and Nishapur prospered. However, a new frontier was drawn between Syria and Anatolia, which had formerly been part of a single Byzantine state, and trade between these regions declined. Each region of the new empire fared differently under Arab-Muslim rule. Some prospered, some declined. Agricultural production shifted from one area to another. Arab-Muslim landowners often replaced the previous elites. Soldiers settled on the land, and non-Arabs moved to Arab settlements. These changes created a high degree of mobility and interaction between different peoples and set the basis for the ultimate integration of populations into a shared culture.
Rodent Models of Autosomal Dominant Parkinson Disease

Parkinson disease (PD) is a common and impactful neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 1% of the human population over 60 years of age. Although most human cases are sporadic, familial cases (<10%) with autosomal dominant genetic components are not uncommon in clinical practice. Animal models of autosomal dominant PD help in understanding the pathogenic processes related to neuronal loss and facilitate development of novel pharmacological approaches to therapy. Decades after the identification of causal genes and the application of clinical genetic testing, and despite numerous established rodent models of PD, we are still lacking a suitable model that replicates all of the motor and nonmotor features seen in human PD. In this review, we summarize many of the published murine models of autosomal dominant PD and discuss the current status and value of genetically engineered PD rodent models in understanding disease mechanisms and therapeutics development.
Transient antenatal Bartter’s Syndrome and X-linked polyhydramnios: insights from the genetics of a rare condition

The discovery that mutations in MAGED2 cause a rare and transient form of antenatal Bartter's Syndrome may have implications beyond the very small number of affected families. Understanding the mechanism by which this severe form of Bartter's Syndrome resolves after birth could also provide new insights into the regulation of tubular transport and the response to tissue hypoxia.
Distributed Adaptive Quantization for Wireless Sensor Networks

We investigate the problem of distributed parameter estimation under the most stringent bandwidth constraint that each sensor quantizes its local observation into one bit of information. Conventional fixed quantization (FQ) approaches, which employ a fixed threshold for all sensors, incur an estimation error growing exponentially with the difference between the threshold and the unknown parameter to be estimated. To address this difficulty, we propose a distributed adaptive quantization (AQ) approach, where, with sensors sequentially broadcasting their quantized data, each sensor adaptively adjusts its quantization threshold using prior transmissions from other sensors. Specifically, three adaptive schemes are presented in this paper. The maximum likelihood (ML) estimators associated with these three AQ schemes are developed and their corresponding Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs) are analyzed. The analysis shows that our proposed one-bit AQ approach can asymptotically attain an estimation variance as least as only pi/2 times that of the clairvoyant sample-mean estimator using unquantized observations. Numerical results are illustrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and to corroborate our claim.
Public perceptions of seismic hazards and critical facilities

Public perceptions of seismic hazards rarely conform to common sense. Public perceptions are even more difficult to second guess when critical facilities are introduced into the equation. The public is typically biased in its perception of seismic hazards probabilities. These perceptions most often characterize a public who do recognize that a generic earthquake risk exists; however, few members of that public personalize that risk and do much about it. This typical inaction on the part of the public underscores the need for state and federal policy and regulations for seismic hazards mitigation. Public perceptions of seismic hazards in reference to critical facilities follow suite with one exception. This exception is controversial critical facilities. On this front, the typical social and psychological factors and processes that form public seismic hazards perceptions are joined by several others. This paper reviews and summarizes the key factors that are the causes of public perceptions of seismic hazards in general, and in reference to noncontroversial and controversial critical facilities in particular. Some of the needs necessary to help a public perceive these hazards more accurately are also presented.
Formalizing emotion concepts within a Bayesian model of theory of mind

Sensitivity to others’ emotions is foundational for many aspects of human life, yet computational models do not currently approach the sensitivity and specificity of human emotion knowledge. Perception of isolated physical expressions largely supplies ambiguous, low-dimensional, and noisy information about others’ emotional states. By contrast, observers attribute specific granular emotions to another person based on inferences of how she interprets (or ‘appraises’) external events in relation to her other mental states (goals, beliefs, moral values, costs). These attributions share neural mechanisms with other reasoning about minds. Situating emotion concepts in a formal model of people’s intuitive theories about other minds is necessary to effectively capture humans’ fine-grained emotion understanding.
Digital Convergence in the Newsroom: Experimenting With Modular Production of Television News in Grady Newsource:

In this essay, we describe modular production of television news, established at the University of Georgia, one of the leading journalism programs in the United States, in the scope of its experien...
Loss and Loyalty: Change in Political and Gender Identity among Clinton Supporters after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

How do voters’ identities change after a candidate’s defeat? A longitudinal, within-subjects study used Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to explore social identity theo...
Removal of Bromide from Surface Water: Comparison Between Silver-Impregnated Graphene Oxide and Silver-Impregnated Powdered Activated Carbon

Abstract This study demonstrates that silver (Ag+) impregnated graphene oxide (GO) reduces anion and natural organic matter (NOM) competition for bromide (Br−) adsorption sites compared with Ag+ impregnated powdered activated carbon (PAC). We impregnated two GO (Tour and Modifier Hummers [MH] method) and one PAC with silver ions. Batch studies were conducted to assess Br− removal in model waters with Br−, chloride (Cl−), bicarbonate (HCO3−), and/or NOM and natural surface waters. In buffered ultrapure water, Tour-Ag, MH-Ag, and PAC-Ag all removed >85% of Br−, while sorbents without Ag+ removed 75% of Br−, MH-Ag removed >50%, and PAC-Ag removed >30%, highlighting that GO-Ag is more effective at removing Br− from water than PAC-Ag (p < 0.05). Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis show that Br− is evenly dispersed on the surface of GO-Ag, indicating possible attachment to oxygen groups and silver on the GO surface. A...
Perception: Its importance in educational television

Since studies on physiology have been extremely important in the field of reading, the potential importance of similar studies in instructional television cannot be overlooked. Overcrowded schools, the teacher shortage, and the rising cost of education make it imperative that schools consider every new device available to give children a better education. However, these devices must not be accepted at face value with no consideration of their possible improvement or potential. Educators must begin striving for improvement of these devices. A good beginning would be in the area of the physiology of television viewing.
Pseudogenes are Not Junk DNA

We describe some unexpected features of pseudogenes in diverse organisms that are inconsistent with the traditional view that considers pseudogenes as nonfunctional sequences of genomic DNA (“junk” DNA) not subject to natural selection. Pseudogenes are often evolutionarily conserved and transcriptionally active. Moreover, there is evidence indicating that some pseudogenes engage in regulation of gene expression and generation of genetic diversity. Pseudogene patterns of nucleotide variability evince that not all pseudogene mutations are selectively neutral and, thus, do not all have equal probability of becoming fixed in the population. A pseudogene that has arisen by duplication or retroposition may, at first, not be subject to natural selection, if the source gene remains functional. Therefore, alleles of the pseudogene will accumulate mutations, including disabling mutations, over time. But a mutant allele that incorporates a new function may be favored by natural selection and will have enhanced probability of becoming fixed in the population. Thus, some pseudogenes that have lost the original function may have acquired new ones. A review of the evidence leads to the conclusion that pseudogenes are important components of genomes, representing a repertoire of sequences available for functional evolution and subject to non-neutral evolutionary changes. Pseudogenes might be considered as potogenes (following the terminology of J. Brosius and S.J. Gould, 1992), i.e., DNA sequences with a potentiality for becoming new genes (Balakirev and Ayala, 2003). Furthermore, we conjecture that some pseudogenes along with their parental sequences may constitute sets of indivisible functionally interacting entities (intergenic complexes or “intergenes”), in which all the component elements are required in order to fulfill a collective functional role.
International eLearning

The global demand for higher education cannot be met through traditional structures and delivery methods or by adhering to elitist and cost-prohibitive paradigms. Tertiary education through distance delivery provides opportunity for individuals to recognize their potential and improve their life conditions. Innovative approaches to distance learning can remove barriers and support access for a range of learners. This study reports on findings from an intrinsic case study of two institutions. These institutions have developed eLearning models that provide global access and address the needs of diverse learners. An understanding of these models can contribute to innovative practices at other institutions.
Design of structural monitoring sensor network using surrogate modeling of stochastic sensor signal

Abstract Efficient Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) could reduce operation and maintenance costs, improve longevity, and enhance safety of the performance in complex mechanical systems. Traditional sensor network for SHM relied on simple sensor behavior without considering uncertain factors from system and environment. A probabilistic sensing model is required to simulate the realistic and stochastic sensor performance in the sensor network design process. In this paper, we introduce reliability-based design optimization for piezoelectric sensor network considering the detectability of different failure modes. The proposed method diagnoses failure based on the Mahalanobis Distance (MD) suitable for many SHM processes, while considering the uncertainties from structure properties and operation condition. Kriging is applied for surrogate modeling of the stochastic sensor signal and reduce computational cost. The optimal piezoelectric sensor network design is prototyped and its failure detection capability is experimentally verified.
Estimation of DNA contamination and its sources in genotyped samples

Array genotyping is a cost-effective and widely used tool that enables assessment of up to millions of genetic markers in hundreds of thousands of individuals. Genotyping array data are typically highly accurate but sensitive to mixing of DNA samples from multiple individuals before or during genotyping. Contaminated samples can lead to genotyping errors and consequently cause false positive signals or reduce power of association analyses. Here, we propose a new method to identify contaminated samples and the sources of contamination within a genotyping batch. Through analysis of array intensity and genotype data from intentionally mixed samples and 22,366 samples of the Michigan Genomics Initiative, an ongoing biobank-based study, we show that our method can reliably estimate contamination. We also show that identifying sources of contamination can implicate problematic sample processing steps and guide process improvements. Compared to existing methods, our approach can estimate the proportion of contaminating DNA more accurately, eliminate the need for external databases of allele frequencies, and provide contamination estimates that are more robust to the ancestral origin of the contaminating sample.
An Atrial Fibrillation Transitions of Care Clinic Improves Atrial Fibrillation Quality Metrics.

Abstract Objectives This study sought to assess whether an atrial fibrillation (AF)–specific clinic is associated with improved adherence to American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) clinical performance and quality measures for adults with AF or atrial flutter. Background There are significant gaps in care of patients with AF, including underprescription of anticoagulation and treatment of AF risk factors. An AF specialized clinic was developed to reduce admissions for AF but may also be associated with improved quality of care. Methods This retrospective study compared adherence to ACC/AHA measures for patients who presented to the emergency department for AF between those discharged to a typical outpatient appointment and those discharged to a specialized AF transitions clinic run by an advanced practice provider and supervised by a cardiologist. Screening and treatment for common AF risk factors was also assessed. Results The study enrolled 78 patients into the control group and 160 patients into the intervention group. Patients referred to the specialized clinic were more likely to have stroke risk assessed and documented (99% vs. 26%; p Conclusions An AF specialized clinic was associated with improved adherence to ACC/AHA clinical performance and quality measures for adult patients with AF.
The Consuming Mob: Bargain Shopping in the City

AbstractThis paper examines the representation of the crowd as the consuming mob in the American department store in the early twentieth century. In store promotions and popular accounts, urban ret...
A method for the prediction of extreme wave loads on a fixed platform

Abstract Design of offshore platforms requires accurate prediction of the maximum wave loads due to slamming on the structure. The physical processes that influence the load include the propagation of irregular short-crested wind-driven storm seas, wave breaking, and wave-structure interaction. Furthermore, the ocean is a stochastic environment, so the load and its maximum can be considered as random variables. Ideally, the designer would like to know not only the most probable extreme load, but also the extreme load distribution. In this paper we use a novel technique to prescribe wave environments that lead to extreme responses so that high-fidelity simulations can be used to investigate highly-nonlinear processes in detail. Specifically, the dynamics of the relative motion of the sea surface and the platform is specified in terms of a sea spectrum, and the extreme-value probability distribution function (PDF) is calculated for a given exposure window in a storm. The novel aspect of the work is that a set of deterministic sea environments can be generated that are amenable for simulation with a state-of-the-art computational-fluid dynamics software. As an example to demonstrate the method, a set of 500 two-dimensional wave environments are simulated to estimate the extreme-value PDF of the vertical and horizontal loads on a fixed platform.
Native and Non-native Saints in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Irish-Language Charm Historiolas

An examination of surviving healing charm texts originating in Ireland between 1700 and the mid-nineteenth century suggests a strong link between the contents of this corpus and a select few national saints (Columcille, Bridget, and Patrick) and international Catholic religious figures (Christ, Mary, and the Apostles). By contrast, local Irish saints, which otherwise figure so prominently in religious practices of the time, are significantly underrepresented in the Irish charm corpus of this time period. This essay looks at the long-term status of highly localized saints in religious and medical discourse, the effect of church centralization in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and the rise of select national saints as factors in this feature of the Irish charms.
Atomic structure of a mitochondrial complex I intermediate from vascular plants.

Respiration, an essential metabolic process, provides cells with chemical energy. In eukaryotes, respiration occurs via the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC) composed of several large membrane-protein complexes. Complex I (CI) is the main entry point for electrons into the mETC. For plants, limited availability of mitochondrial material has curbed detailed biochemical and structural studies of their mETC. Here, we present the cryoEM structure of the known CI assembly intermediate CI* from Vigna radiata at 3.9 A resolution. CI* contains CI's NADH-binding and CoQ-binding modules, the proximal-pumping module and the plant-specific γ-carbonic-anhydrase domain (γCA). Our structure reveals significant differences in core and accessory subunits of the plant complex compared to yeast, mammals and bacteria, as well as the details of the γCA domain subunit composition and membrane anchoring. The structure sheds light on differences in CI assembly across lineages and suggests potential physiological roles for CI* beyond assembly.
Ethics of genetic testing

Abstract Genetic testing has become more prevalent in medical practice, and with it comes ethical considerations. There are two states in which a physician reaches an ethical crossroad with genetic testing. The first is determining whether to order genetic testing for a patient. Like any diagnostic criteria, the physician assesses the patient history and may directly order a specific genetic test. Recently, however, a physician may also find that the patient brings the results of a direct-to-consumer (DTC) commercial company health-related genetic test into the office for discussion. Knowing the types of genetic testing and what the results may mean is paramount before ordering tests or returning results. Regardless, when returning results, the second ethical crossroad has been reached; namely, establishing how the results are conveyed to the patient and if there are any potential interventions and/or outcomes. Using a number of case studies, the authors highlight some ethical considerations of genetic testing that a physician needs to deliberate at each of these crossroads and how genetic testing may impact their patients mentally and physically. Although specialists in this space often deliberate these ethical topics, this article provides insight into genetic testing for those outside of the specialist setting.