cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enzyme polymorphisms in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract A survey of allozyme variability in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, was conducted using samples collected throughout the species' range in North America. A substantial amount of variability was found, although heterozygosity estimates were considerably less than estimates for diploid non-hymenopterous species. The presence of this variability raises the possibility of multiple introductions of this ant to North America. Although based on a limited sample, our data indicate no differences in variability between individuals from monogynous and polygynous populations or between individuals from the Mobile, Alabama area (presumed point of introduction) and outside the area. Individuals from polygynous colonies shared all detected alleles with individuals from monogynous colonies indicating the lack of long-term reproductive isolation between the two types of populations.
Functional alterations in GABAergic fast-spiking interneurons in chronically injured epileptogenic neocortex

Progress toward developing effective prophylaxis and treatment of posttraumatic epilepsy depends on a detailed understanding of the basic underlying mechanisms. One important factor contributing to epileptogenesis is decreased efficacy of GABAergic inhibition. Here we tested the hypothesis that the output of neocortical fast-spiking (FS) interneurons onto postsynaptic targets would be decreased in the undercut (UC) model of chronic posttraumatic epileptogenesis. Using dual whole-cell recordings in layer IV barrel cortex, we found a marked increase in the failure rate and a very large reduction in the amplitude of unitary inhibitory postsynaptic currents (uIPSCs) from FS cells to excitatory regular spiking (RS) neurons and neighboring FS cells. Assessment of the paired pulse ratio and presumed quantal release showed that there was a significant, but relatively modest, decrease in synaptic release probability and a non-significant reduction in quantal size. A reduced density of boutons on axons of biocytin-filled UC FS cells, together with a higher coefficient of variation of uIPSC amplitude in RS cells, suggested that the number of functional synapses presynaptically formed by FS cells may be reduced. Given the marked reduction in synaptic strength, other defects in the presynaptic vesicle release machinery likely occur, as well.
MINORITIES AND WOMEN IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: 1973–1980

The 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act extended federal prohibitions against discrimination in hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, and other conditions of employment to state and local governments. This research examines the increase in the number of women and minorities employed by state and local governments between 1973 and 1980. It also examines the increase in the salaries of minorities and women during the same period. The total number of minorities and women in state and local government increased by 20 percent during this period. Most of this increase resulted from the hiring of women, particularly white women. Although the salaries of minorities and women increased more than 50 percent, the salaries of white males increased similarly. The salary gap between white males and minorities and women was not decreased significantly.
A new energy flux model in the DSMC-IP Method for Nonequilibrium Flows

A new energy flux model is proposed for use in the Information Preservation (IP) method. The primary objective of the present study is to relax the local thermal equilibrium assumption in the previous Information Preservation method. The new IP model is constructed by assuming that the real molecules represented by a simulation particle follow a Maxwellian distribution defined by the preserved velocity and temperature. The local velocity distribution function in a cell is then assumed to be the arithmetic average of all the Maxwellian distributions within the cell. Energy flux across a cell interface can therefore be evaluated analytically. Simulations of normal shock waves over a wide range of Mach number and in dierent gases are performed as examples. The results show that the density predicted by the new model is in very good agreement with other numerical methods and experimental measurements, whereas temperature and velocity are only in fair agreement.
Kinetics of the reaction between photolyzed sodium pentacyanonitrosylferrate(II) and sodium thiocyanate

Abstract The reaction of monochromatically photolyzed aqueous Fe(CN) 5 NO 2− solutions with thiocyanate ion has been found to yield the blue iron(III) complex Fe(CN) 5 SCN 3− , and nitric oxide. The rate determining step involves the formation of pentacyanothiocyanatoferrate(II) which is then rapidly oxidized by nitrite ion or nitrous acid to the final product. Concentrations of thiocyanate ion, pH and temperature were varied in determining the rate law.
The Papers of Henry Laurens and Modern Historical Documentary Editing

In early 2003 the Papers of Henry Laurens published the sixteenth and last volume of its letterpress edition. Since its inception over forty years ago, the project has been a microcosm of the changes that have occurred in historical documentary editing. The project pioneered the use of computers to create more accurate and comprehensive indexes. It went further than most projects in adopting a literal transcription policy. Over the past twenty years, the Laurens Papers' difficulties in maintaining a staff and producing volumes in the face of budget constraints mirror the problems faced by other projects as federal support for documentary editing has decreased or remained stagnant.
Pharmacists' Assessment of Dispensing Errors: Risk Factors, Practice Sites, Professional Functions, and Satisfaction

Certain demographic, practice, staffing, and pharmacist satisfaction variables may contribute to dispensing errors. A survey was randomly mailed to 7298 (50%) Texas pharmacists, of which 2862 were returned (39% response rate). Responders were 2437 pharmacists who indicated that they were in practice. Of these, 535 (23%) reported no risk to patients for dispensing errors and 793 (34%) reported at least one patient/week was at risk for such an error. There was a positive relationship between number of prescription orders filled/hour and the estimated risk of dispensing errors (r(s)=0.285, p<0.001). Pharmacists practicing in mail service pharmacies (risk score = 1.85 +/- 1.32), traditional chain store pharmacies (1.66 +/- 1.18), and hospital pharmacies (1.61 +/- 1.09) reported a higher risk than other groups. Pharmacists practicing in independent community pharmacies (0.75 +/- 0.84), home health care (0.83 +/- 0.99), grocery chain store pharmacies (1.30 +/- 0.96), and mass merchandise chain store pharmacies (1.30 +/- 1.08) reported a lower risk (H=260, df=8, p<0.001). Nine job satisfaction variables were strongly associated with the risk of dispensing errors (r(s) = between -0.3 and -0.422, p<0.001), as were prescription volume, practice site, staffing, training, pharmacist functions, and professional organization membership. The results of this survey should help pharmacists and management develop specific plans for reducing the risks of dispensing errors. These data should be useful for more in-depth study of such errors.
Phosphorus Deprivation Responses and Phosphonate Utilization in a Thermophilic Synechococcus sp. from Microbial Mats

ABSTRACT The genomes of two closely related thermophilic cyanobacterial isolates, designated Synechococcus isolate OS-A and Synechococcus isolate OS-B′, from the microbial mats of Octopus Spring (Yellowstone National Park) have been sequenced. An extensive suite of genes that are controlled by phosphate levels constitute the putative Pho regulon in these cyanobacteria. We examined physiological responses of an axenic OS-B′ isolate as well as transcript abundances of Pho regulon genes as the cells acclimated to phosphorus-limiting conditions. Upon imposition of phosphorus deprivation, OS-B′ stopped dividing after three to four doublings, and absorbance spectra measurements indicated that the cells had lost most of their phycobiliproteins and chlorophyll a. Alkaline phosphatase activity peaked and remained high after 48 h of phosphorus starvation, and there was an accumulation of transcripts from putative Pho regulon genes. Interestingly, the genome of Synechococcus isolate OS-B′ harbors a cluster of phn genes that are not present in OS-A isolates. The proteins encoded by the phn genes function in the transport and metabolism of phosphonates, which could serve as an alternative phosphorus source when exogenous phosphate is low. The phn genes were upregulated within a day of eliminating the source of phosphate from the medium. However, the ability of OS-B′ to utilize methylphosphonate as a sole phosphorus source occurred only after an extensive period of exposure to the substrate. Once acclimated, the cells grew rapidly in fresh medium with methylphosphonate as the only source of phosphorus. The possible implications of these results are discussed with respect to the ecophysiology of the microbial mats.
A performance analysis of trellis coded hybrid-ARQ protocols based on CRC error-detecting codes

A trellis coded, type-I hybrid-ARQ protocol using CRC codes as the error detecting mechanism is described and analyzed. Bounds on both the reliability and throughput performance are derived for AWGN channels and slowly fading Rician channels. Examples are included to illustrate the substantial gain achievable with the proposed system relative to ordinary FEC trellis coded systems. The performance of the proposed protocol is compared to a similar trellis coded hybrid-ARQ scheme based on side information within the decoding process. All analytical results are supported by data from a series of simulations. >
Proteinuria lowers the risk of amphotericin B-associated hypokalaemia

Objectives: Amphotericin B-induced nephrotoxicity is frequent, severe and associated with an increased risk of death. Patients with underlying renal disease are considered to be at high risk for amphotericin B nephrotoxicity. Amphotericin B is a molecule that is highly protein bound over a wide range of protein and drug concentrations, including those seen in patients with � 31 proteinuria. We hypothesized that amphotericin B treatment in patients with proteinuria will be associated with less hypokalaemia than patients with non-proteinuric renal disease. Methods: Thirty-six subjects who received amphotericin B deoxycholate were studied retrospectively. Twenty-five patients with proteinuria <3 g/L and 11 with proteinuria � 3 g/L were compared. Results: Hypokalaemia (K 1 <3.5 mmol/L) developed in 47.2% (17/36) of our cohort of patients. There was a 64% (16/25) incidence of hypokalaemia in the group with <3 g/L of proteinuria in contrast to an incidence of 9.1% (1/11) in the other group. Conclusions: In our study, heavy proteinuria appears to protect the tubular luminal membrane by decreasing the luminal concentration of free drug available to bind with the membrane. Our findings redefine the patient population deemed to be at risk of developing amphotericin B nephrotoxicity. This ensures the benefit of this important antifungal treatment option to patients with heavy proteinuria who might otherwise not be administered this drug due to the presence of pre-existing kidney disease.
Dynamic Pooling for Complex Event Recognition

The problem of adaptively selecting pooling regions for the classification of complex video events is considered. Complex events are defined as events composed of several characteristic behaviors, whose temporal configuration can change from sequence to sequence. A dynamic pooling operator is defined so as to enable a unified solution to the problems of event specific video segmentation, temporal structure modeling, and event detection. Video is decomposed into segments, and the segments most informative for detecting a given event are identified, so as to dynamically determine the pooling operator most suited for each sequence. This dynamic pooling is implemented by treating the locations of characteristic segments as hidden information, which is inferred, on a sequence-by-sequence basis, via a large-margin classification rule with latent variables. Although the feasible set of segment selections is combinatorial, it is shown that a globally optimal solution to the inference problem can be obtained efficiently, through the solution of a series of linear programs. Besides the coarse-level location of segments, a finer model of video structure is implemented by jointly pooling features of segment-tuples. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the resulting event detector has state-of-the-art performance on challenging video datasets.
QuARC: expressive security mechanisms

Security mechanisms in current distributed computer systems only allow a small range of security policies to be implemented. We present the QuARC (Quantitative Authentication, Rule-based roles and Committees) system, which uses some unusual mechanisms that allow it to implement a much wider variety of policies. This allows computer security policies to be much better aligned with organisational policies. The mechanisms discussed are quantitative authentication and vouching, rule-based roles with quantitative privileges, and committees. This paper provides an introduction to these mechanisms and shows how they are used in our system.
Ubiquitous mobile host internetworking

Argues that being a mobile host (or a mobile capable host) should be a standard property of all hosts in the Internet, and summarizes the design of a new protocol for transparently allowing these mobile hosts to interoperate in the Internet using IP. A mobile host may move from one network to another at any time, while always using only its "home" IP address. Any host may be configured to be a "mobile host" simply by running the appropriate software on it, and there is no penalty for this configuration, since the protocol automatically uses only the standard IP routing mechanisms, adding no overhead to IP, when a mobile host is currently connected to its home network. The protocol scales well to very large numbers of mobile hosts and adds little overhead for packets sent to a mobile host currently connected to a foreign network. The protocol is currently being implemented within the Berkeley networking code and is expected to be available shortly to interested groups outside Carnegie Mellon. >
Shame and Guilt among First-And Second-Generation Asian Americans and European Americans

Shame and guilt narratives of first-and second-generation Asian Americans and multigeneration European Americans were collected in semistructured interviews to learn how respondents perceive the phenomenology, function, and interpersonal dynamics of these emotions. This article focuses on the formal characteristics of shame episodes reported by members of these groups and offers an interpretive explanation for differences that involve respondents' conceptions of the self and related cultural practices. The analysis proposes that shame is at times embedded in a triadic structure for first generation Asian Americans comprised of the actor, a shamed other, and an audience. European American shame experiences, however, typically conform to a dyadic structure of actor and audience. Shame stories of second-generation Asian Americans contain elements of both emotion ecologies that may reflect a unique, bicultural adaptation. These findings are consistent with a cultural constructionist view of the emotions.
Native Americans, regional drought and tree island evolution in the Florida Everglades

This study uses palynologic data to determine the effects of regional climate variability and human activity on the formation and development of tree islands during the last ~4000 years. Although p...
Sedimentology and morphology of a low-sinuosity river: Calamus River, Nebraska Sand Hills

A study reach of the Calamus River, Nebraska Sand Hills, has a low sinuosity (less than 1.3) and braiding parameter (less than 1). Depending on sinuosity, the channel is occupied by alternate bars and point bars, the emergent parts of which form nuclei for midstream bars (islands). Channel migration occurs by bend expansion and translation, downstream and lateral growth of islands, and by chute cutoff. Channel-bed sediment is mainly medium-grained sand, but gravel and coarser sand sizes occur in thalweg areas adjacent to cutbanks and upstream parts of bars and islands, and finer sands occur on the downstream parts of bars and filling channels. Curved-crested dunes cover most of the channel bed at most flow stages, with ripples restricted to shallow areas near banks. Bed material is mostly large-scale cross-stratified, with small-scale cross-strata interbedded with plant debris occurring in topographically high areas near banks. Vibracores through channel bars show a basal erosion surface overlain by large-scale cross-stratified sands, in turn overlain by small-scale cross-stratified sand interbedded with plant debris. The overall sequence generally fines upwards, but the large-scale cross-stratified portion either fines upwards, coarsens upwards, or shows little grain size variation. Lithofacies distributions vary spatially within and between bars depending on position in the bar and local channel curvature/width, in a similar way to unbraided rivers elsewhere. Lithofacies of bar deposits are similar to those in the active channel, and the elevations of the basal erosion surface and adjacent channel thalweg correspond closely. Channels abandoned by chute cutoff are filled progressively from the upstream end, and comprise deposits similar to the downstream parts of bars (i.e. fining upwards). The downstream extremities of channel fills may contain large proportions of peat relative to sand, but little mud due to the paucity of such fine suspended load in the Calamus.
Mate choice by female red junglefowl: the issues of multiple ornaments and fluctuating asymmetry

The significance of multiple ornaments of male birds and other animals is currently not well understood. Male red junglefowl,Gallus gallus, possess a number of morphological traits that appear to be ornamental in nature. These traits include components of the colourful plumage and fleshy structures on the face and head, the single, medially-located comb, paired wattles and ear lappets. Some studies have implicated the comb in the mate choice decisions of female junglefowl, and some have also indicated that plumage of males is not important in this regard. To test for a possible role of other male morphological ornaments in female mate choice, and to evaluate the earlier counterintuitive findings concerning male plumage, we controlled comb size, and experimentally manipulated plumage, wattles and ear lappets of male red junglefowl. We also tested responses of female junglefowl to asymmetry of bilaterally paired male ornaments by manipulating the symmetry of the paired wattles, ear lappets and the ornate hackle feathers of the neck. None of these manipulations provided evidence that female red junglefowl are sensitive to asymmetry of paired ornaments of males. A series of tests involving a male with pronounced body asymmetry likewise produced negative results. In contrast to some other studies on birds, we obtained no evidence that female red junglefowl use symmetry of either ornamental or non-ornamental traits in mate choice decisions. Comb size, the only male trait shown to be used by females, both in the present study and in some earlier ones, did not correlate significantly with natural asymmetry in any of several measured traits.
Biological and Economic Feasibility of Genetically Engineered Trees for Lignin Properties and Carbon Allocation

Soon, the only obstacle to applying recombinant DNA technology to trees will be our ignorance of the molecular basis of important traits. We propose criteria for selecting such traits and consider two examples with respect to these criteria.
Antipsychotic subtypes can be characterized by differences in their ability to modify GABAergic promoter methylation

Recent advances in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder research suggest that a dysfunction of GABAergic neurotransmission that is operative in telencephalic structures may be an important dynamic mechanism associated with psychosis. We propose that this dysfunction is probably mediated by the hypermethylation of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67), reelin and other gene promoters expressed in GABAergic neurons. A pharmacological strategy that reduces the hypermethylation of GABAergic promoters is to administer drugs (i.e., valproate [VPA]) that induce DNA demethylation by facilitating chromatin remodeling. The enhanced clinical efficacy of atypical antipsychotics when co-administered with VPA prompted us to investigate whether this increased drug efficacy is related to a modification of GABAergic promoter methylation via chromatin remodeling. Our previous and present results strongly suggest that when associated with VPA, clozapine or sulpiride, but not haloperidol or olanzapine, facilitate chromatin remod...
Cell checkpoints and enterocyte differentiation: a recipe for sequential stages Focus on “Caco-2 intestinal cell differentiation is associated with G1 arrest and suppression of CDK2 and CDK4”

THE COMPLICATED PROCESS of maturation and differentia- tion of cells has been difficult to unravel, and the absorptive intestinal epithelial cell (also known as the enterocyte) is no exception. Enterocytes proliferate from anchored stem cells in the crypts of Lieberkuh n by mitosis and migrate up the crypt while simultaneously maturing, expressing enzymes for luminal and intracel- lular digestion and absorption. Enterocytes later be- come senescent near the villus tips and are subse- quently sloughed into the lumen of the intestine. This process is completed in 3 to 7 days in humans. The billions of cells that comprise our absorptive interface are rapidly turned over to resupply critical proteins by cell renewal that are important for effective nutrient assimilation. Curiously, the process of proliferation, differentia- tion, and programmed senescence in the enterocyte is not well understood. A complex mix of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions likely play a role, modulated by growth factors, luminal factors, and perhaps hormones. The physiological presence of pancreatic enzymes and bile can also hasten the life span of the enterocyte. Indeed, after the advent of adverse conditions or injury, the enormous proliferative potential of the small intes- tine is awakened, summoning replacement enterocytes to populate damaged villi. This plasticity allows for complete recovery from the injury. An understanding of the control mechanisms for enterocyte proliferation and maturation is in its infancy. One reason for this is the inability to maintain normal enterocytes in culture for research study.
Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic: Speculations on Change in Research Processes

The skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic have evolved distinctly and negatively during this century. These changes have already begun to affect archivists and archival institutions. The need for what archives contain will remain, but the ability of many people to use archives effectively may be expected to diminish. Unless archivists are willing to move away from serving the whole population in a postliterate society, they will have to mediate between the users' needs and the documents' contents to a greater degree than they have in the past.
Optimization with Frequency Constraint

The use of allowable stress algorithms for a simple structural optimization problem with a single frequency constraint and a constant mass matrix is discussed. The mathematical properties of the eigenvalue problem are reviewed. An Allowable stress algorithm is stated and its properties discussed. Two simple examples are presented. The primary concern of this paper lies in placing allowable stress-type algorithms within the mathematical programming literature.
A search for small, deep earthquakes using quadripartite stations in the Andes

abstract To identify small, deep earthquakes in South America quadripartite nets of about one km in size were set up in Toconce, Chile and Cuzco, Peru. During the period of observation the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey identified two fairly large, deep earthquakes in northern Argentina within about a month by teleseismic observations, but neither foreshocks nor aftershocks associated with these earthquakes during the period of observation may indicate that there are comparatively few small, deep earthquakes as compared with shallow earthquakes. In Toconce, at the foot of the Andes, there was a systematic azimuthal distortion in apparent velocity and in direction of propagation, whereas in Cuzco, on the Altiplano, such a distortion was not found.
Termination of pregnancy with intrauterine devices

Because of the need for a safe, rapid, and technically simple technique for terminating pregnancies after the first trimester, three intrauterine device methods were compared: (1) Karmon coils, (2) Karman coils and balsa, and (3) rubber catheter. There was no significant difference in the abortion rates, mean abortion times, or frequency of complications among the three methods. Although the intrauterine device technique may be technically simpler than intra-amniotic injection of postaglandin Fxa or hypertonic saline, the relatively long abortion time and the need for second procedures to terminate the pregnancy appear to make it less practicable.
An Unusual Sequence of Molts and Plumages in Cassin's and Bachman's Sparrows

An examination of feather replacement and plumage wear in study skins of Aimophila cassinii and A. aestivalis showed a sequence of molts and plumages for both as follows: Juvenal body plumage is replaced soon after fledging by a partial molt that produces plumage of adult-like body feathers combined with juvenal remiges, rectrices and greater primary and secondary coverts. This plumage has a spotted breast pattern intermediate between the streaked juvenal and spotless adult patterns, and is completely replaced in the bird's first autumn by a molt of all body, wing and tail feathers. A prolonged body molt of low intensity lasts through the spring-autumn breeding season, replacing feathers in all areas of the body. During autumn, adults have a complete molt coinciding with the second molt of the young birds. The replacement of all pennaceous body plumage twice within a bird's first six months of age, and a molt of body feathers in adults throughout the breeding season have not been reported before for a North American passerine, nor was this pattern described in an earlier study of the molt of these species. It is suggested that these partial molts renew plumage that otherwise would become severely worn in the birds' abrasive habitats.
Fumonisin Mycotoxins: Their Origin and Effects on Livestock11Supported in part by USDA Animal Health Formula Funding. Reviewed by D. W. Cassard and T. W. White. Sponsored by R. Bates

Abstract Fumonisins are a group of mycotoxins produced primarily by Fusarium moniliforme , a fungal strain prevalent in corn crops worldwide. Cultures of F . moniliforme are hepatocarcinogenic in the rat and are the causative agent of equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) and acute porcine pulmonary edema (PPE). Surveys of animal feeds from confirmed cases of ELEM and PPE indicate that most outbreaks can be traced to the consumption of corn screenings. Natural outbreaks of these syndromes are described as well as experimental evidence that links the fumonisins to the etiology of these diseases. Consumption of grains contaminated with F. moniliforme has been linked to the high incidence of human esophageal cancer in certain regions of South Africa and China. The chronic effects of fumonisins in pigs include hyperkeratosis of the distal esophagus and nodular hyperplasia of the liver. However, more research is needed to investigate the effects of fumonisins on aspects such as feed intake and rate of weight gain in pigs. Any possible implications on human health must be carefully evaluated in the near future as more data become available and as analytical methods are improved.
Pharmacogenetic study of serotonin transporter and 5HT2A genotypes in autism

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) and serotonin-2A receptor (HTR2A) genes are associated with response to escitalopram in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Forty-four participants with ASD were enrolled in a 6 week, forced titration, open label examination of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram. Doses increased at weekly intervals starting at 2.5mg daily with a maximum possible dose of 20 mg daily achieved by the end of the study. If adverse events were experienced, participants subsequently received the previously tolerated dose for the duration of study. SLC6A4 (5-HTTLPR) and HTR2A (rs7997012) genotype groups were assessed in relation to treatment outcomes and drug doses. Results: Insistence on sameness and irritability symptoms significantly improved over the course of the 6 week treatment period (p<0.0001) in this open-label trial. There were no significant differenc...
Nurturing Self-Regulated Learners: Teacher, Peer, and Parental Support of Strategy Instruction

AbstractCurrent educational needs call for learners who are self-directed and able to engage in problem solving and higher order thinking. However, most students are not getting explicit and systematic instruction to promote development of learning strategies that can advance these goals. Educators need to cultivate strategy instruction techniques that facilitate students’ acquisition of learning strategies and consider how structured opportunities for teacher scaffolding, peer collaboration, and parental involvement can further this effort.
Some Reflections at the End of the Workshop

Random observations stimulated largely by the presentations at the Workshop focus on binary and ternary interactions, the effects of the rotation-induced properties of single molecules on the collision-induced spectra, and the modifications of a widely used detailed balance condition for the vibrational bands. Existing desymmetrization procedures are compared in their ability to generate a close approximation of quantum profiles from the (symmetric) classical profiles computed from identical induced dipole and potential models. A synopsis is attempted of the presentations concerned with the irreducible ternary dipole components.
Elevated carbon dioxide has the potential to impact alarm cue responses in some freshwater fishes

Freshwater fish behaviors have the potential to be impacted by acidification due to increases in dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2). Recent work in the marine environment suggests that increased CO2 levels due to climate change can negatively affect fishes homing to natal environments, while also hindering their ability to detect predators and perform aerobically. The potential for elevated CO2 to have similar negative impacts on freshwater communities remains understudied. The objective of our study was to quantify the effects of elevated CO2 on the behaviors of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) following exposure to conspecific skin extracts (alarm cues). In fathead minnows, their response to conspecific skin extracts was significantly impaired following exposure to elevated CO2 levels for at least 96 h, while silver carp behaviors were unaltered. However, fathead minnow behaviors did return to pre-CO2 exposure in high-CO2-exposed fish following 14 days of holding at ambient CO2 levels. Overall, this study suggests there may be potential impacts to freshwater fishes alarm cue behaviors following CO2 exposure, but these responses may be species-specific and will likely be abated should the CO2 stressor be removed.
Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures in the United States: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to document the distribution of out-of-pocket medical spending among individuals aged 55 and over in the US. The HRS data permit us to examine out-of-pocket spending close to the end of life and to analyse the components of spending in more detail than has been done in previous studies. We find that spending risk rises sharply at older ages and near the end of life. While the median individual spent $6,328 out-of-pocket in the last year of life, 5 per cent were reported to have spent over $62,040. Our results also indicate that out-of-pocket spending is highly concentrated, with the top 10 per cent of spenders accounting for 42 per cent of all spending, and persistent, even over periods spanning many years. Finally, while certain categories of spending are very responsive to income and wealth, we do not find overall spending to be highly concentrated along these dimensions. Viewed within the international context, our results suggest that the fraction of households facing very high out-of-pocket spending is substantially greater in the US than in other developed countries.
Engineering a Formal, Executable x86 ISA Simulator for Software Verification

Construction of a formal model of a computing system is a necessary practice in formal verification. The results of formal analysis can only be valued to the same degree as the model itself. Model development is error-prone, not only due to the complexity of the system being modeled, but also because it involves addressing disparate requirements. For example, a formal model should be defined using simple constructs to enable efficient reasoning but it should also be optimized to offer fast concrete simulations. Models of large computing systems are themselves large software systems and must be subject to rigorous validation. We describe our formal, executable model of the x86 instruction-set architecture; we use our model to reason about x86 machine-code programs. Validation of our x86 ISA model is done by co-simulating it regularly against a physical x86 machine. We present design decisions made during model development to optimize both validation and verification, i.e., efficiency of both simulation and reasoning. Our engineering process provides insight into the development of a software verification and model animation framework from the points of view of accuracy, efficiency, scalability, maintainability, and usability.
Implied Role Mining

This chapter introduces the notion of implied role mining, where a researcher defines the set of roles that users of a system are expected to exhibit before extensive data or structural analysis commences. It is a more kind of qualitative, rather than quantitative, way to evaluate and extract the latent roles in a system. The chapter introduces the implied role mining process with examples from studies over Usenet. It concludes with an analysis of the implied role mining approach.
Dynamic optimization using control vector parameterization with state transition algorithm

In real-world applications, a majority of optimization problems belong to dynamic optimization, which involves optimization over time and whose underlying space is infinite-dimensional. In this paper, a novel dynamic optimization technique based on state transition algorithm (STA) is investigated to solve dynamic optimization problems (DOPs). Firstly, an infinite dynamic optimization problem is converted into a finite nonlinear programming problem (NLP) based on the control vector parameterizations (CVP), in which, instead of discretizing both state and control variables, only the control profiles are approximated by piecewise constant functions. Then, a stochastic global method is proposed to solve the resulting nonlinear programming problem based on state transition algorithm. By applying it in two well-known dynamic optimization instances, simulation results show that the proposed approach is able to obtain similar or even better performance indicators compared with other methods in terms of computational cost, solution accuracy and stability.
A Simulation Approach to the PERT/CPM Time-Cost Trade-Off Problem:

The traditional method of crashing Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) networks ignores the stochastic nature of activity completion times, reducing the stochastic model to a determinist...
Quasiparticles in Extended Systems — A Coupled-Cluster Approach

Extended electronic systems (crystals, polymers, etc.) can be conveniently described using the language of the quantum field theory1,2. In this approach one treats the ground state of a system as a “vacuum” with respect to which quasiparticles, representing excited states, are defined. A quasiparticle is characterized by its energy and, usually, by some symmetry labels such as wave vector, spin, charge, etc. When an extended system is studied within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (i.e., it is assumed that the electrons are decoupled from the phonons) the basic quasiparticles are “electrons” and “holes” (the quotation marks are used here to distinguish between quasiparticles and free particles), treated as elementary particles corresponding to the Fermi-Dirac statistics. Depending on the system studied other quasiparticles: excitons, plasmons, or magnons may also appear.
China’s political system in the 1990s

Analysts differ greatly in their assessments of the long-term stability of the Chinese political system. This article argues that China’s probable future is one of continued political muddling through, but some developments—especially the political succession—could radically change this. The article also examines two questions that are not adequately addressed by the focus on political stability: the types of relationships that will develop between the rapidly growing coastal areas and the more slowly advancing interior; and the efficacy of the polity in dealing with looming environmental and demographic crises. To address these problems, this article assesses respectively the political system’s overall strengths, deficiencies, and challenges in the coming years.
Accreditation and Assessment: The Basics for Nuclear Medicine Technology Educators

This article presents a high-level overview of accreditation and assessment in higher education and is designed to provide nuclear medicine technology educators with a foundational knowledge of this topic. This foundation will help educators understand accreditation and assessment at the college or university level and the program level by discussing key terminology and exploring the concept of a culture of assessment.
Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 Thin Films Synthesized by Cosputtering and Rapid Thermal Annealing: Effects of Composition and Temperature

In this paper we study the structural properties of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) synthesized by cosputtering binary sulfide followed rapid thermal annealing (RTA) as functions of temperature and composition. By annealing identical samples at different temperatures we were able to find the optimum temperature for annealing samples in our RTA furnace. With this information, we annealed samples with a variety of discrete compositions at the optimum temperature to study the compositional differences on the optical, electrical and the structural differences on CZTS thin film crystallization. Samples were evaluated by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Sample rich in Cu tended to form areas of CU 2-x S. It was confirmed that Sn loss during annealing increases with increased annealing temperature. Samples rich in tin before annealing grew larger grains indicating that Sn can also playa role in grain growth.
Improving L-BFGS Initialization for Trust-Region Methods in Deep Learning

Deep learning algorithms often require solving a highly non-linear and nonconvex unconstrained optimization problem. Generally, methods for solving the optimization problems in machine learning and in deep learning specifically are restricted to the class of first-order algorithms, like stochastic gradient descent (SGD). The major drawback of the SGD methods is that they have the undesirable effect of not escaping saddle-points. Furthermore, these methods require exhaustive trial-and-error to fine-tune many learning parameters. Using the second-order curvature information to find the search direction can help with more robust convergence for the non-convex optimization problem. However, computing the Hessian matrix for the large-scale problems is not computationally practical. Alternatively, quasi-Newton methods construct an approximate of Hessian matrix to build a quadratic model of the objective function. Quasi-Newton methods, like SGD, require only first-order gradient information, but they can result in superlinear convergence, which makes them attractive alternatives. The limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (L-BFGS) approach is one of the most popular quasi-Newton methods that construct positive-definite Hessian approximations. Since the true Hessian matrix is not necessarily positive definite, an extra initialization condition is required to be introduced when constructing the L-BFGS matrices to avoid false negative curvature information. In this paper, we propose various choices for initialization methods of the L-BFGS matrices within a trust-region framework. We provide empirical results on the classification task of the MNIST digits dataset to compare the performance of the trust-region algorithm with different L-BFGS initialization methods.
Agent-based modeling for casualty rate assessment of large event active shooter incidents

The 1999 Columbine attack changed police response to the active shooter incidents (ASI) by the public and first responder’s tactics and training. With FBI data suggesting ASI events increasing, this study offers an AnyLogic models to understand mitigation actions such as Run.Hide.Fight. Our model represents a general densely populated area, such as public transportation terminal or indoor arena. Model agents include civilians, police, and shooter agents interact with the following parameters: civilian evacuation time, the response of police, firearm discharge by the shooter and police. The casualty rates vary from 85 to 1 causalities when the shooter’s rate of discharge was 1 to 60 seconds, respectively. The model as developed was shown to provide a method to evaluate and compare actions such as adequacy of training, introduction of technology into public buildings and the general design of public spaces to reduce the impact of ASI events.
Multi-task deep learning architecture for semantic segmentation in EO imagery (Conference Presentation)

Semantic segmentation deep learning architectures provide incredible results in segmentation and classification of various scenes. These convolutional-based networks create deep representations for classification and have extended connected weight sets to improve the boundary characteristics of segmentation. We propose a multi-task architecture for these deep learning networks to further improve the boundary characteristics of neural networks. Basic edge detection architectures are able to develop good boundaries, but are unable to fully characterize the necessary boundary information from the imagery. We supplement these deep neural network architectures with specific boundary information to remove boundary features that are not indicative of the boundaries of the classified regions. We utilize various standard semantic segmentation datasets, like Cityscapes and MIT Scene Parsing Benchmark, to test and evaluate the network architectures. When compared to the original architectures, we observe an increase in segmentation accuracy and boundary recreation using this approach. The incorporation of multi-task learning helps improve the semantic segmentation results of the deep learning architectures.
Tremor-Active Controller for Dielectric Elastomer-Based Pathological Tremor Suppression

Pathological tremor causes involuntary motion that impairs a person’s ability to function in daily activities. Typical treatments are not always effective and have inherent risks and side effects. Since tremor manifests itself as a mechanical motion, it may be possible to suppress tremor mechanically. Tremor suppression with dielectric elastomer actuators may improve clinical implementation potential by increasing human body compatibility. Dielectric elastomers are relatively soft and compliant, enabling low-profile implementations that conform to the human joint. However, dielectric elastomers also have relatively low actuation levels. This article develops a control approach that only actuates to suppress tremor, allowing the human motor system to overcome the passive actuator dynamics. This control approach leverages the low mechanical impedance of dielectric elastomers to compensate for their low actuation levels. The controller employs a zero-phase filter to estimate the tremor signal and an adaptive feedback gain to minimize active influence on the voluntary motion. Numerical simulations demonstrate excellent and robust tremor suppression. These theoretical results motivate future applied research toward dielectric elastomer-based tremor suppression. The proposed system can establish a path toward significant improvements in user comfort, device profile, and scalability—all factors that currently prohibit the clinical use of mechanical tremor suppression.
Underinvestment and Slow Growth: PWBM Concedes Flaws

The U.S. economy is growing more slowly than it can and should be growing because it does not invest enough in infrastructure, science, and education. There is an important procedural obstacle to funding public investments — a process of scoring the economic effect of legislation. This process is driven by assumptions that are biased in favor of low taxes and against public investment. This budget scoring process systematically underestimates the benefits of public investment and systematically overstates the costs of taxation and debt. The power of the budget scoring process to derail legislation that would fund public investment is amplified by a think tank, the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM). The PWBM assumes that taxes and debt have devastating effects on economic growth and assumes away much of the benefit of public investment. These strong assumptions are not consistent with the breadth of estimates in relevant empirical literature. The director of the PWBM, Kent A. Smetters, recently responded to criticisms. This article summarizes the original critique of flaws in the PWBM analysis and discusses PWBM’s response (or non-response) to each substantive point. Readers may wish to review the original critique before proceeding. For the original critique, see: Michael Simkovic, Biased Budget Scoring and Underinvestment, 166 Tax Notes Federal 757 (2020), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3539734.
Engagement in Cognitively Stimulating Activities Mediates the Relationship between Openness and Attention/Executive Functions, but Not Memory in Older Adults

Objective Openness has a positive association with cognitive functioning and engagement in cognitively stimulating activities (CSA). Older adults who engage in more CSA tend to show greater preservation of their cognitive skills; thus, we examined whether: higher Openness would be associated with higher attention/executive functions (AEF) and verbal memory; and CSA would mediate the relationship between Openness and AEF, as well as verbal memory. Method 477 community-dwelling older adults (65+ years) were included in the current cross-sectional study. Composite variables of AEF (TMT-AB c': β = .02, 95%CI = .01-.03). The mediation of Openness, CSA, and verbal memory was not significant (c: β = .06, p > .05, 95%CI = .01-.11; c': β = .00, 95%CI = -.01-.01). Conclusions The association between Openness and AEF, but not verbal memory, was partially mediated by CSA in healthy older adults. The findings suggest that those who are more open to and highly engaged in CSA may have a later in life advantage in preserving their AEF abilities.