cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conceptual Case for Assimilating Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Data Into the HAZUS-MH Earthquake Module

The study of the Earth as a system is being adopted widely by geoscientists. Numerical models and simulations are providing the capability to rapidly test hypotheses and make forecasts of complex geophysical behavior. International efforts are seeking to integrate existing and emerging Earth observation systems into a global network, with enhanced data distribution, models, and decision support tools. Remote sensing is poised to fulfil the increasing need for a synoptic framework. However, the desire to improve the connection between scientific research and societal benefits has not been matched with resources and tools required to bridge the gap between research and applications. Natural hazards research and disaster management are a prime example. Here, we present a conceptual case for how interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data could make a definitive contribution to understanding earthquake processes while simultaneously supporting policy- and decision-making. InSAR measurements derived from time series of radar observations from Earth orbit uniquely can provide geographically comprehensive maps of surface deformation. Observing system simulations are suggested to evaluate the potential contributions of a future system. Simulations would adopt an open seismic hazard analysis (SHA) framework, OpenSHA, recognizing the need for more physics-based modeling and computational infrastructure. SHA is employed by the HAZUS-MH earthquake module to estimate losses. InSAR measurements of strain accumulation would provide event magnitude recurrence bounds for probabilistic SHA, while coseismic InSAR measurements would add constraints on fault rupture models for deterministic approaches. Moreover, interferograms would be incorporated graphically as proxy seismic risk maps for planning and mitigation
Extracting spatiotemporal and semantic events from documents

The methods demonstrated through this work support automated annotation of spatiotemporal semantic event information associated with natural hazards, such as power outages, cancellations, and emergency response associated with hurricanes, floods, or drought as reported in web news reports.
Why are Delaware and New York Bankruptcy Reorganizations Failing

In recent years, about 70% of the large, public firms that file for reorganization choose the bankruptcy courts of Delaware (about 55%) or New York (about 15%). In an earlier study, LoPucki and Kalin found that firms emerging from those courts refiled bankruptcy at rates four to seven times the rate for firms emerging from other U.S. bankruptcy courts. The study reported in this paper examines all 98 firms emerging as public firms from the bankruptcies of large, public firms in U.S. bankruptcy courts from 1991 to 1996, the period of Delaware's ascendency. Using four measures of failure, refiling, business discontinuation, post-bankruptcy earnings, and plan failure, this study finds rates of Delaware failure ranging from two to ten times the rates of Other Court failure in the five years after emergence. New York's failure rates were between those of Delaware and Other Courts. The study concludes that firms emerging from Delaware and New York reorganizations fail more often. Prefiling characteristics of the firms, including measures of their sizes and levels of financial distress, were not related to failure. Nor were there important measurable differences in the firms choosing Delaware or New York and those choosing Other Courts. The study concludes that characteristics of the filing firms do not cause Delaware and New York's high failure rates. The study discovered five characteristics of the reorganization process that may contribute to Delaware's higher failure rates. Delaware reorganization appears not to fix the business; firms emerge from Delaware reorganization with higher leverage; prepackaged cases fail heavily in Delaware but not in Other Courts; Delaware reorganization is faster; and Delaware plans are simpler. The paper concludes that the causes of Delaware's high failure rates are endogenous to Delaware's reorganization process. Large public firms in financial distress are flocking to the bankruptcy courts least likely to reorganize them successfully.
Lithium Lanthanum Titanium Oxides: A Fast Ionic Conductive Coating for Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes

This work introduces Li–La–Ti–O (LLTO), which is a fast lithium-ion conductor, as an effective coating material for cathode materials used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. This fast Li-ion conductor is characterized by first-principles calculations showing low activation barrier for lithium diffusion at various different lithium concentrations. The morphology and the microstructure of the pristine electrode and coated electrode materials are characterized systematically, and we show clear evidence of the presence of the coating after electrochemical cycling. The coated electrodes show significantly improved rate capabilities and cycling performance, compared to the pristine electrodes. The possible reasons for such enhancements are explored experimentally using potentiostatic intermittent titration technique (PITT), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Because of the high lithium conductivity in the LLTO coating material, the chemical Li+ diffusion coefficient is one magnitude of order high...
Raman studies of laser‐ablated ETFE (tefzel®) films

An ethylene–tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) copolymer film exposed to 266 nm radiation from a Nd: YAG laser (fourth harmonic) shows visible evidence of damage to the film surface in the form of blackened areas. Evidence for backbone damage to the polymer is indicated by Raman spectroscopy. MicroRaman spectroscopy of the blackened areas yields the spectrum of a carbonaceous structure superposed on the spectrum of the polymer film. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) allows the spectrum of the damaged area to be obtained without spectral interference from the underlying film, with the resultant spectrum similar to SERS spectra of graphite fibers. The carbonaceous layer is not electrically conductive, and scanning electron microscopy shows the ablated areas to be severely cracked and discontinuous.
Respiratory Status of Seventy-Four Habitual Marijuana Smokers

Previous studies of the long-term effects of habitual marijuana smoking on respiratory status and lung function have yielded conflicting results. In the present study, lung function tests obtained in 74 regular marijuana smokers (duration of smoking > two-five years; frequency of smoking three days/week to several times/day) who denied intravenous narcotic drug abuse were compared with similar tests performed in two groups of control subjects. One group consisted of individuals tested in a mobile laboratory who were computer-matched to the marijuana smokers for anthropometric characteristics and quantity and duration of tobacco smoking; the other group was comprised of 41 nonsmokers of marijuana who were tested in the same laboratory as the marijuana smokers. Paired and unpaired t analyses revealed lower values for specific airway conductance (–0.07 to –0.08 ± 0.02; P 2 750–1250 . When non-tobacco smoking marijuana users (n = 50) were matched with either non-tobacco smoking or tobacco smoking control subjects, significant differences were again noted in specific airway conductance (P 2 750–1250 . These results suggest that habitual smoking of marijuana may cause mild, but significant, functional impairment predominantly involving large airways which is not detectable in individuals of the same age who regularly smoke tobacco. The clinical implications of these findings await further study.
Atrial fibrillation and ethnicity: the known, the unknown and the paradox

Current understanding of the pathophysiology and epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) is based primarily on studies in White populations of European ancestry with limited data on the non-White populations. Many traditional and novel risk factors for AF have been already established. However, little is known about the differential impact of these AF risk factors in non-White versus White populations. Few studies have compared the prevalence and incidence of AF in Black versus White individuals, and still fewer extended this comparison to other races and ethnicities. These few studies consistently reported that Black individuals have lower AF burden compared with their White counterparts. These findings are not consistent with the reported high stroke rates in Black populations and the strong association between stroke and AF. In this perspective we argue that differential AF underascertainment among different racial and ethnic groups may be the key in explaining this paradox of racial/ethnic distribution of AF. Results from recent publications suggest that Black individuals would have higher rates of AF if more sensitive AF detection methods are used. Although these findings do not reach the level of definitive evidence, they may support the need for rethinking the epidemiology of AF across races and ethnicities in the context of the limited methodology available to detect AF, as well as the questionable assumption that the ability to diagnose AF across different racial/ethnic groups is the same.
Composite scaffold provides a cell delivery platform for cardiovascular repair

Control over cell engraftment, survival, and function remains critical for heart repair. We have established a tissue engineering platform for the delivery of human mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) by a fully biological composite scaffold. Specifically, we developed a method for complete decellularization of human myocardium that leaves intact most elements of the extracellular matrix, as well as the underlying mechanical properties. A cell–matrix composite was constructed by applying fibrin hydrogel with suspended cells onto decellularized sheets of human myocardium. We then implanted this composite onto the infarct bed in a nude rat model of cardiac infarction. We next characterized the myogenic and vasculogenic potential of immunoselected human MPCs and demonstrated that in vitro conditioning with a low concentration of TGF-β promoted an arteriogenic profile of gene expression. When implanted by composite scaffold, preconditioned MPCs greatly enhanced vascular network formation in the infarct bed by mechanisms involving the secretion of paracrine factors, such as SDF-1, and the migration of MPCs into ischemic myocardium, but not normal myocardium. Echocardiography demonstrated the recovery of baseline levels of left ventricular systolic dimensions and contractility when MPCs were delivered via composite scaffold. This adaptable platform could be readily extended to the delivery of other reparative cells of interest and used in quantitative studies of heart repair.
Teaching Hypervisor Design, Implementation, and Control to Undergraduate Computer Science and Computer Engineering Students

The study of design issues and implementation techniques for hyper visors is becoming an increasingly important aspect of operating systems pedagogy. There is a demand for students, especially in the field of information assurance, who understand the security issues exposed by the improper use of virtualization functionality provided by modern processors and how virtualization can be exploited to improve system security. Furthermore, students need to understand the process isolation vs. performance tradeoffs that must be made when designing hyper visors. This paper describes the experience of the authors in teaching a single-semester course to undergraduate students in designing, implementing, and debugging a hyper visor for an Intel 64 processor. Advanced topics in the course include how to capture and manage I/O and interrupt events in the hyper visor. The paper also discusses the use of a PCIe-based hardware module for monitoring and debugging the hyper visor implementation.
Comparison of radical prostatectomy techniques: open, laparoscopic and robotic assisted

ABSTRACT Introduction: To review the current status of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) and robotic assisted radical prosta-tectomy (RALP) in relation to radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) in the management of localized prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Between 1982 and 2007 published literature was reviewed using the National Library of Medicine database and the following key words: retropubic, laparoscopic, robotic, robot-assisted, and radical prostatectomy. Special emphasis was given to the technical and cost considerations as well as operative, functional and oncologic outcomes. In particular, reports with pioneering work that have contributed to the evolution of the technique, presenting comparative outcomes and with large series encompassing intermediate/long term follow-up, were taken into account. Results: After intermediate term follow-up, LRP and RALP achieved similar oncologic and functional results compared to RRP. However, LRP and RALP were associated with decreased blood loss, faster convalescence and better cosmetics when compared to RRP. The RALP technique is undoubtedly more expensive.
Gecko Adhesion as a Model System for Integrative Biology, Interdisciplinary Science, and Bioinspired Engineering

Geckos possess a superlative climbing adaptation in the form of hierarchical arrays of adhesive nanostructures on the underside of their toes. These structures permit rapid, robust, and reliable adhesion to nearly any substrate during full-speed locomotion. We review the fundamental principles and properties of this system, describe its ecological and evolutionary aspects, and offer our assessment of the field alongside suggestions for future research in this direction.
Effects of adrenergic and muscarinic receptor stimulation on serum potassium concentrations and myocardial electrical stability

The influence of adrenergic and muscarinic receptor activation on cardiac electrical stability and on serum potassium concentrations was studied in 23 anaesthetised dogs. The ventricular fibrillation threshold was assessed using the single stimulus technique. Adrenaline (1.0 μg·kg−1·min−1) caused a brief rise and a subsequent prolonged fall in serum potassium concentration, which was accompanied by a decline in ventricular fibrillation threshold when baroreceptor activation was prevented. After pretreatment with the betai adrenoceptor blocking agent metoprolol (0.5 mg·kg−1), adrenaline did not alter vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation but still elicited hypokalaemia. In contrast, selective beta2 adrenoceptor blockade (ICI 118551, 100 μg·kg−1) prevented the adrenaline induced lowering of serum potassium concentration but not of ventricular vulnerability. Muscarinic receptor activation by methacholine (3.0 μg·kg−1·min−1) had no effect on serum potassium concentration but increased the ventricular fibrillation threshold by 30%. When methacholine was administered concomitantly with adrenaline the decline in serum potassium concentration persisted, but the increase in ventricular vulnerability was completely prevented. It is concluded that in the normal canine myocardium adrenaline produces an increase in vulnerability that is mediated through beta1 adrenoceptors and that the beta2 adrenoceptor mediated hypokalaemia is dissociated from electrophysiological effects of adrenaline. Parasympathetic nervous system activation does not influence serum potassium concentrations but opposes the effects of adrenaline on susceptibility to ventricular fibrillation.
Three-dimensional pattern of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the caudate nucleus of the cat

Recent anatomical investigations of the mammalian neostriatum have uncovered discrete neurochemical zones characterized by low levels of AChE and high levels of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (ELI) compared with the surrounding neostriatal tissue. These regions, termed striosomes, which appear as patches in individual sections, have been associated with specific afferent and efferent pathways that differ from those of the surrounding neostriatal tissue. In the present study, the 3-dimensional distribution of these enkephalin-rich compartments in the caudate nucleus of the adult cat was investigated using computer-assisted 3-dimensional reconstruction techniques. Series consisting of coronal, sagittal, and horizontal tissue sections were obtained. In individual sections, discrete patches of intense enkephalin-like immunoreactivity appeared against a lighter-staining background. Three-dimensional reconstructions revealed that these patches overlapped across sections to form a highly inter-connected structure within the head and body of the caudate nucleus. Several structural features were evident in these reconstructions that appeared to be similar across animals. One consistent pattern was the formation of enkephalin-labeled finger-like structures radiating from the ventricular edge diagonally across the width of the nucleus. Smaller crossbridges were seen connecting the fingers, which often resulted in the formation of claws or rings of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity. These elements appear to align across planes to form a lattice-like structure outlining continuous regions of matrix. This structure may provide a basis for the orderly interaction between the patch and matrix compartments.
Regional health care planning: a methodology to cluster facilities using community utilization patterns

Community-based health care planning and regulation necessitates grouping facilities and areal units into regions of similar health care use. Limited research has explored the methodologies used in creating these regions. We offer a new methodology that clusters facilities based on similarities in patient utilization patterns and geographic location. Our case study focused on Hospital Groups in Michigan, the allocation units used for predicting future inpatient hospital bed demand in the state’s Bed Need Methodology. The scientific, practical, and political concerns that were considered throughout the formulation and development of the methodology are detailed. The clustering methodology employs a 2-step K-means + Ward’s clustering algorithm to group hospitals. The final number of clusters is selected using a heuristic that integrates both a statistical-based measure of cluster fit and characteristics of the resulting Hospital Groups. Using recent hospital utilization data, the clustering methodology identified 33 Hospital Groups in Michigan. Despite being developed within the politically charged climate of Certificate of Need regulation, we have provided an objective, replicable, and sustainable methodology to create Hospital Groups. Because the methodology is built upon theoretically sound principles of clustering analysis and health care service utilization, it is highly transferable across applications and suitable for grouping facilities or areal units.
Brennan and Walsh Reconsidered (Mutt and Jeff Ride Again)

Geoffrey Brennan and Cliff Walsh contrast the different transfer patterns of Pareto-optimal redistribution of income resulting from our model (American Economic Review, 1969) and from the model used by von Furstenberg and Mueller (FM). They attempt to show that our model is inconsistent and that, when corrected, would produce a similar transfer pattern to that of FM. We argue that our paper was more general than they allege and that the differences between the transfer patterns in our model and that of FM reflect differences in the concept of horizontal equity and assumptions about utility interdependence, and not any inconsistency on our part.
Projected Spending on Psychotropic Medications 2013–2020

Spending on psychotropic medications has grown rapidly in recent decades. Using national data on drug expenditures, patent expirations, future drug development and expert interviews, we project that spending will grow more slowly over the period 2012–2020. The average annual increase is projected to be just 3.0 % per year, continuing the steady deceleration in recent years. The main drivers of this expected deceleration include slower development of new drugs, upcoming patent expirations which will lower prices, and payers’ growing ability to manage utilization and promote generic use. The slowdown will relieve some cost pressures on payers, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.
Establishing a Role for Polysomnography in Hospitalized Children

Abstract Background Children with medical complexity have a high prevalence of sleep disorders. However, outpatient polysomnography to evaluate for these conditions may be difficult to perform because of lack of skilled nursing care. The aim of this study was to explore polysomnography indications in hospitalized children and assess its impact on patient care. Methods Data from 85 inpatient polysomnographies of 70 children hospitalized between March and December 2014 were retrospectively collected. Results Sixty percent of patients were boys with ages 6.5 ± 6 years. Chronic respiratory failure was present in 33.8%, airway obstruction due to defects of the tracheobronchial tree or craniofacial abnormalities in 54.3%, neurological complications of the perinatal period in 22.9%, genetic syndromes and neurodegenerative disorders in 31.4%, congenital myopathies in 5.7%, metabolic diseases in 4.3% and congenital cyanotic heart defects in 4.3%. Indications for polysomnography included assessment of chronic pulmonary disease (60%), ventilator requirements (41.2%), apnea/desaturation (23.5%), and acute life-threatening events (1.2%). Abnormal results were found in 89.4%. The observed diagnosis was obstructive sleep apnea in 64.7%, signs of chronic lung disease in 34.1%, hypoventilation in 9.4%, periodic breathing in 3.5%, and periodic limb movement of sleep in 4.7%. The following interventions were performed: adjustment of ventilator parameters (45.8%), positive airway pressure initiation (24.7%), otorhinolaryngology referral (30.6%), supraglottoplasty (2.4%), tracheostomy decannulation (2.4%), and tracheostomy placement (3.5%). Nine patients had available follow-up polysomnograms, all showing improvement in sleep variables after adherence to recommended interventions. Conclusions In individuals with complex medical disorders, inpatient polysomnographies give invaluable information to guide immediate medical decision making and should be strongly considered if resources allow this.
In Defense of Victim Impact Statements

This paper provides a comprehensive justification of "victim impact statements" in criminal sentencing, explaining how such statements are important to crime victims and how the critics of such statements fail to grapple with the need for these statements to victims.
Autonomic Fail-over for a Software-Defined Container Computer Network.

The ITRI container computer is a modular computer designed to be a building block for constructing cloudscale data centers. Rather than using a traditional enterprise data center network architecture, which is typically based on a combination of Layer 2 switches and Layer 3 routers, the ITRI container computer’s internal interconnection fabric, called Peregrine, is a software-defined network specially architected to meet the scalability, fast fail-over and multi-tenancy requirements of these data centers. Peregrine uses as the underlying physical interconnect a mesh of commodity off-the-shelf Ethernet switches, and adopts a centralized network control architecture that operates these Ethernet switches as a coordinated distributed data plane. Compared with vanilla enterprise networks, Peregrine features a fast fail-over capability not only for network switch/link failures, but also for failures of its own control servers. This paper describes the design and implementation of Peregrine’s fault tolerance mechanisms, and shows their effectiveness using empirical performance measurements taken from a fully working Peregrine prototype under various failure scenarios.
Animation, Sport and Culture

The critical study of sport has displayed increasing sophistication in its treatment of representation and media. Film has attracted some attention as a topic and tool of analysis recently as well;...
Depression of serotonin and norepinephrine levels in brain stem of rabbit by ethanol.

SummaryEvidence is presented which indicates that intravenous infusion of 2 g/kg of ethanol produced depression of both serotonin and norepinephrine levels in the brain stem of rabbit. The parallel depletion of both neurohormones persisted long after ethanol had disappeared, an effect which is reminiscent of the action of reserpine. Chronic administration of alcohol for 7 days produced 50% decrease in both serotonin and norepinephrine levels in rabbit brain stem.
Simulation of Painted Lady and Green Cloverworm Damage to Soybeans

Field studies were conducted during 1974–75 to simulate painted lady, Cynthia cardui (L.), and green cloverworm, Plathypena scabra (F.), damage to soybeans. Leaf rolling, characteristic of painted lady damage, had little effect on soybean yield. Defoliation-induced yield reductions during the 2-trifoliate leaf and full-bloom stages were additive. Reductions in bean weight per plot usually resulted from reduction in the number of pods per plot. Substantial yield differences observed between treatments during 1974 and 1975 were attributed to adverse 1974 growing conditions.
How to Obtain Efficient Exact Designs from Optimal Approximate Designs

During the last decade most statistical general purpose packages have included a module for experimental design. These modules offer a wide variety of designs with built-in-structure, such as Graeco-Latin squares, factorial designs, Plackett-Burman-Designs, orthogonal arrays, block designs, balanced incomplete block designs, and rotatable designs, but there are only a few routines found which investigate the optimality aspect of designs.
Health surveys of 573 cases of female engaged in noise jobs in Zhaoqing City

Objective This paper is aim to observe the effect of productive noises on the health of female workers.Methods First,573 female workers engaged in noise jobs are selected as the observation group,who were occupational health examines in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January to December in 2013.Second,460 female workers for non-noise are selected as a control group.Results The test results of the occupational health examinations for the two groups are used to make detailed statistical analysis.It shows that women in observation group are hearing loss and the prevalence of hypertension,abnormal electrocardiogram cases,irregular menstruation,neurasthenic syndrome an digestive diseases(which prevalence is 21.6%、17.6%、9.9%、15.5%、50.9%、10.1%)are higher than the control group(which prevalence is11.7%、10.7%、3.9%、6.1%、16.3%、3.6%).The difference was statistically significant(P0.01)and is related with working years and protective measures.Conclusions Noise can cause more system damage of the female workers'bodies.Attention should be paid to this problem and strengthen relate health education.
Medical Loss Assessment and Resolution Mechanisms of the Aged in Different Areas from the Perspective of Medical Insurance Division

Medical insurance division is a huge obstacle to the aged in different areas. Based on the analysis of off-site pension difficulties, we chose different methods to estimate and predict the scale off-site elders, and correspondingmedical loss. From area division, institution division, management division, people division these four perspectives, an-alyze the reason of medical loss. Thus, we put forward three projects which in order to solve medical loss, and comparethree projects from those targets, content, advantages, disadvantages and cost efficiency aspects. Furthermore, we preferan optimal solution that build a unified national basic medical insurance. Finally, supporting reform measures such assector management collaboration, a national health insurance information platform will be proposed.
Involvement of pharmacy faculty in the development of policies for pharmaceutical sales representatives.

BACKGROUND Few studies evaluating the impact of the pharmaceutical industry on postgraduate medical education have been done. Recently, position statements and professional guidelines have emerged to ensure the integrity of physician-industry relationships in the areas of clinical judgement, research, and medical education. METHODS The present study surveyed directors of family practice residency programs in the United States to define the level of pharmacotherapy curriculum development and the existence of policies for pharmaceutical sales representatives. RESULTS Of the 383 directors, 325 (85%) responded to a mailed survey. Nearly one third (32%) of the responding programs had pharmacist faculty, the majority of whom held a doctor of pharmacy degree. Approximately 30% of programs reported that they had printed guidelines for pharmaceutical sales representatives. CONCLUSIONS Programs with pharmacist faculty are more likely to have a well-developed pharmacotherapy curriculum and printed guidelines for pharmaceutical sales representatives.
AIDS: an update.

Although there is no epidemiologic evidence for increased spread of the disease to non-high-risk groups, many investigators speculate that AIDS may be caused by an infectious agent that can be transmitted through blood or blood products. If this hypothesis proves to be correct, dramatic public measures will have to be implemented with respect to blood banking policies.
The Media and the Far Right in Western Europe: Competing over German Identity: Conservatives and the Nonvisible Far Right

Historical legacy makes alarmism the natural companion of scholarly efforts to map the electoral trajectory of the German Far Right. But a quick glance at the postwar German electoral landscape suggests no reason for alarm: The German Far Right has never managed to gain national legislative representation. This contrasts with the striking advances of the Far Right in Austria, a country that shares Germany's Nazi past; enjoys similar levels of socioeconomic development; has an analogous political party and media system; and has a comparable culture. With the Austrian experience in mind, then, the first task of this chapter is to account for the noticeable failure of the German Far Right. Given the advance of the Far Right elsewhere in Europe, it is tempting to attribute this failure to the traumas and memories of National Socialism and their impact on German political culture. But a closer examination of German politics reveals the intense partisan competition over German history and identity, which is concealed by arguments about German exceptionalism. Moreover, it exposes a small but noticeable variation in Far Right performance since the late 1970s, which some observers of German politics tend to miss. The second and more tedious task of this chapter is to account for this variation by analyzing, as before, how party and media behavior has affected the electoral fortunes of the Far Right. Investigating the electoral fortunes of the German Far Right necessitates a departure from conventional explanations for Far Right performance.
Production Aspects: Employment, Manpower, and Productivity

Production aspects of the book industry are in a state of perpetual mobility, with printed books facing strong competition from virtual space, Print on Demand (PoD), and e-books technologies. Our empirical analysis attempts to reconcile contrary views about increasing and constant returns to scale, using generally available data and standard econometric techniques. We embrace both the simple Cobb-Douglas and CES models of production. The Cobb-Douglas model indicates constant returns with weak statistical results, while the CES model indicates increasing returns. The overall results are subject to wide interpretation, underscoring a monopolistic structure, or a bilateral monopolistic model. The results also reached with modern discussion of increasing returns, which is normally sourced to the socialization of modern technological advances.
Commentary: Promoting systems understanding

This commentary on the special issue, entitled Models and Tools for Systems Learning and Instruction, highlights the accomplishments of the papers in this collection. It also points to some avenues for further strengthening research on promoting systems understanding. Collectively, the papers make advances in our understanding of how to design learning environments to foster systems understanding, how to develop teacher adeptness at orchestrating learning in these environments, and what processes mediate learning within the environments. The papers represent a diversity of methods for measuring learners’ systems understanding, with different kinds of tasks and largely different coding categories for classifying responses; research could be advanced through systematic investigation of these different types of assessment and how they affect findings. Further progress could also be achieved through more detailed descriptions of instructional interventions and through incorporating more design-based research techniques to identify which features of learning environments are responsible for successes and failures in students’ learning.
Importance of composite parameters in enhanced power conversion efficiency of Terfenol-D/PZT magnetoelectric gyrators

A gyrator that is capable of current-to-voltage conversion can be realized with a magnetoelectric (ME) composite of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric phases placed in a coil. Here, we report the dependence of the power conversion efficiency (PE) on the relative thickness of the two ferroic phases in a gyrator of Terfenol-D and PZT. Both experimental and theoretical results on PE as a function of composite parameters, such as thickness ratio of the ferroic layers (n), magnetic field bias (HBias) and several gyrator parameters, such as the resistance load (RL), were discussed. By decreasing the thickness ratio of Terfenol-D to composite (n = 0.28) in coil-ME gyrators, a high power efficiency of 73.9% was found at a fundamental resonance frequency of 72.5 kHz under a HBias of 1000 Oe and RL = 2.6 kΩ in experiments. At the same time, the non-linear mechanical loss was reduced by decreasing the value of n which resulted in a flat response over a wide HBias range. This improved power efficiency promises ME gyrato...
CPU-GPU System Designs for High Performance Cloud Computing

Improvement of parallel computing capability will greatly increase the efficiency of high performance cloud computing. By combining the powerful scalar processing on CPU with the efficient parallel processing on GPU, CPU-GPU systems provide a hybrid computing environment that can be dynamically optimized for cloud computing applications. One of the critical issues in CPU-GPU system designs is the so called memory wall, which denotes the design complexity of memory coherence, bandwidth, capacity, and power budget. The optimization of the memory designs can not only improve the run-time performance but also enhance the reliability of the CPU-GPU system. In this chapter, we will introduce the mainstream and emerging memory hierarchy designs in CPU-GPU systems, discuss the techniques that can optimize the data allocation and migration between CPU and GPU for performance and power efficiency improvement, and present the challenges and opportunities of CPU-GPU systems.
Tradeoffs in Capstone Design Courses Involving More Than One Discipline [Senior Design]

According to a 2015 survey, 5% of capstone design course instructors indicated that their courses involve students from more than one engineering discipline [1]. Students in these courses may hear presentations on topics of common interest and work together on project teams that require knowledge and skills from more than one discipline. Some courses make use of occasional breakout sessions in which discipline-specific topics (such as U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations) of greater value to students in a particular discipline are presented during class sessions where only students of that discipline meet [2].
Epistemic justification and the ignorance excuse

One of the most common excuses is ignorance. Ignorance does not always excuse, however, for sometimes ignorance is culpable. One of the most natural ways to think of the difference between exculpating and culpable ignorance is in terms of justification; that is, one’s ignorance is exculpating only if it is justified and one’s ignorance is culpable only if it not justified (call this the justification thesis). Rosen (J Phil 105(10):591–610, 2008) explores this idea by first offering a brief account of justification, and then two cases that he claims are counter examples to the justification thesis. The aim of this paper is to defend the justification thesis against Rosen’s two cases. The argument will proceed in the following way. First, I clarify a few things about the nature of culpable ignorance generally and why the justification thesis is so intuitive. I then present Rosen’s purported counterexamples. Once this is done, I argue that Rosen misses an important view of justification in the epistemology literature that I call the pragmatic view. I present a general picture of the pragmatic view, and explain how it fits naturally with our practices of criticizing people’s beliefs, including claims of culpable ignorance. Finally, I address Rosen’s cases arguing that, if the pragmatic view is right, then Rosen’s cases are not counterexamples to the justification thesis.
Abstract 19225: Sustained Release of VEGF via PLGA Nanoparticles Improves Vascularization in vitro and in vivo

Introduction: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has a leading role in the angiogenic process and is a promising agent to promote revascularization in the infarcted heart. Several clinical t...
Perspectives: Antitrust Policy And Real Health Care Reform

Hospital leaders agree with Sen. Howard Metzenbaum on one thing: Health care reform is long overdue. But the senator’s notions about reform seem to be based on the outmoded competitive models of the past. Antitrust law reflects the legislative judgment that competition will produce not only lower prices but also better goods and services. But any observer of the health care scene in the 1980s knows differently. To the contrary: We have competition to thank for the medical arms race, with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device on every corner, and for the most rapid escalation in health care costs this nation has ever seen. Although competition may tend to keep prices low and quality high if you’re selling persimmons or personal computers, the rules are somewhat different when you’re trying to save lives and keep people healthy. There is a better way to gain control over health care costs while providing access to care for all Americans and keeping quality high: collaboration. We need to give hospitals, doctors, and other providers incentives to work together more closely than ever for the good of their communities. And that means adapting antitrust policy to allow providers to eliminate excess capacity as well as wasteful and costly duplication of equipment and services. Collaboration does not have to raise prices. More likely, the opposite will be true. In December 1992 an administrative law judge dismissed a suit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the merger of
Daily inspiratory muscle training lowers blood pressure and vascular resistance in healthy men and women.

NEW FINDINGS What is the central question of this study? What impact does inspiratory muscle training have on systemic vascular resistance, cardiac output and baroreflex sensitivity in adult men and women? What is the main finding and its importance? Inspiratory muscle training exerts favorable effects on blood pressure, vascular resistance and perception of stress. This exercise format is well-tolerated and equally effective whether implemented in men or women. ABSTRACT Previous work has shown that inspiratory muscle training (IMT) lowers blood pressure after a mere 6 weeks, identifying IMT as a potential therapeutic intervention to prevent or treat hypertension. Here, we explore the effects of IMT on respiratory muscle strength and select cardiovascular parameters in recreationally active men and women. Subjects were randomly assigned to IMT (n = 12, 75% maximal inspiratory pressure) or sham training (n = 13, 15% maximal inspiratory pressure) groups and underwent a 6-week intervention comprising 30 breaths day-1 , 5 days week-1 . Pre- and post-training measures included maximal inspiratory pressure and resting measures of blood pressure, cardiac output, heart rate, spontaneous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity and systemic vascular resistance. We evaluated psychological and sleep status via administration of the Cohen-Hoberman inventory of physical symptoms and the Epworth sleepiness scale. Male and female subjects in the IMT group showed declines in systolic/diastolic blood pressures (-4.3/-3.9 mmHg, P < 0.025) and systemic vascular resistance (-3.5 mmHg min l-1 , P = 0.008) at week 6. There was no effect of IMT on cardiac output (P = 0.722), heart rate (P = 0.795) or spontaneous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (P = 0.776). The IMT subjects also reported fewer stress-related symptoms (pre- versus post-training, 12.5 ± 8.5 versus 7.2 ± 9.7, P = 0.025). Based on these results, we suggest that a short course of IMT confers significant respiratory and cardiovascular improvements and parallel (modest) psychological benefits in healthy men and women.
Blast loading of bumper shielded hybrid two-core Miura-ori/honeycomb core sandwich plates

Abstract We analyze transient elasto-plastic deformations of two-core sandwich plates with and without a bumper and subjected to blast loads with the objective of ascertaining the energy dissipated due to plastic deformations. The facesheets and the core are assumed to be made of a high strength steel modeled as an isotropic material that obeys the von Mises yield criterion with linear strain hardening. It is first shown that considering a material failure criterion and deleting failed elements does not noticeably affect the energy dissipated in a sandwich plate. Subsequent analyses of two-core structures with and without a blast shield ignore the material failure and assume facesheets to be perfectly bonded to the core. The nonlinear transient problems have been numerically analyzed with the commercial finite element software, ABAQUS/ Explicit. Four different two-core sandwich plates obtained by varying locations of the Miura-ori and honeycomb cores are considered. Results without a shield indicate that using a Miura-ori core beneath the topmost facesheet dissipates more energy for moderate blast loads, while a combination of a honeycomb and a Miura-ori core has the least facesheet deflections. The effects of using a blast shield or a bumper, at a fixed standoff distance from a honeycomb-Miura sandwich panel, is studied by ensuring that the shield and the sandwich structure combination has the same areal density as the sandwich panel without the shield. It is found that for a given blast load, using the shield significantly reduces the energy dissipated in the sandwich panel, the bottom facesheet maximum centroidal deflection and the maximum plastic strain in the cores when compared with equal-weight panels without a shield. For the same energy dissipation, the structure with a blast shield has approximately 42% less weight than that without the shield.
A Space-Time Discontinuous Galerkin Spectral Element Method for Nonlinear Hyperbolic Problems

A space-time discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method is combined with two different approaches for treating problems with discontinuous solutions: (i) adding a space-time dependent artificia...
Privacy, Security and Trust in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing refers to the underlying infrastructure for an emerging model of service provision that has the advantage of reducing cost by sharing computing and storage resources, combined with an on-demand provisioning mechanism relying on a pay-per-use business model. These new features have a direct impact on information technology (IT) budgeting but also affect traditional security, trust and privacy mechanisms. The advantages of cloud computing—its ability to scale rapidly, store data remotely and share services in a dynamic environment—can become disadvantages in maintaining a level of assurance sufficient to sustain confidence in potential customers. Some core traditional mechanisms for addressing privacy (such as model contracts) are no longer flexible or dynamic enough, so new approaches need to be developed to fit this new paradigm. In this chapter, we assess how security, trust and privacy issues occur in the context of cloud computing and discuss ways in which they may be addressed.
Contexts of Social Relationship Development Among Assertive Community Treatment Clients

This exploratory qualitative study examined contexts and processes of social relationship development as experienced by adults with schizophrenia participating in assertive community treatment (ACT) programs. Semistructured interviews with 20 ACT clients diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and 2 ACT staff members were analyzed using grounded theory analysis methods. Results showed that aside from contacts with family members and providers, participants' interactions with fellow mental health clients tended to dominate social interactions, and that this pattern appeared to be influenced by both the concentration of social opportunities in daily activities of service utilization and the ACT program emphasis upon facilitating relationships between clients. Participants described their relationships with other mental health clients in primarily positive terms, yet several participants expressed dissatisfaction and desired greater integration into mainstream social networks. Implications for mental health service delivery are discussed.
INTERACTION OF MONOLAYERS OF POLYVINYLPYRROLIDONE-POLYVINYL ACETATE GRAFT COPOLYMERS WITH P-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID DERIVATIVES

The penetration of monolayers of polyvinylpyrrolidone-polyvinyl acetate copolymers and of polyvinyl acetate by p-hydroxybenzoic acid and two of its esters was investigated by means of surface pressure measurement. There was correspondence between the relative effectiveness of the compounds in increasing the surface pressure of the monolayers and their activity at the air-water surface. The degree of penetration was also related to the vinylpyrrolidone content of the monolayers3 apparently because of hydrogen bonding with the phenolic group of the hydroxybenzoates.
Leveraging Public Judgment

In principle, policymakers in democratic political systems have always had reason to use public opinion as leverage in policy-making debates. However, the technological and political landscape defining today’s political system calls for discussion of how public officials should leverage public opinion in order to enhance the common good. Citizens also have an interest in leveraging public judgment into the policymaking process.