cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Pilot Investigation of the Association Between Eye-Tracking Patterns and Self-reported Reading Behavior

Eye-tracking data combined with post-task debriefing was used in an exploratory usability study of two different stimuli: cover letters for a Web survey and the login page of the survey. Eye-tracking metrics in the form of fixation duration and number of fixations per character were combined with a post-task debriefing to analyze participants’ information acquisition while reading the stimuli. Results show that participants read the letter and recalled salient portions of it. However, in the letter condition, while the eye-tracking data did not highlight any usability issues, the post-task debriefing identified areas of the letter that caused participants confusion. In the online Web survey condition, participants did not look at much beyond the center of the screen where the username and password fields were located. The post-task debriefing corroborated the eye-tracking data as the participants mentioned primarily focusing on the login information of the Web site.
Compassion, Mindfulness, and the Happiness of Healthcare Workers

Context Decreased well-being of healthcare workers expressed as stress and decreased job satisfaction influences patient safety, patient satisfaction, and cost containment. Self-compassion has garnered recent attention due to its positive association with well-being and happiness. Discovering novel pathways to increase the well-being of healthcare workers is essential. Objective This study sought to explore the influence of self-compassion on employee happiness in healthcare professionals. Design, Setting, and Participants A total of 400 participants (mean age = 45 ± 14, 65% female) healthcare workers at a large teaching hospital were randomly asked to complete questionnaires assessing their levels of happiness and self-compassion, life conditions, and habits. Measures Participants completed the Happiness Scale and Self-Compassion Scales, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire as well as variables associated with well-being: relationship status, the number of hours spent exercising a week, attendance at a wellness facility, and engagement in a regular spiritual practice. Results Self-compassion was significantly and independently associated with perceived happiness explaining 39% of its variance after adjusting for age, marital status, gender, time spent exercising, and attendance to an exercise facility. Two specific subdomains of self-compassion from the instrument used, coping with isolation and mindfulness, accounted for 95% of the self-compassion effect on happiness. Conclusion Self-compassion is meaningfully and independently associated with happiness and well-being in healthcare professionals. Our results may have practical implications by providing specific self-compassion components to be targeted in future programs aimed at enhancing well-being in healthcare professionals.
Keys to the genera of grasses of Costa Rica

Because our recent field work has added many genera to the known grass flora of Costa Rica and because older publications useful for the identification of Central American grasses are no longer available, these keys are offered for use and trial. They represent a first step toward the publication of a grass flora of Costa Rica. The author will appreciate suggestions which might aid in the improvement of these keys.
Critical Guidelines for U.S.-Based Counselor Educators when Working Transnationally: A Delphi Study

U.S.-based counselor education faculty increasingly are participating in transnational experiences, such as global research and study abroad. The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines for U.S.-based counselor educators when working transnationally. Using Delphi methodology, 69 consensus guidelines were developed from an expert panel. Implications for the counseling profession are discussed.
The relationship of accreditation and student engagement in a college of business: An internal, multi-year comparison of high impact practices

Abstract This study examines a college of business at a regional university, according to High Impact Practices on the National Survey of Student Engagement as compared to student engagement at the regional university as a whole. Seven years of data across five High Impact Practices for both the college of business as well as its greater regional university were examined using a two-proportion z-test. The study concluded that the college of business was more stable than the greater university across four of the High Impact Practices. This study reveals that a college of business may function as an independent entity from its greater university concerning High Impact Practice participation which may be contextualized by the accreditation process. Specifically, the unique attributes of programmatic accreditation, as opposed to the institutional accreditation that all colleges and programs within a university must satisfy, may change behaviors related to student engagement.
Do invasive dreissenid mussels influence spatial and temporal patterns of toxic Microcystis aeruginosa in a low-nutrient Michigan lake?

ABSTRACTGaskill JA, Woller-Skar MM. 2018. Do invasive dreissenid mussels influence spatial and temporal patterns of toxic Microcystis aeruginosa in a low-nutrient Michigan lake? Lake Reserv Manage. 00:00–00.Invasive dreissenid mussels enable harmful Microcystis blooms in low-nutrient lakes not historically accustomed to high cyanobacteria densities. Here, we examined patterns in Microcystis and microcystin spatially across Little Traverse Lake, Michigan, and temporally over the course of the lake's bloom. Because Microcystis spends part of its life cycle in the sediment, we included benthic and surface densities in our study. We also looked at the spatial relationship between dreissenid biomass and Microcystis density using local and global statistics and found that the clear relationship previously demonstrated to exist between these 2 taxa on the lake scale does not seem to be maintained on a finer, site scale. Distributions of Microcystis (surface and benthic) and microcystin in the lake were largely r...
Assembly of supermassive black hole seeds

We present a suite of six fully cosmological, three-dimensional simulations of the collapse of an atomic cooling halo in the early Universe. We use the moving-mesh code arepo with an improved primordial chemistry network to evolve the hydrodynamical and chemical equations. The addition of a strong Lyman-Werner background suppresses molecular hydrogen cooling and permits the gas to evolve nearly isothermally at a temperature of about 8000 K. Strong gravitational torques effectively remove angular momentum and lead to the central collapse of gas, forming a supermassive protostar at the center of the halo. We model the protostar using two methods: sink particles that grow through mergers with other sink particles, and a stiff equation of state that leads to the formation of an adiabatic core. We impose threshold densities of $10^8$, $10^{10}$, and $10^{12}\,\text{cm}^{-3}$ for the sink particle formation and the onset of the stiff equation of state to study the late, intermediate, and early stages in the evolution of the protostar, respectively. We follow its growth from masses $\simeq 10\,\text{M}_\odot$ to $\simeq 10^5\,\text{M}_\odot$, with an average accretion rate of $\langle\dot{M}_\star\rangle \simeq 2\,\text{M}_\odot\,\text{yr}^{-1}$ for sink particles, and $\simeq 0.8 - 1.4\,\text{M}_\odot\,\text{yr}^{-1}$ for the adiabatic cores. At the end of the simulations, the HII region generated by radiation from the central object has long detached from the protostellar photosphere, but the ionizing radiation remains trapped in the inner host halo, and has thus not yet escaped into the intergalactic medium. Fully coupled, radiation-hydrodynamics simulations hold the key for further progress.
The Local and the Global in Zanzibar´S Educational Policy

In 2006, Zanzibar endorsed a new Educational and Training policy that was based on an evaluation of the Zanzibar Education Master Plan for the years 1996 to 2006. The new policy is entitled “Zanzibar Basic Education Improvement Project” (ZABEIP). The background for the new policy was that Zanzibar’s educational program had achieved a number of successes but had unresolved problems in such areas as quality education, pre-primary childhood education and literacy.
A Realization for a Generic Controller in Production Planning Hierarchies

This paper provides an enhanced hierarchical decomposition for the production planning problem. The proposed decomposition schema combines the principles of both a temporal decomposition and a disaggregation procedure to define the production planning hierarchy. Three levels of hierarchical decision-making are defined to which the concept of a generic controller as proposed by Davis, Jones and Saleh [8] is applied to each decisionmaking level. The defined production planning hierarchy has been formulated to rigorously address the uncertainties that are inherent to the production planning problem. Within each application of the generic controller at a given decision-making level, it is proposed that an integrated, stochastic decision-making approach as defined by Thompson and Davis [17] be employed. In addition, the frequency and content of coordinative information exchanges among the hierarchical levels have been augmented. Finally, a discussion of the essential planning horizons required for each production-planning level to interact with other manufacturing functions has been provided.
Mitochondrial Diagnostics: A Multiplexed Assay Platform for Comprehensive Assessment of Mitochondrial Energy Fluxes.

Summary Chronic metabolic diseases have been linked to molecular signatures of mitochondrial dysfunction. Nonetheless, molecular remodeling of the transcriptome, proteome, and/or metabolome does not necessarily translate to functional consequences that confer physiologic phenotypes. The work here aims to bridge the gap between molecular and functional phenomics by developing and validating a multiplexed assay platform for comprehensive assessment of mitochondrial energy transduction. The diagnostic power of the platform stems from a modified version of the creatine kinase energetic clamp technique, performed in parallel with multiplexed analyses of dehydrogenase activities and ATP synthesis rates. Together, these assays provide diagnostic coverage of the mitochondrial network at a level approaching that gained by molecular “-omics” technologies. Application of the platform to a comparison of skeletal muscle versus heart mitochondria reveals mechanistic insights into tissue-specific distinctions in energy transfer efficiency. This platform opens exciting opportunities to unravel the connection between mitochondrial bioenergetics and human disease.
Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Signaling Molecules-Dopamine Receptors Interactions in Living Cells.

The selective interaction of signaling compounds including neurotransmitters and drugs with the dopamine receptors (DARs) is extremely important for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report a method to probe the selective interactions of signaling compounds with D1 and D2 DARs in living cells using the combined approach of theoretical calculation and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). When signaling compounds such as DA, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and methylenedioxypyrovalerone interact with D1 dopamine receptors (DRD1), the intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) level is increased. However, the intracellular level of cAMP is decreased when D2 dopamine receptors (DRD2) interact with the abovementioned signaling compounds. In our experiments, we have internalized the silica-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNP@SiO2) in living cells to adsorb biologically generated cAMP which was probed by using SERS. Besides adsorptions of cAMP, AgNP@SiO2 has a crucial role for the...
Improving the estimation of educational attainment: New methods for assessing average years of schooling from binned data.

Background The accurate measurement of educational attainment is of great importance for population research. Past studies measuring average years of schooling rely on strong assumptions to incorporate binned data. These assumptions, which we refer to as the standard duration method, have not been previously evaluated for bias or accuracy. Methods We assembled a database of 1,680 survey and census datasets, representing both binned and single-year education data. We developed two models that split bins of education into single year values. We evaluate our models, and compare them to the standard duration method, using out-of-sample predictive validity. Results Our results indicate that typical methods used to split bins of educational attainment introduce substantial error and bias into estimates of average years of schooling, as compared to new approaches. Globally, the standard duration method underestimates average years of schooling, with a median error of -0.47 years. This effect is especially pronounced in datasets with a smaller number of bins or higher true average attainment, leading to irregular error patterns between geographies and time periods. Both models we developed resulted in unbiased predictions of average years of schooling, with smaller average error than previous methods. We find that one approach using a metric of distance in space and time to identify training data, had the best performance, with a root mean squared error of mean attainment of 0.26 years, compared to 0.92 years for the standard duration algorithm. Conclusions Education is a key social indicator and its accurate estimation should be a population research priority. The use of a space-time distance bin-splitting model drastically improved the estimation of average years of schooling from binned education data. We provide a detailed description of how to use the method and recommend that future studies estimating educational attainment across time or geographies use a similar approach.
Curriculum Guidelines for Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Statistical Science

Curriculum guidelines for a bachelor of arts degree in statistical science are proposed. These guidelines are intended for liberal arts colleges, and other institutions where statistics is taught in departments of mathematics. A flexible curriculum is described consisting of three main parts: mathematics, core statistical topics and a substantive area of study. The curriculum guidelines permit and actively encourage the rethinking of traditional courses and the development of new courses. Guidelines for a minor in statistical science are also proposed. The guidelines are the result of an Undergraduate Statistics Education Initiative workshop held in Alexandria, Virginia in April 2000.
Parent-adolescent bicycling safety communication and bicycling behavior.

Abstract Introduction Efforts to encourage bicycling to school have increased in the United States. However, little is known about how parent-child communication affects bicycle safety. The purpose of this study was to examine parent-child agreement on biking instructions and their correlation with the early adolescents’ real-world riding behavior. Methods Parent-child dyads were asked open-ended questions about instructions they had given/received about bicycling. Answers were then coded into nine categories (e.g., crossing the road, bicycle control/handling). Distributions of parent-child agreement on parent-given bicycle safety instructions were examined in relation to the adolescent’s real-world riding behaviors. Results 36 parent-child dyads were included. Average age was 11.9 (Range: 10–15) for adolescents and 43.3 (Range: 30–59) for parents. Common parental instructions included: wear helmet, ride on sidewalk, and trip routing specifications. High ‘ride on sidewalk’ instruction (38.9% both parent and adolescent, 22.2% parent only, 16.7% adolescent only) was concerning due to potential driveway conflicts. Agreement between parents and adolescents on reported instructions was low, overall. Mean safety-relevant event rates in real-world cycling did not differ significantly between bicycle safety instruction agreement groups (both parent & adolescent reported, parent only, adolescent only, neither). The proportion of time an adolescent rode on different infrastructure types (sidewalk, street, etc.) did not vary between dyads reporting parents had given instructions to ride on the sidewalk and those who had not. Conclusions Results highlight lack of agreement between parents and adolescents on cycling instructions the adolescent receives from the parent. Parent instructions to adolescents regarding bicycling safety were not associated with actual riding behaviors. Results suggest parent messaging to adolescents may be ineffective. Given parents are in a position of influence, results indicate a need for parental training on effective safety-related communication strategies to assist them in capitalizing on their parental role to increase their child’s safety.
Sox9 in mouse urogenital sinus epithelium mediates elongation of prostatic buds and expression of genes involved in epithelial cell migration

Previous studies identified Sox9 as a critical mediator of prostate development but the precise stage when Sox9 acts had not been determined. A genetic approach was used to delete Sox9 from mouse urogenital sinus epithelium (UGE) prior to prostate specification. All prostatic bud types (anterior, dorsolateral and ventral) were stunted in Sox9 conditional knockouts (cKOs) even though the number of prostatic buds did not differ from that of controls. We concluded that Sox9 is required for prostatic bud elongation and compared control male, control female, Sox9 cKO male and Sox9 cKO female UGE transcriptomes to identify potential molecular mediators. We identified 702 sex-dependent and 95 Sox9-dependent genes. Thirty-one genes were expressed in both a sex- and Sox9-dependent pattern. A comparison of Sox9 cKO female vs control female UGE transcriptomes revealed 74 Sox9-dependent genes, some of which also function in cell migration. SOX9 regulates, directly or indirectly, a largely different profile of genes in male and female UGE. Eighty-three percent of Sox9-dependent genes in male UGE were not Sox9-dependent in female UGE. Only 16 genes were Sox9-dependent in the UGE of both sexes and seven had cell migration functions. These results support the notion that Sox9 promotes cell migration activities needed for prostate ductal elongation.
Chapter 44 – Malignant Melanoma

Publisher Summary Melanoma is caused by solar radiation, but the details such as the nature and timing of the exposure and the dose required are not entirely clear. These malignancies are common in persons living nearer to the equator. Exposure to sunlight in the first few decades of life appears to be much more important than later exposure, even for tumors that appear in later life. Melanomas are especially common among persons with many large ordinary moles on their skin. They also occur in several individuals in the same family, and in families with a hereditary pattern of unusual moles. Specific genes are associated with the risk in some of these families. Malignant melanoma is as common in sunny Los Angeles County, despite the polyglot population, as it is in the uniformly white populations served by more northerly registries. In Los Angeles County, whites are at much higher risk than the members of other race/ethnicity groups, and incidence is very strongly linked to higher social class. The malignancy is again about half as common among men as women. The occurrence of malignant melanoma is determined by exposure to solar radiation, especially in the first several decades of life, and is reduced, as would be expected, by darker skin color. The striking geographical distribution of the disease is confounded by the racial/ethnic geography of Los Angeles County, but generally reflects this social class gradient.
Farm to Fashion: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Teaching Fiber Production, Sustainability, and Slow Fashion

A multidisciplinary approach that utilizes university programs and resources that have a direct impact on the development of fibers, fabric, and fashion. Through experiential learning, students gain an understanding and appreciation for regenerative farming, sustainability, organic fibers, natural dyes, textiles, and slow design.
Safety climate at agricultural cooperatives.

Abstract Introduction: This study identifies determinants of safety climate at agricultural cooperatives. Methods: An extensive survey was designed to build upon past research done in collaboration with DuPont (Risch et al., 2014). In 2014 and 2015, the survey was administered to 1930 employees at 14 different agricultural cooperatives with 154 locations. Injury incidence data were also collected from each location to better understand the overall health and safety environment in this sector. An ordered probit model is used to identify variables that are associated with better safety climates. Results: Safety system components such as discipline programs, inspection programs, modified duty programs, off-the-job safety training programs, and recognition programs are positively related to individual safety climate for both managerial employees and nonmanagerial employees. Variables representing an employee’s agricultural background, distance between their workplace and childhood home, and formal education are not associated with managerial safety climate. However, agricultural background and childhood home distance are associated with nonmanagerial safety climate. Conclusions: Improving occupational health and safety is a priority for many agricultural cooperatives. Lower safety climate emerges as nonmanagerial employees have more experience with production agriculture and work nearer to their home community. Practical applications: Employees of agricultural cooperatives face a host of health and safety challenges that are likely to persist into the future. The safety system components associated with safety climate indicate that continuous feedback is important for improving occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety programming should also acknowledge that many employees have experiences that influence their attitudes and behaviors.
Lytic characterization and application of listerial endolysins PlyP40 and PlyPSA in queso fresco

Abstract Queso fresco (QF) is a fresh Hispanic-style cheese that is commonly associated with the human foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and outbreaks of listeriosis in the United States. Endolysins, cell wall hydrolases derived from bacteriophages, are promising candidates for controlling bacterial pathogens in food systems. In this study, we characterized the lytic capabilities of 2 endolysins, PlyP40 and PlyPSA, under varying conditions (pH, temperature, salt concentration) and compared their activities with those of the previously described endolysin PlyP100. We showed that PlyP40 was effective, showing at least a 33% reduction in cellular debris, against a broader range of Listeria than PlyPSA, which showed little lytic activity toward Listeria strains not from serovar 4. Both endolysins were also capable of maintaining lytic activity to varying extents at refrigeration temperature. The effect of salt concentration and pH differed between PlyP40 and PlyPSA. Furthermore, we added the endolysins to QF and monitored their ability to control L. monocytogenes contamination over 28 d of cold storage. Both PlyP40 and PlyPSA were capable of lowering QF inoculum cell counts compared with the control; however, both were less effective than the previously characterized PlyP100. Further characterization of endolysins will continue to open opportunities to optimization and implementation in a variety of food matrices for controlling pathogen contamination.
Effect of moderate altitude on human cerebral metabolite levels: A preliminary, multi-site, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy investigation

Abstract Epidemiological studies show that altitude-of-residence is an independent risk factor for worsening rates of mood disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. Proton (1H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies in rodent models of moderate-to-high altitude exposure have documented significant alterations in total creatine, glutamate, and myo-inositol, neurometabolites involved in bioenergetic homeostasis and neuronal/glial cell function. This preliminary study utilized 3 Tesla 1H MRS to study anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and parietal-occipital cortex (POC) neurochemistry in healthy subjects residing in Utah (n = 19), Massachusetts (n = 10), and South Carolina (n = 10), to test the hypothesis that individuals residing at moderate altitude (Utah; 1,372 m) would show neurometabolite alterations vs. subjects living at sea level. Expressed as ratios to total N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), Utah participants showed lower ACC (p = 0.03) and POC (p
Ensemble learning-iterative training machine learning for uncertainty quantification and automated experiment in atom-resolved microscopy

Deep learning has emerged as a technique of choice for rapid feature extraction across imaging disciplines, allowing rapid conversion of the data streams to spatial or spatiotemporal arrays of features of interest. However, applications of deep learning in experimental domains are often limited by the out-of-distribution drift between the experiments, where the network trained for one set of imaging conditions becomes sub-optimal for different ones. This limitation is particularly stringent in the quest to have an automated experiment setting, where retraining or transfer learning becomes impractical due to the need for human intervention and associated latencies. Here we explore the reproducibility of deep learning for feature extraction in atom-resolved electron microscopy and introduce workflows based on ensemble learning and iterative training to greatly improve feature detection. This approach allows incorporating uncertainty quantification into the deep learning analysis and also enables rapid automated experimental workflows where retraining of the network to compensate for out-of-distribution drift due to subtle change in imaging conditions is substituted for human operator or programmatic selection of networks from the ensemble. This methodology can be further applied to machine learning workflows in other imaging areas including optical and chemical imaging.
Segmented Thermal Management with Flash Cooling for Heterogeneous Wafer-Scale Systems

Wafer-scale systems comprise a promising packaging technology that allows efficient system scaling for high-performance computing. These systems require high power density and ultra-high-heat flux removal to enable expected intensive compute workloads. Silicon Interconnect Fabric is a wafer-scale, fine-pitch heterogeneous integration platform that enables high package density by supporting dielet assembly at fine spacing. Fine-pitch integration in wafer-scale systems enables high packing density of dielets that leads to peak heat flux density up to 3 W/mm2. These requirements can vary significantly based on the needs of the heterogeneous components present in the system with an estimated total power delivery of 40 kW for a 300 mm system leading to an average heat flux density of 1 W/mm2. Segmented thermal management is supported by flash cooling - a dynamic, high-heat flux cooling technique to handle temperature peaks in high-performance electronic components. This two-phase cooling approach has shown to produce peak heat transfer coefficients of 50,000 W/m2K. A thermal management module is built on the Silicon Interconnect Fabric which consists of individual flash chambers of 40 mm x 40 mm each. These units can be individually designated to perform pulsed, anticipatory cooling, thus allowing zonal arrangement of heterogenous dielets. A detailed characterization of pulsed cooling and transient thermal response of individual flash chamber is reported.
Manipulation of Exciton Dynamics and Annihilation in Single-Layer WSe 2 using a Toroidal Dielectric Metasurface

We control the exciton dynamics and annihilation in single-layer WSe 2 coupled with a dielectric metasurface by tailoring the spectral overlap of excitonic and toroidal resonances.
13C metabolic flux analysis in cell line and bioprocess development

With an ever-increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals, there is a growing need for high-producing industrial cell lines. 13C metabolic flux analysis provides a comprehensive perspective of host metabolism by rigorously quantifying fluxes within intracellular metabolic networks. The characterization of production cell lines altered via metabolic engineering or media optimization can help to identify desirable metabolic phenotypes. Coupled with the advent of high-throughput mini bioreactor systems and expanded metabolic modeling capabilities, 13C flux analysis can provide an even more complete picture of intracellular metabolism. The resulting knowledge of desirable cellular traits and metabolic regulatory nodes offers new opportunities for the systematic identification of engineering targets to develop optimized cell lines and bioprocesses.
Understanding the Value and Potential of Nudging: Improving Well-Being and Reducing Socio-Economic Dysfunctions

The nudge concept developed by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein has turned out to be a very important one. The paper begins by considering the basic elements of the nudge concept as well as the philosophy of libertarian paternalism; it also considers later nudge writings, notably those by Sunstein. Based on this impressive foundation, the paper develops a number of important, novel insights related to the nudge concept. The purpose of nudges, of course, is to improve people’s well-being. To create nudges that are truly beneficial for a person or for a society is not a trivial task; it requires wisdom and intelligent reflection. Two kinds of nudges, educative and noneducative, create a number of kinds of human capital that are an essential part of an economy’s capacity. The human capital deriving from nudges contributes to a nation’s soft infrastructure which complements a nation’s hard infrastructure. Most nations suffer to some extent from severe socio-economic dysfunctions that derive from behavioral market failures and involve deeply embedded negative patterns. Advanced industrialized nations, for example, are particularly afflicted by high rates of obesity related to negative eating and lifestyle patterns associated with the advance of “civilization.” There is reason to believe that “higher level nudges” (along with more conventional policies) can play a key role in resolving and mitigating obesity as well as making an important contribution to overcoming other severe social problems and societal difficulties. Understanding these higher level and related nudges are a key to appreciating the full value and potential of nudges.
Social Emergency Medicine: History and Principles

Social emergency medicine, the expansion of the structure and practice of emergency care to incorporate the social context of patients and their communities, has a rich and varied history, despite its youth as a unified, named concept. This chapter presents a brief introduction to the three strands of history that have created the fabric of social emergency medicine: the evolution of the social medicine movement; the birth and growth of the specialty of emergency medicine; and the development of the field of social epidemiology.
Gauge Theory and the Topology of Four-Manifolds

Geometric invariant theory and the moduli of bundles: Geometric invariant theory by D. Gieseker The numerical criterion by D. Gieseker The moduli of stable bundles by D. Gieseker References by D. Gieseker Anti-self-dual connections and stable vector bundles: Hermitian bundles, Hermitian connections and their curvatures by J. Li Hermitian-Einstein connections and stable vector bundles by J. Li The existence of Hermitian-Einstein metrics by J. Li References by J. Li An introduction to gauge theory: The context of Gauge theory by J. W. Morgan Principal bundles and connections by J. W. Morgan Curvature and characteristic classes by J. W. Morgan The space of connections by J. W. Morgan The ASD equations and the moduli space by J. W. Morgan Compactness and gluing theorems by J. W. Morgan The Donaldson polynomial invariants by J. W. Morgan The connected sum theorem by J. W. Morgan References by J. W. Morgan Computing Donaldson invariants: Overview by R. J. Stern -2 spheres and the blowup formula by R. J. Stern Simple-type criteria and elliptic surfaces by R. J. Stern Elementary rational blowdowns by R. J. Stern Taut configurations and Horikowa surfaces by R. J. Stern References by R. J. Stern Donaldson-Floer theory: Introduction by C. Taubes and J. A. Bryan Quantization by C. Taubes and J. A. Bryan Simplicial decomposition of $\Cal{M}^0_X$ by C. Taubes and J. A. Bryan Half-infinite dimensional spaces by C. Taubes and J. A. Bryan References by C. Taubes and J. A. Bryan.
Privacy-preserving offloading of mobile app to the public cloud

To support intensive computations on resource-restricting mobile devices, studies have been made to enable the offloading of a part of a mobile program to the cloud. However, none of the existing approaches considers user privacy when transmitting code and data off the device, resulting in potential privacy breach. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a system that automatically performs fine-grained privacy-preserving Android app offloading. It utilizes static analysis and bytecode instrumentation techniques to ensure transparent and efficient Android app offloading while preserving user privacy. We evaluate the effectiveness and performance of our system using two Android apps. Preliminary experimental results show that our offloading technique can effectively preserve user privacy while reducing hardware resource consumption at the same time.
Up-regulation of expression of selected genes in human bone cells with specific capacitively coupled electric fields.

The objective of the described experiments was to determine the electrical parameters that lead to optimal expression of a number of bone-related genes in cultured human bone cells exposed to a capacitively coupled electric field. Human calvarial osteoblasts were grown in modified plastic Cooper dishes in which the cells could be exposed to various capacitively coupled electric fields. The optimal duration of stimulation and optimal duration of response to the electrical field, and the optimal amplitude, frequency and duty cycle were all determined for each of the genes analyzed. Results indicated that a capacitively coupled electric field of 60 kHz, 20 mV/cm, 50% duty cycle for 2 h duration per day significantly up-regulated mRNA expression of a number of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β family genes (bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP)-2 and -4, TGF-β1, - β2 and -β3) as well as fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, osteocalcin (BGP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Protein levels of BMP-2 and -4, and TGF-β1 and - β2 were also elevated. The clinical relevance of these findings in the context of a noninvasive treatment modality for delayed union and nonunion fracture healing is discussed. © 2014 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 32:894–903, 2014.
Pilot Clinical Study of the Effects of Ginger Root Extract on Eicosanoids in Colonic Mucosa of Subjects at Increased Risk for Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a significant cause of mortality. Inhibitors of cyclooxygenase (COX) and thus prostaglandin E2, are promising CRC preventives, but have significant toxicities. Ginger has been shown to inhibit COX, to decrease the incidence and multiplicity of adenomas, and decrease PGE2 concentrations in subjects at normal risk for CRC. This study was conducted to determine the effects of 2.0 g/d of ginger given orally on the levels of PGE2, leukotriene B4 (LTB4), 13-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acids, and 5-, 12-, & 15-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid, in the colonic mucosa of subjects at increased risk for CRC. We randomized 20 subjects to 2.0 g/d ginger or placebo for 28 d. At baseline and Day 28, a flexible sigmoidoscopy was used to obtain colon biopsies. A liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method was used to determine eicosanoid levels in the biopsies, and levels were expressed per amount of protein or free arachidonic acid (AA). There was a significant decrease in AA between baseline and Day 28 (P = 0.05) and significant increase in LTB4 (P = 0.04) when normalized to protein, in subjects treated with ginger versus placebo. No other changes in eicosanoids were observed. There was no difference between the groups in total adverse events (AE; P = 0.06). Ginger lacks the ability to decrease eicosanoid levels in people at increased risk for CRC. Ginger did appear to be both tolerable and safe; and could have chemopreventive effects through other mechanisms. Further investigation should focus on other markers of CRC risk in those at increased CRC risk.
Application of the Finite Element Method to Monte Carlo

A formulation based on the finite element method and the periodic boundary condition for plane wave scattering by rough surfaces is derived and implemented. The method is applied to Monte Carlo simulations of one-dimensional random rough surface scattering with a Gaussian roughness spectrum satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions. Convergence of the method is demonstrated by varying the number of sampling points. The percent error in conservation of energy is shown to be less than 0.007% for all the examples presented. The numerical solutions are compared with integral equation methods. The results from the finite element method are in perfect numerical agreement with the integral equation results for each surface realization if the periodic boundary condition is also used in the integral equation method. They are in excellent numerical agreement with a tapered wave solution of the integral equation for large surface lengths and upon averaging over many realizations. For the examples discussed, it is sho...
Modeling user-perceived service availability

Service availability is an important consideration when carriers deploy new, packet-based services. In this paper we define the service availability based on user behavior, and derive formulas to compute service availability starting with the user behavior model and the system model. To automatically generate high fidelity user and system models, we use Stochastic Reward Nets (SRNs) and demonstrate how to combine the user SRN model and the system SRN model to analyze the service availability. We apply our approach to an SAF compliant media gateway controller (MGC) architecture in VoIP system. By building and numerically solving the combined SRN model of the MGC and the user, we compute the service availability, and evaluate various factors that influence it.
THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM

Life arose on an early Earth which was the product of the conditions present, and processes operating, during formation of the solar system. The formation and early state of the solar system are reviewed in order to better understand the nature of the early Earth, and to constrain the conditions present during the origin and early evolution of life on this planet.
Telecommunications and the WTO : the case of Mexico

The U.S.-Mexico case is the first (and so far only) case of World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution on telecommunications services and the first on services generally. The findings of the Panel charged with resolving the dispute, formally adopted by the WTO members, contain interpretations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). WTO handling of the dispute concerning Mexico was initiated in 2000 by the U.S., following many months of bilateral efforts to resolve the issue directly between both countries. In August 2000 the U.S. requested consultations, under WTO auspices, on Mexico's obligations on basic and value-added services under the GATS Annex on Telecommunications and the Reference Paper. Successive rounds of consultations did not resolve the issues raised, and in February 2002 the U.S. formally requested the establishment of a Panel under revised claims (that no longer included value-added services). The Panel issues its final report in March 2004, agreeing mostly with the U.S. claims, but found that Mexico had not committed to allow international simple resale and thus was not in violation of its obligations on that count. Although the parties claimed not to be satisfied with all aspects of the Panel findings, neither party elected to take the Panel decision to the WTO Appellate Body. As a result, the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body adopted the Panel report, by consensus, in June 2004. The parties agreed on, and submitted to the WTO, a plan to redress the underlying problems by July 2005.
Adaptive Cruise Control

An adaptive cruise control (ACC) system is an extension of the standard cruise control system. An ACC equipped vehicle has a radar or other sensor that measures the distance to other preceding vehicles (downstream vehicles) on the highway. In the absence of preceding vehicles, the ACC vehicle travels at a user-set speed, much like a vehicle with a standard cruise control system (see Figure 6-1). However, if a preceding vehicle is detected on the highway by the vehicle’s radar, the ACC system determines whether or not the vehicle can continue to travel safely at the desired speed. If the preceding vehicle is too close or traveling too slowly, then the ACC system switches from speed control to spacing control. In spacing control, the ACC vehicle controls both the throttle and brakes so as to maintain a desired spacing from the preceding vehicle.
Holographic Interferometry Using Self-Developing Optical Crystals for Heat Flux Evaluation

Double-exposure holographic interferometry with crystals of iron-doped lithium niobate as the storage material is applied to study heat transfer from electronic chips. These crystals are self-developing, making the reults immediately available for use. This method of interferometry can be used to study the temperature field in heating and cooling fluids. In particular, it is a practical method for studying the heat transfer from small devices such as microelectronic chips. Double-exposure holographic interferometry is a viable experimental technique in transient as well as steady-state problems.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING AN EARNEST IMPROVER: CLASS, CASTE, AND SELF-HELP IN MID-VICTORIAN ENGLAND

“THE NATION is only the aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of personal improvement,” argued Samuel Smiles in his 1859 Self-Help, the work that codified the supremacy of aspiration over occupation as a marker of identity for thousands of readers on the ill-defined boundary of the lower-middle and upper-working classes (16; ch. 1).1 Smiles’s importance, then and now, lies not in his invention of “self-improvement” as a defining feature of this group, but rather in his skill at publicly expressing the complex set of ideals and values that had already been worked out in, and expressed by, small groups of improvers for at least two generations.
Abscesses of the upper extremity from drug abuse by injection.

Abstract A 4-year retrospective review of 59 consecutive upper extremity abscesses associated with drug abuse by injection is reported. There were 57 patients, with the most common location being the forearm. All abscesses were treated with incision, drainage, and intravenous antibiotics. Seventeen patients required more than one debridement; nine were complicated by fascitis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, or septic tenosynovitis. Thirty-one patients had human immunodeficiency virus testing, and nine results were positive. Bacteriology showed the most common organisms to be streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus , and Eikenella corrodens . Nineteen percent of the abscesses had anaerobes cultured. Most of the organisms cultured were common oral or skin flora.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF BLOOD URIC ACID CONTENT TO THE STATE OF RENAL FUNCTION IN NEPHRITIS

In a recent paper from this laboratory (1) the blood urea clearance test was compared in nephritic subjects with other measures of renal function, namely, the concentrations of urea, creatinine, and hemoglobin in the blood, and the two-hour excretion of phenolsulphonephthalein. In the present paper the blood urea clearance test is similarly compared with the concentration of uric acid in the blood. After the introduction of Folin's micro methods of blood analysis, some evidence accumulated to show that in the course of a progressive nephritis, uric acid was the first nitrogenous waste product to be increased in the blood, and that its estimation could be used as the most delicate indicator of early impairment of renal function (2, 3). At the same time, it was appreciated that in the terminal stages of nephritis the increase of uric acid did not parallel the increase of the creatinine, nonprotein nitrogen, or urea (4). It was subsequently shown that in patients with essential hypertension the blood uric acid was often distinctly elevated, and bore no prognostic significance (5). Hitzenberger and Richter-Quittner (6) found in two such patients that the endogenous excretion of uric acid was slightly above normal, and that they responded to high purine diets by the prompt excretion of large amounts of uric acid. Further doubt was then cast on the validity of the blood uric acid determination as an index of renal function by reports of its increase in many unrelated conditions. Gout, leukemia, and pneumonia had for many years been known to cause this increase, but newer work indicated that in addition, a rise in the level of blood uric acid could be found in pernicious anemia (7), carbon monoxide poisoning (8), toxemias of pregnancy (9), erythemia (10), eczema (11), and during 555
Measurements of the viscosities of saturated and compressed liquid 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a), 2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (R123) and 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroemane (R141b)

Abstract The shear viscosity coefficients of saturated and compressed liquid 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a), 2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (R123) and 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane (R141b) have been measured with a torsional crystal viscometer at temperatures between 170 and 320 K and at pressures up to 30 MPa. The fluidities (reciprocal viscosity) increase linearly with molar volume at fixed temperature and increase weakly with temperature at fixed volume. We have correlated our data using empirical fluidity-volume-temperature equations and have compared the data of others with the equations.
The Superfund Basic Research Program – making a difference: past, present, and future

Understanding exposure continues to be a paramount challenge and critical element in successfully managing Superfund sites. The Superfund Basic Research Program, administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an institute of the National Institutes of Health, is committed to providing the nation's decision makers with better tools to identify the routes and effects of exposure and develop innovative technologies to reduce exposures. In this article, we demonstrate how the program contributes to understanding the exposure disease link, highlight the cutting-edge and practical nature of this very fundamental research program and discuss its approach to addressing these problems. We also identify several broad themes that are likely to direct the program's future research endeavors.