cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A problem for RST: the need for multi-level discourse analysis

Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) (Mann and Thompson 1987), argues that in most coherent discourse, consecutive discourse elements are related by a small set of rhetorical relations. Moreover, RST suggests that the information conveyed in a discourse over and above what is conveyed in its component clauses can be derived from the rhetorical relation-based structure of the discourse. A large number of natural language generation systems rely on the rhetorical relations defined in RST to impose structure on multi-sentential text (Hovy 1991; Knott 1991; Moore and Paris 1989; Rosner and Stede 1992). In addition, many descriptive studies of discourse have employed RST (Fox 1987; Linden, Cumming, and Martin 1992; Matthiessen and Thompson 1988). However, recent work by Moore and Paris (1992) noted that RST cannot be used as the sole means of controlling discourse structure in an interactive dialogue system, because RST representations provide insufficient information to support the generation of appropriate responses to "follow-up questions." The basic problem is that an RST representation of a discourse does not fully specify the intentional structure (Grosz and Sidner 1986) of that discourse. Intentional structure is crucial for responding effectively to questions that address a previous utterance: without a record of what an utterance was intended to achieve, it is impossible to elaborate or clarify that utterance. 1 Further consideration has led us to conclude that the difficulty observed by Moore and Paris stems from a more fundamental problem with RST analyses. RST presumes that, in general, there will be a single, preferred rhetorical relation holding between consecutive discourse elements. In fact, as has been noted in other work on discourse structure (Grosz and Sidner 1986), discourse elements are related simultaneously on multiple levels. In this paper, we focus on two levels of analysis. The first involves the relation between the information conveyed in consecutive elements of a coherent discourse. Thus, for example, one utterance may describe an event that can be presumed to be the cause of another event described in the subsequent utterance. This causal relation is at what we will call the informational level. The second level of relation results from the fact that discourses are produced to effect changes in the mental state of the discourse participants. In coherent discourse, a speaker is carrying out a consistent plan to achieve the intended changes, and consecutive discourse elements are related to one another by means of the ways in which they participate in that plan. Thus, one utterance may be intended to increase the likelihood that the hearer will come to
Computer-Based Demonstrations in Cognitive Psychology: Benefits and Costs

This study examined the costs and benefits of using demonstrations in an upper level psychology course. For 6 topics, half of the class read a chapter that explained the concept and theoretical explanations for the described effects, and the other half participated in a demonstration in addition to the reading. Students overwhelmingly reported higher enjoyment of their learning experience when they participated in the demonstrations. However, measures of learning based on essays, quizzes, and exam questions showed that students did not always benefit from participating in the demonstrations. In fact, for 2 of the 3 measures, results indicated that participating in the demonstrations significantly worsened performance.
Increased ectopic action potential generation accompanies epileptogenesis in vitro.

Abstract We studied changes in the characteristics of action potentials of CA3 pyramidal cells accompanying electrographic seizure (EGS) induction, using an in vitro model similar to kindling. We found an increased propensity to fire action potentials which lack EPSPs or other triggering depolarizing potentials. Such ‘baseline spikes’ appear to be initiated at a site electrically distant from the soma.
Can There be Spatially Coincident Entities of the Same Kind

1 For the traditional view, see John Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Peter Nidditch, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1975), 328. David Wiggins has written the seminal modern essay 'On Being in the Same Place at the Same Time/ Philosophical Review 77 (1968) 90-5. The richest recent defense is by Lynne Rudder Baker, Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000). For a fuller list of references, see Eric Olson, The Human Animal: Identity Without Psychology (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997), 175 n. 3. A minority of philosophers do not believe that there exist spatially coincident entities of different types. I place myself in this group. See Peter van Inwagen, Material Beings (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1997), 97-102; Dean Zimmerman, 'Theories of Masses and Problems of Constitution/ Philosophical Review 104 (1995), 90; Michael Burke, 'Copper Statues and Pieces of Copper/ Analysis 52 (1992) 12-17; and W.R. Carter, 'Our Bodies, Our Selves/ Australasian Journal of Philosophy 65 (1998) 308-19.
Hidden Delinquency and Social Status

Utilizing self-reported data, this article is concerned with a number of basic issues relative to social status and delinquency. Its findings were these: (1) respondents, overall, reported a large number of undetected violations; (2) the number of violations differed little from one status level to another (although there was a tendency for upper-status respondents to be less delinquent); but (3) there were distinct differences between status levels with respect to kinds of delinquency. Middle-status respondents reported having committed the most serious and destructive kinds of acts, while low-status respondents were more inclined to smoke regularly, skip school, fight and use narcotics. The latter differences held up among incarcerated offenders as well as among those who were not officially defined as delinquent. A vailable data regarding the relationship of social status to delinquency are limited and contradictory. On one hand, almost all official statistics report the incidence of delinquency to be concentrated most heavily among lower-status juveniles.1 The evidence has been sufficiently persuasive as to lead to a large body of theory designed to explain it: Merton,2 Cohen,3 Cloward and Ohlin,4 Miller,5 and others. Yet, there have always been those who argue that the supporting evidence is nothing more than a statistical artifact. Warner and Lunt,6 Porterfield,7 Barron8 and Kvaraceus9 have all concluded that the reason some juveniles are officially charged while others are not is a function of social status. But is their conclusion based on fact or what Cohen calls "egalitarian proclivities and sentimental humanitarian-
Facilitation of Kindling and Long Term Potentiation by Hippocampal Lesions

The relationship between kindling and chronic epilepsy with spontaneous seizures remains uncertain. Kindling is never observed as a natural phenomenon, but can easily be induced in any vertebrate species by stimulation of discrete brain sites. Focal brain lesions such as trauma or ischemia frequently lead to epilepsy after a delay of several weeks to months. Several models of status epilepticus (SE) which induce hippocampal and extrahippocampal lesions can also lead to chronic epilepsy after a delay of four weeks to four months (McIntyre et al., 1982; Leite et al., 1990; Vicedomini and Nadler, 1987; 1990; Lothman and Bertram, 1993; Shirasaka and Wasterlain, 1994; Milgram et al., 1995). This delay in the development of post traumatic and post lesional epilepsy has given rise to the speculation that lesions damage an antikindling filter, so that after some types of focal brain damage, kindling or over kindling (Milgram et al., 1995) takes place spontaneously, perhaps as a result of loss of inhibition around the lesion, and leads to chronic epilepsy. If this is true, epileptogenic lesions should lead to a facilitation of kindling and to an enhancement of long term potentiation (LTP) during the latent period between the occurrence of damage and that of spontaneous epileptic seizures. In the current study, we used the perforant path stimulation model of status epilepticus (Sloviter, 1991; Shirasaka and Wasterlain, 1994) and show facilitation of both kindling and perforant path LTP during the latent period following an epileptogenic hippocampal lesion induced by perforant path stimulation.
Chemical and Biological Evaluations of Slow Release Formulations of Four Plant Systemic Insecticides

Three types of granular formulations (with aldicarb, dimethoate, methomyl, and disulfoton) were prepared and evaluated in laboratory tests. They were found to release the toxic ants at 3 distinctly different rates. In greenhouse tests, formulations of aldicarb, dimethoate, and methomyl with the slower rates of release were less damaging to plant stands and were effective longer than the fast-release standard against the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover. However, slow release formulations of disulfoton were less effective against cotton aphids than the standard.
A CASE REPORT OF JUVENILE COLON CANCER

Recently a patient with juvenile colon cancer was experienced. A 16-year-old boy was referred to the hospital because of abdominal pain. On the first visit anemia and constipation were noted, and a fist-sized tender mass was palpated in the right upper abdomen. Further examination revealed a colon cancer, with constrictin of the ascending colon near the hepatic flexure. Laparotomy disclosed that the cancer had spread from the serosa into the anterior wall of the duodenum. For this, resection of the anterior wall of the duodenum along with the tumor was necessitated. The duodenum was then repaired with a jejunal patch using Roux-en-Y reconstruction. In addition, intraoperative peritoneal hyperthermia was performed to treat apparent lymph node metastases and abdominal dissemination. Post operative immunotherapy was also performed, but abdominal pain and anorexia, telling signs of recurrence, occurred 2 months later. The patient is now being followed up under conservative observation, as of a year after the operation.
Potential of 8-methyl-2-decyl Propanoate and Plant-Derived Volatiles for Attracting Corn Rootworm Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) to Toxic Bait

Populations of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (WCR) and D. barberi Smith and Lawrence (NCR) were monitored in plots (15 by 15 m) that contained 5 × 5 grids of toxic baits in vial traps. For plots in which baits consisted of only olive oil plus carbaryl, 0.4 WCR and 3.6 NCR per bait were captured. In plots in which a feeding stimulant (cucurbitacin) was added, capture per bait was 12.4 WCR and 22.3 NCR. Addition of plant derived volatile attractants (estragole for WCR and eugenol for NCR) increased capture of the respective species another four times. The racemate of 8 R -methyl-2 R -decyl propanoate (the apparent sex pheromone of both species) caused an increase in numbers of male WCR captured on unbaited sticky traps within plots, but the amount used (900 µ;g per bait) was apparently too great for optimal attraction of males to point sources. The racemate also repelled NCR of both sexes. Over 6 d, traps that were baited with estragole and eugenol removed more WCR and NCR than were estimated to have been in the plots at the start of the test; because of immigration, however, there were no detectable reductions in numbers of beetles on plants within those plots. Feeding stimulants and plant volatiles show great promise for enhancing the effectiveness of adulticides, but, because of the beetles’ vagility, the concept must be tested over much broader acreages.
Social and ethical issues in home-based medical care

Patients whose illness and frailty are severe enough to render them homebound are usually dependent on others for care. Individual autonomy is often restricted by financial and social limitations. The determination of capacity is extremely complex, and in many cases no “gold standard” can be used to make objective decisions about the presence or absence of capacity.
INTERCULTURAL EXPLORATION: THE COMPUTER AND TRADITIONAL MUSIC CULTURES

The exploration of music and sound from traditions in Asia, Africa, America and Europe has provided a healthy contextual upheaval and a rich source of materials for an American composer using technology. Collaboration with performers and performer-composers skilled in folk, jazz, and traditional musics as well as contemporary music have resulted in the Sound Collaborations compact disk containing four collaborative works. Exploration in Asia included extensive travel to areas in China, Korea and Japan for recording sessions in temples, universities and mountain parks, and study of the qin, the ancient Chinese zither. Two installations, Staircase of Light and Hidden Mountain, based on sounds from these travels were composed and constructed at the Sino-Nordic Arts Space in Beijing in 2003 and 2007. This paper documents intercultural aspects of these compositions involving the computer.
Applying Sequential Analytic Methods to Self-Reported Information to Anticipate Care Needs.

Purpose: Identifying care needs for newly enrolled or newly insured individuals is important under the Affordable Care Act. Systematically collected patient-reported information can potentially identify subgroups with specific care needs prior to service use. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort investigation of 6,047 individuals who completed a 10-question needs assessment upon initial enrollment in Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO), a not-for-profit integrated delivery system, through the Colorado State Individual Exchange. We used responses from the Brief Health Questionnaire (BHQ), to develop a predictive model for receiving care in the top 25% for cost, then applied cluster analytic techniques to identify different high cost subpopulations. Per-member-per-month cost was measured from 6-12 months following BHQ response. Results: BHQ responses significantly predictive of high cost care included self-reported health status, functional limitations, medication use, presence of 0-4 chronic conditions, self-reported ED use during the prior year, and lack of prior insurance. Age, gender, and deductible-based insurance product were also predictive. The largest possible range of predicted probabilities of being in the top 25% of cost was 3.5% to 96.4%. Within the top cost quartile, examples of potentially actionable clusters of patients included those with high morbidity, prior utilization, depression risk and financial constraints; high morbidity, previously uninsured individuals with few financial constraints; and relatively healthy, previously insured individuals with medication needs. Conclusions: Applying sequential predictive modeling and cluster analytic techniques to patient-reported information can identify subgroups of individuals within heterogeneous populations who may benefit from specific interventions to optimize initial care delivery.
Rate Coefficients for the Reactions of Some C3 to C5 Hydrocarbon Peroxy Radicals with NO

The rate coefficients for the gas-phase reactions of allyl-, tert-butyl-, cyclopentyl-, and 2-pentylperoxy radicals with NO have been measured at 297 ± 2 K in a flow tube reactor using chemical ionization mass spectrometric (CIMS) detection of the peroxy radical. The hydrocarbon radicals were produced through the dissociation of the parent alkyl iodide in a low-power radio frequency (rf) discharge. The unimolecular decomposition of the c-pentyl radicals in the rf discharge yielded allyl radicals. The peroxy radicals were generated by reacting the hydrocarbon radicals with O2. The rate coefficients were found to be, in units of 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, 10.5 ± 1.8, 7.9 ± 1.3, 10.9 ± 1.9, and 8.0 ± 1.4 for the reactions of NO with CH2CHCH2O2, t-C4H9O2, c-C5H9O2, and 2-C5H11O2 radicals, respectively. The results of this study together with our previous results for nonsubstituted C1−C3 alkyl peroxy radicals suggest no significant trend in the rate coefficients with size and branching of the radicals. This is ...
Coordination state and defect evolution in vitreous silica structures formed using Molecular Dynamics under variable cooling conditions

Abstract Under ideal circumstances, the structures formed in Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of relatively simple glassy systems, such as stoichiometric amorphous SiO2, should be fully coordinated and free of intrinsic type defects (NBO, O3C, Si3C, etc). This has been shown to be not always the case for a variety of reasons, one of which being the use of non-optimized cooling conditions. In order for MD simulations to be accurate, critical effects due to variable cooling cycle parameters must be well understood. This is especially true if the bulk structures' ultimate intended use is for surface structure generation and subsequent analysis or reactionary dynamics interaction with the surrounding environment. Here, we report the results of MD simulations on amorphous silica systems, under variable cooling conditions. Analysis of Si and O coordination states as functions of temperature and cooling condition shows a strong non-linear dependence, suggesting that defect (NBO, O3C, Si3C, etc.) concentrations do not necessarily decrease with longer trajectory times. Analyses of defect clusters found in the structures at low temperatures (
Neurologic Examination at 24 to 48 Hours Predicts Functional Outcomes in Basilar Artery Occlusion Stroke.

Background and Purpose— Accurate long-term outcome prognostication in basilar artery occlusion strokes may guide clinical management in the subacute stage. We determine the prognostic value of the follow-up neurological examination using the National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) and identify 24- to 48-hour NIHSS risk categories in basilar artery occlusion patients. Methods— Participants of an observational registry of radiologically confirmed acute basilar artery occlusion (BASICS [Basilar Artery International Cooperation Study]) with prospectively collected 24- to 48-hour NIHSS and 1-month modified Rankin scale scores were included. Uni- and multivariable modeling were performed to identify independent predictors of poor outcome. Predictive powers of baseline and 24- to 48-hour NIHSS for poor outcome (modified Rankin scale, 4–6) and 1-month mortality were determined by receiver operating characteristic analyses. Classification and regression tree analysis was performed to identify risk groups. Results— Three hundred seventy-six of 619 BASICS participants were included, of whom 65.4% had poor outcome. In multivariable analyses, 24- to 48-hour NIHSS (odds ratio=1.28 [1.21–1.35]), history of minor stroke (odds ratio=2.64 [1.04–6.74], time to treatment >6 hours (odds ratio=3.07 [1.35–6.99]), and age (odds ratio=1.02 [0.99–1.04]) were retained in the final model as predictors of poor outcome. Prognostic power of 24- to 48-hour NIHSS was higher than baseline NIHSS for 1-month poor outcome (area under the curve, 0.92 versus 0.75) and mortality (area under the curve, 0.85 versus 0.72). Classification and regression tree analysis identified five 24- to 48-hour NIHSS risk categories with poor outcome rates of 9.4% (NIHSS 0–4), 36% (NIHSS 5–11), 84.3% (NIHSS 12–22), 96.1% (NIHSS 23–27), and 100% (NIHSS≥28). Conclusions— Twenty-four- to 48-hour NIHSS accurately predicts 1-month poor outcome and mortality and represents a clinically valuable prognostic tool for the care of basilar artery occlusion patients.
Teaching for a ?sense of salience? in nursing education regarding diabetes management

T health care system presents an ever increasing complexity that requires nurses to possess multiple skills including interprofessional collaboration skills, cost effectiveness, currency, informatics skills, technical skills, clinical reasoning skills and a need for life-long learning. Both the Institute of Medicine (2011) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2010) have called for radical transformation in the way nurses are educated. A particular challenge to nursing education is the need to bridge the gap between theory and clinical. Nursing education often clearly demarcates acquisition of theory knowledge in the classroom and clinical practice and does not effectively assist students with the application of theory knowledge to hands on patient care. This sharp separation of classroom and clinical teaching must be overcome. “Teaching for a sense of salience” dictates that nurse educators better assist students with this translation of theory to practice. This challenge in nursing education includes the need to not only improve the way students acquire theory based knowledge (signs, symptoms, pathophysiology), but to also effectively translate theory knowledge to the clinical area to provide effective hands on patient care in order to improve patient outcomes. Chronic illnesses such as diabetes mellitus are multidimensional and require nurses not only to possess theory knowledge but effective clinical skills as well. Strategies for increasing salience related to diabetes mellitus management in classroom and clinical settings includes evolving case studies, in class active learning strategies, simulation activities and strategies to promote teaching effectiveness of adjunct clinical instructors.
Data governance case at KrauseMcMahon LLP in an era of self-service BI and Big Data

This case increases your understanding of data governance in an era of sophisticated analytics and Big Data where corporate data integrity and data quality may be at risk. KrauseMcMahon, a large certified public accounting and business consulting firm, faces a tradeoff of increasing control of the company’s data assets versus unleashing end user innovation due to the proliferation of self-service business intelligence tools. You are required to analyze the issues in the case from organizational, financial, and technical perspectives to propose alternatives the organization should consider and make specific recommendations on how the company should proceed. By completing this case, you will demonstrate cross-disciplinary abilities related to foundational business, accounting, and broad management competencies. By addressing such competencies, the case requires your use of accounting, MIS, and upper-level business skills.
Mentors, Resiliency, and Ganas: Factors Influencing the Success of DACAmented, Undocumented, and Immigrant Students in Higher Education

Emerging research has explored the psychological and emotional challenges undocumented students encounter while accessing higher education, yet few studies have specifically investigated the factor...
Effects of trimethylsilane plasma coating on the hydrophobicity of denture base resin and adhesion of Candida albicans on resin surfaces.

Abstract Statement of problem Candida -associated denture stomatitis is the most common oral mucosal lesion among denture wearers. Trimethylsilane (TMS) plasma coating may inhibit the growth of Candida albicans on denture surfaces. Purpose The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate whether TMS plasma coatings can effectively reduce C albicans adhesion on denture base acrylic resin surfaces. Material and methods Sixty denture base acrylic resin disks with smooth and rough surfaces were prepared and were either left untreated (control group) or coated with TMS monomer (experimental group) by using plasma. Contact angles were measured immediately after TMS plasma coating. The morphology of C albicans adhesion was observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to characterize the elemental composition of the specimen surface. An adhesion test was performed by incubating the resin disk specimens in C albicans suspensions (1×10 7 cells/mL) at 37°C for 24 hours and further measuring the optical density of the C albicans by using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay test. One-way ANOVA and 2-way ANOVA were followed by a post hoc test analysis (α=.05). Results The group with TMS coating exhibited a more hydrophobic surface than the control group. EDS analysis revealed successful TMS plasma coating. The difference in the mean contact angles between the uncoated group and the TMS-coated group was statistically significant ( P C albicans biofilm was found to grow more on the surface of the denture base resin without the TMS coating than on the surfaces of the experimental group. In the adhesion test, the amount of C albicans adhering to the surface of denture base resin with the TMS coating was significantly less than that on the surfaces without TMS coating ( P Conclusions TMS coating significantly reduced the adhesion of C albicans to the denture base resin and may reduce denture stomatitis.
Hybrid Testing of the Stiff Rocking Core Seismic Rehabilitation Technique

AbstractThe use of a stiff rocking core (SRC) has been proposed as a seismic rehabilitation technique to mitigate soft-story response in low-rise to midrise steel concentrically braced frame (CBF) ...
Single Precision Logarithm and Exponential Architectures for Hard Floating-Point Enabled FPGAs

In this article we present a novel method for implementing floating point (FP) elementary functions using the new FP single precision addition and multiplication features of the Arria 10 and Stratix 10 DSP Block architecture. Our application examples are $\log (x)$ and $\exp (x)$ , two of the most commonly required functions for emerging datacenter and computing FPGA targets. We explain why the combination of new FPGA technology, and at the same time, a massive increase in computing performance requirement, fuels the need for this work. We show a comprehensive error analysis, and discuss various implementation trade-offs that demonstrate that the hard FP (HFP) Blocks, in conjunction with the traditional flexibility and connectivity of the FPGA, can provide a robust and high performance solution. The architectures presented in this work meet OpenCL accuracy requirements. Our methods map extensively to embedded structures, and therefore result in significant reduction in logic resources and routing stress compared to current methods. The methods allow leveraging the routing architectures introduced in the Stratix 10 device which results in high-function performance.
Financial Regulation: Bank stress tests as a policy tool: the European experience during the crisis

When properly employed, bank stress tests can be effective as a supervisory tool to strengthen the resilience of a banking institution or a banking system overall. During the global financial crisis, stress tests were also used in public exercises intended to increase confidence in the banking sector, and facilitate the process of economic recovery from the crisis. A stress test performed in the United States in 2009 was used to strengthen capital in a number of banking institutions and succeeded in re-establishing confidence in the banking sector. However, stress tests performed in 2010 and 2011 in the euro area did not have the same success. This paper reviews this experience and argues that a key difference was the absence of a well-defined and credible backstop in the case of the euro area. As a result, the stress tests led to a policy-induced credit crunch and severe slowdown of economic activity, particularly in the euro area periphery.
Note on Lobbying and the Dodd-Frank Financial Reforms

The note provides background on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, brief background on lobbying, and aspects of the lobbying effort by the financial industry and JP Morgan Chase with regard to Dodd-Frank. It is intended as a companion to "The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)," HBS No. 309-001, to facilitate class discussion, and as such provides only an overview of specific aspects of the issues discussed.Learning Objective: To examine the nature of lobbying in the United States and the appropriate role that financial firms involved in the crisis should have in shaping the legislation and regulation that will govern their activities.
Hero, Charity Case, and Victim: How U.S. News Media Frame Military Veterans on Twitter:

Commenters often criticize the mass media for providing audiences a narrow and inaccurate representation of U.S. military veterans. This study examined the claim by researching how regional news pu...
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Mycobacterium-Dependent Macrophage Response

There are three main outcomes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: clearance, dissemination, and containment - in which the immune system physically isolates the invading microbes in lesions called granulomas. These structures are a hallmark of the disease and play an important role in the progression of infection. However, current in vitro and in vivo methods are ill adapted for spatial and temporal quantification of host-pathogen dynamics, which are necessary for the development of granulomas. We have developed an integrated 3D in vitro and computational platform with longterm time-lapse confocal imaging to provide a semi-automatic analysis of host-pathogen interaction data. Through exploratory data analysis, we conduct a preliminary investigation of how the intracellular bacterial load of macrophages can impact cellular spatiotemporal dynamics during Mycobacterium infection.
Carbon content and pyrolysis atmosphere effects on phase development in SiOC systems

Abstract In this study, bulk silicon oxycarbides (SiOCs) were fabricated from base polysiloxane (PSO) systems with different carbon content by using Ar or Ar + H2O pyrolysis atmosphere. Compared to the Ar pyrolysis condition, the SiOC samples pyrolyzed with water vapor plus Ar generally show lower ceramic yield except for the Tospearl (polymethylsilsesquioxane) sample at 1400 °C. The SiOC ceramics contain significantly less SiC and carbon after pyrolysis under Ar + H2O atmosphere compared to pure Ar atmosphere. The carbon-poor Tospearl sample shows a crystalline SiO2 structure (cristobalite) after pyrolysis at 1400 °C in Ar + H2O, which is also confirmed using TEM diffraction pattern analysis. TEM microstructures indicate little change in microstructures for the carbon-rich samples. The fundamentals, such as total Gibbs free energy, the driving force for crystallization, and phase contents at different pyrolysis temperatures can be calculated based on a Gibbs free energy minimization method. The phase content calculations predict considerable decrease in the amounts of SiC and C and significant increase in the percent of SiO2 after pyrolysis in Ar + H2O compared to Ar. The thermodynamic calculation results match with our experimental observations. This work provides a guided method to synthesize high temperature SiOCs with desired phases.
Remote Acoustic Emission Spectrography (RAES)

The mechanical response of objects to forced vibrations is of interest for nondestructive evaluation of materials. For instance, the resonance frequency of an object has been used as an indicator of possible structural flaws. Here, we present a method to obtain the local frequency response of an object to a remotely controlled force. The vibrating force is generated by the radiation force of two focused ultrasound beams, and is confined to a small region on the object. The force vibrates the object, resulting in an acoustic field (acoustic emission) in the surrounding medium. The resulting responses at a range of vibrational frequencies are recorded and used to form images (spectrograms) representing the object shape and its frequency dependent characteristics at each point. Experiments are performed on a set of three tuning forks with different resonance frequencies. The resulting spectrograms allow discrimination of forks on the basis of their resonance frequencies. This method promises a new material characterization and testing scheme.
On the automatic and a priori design of unstructured mesh resolution for coastal ocean circulation models

Abstract This study investigates the design of unstructured mesh resolution and its impact on the modeling of barotropic tides along the United States East Coast and Gulf Coast (ECGC). A discrete representation of a computational ocean domain (mesh design) is necessary due to finite computational resources and an incomplete knowledge of the physical system (e.g., shoreline and seabed topography). The selection of mesh resolution impacts both the numerical truncation error and the approximation of the system’s physical domain. To increase confidence in the design of high-resolution coastal ocean meshes and to quantify the efficacy of current mesh design practices, an automated mesh generation approach is applied to objectively control resolution placement based on a priori information such as shoreline geometry and seabed topographic features. The simulated harmonic tidal elevations for each mesh design are compared to that of a reference solution, computed on a 10.8 million vertex mesh of the ECGC region with a minimum shoreline resolution of 50 m. Our key findings indicate that existing mesh designs that use uniform resolution along the shoreline and slowly varying resolution sizes on the continental shelf inefficiently discretize the computational domain. Instead, a targeted approach that places fine resolution in narrow geometric features, along steep topographic gradients, and along pronounced submerged estuarine channels, while aggressively relaxing resolution elsewhere, leads to a mesh with an order of magnitude fewer vertices than the reference solution with comparable accuracy (within 3% harmonic elevation amplitudes in 99% of the domain).
Association of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy With Change in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in Patients With Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiomyopathy.

Importance The incidence of chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy is increasing and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Objective To assess the association of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with improvement in cardiac function, as well as clinical improvement in patients with chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy. Design, Setting, and Participants The Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial–Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiomyopathy was an uncontrolled, prospective, cohort study conducted between November 21, 2014, and June 21, 2018, at 12 tertiary centers with cardio-oncology programs in the United States. Thirty patients were implanted with CRT owing to reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF≤35%), New York Heart Association class II-IV heart failure symptoms, and wide QRS complex, with established chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy and were followed up for 6 months after CRT implantation. The date of final follow-up was February 6, 2019. Exposures CRT implantation according to standard of care. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary end point was change in LVEF from baseline to 6 months after initiating CRT. Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality and change in left ventricular end-systolic volume and end-diastolic volume. Results Among 30 patients who were enrolled (mean [SD] age, 64 [11] years; 26 women [87%]; 73% had a history of breast cancer; 20% had a history of lymphoma or leukemia), primary end point data were available for 26 patients and secondary end point data were available for 23 patients. Patients had nonischemic cardiomyopathy with left bundle branch block, median LVEF of 29%, and a mean QRS duration of 152 ms. Patients with CRT experienced a statistically significant improvement in mean LVEF at 6 months from 28% to 39% (difference, 10.6% [95% CI, 8.0%-13.3%];P Conclusions and Relevance In this preliminary study of patients with chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy, CRT was associated with improvement in LVEF after 6 months. The findings are limited by the small sample size, short follow-up, and absence of a control group. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT02164721
Collaborative mentoring of student research: a parallel cuda C implementation of Kinetic Monte Carlo

This paper discusses the joint mentoring of student research by faculty of the Computer Science and Chemistry Departments at Iona College, NY. The project involved the development of serial and parallel implementation of the Kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm for atomic simulations. Some benefits and challenges of the collaboration are considered.
College Readiness and First-Generation College Goers: Group Impacts with Students from an Urban, Predominantly African-American Population

Researchers examined the experiences of two college preparatory groups with youth of color who are first-generation college-goers in an urban educational setting. An interpretive phenomenological f...
Classification of Infiltrated Injections During PET/CT Imaging Applying Deep Learning Technique

Objective: Injected dose infiltration can negatively impact quantitative evaluation of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) data by leading to inaccurate calculation of Standardized Uptake Value (SUV) measurements and limiting bioavailability of the tracer in the patient. Recently developed topical gamma scintillation sensors provide a way to monitor Time Activity Curves (TACs) and determine the presence of activity remaining at the injection site after injecting dose. However, TAC analysis and visual inspection by physician of static PET images differ in many cases which has been a recent research concern. In this work, a deep learning (DL) based classification was implemented to study whether this approach can be a viable solution to classify the injection data based on their quality. Method: A supervised machine learning technique was adopted and TACs obtained from the sensors were fed as input to a neural network. The network was trained to classify two classes of data i.e. good quality and poor quality injections. The performance of the network was tested on the basis of 3-fold cross-validation. Result: The network could label the good quality (92.39% data) and poor quality (7.61% data) injection data with around ~98% and ~86% accuracy respectively with an overall accuracy of ~97%. Conclusion: The objective of this work was to examine the feasibility of implementing a DL approach for PET dose injection quality monitoring.
Predictions for impurity-induced T c suppression in the high-temperature superconductors

We address the question of whether anisotropic superconductivity is compatible with the evidently weak sensitivity of the critical temperature ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ to sample quality in the high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ copper oxides. We examine this issue quantitatively by solving the strong-coupling Eliashberg equations numerically as well as analytically for s-wave impurity scattering within the second Born approximation. For pairing interactions with a characteristically low energy scale, we find an approximately universal dependence of the d-wave superconducting transition temperature on the planar residual resistivity which is independent of the details of the microscopic pairing. These results, in conjunction with future systematic experiments, should help elucidate the symmetry of the order parameter in the cuprates.
Chapter 6 – Beamforming

Sound emerging from a transducer aperture diffracts or creates a sound field unique to its geometry and frequency content. This field, also called an “acoustic beam,” can be predicted from models that describe the emitting source in terms of spherical (Huygen’s) waves or equivalently, an angular spectrum of plane waves. Common circular symmetric and rectangular aperture geometries are described in detail. Focusing is the intentional narrowing of the beam in a selected region. Focusing can be achieved through lenses, transducer shaping (hemispherical), or by electronic means for arrays (Chapter 7). An unfocused field has a near field, a transition distance, and a far field. A focused field has three regions: pre-focal, focal, and post-focal, with two transition distances separating them. By reciprocity, a field intercepted by a transducer has similar directivity to a transmitter of the same characteristics. Diffraction loss is the ratio of received energy over that emitted. Babinet’s principle is explained.
Clinical Outcomes of Critically III Patients with COVID-19 by Race.

Studies of COVID-19 have shown that African Americans have been affected by the virus at a higher rate compared to other races. This cohort study investigated comorbidities and clinical outcomes by race among COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit. This is a case series of critically ill patients admitted with COVID-19 to an academic healthcare system in Atlanta, Georgia. The study included all critically ill hospitalized patients between March 6, 2020, and May 5, 2020. Clinical outcomes during hospitalization included mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, and mortality stratified by race. Of 288 patients included (mean age, 63 ± 16 years; 45% female), 210 (73%) were African American. African Americans had significantly higher rates of comorbidities compared to other races, including hypertension (80% vs 59%, P = 0.001), diabetes (49% vs 34%, P = 0.026), and mean BMI (33 kg/m2 vs 28 kg/m2, P < 0.001). Despite African Americans requiring continuous renal replacement therapy during hospitalization at higher rates than other races (27% vs 13%, P = 0.011), rates of intubation, intensive care unit length of stay, and overall mortality (30% vs 24%, P = 0.307) were similar. This racially diverse series of critically ill COVID-19 patients shows that despite higher rates of comorbidities at hospital admission in African Americans compared with other races, there was no significant difference in mortality.
Metaphysical grounds of universal semiosis

In the history of American philosophy there is a strand of thinking about signs in nature. Animals, insects, trees, flowers, the weather, landscapes, and the starry night are all found expressive of diverse meanings. Moreover, these natural phenomena are taken to possess a representational character at their ontological core by such thinkers as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles S. Peirce. My presentation builds upon this tradition by exploring the semiosis of nature in its fullest scope and with regard to its fundamental being. Its aim is to uncover some metaphysical grounds that would support universal semiosis, as well as argue for the primacy of an aesthetic dimension at the core of semiosic activity.
Food Insecurity in Households of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ObjectivesTo explore differences in food insecurity for individuals and families of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during the COVID-19 pandemic by individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics. MethodsWe surveyed a convenience sample of households of people with ASD. We calculated food insecurity using items from the US Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey.. ResultsOver half of all respondents reported being food insecure (51.8%). Respondents who reported being food insecure were more likely to be minority, have a high school education or less, be on public insurance or uninsured, live in urban/rural communities, and say that their community is not supportive. The majority of respondents did not get free food or groceries (53.2%). Food insecure respondents who got free food was most likely to get them from schools (34.2%). ConclusionThis is the first study of its kind to explore food security in households of people with ASD. The pandemic has exacerbated existing neighborhood disparities. The federal response to food insecurity caused by the pandemic needs to be further explored especially for preferred and medically necessary foods for people with ASD.
Transient Model of DFIG-WT-dominated System for Nonlinear Oscillation Characteristic Analysis

Since doubly fed induction generator-based wind turbines (DFIG-WTs) has more complex structure than synchronous generator (SG), the DFIG-WTs has strong nonlinearity inherently. It leads the oscillation responses of DFIG-WT-dominated system to be significantly changed, especially after large disturbance. The oscillation characteristics could not be reflected by linear results any more. More seriously, the stability conclusion would also be contrary. However, there does not exist general mathematic method to solve the nonlinear problem in DFIG-based WT, thus an approximate model that balances accuracy and universality is needed. This paper proposes a novel model of DFIG-WT- dominated system, in which the nonlinear effects are appropriately reflected by the higher-order terms of Taylor series expansion. Firstly, the original nonlinear model and its Taylor series expansion forms are developed. Then, the nonlinear oscillation characteristics under different fault degrees are analyzed and the approximate degrees of model with different higher-order terms are evaluated. Finally, model application in multi-machine system is discussed. The proposed model could provide a model basis for modal series analysis, which is a common method for nonlinear oscillation characteristic analysis.
Soil spatial variability and steep pasture management considerations in an acid soil environment

Management of pastures in steep terrain can be expensive in both time and equipment requirements. Management of those portions of pasture that will yield the most for minimum inputs requires a knowledge of the spatial patterns of the soil and atmospheric environments. A steep 2.4 ha unimproved pasture in southern West Virginia was studied to determine the spatial dependency of aboveground biomass production on soil characteristics. The predominant soil on the study site was Gilpin silt loam (fine-loamy, mixed mesic, Typic Hapludults) with an average A-horizon pH (1:1H2O) of 4.6 (range 3.8 to 6.1). Three transects were laid out up and down the slope and one transect on the contour for measurement of soil characteristics at a one meter spacing. Plant aboveground biomass was measured at a two meter spacing on three of the slope transects and the contour transect. Although correlation analysis failed to find any strong relationships between biomass production and soil characteristics, cross-semivariogram analyses of biomass production and surface soil pH and extractable Al, Mn, and P indicated that a strong spatial dependency existed. Those relationships were used for identifying homogeneous areas of biomass production and associated soil characteristics by ordinary kriging.
National Trends in IPPE Programs at US Schools of Pharmacy from 2008-2013

Objective. To determine trends and challenges in introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) programs from 2008-2013. Methods. In 2013, a web-based survey was sent to IPPE program administrators at 107 fully accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy. The survey addressed administrative personnel, program structure, and quality assurance issues. Results. Sixty-nine IPPE administrators responded to the survey (64.5% response rate). Within the past 5 years, 4 significant trends occurred in the area of administrative personnel, 7 trends in program structure, and 6 in quality assurance. Conclusion. Clarifications of ACPE Standards through new guidelines and policy statements likely influence many of the 17 trends. Understaffed programs, competition for institutional sites, difficulty conducting site visits, preceptor training, program assessment, documentation maintenance, and individual site requirements are all challenges. The results of this study can be used as a stimulus to address ongoing issues and to enhance the quality of IPPE programs.