cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pragmatism and Rationality

In Chapter 2 I argued that as moral and epistemic facts do not figure in causal explanations, we must turn to pragmatic reasons to justify continued participation in these practices. What I hope to demonstrate in this chapter is that it is prudentially rational to submit to moral and epistemological constraints. Certainly this has been argued before, at least with regard to moral constraints. However, previous attempts to prove that moral constraints are rational constraints have typically run into various difficulties. In this chapter, I will argue that these difficulties have arisen out of certain shared misunderstandings regarding the nature of rationality. First, too many philosophers have thought that the individual action is the basic unit of rationality. That is, in questions of means—end rationality, it has too often been thought that we must examine and evaluate individual actions, and determine each isolated action’s rationality in terms of how well that individual action promotes the end in question. I will argue that this is a mistake, and that often strategies, not individual actions, are the basic units of rationality. That is, the rationality of individual actions often cannot be determined in abstraction from the strategy they constitute. Second, philosophers have too often thought of rationality as individualistic.
Narcolepsy and Cataplexy

The clinical manifestations and treatment of narcolepsy diagnosed in 51 prepubertal children (29 boys) are reported from the Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic, Stanford University Medical Center, CA.
Abstract 3442: Ganetespib sensitizes colorectal cancerin vitroandin vivoto a clinically relevant regimen of radiation and chemotherapy

Purpose: We describe the efficacy of the second generation HSP90 inhibitor ganetespib in combination with radiation and chemotherapy against colorectal adenocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Methods and Materials: Ganetespib9s effects on colorectal adenocarcinoma proliferation and ability to sensitize to radiation and/or chemotherapy were analyzed in the colorectal cell lines HCT-116 and HT-29. Ganetespib9s ability to modulate apoptosis when combined with radiation and chemotherapy was characterized, and its effects on the AKT, ERK and PI3K pathways were investigated. Tumor growth delay of colorectal adenocarcinoma with ganetespib alone and in combination with radiation and chemotherapy was analyzed in xenografts. Lastly, immunohistochemical analyses of HSP90 and p-AKT levels where performed in paired normal and tumor colorectal tissue samples from 10 patients. Results: At the clinically achievable dose of 50 nM, ganetespib inhibited colorectal cancer cells proliferation (p Citation Format: Ganji Purnachandra Nagaraju, Kirtesh Patel, Jing Wen, Roberto Diaz, El-Rayes F. Bassel. Ganetespib sensitizes colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo to a clinically relevant regimen of radiation and chemotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3442. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3442
Differential gene expression by 1,25(OH)2D3 in an endometriosis stromal cell line

Endometriosis is a common female reproductive disease characterized by invasion of endometrial cells into other organs, frequently causing pelvic pain and infertility. Alterations of the vitamin D system have been linked to endometriosis incidence and severity. To shed light on the potential mechanism for these associations, we examined the effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 on gene expression in endometriosis cells. Stromal cell lines derived from endometriosis tissue were treated with 1,25(OH)2D3, and RNA-seq was used to identify genes differentially expressed between treated and untreated cells. Gene ontology and pathway analyses were carried out using Partek Flow and Ingenuity software suites, respectively. We identified 1627 genes that were differentially expressed (886 down-regulated and 741 up-regulated) by 1,25(OH)2D3. Only one gene, CYP24A1, was strongly up-regulated (369-fold). Many genes were strongly down-regulated. 1,25(OH)2D3 treatment down-regulated several genetic pathways related to neuroangiogenesis, cellular motility, and invasion, including pathways for axonal guidance, Rho GDP signaling, and matrix metalloprotease inhibition. These findings support a role for vitamin D in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, and provide new targets for investigation into possible causes and treatments.
Blind Predictions of RNA/Protein Relative Binding Affinities

Interactions between RNA and proteins are pervasive in biology, shaping processes such as mRNA translation, localization, and alternative splicing. Developing a predictive understanding of the energetics of these systems would allow us to model biologically relevant mutations of these interactions and ultimately design novel interactions. Despite recent advances in high throughput experimental technologies that measure the energetics of these systems, quantitative computational prediction of relative RNA/protein binding affinities has remained a challenge. This is partly due to the observation that computational binding affinity prediction methods typically break down when the molecules are highly flexible or undergo significant conformational changes, situations that often arise in RNA/protein binding. Here, we present a novel framework within Rosetta for predicting RNA/protein relative binding affinities that begins to address this issue. Specifically, we show that the nearest neighbor energies, which are typically used for RNA secondary structure prediction, can be used to approximate the unbound free energy of the RNA, thus eliminating the need to explicitly account for the flexibility of the unbound RNA or conformational changes of the RNA upon binding. Using this method of calculating the unbound RNA free energy significantly improves the prediction accuracy over a more typical 3D structure-based approach. We optimized this method using a subset of published MS2 coat protein affinities and ultimately made predictions for the system with 1.11-1.28 kcal/mol root mean square (RMS) error. Additionally, we show that this method is able to predict relative binding affinities for four diverse RNA/protein systems with 1.48 kcal/mol RMS error. Finally, to more rigorously assess this method, we independently measured and made blind predictions for PUF3 and PUM2 binding affinities with RMS errors of 1-2 kcal/mol, which is comparable to the accuracy achieved by prediction methods for other types of systems.
Child Behaviors of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Across Play Settings

The hallmark characteristics of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are deficits in social communicative skills and the use of repetitive and/or stereotyped behaviors. In addition, children with ASD experience known motor-skill delays. The purpose of this study was to examine salient child behaviors of young children with and without ASD in 2 distinctly different play settings: a traditional social-play-based setting and a motor-behavior-based play setting. Child behavior (engagement toward parent, negativity, and attention) and dyad characteristics (connectedness) were examined in 2 distinctly different play settings. Results indicated that children with ASD performed more like their peers without ASD in a social-play-based setting and less like their peers in a motor-behavior-based play setting. Aspects of our results shed light on the critical need to develop creative methods of early intervention that combine efforts in all aspects of child development, including motor-skill development.
Can professionalism be taught

Professional behavior and values are often learned outside the classroom, when physicians act as role models for students in patient-physician relationships. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Facilitation by Goal Punishment After Escape Conditioning: CS Intensity Effects

The intensity of a buzzer conditioned stimulus (CS) was manipulated during shock-escape conditioning and extinction of albino rats in a straight runway, using a guillotine-door procedure. After 20 acquisition trials, the rats were placed on extinction, but half were given regular extinction trials and half were subjected to shock punishment in the goal box at the termination of each run. The CS conditions of no buzzer, 71-dB buzzer, and 83- dB buzzer had no significant effects during acquisition, and they did not differentiate punished groups during extinction. Nevertheless, the higher intensity buzzer produced faster running on the part of nonpunished animals during extinction than did the no buzzer condition. In contrast to certain theoretical positions, punishment facilitated running under all CS conditions. The results were interpreted as a function of the differential presence of conditioned aversive stimulation with reference to the rat’s presence in different parts of the apparatus.
Influences of organic carbon speciation on hyporheic corridor biogeochemistry and microbial ecology.

The hyporheic corridor (HC) encompasses the river–groundwater continuum, where the mixing of groundwater (GW) with river water (RW) in the HC can stimulate biogeochemical activity. Here we propose a novel thermodynamic mechanism underlying this phenomenon and reveal broader impacts on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microbial ecology. We show that thermodynamically favorable DOC accumulates in GW despite lower DOC concentration, and that RW contains thermodynamically less-favorable DOC, but at higher concentrations. This indicates that GW DOC is protected from microbial oxidation by low total energy within the DOC pool, whereas RW DOC is protected by lower thermodynamic favorability of carbon species. We propose that GW–RW mixing overcomes these protections and stimulates respiration. Mixing models coupled with geophysical and molecular analyses further reveal tipping points in spatiotemporal dynamics of DOC and indicate important hydrology–biochemistry–microbial feedbacks. Previously unrecognized thermodynamic mechanisms regulated by GW–RW mixing may therefore strongly influence biogeochemical and microbial dynamics in riverine ecosystems. The mechanisms responsible for stimulating biogeochemical activity in the hyporheic corridor (HC) are poorly understood. Here, the authors find that previously unrecognized thermodynamic mechanisms regulated by groundwater-river water mixing may strongly influence HC biogeochemical and microbial dynamics.
Comparison of Two Monoterpene Cyclases Isolated from Higher Plants; γ-Terpinene Synthase from Thymus Vulgaris, and Limonene Synthase from Mentha x Piperita

Monoterpenes are the C10 members of the terpenoid family of natural products, and they diverge from higher isoprenoid biosynthesis at the level of geranyl pyrophosphate. γ-Terpinene synthase and limonene synthase catalyze the divalent metal ion-dependent cyclization of geranyl pyrophosphate to cyclic monoterpenes of the p-menthane type; however, γ-terpinene synthase generates a diverse assortment of minor monoterpene co-products from geranyl pyrophosphate whereas limonene synthase produces a single product. The basic physical and chemical characteristics of these two monoterpene cyclases are described and compared to properties of other terpene cyclases.
Are instructor generated YouTube videos effective in accounting classes? A study of student performance, engagement, motivation, and perception

Abstract We examine whether instructor generated YouTube videos improve student performance in a principles of accounting class. We also gather information about student engagement, motivation, and perception. The instructor designed the videos to help students in traditional and hybrid classes to work through financial oriented problems. The instructor also created lecture videos and information videos. We find evidence that video usage improves student performance. This finding is noteworthy since learning is the foremost goal of any instructional method. Students viewed the videos primarily for exam review. Students watched the videos and believed they were helpful and should be used in class. However, students do not necessarily want video classes to replace traditional classes. We make an important contribution by providing information about the usefulness of instructor generated videos to deliver course content.
Intestinal Damage Fades, but Insults Linger: Setting the Immunological Tone for Infection.

Clostridium difficile has emerged as a noteworthy pathogen in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Saleh et al. (2019) demonstrate that Th17 responses induced by acute colitis contribute to increased disease severity during subsequent C. difficile infection.
Regime Rhetoric and Protests: How Government Statements Can Repress

This paper discusses the role that a regime’s rhetoric—negatively framed public statements directed at domestic targets and audiences—plays in the suppression of protest. Although much work has exa...
The genus Marasmius (Basidiomycota, Agaricales, Marasmiaceae) from Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, West Africa

This treatise serves as a preliminary monograph and phylogenetic treatment of Marasmius from the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe (ST&P), based on data generated from 30 specimens collected in 2008. Twenty-one species are described, seven of which represent species new to science (Marasmius albisubiculosus, M. diversus, M. elaeocephaliformis, M. laranja, M. leptocephalus, M. paratrichotus, M. segregatus), and all represent new distribution records for ST&P. Species are delimited based on comprehensive morphological characters and DNA sequence data. Prior to the collection of these specimens, only one Marasmius species had been documented from these islands. Phylogenetic hypotheses generated from analyses of DNA sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer regions (ITS1+5.8S+ITS2) are proposed to explore the evolutionary relationships amongst ST&P Marasmius and global Marasmius diversity. A dichotomous key to aid in identification, illustrations of pertinent micromorphological features, colour photographs of basidiomata, comprehensive descriptions and commentaries are provided.
Behavioral Self-Regulation as a Protective Factor for Children at Risk of Reading Failure: Predicting First-Grade Reading from Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) Data

Research Findings: This study used data from a large-scale kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) to understand how well two state screening measures, administered at school entry, predicted the first...
A novel design of printable tunable stiffness metamaterial for bone healing.

Abstract A tunable stiffness bone rod was designed, optimized, and 3D printed to address the shortcomings of existing bone fixation devices, such as stress shielding and bone nonunion in the healing of fractured bones. Current bone plates/rods have constant and high stiffness. High initial stiffness prevents the micromotion of newly formed bone and results in poor bone healing. Our novel design framework provides surgeons with a ready-for-3D-printing, patient-specific design, optimized to have the desired force-displacement response with a stopping mechanism for preventing further deformation under higher-than-normal loads, such as falling. The computational framework is a design optimization based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) optimization with the FE simulation to quantify the objectives: tuning the varied stiffness while minimizing the maximum von Mises stress of the model to avoid plastic and permanent deformation of the bone rod. The computational framework for optimum design of tunable stiffness metamaterial presented in this paper is not specific for a tibia bone rod, and it can be used for any application where bilinear stiffness is desirable.
Evaluation of structured data from electronic health records to identify clinical classification criteria attributes for systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective Our objective was to develop algorithms to identify lupus clinical classification criteria attributes using structured data found in the electronic health record (EHR) and determine whether they could be used to describe a cohort of people with lupus and discriminate them from a defined healthy control cohort. Methods We created gold standard lupus and healthy patient cohorts that were fully adjudicated for the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) and European League Against Rheumatism/ACR (EULAR/ACR) classification criteria and had matched EHR data. We implemented rule-based algorithms using structured data within the EHR system for each attribute of the three classification criteria. Individual criteria attribute and classification criteria algorithms as a whole were assessed over our combined cohorts and the overall performance of the algorithms was measured through sensitivity and specificity. Results Individual classification criteria attributes had a wide range of sensitivities, 7% (oral ulcers) to 97% (haematological disorders) and specificities, 56% (haematological disorders) to 98% (photosensitivity), but all could be identified in EHR data. In general, algorithms based on laboratory results performed better than those primarily based on diagnosis codes. All three classification criteria systems effectively distinguished members of our case and control cohorts, but the SLICC criteria-based algorithm had the highest overall performance (76% sensitivity, 99% specificity). Conclusions It is possible to characterise disease manifestations in people with lupus using classification criteria-based algorithms that assess structured EHR data. These algorithms may reduce chart review burden and are a foundation for identifying subpopulations of patients with lupus based on disease presentation to support precision medicine applications.
Transition to Independent Research Funding Among National Institutes of Health K Grant Awardees at Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Background The National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports mentored research career development awards (K awards) to increase the pipeline of independently funded scientists. This study analyzed the portfolio of K grants that were awarded to orthopaedic surgery departments and characterized the factors that were associated with successful transition to independent NIH research funding, including R01 grants. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of K-award recipients in orthopaedic surgery departments in the United States from 1996 to 2018. A query was performed on the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT) database for NIH grants that were awarded to departments of orthopaedic surgery, general surgery, otolaryngology, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, and urology. Rates of transition to independent research funding were compared by specialty for K grants that were awarded from 1996 to 2011. The percentage of faculty with mentored research career development awards and the return on investment (ROI) were calculated. An internet and Scopus (Elsevier) database search determined the investigator characteristics. The factors that were associated with successful transition to independent funding were determined via chi-square and unpaired t tests. Results Sixty K-award recipients were identified in orthopaedic surgery departments. Most were men (77%) and research scientists (53%). Fifty percent of the K-award recipients transitioned to independent research funding. Research scientists had the highest rate of transition to independent research funding (71%, p = 0.016) relative to clinicians (0%) and orthopaedic surgeons (40%). Higher levels of publication productivity were associated with successful transition to independent research funding. Similar rates of transition to independent research funding existed among surgical specialties (p = 0.107). Orthopaedic surgery had the lowest percentage of faculty with a K award (1.4%) but had the highest ROI (198%) of these awards. Conclusions Orthopaedic surgery had similar rates of transition to independent research funding when compared with other surgical specialties but had a lower prevalence of K awards among faculty. Orthopaedic surgeon-scientists have lower rates of transition to independent research funding when compared with their research-scientist colleagues. These findings highlight a need for greater support to foster the pipeline of future NIH-funded orthopaedic investigators. Clinical relevance As the largest support of biomedical research in the U.S., the NIH is an important stakeholder in orthopaedic innovations and discoveries. This study highlights barriers in the procurement of NIH funding across surgical specialties and affirms the need for greater resources toward supporting NIH funding in orthopaedic surgery.
Konfuzius in Oranienbaum: Chinoise Darstellungen zum Leben des Meisters und ihr kulturhistorischer Hintergrund.: Dorothee Schaab-Hanke, Reihe Phönixfeder, 53. Gossenberg: OSTASIEN Verlag, 2020. vii, 106 pp. Figures, Plates, Bibliography. € 29.80 (PB). ISBN 978-3-946114-67-3

Konfuzius in Oranienbaum is a study in material history which describes how popular Chinese portrayals of Confucius were transmitted from China by the Jesuits and absorbed by eighteenth-century upp...
Effect of Medicaid expansion on incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer incidence among Hispanics.

3547Background: Early onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC, age < 50 years) is an emerging public health crisis; especially in Hispanics. Access to healthcare is critical for timely detection and is tie...
Age and Racial Disparities in Telemedicine Utilization in an Academic Orthopedic Surgery Department.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted significant racial and age-related health disparities. In response to pandemic-related restrictions, orthopedic surgery departments have expanded telemedicine use. We analyzed data from a tertiary care institute during the pandemic to understand potential racial and age-based disparities in access to care and telemedicine utilization. Materials and Methods: Data on patient race and age, and numbers of telemedicine visits, in-person office visits, and types of telemedicine were extracted for time periods during and preceding the pandemic. We calculated odds ratios for visit occurrence and type across race and age groups. Results: Patients ages 27-54 were 1.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-1.4, p < 0.01) and 1.2 (95% CI 1.0-1.3, p < 0.05) times more likely to be seen than patients <27 during the pandemic, versus the 2019 and 2020 controls. Patients 54-82 were 1.3 (95% CI 1.1-1.5, p < 0.001) times more likely to be seen than patients <27 during the pandemic versus the 2019 control. Patients 27-54, 54-82, and 82+, respectively, were 3.3 (95% CI 2.6-4.2, p < 1e-20), 3.5 (95% CI 2.8-4.4, p < 1e-24), and 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.4, p < 0.05) times more likely to be seen by telemedicine than patients <27. Among pandemic telemedicine appointments, Black patients were 1.5 (95% CI 1.2-1.9, p < 1e-3) times more likely to be seen by audio-only telemedicine than White patients, as compared with video telemedicine. Conclusions: Telemedicine access barriers must be reduced to ensure that disparities during the pandemic do not persist.
Endpoint bounds for the bilinear Hilbert transform

We study the behavior of the bilinear Hilbert transform BHT at the boundary of the known boundedness regionH . A sample of our results is the estimate |〈BHT( f1, f2), f3〉| ≤ C |F1| 3 4 |F2| 3 4 |F3| 1 2 log log ee + |F3| min{|F1|,|F2|} , valid for all tuples of sets F j ⊂ R of finite measure and functions f j such that | f j | ≤ 1F j , j = 1, 2,3, with the additional restriction that f3 be supported on a major subset F ′ 3 of F3 that depends on {F j : j = 1,2, 3}. The use of subindicator functions in this fashion is standard in the given context, see [25]. The double logarithmic term improves over the single logarithmic term obtained in [1]. Whether the double logarithmic term can be removed entirely, as is the case for the quartile operator discussed in [7], remains open. We employ our endpoint results to describe the blow-up rate of weak-type and strong-type estimates for BHT as the tuple ~ α approaches the boundary ofH . We also discuss bounds on Lorentz-Orlicz spaces near L 2 3 , improving on results of [5]. The main technical novelty in our article is an enhanced version of the multi-frequency Calderon-Zygmund decomposition of [26].
Structural Reliability and Robustness Properties of Optimal Linear-Quadratic Multivariable Regulators

Abstract Strong sufficient conditions are derived for the robustness of optimal linear- quadratic (LQ) regulators to large parameter perturbations. In particular, it is shown that under certain conditions LQ designs remain stable in the presence of actuator channel failures. The general results can be specialized to provide insight into the gain margin, gain reduction, and phase margin properties of optimal LQ regulators.
An approach to point based approximate color bleeding with volumes

Achieving realistic or believable global illumination in scenes with participating media is expensive. Light interacts with the particles of a volume, creating complex radiance patterns. This paper introduces an explicit extension to the commonly used point-based color bleeding technique which allows fast, believable in- and out-scattering effects building on existing data structures and paradigms. The proposed method achieves results comparable to that of existing Monte Carlo integration methods, that is realistic looking renders of scenes which include volume data elements, obtaining render speeds between 10 and 36 times faster while keeping memory overhead under 5%.
Statistical Tolerancing Based on Consumer's Risk Considerations

In a production process it is necessary to specify tolerances for characteristics, such as dimensions within which the measured characteristic must fall in order for the part to be acceptable. Such tolerances may often be set informally, but a considera..
The Past, Present, and Future Encounters between Computation and the Humanities

The philosophy of Artificial Intelligence has traditionally focused its efforts on the critical assessment of concepts and theories emerging from the concrete work done in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. Classic examples are the sustained critique that Herbert Dreyfus has been pursuing since the early 1970s [14, 15, 16] and John Searle’s critique of “strong AI” [47]. Margaret Boden’s collection [4] epitomizes this approach, whose underlying assumption accepts Artificial Intelligence as a non-philosophical scientific discipline that may be susceptible to the standard epistemological analysis that philosophers carry out on physics, biology, and other scientific disciplines.
Finite groups with an irreducible character of large degree

Let G be a finite group and d the degree of a complex irreducible character of G, then write |G| = d(d + e) where e is a nonnegative integer. We prove that |G| ≤ e 4−e 3 whenever e > 1. This bound is best possible and improves on several earlier related results.
Sister Chromatid Exchanges

This article is a revision of the first print edition article by Ann D Mitchell, volume 3, pp 144–146, © 1998, Elsevier Inc. who has now sadly deceased.
An Extended Dynamic Source Routing Scheme in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

In this paper we consider a multipath extension to the dynamic source routing (DSR) protocol proposed by Johnson and Maltz, an on-demand routing protocol for ad hoc wireless networks. This extension keeps two node-disjoint paths between the source and destination of a routing process without introducing extra overhead. Unlike other multipath extensions where node-disjoint paths are selected at the destination or at the reply phase, our approach generates two node-disjoint paths during the query phase of the route discovery process by restricting the way the query packet is flooded. Several optimization options are also considered. Simulation is conducted to determine the success rate of finding node-disjoint paths.
A novel variable selection method based on Frequent Pattern tree for real-time traffic accident risk prediction

Abstract With the availability of large volumes of real-time traffic flow data along with traffic accident information, there is a renewed interest in the development of models for the real-time prediction of traffic accident risk. One challenge, however, is that the available data are usually complex, noisy, and even misleading. This raises the question of how to select the most important explanatory variables to achieve an acceptable level of accuracy for real-time traffic accident risk prediction. To address this, the present paper proposes a novel Frequent Pattern tree (FP tree) based variable selection method. The method works by first identifying all the frequent patterns in the traffic accident dataset. Next, for each frequent pattern, we introduce a new metric, herein referred to as the Relative Object Purity Ratio (ROPR). The ROPR is then used to calculate the importance score of each explanatory variable which in turn can be used for ranking and selecting the variables that contribute most to explaining the accident patterns. To demonstrate the advantages of the proposed variable selection method, the study develops two traffic accident risk prediction models, based on accident data collected on interstate highway I-64 in Virginia, namely a k -nearest neighbor model and a Bayesian network. Prior to model development, two variable selection methods are utilized: (1) the FP tree based method proposed in this paper; and (2) the random forest method, a widely used variable selection method, which is used as the base case for comparison. The results show that the FP tree based accident risk prediction models perform better than the random forest based models, regardless of the type of prediction models (i.e. k -nearest neighbor or Bayesian network), the settings of their parameters, and the types of datasets used for model training and testing. The best model found is a FP tree based Bayesian network model that can predict 61.11% of accidents while having a false alarm rate of 38.16%. These results compare very favorably with other accident prediction models reported in the literature.
A Hybrid Multiscale Framework for Subsurface Flow and Transport Simulations

Abstract Extensive research is aimed at improving predictive ability of biogeochemical earth and environmental system simulators, with applications ranging from contaminant transport and remediation to impacts of carbon and nitrogen cycling on local ecosystems and climate. Most process-based numerical models are designed for a single characteristic length and time scale. For application-relevant scales, it is necessary to introduce approximations and empirical parameterizations to describe complex systems because of limitations on process understanding, system characterization and computation. Using emerging understanding of biological and environmental processes at fundamental scales to advance predictions of the larger system behavior requires the development of multiscale simulators, and there is strong interest in coupling microscale and macroscale models together in a hybrid multiscale simulation. A limited number of hybrid multiscale simulations have been developed for biogeochemical systems, mostly using application-specific approaches for model coupling. We are developing a generalized approach to hierarchical model coupling designed for high-performance computational systems, based on the Swift computing workflow framework. In this presentation we will describe the generalized approach and provide two use cases: 1) simulation of a mixing-controlled biogeochemical reaction coupling pore- and continuum-scale models, and 2) simulation of biogeochemical impacts of groundwater–river water interactions coupling fine- and coarse-grid model representations. This generalized framework can be customized for use with any pair of linked models (microscale and macroscale) with minimal intrusiveness to the at-scale simulators. It combines a set of python scripts with the Swift workflow environment to execute a complex multiscale simulation utilizing an approach similar to the well-known Heterogeneous Multiscale Method. User customization is facilitated through user-provided input and output file templates and processing function scripts, and execution within a high-performance computing environment is handled by Swift, such that minimal to no user modification of at-scale codes is required.
Implausible Injuries: Wal-Mart v. Dukes and the Future of Class Actions and Employment Discrimination Cases

In 2001, a class action suit was brought against Wal-Mart, where plaintiffs sought to certify a class of every woman who did work for the giant retailer or had worked for it since 1998, seeking relief related to promotion and pay policies. Plaintiffs alleged that they were all discriminated against on the basis of sex. The Supreme Court agreed with Wal-Mart, finding that the class did not meet requirements for class actions set by Rule 23. This article explores the reasoning behind the Supreme Court’s split decision that the class did not meet the commonality standard, which relied significantly on the Court’s modification of pleading standards in Twombly and Iqbal. Twombly and Iqbal established a new standard for pleading. Based on the logic of those cases, the justices relied in Dukes on their own belief that discrimination was implausible, rather than believing expert testimony that relied on social science data. This article explores the implications of this case for the future, especially the future of employment discrimination cases and other cases that involve complex questions of causation?
Probe Development for Biosolids NMR Spectroscopy

Biosolids' NMR spectroscopy presents unique challenges due to the fragility of the samples, the inherently low sensitivity of NMR, and the need for strong RF excitation fields. The shift to higher magnetic field strengths improves sensitivity and resolution but tests the limits of strong RF excitation without detrimentally heating biological samples. This article discusses the underlying tradeoffs between frequency, RF field, and sensitivity in the design of NMR probes for biosolids applications, particularly for larger sample sizes and higher proton frequencies. Recent developments in RF coils and their matching networks are presented along with suggested criteria for evaluating probes for particular applications. Keywords: solid-state NMR; protein structure; probe design; RF heating; loop-gap resonator; scroll coil; Faraday shield; XC coils; low-E coils; Z-coil
Hazard and Hazard Ratio

The hazard function is a tool for describing the process of time to failure. Hazard functions arise in the context of survival analysis, also known as failure analysis, and provide a convenient way to visualize how the risk of failure changes with age or time. The exponential, Weibull, and lognormal distribution are three of the commonly used statistical models of time to failure. Hazard functions are used in epidemiology, medicine, ecology, engineering, and manufacturing settings, as well as in economics and finance. In this article, the mathematical concept of hazard and typical survival or failure time models are discussed. The hazard ratio is a general way of examining relative risk. Cox proportional hazard models are examined, and nonparametric statistical methods for describing the relative risk of failure for two or more populations are discussed. Keywords: hazard function; hazard ratio; survival analysis; failure analysis; reliability function; exponential; Weibull; lognormal; Cox proportional hazard; rank test
The cost of transparency: grid-based file access on the avaki data grid

Grid computing has been a hot topic for a decade. Several systems have been developed. Despite almost a decade of research and tens of millions of dollars spent, uptake of grid technology has been slow. Most deployed grids are based on a toolkit approach that requires significant software modification or development. An operating system technique used for over 30 years has been to reduce application complexity by providing transparency, e.g. file systems mask details of devices, virtual machines mask finite memory, etc. It has been argued that providing transparency in a grid environment is too costly in terms of performance. This paper examines that question in the context of data grids by measuring the performance of a commercially available data grid product – the Avaki Data Grid (ADG). We present the architecture of the ADG, describe our experimental setup, and provide performance results, comparing the ADG to a native NFS V3 implementation for both local and wide area access cases. The results were mixed, though encouraging. For single client local file operations, native NFS outperformed the ADG by 15% to 45% for smaller files, though for files larger than 32 MB ADG outperformed native NFS.
Searching multi-hierarchical XML documents: the case of fragmentation

To properly encode properties of textual documents using XML, multiple markup hierarchies must be used, often leading to conflicting markup in encodings. Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines [1] recognize this problem and suggest a number of ways to incorporate multiple hierarchies in a single well-formed XML document. In this paper, we present a framework for processing XPath queries over multi-hierarchical XML documents represented using fragmentation, one of the TEI-suggested techniques. We define the semantics of XPath over DOM trees of fragmented XML, extend the path expression language to cover overlap in markup, and describe FragXPath, our implementation of the proposed XPath semantics over fragmented markup.
Oscillations in the angular distributions of heavy-ion transfer reactions

Oscillations in the angular distributions are established as a general feature of heavy-ion induced, few-nucleon transfer reactions at incident energies sufficiently above the Coulomb barrier. For proper Q-matching with incident and exiting energies well above the Coulomb barrier, the angular position of the most forward maxima in the differential cross section is characteristic of the transferred angular momentum. The threshold for such oscillations is particularly sensitive to the absorptive potential near the nuclear surface requiring potentials that are strongly absorbing in the nuclear interior but nearly transparent at the surface. Evidence also is presented for an energy dependent surface absorption. Certain anomalous cases where the oscillating cross sections are predicted to be out of phase with the data are discussed.
Fast large-scale optimization by unifying stochastic gradient and quasi-Newton methods

We present an algorithm for minimizing a sum of functions that combines the computational efficiency of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with the second order curvature information leveraged by quasi-Newton methods. We unify these disparate approaches by maintaining an independent Hessian approximation for each contributing function in the sum. We maintain computational tractability and limit memory requirements even for high dimensional optimization problems by storing and manipulating these quadratic approximations in a shared, time evolving, low dimensional subspace. This algorithm contrasts with earlier stochastic second order techniques that treat the Hessian of each contributing function as a noisy approximation to the full Hessian, rather than as a target for direct estimation. Each update step requires only a single contributing function or minibatch evaluation (as in SGD), and each step is scaled using an approximate inverse Hessian and little to no adjustment of hyperparameters is required (as is typical for quasi-Newton methods). We experimentally demonstrate improved convergence on seven diverse optimization problems. The algorithm is released as open source Python and MATLAB packages.
Positive real controller design with H/sub /spl infin// norm performance bound

This paper considers the positive real controller design for strictly positive real plants subject to a general H/sub /spl infin// norm performance bound. This problem is shown to be equivalent to a pair of small gain problems. A sufficient condition for their solutions is a standard H/sub /spl infin// small gain problem which can be readily solved. This procedure has been applied to the control of an experimental rotating flexible beam with good results.
A collaborative framework to realize virtual enterprises using 3APL

In this paper, we propose a collaborative framework to realize a Virtual Enterprise (VE) for the domain of Micro Assembly. The framework is developed using 3APL technologies [7] and employs the idea of viewing WebService composition as a planning problem [8]. We describe the implementation of the framework and experiment with two micro assembly work cells.
Nicotine modulates alcohol-seeking and relapse by alcohol-preferring (P) rats in a time-dependent manner.

Background: Alcohol is frequently co-abused with smoking. In humans, nicotine use canincrease alcohol craving and consumption. The objectives of the current study were to assess theacute effects of nicotine on alcohol seeking and relapse at 2 different time points.Methods: Adult female alcohol-preferring (P) rats were trained in 2-lever operant chambers toself-administer 15% ethanol (EtOH) (v⁄v) and water on a concurrent ﬁxed-ratio 5–ﬁxed-ratio 1(FR5-FR1) schedule of reinforcement in daily 1-hour sessions. Following 10 weeks of daily 1-hour sessions, rats underwent 7 extinction sessions, followed by 2 weeks in their home cages. Ratswere then returned to the operant chambers without EtOH or water being present for 4 sessions(Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery [PSR]). Rats were then given a week in their home cage beforebeing returned to the operant chambers with access to EtOH and water (relapse). Nicotine (0,0.1, 0.3, or 1.0 mg⁄kg) was injected subcutaneously immediately or 4 hours prior to PSR orrelapse testing.Results: Injections of nicotine immediately prior to testing reduced (5 to 10 responses PSR; 50to 60 responses relapse), whereas injections of nicotine 4 hours prior to testing increased (up to150 responses for PSR; up to 400 responses for relapse with 1.0 mg⁄kg dose) responses on theEtOH lever during PSR and relapse tests.Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that acute effects of nicotine on EtOH-seeking and relapse behaviors may be time dependent, with the immediate effects being a result ofnicotine possibly acting as a substitute for EtOH, whereas with a delay of 4 hours, priming effectsof nicotine alterations in nicotinic receptors, and⁄or the effects of nicotine’s metabolites (i.e., coti-nine and nornicotine) may enhance the expression of EtOH-seeking and relapse behaviors.Key Words: Ethanol-Seeking, Ethanol Relapse, Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery, Nicotine,Alcohol-Preferring Rat.
De la metáfora náhuatl y la construcción de la divinidad en dos textos sahaguntinos

I would like to analyze the concept dios/teutl in two Sahaguntian textsas a metaphoric construction, in order to bring to light certain doctrinal understanding between two completely different hermeneutical worlds: the Christian and the Nahua. The main objective of such metaphorical device would be to undertake a more efficient evangelization and to promote the “conquest” and new order of foreign cognitive schemes. By settling unprecedented metaphors, it will be possible, for instance, to promote the appearance of an open and dangerous semantic space to pre-decir, or to say something new, for the very first time in a situation of evangelization. I propose the study of these new metaphors as a form of “adjusted mimesis” that will allow us to revise friar Sahagun’s intervention, aimed towards a deeper degree of communication.
Comparison of Optical Dendrometers for Prediction of Standing Tree Volume

Enhanced sets of compatible stem profile equations were used with data collected from felled and standing pine trees to calculate tree volumes to various top merchantability limits. Standing trees were measured with the Criterion 400 Laser, Tele-Relaskop, and Wheeler Pentaprism. These measurements were used to compare accuracies of the optical dendrometers for the measurement of tree dbh and height and the prediction of tree volume from stem profile equations.
In situ temperature measurements for selective epitaxy of GaN nanowires

We demonstrate with spatially resolved, in situ temperature measurements and ex situ reflectance measurements that differences in appearance for masked and unmasked surfaces on patterned growth substrates arise from wavelength-dependent emissivity variations and not from actual temperature differences. For this study, Si(111) substrates were coated with thin AlN buffer layers (about 40 nm thick) and then further coated with a SiNx mask layer (about 60 nm thick). “Blackbody” emission spectra were collected from homogeneous regions at growth temperatures near those that allow the selective epitaxy of catalyst-free GaN nanowires on the AlN by molecular beam epitaxy. The data were acquired with a commercial in situ diagnostic system that incorporates optical fiber collection to limit the sampling area to a circle about 5 mm in diameter on the substrate. The emittance spectra are estimated from room-temperature reflectance measurements. The implication for selectivity mechanisms and temperature measurements in molecular beam epitaxy in general are also discussed. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Strategic aspects of political systems

Early results on the emptiness of the core and the majority-rule-chaos results led to the recognition of the importance of modeling institutional details in political processes. A sample of the literature on game-theoretic models of political phenomena that ensued is presented. In the case of sophisticated voting over certain kinds of binary agendas, such as might occur in a legislative setting, equilibria exist and can be nicely characterized. Endogenous choice of the agenda can sometimes yield “sophisticated sincerity”, where equilibrium voting behavior is indistinguishable from sincere voting. Under some conditions there exist agenda-independent outcomes. Various kinds of “structure-induced equilibria” are also discussed. Finally, the effect of various types of incomplete information is considered. Incomplete information of how the voters will behave leads to probabilistic voting models that typically yield utilitarian outcomes. Uncertainty among the voters over which is the preferred outcome yields the pivotal voting phenomenon, in which voters can glean information from the fact that they are pivotal. The implications of this phenomenon are illustrated by results on the Condorcet Jury problem, where voters have common interests but different information.