cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Physiological low dose of estrogen‐protected neurons in experimental spinal cord injury

A protective role for estrogen against neurodegeneration and neurotrauma has received enormous attention in recent years, unraveling multiple facets and thus establishing this steroid as a multiactive neuroprotectant. The present study briefly reports our findings on the neuroprotective efficacy of physiologically relevant low doses of estrogen in experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. The current finding further corroborates our earlier results on efficacy of pharmacological/supraphysiological levels of estrogen in SCI and adds to the significance of conducting preclinical studies on estrogen efficacy in SCI.
Duplication and differential expression of hemagglutinin genes in Porphyromonas gingivalis

A third hemagglutinin gene, defined as hagC, was cloned from Porphyromonas gingivalis 381 and sequenced. This gene was found to encode a protein highly homologous (98.6%) to the previously reported HagB hemagglutinin protein. The upstream and downstream regions of hagB and hagC were found to share less than 40% homology compared with 99% for their open reading frames. The anti-genie relationship between the two hemagglutinins was demonstrated by Western blot analysis. When expressed in an in vitro transcription-translation system, both genes encoded a protein with a molecular mass of 49 kDa. As determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, the steady-state levels of hagB and hagC mRNAs were found to vary according to the growth phase and hemin concentration. The amount of transcripts decreased in hemin-limited conditions or in the absence of hemin. Furthermore, hagB mRNAs were detected in the early logarithmic growth phase compared with the hagC transcripts, which were detected only in the mid-exponential phase of growth.
Static and Nonlinear Impact Analyses of Free–Free Sandwich Plates on a Solid Half-space

In this study, an elastic model for static and nonlinear impact responses of a composite sandwich plate on an elastic half-space including the anti-plane core effect is developed. The effects of the elastic half-space and the anti-plane core are studied, and the contact force history and maximal deflection are predicted. Compared to the available analytical static analysis of rigid plates on a solid half-space and the numerical finite element modeling using LS-DYNA, the proposed theoretical method shows its validity and advantages in predicting the static and impact behaviors of sandwich plates sitting on a solid half-space. The predicted non-uniform distribution of transferred force under static load sheds new light on the understanding of force action mechanism between the sandwich system and the solid half-space. The two important impact factors (i.e., the maximal deflection and the peak contact force) provided by this study can be used to determine the damage size and position. Further, the semi-analy...
Feature Selection in Cancer Classification from mRNA Data Based on Localized Dimension Reduction

In response to the ICMLA 2009 "Functional Clustering of Gene Expression Profiles in Human Cancers Challenge," we present a new dimension reduction approach that ranks features based on their localized discriminative power. The proposed method is based on a localized dimension reduction penalty added to the objective function for training a hyper basis function (hyper BF or generalized RBF) neural network. The localized dimension reduction in a hyper BF network is motivated by the fact that many patterns are recognized to belong to one class due to the co-occurrence of specific values along a specific set of dimensions. Furthermore, one class is very likely to be composed of multiple sub- models that are different in their characteristics. The proposed method is applied at multiple iterations. Features are ranked each iteration and a smaller subset is passed to the next iteration. A support vector machine (SVM) is used to evaluate the remaining dimensions in a ten-fold cross validation setting. Experimental results show the proposed method effectively reduces the number of dimensions from 54,613 to 65 while increasing the cross-validation classification accuracy from 92.3% to 96.4%. The classification accuracy of the final model on unseen data was reported by the challenge coordinators to be 94% accurate.
Effects of guanidinium-phosphate hydrogen bonding on the membrane-bound structure and activity of an arginine-rich membrane peptide from solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Arginineand lysine-rich cationic peptides and protein domains are found in a wide range of membrane-active proteins such as antimicrobial peptides, cell-penetrating peptides, and voltage-sensing domains of potassium channels. Yet the three-dimensional structures these proteins adopt to enable translocation of the charged residues into the low dielectric milieu of the hydrophobic part of the lipid membrane, despite the free-energy barrier, remain poorly understood. An increasing number of molecular dynamics simulations and experimental studies have suggested the importance of Arg interactions with lipids in membrane protein function. Magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy can provide direct experimental insights into these intriguing questions of energetics and structure. We have recently reported SSNMR distance-constrained guanidinium–phosphate (Gdn–PO4 ) complex formation between the Arg residues of a b-hairpin antimicrobial peptide, PG-1, and the lipid phosphate groups. The existence of these complexes suggests that the Arg residues are neutralized by the phosphate groups to enable transmembrane insertion of the peptide. We hypothesized that the peptide-associated phosphate headgroups transferred to the hydrophobic part of the membrane are responsible for the toroidal pore defects. Such Gdn–PO4 complexes should be stabilized by N H···O=P hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attractions. Herein we test the importance of Gdn–PO4 hydrogen bonding to the structure and activity of PG-1 by dimethylating each guanidinium group, thus reducing the number of N H hydrogen-bond donors (Figure 1). We show that this dimethylation of the Arg groups significantly alters the membrane insertion and activity of PG-1. Figure 2 shows oriented P NMR spectra of palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine/palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylglycerol (POPC/POPG) membranes containing 0–4% of the mutant (Arg-PG-1). Without the peptide, the membranes uniaxially aligned on glass plates and exhibited the expected single peak at approximately 30 ppm without other intensities in the anisotropic chemical shift range. Residual powder intensities indicative of misalignment and a small 0 ppm isotropic peak indicative of toroidal pores are observed with increasing concentrations of Arg-PG-1. Line-shape simulations indicate that the isotropic component in the 4% Arg-PG-1 sample is 20% of the total intensity, much less than the 39% caused by PG-1; thus, dimethylation of the Arg residues reduces membrane disruption. Corroborating the P NMR data are the minimal effective concentrations (MECs) of Arg-PG-1 and PG-1 against Figure 1. a) Structure of dimethylated Arg residue and its bidentate complex with phosphate ions. b) Arg-PG-1 amino acid sequence.
Information storage using nanoscale electrodeposition of metal in solid electrolytes

Abstract Programmable metallization cell (PMC) memory is based on the electrochemical control of nanoscale quantities of metal in thin films of solid electrolyte. It shows great promise as an ultra-scalable solid state non-volatile memory as it requires low programming voltage and current, and has the ability for the storage cells to be physically sized at minimum lithographically defined dimensions. Scalability issues will be discussed in the context of recent findings relating to the nanostructure of the electrolyte and results obtained from small-geometry devices based on Ag–Ge–Se nano-phase separated material.
Polyploidy and self-fertilization in flowering plants.

Mating systems directly control the transmission of genes across generations, and understanding the diversity and distribution of mating systems is central to understanding the evolution of any group of organisms. This basic idea has been the motivation for many studies that have explored the relationships between plant mating systems and other biological and/or ecological phenomena, including a variety of floral and environmental characteristics, conspecific and pollinator densities, growth form, parity, and genetic architecture. In addition to these examples, a potentially important but poorly understood association is the relationship between plant mating systems and genome duplication, i.e., polyploidy. It is widely held that polyploid plants selffertilize more than their diploid relatives, yet a formal analysis of this pattern does not exist. Data from 235 species of flowering plants were used to analyze the association between self-fertilization and ploidy. Phylogenetically independent contrasts and cross-species analyses both lend support to the hypothesis that polyploids self-fertilize more than diploids. Because polyploidy and self-fertilization are so common among angiosperms, these results contribute not only to our understanding of the relationship between mating systems and polyploidy in particular, but more generally, to our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants.
Political Culture and Participation in the Chinese Countryside: Some Empirical Evidence

Democracy in rural China has attracted much attention in recent years. During President Bill Clinton's visit to China in 1998, he made a public stop at a village outside Xian to chat with a few Chinese villagers about village elections in China. In fact, village democracy has become one of the rare subject matters that the Chinese government is eager to publicize and the Western academia and media are interested to investigate. The Chinese government, often through the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has organized and allowed foreign journalists, social scientists, dignitaries, diplomats, and political, academic, and social organizations (such as the U.S. International Republican Institute, the Ford Foundation, the Carter Center, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations) to go to Chinese rural areas to observe village selfgovernment and elections. There is no doubt that the Chinese government intends to showcase its village selfgovernment to the outside world, hoping to improve its tarnished image from the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989. Western media and governments are interested in this new development in China in the hope that this will be the beginning of the long-delayed democratic transition in the most populous country in the world.
Role of nanocrystalline domain size on the electrochemical double-layer capacitance of high edge density carbon nanostructures

Nanostructured carbon materials, especially activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, and graphene, have been widely studied for supercapacitor applications. To maximize the efficacy of these materials for electrochemical energy storage, a detailed understanding of the relationship between the nanostructure of these materials and their performance as supercapacitors is required. A fundamental structural parameter obtained from the Raman spectra of these materials, the in-plane correlation length or nanocrystalline domain size, is found to correlate with the electrochemical capacitance, regardless of other morphological features. This correlation for a common nanostructural characteristic is believed to be the first result of its kind to span several distinct nanostructured carbon morphologies, including graphene–carbon nanotubes hybrid materials, and may allow more effective nanoscale engineering of supercapacitor electrode materials.
FLEXURE-BASED TWO DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM LEGS FOR WALKING MICROROBOTS

This work examines the design of legs for a walking microrobot. The parameterized force-displacement relationships of planar serpentine flexure-based two degree-of-freedom legs are analyzed. An analytical model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is developed to explore the design space, and is subsequently refined to include contact between adjacent beams. This is used to determine a successful leg geometry given dimensional constraints and actuator limitations. Standard comb drive actuators that output 100 μN of force over a 15 μm bi-directional throw are shown able to drive a walking gait with three legs on a 1 cm2 silicon die microrobot. If the comb drive suspensions cannot withstand the generated reaction moments, an alternate pivot-based leg linkage is proposed.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Protamine sulfate reduces the susceptibility of thermally injured mice to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.

Background In this study, we investigated the ability of protamine sulfate, at sub-bactericidal dosing, to interfere with the in vivo virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAO1) during burn wound infection. Materials and methods The study was conducted using the murine model of thermal injury. Preliminary experiments determined a protocol for administration of protamine sulfate that had no in vivo bactericidal effects. Based on this, the effect of local injection of protamine sulfate on the in vivo virulence of PAO1 was assessed using these parameters: (1) the percent mortality among PAO1-infected, thermally injured mice; (2) the local proliferation and spread of PAO1 within the infected burned tissue; (3) the systemic spread of PAO1 within thermally injured/infected mice; and (4) the local cytokine response elicited by PAO1 thermally injured/infected mice. Results Injection of protamine sulfate into the thermally injured tissue of PAO1-infected/thermally injured mice significantly decreased the percent mortality and inhibited the systemic dissemination of PAO1 microorganisms to the liver and spleen. It had no effect, however, on the ability of the bacteria to proliferate and spread within the thermally injured tissue. It also was determined that protamine sulfate was ineffective at preventing mouse death at the dose administered if injected intramuscularly instead of directly into burned tissue. Protamine sulfate reduced the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and LIF in the injured/infected tissue. Heparan sulfate given in conjunction with protamine sulfate returned mortality levels to those of untreated mice. Conclusions Our results suggest that: (1) local injection of sub-bactericidal doses of protamine sulfate reduces the virulence of P. aeruginosa ; (2) this effect is due to interference with the systemic rather than local spread of P. aeruginosa ; and (3) local application of protamine sulfate may have potential as supportive therapy for prevention of systemic P. aeruginosa infection in severely burned patients.
A multiphysics computational technique for THz-frequency characterization of semiconductors and metals

We present a multiphysics computational technique for calculating the THz-frequency conductivity in semiconductors and metals. This novel technique combines the ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) simulation of carrier transport with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solver of Maxwell's curl equations and the molecular dynamics (MD) technique for describing short-range Coulomb interactions between particles with finite radii and the exchange interaction between indistinguishable electrons. The calculated complex conductivity of doped bulk silicon shows excellent agreement with experimental data. This work represents the first comprehensive computational technique for THz-regime characterization of materials with relatively high carrier densities.
Firm Volatility in Granular Networks

We propose a model of firm volatility based on customer-supplier connectedness. We assume that customers' growth rate shocks influence the growth rates of their suppliers, larger suppliers have more customers, and the strength of a customer-supplier link depends on the size of the customer firm. When the size distribution becomes more dispersed, economic activity is concentrated among a smaller number of firms, the typical supplier becomes less diversified and its volatility increases. The model is consistent with a set of new stylized facts. At the macro level, the firm volatility distribution is driven by firm size dispersion; the latter explains common movements in firm-level total and residual volatility. At the micro level, we show that the concentration of customer networks is an important determinant of firm-level volatility.
Analysis of a point-source integrating-cavity absorption meter

We evaluate the theoretical performance of a point-source integrating-cavity absorption meter (PSICAM) with Monte Carlo simulations and a sensitivity analysis. We quantify the scattering errors, verifying that they are negligible for most ocean optics applications. Although the PSICAM detector response is highly sensitive to the value of the wall reflectivity, the absorption of an unknown fluid can be accurately determined with a PSICAM if appropriate reference solution(s) are chosen. We also quantify the error that results if the source is not perfectly isotropic, finding that moderate amounts of source anisotropy can be tolerated provided that the detector is properly located with respect to the source.
Influence of BiCMOS processing steps on thin gate oxide quality

This paper reports on the work carried out on the improvement of gate oxide quality on a 1.0 /spl mu/m BICMOS process. The gate oxide defectivity was improved by partitioning the process into key process blocks and examining the contribution of each block to the overall defect level. Case studies from each block are presented which describe the weaknesses identified and the solutions implemented which have resulted in a robust and manufacturable process. A short loop process monitor is also described. >
The Comparative Effects of Constructivist Versus Traditional Teaching Methods on the Environmental Literacy of Postsecondary Nonscience Majors

Using a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental control group design, a learning environment study was conducted to evaluate the environmental literacy of postsecondary, nonscience majors. Data were co...
Identifying and mitigating dam-induced declines in river health: Three case studies from the western United States

Abstract River health can be defined as the degree to which riverine energy source, water quality, flow regime, habitat and biota match the natural conditions. In a healthy river, physical process and form remain actively connected and able to mutually adjust, and biological communities have natural levels of diversity and are resilient to environmental stress. Both physical diversity and biodiversity influence river health. Physical diversity is governed by hydrology, hydraulics, and substrate, as reflected in the geometry of the river channel and adjacent floodplain, which create habitat for aquatic and riparian organisms. Biodiversity is governed by biological processes such as competition and predation, but biodiversity also reflects the diversity, abundance and stability of habitat, as well as connectivity. Connectivity within a river corridor includes longitudinal, lateral, and vertical dimensions. River health declines as any of these interacting components is compromised by human activities. The cumulative effect of dams and other human alterations of rivers has been primarily to directly reduce physical diversity and connectivity, which indirectly reduces biodiversity. Restoration and maintenance of physical diversity and biodiversity on rivers affected by dams requires quantifying relations between the driver variables of flow and sediment supply, and the response variables of habitat, connectivity, and biological communities. These relations can take the form of thresholds (e.g., entrainment of streambed sediment) or response curves (e.g., fish biomass versus extent and duration of floodplain inundation). I use examples from Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona in the western United States to illustrate how to quantify relations between driver and response variables on rivers affected by dams.
Influence and similarity on heterogeneous networks

In the social network research, the studies on social influence maximization and entity similarity are two important and orthogonal tasks. On homogeneous networks, social influence maximization research tries to identify an initial influential set that maximizes the spread of the information, while similarity studies focus on designing meaningful ways to quantify entities' similarities. When heterogeneous networks are becoming ubiquitous and entities of different types are related to each other, we observe the possibility of merging the two directions together to improve the performance for both of them. In fact, we found that influence values among one type of nodes and similarity scores among the other type of nodes reinforce each other towards better and more meaningful results. Therefore, we introduce a framework that computes social influence for one type of nodes and simultaneously measures similarity of the other type of nodes in a heterogeneous network. First, we decouple the target heterogeneous network (or we call it Influence Similarity (IS) network) into three different parts: Influence network, Similarity network and information tunnels (IT) between them. Through IT, we exchange the influence scores and the similarity scores to calculate more precise similarity and influence scores in order to improve both of their qualities. The experiment results on real world data shows that our framework enables influence maximization framework to identify more influential seeds in Influence network and similarity measures to produce more meaningful similarity scores in Similarity network simultaneously.
Teaching Students to Make Better Decisions About the Environment: Lessons From the Decision Sciences

One of the fundamental goals of environmental education (EE) is to equip students with the skills to make more thoughtful decisions about environmental issues. Many examples of environmental and science education curricula work to address this goal by providing students with up-to-date information about a myriad of environmental issues from a variety of scientific disciplines. As noted by previous researchers in EE, an emphasis on scientific information, however, does not help to overcome many of the barriers to improved decision making. To help students become better environmental decision makers, educators must also work to incorporate lessons about decision making in conventional EE curricula. This article provides an overview of findings from the decision sciences and behavioral decision research to highlight some of the most common impediments to high-quality decision making. The authors end with suggestions for curriculum development that might help to improve students' decision-making skills regard...
Self-Responsibility and Eudaimonia

The notion of authenticity, or as I am calling it, self-responsibility, reveals a moral urgency at the center of Husserl’s philosophizing. Authenticity has both descriptive and normative dimensions, but this notion remains divorced both from Husserl’s discussions of the normative dimension of axiology and from his account of eudaimonia, the notion that, in one way or another, expresses – or should express – the end of our moral urgings.
Role of Dextran 70 in Microtubal Surgery

Pelvic adhesion formation represents a major problem following fallopian tube surgery for infertility. Intraperitoneal dextran may prevent pelvic adhesions. Extensive personal clinical experience (W. H. U.) with intraperitoneal dextran organ-flotation on completion of tubal and ovarian surgery has appeared to limit adhesions. A specific study was designed to test the validity of this theory. Four randomized groups of rabbits were subjected to bilateral tubocornual division and microsurgical reanastomosis with total hemostasis and pelvic lavage. Routine peritoneal closure was performed on one group, but followed instillation of 30 to 50 ml of normal saline into the peritoneal cavities of the second group, and 30 to 50 ml of 6% dextran 70 into those of the third. Study of fourth group, which received 32% dextran 70 in the peritoneal cavity, was discontinued because of complications. A second laparotomy was performed 4 weeks later for precise assessment and photography of adhesion formation. Each animal was mated 4 weeks after the second operation in order to determine fertility rates. Reduced adhesion formation and increased fertility rates following the instillation of dextran are reported. A role for dextran 70 in infertility surgery is recommended.
Epidemiology of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Among Persons Older Than 21 Years: A Population-Based Study in South Carolina, 1998-2012

BACKGROUND: A gap exists in the current knowledge regarding the epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in a statewide population. OBJECTIVE: To describe population-based epidemiology and trend of TSCI in persons 22 years and older in South Carolina over a 15-year period from 1998 through 2012. METHODS: Data on patients with TSCI were obtained from ongoing statewide TSCI surveillance and follow-up registry. Deaths were ascertained by linking surveillance files and the multiple cause-of-death dataset. Descriptive analyses were completed, and incidence and mortality rates were calculated based on the civilian adult population of the state. RESULTS: Over the 15 years, 3,365 persons with incident TSCI were discharged alive from acute care hospitalization, of whom 555 died during the period of observation. Age-standardized cumulative mortality rate was 14 per million, and the average incidence rate was estimated at 70.8 per million population per year. Age-standardized incidence rate of TSCI increased significantly from 66.9 in 1998 to 111.7 per million in 2012. Standardized incidence rates were significantly higher among non-Whites and males. Motor vehicle crashes and falls were the leading causes, accounting for nearly 70% of TSCI. CONCLUSIONS: Standardized incidence and mortality rates of TSCI in South Carolina are higher than reported rates for the US population. Motor vehicle crashes and falls are the leading causes of TSCI. There was a significant increase in the overall trend of the incidence rates over the 15 years. A well-coordinated preventive strategy is needed to reduce incidence and improve survival of persons with TSCI. Language: en
An Analysis of the Validity of Health Questionnaires

to both demands of role and self and level of information. No attempt has been made in this report to show how a sociological conception of field work roles can do more than provide lines of thought and action for dealing with problems and processes of field interaction. Obviously, however, a theory of role and self growing out of study of field interaction is in no sense limited to that area of human activity. Learning to take and play roles, although dramatized in the field, is essentially the same kind of social learning people engage in throughout life. In any case, the foregoing discussion has suggested that a field worker selects and plays a role so that he, being who he is, can best study those aspects of society in which he is interested.
Dromotropic effects of stellate stimulation on the AV node and internodal pathways.

SummaryThe dromotropic effects of supramaximal stimulation of the right (RSS) and left (LSS) stellate ganglia on segments of the middle (MIN) and posterior (PIN) internodal pathways of James and across the AV node were studied in the anesthetized, open chest dog maintained on cardiopulmonary bypass. Contiguous bipolar electrodes were sutured over the sinus node and on the lateral surface of the right atrial appendage for pacing, and at three points along the MIN and PIN for measuring conduction time. One electrode was placed over the crista terminalis at the caudal pole of the SA node; a second across the crista at the level of the limbus of the fossa ovalis; and a third bipolar electrode over the PIN as it courses between the coronary sinus and AV ring. Conduction time through the AV node was assessed by alterations in the a-h sub-interval of the His electrogram which was recorded with a Hoffman-type electrode sutured over the His bundle. With pacing from either the sinus node or lateral surface of the r...
Case two: Experimental blood substitute on first response vehicles.

1. Mia Rowland, MA, JD[⇑][1] 1. is lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth MA 1. Address for correspondence: Mia Rowland MA, JD, lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth MA 02747-2300. (508) 910-6097. (508) 990-9674 (fax), mrowland{at}umassd.edu. Clinical trials in a number of countries are now underway to evaluate experimental, non-human blood substitute.1 One scenario calls for the blood substitute to be available on board emergency vehicles. This allows first responders the opportunity to provide transfusion support at an accident site and on the way to the hospital. However, many of the patients who would most benefit from the use of this material may be unconscious and unable to comprehend or sign an informed consent. One possible solution would be to eliminate the need for informed consent. History testifies to the need for protecting human beings who serve as subjects of experimentation.1 Requiring voluntary informed consent is intended to protect the life, health, dignity, and autonomy of subjects. However, in the case of first responders, waiving informed consent is justified in some cases. Understandably, the mere thought of waiving the informed consent requirement causes the entire world to shudder. The prospect reminds us of the inhumane Nazi and Tuskegee experiments. The Nazis performed heinous experiments that included freezing and thawing humans, testing various poisons and methods of sterilization, injecting humans with typhus and malaria, testing bone, nerve and muscle regeneration, and bone transplantation. There were seemingly fetishist experiments conducted under the supervision of researchers such as Josef Mengele.2 These experiments were justified by the “important information” they produced for furthering the German war effort, purifying the German race, and affirming German superiority. When the world learned of the horrors of these experiments, there was a collective determination… [1]: #corresp-1
The Efficacy of a Web-Based Instruction and Remediation Program on Student Learning

Faculty today are challenged to meet the individual ized learning needs of what is frequently a disparate student population while engaging in mean ingful assessment of student learning outcomes. Learning styles and levels of preparation va ry among students especially in the area of mathematics and the ability to diagnosis deficiencies and remedy needs can increase student success. Computerized homework and test management systems complete with interactive tutorials and targeted remediation exercises are being presen ted as a means of meeting the individual instructional needs of learners while assisting facul ty through the automation of assessment. In particular, a number of studies have indicated positiv e student learning outcomes results when these programs are implemented into mathematics instruction (Butler & Zerr, 2005; Kennedy, Ellis, Ojen, & Benoit, 2007; Zerr, 2007). The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is a Historically Black University that primarily serves first generation, low income, and minority learners . Over the years, the number of students requiring remedial mathematics instruction has increased dramatically. In order to increase student learning outcomes success, as well as the persisten ce rates of students, an online homework and assessment system was implemented into all sections of remedial mathematics. Features of the system utilized include interactive tutorial exerci ses, an online tutoring center, an e-book, sample problems and answers, diagnostic analysis, targeted exercises, online assignments and quizzes, and an online grade book. This paper presents the f indings of study that examined student satisfaction and perception of value with respect to the usage of this system as well as impact on student persistence and performance. The results of this study were mixed and marked by high levels of neutrality; however, the findings did indicate that most students felt that the system was easy to use, a valuable learning tool, successful at having helped them to learn course co ncepts, and an aide that helped them to perform better on their assignments. At the same time, most student responded that they were not satisfied the system. The analysis of the student p erformance data noted a significant decrease in student withdrawal rates and a marked increase in p ass rates for the course under consideration.
Participation constrained: Generating buy-in and rationalizing carbon forestry labor through participatory mapping in Southern Mexico

Abstract In recent years diverse actors have hailed participatory practice as an effective means to empowering people in payment for ecosystem services (PES) work. In Chiapas, Mexico participation is a central component of the Scolel’ Te carbon forestry program, the cornerstone of which includes Plan Vivo participatory mapping. Plan Vivo mapping is used by the managing NGO, AMBIO, to build trust relations between participating farmers and program managers so as to ensure the successful production of carbon credits. However, I argue that it is also used to instill in farmers a series of behavioral and attitudinal transformations designed to align farmer land-use activities and attitudes with the program’s carbon credit production objectives. Yet, despite these ambitions, the ability of the mapping activity in Scolel’ Te to achieve its stated goals is challenged on the ground. In order to explain this discrepancy between the aspirations tied to the mapping activity and the mapping experience, I assess Plan Vivo mapping as a situated discourse and as a labor process. Taking the former perspective, I show how the managing NGO uses a paternalistic discourse to justify participatory mapping, one that presents farmers as misguided resource managers in need of external intervention. Then, using a labor process approach, I show how PVM acts to reorient farmer relationships to their land and to development organizations by intervening in farmer land-use practices and by establishing trust relations. It is, however, a process that consists of inequalities that stand to potentially limit the effectiveness of the activity.
La Trilogía de la memoria: un acercamiento al teatro de Laila Ripoll

The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed the emergence of a large number of historical texts, documentaries and novels about the Francoist repression immediately after the Spanish Civil War. Contemporary Spanish theater was not exempt from this ongoing dialogue and recuperation of the Spanish national past, and the works of playwrights like Guillem Clua, Itziar Pascual, Gracia Morales and Alfredo Sanzol are a good example of it. Yet, because the theatrical response has not received as much critical and popular attention as novels or films, its contribution to the field of historical memory is often dismissed or viewed as secondary to that of other literary genres. The objective of this article is to propose a theoretical approach to the play writing of Laila Ripoll (Madrid 1964), one of the authors who, in her plays, has shown most interest in the subject of Historical Memory. I will focus on three of her major works of the theater of memory: Altra Bilis (2001), Los ninos perdidos (2005) and...
Building Maze Solutions with Computational Dreaming

Computational dreaming (CD) is inspired by the massively parallel structure and dreaming process of the human brain. CD examines previously observed input data during a “dream phase” executed while normal inputs are shut off when a device is not in use. The authors show that CD can develop a suitable model from scratch while dreaming and select it for use while awake. CD uses a massively parallel multiple-instruction, single-datastream (MISD) architecture during the dream phase and an optimized architecture during the awake phase. Using maze solutions as an example problem space, the authors’ CD simulator solved 15 percent of mazes (ranging from small and simple to large and complex) compared with 2.2 percent solved by random model selection. Significantly, approximately 50 percent of successful solutions generated by the dream phase of computation, with no prior knowledge, match optimal human-generated solution strategies such as depth-first search and Dijkstra’s algorithm.
Bioinspired travelling wave generation in soft-robotics using ionic polymer-metal composites

Biology inspired inventions have been of great interest to the researcher and engineer. Biomimicry offers special insight into nature’s methods of motion control, with significance in thrust and drag control for swimming and flying lifeforms. An array of actuators designed in an artificial wing could be used to control aerodynamic effects to adjust drag or lift according to given wind conditions for improved flight, or to control stability prior to touchdown for a smooth landing, providing an additional means of aerodynamic stability control. In this study, a method of generating a travelling wave motion in attempt to mimic that observed in the wings of flying-fish (Exocoetidae) during descent are presented. Ionic polymer-metal composite actuators were arranged in an array and oscillated in a travelling wave motion. The arrays were held rigid between glass slides and embedded into a flexible substrate to create the soft “wing” surface for free-end displacement measurements. Using a microcontroller and motor drivers, a controllable travelling wave motion was created. Additionally, an array of actuators was connected to a 3D printed wing skeleton based on the dimensions of a four-wing flying-fish like structure. The results indicate the travelling wave motion can be controlled with ionic polymer-metal composite actuators as arranged in several configurations. This offers an experimental platform for further study of the aerodynamic effects of a travelling wave across a wing during flight.
Completing Job Applications: Evaluation of an Instructional Program for Mildly Retarded Juvenile Delinquents.

Seven youths from a residential treatment facility for juvenile offenders served as subjects in a study designed to train minimally literate individuals to read and complete job applications. An item analysis was conducted on applications from 30 employers in a metropolitan area. Based on that analysis, a Master Employment Application was created to be representative of a typical job application; it required 35 separate items of biographic information from the prospective employee. A nine-step training program was conducted in a Visual Response System classroom, a specially designed room in which students respond simultaneously on individual overhead projectors. The training program progressed from matching items projected by the teacher to writing responses to biographic items on overhead projector transparencies of the Master Employment Application. A multiple baseline design across sets of biographic items was used to evaluate the program's effectiveness. All subjects' scores on the Master Employment A...
Stabilization of active, selective, and regenerable Ni-based dimerization catalysts by condensation of ethene withinordered mesopores

Abstract This study reports the high and stable ethene dimerization turnover rates conferred upon Ni-based active sites at subambient temperatures by the condensation of liquid ethene reactants within ordered mesopores in Al-MCM-41. Such active and stable catalysts do not require the activators or co-catalysts essential for organometallic Ni-based catalysts and their robust porous framework allows their full regeneration by thermal treatments in inert or oxidizing environments when deactivation occurs. Dimerization rates (per Ni) are independent of Ni content below Ni2+/H+ exchange ratios of unity, consistent with isolated (Ni-OH)+ cations as active moieties, and with the formation of inactive NiO oligomers at higher Ni contents. Both CO and 2,6 di-tertbutylpyridine, used as titrants of Ni centers and protons, respectively, fully suppressed reactivity, indicating that the Ni2+ and OH− centers in (Ni-OH)+ are involved in stabilizing the kinetically-relevant C C formation transition state. Deactivation constants decreased abruptly to undetectable values at those temperatures and ethene pressures that formed an extended liquid phase within the MCM-41 mesopores that confine the Ni active sites. This remarkable shift from rapid to undetectable deactivation reflects how intrapore liquids preferentially stabilize the late transition states that mediate the desorption of bound 1-butenes before subsequent isomerization and C C bond formation events during one surface sojourn. Their preferential desorption inhibits the formation of regioisomers and larger oligomers, thus inhibiting deactivation while also leading to very high C4 selectivities among products and to the predominant presence of 1-butene among linear C4 alkenes. Such unprecedented stability and high selectivities allow accurate kinetic measurements and their rigorous mechanistic interpretation in terms of transition state formalisms of chemical dynamics in thermodynamic non-ideal media. Dimerization turnovers involve kinetically-relevant C C bond formation between unbound ethene molecules and an ethene bound at low coverages on (Ni-OH)+ moieties. Such catalytic sequences lead to dimerization rates with a nearly second-order dependence in ethene fugacity, but with an effective rate constant that benefits from the stabilization of the C C bond formation transition state as intrapore liquids form. The essential elimination of deactivation events and secondary reactions by such liquids leads to dimerization rates and 1-butene selectivities that are much higher at 240–260 K with liquid-filled mesopores than at 448 K, conditions that maintain all species in their gaseous form. In addition to their significant practical impact, these results provide compelling evidence for the ability of an extended liquid to create a thermodynamically non-ideal environment that markedly alters reaction pathways through the selective stabilization of specific transition states based on their location along the reaction coordinate for a given elementary step.
Vocal Communication in Family-Living and Pair-Bonded Primates

Family-living and pair-bonded primates, such as gibbons, night monkeys, titi monkeys, marmosets, and tamarins, have some different social and ecological challenges than other primates and thus display some differences in vocal communication. Shared parental care, territory defense, pair-bond maintenance, and frequent exchange of roles throughout the day are common in family-living and pair-bonded primates. These species are usually sexually monomorphic, and they show relatively few sex differences in vocal output. Vocal communication is important in forming and maintaining pair bonds and in defending the pairs or family territory. In addition, these species appear to use vocal communication to a greater degree during social learning and putative teaching behavior, and adults appear to guide vocal development in young through reinforcement of vocal behavior. Adults of these species show great flexibility and plasticity in both vocal structure and usage in response to both social and environmental variation. They also adjust vocal output according to habitat acoustics to maximize audibility and minimize risk of predation. This chapter examines each of these areas of vocal communication to illustrate how family-living and pair-bonding primates use vocal communication.
Survey on Identity Management using Blockchain Technology

In the present interconnected world, digital IDs are used to demonstrate identity. These IDs prove to be only tangentially related to the service being accessed and requires us to apply a significant amount of privacy. The current systems possess number of problems such as proxies but blockchain proves to be the solution for this type of Identity related problem. Markers of identity are often required to be very personal pieces of data. Consider a list of personal information collected when someone opens a savings account, such as address and identification (driver’s license or passport). It’s easy to take these pieces of data for granted, as we’ve generally become accustomed to handing them over at the drop of a hat. But let’s take a moment to consider what giving up these pieces of identity really means and whether is it necessary? In handing over a passport to a banker, a person gives the bank full permission to record not only their date and place of birth, but also everywhere he or she has toured. In order to solve above privacy problem and to make Identity sharing process more user friendly I have implemented an Identity Management System with Blockchain technology with the help of hyperledger fabric framework.
Investigation of chaos and memory effects in the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillator with a non-ideal capacitor

Abstract In this paper, the voltage fluctuations of the Bonhoeffer van der Pol oscillator system with a non-ideal capacitor were investigated. Here, the capacitor was modeled, using a fractional differential equation in which the order of the fractional derivative, α, is also a measure of the memory in the dielectric. The governing fractional differential equation was derived using two methods, namely a differential and integral approach. The former method utilized a hierarchical resistor-capacitor (RC) ladder model while the latter utilized the theory of the universal dielectric-response. It was found that the dynamical behavior of the potential across the capacitor was affected by the parameter α and, therefore, the memory of the system. Additionally, findings indicate that an increase in the memory parameter was associated with an increase in the energy stored in the dielectric. Furthermore, the effects of the dynamical behavior of the voltage on the capacity of the dielectric to store energy was examined. It was found that oscillation death resulted in a higher amount of stored energy in the dielectric over time, as compared to behavior, which displayed relaxation oscillations or chaotic fluctuations. The relatively-lower stored energy resulting from the latter types of dynamical behavior appeared to be a consequence of the memory effect, where the present accumulation of energy in the capacitor is reduced by previous decreases in the potential. Hence, in this type of scenario, the dielectric material can be thought of as “remembering” the past behavior of the voltage, which leads to either a decrease, or an enhancement in the stored energy. Moreover, an increase in the fractional parameter α, under certain conditions, led to the earlier onset of the chaotic voltage oscillations across the capacitor. On the other hand, the corresponding phase portraits showed that the chaotic behavior was heightened, in general, with a decrease in α. The non-ideal capacitor was also found to have a transitory nature, where it behaves more like a resistor as α → 0, and conversely, more like a capacitor as α → 1. Here, a decrease in α was linked to an enhanced metallic character of the dielectric. Finally, a possible link between the complexity of the voltage noise fluctuations and the metallic character of the non-ideal capacitor will be discussed.