cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hybritech Incorporated (B)

This case is meant to follow the negotiation cases: "Hybritech, Incorporated (A)" (UVA-F-0792) and "Eli Lilly and Company" (UVA-F-0794). The case deals with the financial structure of the acquisition and requires students to analyze the value of cash payments versus convertible notes and the value of Lilly warrants and contingent-payment units to old Hybritech stockholders based on future Hybritech performance. The complicated proposed payment stems from differing expectations about Hybritech's performance. Students must determine whether the structure is fair to both Lilly and Hybritech shareholders.
Quasi steady-state aerodynamic model development for race vehicle simulations

Presented in this paper is a procedure to develop a high fidelity quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for use in race car vehicle dynamic simulations. Developed to fit quasi steady-state wind tunnel data, the aerodynamic model is regressed against three independent variables: front ground clearance, rear ride height, and yaw angle. An initial dual range model is presented and then further refined to reduce the model complexity while maintaining a high level of predictive accuracy. The model complexity reduction decreases the required amount of wind tunnel data thereby reducing wind tunnel testing time and cost. The quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for the pitch moment degree of freedom is systematically developed in this paper. This same procedure can be extended to the other five aerodynamic degrees of freedom to develop a complete six degree of freedom quasi steady-state aerodynamic model for any vehicle.
Monitoring results of urinary iodine for key population in Hangzhou city Xihu district in 2011

Objective: To understand the edible salt and urine iodine level of the key groups in Hangzhou Xihu district,and provide scientific basis for the prevention and control of iodine deficiency.Methods: 211 students at the age of 8~10 years old,204 women of child-bearing age,100 pregnant women and 30 lactation women were selected to monior iodine nutrition level. Results: The qualified rate of edible salt was 95% in family of 8~10 year-old students,and the median value of urine iodine was 187 μg/L.The rate of urine iodine value 100 μg/L was 89.3%,while 20 μg/L was zero and 50 μg/L was 2.6%.The qualified rate of edible salt in child-bearing-age women′s family was 94.6%,and the median value of urine iodine was 186 μg/L.In the pregnant women and lactation women′s family,qualified rate of edible salt was 100%,and the median value of urine iodine was 106 μg/L and 124 μg/L respectively.Conclusion: 8～10 year-old students and women of child-bearing age in Xihu district of Hangzhou are in good iodine nutrition to eliminate idd. However, pregnant and lactating women are in lower iodine level and face the danger of iodine deficiency.So different nutritional guidances shoud be given according to different iodine nutrition levels.
Correlation of Tiam 1 to invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells and to development of tumor xenografts in nude mice

Objective To investigate the expression of T lymphoma invasion and metastasis inducing factor 1(Tiam 1) in gastric cancer cells and analyse the correlation between Tiam 1 and the invasive and migratory potential of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.Methods Two subpopulations lesser(ML) and higher(MH) adhesive subgroup were separated from human gastric cancer cell line MKN-45(M0) by laminin adhesion method in vitro.RT-PCR and ELISA were applied to detect the expression of Tiam 1 mRNA and protein in M0,ML and MH cells.The invasive and migratory potential of M0,ML and MH cells in vitro and in vivo were observed by Boyden chamber and by inoculation into nude mice and,simultaneously,correlation between the expression of Tiam 1 and the invasive and migratory potential of gastric cancer cells was analysed.Results The invasive and migratory potential of MH cells in vitro(24.33±8.02,52.00±14.53) and the lung metastatic rate of MH cells in nude-mice(4/5 = 80 %) was much higher than that of M0 cells(11.67±3.79,26.00±9.54,2/5 = 40 %,RV = 0.759±0.047,RD = 0.911±0.104) and ML cells(9.67±3.06,23.67±8.50,1/5 = 20 %,RV = 0.743±0.039,RD = 0.892±0.101)(P 0.05),as well as the expression of Tiam 1 mRNA(RV = 0.855±0.051) and protein(RD = 1.262±0.165) in MH cells were much higher than those in MO and ML cells(P 0.05),but there was no obvious difference between M0 and ML cells(P 0.05).Positive correlation existed between the expression of Tiam 1 and the invasive and migratory potential of gastric cancer cells(P 0.05).Conclusions Increasing expression of Tiam 1 may promote the invasive and migratory potential of gastric cancer cells.
Phosphorylations of αA- and αB-crystallin

Abstract In addition to being refractive proteins in the vertebrate lens, the two α -crystallin polypeptides ( α A and α B) are also molecular chaperones that can protect proteins from thermal aggregation. The α B-crystallin polypeptide, a functional member of the small heat shock family, is expressed in many tissues in a developmentally regulated fashion, is stress-inducible, and is overexpressed in many degenerative diseases and some tumors indicating that it plays multiple roles. One possible clue to α -crystallin functions is the fact that both polypeptides are phosphorylated on serine residues by cAMP-dependent and cAMP-independent mechanisms. The cAMP-independent pathway is an autophosphorylation that has been demonstrated in vitro, depends on magnesium and requires cleavage of ATP. Disaggregation of α A-, but not α B-crystallin into tetramers results in an appreciable increase in autophosphorylation activity, reminiscent of other heat shock proteins, and suggests the possibility that changes in the aggregation state of α A-crystallin are involved in yet undiscovered signal transduction pathways. The α -crystallin polypeptides differ with respect to their abilities to undergo cAMP-dependent phosphorylation, with preference given to the α B-crystallin chain. These differences and complexities in α -crystallin phosphorylations, coupled with the differences in expression patterns of the two α -crystallin polypeptides, are consistent with the idea that each polypeptide has distinctive structural and metabolic roles.
Becoming an effective physician leader.

Your clinical practice has planted the seeds of leadership skills, but they need intensive cultivation to flourish.
The US-North Korean Agreed Framework: Incentives-based Diplomacy after the Cold War

Writing about diplomacy at the height of the Cold War, Roger Fisher (1969, p. 27) wrote that, ‘our first reaction to somebody’s doing something we don’t like is to think of doing something unpleasant to them’. Since its rise to power in the current century, the US has been more likely when dealing with adversaries to ‘do something unpleasant’ than to offer incentives to change opposing behaviour. The 1994 Agreed Framework between the US and the DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is an important test case of whether incentives can be a realistic alternative (or complement) to economic sanctions in dealing with adversaries. If implemented, it could serve as ‘an important precedent for nonproliferation diplomacy’ (Manning, 1997/98, p. 72). Given the barrage of recent criticisms of economic sanctions, the resolution of the North Korea case has important implications for the practice of US diplomacy (see Hufbauer et al., 1990a, Haass, 1998). The Agreed Framework spelled out the conditions under which North Korea would freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program. If North Korea complied, it stood to reap a wide array of benefits, while the US stood to strengthen the global non-proliferation regime and defuse a serious threat to the military balance in Northeast Asia. In reaching this agreement with one of its longstanding antagonists, the United States executed a dramatic shift in its negotiating strategy toward a significantly greater proportion of ‘carrots’ to ‘sticks’.
Prospective assessment of the predictive value of α-glutathione S-transferase for intestinal ischemia

Nonspecific investigations resulting in treatment delays contribute to the 30 per cent mortality associated with acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI). As preliminary studies indicate that alpha-glutathione S-transferase (alpha-GST) is elevated in AMI we compare the ability of alpha-GST against conventional biochemical tests to predict AMI. There were 58 patients prospectively evaluated for AMI. Samples for alpha-GST (Biotrin International, Dublin, Ireland), lactate, pH, amylase, base excess, and white blood cell count (WBC) were evaluated. Intestinal ischemia was confirmed by colonoscopy, angiography, or laparotomy. Ischemia was present in 35 (60%) patients: small bowel (n = 14), colonic (n = 17), and global (n = 4). Four patients without autopsy were excluded. Alpha-GST was elevated in those with AMI [22.2 (7-126) ng/mL vs 2.2 (1-3) (P = 0.001)]. Alpha-GST was more accurate at predicting intestinal ischemia (74%) than conventional tests (47-69% accuracy). Accuracy was increased to 80 per cent by combination with lactate or WBC, which increased sensitivity to 97 to 100 per cent. Alpha-GST monitoring is a useful tool for the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia. A normal alpha-GST and WBC may exclude the presence of AMI.
Broken Symmetries, Current Algebras, and Weak Interactions

The phenomenological analysis of hadron-lepton interactions, based upon current algebras and higher symmetries, shows certain rather astonishing regularities. Therefore, it is tempting to consider these processes separately in the hope of finding out more about the higher symmetries of hadrons and leptons.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Lung Pathogenesis

Remarkable new roles for mitochondria in calcium handling, apoptosis, heme turnover, inflammation, and oxygen and nutrient sensing have been discovered for organelles that were once thought to be simple energy converters. Although deficits in mitochondrial function are often associated with energy failure and apoptosis, working cells maintain a mitochondrial reserve that affords the organelles distinct homeostatic sensing and regulatory abilities in lung cells. As primary intracellular sources of oxidants, mitochondria serve as critical monitors and modulators of vital oxidation-reduction processes, including mitochondrial biogenesis, mitophagy, inflammasome activation, cell proliferation, and prevention of fibrosis. These processes participate in disease pathogenesis in all lung regions mainly when interference with mitochondrial quality control mechanisms impedes their roles in maintenance of lung health. Sharper identification of mitochondrial-driven signaling mechanisms in specific lung cell types will better refine our understanding of respiratory disease pathogenesis and lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic measures to support mitochondrial quality.
Design Mining Visual Balance

Psychological studies show that visual balance is an innate concept for humans [12, 20], which influences how we perceive visual aesthetics and cognize harmony [56]. There exists a body of work endeavoring to understand visual balance and its relation with symmetry [52] about vertical [19, 61, 73] and horizontal [19] axes, content of the scene [33], color contrast [35, 57], and styles in abstract and representational artworks [38, 39, 68, 70].
Achievements of the Workshop

The ARW was organized to stimulate and guide the development of 3-dimensional geoscientific information systems. The organization reflected the experiences of the organizing committee, which shaped the basic agenda, but the results of the ARW also reflected the collective experiences of the participants who were all involved in the discussions, demonstrations, and question periods following the formal lectures.
Helices, relative equilibria, and optimality on the special Euclidean group

We consider a left-invariant optimal control problem on the six-dimensional special Euclidean group. Helical trajectories are extremals of the optimal control problem, and we derive an explicit parameterization of these helices. Using this parameterization of the helical extremals, we compute the relative equilibria of the Hamiltonian system associated with the optimal control problem. For a particular choice of system parameters, we use Jacobi's sufficient condition to determine which of the relative equilibria correspond to local optima of the optimal control problem. We show that the optimality of a relative equilibrium is completely determined by the curvature and torsion of the helix that the trajectory traces.
An Efficient Reconstruction Algorithm Based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers for Joint Estimation of ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ and Off-Resonance in fMRI

${R}_{ {2}}^{*}$ mapping is a useful tool in blood-oxygen-level dependent fMRI due to its quantitative nature. However, like ${T}_{ {2}}^{*}$ -weighted imaging, standard ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ mapping based on multi-echo EPI suffers from geometric distortion, due to strong off-resonance near the air–tissue interface. Joint mapping of ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ and off-resonance can correct the geometric distortion and is less susceptible to motion artifacts. Single-shot joint mapping of ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ and off-resonance is possible with a rosette trajectory due to its frequent sampling of the $k$ -space center. However, the corresponding reconstruction is nonlinear, ill-conditioned, large-scale, and computationally inefficient with current algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm for joint mapping of ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ and off-resonance, using rosette $k$ -space trajectories. The new algorithm, based on the alternating direction method of multipliers, improves the reconstruction efficiency by simplifying the original complicated cost function into a composition of simpler optimization steps. Compared with a recently developed trust region algorithm, the new algorithm achieves the same accuracy and an acceleration of threefold to sixfold in reconstruction time. Based on the new algorithm, we present simulation and in vivo data from single-shot, double-shot, and quadruple-shot rosettes and demonstrate the improved image quality and reduction of distortions in the reconstructed ${R}_{{2}}^{*}$ map.
Growth and characterization of L-Glycine thiourea nonlinear optical single crystal for optoelectronic applications

l-Glycine thiourea single crystals have been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique (SEST). The cell parameters were estimated from single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and it was found that the material crystallized in the orthorhombic symmetry with space group P212121 and the theoretical data were estimated. The powder X-ray analysis proved its crystalline nature without the formation of secondary phases. The presence of functional groups and the nature of bonds appearing in the material were identified by FTIR spectroscopy. Optical constants were estimated by UV–Visible spectrum and the lower cut off wavelength was observed at 200 nm. The scanning electron microscope analysis has been carried out to determine the surface morphology of the grown crystal. Energy dispersive spectrum was done to confirm the composition of elements present in the title material. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency was done by Kurtz powder technique and the conversion efficiency was compared with KDP crystal of the title compound. Third order nonlinear optical susceptibility was measured using z-scan technique and it was found that the crystal has a positive refractive index which is self focusing in nature. The obtained results showed that l-glycine thiourea crystals are potential materials for NLO device fabrication.
In Vitro Modeling Using Ciliopathy-Patient-Derived Cells Reveals Distinct Cilia Dysfunctions Caused by CEP290 Mutations

Mutations in CEP290, a transition zone protein in primary cilia, cause diverse ciliopathies, including Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and Joubert-syndrome and related disorders (JSRD). We examined cilia biogenesis and function in cells derived from CEP290-LCA and CEP290-JSRD patients. CEP290 protein was reduced in LCA fibroblasts with no detectable impact on cilia; however, optic cups derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) of CEP290-LCA patients displayed less developed photoreceptor cilia. Lack of CEP290 in JSRD fibroblasts resulted in abnormal cilia and decreased ciliogenesis. We observed selectively reduced localization of ADCY3 and ARL13B. Notably, Hedgehog signaling was augmented in CEP290-JSRD because of enhanced ciliary transport of Smoothened and GPR161. These results demonstrate a direct correlation between the extent of ciliogenesis defects in fibroblasts and photoreceptors with phenotypic severity in JSRD and LCA, respectively, and strengthen the role of CEP290 as a selective ciliary gatekeeper for transport of signaling molecules in and out of the cilium.
Biologically inspired reinforcement learning for mobile robot collision avoidance

Collision avoidance is a key technology enabling applications such as autonomous vehicles and robots. Various reinforcement learning techniques such as the popular Q-learning algorithms have emerged as a promising solution for collision avoidance in robotics. While spiking neural networks (SNNs), the third generation model of neural networks, have gained increased interest due to their closer resemblance to biological neural circuits in the brain, the application of SNNs to mobile robot navigation has not been well studied. Under the context of reinforcement learning, this paper aims to investigate the potential of biologically-motivated spiking neural networks for goal-directed collision avoidance in reasonably complex environments. Unlike the existing additive reward-modulated spike-timing dependent plasticity learning rule (A-RM-STDP), for the first time, we explore a new multiplicative RM-STDP scheme (M-RM-STDP) for the targeted application. Furthermore, we propose a more biologically plausible feed-forward spiking neural network architecture with fine-grained global rewards. Finally, by combining the above two techniques we demonstrate a further improved solution to collision avoidance. Our proposed approaches not only completely outperform Q-learning for cases where Q-learning can hardly reach the target without collision, but also significantly outperform a baseline SNN with A-RM-STDP in terms of both success rate and the quality of navigation trajectories.
Assessing Structure-Function Relations in Mice Using the Forced Oscillation Technique and Quantitative Histology

The structure and function of the lung gradually becomes compromised during the progression of emphysema. In this chapter, we first describe how to assess and evaluate lung function using the forced oscillation technique. Next, we provide details on how to use the Flexivent system to measure respiratory mechanical parameters in mice. We also describe the outlines of how to set up a homemade forced oscillatory system and use it to measure respiratory mechanics. To characterize the structure from standard histological images, we describe a method that is highly sensitive to early emphysema. Correlating structural information such as equivalent alveolar diameter and its variance with respiratory elastance or compliance, provides structure-function relationships that can subsequently reveal novel mechanisms of emphysema progression or be used to track the effectiveness of treatment.
Posthumanism and Design

Abstract Since at least the mid-1980s, design has been dominated by a human-centered and user-centered paradigm. Currently, the implications of technological and environmental transformations are challenging designers to focus on complex socio-technical systems. This article traces emergent discussions around posthumanism from across a range of disciplines and perspectives, and considers examples from emerging design practices that emphasize the interrelations between human and nonhuman actors. Specifically, this article reviews literature from actor-network theory (ANT), feminist new materialism, object-oriented ontology, non-representational theory, and transhumanism to inform the development of new methodologies and practices in the field of design. Finally, this article presents critiques of posthumanism from critical race theory and decolonial theory to consider how emergent design perspectives might better support values such as equality and justice for humans and nonhumans that have been traditionally ignored in design processes.
Blast Mitigation Through the Operation of Steering the Incoming Wave by the Use of Active Metamaterial Structure

The current state of the technology to protect a structure, from an incoming blast wave, is to either design the structure to withstand the effects of the blast wave or to place a protective shield in between the blast wave and the structure. The goals of the shield or the protective structure are to absorb the energy of the blast wave and attenuate the damaging stresses to a level that the structure can safely withstand the stresses. This is still an active research area and researchers are seeking new materials for the shield, their strength to weight ratios, and are developing new design techniques. The objectives of this paper are very different. The goals of this paper are to seek active metamaterial structures (AMMS) to steer an incoming blast wave away from the protected structure. Foundations for new work start with the work of Veselago, in 1968, on the subject of optical or electromagnetic waves. He considered materials that have a simultaneous negative electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability and showed that it resulted in a negative refractive index. His work opened the future options for optical cloaking and perfect lenses. No such natural material existed. This work was later followed by Pendry (1996) to use metamaterials to realize Veselago’s goals. Later Pendry and others developed a transformation technique to design such metamaterials. Because the wavelengths, associated with optics were, very small Cummer and other engineers sought applications in the area of acoustic cloaking because of similarities in the areas of optical and acoustic wave propagation. For blast mitigation, the interest is in the area of solid mechanics and shock waves in solids. The wave propagation in solids is very different from optics. To start, our objective is to rely on the work done to date of elastic metamaterials and transformation of wave propagation in solids to steer the path of the shock wave. The theoretical work has resulted in changes to density and material constitutive relations. No currently existing material or metamaterial designs are available to obtain such changes of material properties. Thus, the primary objective of this paper is to present an actively controlled system called active metamaterial structure (AMMS). The AMMS can achieve such changes in density and stiffness properties, similar to the ways we have achieved and experimentally demonstrated very high damping ratios by using piezoelectric materials and piezoelectric stacks. Next steps are shock waves for which a procedure is discussed.
3D Printing Technologies and Their Applications in Biomedical Science

Abstract 3D printing is a rapid prototyping, basically a manufacturing technique that includes objects formation by depositing or fusing materials such as liquids, plastic, powders, metal, ceramics, or even living cells in layers to produce a 3D object. 3D printing consists of transferring a special computer file or a design called computer-aided design to a printer capable of printing 3D objects through additive process that prints layers of material. 3D printing technology plays essential role in advancing Biomedical Sciences. It increases diagnostic quality, aids further operational patient consultation, provides template for surgical resection, and advances surgical planning. There are several different methods of 3D printing but the most widely used are Stereolithography, Fused Deposition Modeling, Inkjet Printing, Selective Laser Melting, and Laminated Object Manufacturing. The clinical application of 3D printing includes craniofacial surgery, skull reconstruction, cranioplasty for correction of syndromic craniosynostosis, facial bone fractures, reconstruction of mandibular, human skin, tissue engineering, ears, cartilage, heart valve, tooth, and peridontal regeneration. In this chapter, we focus on 3D printing, its technologies, clinical applications, and oncology application.
Prosocial Behavior and Empathy: Developmental Processes

Prosocial research took off with the 1960s murder of a New York woman witnessed by 30 people from their apartment windows. The research, initially on helping, now focuses on prosocial motivation and emotion, especially empathic distress (prosocial action usually involves helping someone in distress). This article covers: (a) empathy's definition: feeling, not necessarily like another's but congruent with another's situation (feeling empathic anger at an attacker although the victim feels sad); (b) empathy's five arousal modes—from conditioning and mimicry to perspective-taking (multiple modes enable observers to empathize, whatever distress cues are available); (c) empathy's four developmental stages, based on empathic affect's interaction with children's advancing levels of self/other differentiation—from global empathic distress (child unsure of whether self or other is in distress) to empathic distress for another's life condition; (d) causal attribution's transforming empathic affect into sympathy, empathic anger and guilt; (e) evidence for empathy being a prosocial motive despite certain limitation; (f) socialization's contribution; (g) cognition's expanding bystanders' perspective beyond the situation; (h) gender differences.
Three-dimensional multi-physics modeling of hydrogen and hydride distribution in zirconium alloy cladding

Abstract Localized phenomena within the reactor core, specifically those associated with the nuclear fuel, require high-fidelity simulations to enable accurate physics predictions. One example is the zirconium cladding, which absorbs hydrogen from the light water coolant during normal reactor operation. Absorbed in the cladding, this hydrogen is in solid solution and its distribution is sensitive to temperature and concentration gradients. At high enough concentrations, the hydrogen will precipitate as a hydride. Thus, the hydrogen distribution as a hydride precipitate in cladding has been identified as an important safety concern, and a possible ersatz for validating reactor simulation code temperature models. This study reports development efforts of using high-fidelity multi-physics codes to model temperature, hydrogen, and hydride distributions in three dimensions under realistic operating conditions. The Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors multi-physics code, Tiamat, is used to model selected sub-assemblies. Then, a single fuel pin is selected from the sub-assembly and modeled as a three-dimensional BISON problem. The outer cladding temperatures from the Tiamat calculation are used as boundary conditions for the BISON problem in order to obtain hydrogen and hydride distributions. Areas of interest for hydride precipitation include locations along the fuel rod experiencing highest temperatures with significant spatial variation, particularly in the vicinity of the spacer grids and mixing vanes.
Reactivity of neoplastic cells of hairy cell leukemia with antisera to S-100 protein.

Rabbit antibodies to bovine S-100 protein were tested by immunoperoxidase technics against fresh hairy cell leukemia (HCL) cells obtained from nine patients (peripheral blood in six and spleen in three), as well as lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from three patients with HCL. Peripheral mononuclear cells from three normal persons and two patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and cells from two melanoma lines were used as controls. The melanoma cell lines, cell lines derived from patients with HCL, and fresh HCL cells displayed cytoplasmic and nuclear positivity after exposure to anti-S-100 protein sera. By contrast, normal peripheral blood lymphocytes and CLL cells were negative for S-100 protein. Additional studies were performed by immunoperoxidase technics on representative sections of formalin-fixed splenic tissues from eight patients who had splenectomies. The cause of splenectomy was HCL in three, traumatic rupture in one, CLL in one, Hodgkin’s disease in one, and hypersplenism in two patients. Sections from all three HCL patients showed moderate to marked positivity with antisera to S-100 protein. These results strongly suggest the presence of S-100 protein in HCL cells.
Modeling of friction-stir butt-welds and its application in automotive bumper impact performance Part 1. Thermo-mechanical weld process modeling

The demand for better structural performance in joining of components for road vehicles prompts the implementation of aluminum alloy friction stir welding technology in the automotive industry. The aim of current study is the creation of a 3-D finite element (FE) friction thermal model and stir welding (FSW) process of dissimilar aluminum alloy and for the estimation of crash worthiness performance of FSW fabricated shock absorber assembly. Thermo mechanical simulations and analysis are performed to understand the thermal behavior in the FSW weld zones. The developed models are correlated against published experimental results in terms of temperature profile of the weld zone. The developed models are then implemented for fabricating vehicle bumper parts to illustrate the performance of FSW welded components during an impact. Customary sled testing for low-speed guard necessities is performed utilizing a grating blend welded test apparatus at Wichita State University (WSU) at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). A few guard congregations are then appended to the test installation utilizing FSW and conventional Gas bend GMAW welding strategies. Numerical models are likewise created where limited component investigation is utilized to contrast the anticipated harm and the real harm maintained by both of the FSW and GMAW manufactured guards. During the research, a new FSW weld mold is created that allows for a better representation of the desired progressive crack propagation. The FSW fabricated bumper based on the Johnson-Cook failure model yields better failure prediction and is in good agreement to the test. The results from this study provide a guideline for an accurate finite element modeling of a FSW fabricated components and their application in the crashworthiness of such structural components.
Crafting Courts in New Democracies: The Politics of Subnational Judicial Reform in Brazil and Mexico

The role of Latin American courts in facilitating democracy and economic liberalization is considerable. But while national 'high courts' have been closely studied, the form, function, and empowerment of local courts are still not well understood. In Crafting Courts in New Democracies, Matthew C. Ingram fills this gap by examining the varying strength of local judicial institutions in Brazil and Mexico since the 1980s. Combining statistical analysis and in-depth qualitative research, Ingram offers a rich account of the politics that shape subnational court reform in the region's two largest democracies. In contrast to previous studies, theoretical emphasis is given to the influence of political ideas over the traditional focus on objective, material incentives. Exhaustively researched and rigorously presented, this book will appeal to scholars and policymakers interested in the judiciary, institutional change, Latin America, the causal role of ideas, justice reform, and the rule of law.
Introduction: The Issue and its Background

Moral relativism has been in fashion for decades. It is not merely a philosophical position, but also a way of life in the whole civilized world. When somebody wandering on campus, for instance, is asked about a specific incident, whether such and such is morally right, he or she might give you an affirmative or a negative answer at first. But if you further ask for a rational justification of this affirmative or negative answer, the person will very likely say that what he or she just said was only his or her personal opinion. Chances are that the person will go on to psychologize the matter, offering an explanation about how he or she has been brought up in such-and-such a cultural environment that has made him or her view the world in a certain way. Thus, he or she might add, “I realize that people from another cultural background may have been taught to believe something completely different. This doesn’t bother me, though.” This implies that insofar as there is a difference between what each of us has been taught, there is nothing wrong about the fact that we have different opinions about what is right or wrong. Indeed, to some extent, people nowadays tend to think that being morally relativistic is a way of being “open-minded” or “tolerant.” In contrast to those who hold blind dogmatic religious beliefs or those who worship an idol, the relativistic people are regarded as well educated, and therefore “enlightened.”
Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach

Abstract Despite many calls to reform undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to incorporate active learning into classes, there has been little attention paid to graduate level classrooms or courses taught by graduate students. Here, we set out to understand if and how STEM graduate students’ perceptions of active learning change in the classes they take versus those they teach by administering surveys to STEM graduate students at our institution. We found that graduate students had taken relatively few graduate level classes using active learning and they felt that more time should devoted to active learning in the courses they were taking. Teaching assistants felt that they were devoting the right amount of class time to active learning in the classes they taught. Graduate students also felt that they were using teaching methods in the classes they taught that were different from those they thought should be used when teaching undergraduates and were different from how they preferred to learn when taking classes. These findings suggest that graduate students’ perceptions of teaching and learning changed based on their role in the classroom, which have implications for graduate level course work and professional development programs.
Sex-dependent neurobiological features of prenatal immune activation via TLR7.

Immune activation during pregnancy via infection or autoimmune disease is a risk factor for neuropsychiatric illness. Mouse models of prenatal immune activation often involve maternal administration of agents that activate toll-like receptors (TLRs), a class of pattern recognition receptors that initiate innate immune responses. Such studies have focused primarily on activating the TLR3 or TLR4 subtypes, to mimic immune responses to viral or bacterial infections, respectively. Here, we characterize the effects of prenatal activation of TLR7, which is implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. Prenatal TLR7 activation via administration of the selective agonist imiquimod (5.0 mg/kg) induces a phenotype in offspring characterized by reduced anxiety-like behavior, fragmented social behavior, and altered ultrasonic vocalization patterns at 6–12 weeks of age. The characteristics of this phenotype are readily distinguishable from—and in some ways opposite to—those seen following prenatal activation of TLR3 and/or TLR4. Prenatal TLR7-activated mice have normal baseline locomotor activity, but are hyperresponsive to stimuli including social partners, circadian cues, and gonadal hormone fluctuations. These alterations are accompanied by decreases in microglia density but increases in ramifications. RNA-sequencing of dorsal striatum, a region showing profound changes in microglial markers, indicates that prenatal TLR7 activation induces differential expression of hundreds of genes at 13 weeks of age, with virtually no overlap in differentially expressed genes between males and females. Our findings demonstrate that prenatal immune activation can promote a wide range of developmental trajectories, depending on the type and/or pattern of TLR activation and the sex of the offspring.
Generalized separability and the gains from trade

Abstract This note examines the gains from trade under a flexible demand system that encompasses three types of demand often imposed (cases of homothetic, directly-separable and indirectly-separable preferences), while retaining the property that prices can be summarized by a single aggregator. Combined with monopolistic competition and Pareto distributions of marginal costs on the supply side, this demand system yields more flexible responses of prices to income and trade, and a wider range of predictions for the gains from trade.
The development of a hydrologic budget to determine the nitrogen and phosphorus loads of the Cedar River watershed in Iowa

A water budget analysis for the Cedar River watershed in northeastern Iowa was conducted to determine the water balance during the summer months of 2000. The watershed has eight major tributaries that comprise a drainage area of 20,242 km2, of which 81% is agricultural land. Water budgets are essential when examining the movement of agricultural chemicals as well as nutrients within the system. The water budget was determined using the hydrologic mass-balance equation, which states that [inflow = outflow ± storage]. The inflow components were measured individually and included precipitation, tributary and Cedar River baseflow. The outflow components included evaporation, transpiration, tributary and Cedar River discharge. The results of this study indicate a slightly larger volume of water leaving the watershed (6.24×109 m3) than entering (6.21×109 m3). The surplus of the outgoing water (0.5%) is most likely due to an overestimation of transpiration, or the contribution of water from the intermittent streams not measured during the study. Calculations of nutrient flux showed that approximately 2.99×106 kg of nitrogen and 2.39×105 kg of phosphorus were lost from the watershed during the study.
L’éducation thérapeutique de l’enfant, progrès et perspectives

Therapeutic education in paediatrics forms part of the child's care pathway, from the discovery of the chronic disease, through to adulthood. Around fifteen years ago, this specific healthcare activity resulted in the creation of a multiple pathology therapeutic education centre at Robert-Debre university hospital in Paris. The centre has continued to develop over the years and further improved its interventions.
Preferential usage of rifaximin for the treatment of hydrogen-positive small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

Objectives: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is challenging to treat and diagnose and is associated with diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Although no FDA-approved medications exist for treatment of SIBO, rifaximin has recently received approval to treat diarrhea-predominant IBS and patients with methane-positive SIBO breath tests. The aim of this study is to evaluate patient response to rifaximin for SIBO based on breath test results. Materials and methods: All patients underwent breath testing to evaluate for SIBO during a 42-month period. Patients were defined as having a positive glucose breath test for SIBO based on an increase of ≥ 20 ppm of hydrogen and/or ≥ 10 ppm of methane 90 minutes after ingesting glucose. Patient demographic and symptom data, antibiotic treatment regimens, symptomatic response to therapy, and repeat treatments were recorded. Institutional review board approval was obtained. Results: A total of 53 of 443 patients had positive breath testing for SIBO. Response rates to rifaximin (550 mg three times daily for 14 days) were 47.4% for hydrogen positivity alone and 80% for both hydrogen and methane positivity. Conclusions: Rifaximin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic regimen for SIBO therapy. Patients with hydrogen or hydrogen and methane positive breath tests responded well to rifaximin therapy. For patients with hydrogen-positive SIBO, rifaximin may prove a highly effective therapy in providing symptom relief from the effects of SIBO.
Organizational Capacity of Nonprofit Organizations in Rural Areas of the United States: A Scoping Review

Rural America is facing a plethora of problems related to poverty, crime, health, and education. Nonprofit organizations serve a vital role in rural communities by providing services and advocacy t...
Sesame Oil Oxidation Control by Active and Smart Packaging System Using Wheat Gluten/Chlorophyll Film to Increase Shelf Life and Detecting Expiration Date

In this study, a smart biodegradable film based on wheat gluten modified with chlorophyll (WG/Ch) is presented. The effect of chlorophyll on the antioxidant activity and mechanical properties of WG/Ch film is studied. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) analyses are used to study the structure and chemical composition of gluten‐based films. The WG/Ch film is used in the packaging of sesame oil. The effect of WG/Ch film on increasing the shelf life and detecting expiration time of oil is studied. FT‐IR results show that weak interactions are created between gluten and chlorophyll. The antioxidant activity of the WG film is 60% and it increases to 85% by the addition of chlorophyll. The results show that with the increasing storage time of oil samples, oxidative indices are increased, but the WG/Ch film decreases the sesame oil oxidation significantly (almost in the all oxidative indices 50% decrease is observed). Practical Applications: The WG/Ch film is used in the packaging of sesame oil. The effect of WG/Ch film on the increasing of shelf life and detecting expiration time of oil is studied. By increasing storage time and oxidant, acidity, acid number, PA, and oil color change are increased, but the WG/Ch active film decreases the sesame oil oxidation significantly. Also, by examining the color properties of the active film, it is observed that with increasing storage time and oxidant percent, the color of the film is changed (from green to yellow), which can be used to estimate the oil expiration time. It should be mentioned that the film's color changes are visible to the naked eye.
Gender Representation, Professional Experiences, and Socialization: The Case of City Managers:

Women govern differently and offer a distinct voice in the governing process yet remain significantly underrepresented among city managers and chief administrative officers. Despite decades of work...
Inherent Noise in Gradient Based Methods.

Previous work has examined the ability of larger capacity neural networks to generalize better than smaller ones, even without explicit regularizers, by analyzing gradient based algorithms such as GD and SGD. The presence of noise and its effect on robustness to parameter perturbations has been linked to generalization. We examine a property of GD and SGD, namely that instead of iterating through all scalar weights in the network and updating them one by one, GD (and SGD) updates all the parameters at the same time. As a result, each parameter $w^i$ calculates its partial derivative at the stale parameter $\mathbf{w_t}$, but then suffers loss $\hat{L}(\mathbf{w_{t+1}})$. We show that this causes noise to be introduced into the optimization. We find that this noise penalizes models that are sensitive to perturbations in the weights. We find that penalties are most pronounced for batches that are currently being used to update, and are higher for larger models.
Reconfigurable all-optical nonlinear activation functions

We experimentally demonstrate all-optical reconfigurable nonlinear activation functions in a cavity-loaded machzehnder interferometer device utilizing free-carrier dispersion effect in silicon. Our device can be flexibly programmed to generate the following functions: clamped-ReLU, sigmoid, radial-basis and softplus, which can be employed in various neuromorphic tasks. nonlinear optics, neuromorphic photonics
Chapter 5 – Analysis: Large-Scale Integration of Renewable Energy

Publisher Summary This chapter examines and deduces the essence from a series of studies in which the Energy PLAN model has been applied to the analysis of large-scale integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the Danish energy system. The Danish energy system has a high share of renewable energy and is therefore suitable for the analysis of further large-scale integration. The studies conducted address the integration of RES into future energy systems. The analyses are based on official projections of the Danish energy system made by the Danish Energy Authority in 2001. The chapter presents a method for comparing different energy systems in terms of their ability to integrate RES on a large scale. The discipline of analyzing large-scale integration of renewable energy into existing systems addresses the challenge of re-designing the systems based on the characteristics of the fluctuating renewable sources. The analyses show that in the design of systems suitable for large-scale integration of RES, one should distinguish between two different issues. The first issue is concerned with annual amounts of energy—that is, on an annual basis, the supply of each of the amounts of electricity, heating, and fuel must meet the corresponding demands. The other issue is concerned with time—that the supply of the same amounts of energy must meet the timely duration of the corresponding demands.
Macrophage RGS12 contributes to osteoarthritis pathogenesis through enhancing the ubiquitination

Abstract Ubiquitination has important functions in osteoarthritis (OA), yet the mechanism remains unclear. Here, we identify the regulator of G protein signaling 12 (RGS12) in macrophages, which promotes the association between ubiquitin and IκB during inflammation. We also find that RGS12 promotes the degradation of IκB through enhancing the ubiquitination whereas the process can be inhibited by MG132. Moreover, the increased ubiquitination further inhibits the expression of MTAP, which can indirectly activate the phosphorylation of IκB. Finally, due to the degradation of IκB, the NF-κB translocates into the nucleus and further promotes the gene expression of cytokines such as IL1β, IL6, and TNFα during inflammation. Importantly, RGS12 deficiency prevents ubiquitination and inflammation in surgically or chemically induced OA. We conclude that the lack of RGS12 in macrophages interferes with the ubiquitination and degradation of IκB, thereby preventing inflammation and cartilage damage. Our results provide evidence for the relevance of RGS12 in promoting inflammation and regulating immune signaling.