cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Learning sparse two-level boolean rules

This paper develops a novel optimization framework for learning accurate and sparse two-level Boolean rules for classification, both in Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF, i.e. AND-of-ORs) and in Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF, i.e. OR-of-ANDs). In contrast to opaque models (e.g. neural networks), sparse two-level Boolean rules gain the crucial benefit of interpretability, which is necessary in a wide range of applications such as law and medicine and is attracting considerable attention in machine learning. This paper introduces two principled objective functions to trade off classification accuracy and sparsity, where 0-1 error and Hamming loss are used to characterize accuracy. We propose efficient procedures to optimize these objectives based on linear programming (LP) relaxation, block coordinate descent, and alternating minimization. We also describe a new approach to rounding any fractional values in the optimal solutions of LP relaxations. Experiments show that our new algorithms based on the Hamming loss objective provide excellent tradeoffs between accuracy and sparsity with improvements over state-of-the-art methods.
Post Socialist Slovakia and Albania: Diverging Nationalist Paths

This study explores the diverging nationalist paths adopted by post-socialist Slovak and Albanian elites within the time frame of 1991-1997. It argues that following the fall of regime’s collapse domestic politics of both states developed along opposite axis: In Slovakia, elites engaged in nationalist politics that infringed upon the rights of ethnic minorities and increased the salience of ethnic identities. In Albania however, political elites opted for a path of ethnic accommodation and non-nationalist politics that contradicted their originally nationalist inclinations. I present three hypotheses that seek to explain the Albanian puzzle and the diverging paths between the two countries: differences in ethnic consciousness of the Slovak and Albanian polity, the structure of party systems and finally the impact of international actors on the domestic politics of both countries. My findings suggest that the non-nationalist path of Albanian post-socialist elites was primarily due to the structure of the Albanian party system and rational economic incentives that urged the country’s elites to comply with international pressures regarding the rights of ethnic minorities.
THE ELECTION OF 2016 IN THE UNITED STATES: DONALD TRUMP AND THE DECADENCE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

ABSTRAC T The election of U.S. President Donald J. Trump has taken everyone by surprise, including Trump himself. Commentators initially expected him to be merely a flash in the pan, attracting attention but not a sustainable, serious contender. When he became the forerunner in the Republican primaries, the conventional wisdom was that he would be handily defeated when the field narrowed to a manageable number, certainly when he faced a “regular” Republican. KEYWORDS: Election of U.S.; Republican; Democratic. RESUMO A eleicao do presidente dos Estados Unidos Donald J. Trump tomou a todos de surpresa, incluindo o proprio Trump. Os comentaristas inicialmente esperavam que ele fosse apenas um flash na panela, atraindo atencao, mas nao um competidor sustentavel e serio. Quando se tornou o precursor nas primarias republicanas, a sabedoria convencional era que ele seria derrotado quando o campo se reduzisse a um numero manejavel, certamente quando enfrentava um republicano "regular". PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Eleicao dos EUA; Republicano; Democratico.
Many-body calculations for nuclei

Abstract The structure of the reaction-matrix ( K -matrix) in many-body calculations of nuclei and the origin of its non-locality is discussed An “effective” K -matrix interaction that is simple enough to permit extensive but exact calculations on nuclei is defined by adjusting some parameters so that nuclear matter saturates correctly, and so that the surface-energy is fitted when a self-consistent field (SCF) calculation on a semi-infinite nucleus is done In its simplest form, neglecting structure dependent terms, this interaction is similar to a velocity dependent interaction used by Seyler and Blanchard and by Myers in Thomas Fermi calculations SCF calculations are made with precisely the interaction used by Myers whose Thomas-Fermi calculation gave a surface energy (coefficient in the mass formula) of 18 56 MeV The SCF calculation is found to give 21 9 MeV (± 1 MeV) Qualitative differences between the SCF and Thomas-Fermi density and energy-density distributions are pointed out While Myers and also Bethe obtain a sharp cutoff of density at the nuclear surface and a gradual increase towards the interior of the nucleus, the SCF calculations presented here give a density distribution that is symmetrical about the half-density point It can be fitted accurately by a Fermi-distribution curve Some preliminary results show that the above interaction gives agreement with nuclear binding energies to within 1 MeV and good agreement with nuclear radii
LEVEL IW : Learning extreme verification latency with importance weighting

Nonstationary streaming data are characterized by changes in the underlying distribution between subsequent time steps. Learning in such environments becomes even more challenging when labeled data are available only at the initial time step, and the algorithm is provided unlabeled data thereafter, a scenario referred to as extreme verification latency. Our previously introduced COMPOSE framework works very well in such settings. COMPOSE is a semi-supervised approach that iteratively labels strategically chosen instances of the next time step using the instances it labeled in the previous time step. COMPOSE originally assumed a significant distribution overlap at consecutive time steps, allowing instances lying in the center of the feature space to be used as the most representative labeled instances from current time step to help label the new data at the next time step. Such an assumption is also inherent in importance weighting based domain adaptation, but only for a single time step with mismatched train and test data distributions. We explore importance weighting not for a single time step matching training / test distributions, but rather matching distributions between two consecutive time steps, and estimate the posterior distribution of the unlabeled data using importance weighted least squares probabilistic classifier. The estimated labels are then iteratively used as the training data for the next time step. We call this algorithm as LEVELIW, Learning Extreme VErification Latency with Importance Weighting. Our primary goal in doing so is to determine if and when importance weighting provides an advantage over COMPOSE's core support extraction, and whether it provides an alternate solution with reduced parameter sensitivity. Several datasets are used to compare the two approaches, which produced some unique insights.
Improvements of storm surge forecasting in the Gulf of Venice exploiting the potential of satellite data: the ESA DUE eSurge-Venice project

ABSTRACTThe northern Adriatic Sea is affected by storm surges, which often cause the flooding in Venice and the surrounding areas. We present the results of the eSurge-Venice project, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the framework of its Data User Element programme: the project was aimed to demonstrate the potential of satellite data in improving storm surge forecasting, with focus on the Gulf of Venice. The satellite data used were scatterometer wind and altimeter sea level height. Hindcast experiments were conducted to assess the sensitivity of a storm surge model to a model wind forcing modified with scatterometer data and to altimeter retrievals assimilated with a dual 4D-Var system. The modified model wind forcing alone was responsible for a reduction of the mean difference between modelled and observed maximum surge peaks from −15.1 to −8.2 cm, while combining together scatterometer and altimeter data the mean difference further reduced to −6.0 cm. In terms of percent, the improvements i...
In Vivo X‐ray Imaging of Transport of Renal Clearable Gold Nanoparticles in the Kidneys

With more and more engineered nanoparticles (NPs) being designed renal clearable for clinical translation, fundamental understanding of their transport in the different compartments of kidneys becomes increasingly important. Here, we report noninvasive X-ray imaging of renal clearable gold NPs (AuNPs) in normal and nephropathic kidneys. By quantifying the transport kinetics of the AuNPs in cortex, medulla and pelvis of the normal and injured kidneys, we found that ureteral obstruction not just blocked the NP elimination through the ureter but also slowed down their transport from the medulla to pelvis and enhanced the cellular uptake. Moreover, the transport kinetics of the NPs and renal anatomic details can be precisely correlated with local pathological lesion. These findings not only advance our understandings of the nano-bio interactions in kidneys but also offer a new pathway to noninvasively image kidney dysfunction and local injuries at the anatomical level.
The Woman Physician as Antidote to the Ills of Modern Medicine

This article, drawing on the work of Edith Stein, reflects on the feminine aspects of the medical profession, specifically attention to the whole person and personal accompaniment. It presents these feminine aspects, in light of the mechanistic, highly specialized, and often impersonal ethos of modern medicine, as a needed corrective to such an ethos. Finally, this thesis is illustrated with an example from physician Victoria Sweet.
Abiotic Stresses Shift Belowground Populus-Associated Bacteria Toward a Core Stress Microbiome

ABSTRACT Adverse growth conditions can lead to decreased plant growth, productivity, and survival, resulting in poor yields or failure of crops and biofeedstocks. In some cases, the microbial community associated with plants has been shown to alleviate plant stress and increase plant growth under suboptimal growing conditions. A systematic understanding of how the microbial community changes under these conditions is required to understand the contribution of the microbiome to water utilization, nutrient uptake, and ultimately yield. Using a microbiome inoculation strategy, we studied how the belowground microbiome of Populus deltoides changes in response to diverse environmental conditions, including water limitation, light limitation (shading), and metal toxicity. While plant responses to treatments in terms of growth, photosynthesis, gene expression and metabolite profiles were varied, we identified a core set of bacterial genera that change in abundance in response to host stress. The results of this study indicate substantial structure in the plant microbiome community and identify potential drivers of the phytobiome response to stress. IMPORTANCE The identification of a common “stress microbiome” indicates tightly controlled relationships between the plant host and bacterial associates and a conserved structure in bacterial communities associated with poplar trees under different growth conditions. The ability of the microbiome to buffer the plant from extreme environmental conditions coupled with the conserved stress microbiome observed in this study suggests an opportunity for future efforts aimed at predictably modulating the microbiome to optimize plant growth.
Malalignment Due to Ligamentous Laxity of the Knees

Frontal, sagittal, and oblique plane malalignment can also result from ligament laxity. This type of malalignment is dynamic. Varus and valgus malalignment can occur because of MCL and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) laxity. LCL laxity produces symptoms secondary to dynamic varus malalignment. It should be noted that this discussion deals only with the attenuated, gradually stretched ligament and not with the acute traumatically torn ligament. The most common causes of lateral laxity are chronic stretch due to bony varus malalignment and overgrowth of the fibula (Fig.14-1). Varus bone deformities occur in association with Blount’s disease, rickets, and medial compartment osteoarthritis. Fibular over-growth is seen in association with growth arrest of the tibia and dysplasias such as achondroplasia, hypochon-droplasia, and pseudoachondroplasia.
Frustrated Structural Instability in Superconducting Quasi-One-Dimensional K 2 Cr 3 As 3

We present density functional theory and neutron total scattering studies on quasi-one-dimensional superconducting ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cr}}_{3}{\mathrm{As}}_{3}$ revealing a frustrated structural instability. Our first principles calculations find a significant phonon instability, which, under energy minimization, corresponds to a frustrated orthorhombic distortion. In neutron diffraction studies we find large atomic displacement parameters with anomalous temperature dependencies, which result from highly localized orthorhombic distortions of the CrAs sublattice and coupled K displacements. These results suggest a more complex phase diagram than previously assumed for ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cr}}_{3}{\mathrm{As}}_{3}$ with subtle interplays of structure, electron-phonon, and magnetic interactions.
Productive Structure and Efficiency of Public Hospitals

This chapter focuses on the measurement of efficiency patterns for public hospitals in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A frontier model of productivity and efficiency based on a distance function is used to represent “best practice” production methods for this set of hospitals, allowing for differential output and input compositional patterns, types of hospital, and environmental factors affecting production of hospital services.
Representing and Eliciting “If … Then Rules”: An Empirical Analysis

This paper investigates how knowledge representation in the elicitation process, impacts the knowledge that is solicited. In particular, this paper investigates the relationship between using different, but equivalent knowledge representations for knowledge elicitation (e.g., “If — then” and “Given”), while focusing on probability knowledge. In addition, this paper investigates other issues that can influence the knowledge elicited. Tense (present or future) of items ranked in a probability elicitation process, extent of expertise and presence of problem in a domain of their expertise, and the impact of acquiring knowledge from groups compared with individuals, also are found to impact knowledge elicited.
Anesthetic Considerations in Spinal Surgery

Whether or not the anesthesiologist plays a primary role in monitoring spinal cord function in the operating room, optimal care and successful monitoring depend on his or her active cooperation. Pertinent physiology and pathophysiology are reviewed elsewhere in this symposium and will be addressed here only as they particularly pertain to anesthetic management. The goals of anesthetic management will be outlined, and a problem list for the anesthesiologist will be developed. Suggestions for using this problem list in pre-operative assessment and the development of a plan for anesthetic management will be discussed. Intraoperative complications and their management will be outlined, and a plan for management of postanesthetic recovery will be developed. Only those points which differ from the usual considerations in managing anesthesia for other procedures will be raised.
A Gentle Cosmopolitan Leader Affirms the Future: The Legacy of Meir Gottesmann

The author explores the notion of futurism, drawing upon the works of the “Megatrends” author, John Naisbitt and his colleagues, as well as the notions of complexity theory. Six major factors commonly addressed in business planning are identified as potentially useful in child and youth work as well: demographics, economics, environment, government, society, including education, and technology.
Ulnar Nerve In Situ Decompression versus Transposition for Idiopathic Cubital Tunnel Syndrome: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Purpose Evidence for the superiority of in situ simple decompression (SD) versus ulnar nerve transposition (UNT) for cubital tunnel syndrome remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical improvement, complication rate, and revision rate of SD versus UNT using the available evidence. Materials and Methods We performed a literature search of relevant publications using PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, and Springer Link. Inclusion criteria included (1) adult patients >18 years of age, (2) idiopathic cubital tunnel syndrome, (3) primary comparison studies including both SD versus UNT with discrete data for each procedure, (4) average follow-up of at least 2 months, and (5) a full English language manuscript available. Odds ratios of improvement, complications, and revision surgery after SD compared with UNT were calculated. Data were analyzed using both fixed and random effects models, and studies were assessed for publication bias and heterogeneity. Results A total of 1,511 articles from 1970 to 2017 were identified before inclusion, and exclusion criteria were applied. Ultimately 17 studies met the inclusion criteria and included 2,154 procedures. Of these, 1,040 were SD, and 1,114 were UNT procedures. Study heterogeneity was low. Odds ratios of clinical improvement and revision surgery with SD versus UNT were not significantly different. The odds ratio of complications with SD versus UNT was 0.449 (95% confidence interval [CI] of 0.290-0.695) and 0.469 (95% CI of 0.297-0.738) for fixed and random effect models, respectively. The difference in complications between SD versus UNT was significant ( P < 0.001). Conclusion There is no statistically significant difference in clinical outcomes or rate of revision surgery between SD versus UNT. However, there were significantly more complications with UNT. The current body of evidence regarding cubital tunnel syndrome lacks prospective, randomized, controlled trials, uniform reporting of indications, and standardized outcome scoring.
Differential relative bark thickness and aboveground growth discriminates fire resistance among hardwood sprouts in the southern Cascades, California

Bark thickness relative to stem diameter and radial stemwood and height growth patterns provided a more accurate discrimination of fire resistance than absolute bark thickness alone in juvenile stems. Thick bark provides thermal protection to cambial tissues and adventitious buds during fires, and thus, is a functional trait associated with more fire-resistant species and species persisting in fire-prone environments. However, bark thickness alone may not provide the best indicator of fire resistance due to differences among species-dependent growth, reproductive, and survival strategies. We measured bark thickness relative to radial stemwood and height growth among five juvenile co-occurring hardwood species following the Chips Fire (2012) in the southern Cascades, California. We found canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) and Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana), the most fire-resistant, did not have the greatest bark thickness (0.7–0.4 mm; 0.8–0.3 mm), but rather had significantly greater relative (to stem diameter) bark thickness (8–18%) at all heights along the stem (p Q. garryana > Q. kelloggii > Pacific dogwood, Cornus nuttallii > A. macrophyllum). Our findings highlight the importance of considering bark thickness relative to stem diameter and aboveground growth patterns in assessing species fire resistance.
A Perspective on Security and Trust Requirements for the Future

As integrated circuit manufacturing becomes increasingly global and the availability of domestically produced advanced transistor nodes shrinks, security vulnerabilities within the supply chain become a significant issue for IC defense applications. In this talk, we will present some of DARPA's efforts towards creating an active community and tool library for circuit design obfuscation in an effort to achieve trusted-by-design IC manufacturing at international foundries. By using a combination of techniques, our goal is to make the placement and triggering of hardware Trojans more difficult and their detection easier, and to make reverse engineering intractable within the window of vulnerability. We will discuss the development of obfuscation assessment metrics and trade-offs in power, area, and timing overhead, and the creation of an obfuscation technique library to help identify optimal obfuscation strategies in future IC design.
Characterization of Facial Trauma Associated with Standing Electric Scooter Injuries.

Abstract This case series describes 34 patients presenting with facial injuries after standing electric scooter use at two academic emergency departments, 6/2018-5/2019. The severity of injuries highlights this important emerging health risk and policy implications.
The Experience of Male Physicians with Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment: a Qualitative Study

Sexual harassment and gender-based harassment are common in medicine; however, there is little in the literature regarding men’s experience with gender-based and sexual harassment. The objective of this study was to better understand the experience men have with sexual and gender-based harassment in medicine. We developed and piloted an interview guide based on a review of the literature and conducted semi-structured interviews of male physicians, from trainees to attendings, at a tertiary care facility. Participants were recruited via email between April and August of 2019. These interviews were transcribed verbatim and, using an iterative coding approach based in grounded theory, were coded and analyzed for themes. We conducted a total of 16 interviews. Five major themes were identified: (1) personal experiences of harassment, (2) witnessed harassment, (3) characterization of harassment, (4) impact of harassment, and (5) strategies for responding to harassment. The men reported experiences with sexual and gender-based harassment but were hesitant to define these encounters as such. They had minimal emotional distress from these encounters but worried about their professional reputation and lacked training for how to respond to these encounters. Many had also witnessed their female colleagues being harassed by both male patients and colleagues but did not respond to or stop the harassment when it originated from a colleague. We found that men experience sexual harassment differently from women. Most notably, men report less emotional distress from these encounters and often do not define these events as harassment. However, similar to women, men feel unprepared to respond to episodes of harassment against themselves or others. Whether to deter sexual harassment against themselves, or, more commonly, against a female colleague, men can gain the tools to speak up and be part of the solution to sexual harassment in medicine.
Forecast-informed hydropower optimization at long and short-time scales for a multiple dam network

This study presents a scheme for co-optimizing the long-term (seasonal) reservoir operating objectives with the short-term (daily) objectives for multi-dam networks to maximize hydropower generation. Long-term optimal reservoir storage provides temporal space to optimize operation of the dams at short-term based on forecasted reservoir inflow. This study asks if there is an added benefit of co-optimization of operations at long- and short-term scales for hydropower generation. The multi-objective optimization problem at both the temporal scales was simultaneously solved considering Pareto optimality between conflicting objectives. Constraints pertaining to flood control, dam safety, and environmental flow were imposed. The proposed scheme was implemented over a network of Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal dams in the Upper Colorado Basin. Ensemble forecast forcings from publicly available numerical weather prediction and climate models were used as inputs for the daily and monthly scale inflow forecasts. The results show improvements of 41%, 27%, and 15% in hydropower generation using the co-optimization during wet, moderate, and dry years, respectively, against a benchmark that neglects inflow forecasts. This study demonstrates added benefit of co-optimizing the operations for hydropower generation based on short- and long-term forecasted reservoir inflow. Given that most dams today operate as a network in a river basin, we recommend moving away from single dam and single time scale optimization to a multiple-dam with long- and short-term scale co-optimization-based operations to make renewable energy generation more efficient.
Assessing the effect of a light rail transit system on road traffic travel time reliability

A travel time reliability-based approach is proposed to assess the effect of the light rail transit (LRT) system on the road network within its vicinity. A 4-mile stretch of the Blue Line LRT extension, which connects the Old Concord Road and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) main campus in Charlotte, North Carolina (NC), was considered as the study corridor. The raw travel time data was collected from the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS) website at one-minute intervals. The average travel time (ATT), planning time (PT), buffer time (BT), buffer time index (BTI), and planning time index (PTI) were computed for each link, referred to as Traffic Message Channel (TMC) in this research, by day-of-the-week and time-of-the day. Further, the travel time reliability of the links on the LRT extension corridor and adjacent corridors (both the parallel route and the cross-streets) were computed for different scenarios: network without LRT, testing phase of LRT, first month of LRT operation, third month of LRT operation, sixth month of LRT operation, and ninth month of LRT operation. The travel time reliability of the alternate route and cross-streets was affected by the LRT system operation. Increased green times and better coordination on the LRT corridor and the benefits associated with the alternate mode/route choice for commuters may be the reason behind the steadiness in travel time performance measures due to the LRT. The methodology and findings help transportation planners and engineers in comparing the performance or efficiency of large-scale public transportation projects like LRT and bus rapid transit (BRT) on travel time reliability within its vicinity.
A postman with rhetoric skills: The primacy of language in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi

This paper studies one of the widely read texts of Advaita, namely, the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi. In the main, this work examines the importance of language in Advaita epistemology. In the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, la...
Animal-Assisted Interventions as an Adjunct to Therapy for Youth: Clinician Perspectives

Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) are increasingly used as a complementary therapy in clinical practice. Initial research evidence suggests that animals can be an excellent adjunctive option for youth with significant challenges and those who may have low engagement in traditional therapy. AAIs delivered within a positive youth development framework are conceptualized as mutually influential relationships between humans, non-human-animals, and the broader environment to support human health and wellness. During childhood and adolescence, AAIs support major developmental processes. For example, AAIs may help youth to have reduced aggression and depression; increased attention; and strengthened social skills, self-regulation, and motivation. To understand how these interventions work in clinically-complex populations, it is important to understand the perspective of clinicians who have a broad view on each client’s mental health and the processes involved in youth outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were completed with 23 clinicians at a special education school that utilizes a range of AAIs including individual and group animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with farm animals, dogs, horses, and wildlife. A qualitative phenomenological approach was used to analyze the interviews. Five overarching themes were identified that described positive impacts and challenges experienced by students during AAT. These included youth opportunities for contribution, sense of safety, support for self-regulation, increased engagement, and facilitation of youth relationships with clinicians and others. Clinician perspectives will inform development and implementation of future therapeutic interventions that incorporate animals as an adjunct to evidence-based psychotherapy and inform quantitative measurement approaches.
Do humans exploit the metabolic and mechanical benefits of arm swing across slow to fast walking speeds

Abstract Humans naturally select conditions to minimize their net cost of transport (COT) during walking. One way to do this is by exploiting the mechanical benefit of arm swing which reduces whole-body rotation about the vertical axis and thus, minimizes the free vertical moment (FVM) that the foot applies to the ground. Humans appear to exploit these benefits of arm swing at speeds that are considered optimal, but we sought to determine if these benefits are conserved across slow to fast walking speeds. If true, arm swing may be a key feature that helps to minimize the net COT regardless of one’s walking speed. We hypothesized that at all speeds, walking with arm swing would be less costly compared to walking without arm swing. As a secondary aim, we also explored if reductions in the peak FVM could explain the metabolic benefits of arm swing. Twenty-one young, healthy subjects walked with and without arm swing at speeds ranging from 0.50 to 2.00 m/s while we recorded metabolic, kinematic and kinetic data. At slow speeds (≤1.00 m/s), net COT was similar when walking with or without arm swing (p > 0.05). However, at intermediate and fast speeds (≥1.00 m/s), arm swing reduced the net COT by ~7–13% (all p’s
Local Safety Versus Global Risk: Models of the Creative Work Environment

The chapter by Michael Mumford and Mark Fichtel focuses on the environment in creativity occurs, specifically, a climate for creativity. Amabile was a pioneer in this work and developed a measure of climate for creativity. In this chapter, Mumford and Fichtel highlight the dimensions of creative climate, and applies those to the study of creativity in professionals. They then address the conflicting demands of risk and safety, both important attributes of a creative environment. They argue that the integration of these two aspects is critical, and understanding the mechanisms by which this integration occurs is important for our understanding of creativity and creative environments.
Evaluation of Seasonal Respiratory Virus Activity Before and After the Statewide COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Order in Northern California.

Importance Public health initiatives that include shelter-in-place orders are expensive and unpopular. Demonstrating the success of these initiatives is essential to justify their systemic or individual cost. Objective To examine the association of a shelter-in-place order with lower rates of seasonal respiratory viral activity. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study with interrupted time series analysis obtained monthly counts of respiratory virus testing results at UC Davis Health from August 1, 2014, to July 31, 2020. Patients of all ages underwent testing conducted by the laboratory at UC Davis Health, a referral center for a 65 000-square-mile area that includes 33 counties and more than 6 million Northern California residents. Exposures A statewide shelter-in-place order was instituted on March 19, 2020, restricting residents to their homes except for traveling for essential activities. Large social gatherings were prohibited, schools were closed, and nonessential personnel worked remotely. Those who had to leave their homes were mandated to wear face masks, engage in frequent handwashing, and maintain physical distancing. Main Outcomes and Measures Positivity rates of common respiratory viruses within the community served by UC Davis Health. Results A total of 46 128 tests for viral respiratory pathogens over a 6-year period were included in the analysis. For the postexposure period (March 25-July 31), approximately 168 positive test results occurred for the studied organisms in the 2020 virus year, a positivity rate of 9.88 positive results per 100 tests that was much lower than the positivity rate of 29.90 positive results per 100 tests observed for this date range in the previous 5 virus years. In contrast, the positivity rates were similar for the preexposure time frame (August 1-March 24) in the 2020 virus year and for the same time periods in the 5 previous years (30.40 vs 33.68 positive results per 100 tests). In the regression analyses, statistically significant decreases in viral activity were observed in the postexposure period for influenza (93% decrease; incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.07; 95% CI, 0.02-0.33) and for rhinovirus or enterovirus (81% decrease; IRR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.09-0.39) infections. Lower rates of postexposure viral activity were seen for respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenzavirus, coronaviruses, and adenoviruses; however, these associations were not statistically significant. Conclusions and Relevance Using interrupted time series analysis of testing for viral respiratory pathogens, this study found that statistically significant lower rates of common community respiratory viruses appeared to be associated with a shelter-in-place order during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Heterogeneous Investors and Stock Market Fluctuations

We introduce a heterogeneous agent model which features extrapolative beliefs and time-varying risk aversion. The model leads to an empirical framework which we estimate with stock prices, survey data and risk aversion measures. We find that extrapolative beliefs and risk aversion are important drivers of stock prices together explaining 86% of movements in the S&P500 index: extrapolative cash flow expectations explain 34%, extrapolative return expectations explain 23% and time-variation in risk aversion explains 29%. We also find that stock prices would vary by roughly 70% less if all investors were to hold rational beliefs. Our work highlights that investor heterogeneity and the use of survey data to measure their beliefs are key to understanding asset prices.
SU-E-T-93: Activation of Psoralen at Depth Using Kilovoltage X-Rays: Physics Considerations in Implementing a New Teletherapy Paradigm

Purpose: Psoralen is a UV-light activated anti-cancer biotherapeutic used for treating skin lesions (PUVA) and advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (ECP). To date psoralen has not been used to treat deep seated tumors due to difficulty in generating UV-light at depth. We recently demonstrated psoralen activation at depth by introducing energy converting particles that absorb kV x-ray radiation and re-emit UV-light. Our in-vitro work found that 0.2–1Gy using 40–100kVp x-rays combined with psoralen and particles can induce a substantial apoptotic response beyond that expected from the sum of individual components. In preparation for a phase I clinical trial of canine companion animals, we address the physics and dosimetry considerations for applying this new teletherapy paradigm to an in-vivo setting. Methods: The kV on-board imaging (OBI) system mounted on a medical linear accelerator (Varian) was commissioned to deliver the prescribed dose (0.6Gy) using 80 and 100kVp. Dosimetric measurements included kVp, HVL, depth dose, backscatter factors, collimator and phantom scatter factors, field size factors, and blade leakage. Absolute dosimetry was performed following AAPM TG61 recommendations and verified with an independent kV dose meter. We also investigated collimated rotational delivery to minimize skin dose using simple dose calculations on homogeneous cylindrical phantoms. Results: Single beam delivery is feasible for shallow targets (<5cm) without exceeding skin tolerance, while a rotational delivery may be utilized for deeper targets; skin dose is ∼75% of target dose for 80kVp collimated rotational delivery to a 3cm target within a 20cm phantom. Heat loading was tolerable; 0.6Gy to 5cm can be delivered before the anode reaches 75% capacity. Conclusion: KV teletherapy for Psoralen activation in deep seated tissue was successfully commissioned for a Varian OBI machine for use in a phase I clinical trial in canines. Future work will use Monte Carlo dosimetry to investigate dose in presence of bone. Research funded by Immunolight LLC. H. Walder, Z. Fathi, & W. Beyer are employees of Immunolight LLC which holds a patent on the technology. Drs. Adamson and Oldham are consultants to Immunolight LLC.
Perception of acoustic cues to Tokyo Japanese pitch-accent contrasts in native Japanese and naive English listenersa)

This study examines how native language shapes the perception of a prosodic contrast. In Tokyo Japanese, a high-low pitch accent is a lexical property of a word, and the F0 fall after the peak associated with the accented syllable is the fundamental cue to accent perception. In English, pitch accents do not create lexically contrastive F0 patterns. A hypothesis that English listeners naive to Japanese use the F0 fall cue less than Japanese listeners was tested in two experiments. The alignment of F0 peak, the presence and magnitude of F0 fall were manipulated in a trisyllabic nonword to resynthesize Japanese 1st-syllable accented, 2nd-syllable accented, and unaccented patterns. In an AX-discrimination experiment, both listener groups showed sensitivity to the presence of F0 fall at every peak location. In a categorization experiment, the English group did not use the F0 fall cue in decisions about whether the 1st or the 2nd syllable sounded more prominent. The Japanese group relied on the F0 fall information, some listeners much heavily than others. These findings suggest that one's native language constrains how much attention the prosodic dimension of F0 change receives and that individual listeners may have qualitatively different perceptual strategies.
Problems of provenance for digital libraries

In 2007/2008, both Google and Microsoft were involved in separate projects to digitally photograph a large number of library books and make them available over the Internet. At about the same time, several hardware manufacturers brought out devices that were specifically intended for reading books. These included the iRex iLiad, Amazon’s Kindle, and the Sony eBook reader.
Hardware realization of a modification to the DQDB protocol to achieve fair network access and full bandwidth utilization

The DQDB topology and protocol have been accepted by the IEEE 802.6 committee as the standard for metropolitan area networks. Hardware to implement a proposed modification to the original DQDB is described. The important modifications of multiple segment buffering and the preservation mechanism have been realized in detail in the form of a set of circuits. System state generation circuits of the developed hardware have been successfully simulated and the performance has been verified. >
Evidence-Based Practice: Functional Rhinoplasty

The cause of nasal obstruction can often be attributed to pathologic conditions of the nasal valve. The key physical examination finding in nasal valve compromise is inspiratory collapse of the nasal sidewall. Validated subjective and objective measures evaluating nasal obstruction exist, although with weak correlation. Functional rhinoplasty encompasses the surgical techniques used to address obstruction occurring in this area. These techniques aim to increase the size of the nasal valve opening and/or strengthen the lateral nasal wall and nasal ala, preventing dynamic collapse. Much of the supporting evidence for functional rhinoplasty consists of observational studies that are universally favorable.
Magnetic Circular Dichroism and Diamagnetic Molecules

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses magnetic circular dichroism and diamagnetic molecules. Unlike ordinary absorption and natural optical activity, the Faraday effect cannot be evaluated by one or two matrix elements, because the magnetic field provides a static perturbation that mixes all other states with the one being studied. In many instances excited states are classed into groups where it is equally tractable to construct a wave function for one as for another. In this case it may often happen that the greater part of the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) will come from the mixing of these states. In other cases it will be generally possible to employ an approximate summation or variation technique, particularly at this stage of development where a qualitative understanding of the observed behavior is still to be gained. Among the general factors that appear to play an interesting role in MCD research are vibronic, degeneracy, and spin phenomena. Closely coupled to this behavior is the strength of the transition with the categories, strong, weak, and forbidden often providing qualitatively distinct types. In circular dichroism (CD) spectra weakly allowed transitions give large effects when they are magnetically allowed; however, there are still no well-established reasons for spin-forbidden transitions to play any more important role than they do in ordinary absorption.
The information highway and Africa

The information highway heralds the very next revolution in communications. North America, Europe, and Japan pursue their plans to create the most advanced communications systems yet developed. This paper asks if the superhighway is affordable and relevant for african development.Issues and problems discussed include : - the information highway infrastructure, its control and the main actors, and the main actors; - social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of computer networking and their impact on network development and the availability of information; - promoting democratic access to information and enhancing possibilities for "South--South" information transfer and communication.
Iowa public safety mobile communications system "Technology on the move"

This paper describes in detail the technical and operational aspects of the Iowa Public Safety Mobile Communications System. The mobile communications system is unique in design and applies many technological advances to land mobile applications. This system was designed by State of Iowa Electronic Engineers. This is not a turnkey system; the system is comprised of components representing 27 different manufacturers. Many components were uniquely designed or uniquely applied to mobile technology. The Iowa System makes near maximum use of available 155 MHz spectrum. It utilizes 15 KHz adjacent channel spacing and its repeater channels are as close as 195 KHz at co-located sites. Two repeaters and one simplex channel operate simultaneously within a 1 MHz spectrum.
Radiotracer measurement of local deposition profiles, friction reentrainment, and impaction reentrainment in an electrostatic precipitator

A radiotracer-based method of measuring local particle deposition profiles and reentrainment rates in an electrostatic precipitator has been developed and demonstrated. In tests performed on a pilot-scale precipitator, differences in local deposition profiles obtained with and without a predeposited layer of dust on the plate were observed. Rates of reentrainment due to gas friction (aerodynamic drag) and to particle impaction on the plate were measured separately, and correlated with a semiempirical formula. Both friction and impaction reentrainment rates were found to vary as powers of the difference between the gas velocity and a minimum velocity required for reentrainment. The impaction reentrainment was found to vary as a power of the inlet dust loading.
Experimental and Numerical Study of the Effects of Asymmetric Micro Ratchets on Pool Boiling Performance

Nucleate boiling is an attractive method for achieving high heat flux at low superheat temperatures. It is frequently used for industrial applications such as heat exchangers and is being considered to cool advanced central processing units (CPU) which produce heat fluxes on the order of 1 MW/m2 and are becoming increasingly less efficient to cool via forced conduction of air. The issues with implementing nucleate boiling as a cooling mechanism lies in the difficulty of quantifying the complex and numerous mechanisms which control the process.A comprehensive nucleate boiling model has yet to be formulated and will be required in order to safely and reliably cool high performance electronics. Spatially periodic systems with localized asymmetric surface structures (ratchets) can induce directed transport of matter (liquid/particles) in the absence of net force. It was hypothesized that ratchets may enhance pool boiling heat transfer by aiding in the removal of vapor which forms on the heated surface. Therefore, experiments on pool boiling using asymmetric micro ratchets of various geometries, with FC-72 as the working fluid, were investigated. Additionally, various numerical pool boiling simulations were performed using FLUENT to better understand the underlying physical principles behind pool boiling.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Concept-Forming Behavior in Schizophrenic and Non-Schizophrenic Subjects

(1961). Concept-Forming Behavior in Schizophrenic and Non-Schizophrenic Subjects. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 369-378.
Assessing the effectiveness of technology transfer from U.S. government R&D laboratories: impact of market orientation

This study, based on a national survey of U.S. government laboratories, assesses the degree of success laboratories have had in transferring technology to industry, taking into account the laboratories' differing receptivity to market influences. Three success criteria are considered here, two based on self-evaluations and a third based on the number of technology licenses issued from the laboratory. The two self-evaluations are rooted in different types of effectiveness, `getting technology out the door,' in one case, and, in the other, having a demonstrable commercial impact. A core hypothesis of the study is that the two types of effectiveness will be responsive to different factors and, in particular, the laboratories with a clearer market orientation will have a higher degree of success on the commercial impact and technology license criteria. Overall, the results seem to suggest that multifaceted, multimission laboratories are likely to enjoy the most success in technology transfer, especially if they have relatively low levels of bureaucratization and either ties to industry (particularly direct financial ties) or a commercial orientation in the selection of projects.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Modeling the adenosine receptors: comparison of the binding domains of A2A agonists and antagonists.

A three-dimensional model of the human A2A adenosine receptor (AR) and its docked ligands was built by homology to rhodopsin and validated with site-directed mutagenesis and the synthesis of chemically complementary agonists. Different binding modes of A2AAR antagonists and agonists were compared by using the FlexiDock automated docking procedure, with manual adjustment. Putative binding regions for the 9H-purine ring in agonist NECA 3 and the 1H-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]quinazoline ring in antagonist CGS15943 1 overlapped, and the exocyclic amino groups of each were H-bonded to the side chain of N6.55. For bound agonist, H-bonds formed between the ribose 3‘- and 5‘-substituents and the hydrophilic amino acids T3.36, S7.42, and H7.43, and the terminal methyl group of the 5‘-uronamide interacted with the hydrophobic side chain of F6.44. Formation of the agonist complex destabilized the ground-state structure of the A2AAR, which was stabilized through a network of H-bonding and hydrophobic interactions in the ...