cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Research utilization in policymaking: A tale of two series (of social experiments)

This paper is an exploratory attempt to view the role that social experiments in general, and the income maintenance experiments and work/welfare demonstrations in particular, have played in the policy process through the lens provided by the knowledge utilization literature. In addition to suggesting that the decision to conduct a social experiment is rarely, if ever, made according to an essentially rational paradigm, this framework helps highlight the range of uses to which findings from social experiments can be put and the circumstances under which various types of uses are more or less likely. Specifically, the knowledge utilization literature suggests that rather than having the dramatic, decisive effects on policy choices that their promoters have often envisioned, social experiments are more likely to affect policy in a variety of subtle ways.
Transbronchial Biopsy Interpretation in the Patient With Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease

Abstract Context.—The most common lung tissue samples seen by pathologists worldwide are obtained with the flexible bronchoscope. Specimens taken for examination of diffuse or multifocal parenchymal lung abnormalities pose special challenges for the general surgical pathologist, and these challenges are often compounded by high clinical expectations for accurate and specific diagnosis. Objective.—To present and discuss the most common histopathologic patterns and diagnostic entities seen in transbronchial biopsy specimens in the setting of diffuse or multifocal lung disease. Specifically, acute lung injury, eosinophilic pneumonia, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, chronic cellular infiltrates, organizing pneumonia, alveolar proteinosis, sarcoidosis, Wegener granulomatosis, intravenous drug abuse-related microangiopathy, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and lymphangioleiomyomatosis are presented. Clinical and radiologic context is provided for the more specific diagnostic entities. Data Sources.—The published lit...
Suppression of Antimicrobial Peptide Expression by Ureaplasma Species

Ureaplasma species commonly colonize the adult urogenital tract and are implicated in invasive diseases of adults and neonates. Factors that permit the organisms to cause chronic colonization or infection are poorly understood. We sought to investigate whether host innate immune responses, specifically, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are involved in determining the outcome of Ureaplasma infections. THP-1 cells, a human monocytoid tumor line, were cocultured with Ureaplasma parvum and U. urealyticum. Gene expression levels of a variety of host defense genes were quantified by real-time PCR. In vitro antimicrobial activities of synthetic AMPs against Ureaplasma spp. were determined using a flow cytometry-based assay. Chromosomal histone modifications in host defense gene promoters were tested by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). DNA methylation status in the AMP promoter regions was also investigated. After stimulation with U. parvum and U. urealyticum, the expression of cell defense genes, including the AMP genes (DEFB1, DEFA5, DEFA6, and CAMP), was significantly downregulated compared to that of TNFA and IL-8, which were upregulated. In vitro flow cytometry-based antimicrobial assay revealed that synthetic peptides LL-37, hBD-3, and hBD-1 had activity against Ureaplasma spp. Downregulation of the AMP genes was associated with chromatin modification alterations, including the significantly decreased histone H3K9 acetylation with U. parvum infection. No DNA methylation status changes were detected upon Ureaplasma infection. In conclusion, AMPs have in vitro activity against Ureaplasma spp., and suppression of AMP expression might be important for the organisms to avoid this aspect of the host innate immune response and to establish chronic infection and colonization.
Propagation of a single destabilizing mutation throughout the Escherichia coli ribonuclease HI native state.

A point mutation (I53A) in the core of Escherichia coli RNase H* is known to destabilize both the native conformation (ΔGUN) and the kinetic intermediate (ΔGUI) by 2 kcal/mole. Here, we have used native-state hydrogen deuterium exchange to ask how this destabilization is propagated throughout the molecule. Stability parameters were obtained for individual residues in I53A and compared with those from the wild-type protein. A destabilization of 2 kcal/mole was observed in residues in the core but was not detected in the periphery of the molecule. These results are consistent with the localized destabilization of the core observed in the early intermediate of the kinetic folding pathway, supporting the resemblance of this kinetic intermediate to the partially unfolded form detected in the native state at equilibrium. A thermodynamic cycle also shows no interaction between Ile 53 and a residue in the periphery. There is, however, an increase in the number of denaturant-independent exchange events in the periphery of I53A, showing that effects of the point mutation are communicated to regions outside the core, although perhaps not through changes in stability. In sum, this work shows that localized regions within a protein can be destabilized independently. Furthermore, it implies a correspondence between the kinetic intermediate and the equilibrium PUF, as the magnitude and localization of the destabilization are the same in both.
Policy iteration algorithm for distributed networks and graphical games

This paper brings together cooperative control, reinforcement learning, and game theory to present a multi-agent distributed formulation for graphical games. The notion of graphical games is developed for dynamical systems, where the dynamics and performance indices for each node depend only on local neighbor information. We propose a cooperative policy iteration algorithm for graphical games. This algorithm converges to the best response when the neighbors of each agent do not update their policies and to the Nash equilibrium when all agents update their policies simultaneously. It is also shown that the convergence of this algorithm is based on the speed of convergence of the neighbors of every player in the graph, graph topology, and user defined matrices in the performance index. This framework will be used to develop methods for online adaptive learning solutions of graphical games in real time.
Understanding the Economic Impact of Introducing a New Procedure: Calculating Downstream Revenue of Endobronchial Ultrasound With Transbronchial Needle Aspiration as a Model

Over the last decade, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) evolved into a validated and powerful diagnostic tool. Although it is integral to medical care in some health-care systems, others struggle to justify its purchase based on diminishing reimbursement. In analyzing its value to a health-care system, looking at procedural reimbursement alone will grossly underestimate its economic impact. Downstream revenue has been defined by administrators as revenue captured after patients use one hospital service and then use others. By analyzing consecutive EBUS cases and taking downstream revenue into account, $2.4 million in collections was attributed to 97 patients who were newly referred for this procedure.
The small RNA SgrS controls sugar–phosphate accumulation by regulating multiple PTS genes

A number of bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) act as global regulators of stress responses by controlling expression of multiple genes. The sRNA SgrS is expressed in response to glucose–phosphate stress, a condition associated with disruption of glycolytic flux and accumulation of sugar–phosphates. SgrS has been shown to stimulate degradation of the ptsG mRNA, encoding the major glucose transporter. This study demonstrates that SgrS regulates the genes encoding the mannose and secondary glucose transporter, manXYZ. Analysis of manXYZ mRNA stability and translation in the presence and absence of SgrS indicate that manXYZ is regulated by SgrS under stress conditions and when SgrS is ectopically expressed. In vitro footprinting and in vivo mutational analyses showed that SgrS base pairs with manXYZ within the manX coding sequence to prevent manX translation. Regulation of manX did not require the RNase E degradosome complex, suggesting that the primary mechanism of regulation is translational. An Escherichia coli ptsG mutant strain that is manXYZ+ experiences stress when exposed to the glucose analogs α-methyl glucoside or 2-deoxyglucose. A ptsG manXYZ double mutant is resistant to the stress, indicating that PTS transporters encoded by both SgrS targets are involved in taking up substrates that cause stress.
The effect of lateral leakage current on the experimental gain/current-density curve in quantum-well ridge-waveguide lasers

We stress the importance of considering the effect of lateral leakage current on the material gain/current-density characteristics measured from ridge-waveguide diode lasers. It is found that the inclusion of lateral leakage current is crucial to obtaining a self-consistent result. An experimental demonstration has been performed on an In/sub 0.2/Ga/sub 0.8/As/AlGaAs strained single quantum-well laser sample, from which a gain curve with transparency current density of 53.8 A/cm/sup 2/ was obtained. By using devices of different geometries, the variation of leakage currents is measured and the accuracy of the resultant gain curves is discussed. >
Guanfacine potentiates the activation of prefrontal cortex evoked by warning signals

Methods: Sixteen healthy young adults were scanned twice with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while performing a simple cued reaction time (RT) task following administration of a single dose of oral guanfacine (1 mg) and placebo in counterbalanced order. The RT task temporally segregates the neural effects of warning cues and motor responses and minimizes mnemonic demands. Results: Warning cues produced a marked reduction in RT accompanied by significant activation in a distributed thalamo-frontal-striatal network, including bilateral DLPFC. Guanfacine selectively increased the cue-evoked activation of the left DLPFC and right anterior cerebellum, although this increase was not accompanied by further reductions in RT. The effects of guanfacine on DLPFC activation were specifically associated with the warning cue and were not seen for visual- or target-related activation. Conclusions: Guanfacineproducedmarkedincreasesinthecue-evokedactivationofDLPFCthatcorrespondtothewell-describedactions of postsynaptic 2 adrenoceptor stimulation. The current procedures provide an opportunity to test postsynaptic 2A adrenoceptor function in the prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of several psychiatric disorders.
Macroscopic approaches to root water uptake as a function of water and salinity stress

Computer simulation models can be important tools for analyzing and managing site-specific irrigation, soil salinization, or crop production problems. For many of these problems, computer analyses require simulations of root water uptake as a function of water and salinity stress. We give an overview of macroscopic modeling approaches that are based on the Richards equation with a sink term specifying water uptake. Various parameterizations of the sink term as functions of water and salinity stress are reviewed. An example application demonstrates the simulation of drainage for a wide range of salinity and water stress conditions. The example shows that in practice it is very difficult to discriminate among the various functional forms proposed for the sink term. Future improvements to models may involve the incorporation of more dynamic root functions, such as the ability of roots to respond actively to growing conditions. As an example, we consider modeling compensated uptake, in which plants react to stress in one section of the root zone by increasing uptake in sections with more favorable conditions. Lastly, the challenge of estimating uptake reduction parameters from crop salt tolerance databases is discussed.
The Significance of Transplacental Antibody Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major respiratory virus of young children, causing substantial morbidity and mortality annually. Epidemics occur during the fall and winter months in countries in the temperate zones and year-round, with or without outbreaks tied to the rainy season, in countries in the tropical and subtropical zones. Worldwide, RSV causes >33 million cases of lower respira
Morphology–Dependent Resonances in Raman Scattering, Fluorescence Emission, and Elastic Scattering from Microparticles

Morphology-dependent resonances in a 10-μm-diam silicate glass fiber have been found to enhance Raman emission from the glass at discrete wavelengths, giving rise to structure in the Raman spectrum from the fiber that is not present for a bulk sample of the glass. Enhancement occurs at emission wavelengths that correspond to natural resonant modes of the fiber. Since similar effects are expected for microparticles with other well-defined geometries, e.g., spheres and spheroids, these results have important implications in the use of Raman spectroscopy for analysis of single or highly monodispersed microparticles. Resonance-induced peaks in a Raman spectrum could lead to incorrect interpretation of the spectrum if their origin is not understood. Previous work in this laboratory has shown that morphology-dependent resonances also give rise to peaks in fluorescence emission and elastic scattering spectra from dielectric microparticles. Insight into the physical nature of these resonances has been gained by s...
Depth‐Related and Species‐Related Patterns of Holocene Reef Accretion in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic: A Critical Assessment of Existing Models

Reef-accretion rate was measured in 151 core intervals from 12 Caribbean and western Atlantic locations. Palaeowater depth for each core interval was determined by comparing its position to the curve of Lighty et al. (1982), based on calendar years before 1950. While the majority of the data points fell within the upper 15 m of the water column, no clear depth-related pattern of reef accretion emerged. This is in sharp contrast to the widely held assumption that reef accretion will decrease exponentially with water depth at rates approximately an order of magnitude below the corresponding rates of coral growth at the same depths. Similarly, reef-accretion rates from facies dominated by branching Acropora palmata (3.83 m kyr –1 ) versus those associated with massive corals (3.07 m kyr –1 ) were not signifi cantly different ( = 0.05), owing to high variance across all water depths. Reef accretion showed a tendency to increase at higher rates of sea-level rise, but that relationship was also non-signifi cant. It is proposed that the known depth-related decrease in carbonate production may be offset by a parallel drop in bioerosion. While available data generally support this hypothesis, quantitative verifi cation must await careful measurements of both biological degradation and transport along a depth gradient. Nevertheless, bioerosion appears to not only play an important role in creating reef fabric, but to perhaps affect patterns of reef accretion as much as initial calcifi cation. Regardless of the cause, the patterns revealed by this study fl y in the face of the assumptions that underlie our most widely accepted Holocene reef models. Clearly new ones are needed that emphasize the varying contribution of biological material to what is largely a process of physical aggradation – in short reef corals grow, coral reefs accrete.
Lightweight testbed for evaluating worm containment systems

Hazardous worms can compromise hundreds of thousands of hosts in just hours. Mitigating these worm threats requires fast and effective strategies for containment and is a difficult task. Many containment systems have been proposed including anomaly detection, address blacklisting and signature-based content filtering. Meanwhile recently developed worm models enable us to develop a testbed to quickly evaluate the efficiency of defense mechanisms. Existing testbeds either require a great deal of hardware resources, or do not account for network performance impact due to containment methods. In this paper, we present a testbed which utilizes software agents to allow large scale simulation while maintaining individual host functionality. Varying containment schemes and strategies have been evaluated using this testbed in terms of number of infected hosts and performance impacts. Our results indicate that a dynamic containment system achieves better performance and security. We believe our testbed is an effective tool to explore and evaluate varying worm containment systems.
Organic matter stabilization in soil microaggregates: implications from spatial heterogeneity of organic carbon contents and carbon forms

This study investigates the spatial distribution of organic carbon (C) in free stable microaggregates (20–250 μm; not encapsulated within macroaggregates) from one Inceptisol and two Oxisols in relation to current theories of the mechanisms of their formation. Two-dimensional micro- and nano-scale observations using synchrotron-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy yielded maps of the distribution of C amounts and chemical forms. Carbon deposits were unevenly distributed within microaggregates and did not show any discernable gradients between interior and exterior of aggregates. Rather, C deposits appeared to be patchy within the microaggregates. In contrast to the random location of C, there were micron-scale patterns in the spatial distribution of aliphatic C–H (2922 cm−1), aromatic C=C and N–H (1589 cm−1) and polysaccharide C–O (1035 cm−1). Aliphatic C forms and the ratio of aliphatic C/aromatic C were positively correlated (r2 of 0.66–0.75 and 0.27–0.59, respectively) to the amount of O–H on kaolinite surfaces (3695 cm−1), pointing at a strong role for organo-mineral interactions in C stabilization within microaggregates and at a possible role for molecules containing aliphatic C-H groups in such interactions. This empirical relationship was supported by nanometer-scale observations using NEXAFS which showed that the organic matter in coatings on mineral surfaces had more aliphatic and carboxylic C with spectral characteristics resembling microbial metabolites than the organic matter of the entire microaggregate. Our observations thus support models of C stabilization in which the initially dominant process is adsorption of organics on mineral surfaces rather than occlusion of organic debris by adhering clay particles.
Dynamic action units slip in speech production errors.

In the past, the nature of the compositional units proposed for spoken language has largely diverged from the types of control units pursued in the domains of other skilled motor tasks. A classic source of evidence as to the units structuring speech has been patterns observed in speech errors – “slips of the tongue”. The present study reports, for the first time, on kinematic data from tongue and lip movements during speech errors elicited in the laboratory using a repetition task. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that speech production results from the assembly of dynamically defined action units – gestures – in a linguistically structured environment. The experimental results support both the presence of gestural units and the dynamical properties of these units and their coordination. This study of speech articulation shows that it is possible to develop a principled account of spoken language within a more general theory of action.
Turbulence in the core of a transpired channel

Flow in a fully transpired channel is examined using Particle-Image Velocimetry(PIV) to investigate the effect of stream-wise injection length scales on the core flow mean and turbulence properties. Instantaneous velocity fields are captured in a stream-wise - wall-normal plane at four different stream-wise locations (x/h=7,15,25,35) and four different porous surfaces: 3.175-mm, 4.7625-mm, 6.35-mm, 9.525-mm honeycombs. The 3.175-mm and 4.7625-mm honeycombs create smaller fluctuations in the wall-normal injection velocity and result in lower core turbulence. As a result, their mean flow profiles follow the inviscid Culick solution for a considerable distance downstream. The 6.35-mm and 9.525-mm honeycombs create higher wall-normal perturbations which get strongly amplified by the mean strain field resulting in a higher turbulence intensity downstream. As a result, their mean flow profiles deviate significantly from the Culick solution. It is found that the turbulence is profoundly affected by the mean details of the wall boundary conditions. In addition, for the first time, a database of turbulence statistics along with the complete boundary conditions (including the wall dynamic impedance) is provided to completely characterize the flow in a fully transpired channel.
Hiring a Nanny: The Limits of Private Solutions to Public Problems

Dual-career couples in urban areas commonly rely upon nannies or housekeepers to allow them to flexibly combine work and family lives. Highly personalized services allow parents to manage competing demands. Such forms of child care also contain their own tensions and dilemmas, though, in part because they are based on profound social inequality between parents and caregivers. Based on 155 in-depth, tape-recorded interviews with parents and caregivers in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, dilemmas arising between even parents with egalitarian ideologies and caregivers are analyzed. One dilemma concerns the parents' authority over the caregiver. Parents may want to let the caregiver exercise her own authority and judgment; yet, to the extent that there are class differences between caregivers and parents, there are likely to also be different definitions of quality child care. The second dilemma arises from parents' and caregivers' efforts to maintain some social distance while still wanting c...
Mail Survey in Social Research

This chapter begins with a concise overview of the long history of the use of mail survey in the Western civilization. Then it examines the three main stages in the administration of mail survey: pre-notification, the survey packet, and the follow-up correspondence. The design of the basic components such as the outer envelope, the cover letter, the questionnaire, the return of the survey, and the assembly of the survey packet is discussed at length. A review of the methodological literature provides the basis for an empirical review of the strengths and weaknesses of this data collection method and related issues of validity and reliability. The entire presentation is aimed at providing a set of practical and tested guidelines for the planning and implementation of effective mail survey.
Outline of a String Cosmology

Recent discussions attributed fermion mass to an analogue of Weyl curvature which occurred by hypothesis when closed, spin strings swept out closed world tubes. A new degree of freedom and corresponding curvature class were attributed to “second order tubes” that were swept out by initially introduced closed tubes, etc. Curvature classes were associated by hypothesis with composite masses where d enoted a mass-less spin field and where a and respectively denoted an LH quark and an RH anti-lepton that were characterized by opposite I3 values and shared a common generation. The resulting model accounted for known quark masses and predicted a new quark of mass 30 GeV/c2. The composite masses form a symmetry, the preservation of which is equivalent to the conservation of electrical charge and string scale. SUGRA interactions that preserve the proposed symmetry can therefore be precisely defined. In this context, gauge transformations that establish the proposed curvature classes also associate with a second realization of the originally generated symmetry, the preservation of which is equivalent to the conservation of string length and of the curvature from which the postulated model generates admissible increments of large scale expansion. The latter symmetry is associated by hypothesis with the large scale structure of the observable universe, thereby motivating a theoretical approximation of the total number of galaxies. This result parallels the approximation that is indicated by observation.
Series Expansion for CEF Split Systems

The effects of crystalline electric fields (CEF) in magnetic systems have long been recognized. There has-been great interest in these effects, especially in recent years.1 However, theoretical considerations have been complicated by the CEF split energy levels of the ions.
Customer Patronage of a Parent and New Branch Store

THE SUBURBANIZATION of our large cities is being well documented. Contrarily, the adaption by retailers through branch operations to the changing travel orbits of customers has had little publication. The history of the opening of a Philadelphia department store branch, therefore, may have general interest to students of marketing. An analysis was made of the credit records of 852 customers residing in the trading area of the branch store; in addition, facts, opinions and identification data were taken from mail questionnaire returns from 55 per cent of these customers.' The analysis covers a sixmonth period of I949-I950 following the branch opening and the comparable period one year earlier. The branch store studied is located in the largest secondary shopping center of metropolitan Philadelphia in an area lying just outside of Philadelphia itself. In designing the sample for the study, Dr. Ralph W. Breyer had to delimit this area. He was aided in this by studies made previously by two separate research agencies and by an analysis of branch sales for one week. The area decided upon covered most of the county in which the branch is located, part of an adjacent county and a section of Philadelphia proper lying near to the shopping center. From 6,448 credit accounts taken at
Embedding Concurrent Generators

Generators are a natural fit for expressing concurrency. In dynamic languages such as Icon and Unicon where every expression is a generator that produces a sequence of values until it fails, there is a pervasive opportunity for exploiting concurrency. In this paper we present a simple model of explicit concurrency for generators based on co-expressions and multithreaded generator proxies, called pipes. Co-expressions are coroutines that shadow the environment to prevent interference, while pipes are generator proxies that communicate with the original expression running in a separate thread using blocking queues. Together these two mechanisms are sufficient to express both interleaving as well as true concurrency in the form of parallel pipelining, and to build higher-order abstractions such as map-reduce. We then present techniques for embedding concurrent generators into Java using transformation. We introduce a form of annotations for mixed-language embedding, called scoped annotations, that allow mixing in functionality at the level of expressions, methods, or classes. Transformations over the annotated regions then unravel the syntax of generator expressions to a conventional form by flattening nested generators in order to enable native evaluation and seamless interoperability. Mixed-language embedding allows using the succinct notation of concurrent generators within a familiar object-oriented setting, and enables their use for high-level coordination as well as the prototyping and refinement of parallel programs for multi-core architectures.
Differential Association and Correctional Group Therapy

Sociological theories and hypotheses have had great influence on development of general correctional policies, such as probation and parole, but they have been used only intermittently and haphazardly in reforming individual criminals. Since sociology is essentially a research discipline, sociologist-criminologists have devoted most of their time and energy to understanding and explaining crime, leaving to psychiatrists and others the problem of reforming criminals. Even the sociologists employed in correctional work have ordinarily comitted themselves to non-sociological theories and techniques of reformation, leading the authors of one popular criminology textbook to ask just what correctional sociologists can accomplish which cannot be accomplished by other professional workers.1
Retrograde Coronary Sinus Delivery for Cardiac Cell Therapy

The original route of delivery of stem cells was the direct epicardial injection at the time of open heart surgery, typically for coronary revascularization. However, this route has been largely replaced by percutaneous catheter-based methods. The most commonly used methods of delivering stem cells or genes for regenerative medicine are by intracoronary, used predominantly for acute conditions such as acute MI. Due to the lack of inflammatory signals in most chronic indications, the endomyocardial delivery method has been developed to inject the cells or genes directly into the LV wall. Both methods required arterial puncture and carry associated risk of bleeding or technical problems such as dissection or perforation, as well as time of delivery. The newest method of delivery is by retrograde injection via the coronary sinus or venous system of the heart. The advantages of this method in comparison to the intracoronary and endomyocardial methods are reviewed.
Dying like a Woman: Euripides' Polyxena as Exemplum between Philo and Clement of Alexandria

Philo and Clement, in their treatments of martyrdom, exploit the death of Polyxena in quite different ways, as a model of manly steadfastness (Philo) or of female modesty (Clement).
Disrupted hydrogen bond network and impaired ATPase activity in an Hsc70 cysteine mutant.

The ATPase domain of members of the 70 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70) family shows a high degree of sequence, structural, and functional homology across species. A broadly conserved residue within the Hsp70 ATPase domain that captured our attention is an unpaired cysteine, positioned proximal to the site of nucleotide binding. Prior studies of several Hsp70 family members show this cysteine is not required for Hsp70 ATPase activity, yet select amino acid replacements of the cysteine can dramatically alter ATP hydrolysis. Moreover, post-translational modification of the cysteine has been reported to limit ATP hydrolysis for several Hsp70s. To better understand the underlying mechanism for how perturbation of this noncatalytic residue modulates Hsp70 function, we determined the structure for a cysteine-to-tryptophan mutation in the constitutively expressed, mammalian Hsp70 family member Hsc70. Our work reveals that the steric hindrance produced by a cysteine-to-tryptophan mutation disrupts the hydrogen-bond...
The choice of facilitators in medical tourism.

The study identified which of the four facilitators (themselves, agents, insurers, or doctors) consumers are most likely to use when they travel for various medical procedures. A survey conducted b...
VIBRATION AND BUCKLING OF THERMALLY STRESSED PLATES OF TRAPEZOIDAL PLANFORM

The dynamic response and effective stiffness of tapered, thermally stressed cantilever plates are obtained by a nonlinear analysis. The orthogonal mode functions resulting from a linear analysis are used to obtain the nonlinear solution. Variations in taper ratio, aspect ratio, and initial imperfections are considered for both bending and torsion. The frequency of symmetrical vibrations is shown to be affected by anti-symmetrical deflections and vice versa. The experimental data compare favorably with the analytical results.
Implied Discount Rates for the U.S. Military Blended Retirement System

We evaluate the 2018 option for U.S. military service members to switch from the legacy defined benefit (DB) pension to the new DB/DC hybrid Blended Retirement System. We show that the required return on the pre-retirement matching and incentives in the new system is unrealistically high. Alternatively, those switching to the new system must anticipate a substantial improvement to the current levels of incentive Continuation Pay. We construct our own analysis and a calculator that takes a financial economics perspective missing from previous analyses of the decision as well as consider the positive attributes of the Blended Retirement System. We conclude that those facing the 2018 choice between the two plans should favor the current DB plan if they anticipate serving 20 years.
Advancing “What Works” in Justice: Past, Present, and Future Work of Federal Justice Research Agencies

Since the 1960s, research on crime, delinquency, and justice has achieved important milestones regarding program evaluation. The field has made significant strides in identifying and cataloging evi...
Short-cavity THz QC-VECSEL with 20% fractional tuning (Conference Presentation)

The terahertz quantum-cascade (QC) VECSEL is a recently demonstrated approach to designing single-mode terahertz lasers based on the coupling of an amplifying reflect-array metasurface with an external optical cavity. The QC-VECSEL has demonstrated single-mode terahertz lasing with high output power and near-diffraction limited beam quality. The QC-VECSEL is also a natural candidate for demonstrating broadband, continuous, single-mode frequency tuning as the VECSEL’s lasing frequency is determined by the length of the its external cavity, which can be mechanically tuned. In this work, we use a piezoelectric translational stage to actively adjust the length of the QC-VECSEL’s external cavity and demonstrate >500 GHz of single-mode tuning around a center frequency of 3.5 THz (>20% fractional tuning). High-quality, circular beam patterns are observed with a divergence angle of ~15° throughout the tuning range, and tens of milliwatts of peak terahertz output power are observed. In order to maintain single mode behavior, the external cavity is made to be extremely short, increasing the spacing between the external cavity’s neighboring longitudinal resonances. Cavity lengths as short as 250 µm have been studied, but the free-spectral range of the external cavity could not be made larger than the gain bandwidth of the metasurface, providing testament to the bandwidth of both the metasurface and the QC-gain material.
Impaired Redox Signaling in Huntington’s Disease: Therapeutic Implications

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease triggered by expansion of polyglutamine repeats in the protein huntingtin. Mutant huntingtin (mHtt) aggregates and elicits toxicity by multiple mechanisms which range from dysregulated transcription to disturbances in several metabolic pathways in both the brain and peripheral tissues. Hallmarks of HD include elevated oxidative stress and imbalanced redox signaling. Disruption of antioxidant defense mechanisms, involving antioxidant molecules and enzymes involved in scavenging or reversing oxidative damage, have been linked to the pathophysiology of HD. In addition, mitochondrial function is compromised in HD leading to impaired bioenergetics and elevated production of free radicals in cells. However, the exact mechanisms linking redox imbalance to neurodegeneration are still elusive. This review will focus on the current understanding of aberrant redox homeostasis in HD and potential therapeutic interventions.
Statistical Characterization of Intragrain Misorientations at Large Strains Using High-Energy X-Ray Diffraction: Application to Hydrogen Embrittlement

High-energy X-ray diffraction (HEXD) has become a powerful technique for studying deformation and failure in structural metals over the last two decades. In this work, we used multi-grain HEXD to investigate hydrogen embrittlement in polycrystalline nickel by quantifying the effects of solute hydrogen on the grain-scale plastic response. Five polycrystalline samples were probed: one undeformed control sample with no added hydrogen, one with no added hydrogen compressed in a high-pressure torsion (HPT) anvil, one with no hydrogen compressed and torqued by HPT, one charged with hydrogen compressed by HPT, and one with hydrogen compressed and torqued by HPT. Most current HEXD data reduction algorithms can only be used at strains less than 5–10%, while the largest strains in our samples exceed 21%. To process the data, we developed a new forward projection-based processing method to calculate discrete single grain orientation distributions (DSGODs) from the data. We used three statistics-based state variables to characterize the measured DSGODs. We found the grains in the two materials (hydrogen-charged and uncharged) had the same amount of intragrain misorientation, but how that misorientation was distributed in orientation space was different. We identified two types of grains in the hydrogen-charged samples, but only a single type in the uncharged samples. Our results suggest solute hydrogen does not affect all grains within a deforming aggregate equally. These mesoscale results and new state variables can help bridge the gap between micro- and macroscale observations of the effects of solute hydrogen on plasticity.
A Synopsis of Neotropical Perlidae (Plecoptera)

The Neotropical perlid fauna currently includes about 280 species placed in ten genera. Anacroneuria, the dominant and most diverse genus throughout much of the Neotropics, is largely replaced in southern South America by Inconeuria, Kempnyella, Kempnyia, Nigroperla, and Pictetoperla. Enderleina and Macrogynoplax are modestly diverse genera found sporadically around the fringe of the Amazon Basin while Onychoplax and Klapalekia are monotypic genera known from holotypes. A review of the distribution, distinctive morphological characters and current status is presented for each genus.
P2RY8-CRLF2Fusion-Positive Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Myelodysplasia-Related Changes: Response to Novel Therapy.

No abstract available Keywords: AML; CTLA-4 antagonist; P2RY8-CRLF2 fusion; immunotherapy.
7 – Production externalities

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of production externalities. A policy-relevant, technological production externality has two properties: Production activity by a firm directly enters into (or “alters”) the production function of at least one other firm and the external effect is not captured in the marketplace. These properties are completely analogous to those of a policy-relevant, technological consumption externality. The production models and the resulting pareto-optimal decision rules for production externalities are virtually identical to their consumption counterparts, with the roles of consumption and production reversed. In particular, there are some important similarities: (1) the pareto-optimal decision rules for consumption externalities require equating marginal rates of transformation in production to summations of marginal rates of substitution in consumption, (2) in both instances, the government can achieve pareto optimality by retaining decentralized markets and taxing (subsidizing) an externality generating exclusive activity, and (3) while the external effect depends only on aggregate consumption, a single tax paid by all consumers can achieve the pareto-optimal conditions. The same distinction applies for production externalities. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the problem of nonconvex production possibilities.
Ternary compute-enabled memory using ferroelectric transistors for accelerating deep neural networks

Ternary Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), which employ ternary precision for weights and activations, have recently been shown to attain accuracies close to full-precision DNNs, raising interest in their efficient hardware realization. In this work we propose a Non-Volatile Ternary Compute-Enabled memory cell (TeC-Cell) based on ferroelectric transistors (FEFETs) for in-memory computing in the signed ternary regime. In particular, the proposed cell enables storage of ternary weights and employs multi-word-line assertion to perform massively parallel signed dot-product computations between ternary weights and ternary inputs. We evaluate the proposed design at the array level and show 72% and 74% higher energy efficiency for multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations compared to standard near-memory computing designs based on SRAM and FEFET, respectively. Furthermore, we evaluate the proposed TeC-Cell in an existing ternary in-memory DNN accelerator. Our results show 3.3X-3.4X reduction in system energy and 4.3X-7X improvement in system performance over SRAM and FEFET based near-memory accelerators, across a wide range of DNN benchmarks including both deep convolutional and recurrent neural networks.
Exploring the Effects of Bulky Cations Tethered to Semicrystalline Polymers: The Case of Tetraaminophosphoniums with Ring-Opened Polynorbornenes

Herein, a simple synthetic method to functionalize norbornene at the 5-position with a base-stable tetraaminophosphonium cation was developed. Upon confirmation that the cationic monomer could be p...
PoQ: A Consensus Protocol for Private Blockchains Using Intel SGX

In blockchain technology, consensus protocols serve as mechanisms to reach agreements among a distributed network of nodes. Using a centralized party or consortium, private blockchains achieve high transaction throughput and scalability, Hyperledger Sawtooth is a prominent example of private blockchains that uses Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) (SGX-based) to achieve consensus. In this paper, we propose a novel protocol, called Proof of Queue (PoQ), for private (permissioned) blockchains, that combines the lottery strategy of PoET with a specialized round-robin algorithm where each node has an equal chance to become a leader (who propose valid data blocks to the chain) with equal access. PoQ is relatively scalable without any collision. Similar to PoET, our protocol uses Intel SGX, a Trusted Execution Environment, to generate a secure random waiting time to choose a leader, and fairly distribute the leadership role to everyone on the network. PoQ scales fairness linearly with SGX machines: the more the SGX in the network, the higher the number of chances to be selected as a leader per unit time. Our analysis and experiments show that PoQ provides significant performance improvements over PoET.
Effect of levamisole on respiratory disease in feedlot cattle

It has been suggested that the deworming dose of levamisole administered at the time of processing cattle into the feedlot could be immunostimulatory and result in a reduced incidence of respiratory disease. This controlled field trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of a single dose of 6.0 mg/kg of levamisole administered at the time of processing on the incidence and severity of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in feedlot cattle.
Shock-dominated flow control by plasma array: Pressure analysis including pressure-sensitive paint visualization

Abstract This work is focused on the experimental characterization of shock-dominated flow structures, parameters, and dynamics under control by a filamentary plasma array. Testing was performed in the supersonic blowdown test rig SBR-50 at the University of Notre Dame at flow Mach number M = 2 and stagnation pressure P0 = 1.7 bar. A shock wave (SW) generator composed of a symmetric 10° wedge was installed on the top wall of a 710 mm long test section. The filamentary plasma array based on a Q-DC discharge was arranged on the opposite wall so that the main SW originating from the wedge impinged the plasma area. As a result of the SW-plasma interaction the flowfield was significantly modified over the test section, including an upstream shift of the main SW and pressure redistribution. Basic instrumentation included fast schlieren visualization, wall pressure measurements and Pitot-rake measurements at the end of the test section. Additionally, a fast Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique was employed to acquire details of the SW footprint and capture transitional effects after switching plasma off and on. Analysis of the data acquired by these complementary methods allowed for reconstruction of a three-dimensional portrait of shock-dominated flow interaction with the plasma zone. The mechanism of SW-plasma interaction and the plasma effect on total pressure losses in the duct are also discussed.
Uncovering associations between data-driven learned qMRI biomarkers and chronic pain.

Knee pain is the most common and debilitating symptom of knee osteoarthritis (OA). While there is a perceived association between OA imaging biomarkers and pain, there are weak or conflicting findings for this relationship. This study uses Deep Learning (DL) models to elucidate associations between bone shape, cartilage thickness and T2 relaxation times extracted from Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) and chronic knee pain. Class Activation Maps (Grad-CAM) applied on the trained chronic pain DL models are used to evaluate the locations of features associated with presence and absence of pain. For the cartilage thickness biomarker, the presence of features sensitive for pain presence were generally located in the medial side, while the features specific for pain absence were generally located in the anterior lateral side. This suggests that the association of cartilage thickness and pain varies, requiring a more personalized averaging strategy. We propose a novel DL-guided definition for cartilage thickness spatial averaging based on Grad-CAM weights. We showed a significant improvement modeling chronic knee pain with the inclusion of the novel biomarker definition: likelihood ratio test p-values of 7.01 × 10–33 and 1.93 × 10–14 for DL-guided cartilage thickness averaging for the femur and tibia, respectively, compared to the cartilage thickness compartment averaging.
Prehospital DNR orders: what do physicians in Washington know?

Objectives: To assess whether physicians know of Washington State's prehospital do-not-resuscitate (DNR) policy, 6 years after its implementation. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Washington State, April 2001. Participants: Four hundred seventy-one practicing physicians. Measurements: Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine relationships between physician and practice characteristics with knowledge of policies governing advance care planning. Results: Among respondents, 60% did not know that Washington State requires an emergency medical service (EMS)-specific DNR order authored by a physician. Seventy-nine percent did not know that patient-authored advance directives apply only in hospitals and medical offices. Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest that most physicians in Washington State lack knowledge about the documentation needed for EMS personnel to forgo pre-hospital attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Further study is needed to determine whether physician education or legislative change is necessary.