cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A generic sensing and processing framework for smartphones for heterogeneous sensing

Nowadays smartphones have become crucial part of our everyday life. Smartphones come with several built-in sensors, along with powerful processing units and easy internet connectivity which make them very attractive tools in pervasive sensing space. While there are several research tracks coming up with various interesting apps which enable such pervasive sensing/ analytics through smartphones, they lack having a common framework that supports heterogeneous sensing and processing. Here we propose a common framework that can be exploited to support heterogeneous sensing, with power management and adaptive real-time performance as an added feature. The key feature is to partition the processing between the smartphone and a cloud as well as designing the software architecture to uniformly support various sensor data logging and displaying requirements. In this work, we particularly investigate feasibility of our proposed framework by actually implementing and testing with several collaborative sensing applications that are inherently heterogeneous in nature. Our results show promise as the CPU overhead and power consumption are improved quite a bit across all the solutions we have tested.
Open-Source Wax RepRap 3-D Printer for Rapid Prototyping Paper-Based Microfluidics

The open-source release of self-replicating rapid prototypers (RepRaps) has created a rich opportunity for low-cost distributed digital fabrication of complex 3-D objects such as scientific equipment. For example, 3-D printable reactionware devices offer the opportunity to combine open hardware microfluidic handling with lab-on-a-chip reactionware to radically reduce costs and increase the number and complexity of microfluidic applications. To further drive down the cost while improving the performance of lab-on-a-chip paper-based microfluidic prototyping, this study reports on the development of a RepRap upgrade capable of converting a Prusa Mendel RepRap into a wax 3-D printer for paper-based microfluidic applications. An open-source hardware approach is used to demonstrate a 3-D printable upgrade for the 3-D printer, which combines a heated syringe pump with the RepRap/Arduino 3-D control. The bill of materials, designs, basic assembly, and use instructions are provided, along with a completely free and open-source software tool chain. The open-source hardware device described here accelerates the potential of the nascent field of electrochemical detection combined with paper-based microfluidics by dropping the marginal cost of prototyping to nearly zero while accelerating the turnover between paper-based microfluidic designs.
Age-related changes in tonic activation of presynaptic versus extrasynaptic γ-amniobutyric acid type B receptors in rat medial prefrontal cortex.

The present study examined the effect of age on both glutamatergic and γ-aminobutyric acid mediated (GABAergic) signaling in the rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), with an emphasis on revealing novel changes contributing to increased inhibition in age. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were obtained from layer 2/3 mPFC pyramidal neurons in acute cortical slices prepared from either young (4 months) or aged (20-24 months) male F344 rats. Results indicated that GABAB receptors on GABAergic, but not on glutamatergic, inputs to layer 2/3 pyramidal cells are tonically activated by ambient GABA in young animals and further demonstrated that this form of tonic inhibition is significantly attenuated in aged mPFC. Moreover, concurrent with loss of tonic presynaptic GABAB autoreceptor activation, layer 2/3 pyramidal cells in aged mPFC are subjected to increased tonic activation of extrasynaptic GABAA and GABAB receptors. These data demonstrate a shift in the site of GABAB receptor-mediated inhibitory tone in the aged mPFC that clearly promotes increased inhibition of pyramidal cells in aged animals, and that may plausibly contribute to impaired executive function.
Electrophysiology of Color Vision

The primary aim of many electrophysiological studies of single cells of the visual system has been the delineation of neurons subserving any one area of visual space with common functional properties. Such classifications are important because they provide a sensible way to functionally reduce to a manageable proportion the number of input and output signals from one region to another. The primate optic nerve, for example, contains some 106 ganglion cell axons which, at any given time, may be active or quiescent. If each ganglion cell were to have properties very different from those of the others, physiological studies would face a hopeless task, as the number of possible combinations of retinal output signals to the more central visual brain is enormous, on the order of 10300,000. Functional classifications are also useful because, depending on their underlying biases and criteria, they allow for (i) the recognition of corresponding neuronal groups at different levels of the system within and across species, and (ii) the formulation of testable inferences and deductions on the visual role(s) of the neurons.
Extinction and Transformation: An Abstract

The basic principles of heterochromatic extinction show that the approach used in the visible should not work well in the infrared, where molecular line absorption rather than continuous scattering dominates the extinction. Not only does this extinction change very rapidly with wavelength (so that stellar color becomes only weakly correlated with effective extinction), but also many of the lines are saturated (so that Forbe’s curve-of-growth effect is much more severe in the IR.) Furthermore, broadband IR colors are more undersampled than those in the visible, so aliasing errors make them correlate even less with extinction.
Depression in schizophrenia: Associations with cognition, functional capacity, everyday functioning, and self-assessment

Depressed mood has a complex relationship with self-evaluation of personal competence in multiple populations. The absence of depression may be associated with overestimation of abilities, while mild depression seems to lead to accurate self-assessment. Significant depression may lead to underestimation of functioning. In this study, we expand on our previous work by directly comparing the association between different levels of depression, everyday functioning, cognitive and functional capacity performance, and self-assessment of everyday functioning in a large (n = 406) sample of outpatients with schizophrenia. Participants with very low self-reported depression overestimated their everyday functioning compared with informant reports. Higher levels of depression were associated with more accurate self-assessment, but no subgroup of patients underestimated their functioning. Depressive symptom severity was associated with poorer informant-rated social functioning, but there were no differences in vocational functioning, everyday activities, cognitive performance, and functional capacity associated with the severity of self-reported depression. There was minimal evidence of impact of depression on most aspects of everyday functioning and objective test performance and a substantial relationship between depression and accuracy of self-assessment.
Enabling singlet fission by controlling intramolecular charge transfer in π -stacked covalent terrylenediimide dimers

When an assembly of two or more molecules absorbs a photon to form a singlet exciton, and the energetics and intermolecular interactions are favourable, the singlet exciton can rapidly and spontaneously produce two triplet excitons by singlet fission. To understand this process is important because it may prove to be technologically significant for enhancing solar-cell performance. Theory strongly suggests that charge-transfer states are involved in singlet fission, but their role has remained an intriguing puzzle and, up until now, no molecular system has provided clear evidence for such a state. Here we describe a terrylenediimide dimer that forms a charge-transfer state in a few picoseconds in polar solvents, and undergoes equally rapid, high-yield singlet fission in nonpolar solvents. These results show that adjusting the charge-transfer-state energy relative to those of the exciton states can serve to either inhibit or promote singlet fission.
Predictive models for online human activities

The availability and scale of user generated data in online systems raises tremendous challenges and opportunities to analytic study of human activities. Effective modeling of online human activities is not only fundamental to the understanding of human behavior, but also important to the online industry. This thesis focuses on developing models and algorithms to predict human activities in online systems and to improve the algorithmic design of personalized/socialized systems (e.g., recommendation, advertising, Web search systems). We are particularly interested in three types of online user activities, i.e., decision making, social interactions and user-generated contents. Centered around these activities, the thesis focuses on three challenging topics: 1. Behavior prediction, i.e., predicting users’ online decisions. We present Collaborative-Competitive Filtering, a novel game-theoretic framework for predicting users’ online decision making behavior and leverage the knowledge to optimize the design of online systems (e.g., recommendation systems) in respect of certain strategic goals (e.g., sales revenue, consumption diversity). 2. Social contagion, i.e., modeling the interplay between social interactions and individual behavior of decision making. We establish the joint Friendship-Interest Propagation model and the Behavior-Relation Interplay model, a series of statistical approaches to characterize the behavior of individual user’s decision making, the interactions among socially connected users, and the interplay between these two activities. These techniques are demonstrated by applications to social behavior targeting. 3. Content mining, i.e., understanding user generated contents. We propose the Topic-Adapted Latent Dirichlet Allocation (τLDA) model, a probabilistic model for identifying a user’s hidden cognitive aspects (e.g., knowledgability) from the texts created by the user. The model is successfully applied to address the challenge of “language gap” in medical information retrieval. Keywords: Predictive models, online human activities, user-generated data, behavior prediction, social ties, collaborative competitive filtering, social contagion, behavior-relation interplay, content mining, user cognitive aspects, language gap
Dizziness and Vertigo during MRI.

A 33-year-old man participating in a research study underwent MRI in a 7-tesla MRI scanner. On entering the scanner, he had a spinning sensation for 2 minutes. Nystagmus, recorded with infrared goggles and shown in a video, continued for the entire 90-minute scanning period.
Coping with verbal gamesmanship in golf: The PACE model

ABSTRACTGamesmanship is an act or verbal gesture used to psychologically unsettle opponents to gain an advantage in sport competition. Although verbal gamesmanship, colloquially known as trash talk, is most frequently used in the sports of ice hockey, American football, and basketball, it also has been found to occur in the game of golf. The purpose of this article is to help athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists to understand and develop strategies to cope with verbal gamesmanship in golf. To this end, verbal gamesmanship is described and the acronym PACE, theoretically grounded in a cognitive-behavioral approach, is presented as a tool that golfers can use to respond to verbal gamesmanship. PACE can help golfers to remind themselves to Pause, Assess, Concentrate, and Execute, all of which can be helpful when faced with verbal gamesmanship in golf settings.
Absence of P21 Gene Augments Proliferation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to differentiate into cells of the various mesodermal lineages. Efficiency of engraftment, however, remains a significant obstacle in MSC transplantation. P21 is a G1 checkpoint regulator and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor. In its absence, hematopoieitc stem cell (HSC) proliferation increases under normal homeostatic conditions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of p21 deficiency on the proliferative capacity of MSCs. Therefore, MSCs from p21 KO and wildtype mice were maintained in culture in hypoxic and normoxic conditions. Cell counts and respective days in cultures were recorded from which population doubling (PD) times were calculated and compared. 1:1 Competition assays were performed between p21 KO MSCs transduced with DsRed and eGFP transduced WT MSCs as well as between DsRed transduced p21 KO MSCs and non-transduced WT MSCs. Osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic differentiation assays were performed on both cell populations using standard protocols. Sca-1, CD34, CD45, CD90, MHC Class I and II and other surface antigens were assessed using FACS analysis. In normoxic conditions, the p21 KO MSCs went through 25.68 population doublings in 60 days versus 25.43 population doublings in 103 days for the p21 WT MSCs. Under hypoxic conditions, the KO MSC population doubled 23.3 times in 58 days versus 14.78 times in 60 days for the WT MSCs. All population doubling times were taken from passage 10 cells. When the DsRed transduced KO MSCs (96.6-98.5% DsRed+) was placed in a 1:1 competition assay with eGFP transduced WT MSCs (99.3-99.9% eGFP+) or non-transduced WT MSCs (99.9–100% eGFP−), the normoxic results are as shown in Table 1. Similarly, the competition assay result between DsRed transduced KO MSCs (86.9–94.1% DsRed+) and eGFP transduced WT MSCs (99.7–100% eGFP+) or non-transduced WT MSCs (100% eGFP−) for the hypoxic condition are shown in Table 2. Both the p21 KO and wildtype MSCs populations were able to differentiate into ostenogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic lineages. No significant surface marker differences were observed between the 2 populations on FACS analysis. Our results clearly showed that p21 deficient MSCs have increased proliferative ability in vitro compared to normal MSCs. These findings have implications for expansion of MSC populations in vitro , and for the enhancement of competitive capacity of MSCs following in vivo administration.
TP53 mutations in MCL: more therapy is not better

In this issue of Blood , Eskelund et al identify a high-risk group of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who do not experience prolonged survival despite the use of modern, cytarabine-containing induction therapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. 1
Small RNAs Turn Over a New Leaf as Morphogens.

In this issue of Developmental Cell, Skopelitis et al. (2017) demonstrate that sharp boundaries of gene expression can be created by threshold-based readout of mobile small RNA gradients. Support for this hypothesis comes from manipulation of small RNAs involved in top-bottom leaf patterning and from a novel synthetic biology approach.
Structural Covariance of Sensory Networks, the Cerebellum, and Amygdala in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Sensory dysfunction is a core symptom of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and abnormalities with sensory responsivity and processing can be extremely debilitating to ASD patients and their families. However, relatively little is known about the underlying neuroanatomical and neurophysiological factors that lead to sensory abnormalities in ASD. Investigation into these aspects of ASD could lead to significant advancements in our general knowledge about ASD, as well as provide targets for treatment and inform diagnostic procedures. Thus, the current study aimed to measure the covariation of volumes of brain structures (i.e., structural magnetic resonance imaging; MRI) that may be involved in abnormal sensory processing, in order to infer connectivity of these brain regions. Specifically, we quantified the structural covariation of sensory-related cerebral cortical structures, in addition to the cerebellum and amygdala by computing partial correlations between the structural volumes of these structures. These analyses were performed in participants with ASD (n = 36), as well as typically developing peers (n = 32). Results showed decreased structural covariation between sensory-related cortical structures, especially between the left and right cerebral hemispheres, in participants with ASD. In contrast, these same participants presented with increased structural covariation of structures in the right cerebral hemisphere. Additionally, sensory-related cerebral structures exhibited decreased structural covariation with functionally identified cerebellar networks. Also, the left amygdala showed significantly increased structural covariation with cerebral structures related to visual processing. Taken together, these results may suggest several patterns of altered connectivity both within and between cerebral cortices and other brain structures that may be related to sensory processing. □
Influence of Concussion History and Genetics on Event-Related Potentials in Athletes: Potential Use in Concussion Management

Sports-related concussions are an increasing public health issue with much concern about the possible long-term decrements in cognitive function and quality of life that may occur in athletes. The measurement of cognitive function is a common component of concussion management protocols due to cognitive impairments that occur after sustaining a concussion; however, the tools that are often used may not be sensitive enough to expose long term problems with cognitive function. The current paper is a brief review, which suggests that measuring cognitive processing through the use of event related potentials (ERPs) may provide a more sensitive assessment of cognitive function, as shown through recent research showing concussion history to influence ERPs components. The potential influence of genetics on cognitive function and ERPs components will also be discussed in relation to future concussion management.
Assessment of venous thromboembolism risk and initiation of appropriate prophylaxis in psychiatric patients.

Abstract Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis is not included among the measures for the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting Program. Evidence suggests that antipsy...
ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND RISK OF PERIOPERATIVE ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION AFTER NON-CARDIAC SURGERY

Adverse cardiovascular (CV) events are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after non-cardiac surgery. Prior studies report associations between individual CV risk factors (RF) and the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but the combined effects of these RFs are largely unknown. Data
Fair Trade Purchasers: How Are They Different From Non-Purchasers?

The fair trade concept has received great attention from consumers due to its role in developing "sustainable and people-oriented business models" (Ma & Lee, 2012, p. 1). It was reported that more than 1.2 million marginalized producers in 58 developing countries benefited by fair trade certified sales in 2009 which represented approximately 4.4 billion USD (Fairtrade International, 2013).
Esophageal carcinoma. The unusual variants.

The clinical behavior and response to therapy of rare histologic variants of esophageal carcinoma are unclear. To evaluate the results of therapy in this group the records of 29 patients treated between 1949 and 1991 with primary rare histologic variants of esophageal carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed. This group represented 1.2 % of 2454 cases of esophageal carcinoma treated between 1949 and 1991 and included mucoepidermoid (n =14), small-cell (n =12), adenoid cystic (n = 2), and carcinosarcoma (n =1) carcinomas. Treatment for localized disease consisted of esophagectomy in five of seven patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma, two of six patients with small-cell carcinoma, two of two patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma, and one of one patient with carcinosarcoma. Patients with stage IV mucoepidermoid carcinoma were treated predominately with radiation therapy (5/7). The majority of small cell carcinomas were treated with multiagent chemotherapy (10/12). The 1- and 3-year disease-specific survivals were 54 % and 9 % for mucoepidermoid carcinoma (median survival, 5 months) and 16 % and 0 % for small-cell carcinoma (median survival, 7 months), respectively. Patients with stage III mucoepidermoid carcinoma (median survival, 20.5 months) compared with those with stage III small-cell carcinoma (median survival, 6.2 months) had a significantly longer duration of survival (p
Making Claims, Making Problems, Making Morality: Spector and Kitsuse’s Provocation

Key claims and arguments of the constructionist social problems theory by Malcolm Spector and John Kitsuse are here reviewed. These provocative positions on how best to study social problems and morality in a sociologically recognizable and defensible way, both theoretically and methodologically, are seen as a prime source of the continued interest in and writing from the Spector and Kitsuse formulation over the forty years since its initial publication. The authors considered their proposal “radical,” and retaining its several distinctive recommendations is seen to be a strategy for its continued analytical value and appeal in sociology and beyond.
Bye Bye Biceps: Case Report Describing Presentation, Physical Examination, Diagnostic Workup, and Treatment of Acute Distal Biceps Brachii Tendon Rupture

Abstract Background Rupture of the distal biceps tendon is seen in both the emergency and primary care settings. It most commonly occurs after excessive tension exerted on a flexed forearm. Knowledge of the anatomy, pathophysiology, historical and physical examination findings, as well as the workup, diagnosis, and treatment of distal biceps tendon rupture are essential in achieving good outcomes, as delays in treatment can make surgical repair more challenging and less efficacious. Case Report A healthy 38-year-old male presented to his primary care physician complaining of right elbow pain that started while lifting an all-terrain vehicle into a truck. On physical examination, the patient had obvious deformity of the distal upper arm, as well as a positive squeeze test. Magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the presence of complete rupture of the distal biceps brachii tendon and the patient was referred to orthopedic surgery for evaluation. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? Prompt diagnosis and referral to orthopedic surgery optimizes outcomes and minimizes complications after distal biceps brachii tendon rupture. Oftentimes, gross examination shows obvious deformity of the distal upper arm, but when swelling, mobility limitations, or patient anatomy hinder this physical examination finding, the diagnosis can be missed. Knowledgeable emergency physicians can perform a physical examination and other diagnostic tests that can confirm or rule out a diagnosis in order to achieve the best outcomes for patients.
Community Reinvestment Agreements: Policy Actors, Tools and Democratic Accountability

The paper explores the sources of democratic accountability in CRA reinvestment agreement networks. The paper contributes to the governance literature by considering the intersection between sector...
Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) – Provisional Permit Approval for Palmer Renewable Energy

Comments to MassDEP draft beneficial use determination (BUD) permit issued to Palmer Renewable Energy allowing it to incinerate construction and demolition waste.
An Information Theoretic Approach to Model Selection: A Tutorial with Monte Carlo Confirmation

A reliance on null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and misinterpretations of its results are thought to contribute to the replication crisis while impeding the development of a cumulative science. One solution is a data-analytic approach called Information-Theoretic (I-T) Model Selection, which builds upon Maximum Likelihood estimates. In the I-T approach, the scientist examines a set of candidate models and determines for each one the probability that it is the closer to the truth than all others in the set. Although the theoretical development is subtle, the implementation of I-T analysis is straightforward. Models are sorted according to the probability that they are the best in light of the data collected. It encourages the examination of multiple models, something investigators desire and that NHST discourages. This article is structured to address two objectives. The first is to illustrate the application of I-T data analysis to data from a virtual experiment. A noisy delay-discounting data set is generated and seven quantitative models are examined. In the illustration, it is demonstrated that it is not necessary to know the “truth” is to identify the one that is closest to it and that the most likely models conform to the model that generated the data. Second, we examine claims made by advocates of the I-T approach using Monte Carlo simulations in which 10,000 different data sets are generated and analyzed. The simulations showed that 1) the probabilities associated with each model returned by the single virtual experiment approximated those that resulted from the simulations, 2) models that were deemed close to the truth produced the most precise parameter estimates, and 3) adding a single replicate sharpens the ability to identify the most probable model.
Reproductive and developmental health effects of prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) is a common contaminant in both occupational and community settings. High exposure levels in the workplace have been shown to have adverse impacts on reproduction and development but few epidemiological studies have examined these effects at the lower levels commonly seen in community settings. We were presented with a unique opportunity to examine the reproductive and developmental effects of prenatal exposure to PCE-contaminated drinking water resulting from the installation of vinyl-lined water pipes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from the late 1960s through 1980. This review describes the methods and findings of two community-based epidemiological studies, places their results in the context of the existing literature, and describes the strengths and challenges of conducting epidemiological research on a historical pollution episode. Our studies found that prenatal exposure to PCE-contaminated drinking water is associated with delayed time-to-pregnancy, and increased risks of placental abruption, stillbirths stemming from placental dysfunction, and certain birth defects. No associations were observed with pregnancy loss, birth weight, and gestational duration. Important strengths of this research included the availability of historical data on the affected water systems, a relatively high exposure prevalence and wide range of exposure levels, and little opportunity for recall bias and confounding. Challenges arose mainly from the retrospective nature of the exposure assessments. This research highlights the importance of considering pregnant women and their developing fetuses when monitoring, regulating, and remediating drinking water contaminants.
Using Collaborative Open Science to Advance K-12 Computing Education

Open science in computing education has been focused primarily on the data collected by automated learning systems such as those developed in intelligent tutoring systems and rote drill exercises. There is another aspect of data collection that is being continually conducted throughout K12 and post-secondary computing education through surveys, summative assessments, interviews, and other methods to measure cognitive (e.g., algorithms, data structures, pointers) and noncognitive (e.g., self-efficacy, grit, attitude) factors. As a new field, we have the unique advantage of being able to build and share practical and comparable datasets in K-12 computing education that meets some of the new guidelines and best practices being put forth by the National Science Foundation and Department of Education. This short paper describes the data being collected that is now available as part of CSEdResearch.org, what is needed to add the capability to collect and compare additional data through collaborative open science practices, and a path towards meeting those needs. This work furthers Open Science by defining how to access the data that already exists in CSEdResearch.org as well as what is needed to create additional tools for researchers and evaluators to enter K-12 computing education data directly on the site. By creating the infrastructure for shareable data that meets current and evolving open source guidelines, the community can start to use this data to develop best practices from empirical evidence.
A Genetic Screen Links the Disease-Associated Nab2 RNA-Binding Protein to the Planar Cell Polarity Pathway in Drosophila melanogaster

Mutations in the gene encoding the ubiquitously expressed RNA-binding protein ZC3H14 result in a non-syndromic form of autosomal recessive intellectual disability in humans. Studies in Drosophila have defined roles for the ZC3H14 ortholog, Nab2 (aka Drosophila Nab2 or dNab2), in axon guidance and memory due in part to interaction with a second RNA-binding protein, the fly Fragile X homolog Fmr1, and coregulation of shared Nab2-Fmr1 target mRNAs. Despite these advances, neurodevelopmental mechanisms that underlie defective axonogenesis in Nab2 mutants remain undefined. Nab2 null phenotypes in the brain mushroom bodies (MBs) resemble defects caused by alleles that disrupt the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway, which regulates planar orientation of static and motile cells via a non-canonical arm of the Wnt/Wg pathway. A kinked bristle phenotype in surviving Nab2 mutant adults additionally suggests a defect in F-actin polymerization and bundling, a PCP-regulated processes. To test for Nab2-PCP genetic interactions, a collection of PCP mutant alleles was screened for modification of a rough-eye phenotype produced by Nab2 overexpression in the eye (GMR>Nab2) and, subsequently, for modification of a viability defect among Nab2 nulls. Multiple PCP alleles dominantly modify GMR>Nab2 eye roughening and a subset rescue low survival and thoracic bristle kinking in Nab2 zygotic nulls. Collectively, these genetic interactions identify the PCP pathway as a potential target of the Nab2 RNA-binding protein in developing eye and wing tissues and suggest that altered PCP signaling could contribute to neurological defects that result from loss of Drosophila Nab2 or its vertebrate ortholog ZC3H14.
Measuring and Modeling Determinants of Fiscal Stress in Us Municipalities

The Great Recession produced a wave of fiscal crises in American cities and counties. In addition to the high profile bankruptcies in Vallejo, Stockton, San Bernardino, many local governments were compelled to declare fiscal emergencies, raise tax rates, lay off or furlough workers, and undertake other unpopular strategies of fiscal retrenchment. Yet, other municipalities weathered the recession without taking such actions. Using a variation in local fiscal performance in the Great Recession and years that followed (FY2007-2012), we develop and test a model of fiscal distress for cities and counties. The model focuses on the relationship between fiscal distress and a set of its leading indicators. Our work contributes local fiscal management research in two ways. First, we work with data from local Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), budgets and media coverage to construct a unique dependent variable of fiscal distress. And second, our models include a wide variety of fiscal and socio-economic variables as predictors. Such variables include measures of fiscal reserves, debt, pension funding discipline, as well as data on real estate pricing, local incomes, and unemployment. The study will also include fiscal structure variables and will highlight the role of revenue composition in local financial management.
OpenOpticalFlow_PIV: An Open Source Program Integrating Optical Flow Method with Cross-Correlation Method for Particle Image Velocimetry

This paper describes OpenOpticalFlow_PIV, an open source Matlab program integrating the optical flow method with the cross-correlation method for extraction of high-resolution velocity fields from particle images with large displacements. This hybrid method provides an additional tool to process PIV images, which combines the advantages of the optical flow method and cross-correlation method and overcomes the intrinsic issues of the two methods. The principles of the hybrid method are concisely described, including the cross-correlation method for initial coarse-grained estimation and the optical flow method for refined high-resolution estimation. This paper gives more detailed descriptions of the main program, relevant subroutines and selection of the relevant parameters for computation. Examples are given to demonstrate applications of the hybrid method.
Where Are We in the Melody of the New Scholarly Song? A Reflection on the Present and Future of Shakespeare and Race

What happens when a field once on the margins moves toward the center? As doors open, recognition increases, and scholarship flourishes, what new roadblocks does such a field face? These questions ...
Caveolae and Arrhythmogenesis

The plasma membrane is a semipermeable barrier composed of a lipid bilayer, which defines the boundaries between the intracellular and extracellular space. However, unlike the historical model of the “fluid mosaic” for the plasma membrane, in which integral membrane proteins are evenly distributed and free to diffuse, current knowledge suggests a more heterogeneous view of the plasma membrane in which proteins and lipids are clustered within specialized vesicular microdomains termed lipid rafts. This novel scenario for the cell surface has dramatic implications in cardiomyocytes, where the plasma membrane contributes to the correct exchange of electrolytes and ions essential for membrane depolarization and excitation-contraction coupling (ECC), which are at the basis for normal cardiac function. All major ion channels implicated in the regulation of the cardiac action potential mainly localize at the cell surface and the cellular membrane provides these specialized proteins with a formidable interface capable of regulating the cellular response and the modulation of ion channel function upon various stimuli from the extracellular and intracellular environment. The structural support, protein turnover, and functional regulation of ion channels on the plasma membrane occur through self renewal and molecular adaptation, which represent the molecular plasticity of the plasmalemma and its ability to maintain an adequate composition to ensure an adequate cellular performance and response.
Cloning cell death genes.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on cloning cell death genes. The chapter outlines a series of protocols that can be used to clone differentially expressed genes. All the protocols provided in the chapter are based on the assumption that the regulation of cell death will result in changes in the abundance of a small set of specific messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The difficulty is in isolating these specifically altered transcripts from the thousands of constitutive transcripts within every eukaryotic cell. For regulated but abundantly expressed genes, a relatively straightforward approach such as plus/minus screening is sufficient. However, for rare transcripts that may be involved in the initial steps of a cell's commitment to die, more subtle techniques are necessary, even if they are technically more difficult. Each of the protocols introduces bias in some way. For example, plus/minus screening is particularly biased toward abundant transcripts whereas differential display is biased toward genes that hybridize to specific arbitrary sequences. Because it is impossible to avoid these biases completely, it is necessary to be mindful of how each of these approaches may affect the types of clones isolated.
Lift of a cable-suspended load by a quadrotor: A hybrid system approach

Autonomous multi-rotor aerial vehicles, specially quadrotors, have become popular platforms for the transportation of cable-suspended loads. Before transporting the load, the lift maneuver is a crucial step that needs to be planed. In order to perform this essential maneuver, we decompose it into simpler hybrid modes which characterize the dynamics of the quadrotor-load system in specific regimes during the maneuver. In this work, we represent the maneuver as a hybrid system and show that it is differentially flat. This property facilitates the generation of a prescribed trajectory and the design of a trajectory tracking controller based on geometric control. Numerical simulations show promising results on the performance of the proposed control architecture.
Studies on the Yeast Photoreactivating Enzyme I. A METHOD FOR THE LARGE SCALE PURIFICATION AND SOME PROPERTIES OF THE ENZYME

Abstract Large scale preparation of purified photoreactivating enzyme from commercial bakers' yeast has been described. The enzyme has been purified approximately 3000-fold over the crude extract with an over-all yield of 5 to 6%. The purified enzyme has a pH optimum at 7.2 and does not require any metal ions for activity. High phosphate concentration inhibits enzyme activity with an optimum activity at 0.02 m phosphate. The purified enzyme shows no absorption peaks between 300 and 400 mµ and has a small amount of typical cytochrome absorption. Analytical ultracentrifugation of the purified enzyme indicates the presence of one large homogeneous component and another small component which does not show a peak in the schlieren pattern, but absorbs light at 546 mµ. The average molecular weight of the large component is ∼30,000.
Boundary Estimation in Ultrasound Images

Surface definition, a process of defining three dimensional surface from volume data, is essential in three dimensional volume data rendering. The traditional method applies a three dimensional gradient operator to the volume data to estimate the strength and orientation of surface present. Applying this method to ultrasound volume data does not produce satisfactory results due to noisy nature of the images and the sensitivity of certain signals to the direction of insonation. We propose a Bayesian approach to the surface definition problem of ultrasound images, and study this approach in two dimensions. We formulate the problem as the estimation of posterior means and standard deviations of Gibbs distributions for boundary believability and normal direction. A set of filters of directional derivatives of Gaussians are used to measure the edge strength and orientation at multiple scales. The likelihood function is based on the measurement at the smallest scale. The prior distribution reflects shape properties at multiple scales. It uses a pyramid algorithm for contour analysis where the lengths of contours are computed and contour gaps are closed at multiple scales. The outcome of the pyramid algorithm is the length and weight global attributes for each pixel. These attribute values are incorporated into the Gibbs prior using a data augmentation scheme. The design and implementation of such an approach are the subject of this paper.
On control signals for multi-dimensional time

Affine control loops (ACLs) comprise an important class of compute- and data-intensive computations. The theoretical framework for the automatic parallelization of ACLs is well established. However, the hardware compilation of arbitrary ACLs is still in its infancy. An important component for an efficient hardware implementation is a control mechanism that informs each processing element (PE) which computation needs to be performed and when. We formulate this control signal problem in the context of compiling arbitrary ACLs parallelized with a multi-dimensional schedule into hardware. We characterize the logical time instants when PEs need a control signal indicating which particular computations need to be performed. Finally, we present an algorithm to compute the minimal set of logical time instants for these control signals.
Cognitive behavior therapy of binge eating disorder.

Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent episodes of uncontrollable eating, even when not hungry, until uncomfortably full, occurring at least twice a week for a 6-month period. Thi
Production of highly efficient enzymes for flax retting by Rhizomucor pusillus

The fungus Rhizomucor pusillus grew well on flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) stems and on pectin as the sole source of carbon. Of several fungal isolates from dew-retted flax, R. pusillus produced enzyme filtrates that were the most effective in retting flax as evaluated by the Fried test. Addition of the chelator oxalic acid enhanced the retting efficiency of culture filtrates from the fungal isolates, with those of R. pusillus giving the highest degree of retting. Approximately one tenth of the protein concentration of R. pusillus as that of the commercial product Flaxzyme produced the same degree of flax retting. The culture filtrate of R. pusillus contained high levels of pectinase activity, low levels of pectin methyl esterase activity, low cellulase and mannase activities, and no pectin lyase or xylanase activities. In our assay, pectinase activity was highest at pH 6.0 and 40°C. The enzyme mixture in the filtrates of cultures grown on citrus-pectin appeared to contain relatively few proteins according to sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis. R. pusillus produces a simple and efficient enzyme mixture that could provide an opportunity to determine the contribution of specific enzymes to flax retting. Results further suggest that hemicellulase and cellulase may not be required to ret flax. These studies provide information on enzymes towards the goal of developing a commercial process for enzymatic retting of flax.
Simple random walk models for wireless terminal movements

This paper develops a decomposable two-dimensional random walk model to represent the mobile terminal movements in a cellular wireless network. The model is rather general and can capture trajectories where mobiles typically tend to move in roughly a straight line, with occasional backtracking and fluctuation. We determine the probability distribution of the time until a mobile in a circular cell crosses an exit point, given a starting point, by a combination of a two independent random walks: a horizontal random walk on a straight path chosen by a random direction from the starting point and another random walk on a line perpendicular to the horizontal line. Analysis is carried for when the cell cross over point is determined by a distance-based criterion and numerical examples are given.
Domesticating Islam: Sexuality, Gender, and the Limits of Pluralism

In the contemporary West, it seems that discussions of Islam are in danger of becoming less rather than more informed, clouded by stereotype, and prone to fundamental misunderstanding. Nowhere is this more apparent than in conversations about “Islamic” or “Muslim” law, which sensationalistic media often equate with dour-faced mullahs chopping the hands off of petty criminals and throwing burkas over the heads of hapless women. 1 The reality of Islamic jurisprudence, like that of Islam more broadly, is both more complex and more banal. Just as most Muslims go about their days in peace, concerned with the mundane aspects of their lives, so too most Islamic law concerns itself with questions of marriage and divorce, inheritance, and the best path to a pious life. This is well demonstrated in two excellent recent ethnographies on Islamic law: John R. Bowen’s Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning and Michael G. Peletz’s Islamic Modern: Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia.
ℋC-search for structured prediction in computer vision

The mainstream approach to structured prediction problems in computer vision is to learn an energy function such that the solution minimizes that function. At prediction time, this approach must solve an often-challenging optimization problem. Search-based methods provide an alternative that has the potential to achieve higher performance. These methods learn to control a search procedure that constructs and evaluates candidate solutions. The recently-developed ℋC-Search method has been shown to achieve state-of-the-art results in natural language processing, but mixed success when applied to vision problems. This paper studies whether ℋC-Search can achieve similarly competitive performance on basic vision tasks such as object detection, scene labeling, and monocular depth estimation, where the leading paradigm is energy minimization. To this end, we introduce a search operator suited to the vision domain that improves a candidate solution by probabilistically sampling likely object configurations in the scene from the hierarchical Berkeley segmentation. We complement this search operator by applying the DAgger algorithm to robustly train the search heuristic so it learns from its previous mistakes. Our evaluation shows that these improvements reduce the branching factor and search depth, and thus give a significant performance boost. Our state-of-the-art results on scene labeling and depth estimation suggest that ℋC-Search provides a suitable tool for learning and inference in vision.
Adaptive coarse graining, environment, strong decoherence, and quasiclassical realms

Three ideas are introduced that when brought together characterize the realistic quasiclassical realms of our quantum universe as particular kinds of sets of alternative coarse-grained histories defined by quasiclassical variables: (i) branch-dependent adaptive coarse grainings that can be close to maximally refined and can simplify calculation, (ii) narrative coarse grainings that describe how features of the universe change over time and allow the construction of an environment, and (iii) a notion of strong decoherence that characterizes realistic mechanisms of decoherence.
Simple hand fractures that aren't.

Growing up, a favorite television show was My Favorite Martian. Ray Walston was a marooned Martian whose antennae would emerge from his skull when he was faced with a difficult situation. Fracture care is similar. Most of what we treat is commonplace and is managed easily; however, there are subsets of common fractures that behave badly. For these injuries, we need to raise our antennae and explain to our patients that the care may be more involved and the outcome less predictable. In this article, the authors consider four injuries: the mallet fracture with a compensatory swan neck deformity, pilon fractures at the base of the middle phalanx, oblique shaft fractures of the proximal phalanx, and transverse midshaft fractures of the metacarpal.