cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Invoking Private Property Rights for Environmental Purposes: The Takings Implications of Government-Authorized Aerial Pesticide Spraying

Part II of this article summarizes the history of medfly eradication efforts in the United States and the events surrounding Florida's 1997 infestation and eradication experience. Part III reviews private property rights in light of physical takings cases. Applying the principles examined in Part III to wide-scale aerial pesticide spraying, Part IV explains why these invasions constitute takings, despite their minimal size and limited duration. Part IV also examines the possible government defenses of nuisance and necessity, and notes the difference between governmental intervention to protect public health and safety and invasive action to protect a specific industry. Part V assesses the implications of a takings challenge to wide-scale aerial pesticide spraying.
The Spiritual Uses of Pain in Spanish Mysticism

Si l'affliction physique permet de detourner l'attention des mystiques des affaires du monde, elle permet egalement de detruire le sens du temps qui definit les frontieres de leur existence consciente. La souffrance physique chez les mystiques espagnols centre l'attention sur l'image de la divinite. Cette souffrance du corps est utilisee comme un mecanisme d'identification a la souffrance du Christ. L'affliction corporelle represente une distraction dans le sens ou le mystique se distrait de son corps afin de pouvoir eprouver plus longuement le caractere spirituel de son desir
Density functional theory calculations of pressure effects on the structure and vibrations of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (FOX-7)

Pressure effects on the Raman vibrations of an energetic crystal FOX-7 (1, 1-diamino-2, 2-dinitroethene) were examined using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. High accuracy calculations were performed with a periodic plane-wave DFT method using norm-conserving pseudopotentials. Different exchange–correlation functionals were examined for their applicability in describing the structural and vibrational experimental data. It is shown that the PBE functional with an empirical dispersion correction by Grimme, PBE-D method, reproduces best the molecular geometry, unit cell parameters, and vibrational frequencies. Assignments of intramolecular Raman active vibrations are provided. The calculated pressure dependence of Raman shifts for the intramolecular and lattice modes were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data; in particular, the calculations predicted correctly a decrease of frequencies for the NH2 stretching modes with pressure. Also, in accord with experiments, the calculati...
Braceros, migrant citizens and transnational subjects in the postwar United States and Mexico

Deborah Cohen, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 2011, 392 pp., $39.95, (hardcover), ISBN 9780807833599 In 1942, Mexico and the USA entered into a migrant labor agree...
The exotic and the mundane : Human immunodeficiency virus in Haiti.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Haiti has often been referred to as a “mystery,” and “striking similarities” between patterns of disease in Haiti and in sub-Saharan Africa are often underlined. The occurrence of AIDS in Haitians has also led to the postulation of a number of theories positing a Haitian origin for AIDS and linking the syndrome in Haitians to voodoo. A review of the epidemiological data gathered and published in the early years of the pandemic suggests that these “exotic” theories are not necessary to explain the Haitian epidemic, which is clearly linked not to Africa but to the United States. Patterns of risk identified among many of the first Haitians with AIDS are similar to risk factors identified in North America and Europe (same-sex contact with an HIV-infected individual and blood transfusion). The Haitian epidemicsubsequently came to resemble patterns seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is predominantly a heterosexually transmitted disease. Similarly shifting patterns are described for several other Caribbean nations, underlining the importance of a historical analysis of the Caribbean pandemic as well as the necessity to link analysis of local epidemiology of AIDS/HIV to larger considerations of political economy.
Dispersal by rodent caching increases seed survival in multiple ways in canopy‐fire ecosystems

Seed-caching rodents have long been seen as important actors in dispersal ecology. Here, we focus on the interactions with plants in a fire-disturbance community, specifically Arctostaphylos species (Ericaceae) in California chaparral. Although mutualistic relationships between caching rodents and plants are well studied, little is known how this type of relationship functions in a disturbance-driven system, and more specifically to systems shaped by fire disturbance. By burying seeds in the soil, rodents inadvertently improve the probability of seed surviving high temperatures produced by fire. We test two aspects of vertical dispersal, depth of seed and multiple seeds in caches as two important dimensions of rodent-caching behavior. We used a laboratory experimental approach to test seed survival under different heating conditions and seed bank structures. Creating a synthetic soil seed bank and synthetic fire/heating in the laboratory allowed us to have control over surface heating, depth of seed in the soil, and seed cache size. We compared the viability of Arctostaphylos viscida seeds from different treatment groups determined by these factors and found that, as expected, seeds slightly deeper in the soil had substantial increased chances of survival during a heating event. A key result was that some seeds within a cache in shallow soil could survive fire even at a depth with a killing heat pulse compared to isolated seeds; temperature measurements indicated lower temperatures immediately below caches compared to the same depth in adjacent soil. These results suggest seed caching by rodents increases seed survival during fire events in two ways, that caches disrupt heat flow or that caches are buried below the heat pulse kill zone. The context of natural disturbance drives the significance of this mutualism and further expands theory regarding mutualisms into the domain of disturbance-driven systems.
Study on the compositions of emission active materials and the emission properties of dispenser cathodes made from Scandia-doped powders

Abstract Scandia-doped dispenser cathode provided significantly better performance compared to standard dispenser cathodes in the application of microwave devices. Emission active materials are the key to dispenser cathodes. Scandium doping can enhance the performance of dispenser cathodes. In this paper, active materials are fabricated by co-precipitation method. Comparison is made between the active materials undergoing different heat treatments. XRD and SEM methods are employed to analyze the compositions and microstructure of active material samples. The cathode matrix powders are prepared by the sol–gel method using different recipes of scandium content. The contents of scandium oxide are, respectively, 3.5 wt%, 4 wt% and 5 wt%. Emission tests are carried out in dedicated test vehicles. The results show that there are different aluminates including Ba4Al2O7, CaAl2O4, Ba7Al2O10, Ba3CaAl2O7, and Ba3Al2O6 come into being after heating using different techniques. The cathode impregnated with self-developed emission materials which numbered LN4 can achieve an inflection point emission current density of 122 A/cm2 at 1165 °C. On the study of different cathode matrix powders, when impregnated with the conventional material (S), the cathode made from 3.5 wt% Scandia-doped powders has the best emission performance. The 4 wt% cathode sample performs better when the cathodes are impregnated with the self-developed emission materials.
Assessing the Functional Role of Titin N2A-PEVK Region in Active Muscle Contraction

Muscle contraction is an interplay of cyclic interactions between the contractile proteins myosin and actin driven by ATP turnover. Despite extensive studies and clinical significance of muscle, there are still unanswered questions about active muscle contraction especially eccentric contractions. The sliding filament theory explains many key aspects of muscle contraction but does not adequately explain short range stiffness, enhancement of force with stretch and depression of force with shortening. We aim to provide a new insight in the mechanism of muscle contraction by further elucidating the role of titin in active muscles. Recent studies have proposed two models for the role of titin in active muscles. In model one, PEVK region of titin binds to actin upon Ca+2 activation. In the second model, N2A region of titin binds to actin upon calcium influx. In this study, we are trying to understand the molecular mechanism of active muscle contraction by identifying the F-actin binding site on titin. Using an actin sedimentation assay, we have demonstrated that a recombinantly expressed truncation of mouse titin consisting of the N2A region and the first one hundred amino acids of the PEVK region binds F-actin, validating our system. We are currently working to determine whether the binding is calcium dependent and to determine the binding constants for this association. We are also testing smaller constructs of N2A and PEVK to identify the specific amino acid sequence responsible for binding. Our studies will provide a new dimension to the existing sliding filament theory and fill gaps in the molecular mechanism of active muscle contraction and movement.
Multiple Pathways of Lysozyme Aggregation

Abstract Amyloid fibril formation of lysozyme in vitro will proceed along two distinctly different assembly pathways under different solution conditions. We describe the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) in characterizing the distinct nucleation and growth kinetics as well as the different populations of intermediates formed along these two pathways. Using calibrated scanning tips for AFM imaging, detailed information about the morphology and physical dimensions of various intermediates emerging at different time points were determined. Along the so-called oligomeric pathway, partially denatured monomers first condense into oligomeric intermediates. These oligomers then polymerize into protofibrils which can cross-assemble into thicker mature fibrils. A second oligomer-free pathway displays very long lag periods and results in the assembly of long straight filaments with physical dimensions close to those of lysozyme monomers. These filaments will then cross-assemble into thicker fibrils. Our results compare well with observations from several other amyloid-forming proteins, suggesting that these two pathways represent a generic feature of amyloid fibril self-assembly.
Clonidine reduces norepinephrine and improves bone marrow function in a rodent model of lung contusion, hemorrhagic shock, and chronic stress

Background Propranolol has been shown previously to restore bone marrow function and improve anemia after lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock. We hypothesized that daily clonidine administration would inhibit central sympathetic outflow and restore bone marrow function in our rodent model of lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock with chronic stress. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 6 days of restraint stress after lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock during which the animals received clonidine (75 μg/kg) after the restraint stress. On postinjury day 7, we assessed urine norepinephrine, blood hemoglobin, plasma granulocyte colony stimulating factor, and peripheral blood mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells, as well as bone marrow cellularity and erythroid progenitor cell growth. Results The addition of clonidine to lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock with chronic restraint stress significantly decreased urine norepinephrine levels, improved bone marrow cellularity, restored erythroid progenitor colony growth, and improved hemoglobin (14.1 ± 0.6 vs 10.8 ± 0.6 g/dL). The addition of clonidine to lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock with chronic restraint stress significantly decreased hematopoietic progenitor cells mobilization and restored granulocyte colony stimulating factor levels. Conclusion After lung contusion/hemorrhagic shock with chronic restraint stress, daily administration of clonidine restored bone marrow function and improved anemia. Alleviating chronic stress and decreasing norepinephrine is a key therapeutic target to improve bone marrow function after severe injury.
Cancer classification using the Extended Biomimetic Pattern Recognition

Biomimetic Pattern Recognition (BPR) technique has been developed since the early 2000's and has been applied to many interesting applications such as language, speech, iris, and facial recognitions. Recently, it has been used for cancer detection and classification using DNA microarray data. BPR's primary purpose is to build hyper-dimensional geometric structures from the gene expressions of samples that belong to the same class. These constructed structures are believed to represent the backbone infrastructure for the individual classes and can be used for classification based on the proximity of an arbitrary sample to the structures. In our work, we extend the BPR technique to improve its accuracy when compared to the original BPR and existing methods. Particularly, our proposed method decomposes the classification process into three parts: (1) Eliminate outliers from the classes (2) Use machine learning method for training and fine-tuning (3) Classify using the biomimetic structures that has been optimally constructed. Results based on five types of cancers (bladder, leukemia, colon, liver and prostate) have shown that our proposed technique yields comparable or higher predicting accuracy and successfully detects known outliers in data sets. Numerical code as well as the means for reducing computational intensity are also discussed.
Distributed learning in expert referral networks

Human experts or autonomous agents in a referral network must decide whether to accept a task or refer to a more appropriate expert, and if so to whom. In order for the referral network to improve over time, the experts must learn to estimate the topical expertise of other experts. This paper extends concepts from Reinforcement Learning and Active Learning to referral networks, to learn how to refer at the network level, based on the proposed distributed interval estimation learning (DIEL) algorithm. Diverse Monte Carlo simulations reveal that DIEL improves network performance significantly over both greedy and Q-learning baselines [3], approaching optimal given enough data.
Naturally Engineered Maturation of Cardiomyocytes

Ischemic heart disease remains one of the most prominent causes of mortalities worldwide with heart transplantation being the gold-standard treatment option. However, due to the major limitations associated with heart transplants, such as an inadequate supply and heart rejection, there remains a significant clinical need for a viable cardiac regeneration therapy to restore native myocardial function. Over the course of the previous several decades, researchers have made prominent advances in the field of cardiac regeneration with the creation of in vitro human stem-cell derived cardiomyocyte tissue engineered constructs. However, these engineered constructs exhibit a functionally immature, disorganized, fetal-like phenotype that is not equivalent physiologically to native adult cardiac tissue. Due to this major limitation, many recent studies have investigated approaches to improve stem-cell derived cardiomyocyte maturation to close this large functionality gap between engineered and native cardiac tissue. This review integrates the natural developmental mechanisms of cardiomyocyte structural and functional maturation. The variety of ways researchers have attempted to improve cardiomyocyte maturation in vitro by mimicking natural development, known as natural engineering, is readily discussed. The main focus of this review involves the synergistic role of electrical and mechanical stimulation, extracellular matrix interactions, and non-cardiomyocyte interactions in facilitating cardiomyocyte maturation. Overall, even with these current natural engineering approaches, pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes within three-dimensional engineered heart tissue still remain mostly within the early to late fetal stages of cardiomyocyte maturity. Therefore, although the end goal is to achieve adult phenotypic maturity, more emphasis must be placed on elucidating how the in vivo fetal microenvironment drives cardiomyocyte maturation. This information can then be utilized to develop natural engineering approaches that can emulate this fetal microenvironment and thus make prominent progress in pluripotent stem cell-derived maturity towards a more clinically relevant model for cardiac regeneration.
Extrovert and engaged? Exploring the connection between personality and involvement of stakeholders and the perceived relationship investment of nonprofit organizations

Abstract This study explored the relationship between the big five personality traits – agreeableness, intellect, conscientiousness, emotion, and extroversion – and the involvement, engagement, and perceived relationship investment (PRI) of participants with nonprofit organizations. The role of personality is important because it reflects fundamental qualities that may influence an individual’s behavior. Results demonstrated significant correlation between each trait and involvement, passive engagement, and PRI. Four were also positively correlated to active engagement of participants.
Numerical Analysis of 2-D and 3-D MHD Flows Relevant to Fusion Applications

The analysis of many fusion applications such as liquid-metal blankets requires application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods for electrically conductive liquids in geometrically complex regions and in the presence of a strong magnetic field. A current state of the art general purpose CFD code allows modeling of the flow in complex geometric regions, with simultaneous conjugated heat transfer analysis in liquid and surrounding solid parts. Together with a magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) capability, the general purpose CFD code will be a valuable tool for the design and optimization of fusion devices. This paper describes an introduction of MHD capability into the general purpose CFD code CFX, part of the ANSYS Workbench. The code was adapted for MHD problems using a magnetic induction approach. CFX allows introduction of user-defined variables using transport or Poisson equations. For MHD adaptation of the code three additional transport equations were introduced for the components of the magnetic field, in addition to the Poisson equation for electric potential. The Lorentz force is included in the momentum transport equation as a source term. Fusion applications usually involve very strong magnetic fields, with values of the Hartmann number of up to tens of thousands. In this situation a system of MHD equations become very rigid with very large source terms and very strong variable gradients. To increase system robustness, special measures were introduced during the iterative convergence process, such as linearization using source coefficient for momentum equations. The MHD implementation in general purpose CFD code was tested against benchmarks, specifically selected for liquid-metal blanket applications. Results of numerical simulations using present implementation closely match analytical solutions for a Hartmann number of up to 1500 for a 2-D laminar flow in the duct of square cross section, with conducting and nonconducting walls. Results for a 3-D test case are also included.
Boundaries and Legacies

“Boundaries and Legacies” uses the Seybert Report as an example of fledgling attempts to test the boundary between science and pseudoscience, the movement of psi research from the parlor to the laboratory, and the subsequent “scientization” of such research. The nineteenth century marked a period during which establishment scientists publicly rejected psi research in order to strengthen cultural narratives about progress and the primacy of a positivist worldview. This chapter explores the complicated academic legacy of “psychical research” and how it contributed to the field we now recognize as modern psychology.
Pan-Africanism and Economic Nationalism: W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction and the Failings of the “Black Marxism” Thesis:

In recent decades, it has become popular to read the later work of W. E. B. Du Bois through a Marxist lens. Not only is Du Bois often considered a participant in the Marxist tradition, his historio...
Indices of abundance in the Gulf of Mexico reef fish complex: A comparative approach using spatial data from vessel monitoring systems

The Gulf of Mexico reef fish complex is socioeconomically important and is exploited by a vertical line fishery capable of high resolution spatial targeting. Indices of abundance derived from fishery dependent catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) data are an important input to the assessment of these stocks. Traditionally, these indices have been derived from standardized logbook data, aggregated at a coarse spatial scale, and are limited to generating predictions for observed spatiotemporal strata. Understanding how CPUE is spatially distributed, however, can help identify range contractions and avoid hyperstability or hyperdepletion, both of which can mask the true population dynamics. Vessel monitoring systems (VMS) can provide complete, high-resolution distributions of CPUE used to create abundance indices. Here we compare two methods — spatial averaging of VMS-derived catch and effort data and the result of generalized linear models applied to logbook data for generating indices, to evaluate the use of VMS-derived abundance indices in assessments of reef fish stocks. This work suggests that in fisheries where targeting occurs at very fine spatial scales, abundance indices derived from high-resolution, spatiotemporally complete data may more accurately reflect the underlying dynamics of the stock.
Calciphylaxis with pseudoxanthoma elasticum-like changes: A case series.

BACKGROUND Calciphylaxis and pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) are rare, clinically distinct, disorders that share a common feature of cutaneous calcification that vary widely in their cutaneous presentation. METHODS We conducted a descriptive, retrospective review of biopsy specimens collected over a two-year period. Only specimens with a histologic and clinical diagnosis of calciphylaxis were included in the review. Specimens were then histologically examined for features of pseudoxanthoma elasticum in the dermis and/or subcutaneous fat, utilizing hematoxylin and eosin staining. Von Kossa and Verhoeff-Van Gieson special stains were also performed to examine calcification and elastic fibers, respectively. RESULTS We reviewed 13 biopsy specimens from 9 patients with known clinical and histologic evidence of calciphylaxis, both uremic and non-uremic types. Upon reexamination, we found that 46.2% (n=6/13) of the specimens demonstrated concomitant PXE-like changes uniquely localized to the subcutaneous fat. CONCLUSION The presence of PXE-like changes in the subcutis may heighten suspicion for a diagnosis of calciphylaxis in the appropriate clinical setting and be helpful when classic histologic features are subtle or absent.
Word Sense Disambiguation Using Swarm Intelligence: A Bee Colony Optimization Approach.

Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) is a problem of figuring out the correct sense of a word in a given context. We introduce an unsupervised knowledge-source approach for word sense disambiguation using a bee colony optimization algorithm that is constructive in nature. Our algorithm, using WordNet, optimizes the search space by globally disambiguating a document by constructively determining the sense of a word using the previously disambiguated words. Heuristic methods for unsupervised word sense disambiguation mostly give less importance to the context words while determining the sense of the target word. In this paper, we put more emphasis on the context and the part of speech of a word while determining its correct sense. We make use of a modified simplified Lesk algorithm as a relatedness measure. Our approach is then compared with recent unsupervised heuristics such as ant colony optimization, genetic algorithms, and simulated annealing, and shows promising results. We finally introduce a voting strategy to our algorithm that ends up further improving our results.
Time-Averaging Slows Down Rates of Change in the Archaeological Record

Measuring the pace of cultural change, and understanding its determinants is a fundamental goal of anthropological research. The archaeological record is the main source of information about the pace of cultural change, but it is an imperfect one, as taphonomic loss and mixing distort rate measurements. Here, I focus on the impact of time-averaging on rate measurements. Time-averaging arises when archaeological materials associated with activities and events that took place at different points in time are mixed into the same unit, whether because of depositional processes, disturbance factors, or because archaeologists lump together archaeological contexts when creating analytical units. I use analytical models to show how time-averaging can slow down the observed rates of change under two general modes of cultural change: random drift and directional change. I test this prediction using empirical rates of change from the archaeological record of North America. I show that empirical rates of change are indeed inversely correlated with the duration of time-averaging and provide a range estimate for this correlation.
Context-aware reinforcement learning-based mobile cloud computing for telemonitoring

Mobile cloud computing (MCC) has been extensively studied to provide pervasive healthcare services in a more affordable manner. Through offloading computation-intensive tasks from mobile to cloud, a significant portion of energy can be saved to extend the mobile battery life, which is critical to maintaining continuous and uninterrupted healthcare services. However, given the ever-changing clinical severity, personal demands, and environmental conditions, it is essential to explore context-aware approach capable of dynamically determining the optimal task offloading strategies and algorithmic settings, with the goal of achieving a balanced trade-off among energy efficiency, diagnostic accuracy, and processing latency. To this aim, we propose a model-free reinforcement learning based task scheduling approach to adapt to the changing requirements.
Learning to See Through Turbulent Water

Imaging through dynamic refractive media, such as looking into turbulent water, or through hot air, is challenging since light rays are bent by unknown amounts leading to complex geometric distortions. Inverting these distortions and recovering high quality images is an inherently ill-posed problem, leading previous works to require extra information such as high frame-rate video or a template image, which limits their applicability in practice. This paper proposes training a deep convolution neural network to undistort dynamic refractive effects using only a single image. The neural network is able to solve this ill-posed problem by learning image priors as well as distortion priors. Our network consists of two parts, a warping net to remove geometric distortion and a color predictor net to further refine the restoration. Adversarial loss is used to achieve better visual quality and help the network hallucinate missing and blurred information. To train our network, we collect a large training set of images distorted by a turbulent water surface. Unlike prior works on water undistortion, our method is trained end-to-end, only requires a single image and does not use a ground truth template at test time. Experiments show that by exploiting the structure of the problem, our network outperforms state-of-the-art deep image to image translation.
Psychological Considerations Prior to Laser Procedures

The use of lasers in dermatology had increased significantly in the past decade. The psychological estate of the patients, the concerns and possible side effects that laser therapy may cause should be carefully learned, presented and discussed previously. This chapter will present some concepts of basic psychology, advice about patients expectations, and tips for the establishment of a good doctor-patient relationship.
Distributed, Intelligent Information System for Automated, Integrated Manufacturing Systems

As manufacturing systems have gravitated toward the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) ideal, they have become more dependent on capturing relevant data, storing it, operating on it and passing it between the members of the manufacturing system. As the systems become larger, this means increasing amounts of data to manage, higher complexity of operations on these data, higher number of requests and a need for significantly higher reliability and availability.
Functional Assessment of Distracting and Disruptive Behaviors in the School Setting

More common than severe behaviors, distracting and instructionally disruptive behaviors frequently result in disciplinary decisions being made for the student who is exhibiting them. These behavior...
Phase shifts of d> + α scattering☆

Abstract The resonating-group method with an one-channel approximation is used to study the d + α elastic scattering problem. The result shows that, in the excitation region below 10 MeV, there is no excited odd-parity P level in 6 Li which has predominantly a d + α cluster structure.
An exploratory study of the determinants of information technology hardware production: a country-level analysis*

This research examines empirically factors influencing IT hardware production by employing a country-level data set for 1985–2009. Our results show that IT hardware production is driven by various ...
Optical Wireless Interception Vulnerability Analysis of Visible Light Communication System

Visible light communication is a solution for high- security wireless data transmission. In this paper, we first analyze the potential vulnerability of the system from eavesdropping outside the room. By setting up a signal to noise ratio threshold, we define a vulnerable area outside of the room through a window. We compute the receiver aperture needed to capture the signal and what portion of the space is most vulnerable to eavesdropping. Based on the analysis, we propose a solution to improve the security by optimizing the modulation efficiency of each LED in the indoor lamp. The simulation results show that the proposed solution can improve the security considerably while maintaining the indoor communication performance.
Investigation and Compensation of Circulating Current Errors in Low Frequency Operation of Modular Multilevel Converters

The errors between the reference and actual injected circulating currents are investigated for modular multilevel converters (MMCs) in low frequency operation. These errors cause low frequency oscillatory power components in the MMC arms and large voltage fluctuations in the submodule capacitors. By adjusting the circulating current reference with a single parameter, it is possible to compensate the errors and suppress the undesired voltage fluctuations. Computer simulations and experimental results are provided to verify the theoretical derivations.
‘Calling to witness: complicating autobiography and narrative empathy in Marlon Riggs’s Tongues Untied’

This article focuses on Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs’s 1989 documentary whose aim is to give voice to the diverse experiences of black gay men in the late 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis. I...
Using computer programming activities and robots to teach generalization of a geometry concept

Computer science and math education researchers have long believed that a symbiotic relationship exists between their disciplines [7]. In fact, in its early days, computer science education programs were often co-located in a math department. Stenger et al. [13] developed an instructional treatment that uses computer programming as an explicit method for teaching abstraction and generalization in the STEM classroom. This instructional strategy uses computer programming to explore the essential characteristics of a mathematical concept and to push learners to advance in levels of abstraction. In this study, results are shown from a professional learning session using computer programming activities, mathematical arguments, and programming on an S2 robot to push middle and high school computer science, math, and science teachers (N=25) to improve their level of generalization over area expansion of a triangle with respect to the expansion of the sides of the triangle. The programming activities served as a laboratory to expose and explain what happened in the minds of learners as they explored and learned to generalize this geometry concept. The researchers used an initial genetic decomposition to evaluate the learner's level of abstraction. Follow up interviews were conducted with 6 participants. The analysis, using APOS as a framework, categorized mathematical behaviors at the Action, Process or Object level. The data demonstrated how computer programming activities influenced teachers' mental images and pushed them to higher levels of abstraction.
Is Algorithmic Affirmative Action Legal

It is now understood that machine learning algorithms can produce unintentionally biased results. For the last few years, legal scholars have been debating whether the disparate treatment or disparate impact theories available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are capable of protecting against algorithmic discrimination. But machine learning scholars are not waiting for the legal answer. Instead, they have been working to develop a wide variety of technological “fairness” solutions that can be used to constrain machine learning algorithms. They have discovered that simply blinding algorithms to protected characteristics like sex or race is insufficient to prevent algorithmic discrimination. Given enough data, algorithms will identify and leverage on proxies for the protected characteristics. Recognizing this, some scholars have proposed “fairness through awareness” or “algorithmic affirmative action” — actively using sensitive variables like race or sex to counteract unidentified sources of bias and achieve some mathematical measure of fairness in algorithmic decisions. But is algorithmic affirmative action legal? This article is the first to comprehensively consider that question under both Title VII and the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The article evaluates the legality of the leading fairness techniques advanced in the machine learning literature, including group fairness, individual fairness, and counterfactual fairness. The article concludes that existing affirmative action doctrine under Title VII and existing constitutional equal protection jurisprudence leave sufficient room for at least some forms of algorithmic affirmative action.
Lymphovascular Invasion Predicts Lymph Node Involvement in Small Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors

INTRODUCTION Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (p-NETS) are increasing in incidence, and prognostic factors continue to evolve. The benefit of lymphadenectomy for p-NETS ≤2 cm remains unclear. We sought to determine the significance of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) for small p-NETS. METHODS The National Cancer Database was queried for patients with p-NETS ≤2 cm and with ≥1 evaluated lymph node (LN), years 2004-2015. Demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of LN positivity. RESULTS Among 2,499 patients identified, tumor location was delineated as the head (26%), body (18%), tail (38%), or unspecified (18%); 74% were well-differentiated versus 10% moderate, 2% poor, and 14% unknown. LVI occurred in 11%. A median of 9 LNs were evaluated; overall positivity was 18%. Mean survival was significantly longer in node-negative patients (115 vs. 95 months, log-rank p < 0.0001). LVI was the strongest predictor of node involvement (OR 10.4, p < 0.0001) when controlling for tumor size, grade, and location. Subset analysis of patients with known LVI status, grade, location, and mitoses found that LVI was more likely in the setting of moderate-to-high tumor grade, 1-2 cm size, pancreatic head location, and high mitotic rate. Among patients with ≥2 of these 4 factors, 25% were node-positive. CONCLUSIONS Presence of LVI was the strongest predictor of node positivity. LVI on endoscopic biopsy should prompt resection and regional LN dissection to fully stage patients with small p-NETS. Patients with other high-risk factors should also be considered for resection and regional lymphadenectomy.
The power of regulatory regimes reexamined

The literature finds that pure price cap regulation (PCR) is a high-powered regulatory regime because it elicits the first-best level of cost-reducing effort. Conversely, the regulated firm underinvests in cost-reducing effort under PCR with earnings sharing. These findings, while standard in the literature, do not consider the strategic behavior of the regulator ex post. When the regulator controls competitive entry and the Hope standard applies the regulated firm is no longer the residual claimant for its efficiency gains even under pure PCR. The findings of the literature are reversed in this setting. The power of the regulatory regime may be higher under PCR with earnings sharing than under pure PCR. In fact, over a wide range of welfare weights, equilibrium investment in cost-reducing effort is zero under pure PCR. This may explain why the empirical evidence on the efficiency gains from PCR falls short of an unequivocal validation of the theory.
The history of maternal immunization

Abstract Maternal immunization, or the vaccination of pregnant women for prevention of maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, has emerged as an exciting and rapidly expanding area of vaccine-preventable diseases research and clinical practice. The functionality of the maternal and neonatal immune system, transplacental transfer of antibodies to the fetus and potential inhibition of subsequent active infant immunization have added an additional layer of complexity to vaccine research. Today, vaccines are utilized in pregnant women to protect women and infants against influenza and pertussis, and additional vaccines are in development specifically for use in maternal immunization such as those against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Group B Streptococcus (GBS). The current expanding applications of vaccines administered during pregnancy closely mirrors trends in public policy regarding research in pregnant women. Consideration of past lessons learned, current work in vaccinology, as well as policy regarding inclusion of reproductive age and pregnant women in research may better predict future directions and successes for this approach to the protection of women and infants.
Ten Modifiable Health Risk Factors and Employees' Medical Costs-An Update.

Purpose:To estimate the relationship between employees’ health risks and health-care costs to inform health promotion program design.Design:An observational study of person-level health-care claims...
Missing the Mark: The State of Health Care Literacy in Plastic Surgery.

The Institute of Medicine defines health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information. Low health literacy is at a crisis level in the United States. Health literacy is a stronger predictor of a person's health than age, income, employment status, education level, and race. In the plastic surgery literature to date, there is no study that evaluates health communication between plastic surgery patients and providers. This study also aims to establish the readability of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons informed consent forms. Methods A survey instrument was designed to assess health literacy of plastic surgery patient and health communication competencies of providers. The Readability Calculator and Hemingway Editor were used to determine the readability of a sample of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons informed consent forms. Results Twenty-one percent of patients did not complete high school. Fifty-one percent of patients agreed that better communication with their provider would improve their health. Seventy-six percent of providers agreed that they have difficulty communicating with patients with different cultural backgrounds; 29% of providers stated that they offered patients low-literacy educational material. The average readability of the informed consents distributed to plastic surgery patients is above 12th grade. Conclusions This study identifies the gap in communication between plastic surgery patients and providers in a county hospital setting. Failure to take appropriate actions toward eliminating inherent barriers in health communication is costly to both the hospital and the patients. These findings also raise concern about the understanding of informed consent in plastic surgery patients.
FACTORS THAT INTERFERE WITH THE AGE DETERMINATION OF ROCK VARNISH

Over the past few years the rock varnish literature has proliferated. More than a dozen research groups in at least six countries are now investigating the potential of rock varnish as a Quaternary dating technique for geomorphical and archaeological studies. New backscattered electron microscopy imagery of varnishes from southwestern North America illustrates the need for great caution in the selection of samples for all varnish dating methods. Nine general factors that may interfere with varnish dating are presented. For varnish dating to be successful, these factors must be evaluated by careful examination of samples in the field and by analyses of many cross-sections in the laboratory. [Key words: rock varnish, Quarternary dating methods, geomorphology, backscattered electron microscopy, geochronology.]
Characteristics of Patients with Anti-MAG Associated Neuropathy who Respond to Rituximab (5242)

Objective: To assess the long-term response of patients treated with rituximab and describe the characteristics of those with favorable outcomes. Background: Anti-myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) neuropathy is a debilitating paraproteinemic demyelinating neuropathy. Efficacy of immunotherapy has been inconsistent across multiple studies; however, rituximab—a B-cell depleting agent—has been shown to be beneficial in a subset of patients. Design/Methods: Case-series of 7 patients with anti-MAG neuropathy on rituximab. Records reviewed for demographic, serological, and electrodiagnostic features. Outcomes to assess efficacy include modified Rankin scale (mRS) and inflammatory neuropathy cause and treatment (INCAT) scale. Results: 86% of patients were white men. At diagnosis, the mean age was 57 years and the average anti-MAG titer was 1:40,000 in responders and 1:513,600 in non-responders (p=0.04). Disease-duration prior to therapy initiation was 4±3 years in responders, compared to 11±7 years in non-responders (p=0.05). Titers decreased by 7.5±4.7 folds after treatment. At 12 months post-treatment, 4/7 patients reported symptomatic improvement of paresthesia, allodynia, tremor and gait. Neurologic examination demonstrated recovery of distal strength, vibration and proprioception with resolution of Romberg’s sign, and re-emergence of reflexes in the lower extremities. INCAT (mRS) score improved by 1.8±1.0, (p=0.01) (1.3±0.5, p=0.004) points from a baseline of 3.0±1.6 (2.3±0.5). Terminal latency index (TLI) of the median nerve was 0.30±0.05. The remaining patients did not have further deterioration in their symptoms, exam or scores. One patient had lambda light-chains, unlike the others with kappa light-chains, and did not improve. Another elderly patient with TLI of 0.18 did not respond either despite a 9-fold reduction in anti-MAG titer. Conclusions: Features of rituximab responders include shorter disease-duration, lower anti-MAG titers and TLI>0.25. Non-responders did not deteriorate further and remained stable. This retrospective case-series supports rituximab as a viable option in a subset of patients for management of anti-MAG neuropathy, with improvements in symptoms, neurological exam and functional neuropathy scales. Disclosure: Dr. Chaar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kakara has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sriwastava has nothing to disclose. Dr. Moshirzadeh has nothing to disclose. Dr. Halon has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lisak has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Alexion, Argenix, Novartis, Syntimmune, Teva Pharmaceuticals (non-branded talks), Alpha Sites, Clearview Consulting, Destum, GLG consulting, Haven Consulting, Informa Consulting, Insights Pharma Consulting, Slingshot Consulting. Dr. Lisak has received research support from Catalyst, Chungai, Genentec/Roche, Mallinckdrot, Medimmune, Novartis, Ra Pharmaceuticals, Teva Phamaceuticals.
Educational research: an unorthodox introduction: by Gert Biesta, London, Bloomsbury, 2020, viii + 169 pp., £24.99 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-1-350-09797-1

This book is a volume in which, without offence to the poet Yeats, “the ceremony of innocence is drowned”. Like it or not, educational research is inescapably not innocent; it is embedded in, and c...
Interaction between a Solitary Wave and a Fixed Partially Submerged Body with Two Extended Porous Walls

AbstractApproximate analytical solutions that can be applied effectively to describe the wave transformation of a solitary wave propagating past a partially submerged stationary body of rectangular...
Experiments in the Court: The Legal and Ethical Challenges of Running Randomized Field Experiments in the Courtroom

Although legal scholars have been utilizing experimental methodologies for over 60 years, they have only recently begun to design and implement field experiments, an empirical method in which subjects are randomly assigned treatments in natural settings. Field experiments are a powerful tool for identifying causal relationships, but relative to observational studies, where researchers gather data that already exist, field experiments can be problematic because they require the researcher to actively intervene in the subjects' lives. Because of these interventions, researchers and organizations running experiments must address a number of ethical concerns before and during their study. When field experiments take place in the court context, these ethical concerns become even more salient, because researchers must also take into account the legal implications of randomizing interventions in actual court cases. In this article, we explore the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of court-based field experiments. It is the only assessment of its kind and should be a useful tool for researchers and organizations interested in conducting such projects, institutional review boards responsible for approving such studies, judges tasked with evaluating the reliability of data resulting from court-based field experimentation, and individuals considering legal action based on experimental results.